Hello, I am a Platinum Soraka One Trick from EUW.

Soraka is a champion that is mostly known for her high amount of sustain and scaling really well into late game. For me, Soraka is a lot of fun to play, as there will always be a way to help out your teammates and succeed.

PROS

High Sustain
Scales really hard, gets stronger with every second
Lots of items to work with
Always a good pick, works with every team comp
Great in teamfights
Allows your team to make mistakes
Counters most assassins
Simple to play
She has a Star Guardian Skin!!

CONS

Squishy
Long cooldown on W at early levels
No escape, no mobility
Soraka is all about positioning. Wrong position = most likely dead

Passive - Salvation:

Soraka gains 70% movement speed when moving towards allied champions below 40% of their maximum health who are outside of Astral Infusion's range.

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This gives Soraka the opportunity to run faster to help her teammates, but also works when you and a low ally are being chased, as you run a lot faster and are more likely to escape.

Q - Starcall:

Soraka calls down a star at a target location. Enemies standing at the point of impact take 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+35% of ability power) magic damage and are slowed by 30% for 2 seconds.

If Soraka hits at least one enemy champion, she is also granted Rejuvenation for 4 seconds, which restores 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 / 22 (+10% of ability power) Health per second and grants her 10% movement speed when not moving towards enemies. Starcall takes more time to fall the farther the ability is cast.

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Use your Q to harass your enemies early on, as it also sustains you back up. Also use it on an enemy champion, so your next heal has an extra buff.

W - Astral Infusion

Soraka blesses a friendly champion, restoring 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+60% of ability power) of its health. If cast while under the effect of Rejuvenation, Soraka gives her target Rejuvenation for 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5 seconds (based on rank of Starcall). Astral Infusion cannot be self-cast, nor can it be cast if Soraka is below 5% of her maximum health.

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Sorakas most important ability. In teamfights, try to focus your strongest teammember and keep him alive for as long as possible. As your cooldown on this ability gets lower and lower, it will be easier to heal up your whole team. The more health you have, the more effective you are in the whole game. Keep this in mind!

E - Equinox

Soraka creates a zone at a target location for 1.5 seconds. Enemy champions standing in the zone take 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+40% of ability power) magic damage and are silenced until they leave. At the end of the zone's duration, all enemy champions inside are rooted for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds and take 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+40% of ability power) additional magic damage.

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Your E is a very powerful ability in two ways. First of all, it counters nearly every assasin in the game, or champions that rely on their abilities, as they will be silenced when they stand in your E. Also, if they are long enough in your E, it roots them for a small amount of time. Try to Q first to slow yojr enemy and then put your E down, so the chance is higher that your enemy will be rooted.

R - Wish

Soraka calls upon the stars, restoring 150 / 250 / 350 (+55% of ability power) health to all allied champions across the field. Wish can affect untargetable allies.

Wish has a 50% increased heal on allied champions below 40% of their maximum health.

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Wish is one of the most powerful ultimates in the game, as it affects all of your teammates, no matter where they are right now. As Soraka, you need to have a lot of map awareness to watch out when you can use your R (which has a massive CD early on) in the most effective way. My favourite strategy is, when I see that the enemy laner is about to dive one of my laners with low health, I wait until he dives and then I press my R and hope my teammate can turn the fight around. Use it wisely.
Be careful: This ability is the reason why YOU will be focused in team fights, and not your ADC / the rest of your team.

Since you have no escapes, you need to take flash as one of your summoner spells. You can also use it to safe a teammate, Flash + W and save a life! :)



I ALWAYS take Exhaust. Ignite is no option for me, as Exhaust is way more effective in teamfights or 2v2s.

Core

Spellthief's Edge or Ancient Coin?

Every game, I will look at the enemy botlane and then decide if I take Spellthief's Edge or Ancient Coin. Both work very well on Soraka. I used to always get Spellthief's Edge until the starting supportitems got reworked - now Ancient Coin has some great extras. Personally I still prefer Spellthief's Edge, but I have to admit that Ancient Coin is probably the better option right now, which is why i mostly start with Ancient Coin recently.

Obviously, you have to fully build out your Starting Item - And I always take the one that provides four wards, so either Eye of the Watchers or Eye of the Oasis. Frost Queen's Claim is only a choice for me if they have a very strong Twitch or Evelynn on their team.

