Hi I'm Cocoperroquet in EUW, i'm not a great player but I feel that you don't have to be Diamand to be able to post a Guide, this is not based on theory moreover, Alistar is not realy a "main" to me but i've tried to play bim in many ways and I have quite a lot of game with it. (also with AD and Crits when Xaxus played it on LCS)

So why Alistar? And why in toplane? because he have a Malphite's ult every 8 seconds. And 70% of damage reduction during 7 seconds at level 6. He is a "broken" champion not because of his mechanics (his only broken mechanic, the W + AA was nerfed) but because of his ult and his strong engage. Alistar goes very well with a good AoE midlaner (Orianna) and, or and Assassin jungle that can pick up kill when ganking your lane.

Quints:
AP -> Basic, you will deal some decent damage in early with this.
MS -> Your build on Alistar will already give you a lot of AP so don't hesitate if you don't like to go slowly to take MS quints.
CDR -> It's good if you don't want to take Lucidity and you still want CDR, take full blue CDR with it.
AD -> So you're not very good at last hitting huh?

Red:
Hybrid Pen -> just very good. It give you a stronger early.
Magic Pen -> Still a decent choice but Hybrid is more worth if you compare what you loose to what you get.
Armor Pen -> No! No no no! You're AP alistar not AD, why would you take this?
AD -> So you're that bad at last hitting?

Yellow:
Armor -> Good choice, it help on early trade even against AP as you may tank the minions.
HP Flat -> An alternative, it may be a better choice than armor if they have a lot of AP or if you don't have MR glyphs.
HP/Lvl -> Still a good choice. But it will be hard against champions with strong early game.

Blue:
Magic Resist -> Take this if you're against an AP. I mean realy. No joke. You want to get insta kill?
CDR -> Just take HP in yellow to compensate your lack of MR and CDR in Quints and you don't need Lucidity anymore and you'll start the game with 20% CDR.
AP -> Wow. Mate. That's some pretty ballz that you have there. you should show them to the world.
AP/lvl -> Wow. Mate. Your ballz are so big it's getting disgusting. Huh. I think you'll puke.

No real need to discuss about it.

Maybe you'll want to go 21/9/0. Then take this past:

Sorcery -> Mental Force -> Expose Weakness/Double-Edged sword/Butcher - > Arcane Mastery -> Spell Weaving - > Blade Weaving -> Executionner -> Archmage -> Devastating Strikes -> Havoc.

Recovery -> Block -> Unyielding -> Veteran Scars -> Juggernaut

This is good against an easy match-up, but you don't need those masteries to deal sick damage.

The starter:

Actually you are quite free on your starter.

What I personnaly recommand is a starter that will help on mana regen because that's Alistar's big problem.

So go for Crystallin flask or Doran ring. But wheater you choose one or the other I always take a second Doran Ring (or a first if I started crystallin) because it make your early game so much better.

An other good starter could be the Doran Shield or (but this is not the one that I prefer) the boots and potions.

Rush RoA after that, it's an item that need to stack quickly to become worth so there is no reason to delay the moment it'll start stacking. If you want to have tons of damage take the blasting wand before the catalyst.

As soon as RoA has been bought, go for Boots, at least normal ones. Alistar is ****ing slow.

The Sheen is your major item. You might not have to even upgrade it if you want to go tanky as fast as possible. Just get it at wait to see how the game goes before choosing wheather you'll be going for the Gauntlet or the Lich Bane.

Try to complete you boots at that stage if you didn't had the occasion to do it already.

Spirit Visage is your last major item, it will realy buff your ability te regen HP with your heal. Moreover the CDR is very important to spam your combo.

Now come the realy important part, this is where you can make choice that'll realy impact the game.

The question you have to ask yourself is: More tanking or more damage? At this point I usualy go for Sunfire becuase it does both a little bit of damage and tanking. But if even under your ultimate you are getting raped then go for Randuin. And if you have huge ballz? Rabadon.

So now you have only one slot left and the game is going to probably end soon, enemy might have stacked MR and that's why it's time for the Void Staff.

There is no big deal here.

R>W>Q>E

Go for W in first if it's a ranged, but in any case it have a lower CD than Q so even against a melee you will deal more than with Q because you can spam it more.

Of course you want your Combo as soon as possible so take Q.

And the heal is good but very uneffective before a certain point of the game, yet you need to be able to use it because you can activate your sheen whit it.

W have a better scalling and maxing Q wont give you a better CC.

Moreover if you have problem to land the combo it would be better to max at least the spell that you can't miss.

So yeah you have there every reason to max W before Q.

A few words on the passiv: Awesome, unexcepted helping on last hitting.
That's some good ****, you don't even realize it. It deal base damage (quite low) but it has a AP ratio! Woohoo! So you can use your heal to had an AoDoT, and have an easier lane control. But it mean that by the way, Alistar push even when you don't want it.

In general he have a great wave clear but it's a little bit risky as you need to get into the wave and to use your Q.

Harass with W when your opponent want to last it (deny)

Keep Q for a combo when your jungle gank or to protect yourself from a gank

When diving use ult before using any spell as it will up your AD and by the way the power of the sheen. Don't dive alone if it's risky, wait for the jungler to make sure you'll have the damage needed to finish your opponent.

Don't heal near minions if you don't want to damage them with your passiv and heal yours with would be bad for a lane freezing.
Yeah in general Alistar push naturaly. Even if you don't want to. So you'll need wards.

In the realy early game your base damage on a combo are enough to make your opponent regretting messing with the bull. So try to get level 2 first.
After level 3 you have to start to play safer, to wait for the jungler.
Don't roam, stay, farm, rush RoA.
When RoA is completed you can start to play a little bit more on aggro and roaming.
When Sheen completed you can realy start to fight.

You can do 2 different jobs in Teamfight, but not both. Or you can choose to peel your carry, or you can choose to engage and aim at their carry.

Stick to their carry if you choose to engage, if you have one person to bump, it's their ADC or APC that had a bad positionning. Remember you can use W on a minion or on the frontlane if the target stand next to the carry to bump him next, which will have a pretty good surprise effect.

A flash Q W to bring their carry on your team (an Insec in short) is the best move you can realize with Alistar (low skillcap). But before doing so just think 5 seconds to who are you going to throw to your team and who is in the opponent team. Is there a Thresh? Don't do it he'll just have to throw a lantern. Don't "Insec" Amumu, Sejuani or any tank like that. Bad idea. Don't throw an assassin right next to you ADC.

If you choose to peel (Because let's say they have Riven Akali Kha'Zix, tons of assassin All-In compo) stay realy next to your carry so that if their carry jump on yours, you'll be able to bump him. Stay next to your carry until their assassin is dead. If you have enough AP your Heal might be able to save a life so don't hesitate and use it. Take the skillshot for him, same for the CC. Be a Wall. But that's more what Ali Support have to do, so if you play Ali top my advice would be to do the engage.

Having a sheen will help you to push and Alistar is quite kitable once his W and Q are on CD so don't try to chase.

Cons

Easy to kite once Q and W are down
If shutted down on lane, he wont be of a big use
Long CD and nothing to do if every spells are on CD
Forced push of the lane


Pros

A good burst
A good engage
Strong pushing power
Tanky as ****

Leave a comment, tell me what you thought of my first guide.
I'm not english but I'll be glad to learn from my mistake so tell me if I made any grammar error.

Thanks for reading!
Have fun on the SR!