These two combos are going to be one of the most important things in this guide if you don't already know how to perform them. I'll mention, and probably have mentioned, these a lot.

The first combo is the W + Q combo, or Headbutt + Pulverize. You may have seen it in game, but what it is is an Alistar using his headbutt to get to the target, then immediately his pulverize lands, making the target he used headbutt on get knocked up, while not knocking back the target. This is extremely useful and necessary to make full use of Alistar's strength. It's the same basic concept as using W on a minion next to your target, then using Q to knock them up, but this loses out on the damage and is less reliable.

The way you do this combo is simple: make sure you're in range to hit with your W. Use smartcart, if it's not automatically on, and then IMMEDIATELY press Q. Think of it like the sound of a horse's gallop, one right after the other. If you did it correctly you should be right on top of them and they're up in the air. Practice this in a practice game before you even take it into a normal, you don't want to try to secure a kill only for them to get away and your team to yell at you. Nobody likes being yelled at :c

Another, easier, combo is the W + auto attack. This will be your main source of harass in the early game. What happens is you headbutt the target and then immediately queue up an auto attack. Since you're technically still inside of them when your headbutt lands, your auto attack will go off and the damage will, most likely, happen. If you do this and they get knocked over a wall or into a brush, the auto attack may not go off. Be wary of this, you don't want to miss out on free harass, do you? The advantage to this over W + Q is that it's much more safe and easier on the mana. If you W + Q, they'll be stunned, but they may also be in range to trade spells or even auto attacks back to you. The damage will be only slightly less, and will even be higher than a W + Q if you get your damage items before you max your Q.

W + Auto attack is much simpler to pull off, all you have to do is use your headbutt and then IMMEDIATELY right click them. Do nothing else, don't move, don't cast pulverize, DON'T FLASH, just right click and wait. They'll be knocked back and you'll momentarily turn into Mister Fantastic and auto attack them from halfway across the lane. This will be your main source of harass.

Early game is dependant on your ability to poke down and possibly kill your top laner. You can farm for days with him and go teleport, but I feel like that's a waste of his potential. There's other champs better suited for that.

When you both get to lane and the minions are smacking each other up, go ahead and give your laning partner a headbutt and an auto attack, show him who's boss and who's the dominant one. Continue this while you have the mana and health to slowly wittle him down. If you think he's low enough, finish him off with a W+Q combo and ignite.

One neat trick you can do with Alistar is what I like to call the wall smack (i'm 99.9% sure there's another name for this, if there is one. And I guarantee that it's better than this). If your enemy is close to a wall that's too thick to knock them over, headbutt will knock them INTO it. This actually momentarily stuns them, although it's not a true stun and can't be cleansed. Think of it as them being disoriented. You'll be right next to them. The good part about this is that you can knock them into the wall, auto attack, Q, auto attack, and heal, auto attack. This will keep your stampede up, proc your sheen, and keep them CC'd for a good amount of time. This combo will be the one to do the most damage to them.

Ganks, as always, are a problem. For Alistar, not so much with all the crowd control he has, but you should still make sure you use your trinket wards, and even buy wards when you go back if you can spare it. You don't want to get behind due to a jungler, and this goes for any champion you play at any lane and in any role.

Don't be so stingy with your trinket wards if you buy the warding totem. This goes for all roles and champions. Help your jungler out, make sure he can see his buffs or entrances. You DO NOT want him getting behind. That 2 minute cooldown ward might save your lane unintentionally. Typically the jungler will gank 3 minutes in, if you place your ward 1 minute or before for your jungler, it'll be up in time to spot a jungler. Please, think of the junglers.

Mid Game begins when towers have fallen and team fights are starting to happen. This is where you'll decide if you will want to split push to put pressure on top lane, or begin roaming to help secure kills. Be warned though, split pushing is a tactic that more often than not fails and only allows the enemy team to be put ahead. I personally prefer to start roaming and only go back to lane to push it back or to stop their top lane from getting free towers or even an inhibitor.

Late game is about two things, team fighting and objective control. You can't let the enemy ace you, but you also can't allow somebody to easily take baron or backdoor. Alistar, luckily, is great at both. If somebody's trying to snipe an inhib or tower you can either flat out kill them or stall them until your team shows up. Make sure Baron is warded at all times. Warding, unlike some people think, is not JUST the support's job. In many games I'll fill up on both green and pink wards. Vision wins games more than you'd think. If you don't have vision, you lose knowledge of them. You can't win a fight without knowledge.

You typically will have two jobs in a teamfight, shutting down your carry or peeling for your own. With your ultimate you can easily jump onto their carry and soak up tons of damage, keeping him busy or even possibly killing him. Make sure your team is actually in the position to follow up, and make sure you don't lose sight of your objective. If you're in the middle of all of them and decide to chase someone down, make sure your team can actually handle the rest of them. There's countless times where an initiator will leave his team in the dust to secure a single kill, only to allow the enemy to ace his team.

In teamfights when you have to be on the defensive, you might need to peel for your carry. Let's say that a Nocturne is on the enemy team and decides to use his ultimate in a teamfight to jump right onto your carry. What you'll want to do is remove his spell shield, which he'll most likely have up, and then stun him. Start wailing on him like there's no tomorrow and do everything in your power to make sure he doesn't secure a kill on your poor teammate. Alistar's disruptive abilities are incredible, and to use his skills solely offensively would be a waste. Make sure that above all you're a team player.

This is probably the most annoying thing in League of Legends right now. Somebody gives first blood, maybe somebody's playing poorly, or maybe all of your lanes are losing. Let me put this out for you, laning doesn't mean jack. Yes, it helps tremendously and CAN mean a victory, but that doesn't mean that it's automatically over because they won laning phase. I've won a lot of games where we're just barely behind but everyone but a couple want to surrender. We then go on to start team fighting and winning. I can understand wanting to surrender in normal games, as laning is usually where people want to practice the most, but in ranked everyone (hopefully) is looking to win. Why make a possible win a surefire loss by surrendering?

Currently top lane Alistar is fairly underrated, only being picked up often in Korea. I've taken how he's typically played over there and put it into a simple guide. His early harass, CC, and sustain give him a huge advantage at top to win lane and destroy in teamfights, either by disrupting or peeling. If you agree with what you see here, try him out in a normal game.