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DISCLAIMER: Wall of Text. I ramble a bit here. If you don't care about me and want information, skip this Introduction and Click here to jump to Ch. 2. There's no TL;DR version, either.


This is my first, last, & only guide I'll make. I will add a little about me & share my experiences at the Howling Abyss while giving out as many tips & tricks as I can. I couldn't tell you how many ARAM games I've played but I can tell you that my main account I use exclusively for ARAM will reach 5000 by the end of the year. The account, last I checked, was around 200 wins over .500. I can only guess at this point & will not go through logging in and out all those accounts to just tally up how many games I have played overall. Now these accounts have been made for ARAM & I'm not sorry at all. Three of them originally for higher chances to get Katarina. Sometimes you dominate, sometimes you get wasted badly, and sometimes you have a game where it's actually fun that no one is winning or doesn't seem to be a clear winner, only both teams doing battle.


As of the year of 2017, I acquired nearly 150,000 points playing Alistar in ARAM. Once in awhile, I will take the cow on weekends to do a handful of Ascension or Poro King matches. I should really say over 100,000 points for ARAM. When the season ended, Riot gave each of us a 'year in review' report and it displayed our stats playing the game throughout 2017. The stats shown for Alistar had a 73% win rate and that number is for ARAM and weekend game modes because I know I didn't have the cow step onto the Rift in 2017. And I don't think custom games count as I have a group where we do 5v5's on the weekends. Playing with and against friends on the Rift is the only time I enjoy being there. Outside of that, I go right back to ARAM. Play for 15 minutes, wipe the slate clean, do it again.


All in all, considering all accounts with one of them being my original that contains the season 1 cup icon, I will break 300,000 points on Alistar within a month or two from now. I hope you enjoy the guide, learn a few things about the cow, if you haven't already. My original goal was to use this website as a journal of my playing LoL, to store information neatly, and leave the guide on private while still being able to share to friends. That's not possible. It's gotta go public in order for the link to work for anyone else. So welcome to my guide. I will remain anonymous and anyone can stamp their name here, if they want. Anything you read is yours. Enjoy.


And thank all of you who ever posted anything ARAM-wise that can be googled up.

One last thing, I fully support opening all champs to be randomly selected despite handful of accounts made. Whatever, It's still League of Legends. I was 100% sure I would NEVER touch Heimerdinger. Today, he's one of my top 5 champs to use in ARAM. Who knows.

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2/14/2018 - guide published.
2/15/2018 - added ARAM STUFF chapter
2/19/2018 - updated more areas
2/25/2018 - 8.4 patch, some things updated
2/27/2018 - tidied a few things up, keeping it updated (8.4
3/3/2018 - added a vid in Ch. 7.

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• This is ARAM so that means 5v5 immediately! I use this keystone for the defensive stats it gives. If they took away the damage in a future patch, I wouldn't care. I joke with friends that Alistar works for a delivery company. Basically, I'm a team player delivering kills until that lone low health squishy ventures out too far. Tunnel vision mode. Tank status. 3 crowd control spells. Tenacity. Kill it at all costs. That is my one selfish behavior regarding "It's only ARAM, have fun" moment. But on discord, I will taunt my friends that they aren't good enough to steal my inevitable kill.
  
• Early on, I use the WQ combo and immediately walk away. Your team should be chipping away at their health. 90% of the time, I have Catalyst of Aeons & Aftershock will pitch in with the other 2 defensive stats. 20 seconds later, it's ready again. The damage this keystone does is easily applied when ulting, take advantage. Early on, I won't suffer my health just to get the keystone dmg within range.
• What about Guardian? "70-40s cooldown." Uh... Aftershock is 20s. What that means is if Alistar is on your team, each time he procs Aftershock, wait 20 seconds, then keep your eye on him again. I rather plan a Locket of the Iron Solari instead of starting Guardian with 40s cooldown as the lowest it will go.
• Grasp of the Undying is completely stupid to me on Alistar. I rather take Dark Harvest instead. I will not waste my time planning out some approach within 4s intervals to work it in. Every 20s is more than convenient with Aftershock.
  
  
  1. If you were to opt for Font of Life then I would say to run Revitalize in the 4th row going down. Second Wind is an obvious pick on the next row over. One thing to consider is that you can definitely run Font of Life with Ardent Censer since they synergize with one another. I would if I have 2 or 3 teammates that can benefit from it otherwise I will gun for CDR+defensive items as I prefer to contribute with his kit full of crowd control.
  
