PROS + Practically cant die in a fight because of ultimate damage reduction and just how tanky he is + insane amounts of CC + Really good Engage + Can catch out of position enemies well + Has a nice amount of sustain with passive + Alistar is extremely fun to play Alistar is an extremely tanky support with a great engage.He is good in lane for setting up fights and in team fights for engaging and is practically unkillable with Unbreakable Will.

CONS - If you mess up an engage it can be punished easily by the enemy - Does not do great in most matchups - His main engage combo(W Q)can be dodged by mobility and canceled by hard CC - Alistar has very long cooldowns on his abilities. Alistar’s engage to a good player would be very predictable and since enemies can dodge his engage with a dash or Flash that can leave him in a bad spot. This predictability forces you to be creative to get good engages in unexpected ways. If you also engage at a bad time and your teams not there you don't have any hard disengage so it would most likely lead to your death. In lane Alistar also has a lot of bad matchups.

FLASH Flash is very important for Alistar.You should take Flash every game since Flash allows you to make many plays such as Flash Headbutt Pulverize. In lane, Flash can be used as a great offensive tool that puts an immense amount of pressure on the enemy. If they don't respect the fact that you have Flash you can Flash all in for an easy kill or trade summoners. Flash can also be used as a defensive tool to run away from a bad fight and save your life. It can also be used to dodge dodge or die skillshots such as Rocket Grab if you are at a point where if you get hit by that ability you would die.

IGNITE Ignite is a summoner spell that has a lot of kill pressure in lane with the extra true damage you get from it. Also Ignite has an effect called grievous wounds. Ignite has 60% grievous wounds which means it reduces healing effects going to the person you used Ignite on by 60%.While using Ignite in lane remember to use it before the enemy uses Heal in a fight since the grievous wounds from Ignite can negate most of the healing from Heal. Ignite can also be useful against champions like Soraka Nami Swain Yasuo who have lots of healing since the grievous wounds from Ignite can help against their abundant healing.

EXHAUST Exhaust is a good defensive summoner spell. It is good against hypercarry adcs like Vayne and Twitch. It is also good against assassins like Zed and Kha'Zix. Remember to use Exhaust on these targets before they do their damage so you can negate a lot of it in the beginning. Also during lane fights use it on the adc to lower their damage and gives you and your adc time to kill the enemy without taking a lot of damage. Exhaust can also be used to stop a pursuer from chasing you and your teammate(s) by slowing them with it.

PASSIVE

TRIUMPHANT ROAR ✦ Alistar gains a stack of Triumph for every enemy champion he stuns or displaces with Pulverize, Headbutt, or Trample, and every time an enemy minion or non-epic monster dies nearby. ✦At 7 Triumph stacks, Alistar consumes them and roars, healing himself for 25 − 161 (based on level) and all nearby allied champions for double the amount. ✦Alistar roars instantly if a nearby enemy champion or epic monster dies. Once Triumph stacks are consumed Alistar cannot roar again for a short duration, but can still gain stacks.

Q

PULVERIZE ✦ Alistar slams the ground beneath him, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and stunning and knocking them up simultaneously for 1 second.

W

HEADBUTT ✦ Alistar dashes to the target enemy's location and, if the target is within 400 units upon arrival, he deals them magic damage and knocks them back a fixed distance over 0.75 seconds while also stunning them for 1 second.

E

TRAMPLE ✦ Alistar becomes Ghosted and tramples the ground around him every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and gaining a Trample stack every time the ability damages at least one enemy champion. ✦ At 5 Trample stacks, Alistar’s next basic attack within 6 seconds deals bonus magic damage and applies a 1-second stun on-hit to its target.

R

UNBREAKABLE WILL ✦ Alistar Cleanses himself of all crowd control. For the next 7 seconds, Alistar reduces incoming damage received.

Boots of Swiftness is a rare yet good choice on Alistar. Boots of Swiftness gives the highest base movement speed of any boots in the game which is 60. Boots of Swiftness Also gives 25% slow reduction which can be useful against champions like Tahm Kench. Since Boots of Swiftness costs 900 gold it is the cheapest tier 2 boot in the game so it lets you get your items faster. The movement speed is good in a lot of situations such as running away chasing enemies and even roaming.


Ionian Boots of Lucidity can be a good choice if the enemy is not heavy AD or Ap, not a lot of CC, and has some scaling champions. Since there are a lot of scaling champions on the enemy team they will expect you to roam and usually play safer since their early game would be weak this would make it where Mobility Boots would not be a good option. If the enemy team is also neither heavy AD nor AP and not a lot of CC Plated Steelcaps and Mercury's Treads would not be a great choice. Ionian Boots of Lucidity also gives a good amount of ability haste and summoner spell ability haste which means your Flash and whichever other spell you took will come up more often. Since Ionian Boots of Lucidity is 950 gold it is also a cheap option so you can reach your power spikes faster.




