I Prefer to use Heal and Ignite for survivability and the extra damage to help win your lane in the early game. However, Ignite can be easily switched out for Flash or Ghost depending on your preferences.

If you are losing your lane, max out Triumphant Roar first for survivability and change the order of Thornmail, Randuin's Omen, Shurelya's Reverie and Force of Nature depending om what is doing the most damage to you and your team and if you feel the need for a quick escape or a hardened chase.

There is, of course, the standard Alistar combo which consists of Pulverize followed by a Headbutt toward either an allied turret or teammate.

A secondary combo to help prevent escapes is to initiate a nearby enemy next to your target with a Headbutt and then using Pulverize on your primary target.

*Note - with Alistar, it is not optimal to throw all of your abilities at your target at once. Due to his passive, if possible, use your abilities in order to optimize the time in which Stampede is active.

Alistar is excellent and holding back an enemy team from retreating allies. Alistar's Headbutt can be used to knock enemies away from your squishy carry or knocking enemies over a wall like a reverse Flash.

Alistar's Pulverize can not only give Alistar that extra second to survive and get to the turret, but it can also be used to cc an entire team in order to prevent an ace.

When retreating as Alistar, make use of his passive by casting an ability in order to activate Stampede. Not only does this provide AOE damage, but it also allows you to walk through units. So while in retreat, pop a heal or cc and proceed to walk through an advancing minion wave.

You will want to lane with a carry and hide in the bushes as your teammate focuses on last hits, and not minion pushing, to avoid ganks. You will most likely want to ward either the river bush or the entrance to either their blue or red buff in the river. Your other ward, again, will depend on how well your lane is doing. If you are winning the lane, place it in there bush and if losing the lane, place it in your own bush. This will allow you to see the enemy team at all times.