  
  2. We take Second Wind as it is the best option in this row. Since 8.4 patch, Conditioning is no longer necessary.
  
  • Iron Skin & Mirror Shell are irrelevant. We have zero idea of who our opponents are going to be.
  • Font of Life is now a no-brainer for me to choose in this row. Demolish is all depending on your team comp, most likely one of those type of games where you just need to take every hit you can get. My Alistar is a team-reliant type so I ignore Demolish. Bone Plating isn't exciting at all, most specifically its cooldown.
  • Second Wind takes over for Conditioning on the 3rd row going down. You only ran Conditioning because it was the best choice pre-8.4 patch.
  • On the last row at the bottom, Revitalize takes this spot. A little teamwork involving this with Font of Life and/or Second Wind. I will still sometimes take the Unflinching set up once in awhile.
  
  
  3. Unflinching with Hextech Flashtraption + Mark/Dash ensures that you will be having 20 or 32% Tenacity/Slow Resistance.
  
  • If both summoners are up... After using Flash, you will have 25%(24% in-game.) After the 10 seconds is up, you will go down to 10% since Flash is on cooldown. Every time you use Hextech Flashtraption, you get it back to 25% for 10s. And Hexflash has a 10 second cooldown. Keep in mind though, you don't need to channel it, just simply press the button to put it on cooldown, and that is good enough to proc Unflinching. But don't be lazy, try to get some value with the Hexflash & proc Unflinching along the way. Also have the presence of mind to know that it goes on cooldown if you attack an enemy champ or if you get hit by one. And the cooldown resets everytime you are in combat with enemy champions. Plan ahead. Or use the bush. Stand above the tower to use that to block view of you. Find ways to hide it if necessary. I will explain more on this in Chapter 5.
    • Now you still have Mark/Dash, your other summoner spell. After using it, if everything is on cooldowns, you will be at 32% Tenacity & slow resistance.
      
    • With Mercury's Treads, you are at 52% And 67% with Elixir of Iron added to that.
  • Revitalize is the other viable option aside from Unflinching & I would run it with Font of Life alongside Second Wind. I would absolutely run Unflinching over Revitalize if team comp requires full tanking and some 'unstoppability' on your part as Alistar. Just conceal your Hexflash and get started. I like to toss out snowball then charge up Hexflash before it hits an enemy champ
  • Overgrowth is irrelevant.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    1. Click here to jump to Ch. 5 on Hexflashing
    
    2. Approach Velocity is pretty sweet for one lane with two walls. There tends to be plenty of movement-impairing chaos happening about and enemy team will definitely give you that boost you need to go and save teammates. If not, simply Headbutt enemy to the wall, you get the 10% MS, they don't get too far due to the wall, and Trample will have an easier time gathering the stacks it needs. Don't even need to use Pulverize just yet. And as you build more cooldown reduction, you can get another Trample going in preparation to finally using Pulverize. It's all a matter of timing, the amount of cooldown reduction you have, and a team to back you up. It also flourishes against melee enemy champs like Tryndamere as he uses Mocking Shout to your teammates, right before closing in with Spinning Slash, that's 10% Movement Speed for Alistar.
    • Biscuit Delivery is NEVER a bad choice. His Headbutt + Pulverize combo puts you in deep and you will take hits if you engage on them every 14 seconds or so, which is the cooldown for a level 1 Headbutt. Your job is to keep an eye out for openings. Plus Trample, if going for 5 stacks, will put yourself in more danger. Knowing your limits and and having awareness with timers, coupled with Health Potions, nothing can hold him back. You can always replace Revitalize for Second Wind, too.
    • Future's Market is not a bad choice at all. I don't need Biscuit Delivery at all because it used to be in the same row as Hextech Flashtraption. With 8.3 patch, the biscuits simply became a convenient option to go with Hexflash. If you have a team with excellent wave clear, then Future's Market may do fine for me as Alistar because I can die without any threat to my turret(s). If coordinated with team, you can work on poking enemy down to very low health, give up your life to accomplish that, then shop, come back to lane, shove, enemy is wary of their low health, Alistar dives, take turret.
    • Cosmic Insight gives you 5% cooldown reduction across the board. If I accidentally selected this and that's what I have to use in-game, Im not going to complain about it.
    • Time Warp Tonic & Minion Dematerializer are irrelevant to me. I haven't gotten around to checking if Minion Dematerializer works on super minions coupled with having whole team run it.
    