Locket of the Iron Solari is the go to mythic for all tank supports. This is the same with Alistar Locket of the Iron Solari grants 20 ability haste, 30 armor, 30 magic resistance, and 200 health. All these stats are great on Alistar since you want to get as tanky as possible. on top of that, this item's active is that when you use it grants all nearby allies a shield. This is really good in fights since when the enemy is about to drop a nuke on your team use this to take up the damage. Remember though to use Locket of the Iron Solari's item active when the enemy is doing their damage not when they already did it. This item also gives nearby allies 5 armor and 5 magic resistance. This is not an insane amount but it is still nice to have. The mythic passive of Locket of the Iron Solari empowers each of your other Legendary items with 2 bonus magic resist and armor for Locket of the Iron Solari's passive effect.

Evenshroud has several stats that are beneficial for Alistar it gives 20 Ability Haste, 200 Health, 30 Magic Resistance, and 30 Armor. These are good stats for the low price of the item and also for a lot of tankiness early game. The passive of Evenshroud makes it where becoming affected by or applying an immobilizing effect to or from an enemy champion affects them and all enemy champions in a 600 radius around you with Repent, increasing the damage they take by 9% for 4 seconds. This allows Evenshroud to make Alistar have even more aggressive pressure Alistar and could secure kills at any point in the game you otherwise could not have gotten. Although in turn, it has no defensive capabilities for your team like Locket of the Iron Solari does but is a great item to buy when you need a bit more pressure with your engagement.

Turbo Chemtank is a great mythic choice if you need an easier engage and some tank stats. Turbo Chemtank gives you 20 ability haste, 350 health, 25 armor, and 25 magic resistance. These stats are good for you because they make you become tankier. Turbo Chemtank's item active gives your character an insane speed boost when moving toward enemy champions. Also when you get close enough to an enemy it makes a shockwave that slows enemies. This item active is perfect for chasing down enemies and giving you a free engage because of the movement speed which lets you close the gap on them. Turbo Chemtank's passive also does a bit of damage to nearby enemies when you are attacked or attacking although it is not anything crazy. Turbo Chemtank's mythic passive gives every legendary item 5 ability haste. This lets you get more spell rotations in during a fight. Overall this item is very fun to use and gives you an even greater engage and a bit of damage on top of that.


Sunfire Aegis is a good mythic option if you want to be really tanky and do more damage. Sunfire Aegis Gives 15 ability haste, 350 health, 30 armor, and 30 magic resistance. This makes Sunfire Aegis the tankiest viable mythic item on Alistar. Sunfire Aegis also has the same passive as Turbo Chemtank where if you attack or get attacked it deals damage around you. Except this time the damage stacks. It can stack up to six times and when it reaches max stacks your next basic attack will explode and deal damage around you. This makes this item a good source of tankiness and also a nice source of damage. It does not do an absolutely insane amount of damage but it is noticeable. Sunfire Aegis's mythic passive gives every legendary item you have plus 5% slow resist and tenacity. This is a great mythic passive since it gives a good amount of tenacity whch can be great for peeling in fights against teams with lots of CC. One drawback of this item is its price. Since you are support you are not allowed to cs therefore you get a much lower amount of gold relative to our team. This means that Sunfire Aegis which costs 3200 gold can be very expensive and would take a lot of time to build. Drawing you back from other items like Zeke's Convergence and Knight's Vow. Which can be very powerful for whoever you decide to use it on. So you will have to make the decision if this item is worth it or not in your situation.





Frozen Heart is an amazing item for Alistar if the enemy has a lot of Ad threats. Frozen Heart gives you 20 Ability Haste, 80 armor, and 400 mana. Frozen Heart is the item that gives you the most armor in the game so if you are able to build it it will make you very hard to kill for ad enemies. The ability haste is also nice for more spell rotations in fights. Also since Alistar can have some mana problems the extra mana is very useful so you don't run out of mana. Frozen Heart's passive reduces all damage taken from attacks by 5 for every 1000 Health capped at 40% of all damage. This passive is great if the enemy has 4 to 5 AD threats and can allow you to block an insane amount of damage. Frozen Heart also creates an aura around you which reduces the attack speed of enemies by 15%. This can be amazing against AD hyper-carries like Master Yi Vayne or Tryndamere who need to auto-attack to do their damage and to set up abilities and/or reduce ability cooldowns.


