Step 1. Buy the moo cow alistar skin
Step 2. Get in a game
Step 3. Walk up to the enemy and press ctrl + 3
Step 4. kill them
Step 5. Drop the occasional "you cant milk those"
Step 6. Repeat steps 3-5 until the enemy's mental goes boom.
Step 7. Profit

Hey guys, my names Mitch and I stream league at https://twitch.tv/find0lp. Im a d1 support main on the OCE server that's played primarily Ali this season and have peaked masters. I currently have a 63% wr on ali and have played him and won lane against people all the way up to challenger. Im still learning the game and trying to improve and this guide is a good way for me to collect my thoughts and refine my play. I hope you guys get as much out of it as I do. A quick heads up that most of the information ive given is included in the runes / items tab so please dont skip the notes i added if you really want to learn.

If you have any questions about anything i've written in the guide or want me to make the guide longer, shoot me a message through my discord https://discord.gg/zU8pWn8c8N any feedback would be appreciated. Even if you have nothing to say id still appreciate you coming to hang out!

Ali's role varies from game to game, but in every game the champion stays the same. He is a CC meatshield with a very fun kit and i really love playing him. I guess i should start by going through his kit.

Passive - Triumphant Roar: "Alistar gains a stack of Triumph for every enemy champion he stuns or displaces with Pulverize, Headbutt, or Trample, and every time an enemy minion or non-epic monster dies nearby." (direct from lol wiki) At 7 stacks, Ali heals himself and all nearby allies. This has a cooldown but generally you wont get 7 stacks insanely fast anyway.

Q - Pulvurize: You knock up and stun every enemy in a small circle radius (within your short auto attack range) for 1 second. This is the ability you max.

W - Headbutt: You dash to a targeted enemy and knock them back a fixed distance over 0.75 seconds and apply a 1 second stun. This is alis most complex ability to learn. There are a few main points for this ability. The first is that you can cast this ability and press q instantly after you cast the headbutt to buffer the knockup the instant you arrive at the location. The second is that it can be dodged by moving 400 units from the original location it was casted, meaning you can flash it and take no damage and remove the displacement. This also means if you dont keep track of flash timers, you can have your w q combo dodged, leaving you with no mobility or peel to get you out of a sticky situation. You can also fix the target in place for 1 second by knocking the enemy into a wall that isnt thick enoough for the enemy to pass over. This is useful, since if you headbutt the enemy away there is a chance they can escape you before you get to them since it takes longer than a second to walk to them. You can knock enemies over walls so if you are wanting to stun the enemy for 1 second you need to do it on a thicc wall. This ability is very versatile and i have used this ability very creatively in my time. ****ing a key target over a wall out of the fight, or simply a jungler away from a smite steal has won me so many games. This is one of my favourite abilities in the game.

E - Trample: Ali ignores unit collision and deals damage around him every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. Each tick that an enemy champion is damaged by, ali gains a stack. At 5 stacks, or 2.5 seconds with an enemy in the range, Ali's next basic attack deals bonus damage and inflicts a 1 second stun. This ability is best used before the rest of your ablilities as to give you as much time on enemy champions to proc the stun as early as possible.

R - Unbreakable will: This ability is insane. You press this ability to cleanse all crowd control he is under. For the next 7 seconds, he receives reduced damge. scaling from 55 to 65 and 75% damage reduction at the respective ranks. You can do so many dumb things and get away with it by simply perssing r. You can use this ability in two ways in my experience. The first way is if you think you are about to receive a lot of burst. Eg. walk into 3 heavy damage dealers and want to soak a lot of damage. The second use it so break cc. Identifying what you need your ult for in a fight is a very key factor. Basically you want to think to yourself is the damage i take from being displaced, more than what I would take by ulting immediately.

This is a hard one to type out but if this gets a lot of love i will pay someone to make a youtube video of a combo guide and possibly even a complete guide.

