Hey there! You can call me Aegys, and this is my guide for Soraka, the Star Child.

Soraka is a wonderful support for those who are getting used to the position, and she makes a good pick in general due to her massive healing spells, ability to give allies mana as well as silence enemies, and the magic resist shred of her Starcall. Soraka is the first support I ever used, and through many games with her, I believe I'm capable of helping anyone out with her uses. If you have any questions on my choices, or if I lack clarity, don't hesitate to ask.

Now, onto the show!

♦ Magic penetration marks are good on Soraka, as she lacks real damage output. With the current meta preferring champions that can hurt and help, it assists her in keeping up.
♦ Mixing armor and scaling health is a good idea as Soraka is inherently squishy, so every bit of HP really helps. Armor is good in general, as she will be in the bottom lane, where most ADCs deal physical damage.
♦ Scaling magic resist glyphs are good because Soraka doesn't gain magic resist per level, and we don't want to be so vulnerable until we get our MR items.
♦ Lastly, AP quints are a preference of mine just because I want to help as much as I can before picking up my AP item. But as I said in the rune notes, gold per 10 quints are fine, too.

You want Block , Recovery , Unyielding , Veteran Scars , and Juggernaut in the defensive tree, because we don't want to die here. Our minimal damage is already covered in the runes.

Soraka has a base movement speed of 340, and we want to not get caught out, hence Fleet of Foot and Wanderer . Scout is needed, so your wards can be placed a little farther out. As for the remainder of the masteries in the Utility tree that I selected, it focuses on gold, experience, and a little bit of CDR.

Pros

+ Soraka has two forms of healing, which are amazing when in a pinch.
+ She provides mana to allies, which makes her do well with ADCs that run through their mana.
+ She also silences the enemy with her Infuse. This crowd control can be life saving, like stopping Katarina in the middle of Death Lotus, allowing your team to converge on her.
+ Starcall shreds through enemies Magic resist. If you're with an ADC that deals a lot of magic damage (ie Tristana, Corki, Kog'Maw), the enemy will feel your wrath.

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Cons

- I cannot stress enough just how squishy Soraka is. If you're off alone, your chances of survival are slim.
- Her abilities have a relatively short range, making you have to place yourself in danger just to get in a Starcall
- Her healing decreases in value substantially if whoever you're helping has grievous wounds. That does apply to any healing support, but it especially hurts Soraka as her heals are most effective when her allies have low health.

♦ It's good to go for the Ancient Coin start because Soraka is a more passive support. Your health, mana and trinket are mandatory, of course.

♦ Pick up your Sightstone as early as possible, and then go for Chalice of Harmony as Soraka will take full advantage of the mana font passive.

♦ With Soraka, you're utility-based, so the items she has will reflect it. Talisman of Ascension gives you movement speed, CDR, and can be activated to get you, or your allies towards or away from the enemy. Ruby Sightstone will supply wards as well as bonus health, which is much appreciated. Likely, the enemy team has some sort of crowd control, making Mikael's Blessing a must have. Rylai's Crystal Scepter should be your only form of AP, since it gives you health and that useful slow. I prefer it over Liandry's Torment, as it can allow your teammates to close in on an enemy.

♦ As always, you want to build to the situation, thus the extra items I provided. Scrolling over their descriptions should be self explanatory as to why they are useful for Soraka.

♦ Putting a point into Infuse at level one will help with early engages, and potential invades, as the silence it provides comes handy. The mana restoration should never be underestimated either, as the Salvation passive will provide allies with much more when they're low on mana.

♦ At level 2, put a point into Astral Blessing, because it gives a large heal, as well as armor for a few seconds. Max this ability first, but don't heal willy nilly, as it has a high mana cost. Clutch healing takes advantage of Salvation, and is mana efficient for yourself.

♦ Starcall should have a point by level 3, and be maxed out last, as we do not focus on damage here. Think of Soraka as Janna. You're there to help, not to hurt. The magic resist shred is enough, and the single point will help with minion clearing when you're not with your ADC (though you shouldn't be wandering in general anyway!).

That's all I have to say on using Soraka in game. As with any champion, she has the potential to turn situations in your favor. As long as you stay safe, clutch heal, and punish enemies with your magic resist shred and silence, your team has a greater chance of victory.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to add them. I hope this was able to help you!