I just tried your build out in an actual game. I encountered a wild combo of Teemo-Fizz at the bot lane. My whole entire team flamed me a bunch for being a useless piece of ****, just for picking http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/summoner-spell/smite-5 and http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/summoner-spell/exhaust-1 . So the entire game I roamed, stole all cannon minions, and rushed http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/item/rod-of-ages-44 during the time. I actually went for http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/item/trackers-knife-cinderhulk-315 since I couldn't be bothered with a ward item on top of it and it worked quite well for me. We did an insane comeback in 55 minutes, and ended up winning, with a score of 3/7/48 from myself. In conclusion, the build is extremely selfish and you'll get a lot of flame for it, and I don't think the choice of smite is viable, at all, since your ADC won't really like it if you steal all cannon minions, but it was really fun tanking the whole entire enemy team. I should emphasize that I don't recommend it if you want to win games.

Hey mate, sorry I have taken so long to reply; I have been in Nepal the last two weeks or so XD.

Those are some great suggestions you've made and I am certainly going to take them on. I do much prefer having flash, as has been previously suggested.

I'm actually phasing out RoA because it is only about 500 health after 10 mins and I could get that much straight away with other items.

Thanks for commenting, really appreciate it. :)

Something else to consider, is just fully upgrading the coin to talisman of ascension. Yes, you do lose a slot with your Sightstone, however i think that the active that you get from talisman of ascension combined with Chilling Smite would negate the need for Exhaust in the first place.

*Chilling smite slows them down enough as is, but alongside an AOE speed buff active from talisman of ascension... then followed up by Randuin's Omen? These three things alone would secure most potential kills. Also, and this is purely up to you, but I wouldn't rush Rod of Ages on a tank support. Not that RoA is bad on Alistar, but the utility of other items that you could rush would be more beneficial for securing your adc's kills in lane.

for instance,
Start Ancient Coin, Health Potion, Stealth Ward. First back, upgrade to Nomad's Medallion (for the increased gold income). Next back, grab Hunter's Machete + Ruby Crystal. Probably will only be able to afford the Sightstone + Boots of Swiftness on the back after that, but if you have the income finish up Stalker's Blade first. After Stalker's Blade, start working on Warden's Mail and the talisman of ascension. When you have those two things start working towards cinderhulk or Randuin's Omen depending on if you need cinder's passive, or randuin's active more (is Lucian just dashing away all the time? go Randuins. Is the enemy jungler [[Amumu} camping your lane and you're stunned a lot? Go cinderhulk) . Somewhere in there, when it feels right, upgrade your boots.

By this point you probably wouldn't want to grab Rod of Ages, but i think that those kinds of items in lane will be more helpful for getting your adc fed early than trying to be an ap off-tank support. I know that these items seem kinda square for the meta, but I also love the feeling of laying down the hate with some active items XD. Its all up to you, Very nice guide though. ^_^

I can see where you are coming from, you do cost the ADC a minion that the relic shield could give them. My choice of the Ancient Coin to start is to boost my starting gold income by benefiting from every minion death. This may just be up to my own ability, but I haven't been able to get RoA by roughly the 15 minute mark with the Relic Shield. As a mid to late game build the RoA is a fairly important item, but is not nearly as useful if purchased later than 20 minutes.

To me this is more valuable in this build then the 210 gold you lose by selling it to buy the relic shield. I see the upgrades as additional parts of the build and I really don't think they take from the gold income from Ancient Coin. Additionally, I don't sell the coin until I buy the entire Eye of the Equinox. I think what you are saying is certainly reasonable, and in certain matchups I will not start with the ancient coin unless I have a competent ADC and we can both peel fairly well, not that that is an ADC's job at all. That being said, if I want to start with the extra health then I will take the Ruby Crystal because it will lead to RoA.

The Ancient Coin also means no focusing on CS, it means you can focus on the enemy ADC and Support. I only generally use Smite on a minion that has higher health that my ADC is not targeting. Later it is only for champions, baron, or dragon.

Your question has shown me how much I focus on RoA though, and in the end it is 500 health when there are higher health items, as much as the damage and mana are incredibly useful for an Alistar support. While I will continue to use coin to start most games with this build, your question has certainly made me realise I could be much tankier about it. If I need to start with more Armour or something I could use it to rush Randuin's etc.

Thanks heaps for your feedback. :) I would love to have a game sometime if you're up to it. :)

I was looking at your guild and I noticed something that is likely setting you back a fair bit.

You start coin in your guide but you said you use smite to get some CS, then later in the game you have it so you need to switch coin for relic shields upgrade Eye of the Equinox. I think by doing that you effectively lose all the gold income from coin when you sell it to trade it for relic shield and you end up setting your ADC back by getting the CS without relic shield charges (as relic shield gives them and you the same amount of gold as them getting the CS in addition to healing them). So even with the buff to it's gold income if you're going to trade coin is there really a reason to start with coin if you're taking CS?

You make some great points, and I totally understand. Would it be fair to suggest then, using Flash instead of Exhaust in this case, that way you have the ridiculous tankiness, the slow on your Smite, and the Flash for engage/escape?

So far, unless myself and/or my ADC are outclassed in gameplay rather than build, I haven't found it to cost the team much. That being said, I do miss out on the occasional denial of escape or kill, and I really want to run this with both Flash and Smite now because the points you make have kind of won me over. :P

I will certainly be giving Flash a run, and I'm not sure why I haven't yet to be honest. :P

Thanks heaps for the feedback. :)

While I see your way of thinking and its interesting, there is no way you want to give up flash on Alistar. Sorry but that takes away 2 of his greatest combos, which is not worth it in the long run.

The flash-pulverize combo is too great, and you might say that you have headbutt for the engage, but the follow up to flash-q which is head butting the squishy into your team is gone if you have already burnt your w in the engage.

Situationally you may also need the w-flash-q combo to keep someone under a turret or if for some reason you mess up the w-q combo and will be giving up a sure fire kill.

Next up, while Alistar is tanky as hell, if he does get caught out with his spells on cool down he has no escape other than flash considering how long the cool downs are on his spells not to mention the mana costs.

I see the point in the guide overall, but in my opinion flash is just too valuable to give up.

=)