Short combo: w -> q This is your lvl 2 combo and if you dont have much mana this combo is fine and generally gives your team enough time to follow up

Basic combo: w -> q -> e This combo is your bread and butter. you dash to them and knock them up, then wack them with an auto to stun them. Easy as.

add a flash for extra range

Isolate combo: q -> w knock them up and then knock them away from the saftey of their team / tower. Really useful when used as peel, eg. leona e onto your adc so you q her and w her into tower.

Flash isolate combo: flash -> q - w This is my favourite combo for early laning. You can push an enemy into tower and kill them in an unfavourable matchup but its very easy to mess up if you dont wait for the enemy to use their cc abilities.

Longest cc combo: e -> q -> w This combo has to be layered perfectly and executed well to pull off but you can cc the enemy for 3 seconds. This combo has to be performed on a wall if you do not have flash. You e and get 1 stack of your trample, then q, then w them into the wall.

long cc combo with flash: w -> flash -> q -> e This combo is fundamentally the same but your timing needs to be good. This combo is great for gap closing onto multiple members of the enemy and will go the largest distance of all your combos. This is also good into champions that you expect to dodge your w such as ezreal, where you can jump to them and predict their location by flash q on it.

Late teamfights: e -> q Since you want to be savign your w for priority targets later on, your e q combo when standing as a frontline can be great. Saving w if you are already on top of an enemy is more valuable than you think, as you can w an enemy carry and create distance between them and your front line in a fight which essentially stops them from doing damage for longer than a full combo would.

Your ultimate isn't really part of a combo except for using it after your w -> q -> e to just be a meatshield. I dont include it as a combo because it varies for the situation.

So basically the playstyle i love is hated by adc's and this is my friendly warning that you WILL get flamed even though you are playing correctly, so my recommendation is to /mute all and play your own game if you are confident in your ability. However i believe it is the most effective playstyle to climb in solo q. Your goal is to first win your lane, preferebly to a point where your adc can 1v2 the lane. You then roam and take over the game and win another matchup. You then roam with that winning matchup to the remaining lane or botlane to just blow out the game. If your team is competent and you are performing well you should be able to make the enemy ff at 15 in majority of your games until you hit a certain elo. If you are behind you have to be smarter with your roams. You cant just let your adc die on repeat because adc mains will have a mental breakdown. At the end of the day just try to have fun on tthis champ because i found i play my best when im having fun and laughing around while everyone around me is sweating like a priest at a wiggles concert. The best thing to do is play games and feel what seems best. If you follow my build and familiarise yourself with the combos, you will become an ali god in no time!

Ali level 1 can be the best and worst in the game. You want to invade if your team is stronger level 1 almost every game. Invading is such a good way to get free leads out of nothing and you can win a game level 1. Don't be afraid to trade your flash for an enemies, as hexflash is sometimes more valuable to have early than flash for the constant pressure you can apply to your opponent. Otherwise just leashing then walking to lane is fine.

How you play level 1 in any botlane decides the lane in 90% of bot lane matchups. This takes time to learn which matchups you can and can't walk up to. I like to ask myself every time i walk up, if the damage i could possibly take for doing so is worth what i gain for walking up. The only reason i walk up to creeps while taking damage is to hit lvl 2 first. It is ok to take ~ 200hp of damage in order to hit lvl 2 first to get your combo onto the enemy. I've done this countless games where the enemy isnt paying attention to the wave. In order to hit lvl 2 first you need to be in xp range of the first wave, and the 3 melee minions of the second wave. from level 2 onwards your champion is very strong, especially into mobile characters so if you go into level 2 with most of your hp and an xp lead on your opponent your lane is won.

I cannot stress enough how important vision is. This champion thrives on forcing picks, so having vision control just takes so much risk out of the game. Buying 2 pinks every back unless you can complete a core item is vital IMO. I only buy 1 pink ward per base before my mobi boots though as its inneficient to roam without mobis. My favourite bush to ward on ali is the pixel bush between the dragon pit and mid lane. This gives you so much pressure for your team, and means you get almost every dragon unless your team is griefing. Keeping vision clear through dragon makes it very difficult for your jg to powerfarm his jg and you can spam ping him to 2 man gank lanes with you. Late game you want to be positioning your pink somewhere around the objective you are playing for. I prioritise bushes capable of picks over simply control warding the baron / dragon pit unless you want to burst the objective.

