I know this sounds far fetched, but this is legit.

I've been playing around with Alistar in 3s and Dominion, testing this build with similar items...and its been working really really well...

Alistar is literally the best suited solo top champion in the game with the new items...bar none.

Alistar is incredibly hard to gank. He brings his own sustain. He can freeze a lane easily. He accepts ganks really really well. He pushes his lane really well. With the addition of a sheen he can even knock down towers well.

AND HE'S A GREAT DUELIST.

Alistar is just plain annoying to duel. He can deny CS like its his job. He can whittle down anyone who doesn't have enough sustain and he can accept and escape ganks with ease. He's like Malphite...but he's an malphite who gets his ult at level 1/2 instead of 6...

Once he leaves lane he brings crazy utility to his team. He initiates team fights well. He is a solid solid solid anchor for the team. His CC is uncleansible. AND NOW HE BRINGS A TON OF DAMAGE TO A TEAM FIGHT. That's right...a damaging Alistar...


What's even better is that Alistar doesn't steal kills like many tops, he's all about feeding and supporting carries.

He even boasts huge advantages in build freedom past his core. He can literally pick up any item for his team and make it effective once he has his core built.


I'll go into each of these topics individually.

Two broken items with crazy synergy.

S3 introduces two awesome items for Alistar.

First, the iceborn gauntlets.




*******http://edge2.mobafire.com/images/item/iceborn-gauntlet.gif******** Iceborn Gauntlet

40 Ability Power, 60 Armor, 15 Cooldown Reduction, 500 Mana. UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 125% of your base attack damage to surrounding enemies and creates a field for 3 seconds that slows enemies inside by 35% (2 second cooldown).

You stick the new tank Sheen on him. It gives him armor value against his top lane. 15% CDR for more damage and utility. Some bonus mana is always good. Some AP is cool. But now he has a super sheen (25% better than normal sheen) that AoE slows.

Second Liandry's Torment:

*******http://edge1.mobafire.com/images/item/liandrys-torment.gif******** Liandry's Torment

70 Ability Power, 200 Health. UNIQUE Passive: Eyes of Pain: +15 magic penetration Unique Passive: Dealing spell damage burns enemies for 5% of their current health as magic damage over 3 seconds. If their movement is impaired, they take double damage from this effect. Half duration for multi-target or periodic effects. 300 max damage vs monsters.
You rush this item on Alistar. Now all his spells, including his triumphant roar are going to burn the hell out of his enemies because of his trample passive.

When coupled the two items deal a devastating amount of damage by simply spamming skills regardless of how much AP you have, or your AP ratios.

Also notice that Liandry's deals double damage when your target's movement is impaired...while the gauntlets impair movement making a natural synergy.

Also notice that Liandry's will proc off of Alistar's trample...so now not only does a rank 1 triumphant roar give an AoE sheen proc. It gives an AoE slow and an AoE dot that deals 10% of someone's current life over 3 seconds. Oh...and it heals Ali and all his friends too...

So by purchasing these two items we cover Alistar's one weakness. His lack of damage...

As you can see, this build build reaches 40% CDR (the hard cap) in it's first 3k gold.

This is pretty incredible, first off...and its crazy strong secondly.

Ali is all about spamming his skills to make him effective. His kit provides massive CC, sustain, and durability. With full CDR he simply gets more of it.

In addition. All his damage is based off spamming skills. Liandry's is on spell cast as is Sheen procs. So his main DPS stat is going to be CDR. Which is really convenient since all his utility is based off CDR as well.

The cow is an exceptionally strong duelist. Think Malphite but with harder CC and more sustain.

Basically, the cow can deny creeps in two ways. He can use triumphant roar to heal the creep that the opponent is trying to last hit causing last hitting issues. Or he can headbutt his opponent away from the creep so he can't reach it to last hit. Both are really annoying and effective ways to deny CS to your opponent.

With the addition of Sheen the cow can harass down an enemy pretty easily. The AP ratio on the skill is .7, which is solid and then by right clicking as you headbutt, you'll auto attack the enemy when you collide with him for a sheen proc+melee damage. This is pretty heavy harass and if they are without a lot of sustain, you'll actually be able to kill you're lane opponent using it.

The cow also can disengage his opponent with ease, making him a very safe top laner. He's also really hard to gank because he can jump to enemies ganking from behind with Headbutt, and disengage enemies with Headbutt and Pulverize. Alistar also brings a lot of sustain with just a philo stone and utility masteries. He can very easily out heal/regen enemy poke by spamming roar and still keep full mana while doing it.

He also accepts ganks well. You can feed your jungler kills and turn one that scales well into a carry. His headbutt/pulverize combo is a malphite ult available at level 2. And its very easy to secure a kill by flashing on the opponent with pulverize and headbutting them into your jungler's hands. By running ignite, your killing power increases further.

One of the great things about Ali is that his build is really open. You get your core build of boots, gauntlets, and Liandry's (and some form of MR) and then you can pretty much build auras for your team.

Some good core items to look at are aegis of the legion and the new upgrade runic bulwark. You could get an Ohmwrecker for tower diving. You could get a sight stone or an oracles elixir for vision advantage. You could get a WotA or an Abyssal scepter for yourself and your AP carry or a Zeke's for your AD carry. If they have a strong engage that's catching your carries, why not a Mikael's Crucible. Do they have a pesky stealther? Twin Shadows! Or if they have a lot of healing you can get a Morellonomicon.

No matter what you build, you are going to be effective...because your build is done...and now you are just filling out any weaknesses in your team.

This is the best thing about Alistar top.

He feeds his team...he isn't selfish. He's fully capable of killing...don't get me wrong...and I'll usually have a positive KDA. But he can afford to defer kills and his damage is front loaded rather than back loaded.

Liandry's deals damage based off how much hp the currently have. So he deals more damage to healthy targets than weak ones. You of course have ignite and base spell damage and sheen procs to secure kills if need be...but in general you want your carries to have them...

So you deal a ton of trickling AoE damage in a team fight and disable the enemy team while doing it... but let your carries get the bulk of the gold.

IT WORKS PERFECTLY. Meanwhile you are this big disruptive damaging annoyance to their team... You can't be bursted down due to your ult. You break loose of CC due to your ult. You're CC is uncleasible and unceasing and 2/3rds AoE...plus you are pumping out healing to your teammates in decent doses making it even harder to kill them.

ITS GLORIOUS!