Hi everyone! I'm DarkAkumaLord, a guy who got screwed by placements and has really no time to make it up, so I'm low. If that's the reason you downvote me, that's fine, I really don't care, this is a mini-guide after all! Remember this is all usually for normals and this is all for fun, so try to turn a blind eye at the very concept :D

I DO NOT GUARANTEE SUCCESS IN RANKED DUE TO MORALE(OMG SORAKA JUNGLE TROLL) AND PRACTICAL(ganking) ISSUES

So let's get down to business, let's go!

Pros

Can heal herself and add extra armor in the jungle

Clear time is faster and more sustainable than you would expect from a support

Can restore mana

Global Ult Heals immediately and everyone, can change fight easily

Has at least one form of hard CC in Infuse

Bananas and is a Hawt Goat with a good dryad skin ;)

Summed up: Jungraka is basically a roaming support with damage... who is a hawt dryad goat and likes bannanas.

Cons

Cooldowns on both heals are too long

Ganks are hard to do correctly

Ult can be used at the wrong time and screw up(for example one second before Ignite wears off)

Lack of CC without Rylai's is pitiable, hard CC is semi-unreliable

Without Blue, Chalice, or Grail, it's harder to keep your mana in check

Summed Up: Team Comp, Timing, and Mana Control VERY IMPORTANT

Masteries are easy because everyone can get them right? So it's obvious that's first.

Offense Tree:

Sorcery: Cause who doesn't want 5% CDR from the beginning?
Expose Weakness : Q basically keeps this up forever.
Mental Force : AP from the start that scales is pretty sweet.
Arcane Mastery: More AP from the start.
Executioner : If they're under 50% health and you start doing 5% more. Not bad.
Archmage : HELL YEAH Combine it with Rabadon's Deathcap and it's 35% of your AP is added! Best AP mastery evar.
Dangerous Game : Heals after kill. Don't be fooled. It's great for surviving close fights ESPECIALLY if they have DoT.
Devastating Strikes : 6% Armor Pen is nothing, but the 6% Magic Pen is awesome especially combined with your magic shredding.
Arcane Blade : Your bannanas do damage. GO FOR IT :D
Havoc : 3% increase in damage. That's it.

Recommended: Utility

Phasewalker : Improved Recall time by 1. Can save lives, time, and lanes :D
Fleet of Foot : Increased MS for jungling and ganking and general walking :)
Summoner's Insight : Summoner Spells reduced by 10%. That's great for junglers for smiting.
Alchemist : Potions heal more because they last longer by 10%. It's great.
Runic Affinity : Buffs last 20% longer, which is great for blue stays longer.

Alternative Utility:

Fleet of Foot and Runic Affinity for Meditation and Culinary Master
Great point to mention, "WHY YOU NO TAKE Meditation ON Soraka FOR MANA PROBLEMS?"
If I take Runic Affinity , I usually have enough control even after my blue to either stall to my next blue or at least recall, gank/farm, and get another blue. Then, after that I'll have my awesome Chalice of Harmony. However, if I don't, I will take it gladly for the extra mana regen.
Meditation : +3 Mana Regen. Good for Soraka. Great for her.
Culinary Master : +20 Health and +10 Mana instantly, Spam 5 and its +100 Health and +50 Mana, good mastery, rather not have it in jungle though because I don't want to sacrifice buff time on someone like Soraka.

Alternative Masteries:

Defense and Utility 5/4

If you must take defense for some reason go for it. I wouldn't like it because no Summoner's Insight , Culinary Master , Alchemist , or Runic Affinity . You could go 2/7 but really that's even more inefficient: 2 damage blocked by minions or 10% more healing and +20 health and +10 mana from each potion or 10% more healing and 20% increase to buffs.
Recovery : +3 Health Regen is ok. Not bad, but not too good.
Tough Skin : Block 2 damage by monsters only! ... Um ok.
Bladed Armor : Monsters who attack you take 1% of their health back each second. I guess it's ok on large monsters and epic monsters. Completely useless on little wraiths lol.
Phasewalker : Still recalling faster
Meditation : +3 Mana Regen is still ok.

Honorary Mention:

Scout : It's ok but outclassed by Phasewalker for me, the ability to recall faster is better in my book than some measely 15% range which I don't need.