Thornmail is a great item on Alistar if you need armor and grievous wounds. Thornmail gives 60 armor and 350 health. Thornmail also offers grievous wounds from its passive. Thornmail's passive deals 10(+10% Bonus Armor) magic damage and inflicts 40% Grievous Wounds for 2 seconds on an enemy champion whenever they attack you. The passive also inflicts 60% Grievous Wounds whenever Alistar immobilizes someone. This passive is especially good for Alistar since your Pulverize Headbutt and Trample stun all activate the passive.This passive is also amazing for shutting down heavy life steal champions like Aatrox Olaf and Swain. If you are against healing enchanter supports like Soraka and Yuumi buying a Bramble Vest early can help cut down some of their healing and later on if you wish you can upgrade it into Thornmail. Thornmail is also good for heavy ad enemy teams as it gives 60 armor which can make you tricky to kill for the enemy team.


Randuin's Omen is a good choice on Alistar if the enemy is heavy AD. Randuin's Omen gives 10 Ability haste, 80 armor, and 250 health. It gives the same amount of armor that Frozen Heart gives which is the most in the game. Although unlike Frozen Heart Randuin's Omen gives 250 heath which can make you tankier. Randuin's Omen has the same passive as Frozen Heart. The passive reduces all damage taken from attacks by 5 for every 1000 Health you have, capped at 40% of all damage. This is a great passive against 4-5 AD enemies since it will make you very hard to kill for them. Randuin's Omen's active slows nearby enemies in a radius by 99% for 0.25 seconds, reduces their attack damage by 10% for 4 seconds, and reduces their critical strike damage by 20% for 4 seconds. The slow is not very important because of how short it lasts but it can be nice for chasing enemies. The ad and critical strike damage reduction though can be very useful against champions like Yasuo Yone Tryndamere and Twitch who build AD and crit which Randuin's Omen reduces.


Dead Man's Plate can be a good item for Alistar if the enemy is heavy ad. Dead Man's Plate gives you 400 health, 40 armor, and 5% movement speed. Dead Man's Plate gives an insane amount of health which can be good for overall tankiness Dead Man's Plate also gives 40 armor which is good against heavy ad team comps and ad threats such as Jhin Tryndamere or Twitch. Dead Man's Plate's passive is while moving, build stacks of Momentum, granting up to 60 bonus movement speed at 100 stacks. Momentum decays by 3 every 0.25 seconds while immobilized. Basic attacks consume all stacks on-hit to deal 1 bonus magic damage per stack, up to 100. At maximum stacks, the target is also slowed by 50% for 1 second. This passive is really fun and good to use since the extra movement speed lets you close the gap onto enemies and once you do you can slow them and deal a bit of damage. Dead Man's Plate is also nice for roaming as the extra movement speed allows you to move around the map and get to places faster. Although Dead Man's Plate can be a bit expensive to purchase since you are a support.

Zhonya's Hourglass is an item that gives 65 AP, 10 Ability Haste, and 65 AD. These stats are not ideal but are still good since it gives Alistar a little more damage a good amount of tankiness and lower cooldowns. But this item truly becomes great n Alistar not because of the stats but because of the item active. The item active makes you go into stasis which makes you untargetable and invulnerable but also makes you not be able to declare auto attacks, cast abilities, use summoner spells, and use item actives. This gives Alistar even more pressure in dives since you can go in first tank tower and then right before you die press Zhonya's Hourglass causing you to deny the next tower shot and survive the dive while denying tower from hitting the person diving with you. Zhonya's Hourglass can also allow you to survive damage you otherwise wouldn't be able to and possibly turn the fight around after.

Zeke's Convergence is a great item for Alistar as it gives 20 ability haste, 250 health,250 mana, and 25 armor. This item gives a lot of stats that are useful on Alistar. It gives health and armor which lets him become tankier. It also gives mana since Alistar has high mana costs the extra mana would be useful. The ability haste would also help you get more abilities in a fight. Zeke's Convergence item active also empowers the person you select it to. It empowers them by making your Accomplice's basic attacks on-hit and ability hits against marked enemies deal 30 − 70 (based on level)(+ 7.5% AP)(+ 1.5% maximum health) bonus magic damage to whichever enemy or enemies you have immobilized. This means that the person you make your accomplice become a lot stronger. Usually, the best choice would be to give this to your ADC since their auto attacks would proc the extra damage.

