So recently I've had a revelation about Alistar...

Alistar is a stupidly strong duelist with a torch!

That's right...Alistar deals damage...and a lot of freaking damage at that...

Couple that with some CDR and a sheen along with a load of defensive stats and you've got a hulking super-cow that murders people while CCing them constantly.

So above I've got the build I've used and recommend.

I run flash ignite for summoner skills.

Flash is great for escaping and for engaging. On ganks it allows you to hold headbutt for after pulverize. This is nice because you get the full duration of both CCs and you get to burn them longer with the torch.

You also get to headbutt them where ever you want...

For a build I start with a philo stone (risky I know because you are slow as fudge) but since you are Ali it works pretty well because you can simply tank all their harass with the hp regen and triumphant roar heal.

It works really really well against mages...the pew pew you and you hit roar and go back to farming. Eventually they say "f it" and just start farming too or they waste their whole mana bar on you...either way it works out for you.

If its a bruiser its even easier... they engage you...you disengage them with a swift headbutt.

Unless they are near the turret of course...In which case, they engage you and you give them a dirt nap for foolishly screwing with Ali near his turret.

After philo I rush Ionian CDR boots. This will likely change when they change boots in s3. Grabbing these is an easy way to boot your everything... more healing...more CC... more being a cow...

After becoming a speedy cow I start building a Torch. I go for completed components first...so if I can fully buy a guise I go with that first...if not I get the pick so I gather gold faster...

Once you have a torch things get fun.

I level my headbutt first to drop the CD and get that CD down to 7.5 seconds with my 25% CDR with just boots and masteries. Now I'm ramming my lane opponent over and over like she's my prom date. And she's going "how the hell is he winning these trades so hard?" As I heal her harass and disengage any attempt on my life with the saved pulverize.

I don't usually even try to kill them unless they underestimate my damage (which happens a lot) or they get too bold and get near my turret. I just sit back and farm and zone... Conserve mana as much as possible and control the lane...

At any rate...this is a very short very simple guide.

Put a torch on Ali...build some CDR... win 3s like it's Co-Op vs AI...

Pretty simple...