William Yorick Expanded (Fighter)

The basic Yorick philosophy is

Fight → defeat an enemy → replay something useful for free.

Overall Playstyle

This Yorick build is a durable, recursive bruiser. You want to establish a weapon, build a small defensive setup, and then control the enemy flow for the entire group.

Your ideal game looks like this:

Early game: Find a weapon → establish an ally or protection asset.

Midgame: Hunt and kill enemies → recycle discarded assets → keep your team safe.

Late game: Use Resourceful and Scrounge for Supplies to recover key cards → use your resources and Yorick's ability to rebuild anything you've lost → deal with the biggest threats while the rest of the team finishes the scenario.

The most important habit to develop is this:

For Yorick, the discard pile is inventory. Check it constantly.

Your Main Priorities

1. Get a weapon into play

Your opening priority is finding a reliable weapon.

Your preferred weapons are generally:

Machete — your best dependable all-purpose weapon. .18 Derringer—useful when you want extra combat bonuses and potentially extra actions. Baseball Bat—powerful, but you risk losing it. Gravedigger's Shovel — backup weapon with occasional utility. Knife — emergency backup rather than your preferred weapon.

If you don't draw a weapon early, use Prepared for the Worst aggressively. You have enough weapons that this should usually find you something useful.

Mulligan priorities

Generally look for:

Machete .18 Derringer Prepared for the Worst Beat Cop Leather Coat, depending on the scenario Cherished Keepsake, especially if the scenario is known to punish sanity

You usually don't need to keep multiple weapons unless you're expecting a particularly enemy-heavy scenario.

The Core Yorick Engine

Yorick's ability is the heart of the deck.

After you defeat an enemy, you can pay the cost of an asset in your discard pile and put it directly into play.

This makes cheap assets exceptionally valuable.

For example:

You have a leather coat in play. It absorbs enough damage to be discarded. You defeat an enemy. Yorick can play the Leather Coat from the discard pile.

The same idea applies to:

Beat Cop Guard Dog Tetsuo Mori Old Keyring Weapons Cherished Keepsake

Don't be afraid to let disposable assets do their job. If something gets discarded, Yorick may be able to bring it right back after the next enemy goes down.

How to Fight Machete

This is your most reliable weapon.

Use it as your default enemy-killing tool, especially when you're fighting one enemy at a time. Yorick wants consistent kills because every enemy you defeat potentially triggers his ability.

You don't need to get fancy. If the machete is working, keep chopping.

.18 Derringer

The derringer is excellent when you need to push your combat skill higher or take advantage of its additional-action potential.

Use it when:

An enemy has a higher fight value. You need the combat boost. You have enough ammo to justify using it aggressively. The extra action could help you finish off another enemy or reposition.

Don't waste its ammunition unnecessarily on enemies you could easily handle with your machete.

Baseball Bat

The Bat is powerful but less dependable because it can break.

Use it when you need to hit hard and don't have a better option. Yorick is better at dealing with a discarded bat than many investigators because his ability can potentially bring assets back after defeating an enemy—but you'll still need to pay the asset's cost.

Think of it as a heavy-duty backup weapon, not necessarily your first choice.

Knife

The knife is your emergency plan.

You generally don't want to build your entire turn around it. Its main purpose is making sure you're never completely helpless if your primary weapon hasn't appeared yet or has been discarded.

If you later improve this deck, the Knives are among the first cards I'd consider replacing.

Your Allies: Don't Treat Them Like Decorations Beat Cop

Beat Cop gives you a permanent combat boost, making Yorick even better at reliably defeating enemies.

This is one of your best early assets. Getting Beat Cop into play can make the rest of the scenario much easier.

Remember that if Beat Cop is defeated or discarded, Yorick may eventually bring him back after killing another enemy.

Guard Dog

Guard Dog is both protection and danger.

Use him to absorb damage when necessary, and don't be afraid to let his retaliatory damage contribute toward killing enemies.

Because Yorick can replay assets from the discard pile, a defeated Guard Dog isn't necessarily gone forever.

Tetsuo Mori

Tetsuo is your safety net and asset-finder.

He can absorb damage, but his bigger value is helping you find important items or allies when he leaves play.