Knight's Vow is a great item for Alistar. It grants 10 Ability Haste, 400 Health, and %300 health regeneration. This is great for Alistar since it makes him tankier. The health regeneration also lets him stay alive in fights longer and he can stay on the map longer as well since he can regenerate his health quite quickly. Knight's Vow's active designates a selected ally champion as a Worthy Ally. Whenever your Worthy Ally is nearby you take 15% of the damage that they would take up until you have 30% HP. If your Worthy Ally is below 50% of their Maximum Health then you gain 35% additional movement speed when moving towards them. This is amazing to fight against high burst assassins like Zed Kha'Zix or Talon. Since if you select your team carry which could be a squishy ADC like Caitlyn Jhin or Kog'Mawand the assassin attacks that person then they would take %15 less damage which can be enough to let them live and now the assassin engaged did not get a kill and that can create an opening for your team to fight back. The movement speed is also nice if you need to reach the person fast for whatever reason.

Redemption is a good item for Alistar. It offers 15 ability haste 200 health 100% base mana regeneration 20% heal and shield power. It also offers a very powerful active ability. The active of Redemption is that you can select an area and that area after 2.5 seconds a beam of light shines down and that light if it hits allied champions heals them for 180-360 health based on their level if enemy champions are hit then they take 10% maximum health true damage. You can also use this ability while you are dead. This active if used correctly can win your team a fight. The damage if you hit multiple targets can be insane since it is maximum health true damage which can be great against enemy frontline. The healing is also great to get your team healthier. Redemption's active is also a great zoning tool since if enemies stay in the zone they risk taking damage. The stats on the item are also good for Alistar since the mana regeneration will be good for your mana problems and the heal and shield power will make Triumphant Roar a bit stronger. Redemption can also be used to finish off low-health enemies as they run away. The range of the active is also absurd so in a teamfight it can reach from your backline to the enemy backline. For instance, you can use Redemption to let your frontline tank longer with the heal let your backline survive burst, or try and damage the enemy team or do both if your placement or position of teams is good enough.

Mikael's Blessingcan be a good buy if the enemy team has a lot of CC Ap damage or both. Mikael's Blessing offers 15 ability haste 50 Magic Resistance 100% base mana regeneration 20% heal and shield power. Mikael's Blessing also has an active ability. The active ability removes all crowd control effects from either yourself or an allied champion except Airborne, Blind, Disarm, Grounded, Nearsight, and Suppression the target also heals 100-200 health based on their level. Since Mikael's Blessing offers no tank stats except Magic Resistance it would be best to buy Mikael's Blessing as a third or fourth item so you are still tanky. Mikael's Blessing can be a great ability against abilities like Dark Binding Enchanted Crystal Arrow Light Binding etc. Since these abilities if they do land can lead to a kill Mikael's Blessing's active can save you or your teammate's life.

Abyssal Mask is a great item into a heavy AP enemy comp or if the enemy has 3 or more AP threats. Abyssal Mask grants 350 health 60 magic resistance. These stats make Alistar quite tanky and into heavy AP you will become very hard to kill. The passive of Abyssal Mask is also good since the passive is that whenever you immobilize an enemy champion they will take 10% increased damage from all sources for 4 seconds. This can be amazing after an engage since that extra damage can let your team follow up even stronger than they could before since the passive procs on Pulverize Headbutt and Trample.


Force of Nature is a great choice of an item into a team with heavy magic damage. The passive of force of nature allows for even more magic damage negation and an increase in movement speed which can allow you to stick onto enemies easier while taking less damage overall. The base stats of this item give you 350 health, 70 magic resist, and 5% movement speed. These stats give you a good amount of tankiness and speed but as a downside has no ability haste which can be rough for [[alistr due to his high cooldowns. Although in exchange this item allows for better and safer engages with its extra tankiness when taking damage along with its the extra movement speed the passive grants when you hit 6 stacks.

Hextech Flashtraption is a rune that appears during the time when Flash is on cooldown. Hextech Flashtraption has a cooldown of 20 seconds but whenever you go into champion combat the cooldown goes to 10 seconds. Hextech Flashtraption allows Alistar to make many different plays. Hextech Flashtraption is practically a flash but you need to charge it up a little bit before you go. For example, in lane, if you walk up to a bush and stand right on the edge and use Hextech Flashtraption you can go bush to bush without being seen. This is an instant gap close which can catch your enemies off guard and give you a kill or summoners if you engage onto unknowing enemy laners. Another way to use Hextech Flashtraption is when you look for roams if you go to midlane you can move to the enemy's raptor camp. Move up into the camp and use Hextech Flashtraption you will catch the enemy off guard. Use Trample then Headbutt them towards your laner and if you can use Pulverize on them. At that point, it should be a free kill or Flash. If the enemy realized that you have a heavy roaming style then they can try and shove the wave and look for a dive on your adc. If they did this before then you can act like you will go for a roam then when they dive you can use Hextech Flashtraption through a wall and win the fight since the enemies are in your tower. Another thing you can do is very simple. You can use Hextech Flashtraption in a bush for a bit of distance to engage. If you went the Phase Rush page I put above then you will get more speed after Hextech Flashtraption since Hextech Flashtraption procs Nimbus Cloak. These are just some examples of how to use Hextech Flashtraption. Hextech Flashtraption is a rune that requires a lot of creativity and you will get better at using it with experience.