Ardent Censer

Ardent Censer is currently (Patch 7.17) very strong and by far the best support item in the game. Even though it got nerfed a little bit, it's still the most important item for Soraka. She is the support that can use this item the best (together with Janna), which is why Soraka is a very strong pick in the current meta.

Try to rush Ardent Censer - even if it means that you dont buy a Sightstone early in the game. Only buy Sightstone before Ardent Censer if you're getting ganked a lot or if you want to push your enemies in, as you will need a lot of vision to do that. Buy more Control Wards early on, so you can always create vision when you need it. However, Ardent Censer works so good on Soraka because she buffs it with her W to whoever you heal and with your Ultimate to everyone on your team - which means if you are in lane and you notice your toplane is having a close fight, you can Ult and he also gets the Ardent Censer buff to give your Toplane some extra help.

Basically, if you lane against a support that does not build Ardent Censer (like Alistar for example, or Zyra), you have a massive advantage the whole game. If you lane against a support that does build Ardent Censer, you have to try to get it either at the same time as them or before them.

Ardent Censer works the best with Hypercarry-ADCs, which are Jinx, Vayne, Twitch, Kog'Maw and Tristana, but is basically a good item for every ADC in general. The only one I think is pretty weak with Ardent Censer is Jhin, as he doesn't Auto Attacks as much as the others.
It also works well with other Champions who use a lot of autoattacks, like Master Yi, Jax, Tryndamere, Kayle and Xin Zhao. So try to buff your AA-Carries rather than your AbilityPower-Mages like Lux, as those won't get the lifesteal effect.

There are only a few supports in the game that will build Ardent Censer and can use it very effectively. Those are: Karma, Lulu, Janna, Rakan, Sona, Nami, Taric and of course Soraka, so watch out for them. Also, an enemy jungler Ivern will probably build Ardent Censer too.

Redemption

Redemption was the core item of Soraka before it was nerfed, because it gives Soraka extra health, health regen and healing power. It is still very strong and you should try to build it as soon as your Ardent Censer and your Sightstone, and your Boots are builded. I personally try to use it as soon as a teamfight breaks out, as it heals the whole of your team and damages the enmies, so try to put it in the middle, where most champions are standing. Don't forget that it needs some time until it heals/damages champions. Another hint: This item is rather good for healing Damage over Time than healing burst damage.

Redemption is a very standart item on support nowdays, so be prepared that the enemy support will build it as well. If you have an Ivern on your team who builds Redemption early on, you can wait until you build yours, and build something else instead.

If you have Ornn on your team, always upgrate your Redemption to Salvation. The extra health effects work very well on Soraka.

Situational Items

Locket of the Iron Solari

To be honest, for me personally Locket of the Iron Solari is a Core Item, and it's one of my favourite items of the game. It doesn't cost much, it has a low cooldown and is very effective in every situation. If they have a lot of burst champions, I always build Locket of the Iron Solari before Redemption, because it is so effective against burst mages (like Syndra, Veigar, Annie) and assassins (like Zed, LeBlanc, Rengar).

Locket of the Iron Solari also procks your Ardent Censer, so try to use it close to the one you want to help out to prevent someone from burst damage (most likely your ADC, or maybe someone like Master Yi). I don't recommand to use Ornn's passive to upgrate your Locket to the Circlet of the Iron Solari, as the extra health of Salvation is better on Soraka. Only upgrade the Locket if you do not build Redemption.

Some junglers like Gragas and Sejuani will also build Iron of the Locket Solari - don't use it at the same time, as it will reduce the shield.

Warmog's Armor

Warmog's Armor - one of my favourite items for Soraka. However, in order to use the unique passive of this item, Warmog's Heart, you have to have 3000HP. This is possible on Soraka if you build your Core items ( Ardent Censer and Redemption) along with something else and then getting the Elixir of Iron (which you should always get on Soraka). We all know what Warmog's Armor does - it gives you a lot of health regen as soon as you have 3000 Health and you get tankier in general. Recently I have to say that I don't buy it so often anymore, because other Support Items are so strong right now. It's still a nice option tho, especially if it goes to really late (50 minutes in)

Knight's Vow

Knight's Vow is another rather new, strong tanky item for supports and tanky junglers. I usually take Knight's Vow if the enemy has a lot of heavy AD DMG like a Zed in the midlane and a Tryndamere in the toplane - so if the enemy has a full AD team, I 100% buy Knight's Vow. Always use this item on your ADC to protect him or her. Sometimes, tanky junglers build this item before you and connect your ADC to it, that means you should either not buy it or buy it and connect another Carry (for example a Jayce toplane) to it.

