Hello, I am Raxacolyte (The support player) for Newegg Gaming and I am here today to bring to you a full guide and inside look in playing the support champion Soraka. Soraka is one of the strongest sustain lane partners the game has to offer. With the ability to keep your partner topped off mana and health wise makes for a smooth farm in the laning phase of the match. Soraka has such a powerful global ult that she can support her team from anywhere on the map, who wouldn't want that? In this guide I will explain why the masteries/runes/build is the way that it is and how to fully support your lane partner and your team. Thank you for visiting our guide via mobafire and GLHF!

Strengths:

Magic Resist Aura {Passive}
High burst healing
Global Heal
Armor Buff
Silence
Mana utility

Weakness:

Short Offensive Range
Long Cooldown Heal
Low Base health

To start off explaining the masteries lets begin with the Offense tree portion. Adding the extra ability power is a plus, however we're just trying to get directly underneath to the real goods here, Sorcery. You noticed above under soraka weaknesses she has a long heal cooldown. Lowering this CD through the utility tree and offense tree AND the Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction runes. It will definitely help eliminate it from being such a long CD. Moving on into the utility tree its all pretty self explanatory however the extra point remaining which was placed in Sage . This point was allocated because I personally believe that as a support, especially one with a global, you're going to be in on most of the action and that added gold goes such a long way with providing further map awareness and counter warding which in the end, helps you and your team succeed to victory!

Greater Quintessence of Gold x3

Gp10 added with GP10 in your masteries as well as the items in your build keep you generating massive amounts of gold to fully support your team with Sight Ward, Vision Ward, Oracle's Elixir while creating your appropriate build. These quints are very useful but there are various types of rune builds you may use. Remember this is a pretty standard build.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x9

Adding these to the piece of the puzzle allows to help make up for the weakness of Soraka cooldowns. Allowing her to burst more frequently will help make for a smoother laning phase and ensure you and your partner can lane longer and farm more.

Greater Seal of Replenishment x9

Because of the added CD reduction through the varies areas previously discussed you will be able to spam your abilities a lot more. However you'll be going through mana quicker even with Meditation and Faerie Charm so... pick up these runes and you'll be perfectly fine to stay in lane with NO problems whatsoever allowing you to go back at your own pace.

Greater Mark of Armor x9

Soraka starts with low base health, she needs some kind of armor to help protect her in this early portion of the game. With her Consecration and the ability to increase armor through her ability, adding this extra saftey net is a pretty nice precaution to take when trying to be a dependable support for your partner.

OR

Sometimes in pregame selection you'll have your bottom lane counter picked and you'll know that you can pretty much harrass and deny without taking to much damage. Therefore starting with e and building it 5 quickly can allow you to keep your mana hungry carry in lane with full mana to make him/her even more dominate. This works really well with Caitlyn because of her early game long range harrass Q spam and Urgot

There are always many combinations and adjustments you can make toward your summoner spells. However the most standard for Soraka support would be the ones listed above.



Sometimes it is necessary to grab something other than Clairvoyance and grab something that might be more of a utility like Exhaust



Then, sometimes you may find yourself against a really aggressive lane or your partner may have something else other than Flash & Heal and you may want to grab the heal yourself for that added clutch moment healing.



There are many different reasons and combinations you can choose, however on soraka I normally prefer the standard Flash Clairvoyance. Flash for that added escape and CV for that increased map awareness for my team.

The starting items in this build are pretty universal for ANY support champion.

, Sight Ward x2, ,

Starting with the Faerie is pretty self explanatory, having that added mana regen comes a long way when trying to stay in long as long as you can allowing your carry to farm as much as he can. Sight Wardx2 is also a nice way to start the match, you're able to get vision on the map which creates a safety net for you and your team. Vision Ward is also a definite must. (Example: Its about 9 minutes in and their support or jungler has warded infront of dragon. You as support can now counter ward that dragon and eliminate their vision on that part of the map which in turn.. gives you a huge vantage point for taking dragon)) In the end these things are a must have to start! {Buying wards and things like oracles throughout the game are a huge part of helping your team succeed to victory. You should be picking these things up along they way while building your builds.}

EARLY GAME

Philosopher's Stone

These two GP5 items are a must! With the philosopher's stone it gives you that nice health regen ontop of that already needed mana regen with an added bonus of Gold per 5. The Heart of Gold is always a must have for multiple reasons. 1) More GP5 2) Gives really good chunk of health to boost some of that low base HP that Soraka already has. These Two items including boots are the primary build of supporting with soraka.

MID GAME GOALS

These boots give you that extra movement speed as well as some added cooldown reduction which just keeps making soraka so much more effective with that burst healing. Obviously Shurelya's Battlesong is a must have, this comes in handy in so many scenarios, offensive and defensively. Normally with any support champion you'll be getting your hands on these bad boys.

END GAME:

This is one of the best items by far for a soraka to have. The aura is great as it makes your heal give more effective HP since they have extra resistances. This is the best defensive item that a soraka support can grab.

{Situational} This is another great defensive item to have for your team as well as drop some of that damage output from the opposing team.

This is another great aura to offer your team as support.

Having that extra adding AP on soraka is pretty nasty to have end game. Her e will add some nice chunks of damage as well as her ability to q spam at this point and help push lanes really quick. This helps with poking and even defending lanes.