Why not 21/9/0 masteries?

Really there's one easy explanation to this.
There's no mana control help from your masteries at all this way. Just... Don't.

Now to the store or your Runes page to make sure you have the right runes for this!




Greater Mark of Ability Power: The best for Soraka so her heals and restores have more oomph to them and her damage does more too ofc :D
Greater Seal of Armor: A MUST FOR ANYONE ANYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN THE JUNGLE WHEN ALL THE MONSTERS DO AD. If you have this, you take SIGNIFICANTLY less damage from the monsters in the jungle, NON NEGOTIABLE.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: The reason I don't opt for scaling first is because you might gank mid lane early and the magic resist helps.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Just even more Ability Power for those heals and damage :)







Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Magic Pen always helps out later on even with the Magic Resist shredding for faster kills :D
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Yes, I was serious on the armor. This however, if you think that their APC or Support( Annie and Karma *cough*) won't be a problem, then you can opt for this or if you won't have to gank their lanes very often( Heimerdinger mid).
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: If there is basically no AP at all on the other side or if you just want the CDR earlier you can go for this. Also, if you don't want to buy an important CDR item, you can get this.
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Faster moving is always better for anyone at all. Just gank, move, and clear faster :)

First of all make sure you have the right masteries and runes. Then check your Summoner Spells.
My spells are usually Flash(D)/ Smite(F) You can do a different sequence ofc.

A Must Take

Um... Really? Do I have to explain? It's freaking Smite on a jungler. You use it to kill a lot of monsters :D Also, use it to secure objectives. Please do it correctly :)

Recommended

Just saying 99.9% of the time, use it. Escapes, ganks, positioning, kils, etc. Go for it.

Acceptable

No access to Flash or if you think that a long distance run is better against the certain team comp.


It gives you some more CC to help you gank. It also helps against major AA comps with like: Tryndamere, Aatrox, Teemo, Vayne, etc.


It might give a better surprise factor than Flash and you can defend and ... (push?) with this. Who knows, it might just save your team.


With the buffs, this became really good. Although it already was nerfed so it can't remove grevious wounds it still heals two people(closest to your cursor) and gives them a speed buff. Not bad.

If they have like literally no escapes at all, I guess you could go HAM with this.

Nope to Everything Else Please

Make sure you chose your spells correctly and in the right slot and let's start the game.

Loading...
*grabs a drink*
Welcome to Summoner's Rift
SH*T! *runs back*

Let's start on what you start with

Start

Hunter's Machete+ Health Potion x5: Non-Negotiable since Soraka needs 5 pots and needs Hunter's Machete for a later item for faster and better sustain for jungling.
Sweeping Lens: Best for a jungler to check for wards.
Stealth Ward: If you're not going to gank at all or can make sure there are none, go for this. If you're going to steal their red while they're taking it, ask your support to buy a early ward to ward their red so you can take it with smite.

First Back

Assuming this is a normal back you should try to have 725 gold at the very least





Spirit Stone+ Boots
This whole section depends on how much you made it back with.
You should get your Spirit Stone asap no matter what. SO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE 400 gold and even if you don't you should start. IF you have less than 180 gold, I have no idea what you should do. Just refill pots and go?
The Spirit Stone helps clear time immensely and helps your sustain a little bit. The Boots helps clear time and ganking speed a little.

Core Items

IMPORTANT TO USE THIS ORDER BE SURE TO TRY TO GET THE FIRST TWO BLUES. Not a big loss if you don't, just a lot more conservative or get an earlier Chalice of Harmony.
Spirit of the Spectral Wraith: This item helps sustain and clear speed in the jungle, not to mention a respectable amount of AP, mana and health regen, and CDR. Great item, just don't forget to stack the passive :)
Sorcerer's Shoes: Magic Pen and Speed. That's basically all I have to say.
Chalice of Harmony -> Athene's Unholy Grail: First off, Mana Font Passive is awesome. You almost never run out of mana this way. Then, there's the respectable MR, CDR, and AP.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Respectable Health and AP, but the most important thing is the passive. IT HELPS A LOT TO HAVE A PERMA SLOW :D

My Recommended Finishing Touches

From here on out, it's your choice, but here's my favorites to end the game with :)
Rabadon's Deathcap: The Lord of all AP damage. Just great. 30% of your current AP is added back in and you also have 120 AP added before that. With Archmage it's 35%. So great :D
Spirit Visage: The passive on this is just great. Way too good to look over for healing is increased on yourself and you constantly have heals as Soraka. Also, CDR(used to be 20% :( ), health, and MR! It's almost a core other than when against all AD teams basically.
Zhonya's Hourglass: Replaces Spectral Wraith for jungling should be fast enough anyways. For CDR, AP, some mana and health regen, and faster and better monster clear, it gives you more AP, armor, and an AMAZING passive. Wurf it late game for sure.