Zeke's Convergence

Zeke's Convergence got reworked is now, in my opinion, a very useful item in order to protect your ADC. I like buying this item if the enemy has champions that will "jump" into the face of my ADC and try to burst him down like Kha'Zix, Riven, or Nocturne. Right after you use your ultimate, the Zeke's Convergence will proc and damage the enemies near to you and your ADC, which will help to get them off your ADC.

Mikael's Crucible

Honestly, I expect a rework of Mikael's Blessing soon, but for now let's talk about how to use it effectively. It is a really good item against any kind of CC, but don't forget it will only remove ONE CC-Spell from the person you use it on. So it is really good against people that have one hard CC Spell, like Morgana, Renekton, Ashe, etc. I would still recommand buying it if your ADC gets hit by a lot of Thresh or Blitzcrank hooks, and you should for sure buy it if you are facing a Leona, even tho it just removes one of her 2000 stuns. This item allows your teammates to make a mistake and get caught by a single CC spell, so use it wisely. It is a gamechanging item.

By the way, it doesn't work to get your ADC out of "cages" like Jarvan IV Ultimate, Camille Ultimate and Yorick's W.

Tanky items

Now I wanna talk about some items you might should consider buying if you're getting constantly blown up by someone like a 17/0 Katarina or a full AD Wukong - because a dead Soraka cannot save her teammates.

Of course, Thornmail is an obvious choice if you're getting destroyed by a fed Vayne or anyone else who has a lot of AD damage. Gargoyle Stoneplate is a really nice tank item if you're having troubles with both AP and AD damage. Adaptive Helm is perfect for heavy AP and Zz'Rot Portal for resistance in general.

Soraka has an extremely strong laning phase - even if her Astral Infusion has a long cooldown at Lvl 1. I basically recommand starting with Starcall, but if you face an ADC or a support with a very strong Lvl 1, start with W (Astral Infusion) right away, in order to save your ADC from a lot of poke. Some combos in botlane have a high all in Lvl 1 combo, so be careful. Especially when the enemy support has Ignite instead of Exhaust.

Start Astral Infusion if you lane against one of the following ADCs: Draven, Jhin, Miss Fortune and Ashe.
Start W as well if you lane against one of the following Supports, especially if they have Ignite as well: Blitzcrank, Karma, Morgana, Bard, Brand, Thresh, Lulu (if you know she started with Help, Pix!) and Sona (if she has Thunderlord's Decree ).
All of those have a strong Lvl 1 which will cause you and your ADC a lot of trouble. If you're Lvl 3 and you and your ADC are still getting poked down, put a second point in your Astral Infusion in order to lower the cooldown a bit, and wait for leveling up your E for Lvl 4.

As for the laning phase, you are NOT an engager. You basically try to hit as much Starcalls as possible and annoy your enemies a lot. Against meelee-supports or short-ranged ADCs such as Vayne, its also very easy to hit some bananas at them. However, you are naturally a support that stays behind her ADC if trouble is incoming. You have good disengage for jungle ganks with your Equinox, especially if the enemy jungler has to use his abilities to become useful ( Kha'Zix, Rengar). If your E is on cooldown, try to predict the enemies' movement and then throw a Starcall to slow them while you and your ADC run away. Important: It's always better if your ADC gets caught instead of you, as your kit is basically made for your teammates to be caught. You can easily save a caught ADC, but if you are caught, nobody can save you.

I realized that my lanes are never really hard, which is simply because I play Soraka. So unless you're not facing someone that can completely burst you to death at Lvl 3 like Brand, or someone that can make you completely useless like Blitzcrank, you should have a pretty OK lane, because of the high saving potential Soraka has. If you managed to kill your enemies, you should consider a quick roam to midlane. Soraka's roaming does not have a very high kill potential, but she can heal her midlaner back to full and prevent him from being forced out of lane early. Also, make sure to put some deep wards when you roam around. Also, use your Ultimate Wish not only for your own lane, but also when your allied laners need it. So always take a look at your teammates health bars and make sure to have good mapawareness in order to help a teammate in need. This is even more effective if you've already finished your Ardent Censer.

Soraka is a very strong teamfighter and can win teamfights on her own by simply keeping her carries alive. In order to save them, you need to be the backline, even behind your ADC. You cannot be the frontline, and you also should'nt stand where your mages/assasins are. I always try to be as close as possible to my strongest teammate in order to win a teamfight. If you have Redemption, use it in the middle of the battlefield as soon as the teamfight breaks out.

