Introduction
Hey guys, I'm jobo and my main champs right now are support Ali and Blitzcrank, and solo top Yorick. This is my first guide, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Hope you guys kick butt with my build :D.
Pros / Cons
Pros:
-very tanky, especially with ult
-built in cleanse (with ult)
-lots of cc
-heals for both you and your carry
-excellent escaper and can help allies get away too
Cons:
-after using the combo, he cant do much for ~ 10 sec
-passive can steal cs from carry
-silence/stun shuts him down
Runes
For my runes, I like to get flat armor because I lane against an enemy who does physical damage, and Alistar is a tank who supports, you need to be able to survive, especially early game. I get the scaling mr because I usually don't build a lot of magic resist and the scaling gives more late game, which is when you need it most. The flat health is important because you're once again more tanky early game and its very scary seeing an Alistar with a giant health pool charging at you early game.
Other runes that can work:
-mp5 glyphs: these are ok but u shouldn't run out of mana early game, because you don't use a lot of mana early game and I don't often build magic resist. Besides, you get a lot with the quints and masteries.
-Cdr glyphs: I find that the quints and masteries are more than enough cool down. These might be viable if you used the move speed quints.
-move speed quints: helpful for chasing down enemies and getting out, but i find them expensive XD so i don't use them.
-Cdr quints: once again, too expensive for people like me, but they can work, I guess. Alistar just runs in uses combo on squishy then runs out. Repeat process next team fight. No need for short cooldowns.
Masteries
I go with a 1/8/21 setup. Most of the masteries are self explanatory. I like having the debuff on exhaust, which pretty much secures your carry the kill early game.
Skill Sequence
I max my q first for the reduction on its cool down, which matches nicely with your w cool down.
I don't max my heal immediately after my q due to the mana cost it takes, especially after the latest patch (7/7/12). Obviously I get my ult at levels 6, 11 and 16. I max my heal next, because 
Headbutt upgrades the damage, which you don't need.
Items
Pretty much buy the items in the order above, except get green wards throughout the game and ward in both jungles and the river. Get pink wards, or an oracles to counter-ward their wards at dragon and baron. I get the 
Heart of Gold after the shureyla's because the gold is helpful for buying wards. The 
Aegis of the Legion and 
Shurelya's Reverie should be purchased quickly, to get the bonuses they provide quicker. One thing you can do is buy the aegis after the shurelya's if you feel like you and your team need extra mobility more than the tankyness.
Depending on the situation, you can build the heart of gold into a 
Locket of the Iron Solari, or a 
Randuin's Omen.
For boots your choice is between 
Boots of Mobility for good mobility (o_O) or 
Ninja Tabi if they have a team like 
Irelia 
Udyr 
Talon 
Corki 
Sona. Maybe not that extreme but the passive on ninja tabi is better than you think, so consider it if they have lots of AD. 
Mercury's Treads aren't really necessary on 
Alistar because he has his cleanse ultimate, but if your laning against 
Taric or 
Soraka they might be a good choice. I have changed my mind on 
Boots of Swiftness because they only give a few more movespeed than normal boots. I usually build Boots of Mobility
The last item is completely situational, and here are a few suggestions:
- 
Warmog's Armor if you want more health
- 
Force of Nature if their AP carry is doing well and the move speed is nice
- 
Frozen Heart if you want more armor, also has a nice speed debuff
- 
Thornmail for those pesky 
Master Yi's and 
Fiora's
- 
Guardian Angel if you think u die too much in teamfights, or if you just want more resists
One other thing: BUY WARDS!
Good Carries
Graves
Love laning with this guy. His blind helps me get into position for my combo, and the insane burst from
Buckshot helps take down the enemies fast.
Kog'maw
I like laning with
Kog'Maw because of the range he gets, which is useful for taking down enemies from afar, and for turret diving.
Caitlyn
I like cait becuase she is pretty much the combination of these two.
Bad Carries/Supports
Ashe
Ashe has a very weak early game, so most of the time is spent farming so she needs a good babysitter.
Alistar can do that, but babysitting doesn't suit my playstyle, which is very aggresive with
Alistar.
Soraka
If you try to run at the enemy carry when they have a
Soraka support, you will get yourself silenced, and then you get to take some hits from the carry free of charge before you can CC it up.
Taric
Pretty much the same stuff as
Soraka except its his stun not the silence.
Unique Skills
An experienced Alistar player can use a special trick for great intitiation. If you use your w on a person, then immidiately q, you charge them then knock them up. It takes them by suprise and can be extremely deadly. It sucks cuz they just recently nerfed his w range.
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Build Guide
Discussion
Clairvoyance or 
Ghost, but in my opinion, exhaust is the best. Flash is most likely the best spell in the game as it is very versatile. Therefore, it is a must.
Cleanse.
