I'm not a native speaker. So be frugal with my spelling.

First time i saw Alistar was through the first tournament. I saw some moves from player which have more skill then me. But i wanna test him. After 10 or 15 matches and 4 or 5 builds i try my own one. I like Champs with a bit dps and alot of GTFO-options. I like it to run through the towers. And Alistar is one of the best towerdiver.

So the Story beginns,

Alistar a big cow. Pushing lanes, help with kills, since level 6, diving towers.
I read many Guides. From roaming to tank. The guide from DuffTime inspires me to create my own build. (Offtanks, The New Metagame.) My build should be more offensive. The goal is, fear. Fear the tank. Fear the cow. Carry your team as an offtank.

With this build I carry many random-games. I can't say how it works in ranked games. With my style i managed some random teams.

In most games you should be stats like 3/2/20. Sometimes I've 10/2/20.

Red: Greater Mark of Desolation

Headbut -> Autoattack with Sheen or Trinity Force
Pulverize the same. It's ugly... It's better then a bit more magic damage with those abilities by itself.
Triumphant Roar every 2 seconds. Tell you more?

Yellow: Greater Seal of Vitality

More life is better then armor or dodge. Until you're level 6 unbreakable will is your tank.

Blue: Greater Glyph of Scaling Mana Regeneration

Some extra mana to push your heal everytime it is up. Static runes should be better, but i don't have these runes.

Essence: 2x Greater Quintessence of Desolation 1x Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

More armor penetration for larger hits und some movement speed.

In the utility tree I skill the faster run and flash. You use them often, so it doesn't need to comment. CD-Reduction in the offensive tree and utility is also very nice. In the end you can nearly spam your abilities. Let the golem-buffs you team-mates. They need them more then you.

Meditation for manareg and Quickness for more running speed are also keys for Alistar. You need to pass your enemies for your - or - combos. For normal laning you need some reg for your heal. Mid and lategame when you've a group fight you need 1/2 to 3/4 of your mana.

Archmage's Savvy gives you some extra AP for your spells. You've 15% crit with Level 18 so you don't need the extra-crit. Sheen also don't scale with crit.

I love the Philospher's Stone. Basically for the mana- and healthreg. Secondary for the extra gold. With that item you should be no problem with your mana. In the beginning I start with Fearie Charm and some Health Potions. If your enemy have some bushpilots like Garren, i also buy an ward.

After you've the Philosopher's Stone, get some boots. The extra speed is important for your 'W' spell.

With level 2 you've your heal. That is the time you can aggressive push your lane. Lasthit the minions. Get as fast as possible Sheen. With Sheen you hit very hard. Q > autohit > W > autohit and with every E (heal) you get a proc (remember the internal cd with 2 seconds).

With Sheen you've the fear on your side. Max your Q and you can farm like a... cow...
Pull the enemy with headbut and pulverize combos. When they try to escape run with ghost and your ulti in there tower and kill them all.

Be aggressive is the goal. You have the spells to play that style.

Early game the farming isn't easy. You have not the damage to lasthit and not enough mana to use your spells often. Midgame push your lanes with pulverize. The minions should die in the air or with the first tick of your passive. With level 9 run through your wood and farm the smaller camps. It's easy and fast money. Pulverize helps allot.

After you've Triforce you don't need to farm.

Push the lanes. Ping the team. Use your Ulti foresightful. Headbut -> Pulverize -> Unbreakable Will. Headbut the enemies tank out of the range from your team and they focus the right one ;)

Laning Combos: Headbut -> Pulverize when the enemy is in the middle of your lane and near the wall. Pulverize -> Headbut to push him away from the enemies tower.

If it's possible go top lane. The bush in the river should help you to stay near the enemy and to Headbut some squishy players.

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coming soon (tm)

I know, this guide is not very large. It's mainly my guide, if i can't play for some days and i forgot to much. But i hope you get your own idea to play Alistar or have some tips for me to advance my game.

from Ravenite -> link

I just wanted to clear up a misconception regarding Sheen that has really been bugging me.

First of all, the stats:
Sheen (1260 g)
Sapphire Crystal (400 g) + Amplifying Tome (435 g) + 425 g
250 Mana
25 AP
UNIQUE Passive: Every time you use an ability, your next physical attack deals 100% extra base damage.

The mana and the AP are straightforward. What makes Sheen interesting is the passive. This is where a couple misconceptions are found.

1. Sheen only doubles base damage. If I have 100 base damage just from leveling and then a fully charged Bloodthirster for +100 damage, an attack with Sheen active will do 100*2 + 100 = 300 damage NOT (100+100)*2 = 400 damage.

2. Sheen damage cannot crit. If I have 100 base damage and no damage items, a crit with Sheen active will do 100*2 +100 = 300 damage NOT (100*2)*2 = 400 damage.

So for the big whammy, if I have 100 base damage and 100 Bloodthirster damage, a crit with Sheen active will do (100+100)*2 +100 = 500 damage NOT (100+100)*2*2 = 800 damage.

Let's look at a really extreme example. Blitzcrank has the aforementioned 100 base damage and 100 Bloodthirster damage. He uses Power Fist which activates the Sheen buff. On his next attack, he crits for (100+100)*2+(100+100)+100=700 damage NOT (100+100)*2*2*2=1600 damage.

If you want to see the interaction between Sheen, +damage, and crits in action, I suggest playing a practice game with no masteries and runes as pirate. A level 16 pirate has 100 base damage, and Parrrley level 5 gives 100 bonus damage, perfect for following along with the example. Pick up a sheen and some crit % items and you can easily see how everything works by shooting minions (they don't have any armor).

I hope this helped clear up some misconceptions surrounding Sheen and helps you theorycraft some awesome builds!