I was wondering if someone has a succesful alistar tank / support build.

I'm usually going for some magic resist / armor and AP, so just a mix of things to deal dmg and to be less squishy.

Please post suggestions / guides

This is mine WIP guide but u got first 3 items...:-)
http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/gu...progress.xhtml

Would suggest you to add sunfire cape and banshee veil after basic build.

I just bought Alistar and trying to get a proper jungle ali going. Ok jungle and good ganks but I find him just a tad bit squishy (and SLOW) by midgame in teamfights, I tend to get focused (I guess its a good thing though) and melted too fast before I get enough resistances.
I guess a good idea would be to just get (bloodrazor) merc treads, megatron cape, chainmail and then go to specific builds unless the opponent is heavily (like 4:1 or 5:0) ap/ad focused.
As far as actual items go I'm guessing banshees veil, sunfire cape, force of nature give good combination of hp, resistances, aoe (since you are always right there in the middle of everything) and nice speed boost from force of nature.

Stavrogin, I don't see why Alistar would require armor pen. gems. If for dmg, wouldn't it be better to get magic pen? Since all abilities (except the rahter weak auto attacks) are magic.

Thanks for the suggestions!

My last game build:

I use my standard mage rune setup, armor pen marks, mana/5/level seals, CDR glyphs and 3x +26 hp.
For masteries it differs, but I always take at least 15 in utillity for extra mana regen and movement speed (important - I would take 3x quintessences of 1,5% speed, if I had 6k ip more).

For spells I pick clarity and flash. Flash for the obvious reasons, clarity because we're going for doran's shield at the start. Wait, WHAT? Yeah, doran's shield means pretty much you're unharassable together with E. And you want to stay on lane as much as possible.


Start with Doran's shield. Lane against Lux and Veigar and just never die even when you eat their skillshots and get ganked. At the first trip home I take boots and meki's pendant. Then work on getting CDR boots and chalice of harmony. There you go, your mana problems are all gone with clarity and chalice. Next I'm working on aegis of the legion. After that you can go different ways, sunfire cape for more aoe and general tankiness, or abyssal scepter/your fav ap item to actually deal some more damage. Getting Shurelayis Reverie is nice, but not necessary. Mostly nice for the CDR it guarantees.

Well, as i said-choice of runes depends mostly on how good are you with last hitting and your personal choice cause both Armor and Magic penetration are really useful.

Armor pen marks help a lot early game, and help overall pushing power.
My personal preference are armor pen because Trample, no matter how awesome is, is not reliable farming help until you get at least 4 ranks in pulverize.

Also i must mention that choice of runes depends of what role will you play in a team.
If you are playing support you will take Greater Quintessence of Avarice instead of Fortitude because most people wont leave anything for you to farm.

Though i must say i totally agree with you Bmonet-magic penetration works really nice with Cow.

I tried build
Doran Ring
Sorcerer shoes
Sheen
Hunting guise

And have to say-it does serious damage and works wonders versus squishy teams.
AOE pulverize hurts much more, and headbutt is legit finish move.
Though you will lack survivability but you should be able to carry your team early/mid game.

@ Stavrogin
Alright. Thanks alot for elaborating on the armor pen! Good guide btw, keep it up

@ Hephaistos0

Personally I prefer Tear of the godess, and later on expand it to archangel's (for mana issues that is). Also, as to the masteries. I always go 21 in defense, simply to get less squishy, the one time I had a full caster build (9/0/21), I died quickly. Now I usually go - 9/0/21 (magic pen).

Thanks again for the information and thoughts

Sheen is wasting money on any other than full AP build. And even then its quite likely a better idea to start lichbane with blasting wand.

Tear of the goddess is horrible on Alistar. You do not have spammable skills, apart from maybe e occasionally, so you won't get the full benefit. It only helps your mana, and later on you do not need the amount of mana tear actually gives you. Waste of cash if you ask me.

For a semi-durable support Ali I've gone with these items:

Start with Regrowth Pendant to get a fast Philosophers Stone. (Recall asap and teleport back to lane)
Shoes -> Boots of Mobility
Aegis of the Legion
Shorelya's Reverie
Banshee's Veil
Randuin's Omen
Guardian Angel

The first three items (not including shoes) can be done in any order depending on what you need the most. Shorelya's helps you with ganking and escaping ganks a lot. Aegis is an overall good item for your whole team to help pushes. Banshee's is Banshee's. You can get the it in parts easily for the HP/mana level up bonus.

You'll end up with a good amount of HP and decent resists. You're support, but you can easily tank with your ulti, tower dive or do your Pulverize & Headbutt combo on yours or their tower to get kills.

If you're wondering about the boots, you dont really need anything else. Banshee's covers CC so no need for Merc threads. You could get Boots of Swiftness are okay too, but you shouldn't be in the front line getting hit most of the time anyways. Plus they help with ganking. Shorelya + Boots of Monility gives you over 500 movement speed. You're like a freaking train of a cow!