    

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    2nd option:

    
    - Glacial Augment or Unsealed Spellbook-
    - Hextech Flashtraption -> Future's Market or Biscuit Delivery-
    Cosmic Insight or Time Warp Tonic
    - Sudden Impact -> Ingenious Hunter-
    
    
    
    Heads up! You are squishier than the option above. I only run this with friends on Discord so I can communicate the plans. I'm sure you heard Alistar tell you multiple times that he knows the way. The goal here is to add more work. If pressing so many button take a toll on ya, ignore this troll build.. I combo my emotes with my spells all the time so it's no problem. When it's all said and done, your build should be all items with actives. The most common ones are...
    
    Twin Shadows (8.4 patch)
    Everfrost
    Turbo Chemtank
    Redemption
    Locket of the Iron Solari
  
  
  
  
  1. Click here to jump to Ch. 5 on Hexflashing
  
  2. Biscuit Delivery Since patch 8.3, they moved Biscuit one row down and Magical Footwear one row up. Future's Market still gets heavy consideration over any other option in this row. Either one works but if your team has the necessary wave clear, dying to shop with Future's Market is a great option.
  
  
  3. Cosmic Insight is simply for the 5% cooldown reduction across the board. The other option is Approach Velocity and that will synergize with Trample by keeping you in position to stun after obtaining 5 trample stacks. HOWEVER! You may be too squishy to rely on trying to get 5 stacks unless you have help around you.
  • Time Warp Tonic might be considered but only if I have Biscuit Delivery, too, as I will be very squishy and want to avoid dying until specific items can be purchased. It's all up to you. If I have a Soraka or some support that can help me sustain in lane, then I will most definitely run Future's Market + Cosmic Insight.
    
    
    Secondary:
    
    1. I grabbed Sudden Impact because I don't care for the others. Eyeball Collection is the other I've used. Hexflash, Headbutt, & Mark/Dash will proc this. I haven't done the testing to determine what the other options in this tree would do in terms of overall dmg in the long run nor have I googled the answer for this. I only care for Ingenious Hunter. If you already know what you want, go for it.
    
    
    2. Ingenious Hunter is the only reason I even made this build. Should not take long to reach 5/5. And when you do, that's 40% CDR + Cosmic Insight's 5% for a total of 45%.
    
    
    
    I wont discuss this 2nd option anywhere else and will be brief about it.
    
    • This build is mainly for fun with my friends as we do 'in-house' 5v5's on the weekends.
      
    • The purpose of this build is just have fun and put in more work and as often as possible.
    • You can replace Glacial Augment for Unsealed Spellbook, if you want. See below for a pic on math involving cooldowns. If you do go through with this, then ignore buying Everfrost.
    
    • If you decide to drop Hexflash for Perfect Timing, you give yourself 2 more options with actives from Gargoyle Stoneplate & Zhonya's Hourglass. Below is another picture displaying the total cooldown percentage.
    • I have Sudden Impact selected among the runes. The items that can proc this are Hextech Rocketbelt, Mark/Dash, Flash, & Hexflash.
    

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DISCLAIMER: If enemy team comp has 5 squishy AP champs, I will still build Turbo Chemtank due to it being preference. If they were all tanks, it would be pointless to get that item unless I had to peel a Singed off my teammates...but i love Turbo Chemtank. Most games, Abyssal Mask gives MR and helps teammates. Gives you everything you need beginning with the early laning phase involving Catalyst of Aeons. The Glory's active is extra "oomph," more health, this time we get armor. Chase. Peel. Set up combos.

This item is almost always bought as the game starts and 5x Health Potion. Depending on the team composition from both sides, I will buy any of the 3 items that it builds into. But Abyssal Mask will always be first consideration. If enemy doesn't have threatening magic damage and the majority are fairly squishy, I will go for Rod of Ages instead. Champs like Nami or Janna that build AP aren't considered threatening to me as their crowd control spells are skillshots that can be dodged.

OR

&

If enemy team has no magic damage to worry about & my team doesn't either, then I start with these items. Includes 2x Health Potion. Will most likely become a Turbo Chemtank, an item that's dear to me on Alistar. The other 2 items the Glacial Shroud builds into can be considered also. I usually don't want Zeke's Convergence and even then, it's situational. And Iceborn Gauntlet rarely gets considered but if my team can capitalize with it synergizing on Headbutt + Pulverize combo, auto attack, Iceborn Gauntlet's slow kicks in, increasing your chances to pull off a stun with Trample.

