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Didn't see an Alistar guide, so I thought I'd write one. With the nerfing of previous fotm champs, the 2 most popular tanks nowadays (Shen and Rammus) are now banned 95% of ranked games. Therefore, I've been seeing Alistar more frequently. There's 2 main ways to play him: AD tank and AP tank - I only play AD tank, so this guide will be for that build, but I've seen a lilac crush scrubs with his AP build. If enough people ask for it, I'll try to make up a build and any differences, but I'm far less experienced with it.
Summoners
You have 2 options here: Ghost/Flash or Flash/Ignite.
Flash is a necessity. The only way you're going to catch 3 people in a single pulverize is with flash; people typically aren't dumb enough to let themselves get caught in a 2+s disable with the rest of their teammates.
Ghost vs Ignite debate. Ignite is really really strong for getting early kills, and Alistar's skillset makes him deal a huge burst of dmg early on. What this means is that I always take ignite, and I try to crush my lane with it. Additionally, Ignite has a shorter CD conducive to roaming. Ghost, on the other hand, is better for team fights because Alistar needs the mobility to consistently land his stun and his knockback in favorable ways.
Masteries
0/9/21. Key points are SoS, obvious utility points.
Runes
I'll always do mixed rune pages for as long as I play LoL, so you guys can suck it.
Reds: Armor Pen
Yellows: 3 MP5/lvl, 6 Flat Armor
Blues: 3 MP5/lvl, 6 Flat MR
Quints: 2 MoveSpeed, 1 Flat HP (ok this one's kinda arbitrary; you can do 3 MoveSpeed and it probably doesn't matter too much, but I feel scared running around with minimum hp and Boots open)
Justifications: I'm doing an AD build, and you'll be throwing out enough physical damage early game to justify getting Arpen. As for yellows and blues, I like to keep the bare minimum of MP5s - mana is a stat that is worthless unless you have none of it, and with the MP5 nerf, I've found that this is enough to keep you going. Flat defensive runes are better for Alistar because he has his ult once he reaches 6. Movespeed quints should be obvious - you need the mobility to position yourself for your Q and W.
Item Build
1. Open Boots/2 reds/blue.
2. Boots of Mobility
3. Sheen
4. Heart of Gold if I'm not getting enough kills/assists, Zeal if I am.
5. Finish Trinity Force.
6. Kindle Gem --> Finish Spirit Visage.
After that, it's really up to you. If you got a Heart of Gold earlier, now would be the time to make it a Randuins. I would rather max out my CDR over tanking up because Alistar doesn't need as many tank items to survive, but you need CDR to stay relevant.
Skill Build
Q W W E W R, R>W>E>Q. None of Alistar's CDs are reduced by placing more points except R, and W has a shorter CD and has slightly better damage, so I max that first. I max E afterwards because is has a potentially shorter CD, which could useful to obtain a Sheen proc, and you can bait people with low health and ult on and heals.
Playstyle
I play Alistar as a mixture of roaming and lane-crushing.
Lanecrushing: With boots and MS quints, you outrun everybody - remember this. Alistar should wait till lvl2 before going for a kill - you can Q people and hit them a few times for some damage to soften them up, just remember to pot up before you go for the kill at lvl2 or 3.
There's a lot of ways you can go for the kill. One way is to position yourself in the bushes so that if you headbutt them, they're stopped against the wall. Hit them once (you want to get in every rightclick that you can - your skills alone don't do that much damage, so every hit counts), then Q them. Wail on them until they're dead, and don't forget to Ignite.
Another way is if they're pushing your tower, and their creep wave is almost dead. Flash on top of them, Q, then W them into your tower. This is almost a guaranteed kill even if they have flash because W's knockback effect also disables them from doing anything for a short period of time.
Remember: walls are your friends. When you headbutt them, their travel distance is reduced but the stun duration is the same, giving you more time to walk up to them and punch them.
Roaming: especially effective against champs that push the lane (Heimer, Mord). Get behind them from the jungle, then headbutt towards your team. Guaranteed kill if your teammate has any sort of cc. If you're running Ignite, you can try ganking their jungler at lvl1 if they're starting at Blue. Otherwise, hit lvl2 at least in lane, and then see if mid is gankable. If you've hit 6, you can even gank from BEHIND the tower, then headbutt your target into middle of the lane, and cast your ult. Many players aren't prepared for this type of play and get really flustered, so do it for the lulz.
Damage output: in order to maximize damage, be aware of your sheen proc timing. However, sometimes you just need to get your stun off so that your team can catch up. One way to perform this at absurd range is the W->Q combo. As soon as your headbutt gets off, press Q so that before they fly away, they are knocked upwards. You're losing some damage and the positional advantage of W, but your team can catch up. If you enjoy doing this combo, the AP build might be more suitable for you because you don't lose sheen procs while doing it.
Counters
True damage destroys you. If you see an Olaf, Irelia, or Cho on the other team, PLEASE DO NOT PICK ALISTAR. Alistar has decent HP growth, but he can't afford to buy tanky items because he sacrifices too much utility. He DEPENDS on his ult to survive, and true damage completely negates it. Avoid at all costs.
That's the end of my guide. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
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On February 10 2011 19:50 Jougen wrote:
(...)
That's the end of my guide. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Will you marry me?
Bad question? 
