League of Legends - Alistar Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Alistar

Basic Information

Champion Stats

Lore

Skills

Icon	Description
	Triumphant Roar (Effect Radius: 1000, Static Cooldown: 3)Alistar charges his roar by stunning or displacing enemy champions or when nearby enemies die. When fully charged he heals himself and the nearest ally champion.
	Pulverize (Effect Radius: 365, Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 Mana, Cooldown: 17/16/15/14/13)ACTIVE: Alistar smashes the ground, dealing damage to nearby enemies and tossing them into the air.Alistar smashes the ground, dealing 60/105/150/195/240 (+50% Ability Power) magic damage and tossing nearby enemy units into the air for 1 second.
	Headbutt (Target Range: 650, Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 Mana, Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10)ACTIVE: Alistar rams a target with his head, dealing damage and knocking the target back.Alistar rams into an enemy, dealing 55/110/165/220/275 (+70% Ability Power) magic damage and knocking them back.
	Trample  (Target Range: 350, Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 Mana, Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10, Magic Damage Per Tick: 10/12.5/15/17.5/20)ACTIVE: Alistar tramples nearby enemy units, ignoring unit colision and gaining stacks if he damages an enemy champion. At full stacks Alistar’s next basic attack against an enemy champion deals additional magic damage and stuns them.Alistar tramples the ground, ignoring unit collision and dealing 0 (+0) magic damage over 5 seconds to nearby enemies. Each pulse that damages at least one enemy champion grants Alistar a Trample stack.At 5 Trample stacks Alistar empowers his next basic attack against an enemy champion to deal an additional 0 magic damage and stun for 1 second.
	Unbreakable Will (Cost: 100 Mana, Cooldown: 120/100/80)ACTIVE: Alistar lets out a wild roar, removing all crowd control effects on himself, and reducing incoming physical and magical damage for the duration.Removes all disables from Alistar. For 7 seconds Alistar takes 50/60/70% reduced physical and magical damage.

Strategy

Alistar is a Support Champion. Click here to view our Support Champion Strategy Guide.

• Offensively, Alistar excels in displacing enemy champions and initiating team fights. You can use your (Q) Pulverize skill with your Flash Summoner Spell to catch your enemies off-guard. Then, you can use (W) Headbutt to either push away the enemy tanks or displace the enemy carries towards your team or your team’s turret.
• You can also use his (Q) Pulverize skill in conjunction with his (W) Headbutt skill to knock-up an enemy champion.
• When you initiate with either the Flash Summoner Spell + (Q) Pulverize combo or the (W) Headbutt + (Q) Pulverize combo, use (E) Triumphant Roar to further provide damage and Crowd Control during team fights. After 5 stacks of (E) Triumphant Roar, Alistar’s next basic attack ensures a 1-second Stun. Be sure to activate this skill during team fights or skirmishes and hit high-priority targets such as the enemy mages and ADCs.
• Defensively, Alistar provides good zone coverage against the opposing lane champions. If an enemy Jungler ganks your lane, Alistar can position himself and (W) Headbutt any threat away or provide Area-of-Effect Stun with (Q) Pulverize to protect his ally ADC.
• Triumphant Roar, provides a small heal to himself and his allies. When in-lane, be sure to be in close proximity to your lane partner, especially when they are last-hitting.
• (R) Unbreakable Will can also be used to tower dive a low-health enemy champion on their turret with your lane partner or jungler. Make sure you’re being hit by the turret before you use your Ultimate in order to soak turret damage while providing the necessary disables to get the kill.

Runes & Masteries

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Summoner Spells

Support
Flash	Exhaust

Flash – Alistar’s go-to Summoner Spell. Flash is an essential tool for Alistar, as it provides him with various play-making abilities. You can set up a team fight, displace enemy tanks and carries, and even save your team’s carries from dying with a well-timed Flash and Alistar’s Crowd Control skills.

Item Builds

Support

Starting Items

Starting Items
Relic Shield	Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation x3	Warding Totem

Core Items

Core Items
Sightstone	Face of the Mountain	Boots of Speed

Face of the Mountain – Face of the Mountain makes Alistar an even tankier champion that is very hard to kill. With the active of this item, it also gives his team mates a shield to protect from damage. This item also allows him to kill minion creeps easier, aiding his team mates and himself with the Triumphant Roar passive.

Sightstone – Building sightstone early is vital since he has no reliable escape. He also has no skills to save his ADC aside from going in and stunning the enemies, opening Alistar in a very vulnerable. This is the reason why awareness and vision is important.

Full Build

Full Build
Sightstone	Face of the Mountain	Boots of Swiftness
Locket of the Iron Solari	Knight’s Vow	Redemption

Boots of Swiftness – Boots of Swiftness allows him to follow close with (E) Trample. It also gives him more movement speed compared to the other boot upgrades which gives him added resistance stats. Ninja Tabi or Mercury’s Treads are not that viable since he already has a high armor and magic resistance.

Locket of the Iron Solari – Locket of the Iron Solari gives Alistar agood magic resistance stats and an active that grants a shield to nearby allies. This item makes him a solid presence in the frontline.

Knight’s Vow – Aside from the defensive stats it brings, this item also makes you and your ADC a force to be reckoned with when you are close to each other. This item is a good support tool for your ADC as it gives him reduced damage.

Situational Items

Situational Items
Zeke’s Convergence	Randuin’s Omen	Zz’Rot Portal

Zeke’s Convergence – When your team needs even more crowd control, and your team is already ahead, you can opt to build your Aegis of the Legion into Zeke’s Convergence. Its active item skill complements Alistar’s ultimate well, as its slow and amplified damage aura against enemy champions further increases your chances of routing the opposing team with one well-timed combo.

Randuin’s Omen – Its active item skill provides a small area of effect slow that can potentially slow an entire enemy team during clashes. Moreover, its item path also offers more health and armor, two things Alistar needs to soak even more damage.

Zz’Rot Portal – If you feel that your team needs to have more lane pressure, you can purchase this item. Its active item skill places a portal that summons a non-controllable void spawn that prioritizes enemy towers. Subsequently, you can also buy this item defensively, as the void spawns can help defend your base when it has been pushed.

Playing Against

• Alistar is a melee tank support, and as such, he generally struggles against ranged support champions with significant pokes.
• Stay at a comfortable distance when you’re against an Alistar. Be alert when their lane suddenly becomes aggressive, as it means that Alistar is setting up his (Q) Pulverize + (W) Headbutt combo.
• While Alistar has a heal passive, it cannot sustain him frequently. Use damaging spells, auto attacks and pokes during the early laning phase so that his zoning capabilities become less effective.
• A Support Alistar has a ton of Crowd Control skills, but lacks in damage. When engaged, do your best to get away from his succeeding disables, and try to damage his ADC after his disables’ duration.

Hard Counter

• Morgana – Morgana’s Black Shield provides a hard counter to Alistar’s crowd control, as it renders champions whom Morgana casts it on immune to disables as long as the shield persists.
• Janna– Janna specializes in zoning out enemy laners and providing a relatively safe laning phase for her ADC. Good Janna players make sure to time their Howling Gale whenever an engage seems imminent, effectively thwarting any advance from opposing players, as well as casting Eye of the Storm on her team’s carries to further mitigate damage.
• Vayne– Vayne is highly proficient when it comes to dealing with champions with high health pools. Apart from being agile, good Vayne players can outplay their enemy laners who try to engage.
• Soraka – Soraka can consistently heal damage incurred by her team. Her Equinox spell also silences enemies who are caught in its area of effect, rendering them unable to complete their combos.

Strategy Video

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