In my personal experience, most of the LoL players I interact with would not put the word 'Awesome' with Yorick. They are more likely to add other words in a negative context when referring to Yorick. It seems wrong that a champion like Yorick should be ever be considered not good for some misunderstanding of how Yorick works. I hope this build/guide is helpful to all the Yorick lovers (despite how disgusting of a picture that would look like) out there who are trying to figure this chanmpion out.

The overall point of this build should create a Yorick who is both a decent off-tank and has a good damage output.

Quints: Fortitude runes give Yorick that extra amount of health to keep him going longer in early game where Yorick needs a leg up in order to become a powerful force later in the game.

Marks: Insight runes give you the extra damage for Omen of Pestilence and Omen of Famine. This especially important for Omen of Famine. Since it deals magic damage and heals you for the initial damage it deals plus subsequent attacks from the summon afterwards, putting some penetration in gives you more damage dealt early game. More damage dealt early game offers better harassment for enemies who get too close and more health returned.

Seals: Resilience helps create the off-tank Yorick. Having some armor makes a huge difference. Armor and Magic Resist may not be your top concerns, and not stacking them will make you pretty much a walking chunk of meat despite all the health you'll have, but once again, this build isn't just about the late game. Early game is important for Yorick, and having that extra armor helps him out in dealing with enemy champions during the lane phase of the game.

Glyphs: The reason for getting Warding Glyphs is pretty much the same reason for the Resilience Seals.

16 in Offense and 14 in Defense creates a sort of balance between Yorick being AD and a tank at the same time. He gets that same feeling of the Energizer Bunny, he'll just keep going and going. Especially after completing his first four items.

On the offensive side, I put 3/3 in Deadliness to help him get some critical strikes every now and then, while putting 1 in Cripple to improve his Exhaust spell.

I then put 4/4 in Sorcery so Yorick's abilities can be used more often when he needs them. Then putting 1/1 in Archaic Knowledge lets Omen of Pestilence and Omen of Famine deal more damage to enemies. Putting 3/3 in Sunder let's Yorick's basic attacks hit harder and 1/2 in Offensive Mastery let's Yorick deal more damage to minions so he can farm faster.

Finally I put 3/3 in Brute Force to increase Yorick's damage output.

On the defensive side, I put 3/3 in both Resistance and Hardiness to increase Yorick's defenses against enemies. With 3/3 in Strength of Spirit, Yorick's health regenerates faster.

Then with 2/2 in Defensive Mastery and 3/3 in Harden Skin let's Yorick take less damage from minions, which is important when fighting an enemy champion amidst a group of their minions.

Starting with Regrowth Pendent and a Mana Potion keeps Yorick going during the beginning. It's important to use the mana potion in the circumstances that your Clarity is on cooldown, or if your ally doesn't need Clarity to be used. If latter is the case, then using the mana potion instead of Clarity better.

Once you have enough gold, start building Mercury's Treads. Mercury's Treads help Yorick get out of sticky situations while also giving him some protection from enemy AP champions.

Next is an important item. Manamune provides the number one things Yorick is in constant need of: Mana. It not only increases his mana pool and his regeneration of it, but it increases his attack. With the runes and extra health from leveling, by the time you complete Manamune, your attack should be over 100.
In addition to all of that, Manamune will let Yorick spam his attacks for a much longer period of time. Later in the game, it'll make Clarity almost useless when it can't restore enough mana to you, but with the amount of mana you'll have, as a Yorick it shouldn't matter to much. It'll give you enough mana to continue your assault.

Warmog's is not always a necessary item for a tank, however, I put it in this build for it to be coupled with Atma's Impaler. By the time you're level 18 with all your items, you'll have over 4000 health. Which is nothing to laugh at, especially when 2% of it goes to your attack.

Frozen Mallet adds the last bit of health to the Yorick Monstrosity. It provides a decent source of Health which helps in conjunction with Atma's Impaler, but also provides some good extra damage and will slow your opponents. You might not be fast enough to constantly keep up on your own, but using Omen pf Pestilence and Omen of War will help with that problem. And if that doesn't work, you'll probably have slowed them enough for your teammates to jump in and get the kill.

Black Cleaver is not only great for its added damage, but it'll allow Yorick to hit faster while also reducing the opponent's armor, letting him dish out more and more of his damage. With this item, you'll pretty much cripple any champion's health down to nothing.