As Soraka, you can manage to win a 2v5 with your ADC, if you do not get focused. As i mentioned before, because of the Ardent Censer Soraka is extremely strong with Hypercarries, either ADCs or any other Hypercarries, for example Master Yi, Fiora or Yasuo.

Personally, I think it's fairly easy to save my ADC from an assassin or a burst mage, as you can just silence every assassin or mage and they cannot do any harm to your ADC, while you can constantly heal your ADC, buff him with Ardent Censer, use your Locket of the Iron Solari and so on.

If your team has a bad teamcomp, you have to set priorities. For example, I think a mage-midlaner like Lux or Orianna is a way better teamfighter than an assassin like Zed or LeBlanc. So I personally try to keep alive the champions that can damage a lot of people at once, rather than just deleting one teammate. Because don't forget: The Enemy ADC has a support as well that will usually hardpeel for him. So if your Talon uses all his abilities on the enemy ADC and does not manage to kill him, he basically becomes useless for a couple of seconds. And those seconds matter in a teamfight, especially late. Of course I try to save him from death, but I'd rather keep my focus on my ADC or a midlaner that doesn't only focus one person, but rather damages alot of people at once, a very good example is Azir, another great teamfighter, or Brand, who does a lot AoE damage to the whole enemy team, so your ADC can finish them off.

If you have an assassin on your team, or someone that targets one single person, I also prefer to keep the hypercarries alive, so I'd rather use all my abilities on a Master Yi than on a Zed, because Master Yi's lategame damage is insane and can easily get a Pentakill by just autoattacking, while Zed late game still has fairly long cooldowns and can't tear apart a whole team just with your help.

I already said a few things about Soraka and her matchups earlier, but now I want to explain all matchups more in detail.

Alistar

coming soon

Annie

Threatening Level: Average

I don't think Annie is such a good supporter, but she is still very annoying. I would take Spellthief's Edge because you can poke her with your Q pretty safely. If the lane goes wrong, make sure you get some magic resist. Once she hits Lvl 6 watch out for her Flash+Tibbers. In the late game she will be a massive problem if she and her ADC got kills. If you win your lane tho, she won't be a big threat.

Bard

Threatening Level: Easy

Bard is a very skill requiered champion. A good Bard will do everything to annoy you and your ADC. Do never underestimate his damage, even without items he is very strong. Also watch out for his thunderlords. Try to avoid being poked by him and I personally wouldn't follow him into one of his tunnels, as it could be a trap. If he leaves the lane, spam ping your midlaner and jungler to warn them - he is very fast in roaming. Personally I don't think he is so strong in late game, you deffinately scale better than him.

Blitzcrank

Threatening Level: Hard

THIS is pure hell. If Blitzcrank is picked before you, don't pick Soraka into him. Every other supporter is better vs Blitzcrank. You must take Ancient Coin in this matchup, as you have to play very passive against him. Stay behind the minions, and also only poke from there. Normally, if he hooks you or your ADC that's most likely a kill for the enemies. Just try to survive the laning phase as good as possible. You outscale him late, but if he gets a catch it can turn a whole game. Soraka is very forgiving if her allies make mistakes - but she cant safe them from a good Blitzcrank.

Brand

Threatening Level: Hard

Another very bad matchup for Soraka. Sadly, Brand is recently picked very often so its likely to happen that you will have to play vs Brand. The worst that can happen is that he focuses you - his Pillar of Flame has a very high range and just hurts. Stay behind the minions so he doesn't stun you with his Sear. Buy magic resists at your first back, because he will probably do more DMG than his ADC in the early game. He is a really good teamfighter and deals tons of AoE Damage. One item is enough to burst you completely down. You need to deffinately start with Astral Infusion because he will constantly poke. Go back early if you have to.

Braum

Threatening Level: Easy

Very easy early on. Braum does not poke too much and you can easily avoid his stun. His Unbreakable does not stop anything from you, so you do not need to worry about him denying you. The lane will probably go good for you as long as you don't get ganked - he can respond very well to ganks.