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• Did you start Catalyst of Aeons? If so, I try to not die until I have enough gold to buy Abyssal Mask or whichever other 2 options available from the Catalyst. If you so happen to die before having enough, depending on the amount of gold, Boots and/or Null Mantle will be in mind and/or Glacial Shroud if I know Turbo Chemtank will be fine to build. In some cases, I will even outright buy Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads.
  
  
• Did you start Glacial Shroud & Ruby Crystal? If so, same idea with the Catalyst above. Only on this build path, the item with magic resist that you ever buy will be a Locket of the Iron Solari or one with 10% CDR like Adaptive Helm or Spirit Visage. Also your Headbutt has a 12.6 second cooldown timer with this build path at lvl 1. But that's not much considering the positioning of the enemy, you, team overall health, cooldowns, and most of all, Pulverize cooldown is only at 16.3 seconds. I don't like to [[Headbutt without it ready to go...most of the times.
  
• Now my first two items most games tend to be Abyssal Mask & Turbo Chemtank. Every now and then I take a different path. But the next item now is Kindlegem, then Aegis of the Legion, which will eventually become a Locket of the Iron Solari. If a teammate has already been working on the Locket, I would just finish up Kindlegem for Warmog's Armor.
  
• There are times when finishing an Abyssal Mask, then a Glacial Shroud, then I would die with only 800g. I then buy Kindlegem and let that sit. Health. 10% CDR & 35% overall. Sure, why not. Now if I had died with 1200g, add a Ruby Crystal. Or instead of that, you can use 1100g of that for an Aegis. It all depends on how the game is going, who is doing well, enemy included, and does your team need help with you buying a specific item, and so on...
  
• There are other items to consider and I will just make a quick mention of them for now and come back to it as I continue to finish up the guide.
  
  - Knight's Vow Enemy team is a pest with several AD champs.
  - Randuin's Omen Couple of enemy champs are gearing for critical strikes.
  - Thornmail Bunch of auto-attacking AD champs out and about.
  - Iceborn Gauntlet Add a slow to your Headbutt+ Pulverize combo, which will benefit Trample. Plus if you got a dive comp or a team that is mobile from downtown, this item is good to help team catch up if you went alittle too far ahead of them.
  - Gargoyle Stoneplate Don't know much on this. Maybe test with Demolish and/or Locket of the Iron Solari.
  - Zeke's Convergence Situational. Give it to a melee teammate who can hop to the backline. Maybe a Nocturne or Hecarim. *shrugs*
  

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[*]All in all, I am usually good at 30% CDR no matter the build. That puts cooldown timer for a maxed Pulverize at 9 seconds & maxed Headbutt+ Trample at 7 seconds. Best time to troll build is against champs that don't scale well or a bunch of squishies that you can easily mow over.






- Random item to discuss...
Raptor Cloak is one of my, uh... impulse buys. 600 bucks for it, I mean, I always have a cloth armor sitting in one of the 6 item slots, collecting dust, to eventually become Aegis of the Legion or whatever item with armor is needed. The bridge has only 3 areas where raptor cloak don't shine that Ive noticed. The two bushes, which is fine, and the middle of the bridge. I never make Banner of Command. I just like casually walking between turrets at 500+ MS on both side of the bridge.

Or here's a scenario: You just repsawned & given the situation, which is basically near the end of the game, you know you probably wont die anymore or at least don't plan to, so buy a Raptor Cloak and enjoy up to 20% movement speed. It's just a personal preference on my part. I wouldn't buy it if there's no AD champ on enemy side.

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{...work in progress, im aware its sloppy; going to browse other builds and check out their layout and ideas on building this guide also...more codings to learn}

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to be continued...




will update this chapter in time...

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Disclaimer: I mainly just press F when Hexflash is up and it just goes on cooldown. That procs Unflinching. Don't worry, Flash Headbutt+walls Hextech Flashtraption Pulverize Mercury's Treads Turbo Chemtank active, Trample, if I know that Everfrost is more than viable for the game, that too, then. Nobody escapes. You can do whatever you want because the amount of tenacity simply doesn't care. Don't get me wrong, protected ADC's also don't care what a melee cow is doing out in the open. I even buy Raptor Cloak if the position of the game is between turrets for a moment. The final piece to this is the rest of the team.