I always considered roaming alistars cool/impressive but i always fail at them, get 0 kills and so i'm underfarmed and underleveled. What do you do when roaming fails? Do you leech XP from lanes that you roam to or just go back to your lane and sit there?
Thanks for the guide BTW, i'm bad with sidelaners, i always liked alistar so i hope this guide will help me 
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Is Triforce really a good item on Alistar? His cooldowns aren't very short and imo the Phage proc isn't good on him either.
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Don't completely roam. If you get a kill, stick around and leech to the next level if you're close; typically, the solos don't mind because you just helped them get a kill (don't take their cs though, that'll still piss them off). If you miss the kill, you can either go around and try it again (they'll be wary, so chances of success are lower, but will make them pretty fucking paranoid afterwards, even when you leave), or move onto top lane and try for it there. Don't make it obvious in which direction you're headed - play mindgames with their team by exiting the lane to go bot, then loop around to go top.
If you're poor, get a HoG and that should make up for your roaming. You can also get a PhiloStone to make a Shurelya's later, but I've never done it myself. Even when you fail, you're inducing paranoia into the enemy and giving your teammate a lane advantage, which is good by itself. That's one of the reasons why I open boots, and later gets Mobility - I can get around more quickly to where I'll be useful.
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On February 10 2011 20:47 spinesheath wrote:
Is Triforce really a good item on Alistar? His cooldowns aren't very short and imo the Phage proc isn't good on him either.
Sheen by itself is plenty strong early-game to increase your burst combo, especially since Alistar has extremely high base AD/growth. I'll admit that the Phage proc isn't that great on him, but the increased mobility from Zeal and the extra bit of HP all help. Triforce also helps a lot for pushing towers, since it benefits your passive too. Once you start stacking CDR, your Trinity investment is amplified too.
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Have you tried flash/teleport for summoners?
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His cooldown are very low during tower pushes, which is where it counts.
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United States47024 Posts
What are your thoughts on CDR boots?
How about Cata as an item option?
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How many times does your Alistar get carried in a week?
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United States37500 Posts
On February 11 2011 04:55 Yiruru wrote:
How many times does your Alistar get carried in a week?
Nice troll. His Anivia gets carried npnpnp. But he does solid with cow.
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On February 11 2011 04:55 Yiruru wrote:
How many times does your Alistar get carried in a week?
The # of games I play with you that week.
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
What happened to becoming #1 Irelia?
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Best Alistar in the game Reep goes teleport/flash btw.
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Yeah, I know. The problem with Teleport is you need to have the map awareness to countergank with it, so if you feel confident that you're aware of everything going on, then go for it.
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United States37500 Posts
I haven't seen many good Teleport users. The most consistent counterganker that I've seen is pdiz
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Ohhh maaan just played a game where i took Alistar and my friend took Sion and we went to bot lane. Enemies got crushed hard and they were crying about "WTF bot is so gay", i ganked mid and let our corki get a kill at lvl 3, then after udyr's gank at lvl 5 (we got more lvls cause of early kills) we took down tower and then dualgaystun raped entire enemy team. Diving towers with ult just to kick enemy carry out of tower to your team is so fun  ))
I always considered Ali to be really boring champ with gameplaying being purely "heal heal heal, use ult" (because last time i played him was ~ a year ago;) ) but now I definitely changed my mind, he is SO FUN. I recommend playing him to everyone.
Thanks a lot for this guide I wonder if it wouldn't be better to go W>Q>E over W>E>Q but i guess increasing mana cost of both Q AND W would be too much, having low mana disable is a useful talent toi have.
Also i guess grabbing oracle on Alistar is awesome idea sooner or later?
BTW - you can't milk those!
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On February 11 2011 03:25 TheYango wrote:
What are your thoughts on CDR boots?
How about Cata as an item option?
CDR boots are also really strong on Alistar. However, there's so many ways you can itemize for CDR, whereas mobility options are more limited, so that's why I stick with Mobility Boots.
As for Cata, it's a really really bad choice for Alistar due to 3 reasons I can think of right now:
1. If you roam, you'll typically have a hard time finding exp, so the passive is near worthless to you.
2. It doesn't build into anything you want. Your ult is your built-in Banshee.
3. Its stats don't really benefit you in a great way.
I find that Kindlegem is a much better option for the HP it provides and the CDR.
I wonder if it wouldn't be better to go W>Q>E over W>E>Q but i guess increasing mana cost of both Q AND W would be too much, having low mana disable is a useful talent toi have.
Also i guess grabbing oracle on Alistar is awesome idea sooner or later?
The damage increase from leveling Q isn't worthwhile enough to level it over E unless you're going an AP build. E lets you stay around and continue pushes more easily.
In a serious game, I would probably grab an oracle after finishing maybe my Sheen and my HoG. I'd rather someone else on my team get it though because I tend to play recklessly and use my ult to get out of bad situations, which only works if you're already winning the game.
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Cow is definitely too fun. I've found level 1 ganks actually work too, depending on the lane. Pulverize/force summoners, walk around and do it again; lands kills if they're not careful. If they stay back, they've lost a good chunk of HP and don't have any summoners.
I hate trying to gank MF early though. Fuck that strut.
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I'm convinced Alistar is the best duo lane in the game at the moment because Shen and Janna are auto-bans. He's a tanky roaming ganking babysitting healer that crushes lanes and wins teamfights and needs 0 items to achieve his primary role as an initiating tank. Like... what more could you want?
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EPT
