Lore
As the mightiest warrior to ever emerge from the Minotaur tribes of the Great Barrier, Alistar defended his tribe from Valoran's many dangers; that is, until the coming of the Noxian army. Alistar was lured from his village by the machinations of Keiran Darkwill, General Boram Darkwill's youngest son and commander of the Noxian expeditionary force. When Alistar returned, he found his village burning and his family slain. Bellowing with rage, he charged an entire regiment of Noxus' elite, slaughtering them by the hundreds. Only the intervention of some of Noxus' most skilled summoners checked Alistar's rage. Brought in chains to Noxus, Alistar spent the intervening years as a gladiator in the Fleshing, pitted in endless battle for the entertainment of Noxus' wealthy leaders.

Alistar's once noble soul slowly became twisted, and he would have been driven to insanity if not for Ayelia, a young servant girl who befriended him and eventually arranged for his escape. Suddenly free, Alistar joined the newly formed League of Legends to fight as a champion, hoping to one day exact his final vengeance upon Noxus and find the girl who had renewed his hope. Initially unwilling to cater to his celebrity status as a champion, Alistar has since discovered that there is power in fame, and he has become a vocal advocate for those whom the Noxian government treads upon. He also calls to light things that the Noxian military would prefer remain hidden -- something that has made him very unpopular with Noxus' nobles. His charitable work has earned him several philanthropic awards, which serve as an interesting contrast to the rage and destruction he brings to the League of Legends.

"If you intend to grab the bull by the horns as a summoner, Alistar might have something to say about that."

Alistar Champion Spotlight (Sorry for the sh!tty spotlight) Play Video

Hello all, this is how I build a support/tank Alistar. To me Alistar has always been a Dangerous champion to play against, however he is also one of the most reliable champions to play with, unless the person playing him is a total @$$ hole and trolls. and you might ask why is Alistar so Dangerous/Reliable, it's simple his two skills Pulverize and Headbutt are all CC (crowd control), not only that he also has a heal ability Triumphant Roar which comes in handy for keeping your Ad carry survive long enough to last hit more, however there's not much health restored when compared to Soraka's Astral Blessing or Taric's Imbue and Sona's Aria of Perseverance, its still a useful heal ability. None the less its time to get down to the guide.

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Pros + Crowd Control + High Armor + High Magic Resist + Hardcore Tank + High Sustain + Build in Cleanse Aka Unbreakable Will

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Cons - Not An Ap build - Weaker Heals - Little to no damage from Skills - Needs a Decent Ad to carry - Does not produce milk

Preferred runes

9x Greater Mark of Vitality 4.86 health per level, 87.48 total by level 18.
9x Greater Seal of Defense To increase armor per level, to give Alistar more tanky as he levels and the game progress.
9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Gives magic resist per level
9x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power Since i'm not focusing on Ap for larger heals from Alistar I decided to replace old quint runes with Quint of potency to further give Ap for Ali for better heals

Alternate runes

9x Greater Mark of Health Straight health to keep you tanky early game
9x Greater Seal of Armor straight Armor early on, I prefer Greater Seal of Defense over Greater Seal of Armor because the armor is more by level 18, the flat armor is good though.
9x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Magic resist
9x Greater Quintessence of Health I'm not a big fan of this flat rune only because there's only 26 health which is not a lot compared to Greater Quintessence of Vitality

Defense Tree
Durability Health Regen
Hardiness Armor for those ADC hits
Resistance Flat Magic Resist
Veteran's Scars Flat Health (+30 HP)


Utility Tree
Summoner's Insight Improves certain Summoner spells
Wanderer Increased movement speed when out of combat
Meditation Mana regen per 5 secs
Artificer Reduces Cooldown on active items
Greed Additional Gold every 10 sec
Biscuiteer Consumable item that will help you sustain longer during the early game.
Awareness increases exp earned.
Explorer You start with a ward, that lasts up 60 secs and grants 25 gold. Great item for early jungle invasion.
Pickpocket this one actually means what it says
Intelligence Cooldown Reduction
Nimble 3% increased movement speed.

• :Pick up this item for more health, and for easier warding. You'll save more money too.
  
• :Great for tanking the cc
  
• :Upgraded from Aegis of the legion, armor, and Magic Resisetence, with a really effective Aura. Great for supporters.
  
• :Heavy Health with nice armor, and it's passive is extremely effective, 20% chance on being hit to slow the attackers movement and attack speed by 20% for 1.5 seconds it'll give your team a small advantage over the enemy team. One more thing this item is also useful for its active: it slows nearby units attack speed and movement speed by 35% for 2 seconds
  
• :More health, and armor, with health regen, and CDR. It's active is really useful in team fights. It give you and your allies a shield which absorbs up to 50 (+10 Per level) damage
  
• :Finally more health, and magic resist to make Alistar more tanky against Ap caster, and finally it's special passive: Blocks one negative spell every 45 seconds. Great on Alistar for tanking those skills from the enemy

• Trample:When Alistar uses a skill he will deal a small amount of damage to nearby enemies and structure, he will also be able to move through units. Great passive for clearing stacks of minions when no one is around to farm
  