• Notice the dot reaching the inner circle? Releasing the button there is 200 range. This is my most common range in ARAM as I wont have much time sitting on my *** channeling any further while every enemy in the neighborhood is planning to gut me. By gunning for 200 range, it is rather quick, hostile skillshots fly at you, and you dodge it!
  
• If you decide to continue channeling it, keep an eye on that dot. It will continue to follow your cursor on the screen and towards the outer circle. No matter where you move the cursor, the dot follows it, and it will be where you are going to go.
  
  
  
  
  
  • As you can see, I marked this map with a yellow circle. That area is where the two long bushes reside. Go into the bush, position yourself at the very edge of it, just in front of the other bush. Now begin charging Hexflash for the full 2 seconds. The enemy CANNOT see you go from one bush to the other. I cant tell you how many times I was able to get in deep, unnoticed, and headbutt an unsuspecting fool.
  • Eventually the enemy will steer clear of you and that's fine because bush control is always a great thing. Even just sitting in there as a ward benefits your team greatly and allows them to contribute by wave clearing or at the very least, feel safe as they move farther away from their tower. Should you ever die, take advantage of the fog of war after you respawn and get back into lane. If you can just quietly sneak into the bush, get to the other edge of it, and Hexflash over unnoticed, you just might deliver another kill. Now scratch all that. Even without those strategies, I like to make sure the enemy see me walk into the bush so they know where I'm at, then immediately begin channeling Hexflash to get into the other bush. I'm sure they think I'm doing just that but one way to be sure is by face-checking the bush, haha.
  • Champs like Teemo, Nidalee, Maokai, etc, can put a stop to this rather easily. Anyone with a brain should be sitting at the very edge of the bush closest to their tower if the opposing team hasn't been vying for control of it. Just sit there and be patient, especially if you are an early game useless melee champ.
    
    
    
    MORE INFORMATION ON HEXFLASH
    • Engaging in combat with enemy champion(s) puts Hexflash on a 10 second cooldown. This cooldown timer resets over and over until you stop engaging in combat. Minions and turrets have no effect on this so you don't need to worry about them.
      
    • If you were to begin channeling Hexflash and get hit by enemy champion, it will not cancel it unless it's a hard crowd control spell. Otherwise, you remain standing there open to get hit until you release the button. In ARAM, If you have Hexflash up and enemy Mark/Dash is coming directly at you, begin channeling Hexflash before it hits you & do let it hit you. With Alistar, coming at me with the second part of the snowball isn't ideal because as soon as you are at my face, I'm now behind you via full Hexflash channel, and you will suffer a Headbutt towards my tower and/or teammates. I still have 2 more stuns to keep you in place for Headbutt to be up again. ANYTIME there's a non-crowd control spell coming at ya and you have Hexflash up, start channeling it.
      
    • If you wanted to attack enemy champion and channel Hexflash together, you would need to use a spell like LeBlanc's Ethereal Chains. You cast her chains towards enemy and before it connects onto him/her, you must press and hold Hexflash down. Once the chains connect, you are already channeling. The sweet thing about this set up is Leblanc's Ethereal Chains has an animation that's very similar to Hexflash's channel animation. I will post more of these interactions so you can get more ideas.
      
    • Eventually the enemy team will see that you are running Hexflash and will recognize your channeling animation and be wary of it. With the element of surprise gone, you now use it to bait or to intimidate. In order to make plays every now and then, finding ways to conceal yourself helps alot. Standing behind tower helps block view of you. Hiding in the bush is a no-brainer. On the bottom screen, hugging the wall may hinder view just a bit. Fat champions.
      
    • One of my favorite application of Hexflash is when Varus begins channeling his Piercing Arrow. That's your cue to also begin channeling Hexflash. And Varus isn't the only one you can pull this off on.
      