To avoid excess flame, there are times where you should and shouldn't roam. In theory, you want to be watching and manipulating the wave at all times. When you are roaming, you want the wave to either crash into the enemy tower or be frozen for your adc. If the wave is building Eg. has 12 minions that will eventually crash under tower you should not roam. When thinking of a roam you want to consider net gains for your team. If your leave your adc and they die then you have to consider the gold and xp gone to the enemy team, the gold and xp your adc loses, and the gold and xp you lose for not being in lane with them to collect the wave. Generally speaking if you think your adc dies when you roam then dont do it. The reason you want the wave either crashed or frozen is so that you yourself dont fall behind in levels when roaming, and your adc doesnt have to give cs.

There are 5 different types of roams that you can go for.

1. Vision: A vision roam is a roam where you move to either the river past dragon or into the enemy jungle to place wards for your team. You do this if the enemy jungle is likely pathing towards you or you simply have no information on them.

2. Mid roam: You roam mid to either gank enemy mid or assist in a counter gank. Mid is a very snowbally lane and the team with the winning mid has a much higher chance of securing objectives. If mid is your win con, i suggest lookign for this roam a lot. Even if you dont commit to it, simply being there does a lot more than you think.

3. JG roam: I really like this roam, especially since i frequently duo with a jg main. This roam is to assist the jg in securing scuttles, invades, dragons, etc. Your mere presence can tilt the enemy jungler and gives your team a massive boost even if you dont do anything. Do this most games, but especially if jg is your win con.

4. Top roam: I rarely do this, however if top is a carry vs carry matchup and is even past the 6 minute mark then this gank can be the most effective. If you have high tempo you can literally walk from bot to top ganking mid and getting the jungler pressure. The games where i pull this off are the games the enemy team gives up 90% of the time. Getting 4 of your team's champions ahead in the span of a minute is just insane, but very difficult to pull off especially if the enemy has good vision control.

5. Fake roam: This roam is good if you think your adc dies 1v2 but you win 2v2. You can fake going up river if you have vision control and loop around to catch the enemy off guard, essentially ganking your own lane. I learned this from corejj and is a very easy mind game to implement. You can hexflash from a bush for extra effectiveness.

You are probably one of the strongest supports in a 2v2 situation. Simply use your combo on 1 of the enemies and blow them up with your adc and the lane is free. If you can't do this you are literally a cannon minion. Avoid using your spells where possible. Mind game your threat to go in to the point where the enemy is comfortable to walk up into your range. Ive gone games where i dont use an ability until level 4 and the enemy played so far forward after so long of doing nothing. Playing the waiting game is very strong as nobody has the mental in solo q to play correctly.

Playing in and out of vision is Ali's best tool. Using the alcoves and staying hidden in lane can find you some really fun and creative picks. Early sweeper lets you have a lot of fun getting in the enemies head. Always look at what your teammates have as follow up before you engage. Keep track of what they use to poke / waveclear and what spells the enemy has available. Ideally you want to engage after the enemy uses their main damage ability and your adc has their up. Take the small wins and dont overcommit after you go in as you quite literally can only slap them for 12 seconds after you combo. Hence the phase rush so you can dip.

Mid game you want to be a menace. Control vision, find picks. Same thing ive spoken about this whole guide. This is where you want to be closing the game with your insane kit.

In my opinion it is your job to close a game as a support. Staying on top of objectives before they spawn and finding picks is the easiest way to secure the risk free W. Always be checking what your win condition is and try to make the fights as good as possible for your team, reducing the risk for player error. Play around vision and ggez.

Again i want to thank you for reading this. I havent really seen a good guide on Ali so i hope this guide is helpful to some people. i will keep working on it if you guys enjoy it so you guys can master the cow!!!!

remember to ring the cow bell to assert dominance for free lp.