Replacements that MUST BE EARLY BOUGHT

Ruby Sightstone: AT LEAST BUY IT AS A Sightstone RUSH AFTER Chalice of Harmony. You must use at least 8 wards to become gold efficient with the health. Also, rushed because the earlier the wards, the better the control.
Rod of Ages: If you must buy this, you MUST rush the whole thing after Chalice of Harmony or *gasp* forego it(or in regular words, don't buy chalice basically). You must get this early for the stacking effect.
Seraph's Embrace: Buy Tear instead of Chalice. Basically, you could have both for the ultimate sustain, but no. If you really want this go for it.

Situational Items

Deathfire Grasp: CDR, AP, and a pretty good active. Pretty much, do a lot of damage to one champion.
Liandry's Torment: Works Great with Rylai's, but only works with Q and offensive E
Abyssal Mask: MR and AP. Also gives some "Magic Pen" to everyone on your team, but you must be in range.
Lich Bane: It's nerfed, but it still makes one bannana kill something. AP, MS, and mana ftw.
Locket of the Iron Solari: A great Aura with Magic Resist and Health Regen. It also gives you CDR Health and Magic Resist AND you can activate a small shield for everyone.
Frozen Heart: CDR, Armor, and Mana. Also, a passive that reduces all the enemies's attack speed.
Guardian Angel: Armor and Magic Resist. A passive that revives you every five minutes. If you can, trade this item in after the passive was used up for something else.
Thornmail: ARMOR AND ARMOR. Do it when everyone on the other team is basically AD and Auto Attacks ( Caitlyn, Xin Zhao, Master Yi, etc.)
Randuin's Omen: Health, armor, and an awesome passive and active. Passive slows Auto Attackers who AA you and active slows enemies around you :D
Warmog's Armor: HEALTH AND HEALTH REGEN, passive gives you MORE HEALTH REGEN :D
Banshee's Veil: Health and magic resist. Also, a passive that eats a spell for you every 25 seconds(if you don't get hit by a champ after that, that is). Also, 45 health regen for 10 seconds every time you do.

Enchantments:

Sorcerer's Shoes - Alacrity: + 15 MS for getting around like a baws.
Sorcerer's Shoes - Homeguard: RUN OUT OF BASE!!! Defend and faster heals.
Sorcerer's Shoes - Distortion: Lower cooldown on Flash( Ghost and Teleport too).

Make sure you bought your stuff and let's GOOOO.

*starts walking to lane* *notices invade and caught* *lvls W instead of Q first and heals ally while person tower dives for first blood* :)
Basically the moral is, try not to level your first skill until you made sure there was no invade.

Passive

Salvation: It used to be MR to everyone around you, but now it's better heals for how much the person is missing, kind of like Equilibrium in a way. It's better for Soraka jungle because we get more health this way instead of MR for ganking lanes. Remember it's 1% more for every 2% they are missing.

Q

Starcall: Our major damage tool and it's AOE shredding which also lowers the cooldown on our Astral Blessing(heal). It's amazing synergy with Rylai's also slows everyone down like crazy. It has a 200 + 40% ratio only on AP unfortunately, however the 6(+1%) magic shred that goes up to 10x is INSANE. You'll be shredding 110 MR at max stacks. Also, the 10% reduction for Astral Blessing is amazing at max rank.

W

Astral Blessing: Heals and gives armor. Pretty sure that saves anything from anything. Whether its tanking turrets, jungling, fighting adcs, etc. It helps with that armor bonus. The heal helps with everything though. 270 + 35% of AP for healing and 15% + 110 for Armor Bonus(TANK EVERYTHING AD) at max rank is pretty sweet. Remember to watch for Grievous Wounds!