    • You get a split-second boost in movement speed which can work with Celerity. I have yet to test more into this. It all happens too fast that I just didn't care for trying to see if I could find ways to have it synergize. But I gave you the idea and if that piqued your curiosity, let me know how it goes.
    Synergizing Hexflash with spells from champions
    Disclaimer: Random notes; tested on champs I wanted to work with. Giving you the idea is actually all that matters. You take this info and run with it.
    • Talon's Assassin's Path - As soon as you use this spell to hop terrain, immediately begin channeling Hexflash. As you go through the animation of hopping over the terrain, you will eventually have at least a second channeled. It may not be much but hey, no time wasted, it was free to do.
    • Kha'Zix's evolved Leap - Same idea as the first one I listed just above. Reason for stating 'evolved' is because the standard one is simply too short, no animation to the spell to buy time to even fit in Hexflash.
    • Hexflash does not break stealth with Shaco or Evelynn. Not sure about the others as these were the only 2 I tested it with.
    • Quinn's Vault - This isn't that easy and its not something I will have in mind often but I did test it. I tested Hexflash on everyone I owned. As you travel towards enemy champion, you should be channeling it. 99% of the time, nothing happens. But in the event that the enemy decides to Flash away from you, that just gives you more distance so that the time it takes to reach 1 second into channel is looking good, giving you a chance to flee instead. Sadly, I took this idea onto Headbutt, Justice Punch among others, and Hexflash becomes shaded, thus indicating that it's not available for use at that moment.
    • Xayah's Featherstorm - As soon as you begin to fly up, you should be channeling it. You can only channel halfway to a second and release when it's time.
    • Ryze's Realm Warp - While Realm Warp is channeling and preparing to teleport you to your destination, you should be channeling Hexflash. I'll leave the rest to your imagination here. It's been fun using it on Ryze.
    
    Now that you got the idea, goto practice mode, turn off cooldowns, and experiment with your champs. Be aware that by having the cooldowns turned off means Hexflash will instantly refresh itself right after hitting an enemy champ in practice mode. To bypass this, when you turn off cooldowns to refresh timer, toggle it again. It's imperative to know, when learning these properties, of what works and what doesn't, and you will need to make sure hexflash maintain its standard properties as if you were in-game. You will only be deceiving yourself if you don't keep tabs on toggling cooldown refresh on & off.

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is almost always everyones' first choice. If my luck has it going well, as Lulu with a team comp making it good to play a support role, I'll run Unsealed Spellbook and use another summoner spell instead of Flash. Depending on who I get, the team composition I have, and whether I'm on Discord with my team or not, I may or may not use Flash. But always for Alistar.

aka 'snowball' is almost everyone's 2nd pick right after flash. Some melee champs should run this. ADC should not use it though...at all. They spend the whole game dodging everything, constantly positioning themselves over here or there, & the summoner spell does exactly what you shouldn't do! As for Alistar, he never leaves home without this.

• Exhaust is a spell I recommend one per team. I bring it everytime I'm using a marksman. Other champs I use it with tend to be mages. To name a few, Zilean, Veigar, Heimerdinger, Lulu, Ryze & so on. What my teammates bring for summoner spells also dictates whether I use it or not. All in all, you can find me using this as long as I don't need Mark/Dash. I have a friend I queue with a lot for some ARAMs, she has Clarity 99% of the time and I'm the one with Exhaust.
  
• Clarity is decent. Someone grab this if team is one to spam all day. Later in the game this spell will eventually be a waste of space, at least for me. I always bring it with Lulu running Unsealed Spellbook to replace it later on. I see this spell for the early game poking. If I'm Anivia & I see that a teammate has Exhaust, I will use Clarity. If I'm Kog'Maw and my 4 teammates can support me as AP Kog, I will bring it. 'Support me' meaning we have an ADC or 2. The reason is because I wanna take my chances at the enemy having at least 3 squishy champs to spit on. If I'm wrong, well, it still doesn't change the fact that YOU GET MANA, YOU GET MANA, EVERYONE GETS MANA!
  
• Ghost is situational. Cassiopeia? Viktor? Olaf? I don't remember the last time I used this. Will it offer decent damage with Celerity? Sorry, I couldn't really talk about this summoner spell.
• Cleanse is situational. We have no idea who is on the other side so you are going in blind as you select this. I guess I would say it's preference. Dont forget that Quicksilver Sash is also an option in-game. I've seen Vayne bring it. Like Ghost, I don't use it on the bridge, ever.
  
• Heal depends on the player. It's preference. I see mainly only Marksman running this. The reason why I don't is because you can only heal one person with yourself but an enemy with damaging AoE spells can dismiss that. Now if I were to Exhaust the enemy with those incoming AoE spells, I would have helped much more than the person who was able to heal himself and another. I have ran this with Lulu + Unsealed Spellbook many times. I start with Clarity and eventually replace it for Heal.
  
• Barrier is for ME ME ME! I never touch this...at all. Your other options are far superior in terms of being a team player to ever consider this. Whatever floats your boat.
  