Consecration
Increases surrounding allies' magic resistance by 16.
Starting with 16 MR at level 1? lawl


Cooldown 2.5 seconds
Cost 35/40/45/50/55 mana
Range 660

Great for that mid game lane pushing or reaching Pretty powerful once you build a Rabadon's Deathcap



Cooldown 20 seconds
Cost 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 mana
Range 750

This is one of the things that really sets Soraka apart from the rest. This burst heal imo is very overpowered and makes this support champion a huge pain in the butt to lane against. In the end, I think its safer to have her on your side, don't you?



Cooldown 10 seconds
Range 725

Mana......mana.....Mana.... Want some mana? Shhh, you talk to much {SILENCE!} Sorry, could not help myself. Thats kind of what it feels like with this lovely abilitiy. It can be so annoying but so fun to use, especially on opposing supports who are trying to heal their partner in a combat situation but.. opps, ya can't.



This is such a fun and amazing ability. 1) Its global 2) with CD reduction is pretty frequent 3) You can get some free assists and more xp with the mastery Sage 4) You can help support any lane or prevent death from ganks in other lanes. USEFUL!
Cooldown 120 / 90 / 60 seconds
Cost 100/175/250 mana

In this image you'll notice the tiny green squares on the map. These are the basic areas you'll be warding on the map throughout the entire game. Early game laning warding the tribush and dragon are vital key points of constant awareness on the map. By doing so, you'll have vision and some control over dragon and you ensure safety to your lane partner since he can see incoming ganks. The wards that are placed in your jungle & their jungle are to help prevent your team from getting countered jungled as well as helping your team to counter jungle them.

CLAIRVOYANCE

Gamers dictionary

Kite

In computer games the word kite is used to name the ability to keep your enemies away from your team mates with force. The players who love range champions should learn how to kite anyone at any time.

Disable

The word disable is used as a whole for all kinds of spells that get you out of order. As disable are considered spells that: Stun, Slow, Fear, Suppress, Hold, Silence, Lift up, Blind and the summoner spell Exhaust itself.
Stun, Fear, Suppress and lift up are considered as hard Disables, as you cant do anything during their effect.
Slow, Hold, Silence, Blind and Exhaust are considered soft Disables, as you can take some action during their duration.

Positioning

As you'd suggest this means how someone is positioned to the enemy. Positioning is very important for every champion.

Creeps

The word creeps is often used as a replacement for the word Minion in LoL. Just a little habit from the good old times in DotA.

CC = Crowd Control

Crowd control includes all the disables, but it also includes some other things that can control the enemy. Apart from the disables CC includes: Pushbacks, Artificially created walls, Flings, Grabs. Sometimes the soft Disables are referred as CC.

AP = Ability power

Ability power is the stat in LoL that gives bonus damage to your magical spells. Its almost always abbreviated as AP.
Often AP or APs is used for champions that use ability power to boost their spells. With two words casters.

AD = Attack damage

Attack damage is the stat in LoL that tells you how much damage you will deal to the opponent with auto attack. Lots of abilities also take direct bonus from the attack damage as well. Its almost always abbreviated as AD.
Often AD or ADs is used for champions who are specialized in auto attacks.

CD = Cooldown

The time that spell needs to recover after being used, and be ready to be used again. Almost always abbreviated as CD.

Push/Pusher

Push is used to indicate when your creeps are pressuring the enemy creeps and towers. People usually push, when the enemy is back to the base, in order to destroy the tower.
Pusher is word for champion who has the ability to kill masses of creeps fast, pressure the tower and eventually destroy it.

Ultimate

Term used to name the last spell of every champion. Hotkey R.

Channel

In almost every game, there are spells that requires you to sit still in order to work. They require your champion to actually "do the spell" while sitting, or to "complete the weaving of the spell" in order to work. The process is usually named channeling in every game.

Interrupt

Its meaning is the literal but for spells. To interrupt a spell means to stop it while its being channeled, or to stop someone flying in mid air.

Farming

The ability to last-hit creeps. The difference between last-hitting and farming, is that farming means your ability not only to last-hit, but to last hit under pressure. Also it means your overall gold earned from creeps.

Engage

To engage means to clash with the enemy team in direct battle. To engage means to start frontal battle with the enemy team.

Harass

Harass means to deal discontinuous damage to the enemy. You throw few spells at the enemy without engaging? You drop one or two hits at the enemy avoiding engage? Then this means you are harassing.

Charge

Some spells need time to form in order to do something. These spells are charging spells. Some spells need to be channeled to charge ( Nunu's Absolute Zero).
Charge is also used for spells that allow your champion to jump quickly at enemy champion.

Carry

Term used for champions dedicated on doing damage. Usually they die fast if the enemy targets them, but if your team manages to keep them alive they can kill the whole team.

Initiate

To initiate start a frontal battle. Champions who has abilities, that can initiate a battle, in a way, so it can be in your favour are called Initiators.

Teamfight

Fights where the both teams engage in direct 5v5 battle.

Mana hungry

When your champion needs mana, a lot, and suffers from lack of mana often, its called to be mana hungry.

There are many things you can learn by just reading a couple of guides or playing many games over and over and picking up the small things on the way. Everything takes time and a bit of patience. Through using the basics in this guide I hope it teaches you the ropes on how to support your team to victory. Eventually I will be getting a video up on here for all to see. However I have many more support guides to write so I will get the videos done on each guide shortly. Thank you for visiting a Newegg Gaming guide here on Mobafire and we hope this helps. Thank you!