Janna

Threatening Level: Average

In my opinion, Janna is one of the best supports in the game. Her laning phase is not threating - she is very passive, but constantly shields herself, her tower or her ADC, as her cooldown is pretty low on it. She also normally doesn't have too much mana problems early. Due to her passive and her Zephyr, Janna is very fast and it's normally no point chasing a Janna. As I said, the laning phase is normally pretty boring, since nothing happens - if she forces something, you can heal your ADC and if you force something, she will shield her ADC. Watch out for her Flash and Monsoon, as it can drift you away from your ADC. You both scale really really good into the late game and safe your allies from everything possible, so it's sometimes a good idea to focus Janna instead of someone else. You are both God Tier Supports that can easily change and carry a game.

Karma

Threatening Level: Easy

Karma has really good poke early on, but its easy to dodge it. She will do the most damage if she combines her Inner Flame with Mantra, so try to avoid it as good as possible (the hitbox is pretty wide). Her shield is not very strong unless she build items like Ardent Censer and Redemption. Karma's keystone normally tell you if she goes passive or aggressive - if she has Thunderlord's Decree , it's more likely she will build AP items, if she has Windspeaker's Blessing you can expect a Karma focusing on shielding her carries. Personally, I think Karma is not a hard matchup for Soraka and deffinately one of the easier ones. You also completely outscale her.

Leona

Threatening Level: Hard

Depateable, but I think Leona is a pain in the *** once she hits Lv 3. You can dodge her Zenith Blade, but it's very hard to dodge her Solar Flare and absolutely impossible to avoid her point-and-click Shield of Daybreak. Most Leona's I've seen carry Ignite with them, so she will do everything to lower your heal while smashing your ADC. When she activates her Eclipse, she is about to engage. Rush Mikael's Blessing to give you and your ADC some breathing time.

Lulu

Threatening Level: Easy

Lulu is a fairly easy matchup for Soraka. You outrange her, so she won't be able to poke you with her Help, Pix! or Glitterlance. The laning phase is mostly chilled, but you and your ADC should win the trades. Focus the ADC and poke him with your Q, so Lulu has to waste her Mana on shielding him. Lulu has a lot of CC tho - don't get baited by her Wild Growth, and try not to stand to close to her or her teammates, as her ultimate will knock you up if you do. In teamfights, Lulu is a very strong peeler and can protect her carries for a long time. You outscale her, but she is still pretty strong in the late.

Lux

Threatening Level: Easy

Lux is normally seen in midlane, but she can be a good poking support if played right. It is still a pretty easy lane, as you can heal up all of her poke, plus she will use a lot of Mana for poking. Her shield Prismatic Barrier is not very strong, travels very slow and is pretty hard to hit while the ADC is kiting. As long as you dodge her Light Binding she won't be threat - if she does the can blow you up once she hits Lv 6. Lux Support will normally build full AP, and as she is a burst mage, you should consider getting Locket of the Iron Solari asap.

Morgana

Threatening Level: Easy

Morgana is one of my favourite matchups, because it is very skill requiered. If the Morgana is autofilled, you can congrat yourself to a free lane. People who play Morgana support normally main her tho, and know how to play this champion. Her Dark Binding has a very wide hitbox, so try to stay behind minions. Overall, Morgana can't really do much against you - the damage she does to your ADC is no problem for you, as you just heal it back up. When she Ults, slow her with Starcall and run out of her Ultimate or you will get stunned.

Morgana is a good teamfighter, her ultimate is very strong. Get a Mikael's Blessing, because one of your teammates will definately get snared by her Dark Binding.

Nami

Threatening Level: Hard

One of the worst lanes for me. Nami has great sustain, great poke and good CC. The big advantage she has is, that she can heal herself as well with Ebb and Flow, while she is damaging you with it. Trading with her is a waste of time and mana. Mana is Nami's only weakness early on: Make her waste it, as all of her abilities have very high mana costs, especially her heal. Nami has really good engage with Tidal Wave, which goes long and has a wide range, but it travels very slow. When youre fighting, try to silence her, so she can't heal her allies. She is still very strong in the late game and can peel for her team very well. In the end, you outsustain her, so take this as your advantage.

Rakan

Threatening Level: Easy

Rakan in lane is basically doing nothing against you. He doesn't really poke, he is just a CC machine. Once he engages, put your E on him and he is useless. His sustain is not really strong, nor is his shield in the early game. However, in teamfights, Rakan truly shines, in my opinion he is one of the strongest teamfighting supports. As i said, he has a lot of CC, so try to avoid it and buy a Mikael's Blessing to save one of your carries, and remind your AD-Carries to buy a Quicksilver Sash for his never ending CC chain.