Alistar Build Guide by PsiGuard

This is a great Alistar to play with. I've seen this build in action and it means not only a reliable team member, but helps me play whatever champ I am playing. This is one cow you won't be tipping anytime soon.

One question though: what would you say about replacing Shurelya's Reverie with an Eleisa's Miracle for some tenacity?
Otherwise, great guide. Lots of info and insight on how to build and play Alistar. Text body FTIW (for the info win)!

Thanks for the support guys!

As for your question, paradoxical, I usually refrain from buying tenacity items like Mercury's Treads and Eleisa's Miracle. While they are good items and help Alistar, there are several reasons why I would not recommend taking them against all but the most CC heavy teams.

1. Tenacity does not support your team, it's only helpful to Alistar.
2. Both of these items take the place of valuable items in each build. Mercury's Treads would replace the vital CDR boots of the AP build or the powerful Mobility boots of the Aura Support build. Eleisa's Miracle would have to replace Shurelya's Reverie, sacrificing HP, cooldowns, and an amazing active for a sub-par level of tenacity.
3. Alistar really doesn't need tenacity. All of his abilities have powerful defensive applications and, as he isn't a carry, he will seldom be focused by a smart team. If you do find yourself in a lengthy stun or suppress, you can use your ultimate to cleanse the effect and make you nearly impossible to bring down for the next several seconds. In that time, your team should be able to easily dispatch the enemies who are targeting you.
4. If you're worried about ganks, tenacity is not the answer. BUY MORE WARDS! As Alistar, you should only separate from your team to roam or split-push. Both of these situations demand good ward placement, and throwing tenacity into your build is going to hurt your overall effectiveness whether AP or Aura Support.

I hope that answers your question. Keep the feedback coming people, I want to hear it!

Thanks to DuskToGlory for the sig!

To the Ap alistar Build; this is almost exactly how I build except most often I opt to get Sorc shoes, and instead of more than one Doran's I get a Lucky Pick which I turn in to a Deathfire's Grasp much later. I do hope you one day try all Ap/lvl runes runes on AP Alistar.. this is what I currently run and love it.

If I had to run Alistar roaming.. I would definitely copy your build for the job. Their is nothing I disagree with, and everything flows in to the next item nicely.

I'm curious since I play Alistar quite a bit, do you know if Spellvamp affects his Trample?

Thanks for your comment oOpwnageOo!

I certainly understand why you use AP/level glyphs (I assume you mean glyphs) on Alistar. They are great runes for mages and will definitely help your late game damage. I chose the Celerity glyphs to get closer to the CDR cap. I don't hold too tight a reign on the runes though, so feel free to use whatever you like.

As to your question, I believe that spellvamp does affect trample, since it deals magic damage and scales on Ability Power.

Thank you for the suggestion of a Deathfire Grasp, I can't believe I forgot about it. It's a great item to include in the AP build (and builds from a gold item :D) and will significantly boost Alistar's potential burst damage. I'll add it to the viable item section and I'll be sure to credit you for the suggestion.

EDIT: Rep given for the helpful suggestion. Looks like you could use some.

Thanks to Nyoike for the sig!

Holy Cow! Better Ali guide than that CLG guy, no Bull! Udderly amazing! Heifer ever seen a guide this well done? I Heiferen't! This is the golden calf of Alistar guides! You'll be milking this champion for all he's worth with this guide!

But Holstein jokes aside, for being a large text block, this guide is extremely well thought out and all inclusive. Great reasons and descriptions for everything, and well colour coordinated and coded. I have played with this Alistar before, and with this build, it makes it difficult to lose. I would vote it, but for some reason it says I can't right now. Anyway, I highly recommend up-voting and trying out this build.

Amazing, not much else to say.

Very informative, good builds, and very nice guide format ^^

Thanks to TRUeLM, Plastictree, Scrax, Xiaowiriamu, foggy12, JahGFX, jhoijhoi, msrobinson, JEFFY40HANDS, Nyoike, MissMaw, and me :) for the sigs!