That can help dig for:

A weapon Another important Ally Other useful equipment

Don't necessarily sacrifice him immediately. But if Tetsuo is going to die anyway, try to make his final moments productive. Yorick's friends apparently have a very aggressive retirement plan.

Armor and Sanity Protection Leather Coat

Play this when you expect physical damage or simply need to protect your relatively limited health.

One of the nice things about Yorick is that the Coat can absorb damage, get discarded, and potentially be replayed later.

That makes it more valuable than it might initially look.

Cherished Keepsake

Your sanity protection.

Play this early in scenarios with the following:

Lots of horror Willpower treacheries Enemies that cause horror Repeated encounter-deck pressure

Like the Coat, Yorick can potentially replay it after it gets discarded.

Your Recursion Package Resourceful

This is one of the strongest cards in the deck.

Commit it when you have a card in your discard pile that you really want back.

Great targets include:

Prepared for the Worst Bury Them Deep "Let me handle this!" Scrounge for Supplies Emergency Cache Stunning Blow

The important thing is to plan before committing resources. Don't throw it into a test just because it gives you a skill icon. Ask yourself:

"What card am I getting back if I succeed?"

If the answer is something important, Resourceful becomes much more powerful.

Scrounge for Supplies

This is another major recursion card.

Use it to retrieve useful cards from the discard pile and keep your engine running.

It is especially useful when an important low-level card has already been used or discarded and you need it again.

Because you also have "Resourceful," your recursion can start chaining together over a scenario.

The general idea is:

Use a useful card → it goes to discard → Scrounge retrieves something → Resourceful can retrieve Scrounge later.

That gives Yorick surprising long-term staying power.

Your Events Emergency Cache

Don't automatically play this the moment you draw it.

This deck has several assets and weapons competing for resources, so save Cache for when you actually need to finance an important turn.

Good times to use it:

You're holding a weapon and an important ally. Yorick's ability lets you replay an expensive asset from the discard. You're running low enough that your hand is becoming unusable. Prepared for the Worst

Use this when you're missing a weapon.

Don't sit on it waiting for the "perfect" moment. Yorick without a weapon is much less efficient.

If your opening hand has no weapon, this is usually something you want to play early.

"Let me handle this!"

This card lets you protect the team from encounter cards that Yorick is better equipped to handle.

Use it when:

Another investigator draws something particularly dangerous for them. Yorick has the health, combat ability, or resources to handle the problem. Taking the encounter card prevents a bigger disaster for the group.

Don't use it just because you can. Yorick still needs to survive the scenario.

Bury Them Deep

Save this for a high-value enemy, particularly something that is difficult, dangerous, or worth removing permanently.

Don't waste it on a random low-level enemy unless the situation is desperate.

This is your "you are definitely not coming back" card.

Your Skill Cards Stunning Blow

Use this against enemies where failing to kill them immediately would be dangerous.

The stun effect can buy your team time and prevent an enemy from immediately becoming a problem.

It is especially useful against enemies with:

High health Dangerous attacks Multiple investigators nearby Take the Initiative

This is primarily a test-passing tool.

Use it when Yorick absolutely needs to succeed on an important

Combat test Encounter test Scenario test

Don't waste it on something trivial if a difficult test is coming soon.

How to Handle Clues

This is a fighter-first deck, so don't try to pretend Yorick suddenly became a professor.

Your primary clue tool is:

Old Keyring

Use it when:

You need to help with a difficult location. Your clue-focused investigators are busy or overwhelmed. Yorick needs to investigate independently.

Because this is one of your limited investigation options, don't waste it.

Your job is usually

Kill the enemies so the investigators with high intellect can get the clues safely.

If there are no enemies around, however, don't just stand there polishing your shovel. Help move the scenario forward however you can.

A Typical Yorick Turn

Imagine you begin with:

Machete in play Beat Cop in play An enemy engaged with you Leather Coat in your discard pile Action 1: Fight

Use the machete.

If you need extra skill, commit Stunning Blow, Take the Initiative, or another appropriate card.

The enemy is defeated

Yorick's ability triggers.

Yorick's ability

Pay the cost of the leather coat and put it directly into play from your discard pile.

Now you have:

Removed an enemy. Protected your team. Rebuilt your defenses. Effectively turned killing the enemy into an opportunity to recycle equipment.

That's the Yorick engine in action.