Lastly, Atma's Impaler. The icing on the cake. While Yorick's attack is increased, so is your armor and your critical strike chance. It's true, your chance of scoring a critical strike aren't as good as Tryndamere's, Critplank's, or even Crittlesticks'. But when you do score one, it really hurts the enemy. Besides, with the amount of damage you'll be dishing out, it wouldn't matter.

Maxing out Omen of Famine is key. It will provide a good source of damage as well as helping Yorick keep his health up. Or at least keeping his health higher than the enemy he's fighting.

Omen of Pestilence is the next important skill In Yorick's repertoire. It deals good AoE damage and its mere presence around enemies slows them. It's a great use of farming minions and is the skill I use most in taking down enemy turrets.

Omen of War is a skill to be used scarcely. I usually only use it when dealing with large minion waves or fighting enemy champions. It has a high damage output and increases your speed while the summon is out. Which is incredibly useful for catching up to enemy champions who are fleeing.

Omen of Death is a tricky skill to use. Out of all the Ultimates, I personally feel that Omen of Death is the worst. And most people would agree. However, that does not mean it cannot be useful. Omen of Death can be used in a number of different ways. The most common known way is to use it either on yourself or an ally close to death. It allows them to keep fighting for a short while even after they die.

Another way (my personal favorite) is to use it as an additional source of damage to take on an enemy champion. For a short amount of time, you can turn a 1v1 into a 2v1. In this scenario, by the time you max out Omen of Death, your copy will be dealing 75% of your attack to your opponent. (Ignoring what the stats say above because they don't include the 2% from Atma's and the 2% from Manamune) Your attack should be over 300 by then, and 75% of 300 is 225. So, you and your copy will be dealing a good chunk of damage to your opponent.

In relation to this, you can use Omen of Death as a way for additional help to take down a turret that's low on health.

Keep in mind that Omen of Death has a very short time for being active, but can help in some interesting ways. If Kog'Maw dies while his copy is up, it halts his passive until his copy also dies. This can help him not only use his abilities to kill an enemy, but let him get closer before his passive goes off (At least, this is what I've seen before). So certain on death abilities can be halted just for a little while longer. Karthus can move in closer before making use of his passive.

Exhaust is great for letting Yorick catch up to fleeing enemies. Coupled with Frozen Mallet, Omen of Pestilence, and Omen of War, it'll be very hard for your enemy to get away. Try not to use Exhaust to help you get away from a fast champion (I've seen exhaust used in this way before). Use Omen of Pestilence instead. You can cast it from farther away, and the minute your summon gets nearby the enemy chasing you, they become slowed.

During early game, avoid using Clarity if your ally doesn't need mana or it isn't an emergency. Use your mana potion instead. Clarity helps you when you need mana quickly to either help get a kill/fight an enemy, or so you can use your abilities to help you escape.

With an Ally
Depending on which ally champion you're in a lane with, as Yorick you should be able to push your opponents back and even get kills from over-aggressive opponents. Using Omen of Pestilence, try to chip at your enemies' health to get them to back off. Once you get Omen of Pestilence, you can use that to scare them away. Most players know if they stick around near enemy champions while being slowed, they'll be a sitting target. So unless it's a trap or they have confidence that they'll be 'fine,' most players will back off to avoid being slowed by Omen of Pestilence.

Using these two skills early game in conjunction with your ally's helps you dominate your lane. Even if you don't get a lot of kills, constantly harassing your enemies and pushing them to their tower allows you to farm gold and experience without much interference from your enemies.

Solo Lane
Going solo is usually a nerve-wracking experience. Against two enemies, you have to be very cautious. Hanging back and sending out Omen of Pestilence every now and then against the closest group of enemy minions as a way to try and weaken their minions. You probably won't get a lot of gold from doing this. As with most Solo lanes, you get the most amount of gold from killing minions at your tower.

Against another solo lane enemy, try to keep pressure on them without over-extending. If you over-extend, chances are their ally jungler waiting in the bushes will drop in for a surprise. So try to remain in the middle when there's no sign of a gank about to occur and just harass your opponent keeping him away from your precious little minions. If your enemy keeps getting closer and closer to you, then chances are they have a jungler nearby waiting to gank you. At that point, you should back away and wait for help from your jungler (that should be the reason you're solo and hopefully not because one of your teammates left/disconnected).

I believe I've covered everything I wanted to. I hope this build helps some people out there who are looking for a good build for Yorick. I'll update this if I need to, so if you have questions or comments regarding this build, please share them.

Overall, Yorick isn't given enough credit by most new players or people who don't understand how to play him. I hope this will help change that.