Hello! My name is ShoDesu AKA J4NNA AKA Hook Theory. I have hit challenger multiple times during season 12/13 playing support! For the longest time I was only focused on climbing, but now I am shifting that into creating support content and trying to help others! I stream Mon-Fri 11:30 AM PST - 5 PM PST at https://www.twitch.tv/shodesu and also have a YouTube channel where I post reguluarly at https://YouTube.com/shodesu. I'm happy to answer any questions! :)

Pros:

Crowd Control: Alistar has access to multiple crowd control abilities, such as Pulverize and Headbutt, which can disrupt enemy champions and set up kills for your team. His abilities can initiate fights or peel for your carries, making him a valuable engage and disengage tool.

Tankiness: Alistar is naturally tanky due to his ultimate ability, Unbreakable Will, which provides him with bonus resistances and damage reduction. This makes him a durable frontline support who can soak up damage and protect his allies.

Engage Potential: With his ability to quickly engage and lock down key targets, Alistar excels at initiating team fights. His Pulverize-Headbutt combo can catch opponents off guard and create opportunities for your team to follow up and secure kills.

Cons:

Skillshot-Reliant: Alistar's abilities, such as Pulverize and Headbutt, require accurate targeting and positioning to be effective. Missing these abilities can result in missed opportunities or even put you and your team at a disadvantage.

Cooldown Reliance: Alistar's abilities have relatively long cooldowns, especially in the early game. This means that if you miss or misuse your abilities, you'll have to wait for them to come off cooldown before you can make another play. Proper ability management is crucial for maximizing Alistar's impact in fights.

Vulnerability to Poke: Alistar lacks sustain and is susceptible to poke damage during the laning phase. Champions with long-range poke or strong harass can make it difficult for Alistar to engage or protect his ADC effectively. Careful positioning and coordination with your ADC are important to mitigate this weakness.

High Mana Costs: Alistar's abilities have high mana costs, especially in the early game. This can lead to mana issues if you're not careful with your spell usage. Efficient mana management and itemization can help mitigate this problem.

Overall, Alistar is a strong engage support with great crowd control and tankiness. However, he requires good positioning, accurate ability usage, and coordination with your team to fully utilize his kit. With practice and game knowledge, Alistar can be a formidable playmaker and frontline presence in the bot lane.

Passive - Trample Alistar periodically deals bonus magic damage to nearby enemies. This passive ability enhances his basic attacks and adds extra damage in fights.

Q - Pulverize Alistar smashes the ground, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies and knocking them up into the air. This ability is an area-of-effect crowd control tool that can disrupt enemy formations and set up engages.

W - Headbutt Alistar targets an enemy unit and charges towards them, knocking them back and dealing magic damage upon arrival. This ability can be used for peeling enemies away from allies, repositioning enemies, or interrupting enemy channels.

E - Triumphant Roar Alistar lets out a healing roar, restoring health to himself and nearby allied champions. Additionally, Alistar gains a temporary bonus to his physical damage for each champion he heals with this ability. Triumphant Roar provides sustain and can be used to keep Alistar and his allies healthy in fights.

R - Unbreakable Will Alistar gains bonus attack damage and takes reduced damage for a few seconds, while also gaining crowd control immunity. This ultimate ability allows Alistar to become incredibly tanky, soak up damage, and disrupt enemy abilities without fear of being disabled.

Alistar's abilities focus on crowd control, tankiness, and disruption. His Q and W abilities provide reliable crowd control, allowing him to initiate fights or peel for his carries. The E ability provides sustain and bonus damage, while the ultimate ability, Unbreakable Will, turns Alistar into a fearsome tank and disruptor. With his kit, Alistar excels at engaging team fights, protecting allies, and creating opportunities for his team to secure kills.

Mobility Boots: Mobility Boots are a common choice for Alistar support. They provide increased movement speed out of combat, allowing you to roam and exert pressure on other lanes. These boots can help you quickly move around the map to set up vision control, gank other lanes, or assist your team in various situations. They can be particularly effective when you want to make plays and engage from unexpected angles.

Mercury's Treads: Mercury's Treads are a good option when facing a team with crowd control or heavy magic damage. They provide bonus magic resistance and reduce the duration of crowd control effects, helping you to resist crowd control and stay alive in team fights. This can be especially useful against teams with high AP burst or heavy CC compositions.

Plated Steelcaps: Plated Steelcaps is a solid choice against a team composition that heavily relies on physical damage or has auto-attack reliant champions. The boots provide bonus armor and reduce incoming damage from basic attacks, making you more resilient against AD-focused opponents. They are a good option when facing AD-heavy compositions or champions with strong auto-attack damage.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Ionian Boots of Lucidity offer a 15% cooldown reduction, which can be valuable for Alistar as it reduces the cooldowns on his abilities. This allows you to use your crowd control and utility spells more frequently throughout the game. These boots can be a good choice when you want to have your abilities up more often, allowing you to engage, peel, or disrupt the enemy team more frequently.

Boots of Swiftness: Boots of Swiftness can be a situational choice when the enemy team has a lot of slows or when you want to prioritize movement speed over other boot options. They provide increased movement speed and reduce the effectiveness of slows, allowing you to navigate team fights and engage/disengage more effectively. They can be useful in situations where you need to quickly reposition and engage on priority targets.

Ultimately, the choice of boots should be based on the game's specific circumstances and your playstyle. Consider the enemy team composition, the threats you're facing, and the objectives you want to achieve. Adapt your boot choice accordingly to maximize your effectiveness as Alistar in different situations.

1.) Master the Headbutt-Pulverize combo: Alistar's Q (Pulverize) and W (Headbutt) can be used in combination to engage and crowd control enemies effectively. Use Headbutt first to knock back an enemy towards your team, and then immediately follow up with Pulverize to knock them up, leaving them vulnerable to your team's damage.

2.) Utilize Pulverize-Flash: A powerful play on Alistar is the Pulverize-Flash combo. Flash into the enemy team and use Pulverize to knock up multiple enemies, creating a strong initiation or catching enemies off guard. This can be a game-changing move in team fights or when catching out-of-position enemies.

3.) Timing your Ultimate (Unbreakable Will): Alistar's R (Unbreakable Will) grants him bonus health, crowd control reduction, and damage reduction. Use this ability strategically to mitigate burst damage, soak up enemy crowd control, and remain a disruptive force in team fights. Remember that it removes crowd control effects upon activation, so use it at the right moment to cleanse and negate crucial enemy abilities.

4.) Maximize stacking CC: Make sure to chain your CC in a way that utilizes all the stun/knockup time. It can get tricky in a team fight when lots of abilities are being used but make sure to be aware of this.

5.) Understanding when to peel or engage. There are times when you need to peel for your most fed member of your team, or engage on the enemy. ***esing your win condotion often is important as it changes every game.