• Ignite is also a waste of space to me. If you ask me, it's one less Mark/Dash to dodge. Maybe if I am using Unsealed Spellbook and decide in-game that Ignite will be beneficial, then sure, I will swap it in. But bringing Ignite before even seeing the enemy team?

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BEING NEGATIVE

Don't insult/bully people for playing bad. Everyone gets their champs out of random pick within a pool of the free champ week & your own collection. I learn new champs in ARAM only. I don't go anywhere else and sure, it doesn't benefit the team but hey, "it's only ARAM," right?!

IT'S ONLY ARAM

Contrary to popular belief, many play ARAM just as seriously as those who play LoL's other game modes. No matter which it is, you are playing LEAGUE OF LEGENDS. The common phrase I'm used to seeing is "It's only ARAM." If you love ARAM as much as I do, then the next time you are in the Rift and having a bad game, just tell them that "it's only Summoner's Rift." It's no secret people come to play ARAM to alleviate their frustrations from rank or what have you & end up just trolling everyonein the process. Do keep in mind that you still have 9 other players in the game, 4 of which is on your team.

CHAMP SELECT

Notify people that you are rerolling. Teamwork begins now. I usually give the team heads up that I will be rerolling in 10-20 seconds from now so that they have enough time to do their trades if they want what I have. Do not forget to check everyones' summoner spells. We don't need 5 Mark/Dash. I'll point out the snowballs if an ADC has it on. I mean, you do whatever you want but as long as you see the whole picture and one should paint it out for them. Believe it or not, as a team, grabbing snowball on an ADC isn't ideal for everyone. What are you going to do? Have your tank waste his time peeling for you and then go ahead and take a dump on his effort by hopping to the front lines? What if you brought Heal or Exhaust instead? Nevertheless, make yourself comfortable first and grab whatever you want. This is one of those "The more you know" moments. If you are going to grab the snowball, just grab Ignite instead.

LOAD SCREEN

You should be assessing the team comp on both sides and plan things out, get a mental picture of what will need to be done. First thing I check for is who will have lots of bush controlling power. ( Teemo, Nidalee, Maokai, etc...) Because I enjoy using many melee champs, I have extra time on my hands in the early part of the game, so therefore I sit in the bush and be a ward until an opportunity comes. Being Alistar and going over to hexflash from one bush to the other wont work if you walk over a Jhin trap, or Nidalee's, or Shaco's boxes. I'm sure Katarina is eager for load screen so she can count all the crowd control she needs to be aware of.

HEALTH RELICS

They spawn at the 2 minute marker and 1 minute after it is taken. Health relics restore health, mana, energy, and can give you fury if the champ you are using uses such resource. If no one on your team needs this, dont go for it. It can be used as bait for enemy team as they may want it. If unable to use it as so, then try and maintain control of the area around it so that in a moment of disengaging, you can pick it up as you are retreating. If a teammate needs it, escort/protect the person. If you have a champ who can lay traps, place it there.

BEFORE REACHING LEVEL 6

How far along are you until you reach level 6? Are you a Mage? Assassin ? Go kamikaze on enemy champs, do as much damage as you can, die, shop, come back being level 6. DON'T KILL ANYONE, if possible... (Well, you probably will.) When you arrive at level 6, anyone that was low will be crushed, allowing you to move closer to their nexus. Do tell your team this because you just might inadvertently bait them all to die with you or try and save you. This can cost a tower or two, depending on the situation. With Alistar, doesn't matter as no item really affects his ult like the way it would affect, say, Talon, damage-wise.

FARMING

I personally never farm anything unless if to just simply waveclear. Too many people who dont regularly play ARAM may think its just a free for all in CS'ing. It really isnt and here's why: Marksman is my preferred choice in taking the CS. If you are going to farm despite that, at least have the courtesy to let them lifesteal or let a Fiddlesticks drain it down. Waveclear champs like Ziggs or Lux usually end up with the most at the end of the game. Let Nasus have all the cannon minions. It gives him 12 stacks! If you are Nasus or you have one on the team, bring this up. Talk to the team about letting Nasus have all the last hits. If he has a supporting comp that can zone, he should have freedom since enemy will think twice before trying to respond. You could also freeze the lane or slow it down just before minions trigger tower agro. As Veigar ask team to let you farm minions to build AP. If they agree and it goes well before I die, then I will build him tanky and of course, this will also depend on team comp from both sides.

