Yorick has seen some rough days. That is the past. The blue monk has been reborn as an unstoppable killing machine. You thought it was scary dealing with a zombie and three ghouls before? Now you have to deal with a cursed monk with four ghouls and a giant ghost woman.
Yorick is a top lane offtank bruiser that excels at dueling and splitpushing. If you don't get tower first blood at 10 minutes, you aren't playing Yorick.

Pros

-Naturally tanky, you can build pretty much however and never be squishy.
-Amazing duel potential
-Push to the inhibitor tower by 15 minutes because Yorick left all the ***** he gave back on the Isles
-GHOST FAMILY, COME ON KIDS
-Versatile
-Kill potential off the charts
-Strong early game
-Doesn't fall off late game
-Easy to farm with
-Possibly best waveclear of any top laner
-Percent-health damage built into his kit in two places, ult is pretty much a stronger BORK

Cons

-Very little use at long range
-Sub-optimal gap closer
-Expensive build, requires getting ahead early
-Ghoul and Maiden AI default on mindlessly charging down a lane to whack the tower
-Ghouls can't be controlled without E
-lmao what am I saying there's no downside to playing Yorick
-no cool skins

If you don't like farming a lot, don't play Yorick. Just don't bother. I average about 200 CS per game and still find myself craving more. Yorick can kill really well at any stage of the game, but he's nothing without a hearty minion wave backing that up. Trinity Force and Titanic Hydra make for a very expensive core item set. So, how do you alleviate this worry?
Use your Q.
No, really, it's that simple. Your Q gives your next basic attack a massive damage boost, making last-hitting a breeze. Think of it like you're Nasus. If you have an opportunity to kill a minion with a Q, do it. Why's this? The synergy with your passive.
Every target you kill with Last Rites leaves a grave. Once you have at least three graves in a vicinity around you and your Q is on cooldown, you can cast Awakening, raising up three or four Mist Walkers from the ground. These little ***** are integral to winning duels and farming. Their AI defaults to "charge down the lane and kill everything in our path". Mist Walkers will ravenously tear through a minion wave, making farming even easier. The best part is, once you've farmed a wave with Mist Walkers, most times you have the option to raise fresh-faced, fully-healed, new Mist Walkers! Repeat until you're rich.