E

Infuse: The thing about infuse is that it now COSTS 50 mana to attack, just saying, as many do not seem to know. She gives 5% of her max mana to give to the person she's restoring + 100 at max. This is why RoA and Seraph's are even viable on Soraka however Athene's is the better choice for her, because CDR and the major magic regen let's her stay on top of her mana. Other than that, the attacking portion is a strong (again uses 50 mana) 5% mana + 40% of AP + 160 single target damage with a 2.5 second silence at max level. It is ideal to keep your eye on your mana with this skill if using offensively over and over.

R

Wish: A global heal. That's pretty sweet. It's the ONLY skill in Soraka's whole arsenal that actually decreases CD per level. It instantly restores 350 + 55% of AP to everyone on the Rift. Don't forget that Grievous Wounds still affect this! THIS ABILITY IS WHY YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYONE'S HEALTH. You must decide in a moment if they're worth saving or if they can even BE saved.

Assuming nothing happened, go Q and let's start jungling!

There are 3 routes: Invade, Steal, or Regular. Let's start with Regular.

NOTE: Steal and Invade are assuming they usually start Blue, reverse blue and red if they start red like Lee Sin(personally I only start red as a stealer).

Regular

1. Take your Blue with a leash from top/bot with a mid spell. They only have to stay around 3-5 seconds. Remember to Smite Secure
2. Take your Wolves/Wraiths. ONLY TAKE ONE.
3. Take your Red. Your Smite should be back up at this point. Smite secure or check and smite early.

Invade

1. Either try to overtake your opponent in power or Warding Totem the blue so you can see when to smite steal. IF you are smite stealing DO NOT LET THEM SEE YOU. If you are overtaking by power, be sure to have enough, recommend bringing 3-4 people. Recommend Blue side more than Purple side, since Purple Blue is closer to bot.
2. If they're not there and at red or your red or at your blue. Free blue? Maybe ask someone to check your blue or red, whichever is undefended.

REMEMBER TO HAVE YOUR TOP OR BOT DEFEND YOUR BLUE DEPENDING ON WHICH SIDE YOU ARE ON

3. If you are seen, they may head to your blue from wherever they are.
4. If they started red and your red and blue are safe, Go your red -> your blue for maximum ****ishness, you can give your blue to your top/mid/adc/support depending on who needs it and if you don't need it (you probably won't).

Steal

1. Go to their red, make sure no one's there. If someone sees you try to kill them.
2. Take it, if they saw you, they might've came over or went to your red. Go to your blue.
3. After blue check your red, if it's still there take it and you have deprived them of a buff. They are officially behind unless they successfully ganked twice very well or something.

Counter Jungling

Soraka is not suited for this, but if you want you can. Just try your hardest to interfere with their path, but you aren't Udyr or Nunu & Willump so you might not be able to. Just steal minions and try NOT to fight some of the better defenders like Amumu.

REMEMBER WHEN INVADING OR STEALING OR JUST COUNTER JUNGLING TO TRY AND LEAVE A SMALL MINION BEHIND TO THROW OFF THE TIMERS!!!

Most basic warding ever. Also, pinks can go in the single standing bush next to dragon and baron and the bush going around the back of red and your own blue and red for protection. In Dragon and Baron, placing the Vision Ward at the back is the best, or you can put a double Stealth Ward, putting one in front and one in the back and to check, put your Oracle's Lens down to check around the whole pit for wards and make sure to destroy the pink. If there was a ward, BE CAREFUL of them coming.

Here's my example, you guys should provide the rest.2/0/10 pretty good. Except the fact the Leona also went 11/1 >.> The Ezreal was probably the worst one on the team with 5/4(from 1/3) and Leona got that double kill waaay earlier than you would expect.

None. GG.

Well first and foremost, myself xD
Then, of course jhoijhoi who taught me coding with her guide like 1 year and a half ago :)
Google for the pics of Camps and Warding :D Mac sucks for this stuff, since I'm doing this on an old mac for the fun of it.
And most of all, YOU for reading this guide and reading this part lol. Have fun with the holy power of bananas and stuff. Remember that Gangplank eats oranges and lemons and occasionally bananas like Meiyjhe and you'll be fine with the DIVINE POWER OF BANANAS on the rift :)