Hey there, I'm GuessMoo.
I'm pretty sure you have no idea who I am but never mind that.

Alistar is, has and will always be my main.
I play Alistar solo top or a jungle/roamer.
I have tried many builds on mobefire with him but none of them have really worked for me.
So I've decided to make my own build of what I find the best balance between tankyness and damage so you are hard to kill and impossible to kill with your ult on.

Tank alistar is nice and all but his cooldowns are really high so if you miss your Q or W the wrong champion. Also you do such pitiful damage the will just ignore you throughout the teamfight.

Pure AP alistar does insane burst without interruption but after the Deathfire,W,Q, auto attack (Lich bane) combo you are basically walking around in circles hoping they won't realize what just happened until your cooldowns are back up.

Support alistar.... really now?
I don't believe alistar is truly a support.
Ok sure he has a heal and can zone out or reposition the enemy but I'd take soraka, janna, sona or taric any day over alistar.
Why? Support alistar lacks both tankyness and damage. After his headbutt and pulverize, which do minimal damage, he is more squishy then a slug in a dishwasher! People just kite you when you use your ult or focus someone else and then kill you in 0.1 sec when it is down.

Anyways I hope this guide of my favorite champion will serve you well.
Leave a comment on your personal opinion on alistar and my build.
Before we truly start I'd like to say that I apologize for my, possibly, bad English and I'd like you to point out any grammar or spelling mistakes that you find.

LET'S DO THIS!

Pros:
Isn't as reliant on his ult to save him.
Does TONS of damage!
Can become the ultimate tank with a push of a button.
Enough AP to allow him to heal quite nicely even though you only have 1 rank in it.
The hourglass can trick enemies into grouping around you.

Cons:
Only 2 damaging spells (not the ideal carry).
Needs either a lot of farm or a lot of kills.
Only 2 health items.
Mana dependant.

Personally I go with very common runes of flat mag pen marks, armour seals, mag resist glyphs and ap quint.
Though runes like flat, or per lvl, mana regen seals and mag resist per lvl are ideal.
I'd also suggest getting movement speed quint instead of ap but I find the 5% move speed from masteries to be quite enough.

I go 0/21/9 to give me movement speed, cooldown reduction per lvl, damage reduction, mana and longer jungle buffs.
This is my preferred set up though going 21/0/9 or 9/0/21 is completely all right.

Dorans ring has everything you need for starting a game.
You can also start building your Catalyst by buying mana and health pots.
Another way is to start boots, 2-3 health pots and a mana pot.
boots plus movespeed masteries (and maybe quint as well) will give you an advantage over most skillshot champions.

If you really want to farm with your abilites and endlessly harass the enemy then I'd suggest buying Chalice right after dorans and normal boots.

I try to find the perfect balance between magic resist, armour, health and ability power.
Because you get armour per lvl it is ideal to get Mercury's Tread to even it it out.
Building pure health is stupid because even if you have 3 warmogs you still only have 30 magic resist and ap carries, with mag pen marks and sorcerer's boots, will rip right through that defense.

Why don't I just rush deathcap first instead of saving it for last?
Because with rabadons you might have a lot of damage but you'll be so squishy they'll just rip apart if you initiate. Especially with Alistar's ult now only giving you 50% damage reduction at rank 1.
I added the deathcap to replace dorans ring if the game seems to go on forever and you are getting fed like hell.
Don't expect to buy it.
A fed Alistar usually ends with a surrender.

Again this build is set up in a way so that you always have a balance between health, armour and magic resist while still doing optimal damage.

Some people max headbutt first, some max Pulverize. I max them together!
I do this so I can both clear out a minion wave quickly, if I want to, and do good damage to the other laner.
His heal is what makes him a walking tank in lane.
So long as enemy minions are dying, Alistar is healing.
However the reason I only put 1 rank into it and max it last is because
1: his ability power keeps it giving out good heals and
2: the mana cost increases dramatically at higher ranks.

Teleport because you are going to solo top and you want to be able to teleport into battles since you'll be spending all early and mid game farming as much as you can.
Flash is almost mandatory on Alistar because of his Flash, Q and then W the squishiest target right towards your allies is almost a guaranteed victory.
Also using the same combo on the enemy laner, when the jungler ganks, will almost always guarantee a successful gank.

Alistar packs quite the punch even though you don't have any attack damage.
Try to completely out-zone your enemy.
Everytime he gets close you want to either just headbutt him away or pulverize and start auto attacking him while he is stunned, until he retaliates and tries to burst you down, then you headbutt him away.
You don't really want to use your Q to farm.
You never use your W to last hit. It costs to much mana and is single target.
Best way is to use your heal to activate your passive and try to last hit with attacking.
When you have to go back you just start Q-ing right in the middle of the minion wave (so you hit the ranged and melee minions) and push right up to the tower and then recall.
Always remember to get a ward and put it in the river brush to avoid ganks.
If the jungler comes behind you then he just made a big mistake.
You just headbutt him, keep walking until you reach him and then pulverize and go to your tower.
It is almost impossible to gank alistar so long as you have at least 150 mana for ult or a headbutt, heal.

In teamfights you are the initiator.
Best way is to flash, pulverize their entire team and headbutt the squishy out.
Using the Heabutt pulverize combo is also a good way to start a teamfight since you do so much damage. Just remember to headbutt the squishiest target so you deal the maximum amount of damage to him.
If the focus you then you just pop your ult and make them feel ashamed for focusing an ulted Alistar by allowing your team to take them down one by one.
Please remember that Alistar is not the most optimal choice for every game you play.
Even though Alistar is my main, I only play him when it seems right.
Alistar works incredibly well with champions like nunu, amumu, kennen, fiddlesticks (your Q plus AoE... you get the idea)

Overall Alistar is probably one of the most annoying champions to fight against.
You don't even control where your character goes if he focuses you.
However Alsitar is one of the most hardest champion to play because one mistake can ruin everything.

I sure hope you like this build I have created for one of my favorite champions!
Please help me make it even better by suggesting what I can change or what I can add/remove.

I will be adding to this build things like jungling and maybe a different approach to a "support" Alistar.

P.S. Alistar is NOT a cow!
He is a Minotaur!
Even if we was a cattle he would first of all be a bull.
Cows are the females, people, get it right.