Does it work? He has 1:1 ratios on his Stun and Headbutt, and his heals would heal for quite a bit, since it is AOE. With a lichbane he would do insane damage. Also, his ulti means he is not squishy in a team fight. Any thoughts?

i think it does.. since his ult reduce damage..

if you get ROA, hourglass, merc/ninja, Abyssal Scepter and perhaps Rylai's Crystal Scepter and doran's ring.. you will be tanky and have good ap.. might even consider lichbane..

p.s. though you might be more of support + off tank...

Well His AOE Stun is like veigars dark matter except it usually hits more than one person and it stuns. His headbutt is for positioning. With a lichbane, since I have to be close anyways, I would 3 shot a squishy if I have about 400 AP, which is easy with rabadons nowadays

but the thing is i never seen much alistar around.. am not sure why though... if he is really viable i would expect more people to play him... persoanlly i don't own him, and i don't know anyone who pro him... you might want to give him a try on free week first..unless you don't care the 450 ip..

I used it as a beginner, I have high doubts as to its efficacy at higher tiers of play. It is actually extremely good, the problem is that he no longer strongly fills the roll he was designed for, and lacks the sustained DPS to function as a full mage.

That said he chains his spells extremely well, so I took boots of mobility and just trolled for people who had less health than the combined total damage of my two spells. There are some new items since beta that would make the build more viable, like DFG and Zhonya's hourglass.

A lot of champions seem like they would work really well if you color outside of the lines a bit with their item build. Most of them however, Alistair included, give up more than they gain by going heavy caster (or tank Annie or w/e).

AP runes

Doran's (more if you want)
Sorceror's 1st
Deathfire
Rabadon's

The biggest problem you'll have is getting kited, even if you take Cleanse and Mercury's, but people will end up focusing you at least
Not having defensive items makes a big difference so you might have to get Hourglass instead of Rabadon's

Headbutt is also kinda glitchy, so if it whiffs you lose a nuke

Main problem will be even farming for all those AP items, especially without Sheen.

Used to be..

You have to get cooldown reduction for it to work. Also Lichbane wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Well he's generally not considered viable due to a number of reasons
1) Hard to use properly (Headbutt positioning, Timing Flash Pulverize, Ult usage etc.)
2) Long CD's even at Max CDR
3) Zero versatility (cannot jungle, solo, and is an average ganker)
4) Poor farming capabilities (though if u go AP he farms easily with Pulverize)
5) Low damage output (of course he's a tank but still other top tier tanks can do what he does and dish out solid dps)
6) Headbutt still glitches (no damage and no knockback)

That said I still play him as a main as I enjoy him the most out of all the tanks. Currently he is being re-worked as we speak so he will be undergoing some changes soon, check out Guinsoo's post on Ali if you want to see the details.