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Pack Hound Alistar
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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Ghost
Flash
Ability Order
Triumphant Roar (PASSIVE)
Alistar Passive Ability
Introduction
This page contains two builds - click the Alistar portraits at the top to see them!
Here is a link to a video showing me using this build in a game:
<< Youtube >>
Hi there!
Right off the mark, with this build, don't expect:
a) A large number of kills
b) OMGWTFBBQ Damage
Instead, what this build does, is make you an unstoppable force who not only charges into the thick of it, but gets the team there too! I would argue that this (or a similar variation) is the best build to go support Alistar available.
My thinking behind this build is that Alistar has a lot of strengths, and only one of them is his high AP ratio. To me, his greatest power is his ability to bring enemies who don't really want to be where the action is, up to the armpits in a bog of team destruction. His other great power is that he can break all CC and tank for a while - this pretty much means that you don't need to worry about

Here is an idea of how matches tend to pan out - my defeats were solo queue letdowns, with the most recent one being a Zilean on our team stacking movement speed and charing down middle lane to get killed...
.

This is the real reason I posted this build - since I could not find any build which really suited me. I tried out AP, and it was satisfying to take out a whole minion wave in a single
Pulverize, but I barely ever got enough items, and I was far too easy to kill.
I then tried hybrid, which was actually fairly good, but I didn't really feel that the extra survival offset the reduced damage, since the cooldowns of skills left me sitting in the middle of the fight like a lemming.
The key to me was becoming tank and support - but the problem was gold. This build is designed so you can build endgame items by the end, and be tough all the way through the game.
The start is strange, and often gets people shouting at me who don't know what i'm doing - you basically wait for 5 extra gold at the start - this allows you to get 2 items
Cloth Armor
Faerie Charm which really help you stay in lane long enough to get Philosopher's Stone and
Heart of Gold. It is this phase of the game when you need to be focusing on last hitting minions - which is why you should get heal first, so you can extend and get those hits as your laning partner applies pressure.
As you progress, you should pick up boots - this should be no problem now that you have the heavy cash flow, you can start applying some pressure of your own and punting enemies into turrets! You should take a look at the other team/lane - if melee heavy, get
Chain Vest, otherwise get
Negatron Cloak. If they are balanced, get
Negatron Cloak, since at this stage you will be lacking in Magic Resistance.
Now, once you have
Avarice Blade, build some expensive stuff! Run into the wraith creeps at top and bottom and
Pulverize them for some easy gold, but don't waste time on others - this is the part of the game where you can be running in to help allies, knock enemies away, get focused and
Unbreakable Will &
Ghost out of there!
Once
Force of Nature has been built, rush
Shurelya's Battlesong, since this will allow your team to chase down and kill enemies or flee from a desperate situation - this can then combo with
Randuin's Omen in both scenarios, and make people who hit you when fleeing under your ultimate also get a slow on them.
Avarice Blade floats for most of the match, just for a little bit extra until you (probably don't) manage to get
Youmuu's Ghostblade, which is a massive item for turret kills. You could build this before
Warmog's Armor if you feel that you don't need any more flat health, but that will depend on the enemy team entirely.

I then tried hybrid, which was actually fairly good, but I didn't really feel that the extra survival offset the reduced damage, since the cooldowns of skills left me sitting in the middle of the fight like a lemming.
The key to me was becoming tank and support - but the problem was gold. This build is designed so you can build endgame items by the end, and be tough all the way through the game.
The start is strange, and often gets people shouting at me who don't know what i'm doing - you basically wait for 5 extra gold at the start - this allows you to get 2 items



As you progress, you should pick up boots - this should be no problem now that you have the heavy cash flow, you can start applying some pressure of your own and punting enemies into turrets! You should take a look at the other team/lane - if melee heavy, get



Now, once you have




Once










In spite of the nerf, I still favour


The only question here really would be: "why not defense tree?"
The answer, quite simply, is that the Utility and Offensive trees provide cooldown reduction (
Sorcery,
Intelligence
) for the ablility to just do everything faster - which is essential for Alistar. The Utility tree also provides mana regeneration from
Meditation
and
Perseverence
as well as reducing your key lane-slayer skill,
Flash's cooldown with
Blink of an Eye
and
Presence of the Master
. The extra duration on
Ghost provided by
Haste
is also extremely useful when you are running to an ally's aid, getting to defend a turret, chasing down a foe... or any other reason you may have to use it!
In my opinion, these bonuses completely outweigh those provided by the defensive tree, particularly if the alternative is to not have any of them.
The answer, quite simply, is that the Utility and Offensive trees provide cooldown reduction (









In my opinion, these bonuses completely outweigh those provided by the defensive tree, particularly if the alternative is to not have any of them.
With this build, you aren't going for the gank in the bushes, since you need to get the second item at the start, so you do best to get
Triumphant Roar at the start to allow you to push for minion last hits and keep your ally in lane longer. Remember that you don't necessarily want to heal your minions all the time, since the nearer they are to your turret, the more easily you will be able to
Pulverize and
Headbutt them into your turret when you get the skills.
Pulverize second to defend yourself and allies at this stage, if they decide to jump in and go for a kill.
Next, analyse your laning - if you feel that you have the upper hand, get
Headbutt and start going for kills with your turret and
Flash. If you are struggling, get
Triumphant Roar to keep you alive, and delay
Headbutt for level 4.
From here, the damage of your
Pulverize and
Headbutt is irrelevant, they are there to help allies get the kills by stunning and moving opponents - so max out
Triumphant Roar as fast as possible, picking up
Unbreakable Will as often as possible.
The skilling is based around the priorities:
1)
Unbreakable Will
2)
Triumphant Roar
3)
Pulverize
4)
Headbutt (with exception of Rank 1 at level 3 or 4)




Next, analyse your laning - if you feel that you have the upper hand, get




From here, the damage of your




The skilling is based around the priorities:
1)

2)

3)

4)

This was a response to a comment about the usefulness of Avarice Blade and Youmuu's Ghostblade - This modified build gives you more early/mid game survival with slightly reduced early/mid damage, keeping the gold bonuses.
Late game is buffed by boosting Ability Power and support by adding slows to your attacks with
Rylai's Crystal Scepter and an area effect magic resist debuff to help your team score kills from
Abyssal Mask. This is at the cost of reduced max health (though I figured that without minion kills and because it was late game,
Warmog's Armor wasn't reaching full effect anyway).
Like said, Youmuu's was designed to help turret killing, and though you lose the attack speed, you can get auto attack damage increases from a % of your Ability Power (can't remember the figures though). And in the end, if you can tank the enemy team and turret, your team can do the work on the turrets.
The magic resistance from
Abyssal Mask is also rather a nice addition since Magic Resistance is lower than Armour - but if they are lacking in magical damage (or you feel that they have too much crowd control), grab a
Banshee's Veil.
Late game is buffed by boosting Ability Power and support by adding slows to your attacks with



Like said, Youmuu's was designed to help turret killing, and though you lose the attack speed, you can get auto attack damage increases from a % of your Ability Power (can't remember the figures though). And in the end, if you can tank the enemy team and turret, your team can do the work on the turrets.
The magic resistance from


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