WAVE CLEAR

If you are fighting against a poke comp that you have no answer for early on... WAVECLEAR. Learn how to dodge skillshots, also. It's ARAM, you have to get better at that, too. Don't waste your spells on them and instead, waste it on clearing the wave. It only takes one well planned 2nd wave to arrive with the one ahead of it plus an ace to wipe out the first two towers, & potentially the inhibitor. And this is prevented by wave clearing. Also because no one will be beefy enough to simply tank the rest of the way... not yet anyways. If your team is the one with the poke, never start a fight. Let them do their thing and safely weave in and out with whatever you got, most definitely if you are a Melee champ. Whittle their health down, bide your time, try to make the push in time with the next one on it's way if the enemy doesn't have the necessary wave clear. And when they are low, push. An ACE upon enemy team with an intact minion wave & another on it's way is a quick way to grab two towers. If you ask me what is the one thing I would put emphasis on, it would be WAVE CLEARING.

KEEPING ENEMY LOW ON HEALTH

More often than not, anyone with low health will cower back, or stand under tower, or stand near the relic spawn point between their 2 towers. <- How low? Using Ziggs? Ult the area despite the fog of war. Preemptive strike! Or do you have any skillshots with a lot of range like Jayce or Varus? If you can avoid killing enemy champs, keep them low on health and get them pushed back, you will be able to work on putting damage on the tower. Play Video MOST DEFINITELY KEEP THEM ALIVE WITH LOW HEALTH IF THEY ARE ALSO LOW ON MANA. Now you will find yourself in this situation, too, and there is a way to remedy this. Consider who is up, who is going to be up if they are already dead, what champ are they using, use all your spells to waveclear, then die to a full health enemy champ, preferably a tank, as you don't want them taking that money and shopping with it as quickly as he/she killed you. If you cant wave clear & decide to stay alive, you'll get pushed back, you'll be under tower defending with low health, and if they have a tank to draw turret aggro, they will dive you. Sometimes you will have no choice but to give away a tower. Only champs that should stay alive, if no need for shopping for the time being, are ones like Lux or Ziggs. Just be aware of minion wave locations. When your wave comes out of the nexus, so does the enemy's. And don't be the guy who stands there waiting on a health relic, being utterly useless to his/her team all because of low health. Help your team by baiting out enemy cooldowns using your health bar... Or just die, shop, return to lane.

DYING IN ARAM

WAIT 20 SECONDS AFTER ENEMY CHAMPION HIT YOU BEFORE GETTING EXECUTED. Notify your teammates that you want to die. Failure to do this can bait your team into going in with you to save you or simply because they think its the "initiation." One of the worse thing you can do in ARAM is get aced with enemy minion wave intact. You need to die correctly or wisely at times. I will always remind my team to ignore the guy that is 8/0/0 as he can be legendary for the whole game. With Alistar I'll be planning my deaths to coincide with the amount of gold to buy my items. My goal using Lulu is get 45% CDR at or even under level 10. As soon as I know enemy cannot capitalize on my death to get a tower, and/or having teammates up to wave clear, and with enemies being dead, and so on, I will go kamikaze, do as much damage as I can to the enemy or stall/damage a minion wave for the team. Die to the one enemy champ that just respawned as they wont be shopping anytime soon unless Blitzcrank grabbed his *** just as quickly as he showed up to lane. Best type to feed yourself to would be a tank, preferably those with a Warmog's Armor or just newly respawned. When at enemy inhibitor, if low on health, dying wouldn't be a bad idea. Let your team know you are going to do as much damage as you can to the inhib. I would advise you to ignore the enemy with low health in the process. Bonus is when you actually get the inhib before dying. Now enemy has to address the super minions while beginning their push deep from their own territory. And you will be respawning in time to defend, most likely before they get half way across the bridge. Had a game where I saw in the chat that Nami just bought Locket + Redemption in one go. Prior to seeing this, we had just made a team fight attempt upon the enemy and lost. I remember thinking to myself that if we had Locket and Redemption for that, we win that fight. Then Nami buy those items...but it was over as it was the one team fight the other team needed for the final push. Nami only died 4 times total and looking back on that...learn to die and shop sometime. Buying both of those items in one go means you hoarded. When you finally arrive to the nexus turrets and you have gold for shopping, or just under half health, just dodge all skillshots, attack turret until you are dead. That is probably the easiest decision to make about dying. They have a long push ahead of them with super minions while you are dead.