Your bread and butter combo which is your Headbutt into Pulverize is quite easy to execute. You can click Pulverize mid-way through the Headbutt animation and Pulverize will land the second you hit the target. This makes it where you do not need to time your Pulverize.


Another combo is your Flash Pulverize Headbutt combo. For this combo if the enemy is in Flash range you can Flash then Pulverize walk behind them and Headbutt them into your teammate. A little harder but faster version of this combo is when you Pulverize then immediately Flash this makes it where the enemy has no time to react then walk around and Headbutt them into your team.

Another combo is where you Headbutt an enemy towards your team then immediately Flash and Pulverize and activate Trample. when the trample is ready you can time your auto to the last tick of Trample and get the stun off as soon as possible.

Level 1

Level 1 Alistar is practically a potato health bar. you can't do much since you don't have both Headbutt and Pulverize. I usually take Pulverize first level every game. It is a nice ability if your team invades by your Flash into Pulverize and it can also delay invades by the enemy if you get caught. Level one you should just play safe. If you are against poke just try to dodge skillshots and poke if you can.

Level 2

Right, when you hit level two your side of the lane now has an insanely more amount of pressure. Since the enemy has to be careful of a Flash into Headbutt and Pulverize engage. If you are with a good early game adc such as Lucian or Draven you can look to play extremely aggressively since one combo by you could be enough for an enemies Flash or even a kill.

Since Alistar's level one is really bad enemies can shove the wave and attempt to poke you and your adc under tower if they do this and get greedy you can Flash on top of one of them and then Pulverize then Headbutt them into tower which practically guarantees a Flash and usually a kill. If the enemy has good reaction time they might Flash out of the Pulverize but either way, you got their Flash and if you're running Hextech Flashtraption it's a very worth trade.

Level 3

At level 3 you unlock Trample this ability topped off with Headbutt and Pulverize is an insane amount of CC and kill pressure.

During lane remember to keep killing minions with your support item. Your top priority should be siege minion melee minion then caster minion . Since siege minion gives the most gold then melee minion gives the second most and caster minion gives the least.

Around this time you can start looking for roams or helping out your jungler. With roams, you can try to get your mid laner or jungler ahead by killing the mid laner securing scuttle securing objectives such as dragon rift herald , etc.

At your first back you should get Mobility Boots and a Control Ward hopefully you got a few kills or assists so after you get mobility boots start to build one of your mythics either Locket of the Iron Solari Turbo Chemtank or Sunfire Aegis.

Also since you are a support remember to put wards down. The top two priority areas to put wards down is in the river bush and the tri-bush. Once you have vision in these areas you can start looking for deep wards in the enemy jungle and for vision in dragon . Every back get Control Ward and put them around the map since they deny and give vision they are extremely useful. Around the time you get your first support item upgrade which would be Targon's Buckleror Runesteel Spaulders you should buy Oracle Lens this item is useful for clearing enemy vision. For example, you can clear enemy vision in bot lane bushes so you can do the Hextech Flashtraption gap close trick without being seen. Also, you can clear vision in your jungle that the enemy put or enemy river vision.

When laning phase ends remember to ward. When your team is ahead of the enemy set up aggressive vision in the enemy jungle. This vision allows your team to possibly make picks on enemies and then force a 4v5 fight for an objective. If your team is behind then your first priority should be to establish vision in your own jungle to make sure you and your team do not get picked. Although still put some vision in river and other areas that are not in your jungle. Also, remember to try and clear the enemies' wards in your jungle by using Oracle Lens. While you are doing this remember to use Control Ward around the map since they deny and establish vision. You should have constant vision on objectives so the enemy does not try and take the objective without your team noticing.

Thank you for reading this is my first guide I will keep updating and improving this guide continuously so come back to this guide in the future if you want to see more.

Some Layouts from this guide were from https://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506