EUPiLoL#1 - Roaming Alistar

Hi! Welcome to the first installment of "Exploring unorthodox playstyles in LoL". In this post, we will be discussing "Roaming Alistar."

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Alistar

Alistar is an underrated character that has slowly (But surely) began to get a bit of recognition, especially with the recent buffs. His role in the common game is generally to initiate upon the enemy team, pulverize them, and headbutt an enemy squishy into your team for an easy kill, although there have a been a number of playstyles attributed to Alistar. These include AP centric Alistar, Pushing centric Alistar, and my personal favorite, Roaming Alistar.

If you are unfamiliar as to what roaming is, it is sort of like jungling, except you rely solely upon killing enemies for xp. It's a support role that focuses on getting your teammates fed at the cost of your own leveling power and gold farm. That being said, Alistar is one of those characters that can play amazingly regardless of his level (Or items), and if you are doing well enough, you can catch up to / surpass certain members on the enemy team.

First things first, let's discuss the pros and cons of a roaming Alistar vs laning as him.

Roaming Pros

3 Solo lanes (Assuming you have a jungler)
Potential to shut down the enemy team
Jungler + Alistar gank = Very deadly
Amazing ganking power (Pulverize + Headbutt + Ignite = Potential)
Counter Jungle capabilities

Roaming Cons

Somewhat team dependent. When I say this, I don't mean that you are reliant on your team to execute the ganks, because only the most moronic player could mess that up. You are literally GIVING your teammates kills, but one of the issues I ran into is that certain type of player who felt it necessary to push their lane to the ends of the earth, despite me asking them not to. This can cause problems for you, especially if everyone on your team is doing it. Pushed lanes equates to zero kills, which equates to you being horribly under leveled. If this happens, you should probably switch to laning Alistar.

Somewhat kill/assist dependent. Like I said, if you aren't getting kills, you aren't getting xp. In the case that I made an enemy go b, I would usually stick around that lane and soak up some xp / get a few towers hits before moving on. Your farming capabilities skyrocket come mid game, so I wouldn't worry to much about this. You generally just want to make life difficult for the enemy team. Don't worry about falling behind, but at the same time, don't let yourself be level 4 when everyone else is level 10.

Runes

I've seen a couple people argue a couple different things when it comes to runes, and at the end of the day, it depends on what you want. What I found to work for me was flat AP runes. Although they don't do much to help you in the long run, most games are decided within 15 minutes, and you'd be surprised at what you can accomplish with an extra 30 AP under your belt at the start of the match.

Spells

Again, people argue different things, but as a roaming Alistar, my main focus is sealing the deal. For this reason, I run flash and ignite. I've seen other Alistar's go for ghost and flash, flash and clarivoyance, and even exhaust/ignite.

Masteries

9/0/21 is what I use. Grab improved ignite if you want to.

Items

Alistar can do so many different things, item wise. I've seen Alistar's opt for carrying, hardcore tanking, AP bursting. That being said, your role as a roaming Alistar is a support/ganker for the first twenty minutes or so. You should build to represent that.

My starting build is Boots + 1 HP pot + Ward / Boots +2 HP pot +Mana pot (Depending on whether or not they have a jungler.) If they do have a jungler, go ahead and ward their ward their red so you can come back and fuck with their jungler between your ganks.

Past that, my core build looks something like this.

Boots of Mobility
Philosopher's Stone
Aegis of the Legion

What you're looking for when building as a roaming Alistar is cost effectiveness. That's why I build Aegis (Not to mention the fact that it's an amazing support item, and amazing on Alistar.) I had the intention of turning my stone into a reverie 99% of the time.

Past that, it is completely dependent on the game. One game I rushed a Force of Nature after my reverie. Another game we were widely magic based, and our damage was lacking, so I went for an abyssal scepter and a malady.

Build for what your team needs, although keep a couple things in mind.

- Auras are amazing.
- Building tanky is very cost effective.
- Don't go Warmogs

- You don't need to dump 100% into tank gear so long as you know when to use your ult.
- A partially damage focused Alistar can yield amazing results.

The Actual Game

#1: TELL YOUR TEAMMATES THAT YOU ARE ROAMING. Don't just start roaming. Tell them what you are doing, and explain to them what that means. Tell them that you will feed them kills if they don't push.

#2: Identify the easiest target. Ask yourself a couple questions while looking at the enemy composition.

Who doesn't have flash?
Who is the squishiest?
Which one of my teammates are most likely to snag the kill?

These are all equally important. If the person you are ganking has flash, then you should likely save your flash. If not, feel free to use it for initiation purposes. Let the enemy push, tell your team to get ready, and ping when you are about to go in.

#3: It is okay to die, become underleveled and to become under farmed, so long as you feed your team kills. At the end of the day, if your team is overall better off then theirs is, you have done your job. Alistar is probably the least level/ item dependent character in the game. Keep that in mind and build / play selflessly. Try not to take kills, and try not to steal to much farm.