• Pulverize (Q) Alistar's first cc skill, he knocks enemies into the area, great skill for delaying escaping enemy champions
  
• Headbutt (W): Alistar's second cc skill, he pushes a target away. Great way of closing the gap between you and the enemy champion, combined with your Pulverize makes the ultimate cc combo
  
• Triumphant Roar (E): Alistar heals a small amount of hp to himself and allies around him, gives you and your ad carry extra sustain early game
  
• Unbreakable Will (R):Best ultimate for a tank, this will remove all disables and reduce physical and magic damage for 7 seconds. Great ultimate for diving a tower, this makes Alistar a true hardcore tank

I max Pulverize first to lower the cooldown, second i max Triumphant Roar for the healing aspect of it, Headbutt should be maxed last only because Headbutt its useful for the CC combo. The CC combo for Alistar is Pulverize for the knock up then Headbutt to push the enemy champion towards your ADC or team. Hopefully your team or adc picks up the kill, and finally finish off the fight with a small heal with Triumphant Roar

Clairvoyance:Great spell for keeping an eye on enemy,dragon,baron, and buffs

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Flash:Great for escaping

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Exhaust:Slowing down escaping enemy teams, great way of shutting down a high damage dealer on the enemy side of the team but only for a short amount of time

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Ghost:Escaping, or catching up to an enemy champion to use your barrage of CC

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Cleanse: I mean you already have a build in cleanse, but two would be kind of useful

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Heal:You'll get more health out of this spell, the only problem is the long cooldown so use it wisely Teleport:Great for protecting your team, and towers, plus turning a 2v3 to a 3v3 or whatever :) space

Role: TANK AS MUCH DAMAGE AS YOU CAN
Your freaking Alistar, the team is going to be looking at you to initiate the team fight. Here's how to start a team fight...
Activate Unbreakable Will, Flash in, Pulverize, Headbutt the enemy adc, or Ap. It's very important to activate Unbreakable Will because your going to Flash in the enemy team will either make two mistakes
Mistake one: Focusing you during the team fight, (cause you Flash in)
Mistake Two: Not avoiding the Barrage of CC you'll throw at them, someone on the enemy side will get caught out of position and your team will focus them down. JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON'T Headbutt THE TANK TO YOUR ALLY SIDE THAT WILL CAUSE THE ENEMY TO INITIATE ON YOU

Ward Here to counter jungle
ward here to protect lanes,dragon, and baron
ward here to protect mid lane from ganks
ward here to protect your jungle

Warding is very important, ALL supports should be warding there area, however when your roaming and you have wards on you, make sure you ward baron and dragon, and if you have few extra wards, ward enemy blue, and red buffs so your jungler can catch the enemy jungle, steal buff and maybe pick up a kill or two. A little side note top lane and mid lane should at least be buying 1-2 wards to protect themselves from ganks, as a support you will be warding 97% of the time but mid lane and top lane should be placing a few wards themselves as the support is not suppose to go mid to top lane just to ward, you'll be leaving your Ad carry exposed, most support knows not to leave your Ad carry but i feel I should recommend that mid and top lanes ward as well.

This Section is based on how to use your Q+W combo, and how to use your active items. I prefer to open up with Pulverize for the knock up and Headbutt the enemy towards your adc or ally team, the person you Headbutt the wall to will have to run away from your adc or team, by this time your adc or team should be dishing out "tons of damage" (lol phreak :)) and hopefully scoring your team a kill. A few more things as well. DO NOT be afraid to Flash in and use your Q+W combo, Flashing will give you the element of surprise while using your barrage of CC. Use this trick when your jungler is ganking, or when you think your adc can score the kill just be sure to use proper communications and let your adc know that your going to Flash in and use your Q+W combo
Play Video

Active weapons

There are two items in this build with actives
Shurelya's Battlesong Its active gives 40% movement speed to ally champions for 3 seconds, this item is useful for saving your team mates when their trying to escape ganks, or when a team fights goes horribly wrong and you guys need to run
Randuin's Omen its active is the opposite of Shurelya's Battlesong, Randuin's Omen's active slows the movement speed and attack speed of enemy champs by 35% for 3 seconds plus an extra 0.5 seconds for each 100 armor and Magic resist, this is useful for finishing off a running enemy team, and or escaping combined with Shurelya's Battlesong you'll be able to speed buff allies and slow down enemies with Randuin's Omen

This is my fourth build, let me know how I can improve on any sections. Thanks for reading :). Before down voting this guide, comment on how I can improve it and make it better rather then be complete jerk and down vote it for no apparent reason.

/6/18/12 - Created Guide
6/18/12 - Added "Q+W Combos/ Active items" section
8/8/12 - Toke out Quintessence of Vitality and Replaced them with Quintessence of Potency
8/16/12 - added dividers
9/3/12 - Improved Pros and cons, Improved Items, Improved Ability explanation, Improved Summoner spells, Added a team work section,
2/10/13 - While sick, updated for season 3