Tahm Kench vs Yorick — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Tahm Kench against Yorick · 45.77% win rate over 804 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: Closer than it looks — Tahm Kench owns 4 of the 7 game windows to Yorick's 1, but the win rate still favours Yorick: you have to convert those windows or the game slips away. Tahm Kench wins 45.77% of games vs Yorick in top lane (804 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1Tahm KenchTongue Lash outranges Last Rites at level 1 — slow every walk-up and deny the ghoul stack he needs to threaten you.
Level 2Tahm KenchTwo An Acquired Taste stacks are reachable through a single slow and one auto; set them up and he will respect the imminent stun.
Level 3Tahm KenchAt three stacks the Q stun into Devour pulls Yorick away from his own ghouls for the full duration — his only protection is gone and he eats the full grey-health shred.
Levels 4-5Even / skillYorick's E mist-cage limits your movement options and his ghoul count in extended trades starts to matter — keep fights short and walk out of the cage wall.
Level 6Tahm KenchAbyssal Voyage removes his ability to freely split and ignore you; the 3-stack stun still punishes any Last Rites walk-up and your grey-health healing keeps you durable.
First itemEven / skillHeartsteel or Sunfire dramatically amplifies your Thick Skin conversion, but Yorick's Maiden plus first item means the side lane starts to tip — avoid extended 1v1s on a full ghoul wave.
Two+ itemsYorickMaiden plus two items creates a sustained damage environment that outlasts even grey-health healing cycles; your role is peel and Devour in teamfights, not side-lane dueling.

Early game (levels 1–5)

Level 1 is yours — Tongue Lash outranges every tool Yorick has pre-ghoul, so slow him on his walk-up to Last Rites and deny the CS he needs to fuel his ghoul stacks. The moment you hit 3 An Acquired Taste stacks, that Q stun is a free punish: he has no dash and no disengage, so a stun into Devour eats his health bar while his ghouls swing helplessly outside. Do not let him stack three ghouls before you trade — the ghoul damage in a long fight is meaningful — so keep exchanges short, stun-Devour and back out while your Thick Skin converts the ghoul hits into grey health you heal between trades.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Tahm Kench vs Yorick report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.

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Playing the other side? Yorick vs Tahm Kench guide →
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