Why pick alistar over rakan

Personal preference I guess? Also Ali can get tanker than Rakan, making Ali more durable during a fight and a better front liner. Rakan is more about jumping in and out of the fight.

Alistar can tank, and can knock people away completely. WQ is pretty much instant and can't be dodged on top

Edit: Due to Riot's magnificent boards coding, whether it's their's or the actual platform's fault, the numbering is terribly screwed. Not sure how to fix, always happens to me. Just go with it haha. If you know how to fix, definitely leave a comment explaining how. It'll make my posting much easier in the future.

I actually ask this question the other way around. Why would you ever pick Rakan, unless Xayah, when you could pick Ali.

My reasoning as follows:

1. Alistar will always be tankier, especially since Relic Shield is much more viable due to execute on him.

2. More reliable cc. He can knock back, knock up, or dash and knock up all on normalized cooldowns. alistar's isn't a delayed knock up, rakan's ult is just that; an ult, with a large cd. He also gets that stun as he delivers some neat aoe damage.

3. He doesn't heal on demand, but it's a passive, mana free aoe heal. I'll still give points to Rakan here because his can be on demand so you're not waiting on a passive for that clinch heal.

4. Damage. Alistar undisputably does more damage, even as a tank. Only way Rakan can do more is to go AP, but one could argue if Ali did the same he would do much more damage and still be tankier due to ult. So overall, alistar's damage is far superior combining all of his base damage.

5. Reaction time. This goes back to reliable cc, so it's more of a supporting detail than a point, but the concept is valuable enough that I believe it constitutes its own point. If someone jumps onto the adc, or anyone, alistar has two options to instantly free them. Head butt them away, both providing cc and displacement, allowing the adc to kite better, or to knock them up providing just CC but setting up half the stacks required for a stun to further cc. Either way, Alistar can make a snap decision to save the adc much better than Rakan can. His ult works, but it's just that; an ult. Long cd and requires physical contact while alistar's cc is about an instant dash. Even if Rakan dashes and ults, it's not as quick first of all, and again, it's an ult so cool down is a very relevant thing.

6. Mana cost. I believe, not going to bother fact checking since it's not that important, but I think rakan's General kit is cheaper so points there.

I always found Rakan to be a shitty Alistar except in the case of Xayah. Otherwise, Alistar does what he does generally but better. Rakan just leads in on demand healing and mana costs, and I suppose he has natural mobility to get out of situations, but you don't really pick Ali with the plan to disengage yourself. Nor are you often the target unless horribly caught out. I feel like Alistar fulfills his support role, that being either catching and engaging on out of position targets or quick, effective peel for a carry much better than Rakan. The main thing that kills Rakan for me is his dash range without Xayah, the range on his Q for the shitty damage and heal it provides, and his dash's delay. It makes laning vs champs like vayne or Lucian impossible, while Ali, while can still be dodged, can't be done NEARLY as efficiently.

Because Rakan isn't gonna live after his ult goes down to peel longer. Ali will

I'd rather play Ali. More fun, plus you feel powerful. Good peel and engage, tanky.

Ali's peel is better because it's faster and he can knock people away from his carry. Besides that, Nahui said it very well.

alistar cant be dodged if he flashed on you, raka has to burn an ult i believe