Auraka, Supporting like a Star!

Introduction

Hey everyone, with pride I present to you my fourth guide, this time for Soraka! I used to play Janna a lot but sometimes people prefer to play with a healing support so I picked up Soraka. She is not hard to learn, yet fun to play. If you got map awareness, and you like to keep people alive instead of getting kills, Soraka should really suit you.

The reason this guide's name says Auraka and not Soraka is because almost every item bought has an aura ^^ Anyways, Soraka is most viable in 5v5, I do not recommend playing her on 3v3 or Dominion. Well, enough of an intro for now, let's start with the actual guide!

Have fun reading, I hope this guide will encourage you to play Soraka!

Pros/Cons

NOTE: Click HERE for the template of this section.

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Pros + She heals. + Her ult heals, too. + She gives mana. + Bonus magic resist. + She silences.

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Cons - Very squishy in early game. - Underrated. - Long cooldown on W. - Little damage. - No mobility for (counter-)warding.

Runes

I take gold per 10 Seals and Quints, to keep my income stable. I also take Armor Marks and Magic Resist per level Glyphs, to get some more defense.

In your runepage, it should look like this:

R U N E S

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- Magic Penetration Marks, in case you prefer more damage over defense - Flat Armor Seals, in case you prefer the extra defense over the extra gold - Flat Health Quintessences, in case you prefer the extra HP over the bonus gold

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R U N E S

Also, please do not waste your IP/RP and buy tier 1 or tier 2 runes. Just be patient, wait until you get Summoner Level 20 and buy tier 3 runes. You can not sell your old runes, you can put them in some sort of blender and hope you will get something nice, but it is not worth it.

Masteries

Resistance (1 point) to advance Hardiness for the much needed Armor Durability for the overall tankiness Veteran's Scars for the health, most beneficial in early game.

Summoner's Insight to improve my summoner spells Good Hands for the reduced time spent dead Expanded Mind (1 point) because there is nothing else useful in there :P Swiftness for the cool movement speed Greed for even more gp/10 Awareness for the superb experience increase Intelligence for the sexy CDR Mastermind for terrific CDR on summoner spells!

- I don't take Expanded Mind because you need to sacrifice yourself sometimes to keep a teammate alive. The quicker you are back, the quicker your team can benefit from you again.
- I don't take Wealth because I think 2 mastery points are worth more then a measly 40 gold.
- 0-9-21 or 9-0-21? I used to go with 9-0-21 for a long time, but I think that 0-9-21 benefits Soraka more. Why? Soraka should be somewhat tanky, because her Q requires her to stand close to enemies. You are not there to deal damage, you are there to soak up damage and help your carries deal damage.

Summoner Spells

I can no longer live without it. It is really useful on Soraka, since she has no real escape mechanisms.

I enjoy using it, because the enemy will get frustrated by you preventing their ganks. However, it does require some feeling about where the enemy (jungler) might be. It is not easy to use well, but if you can use it well it will certainly pay off. Since Soraka is not very quick you can not always ward the place up, and this is a nice way to solve that.

Since Heal/Flash is more or less obliged on any AD carry, this is an excellent spell for you to take. However I feel Clairvoyance/ Flash is a better choice for Soraka, but this comes in close third.

If you do not have Flash available yet you should take this. blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla

Who knows, it all depends on how much CC the enemy has, and if they are using it on you. Not much chance, but it could save you.

Might be of use to deal some damage, but usually you use this to secure a kill and you should pick up assists instead.

Since the one with this gets 100 % and everyone nearby gets 50 %, this is a spell that your AD carry should take. However if he/she does not take it, this is a fine choice.

You already have your E, you do not need this spell. blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla

There is no need for a support to have this. If you need to defend a tower from minions, you should send a teammate to farm. Since you are a support, you should stick with your team instead.

You are not a jungler. blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla

More likely to be used by Teemo, Jax and other common hybrid champs. blablablablablablablablablablabla

You have enough farming and pushing capability on your own. And you don't want to steal the minion kills from your carry.

You mad? You should not die! blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla

Skill Explanation and Sequence

Soraka's passive is Consecration. It gives bonus magic resist to every teammate that is nearby. In early game it is quite useless but once teamfights start to break out it becomes really useful.


What is there to say, you don't have to do anything with it, just stick to your teammates.



Her Q is Starcall. It deals some damage, but more importantly shreds the enemy's magic resist. It is not really useful in early game, but very nice in teamfights to aid your AP carry.


In teamfights, you can spam your Starcall. If you have a full build, you should be standing right next to your tank.



The W spell is Astral Blessing. It heals any teammate that you click for a bit, and it also gives bonus Armor! Very useful in laning phase, but not bad in teamfights either.


You need to take a good look at your mana in early game. Astral Blessing is pretty costly and you don't want to run out of mana at the wrong time.

In teamfights, you should use Astral Blessing on the person who is getting focused by their AD Carry. The Armor buff will help your ally survive.



