Time for Alistar passive rework is now
Since Alistar is relevant right now, I wanted to throw in my thoughts on how and why he should have a new passive.
Alistar lacks the tankiness of other tanky supports early game, and can't make up for that until he has his ult. Leona and Braum, for example, are much better tanks than Alistar in the early going, while supports like Thresh, Blitz, and Leona do a lot better synergy damage. The problem is you can't make Alistar too tanky too fast or else he will just dive turrets too easily with his amazing utility and CC. Therefore, his new passive would be earned over time, and would depend on successful duo laning. These changes will would make it so Alistar's passive does not allow him to succeed in other lanes, which is what, apparently, everyone fears. So fear not.
- Tie Alistar's old passive, Trample, to QWER, but only the ghost part (going through minions). Scrap the damage.
Alistar pushes lanes by displacing opponents with QW to make plays. You can't make plays if you push minions, because then people will just turtle. There is near zero percent chance of an Alistar lane trumping an opposing lane through heal sustains and minion pushing alone, and the damage passive of Trample--outside of a short lived jungling career--was never useful for support Alistar. The ghost aspect, however, needs to stay.
- Introduce a new passive which grants a permanent 0.1 armor and 0.1 AP gain for every minion that dies around him, but not by his own damage. That is to say, he can't land killing blow, so it would only be useful in duo/team lanes.
This armor/AP gain will grant a gradual synergy based on the success of the duo. 10 minutes in, Alistar might have +8 AR and +8 AP if his duo is at 80 CS. In bad lanes, Alistar will at least get a little bonus on his armor and heals. He'll also get an incentive to roam a little mid game. While in good lanes, good play would be rewarded. The numbers might need to be tweaked a little, but the idea would be you're building a tank, and you're building off your ADC's success and vice versa.
- Bring back bonus damage against turrets on Alistar's autos. Anything more than 1x.
Alistar's sissy trample has never been satisfying as far as taking down turrets. The need to spam abilities in order to take down turrets never really felt good. If I could make one change, that would be it. Bring back his auto passive!