The E ability is Infuse. You can either give free mana to a teammate (since the recent patch, no longer yourself...), or silence any enemy for a short duration.


Learn when to use Infuse in which way. If you are laning with an AD Carry who uses a lot of mana (such as Sivir or Ezreal) you will be more busy giving them mana, but if you play with Caitlyn or Ashe you should be harassing the enemy.



Her ult is Wish. It gives any allied champion that is alive some health. It is really awesome in laning phase for baiting kills, and in teamfights you could just get the edge by using it at the right time. There is also one specific counter, namely Karthus' Requiem. If you see him cast it, just hit R and laugh at him ^^


Always try to check other lanes. You never know when a teammate needs your ultimate. This is easier when you are premade but in solo queue you must really have a lot of map awareness.



Put a point in Wish whenever you can, max Infuse first, Astral Blessing second and Starcall last. Just like this:



However, you should always use your common sense. If you and your AD carry are getting harassed early, max Astral Blessing first instead. If you are not getting harassed at all, you can even max Starcall before Astral Blessing. Always use your brain!

Items

Probably the best start on any support, since it quickly builds into a Philosopher's Stone. The mana regen will be useful as your heal is quite costly. Bring along 2 Sight Wards and a Vision Ward as well!

But what about Doran's Ring stacking? It might actually work, but I just don't like it. In my opinion, you should buy some CDR first, before concerning yourself with AP or mana regen. Plus, Doran's items don't build into anything...

Kind of depends on how the enemy is doing, you could also consider Ninja Tabi. But most often, you will get the Mercs.

Great support item. Bonus movement speed upon activation, CDR, health regen AND mana regen? Defenitely yes, even another teammate such as Skarner has already bought it.

I used to be against this, but it gives so much for such a little price. Great item for pretty much any support, or tank. Just make sure that there is only 1 in your team, 2 is fancy for you and your tank but you should be helping your carries, not your tank.

Yes, we are leaving a slot open for wards. I can't stress this enough: Map awareness is important! You are fast, you don't need many items to be useful, so that is why you should leave a slot open for wards.

Great support item, benefits every AD based champion in your team. The health and CDR will come in handy too!

Great item overall. Good counter vs the enemy AD based champions, don't be afraid to hit 45 % CDR because well, that doesn't really matter considering all of the other awesome stats this item gives.

Afterwards, do not forget to buy Elixirs and an Oracle! It does not happen often you will get that far, but if you do, use them. It is also viable to buy some Blue Elixirs during the game.

Other items worth mentioning

A fine choice, if you want to get it until you reach 40 % CDR from other items that is certainly not bad. The choice of boots more or less depends on how things are going.

Only if the enemy team is full of champions that rely on autoattacks ( Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Ashe, etc.)

It's a great item for any caster, but since you are a support your job is not to deal damage but to keep your allies alive.

I recommend to buy Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold since they build into items that you will buy later. Kage's Lucky Pick is an option but I wouldn't recommend it.

Very good item if one of the other items seem unnecessary. AP, Magic Resist and an Aura, what else is there to want? ^^

If you are low on mana often. That will happen but is barely a problem; as a support you give your life to save a teammate, so who needs mana? :D

It is a very good item, but most often 2 people in your team already buy it. If not you could consider it but it will reduce your tankiness, but increase your damage output.

Whenever you are being focused by them AP casters. blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla

No, you are better off buying Shurelya's Reverie. It gives more useful stats, and since we are buying Mercury's Treads and Tenacity does not stack, this item becomes useless.

Good item, making you very hard to kill. However you have a decision to make then; which item will you sell? Probably Zeke's Herald but it depends on your team comp.

You should already have enough CDR, but the main reason for buying this item is the attack speed debuff. It is really useful if the enemy AD carry has been fed. You should also sell your Ionian Boots of Lucidity and buy either Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi.

It is a really measly item. The shield only shields for 230 damage which is pretty much nothing. There are also better items to get if you want Armor or Health Regen, stay away from this item.

No, since I get Mercury's Treads this item is completely ruled out since Tenacity does not stack.

Whenever Malzahar, Warwick or Skarner are beating you badly, try this and they will QQ.

Even more hp, but also some mana and AP. Great item for her. Both her defense and offense are boosted, what else do you want? The very only reason I am not buying this usually, is because it is rather expensive, and as a support you will probably not have much gold left over.

No. It only syncs with your Starcall and Infuse, and therefore it's not worth it. blablablablablablablablabla

I tried it a few times but it's not worth it. Usually if you have to use Monsoon you will do it because your ally/allies is/are low on hp, not for yourself.

100 % no. If one of your allies is in trouble, and you can save him by suiciding, you MUST do it! They will be grateful :) By dying you lose stacks, so this item is just not so good on her.

General Tips

You will mostly lane with a ranged DPS champion like Ashe or Graves, but a melee DPS champion like Tryndamere or Talon also works nicely. Anything else will not work really well, and laning with another support just plain sucks.

You have so much sustain, laning against any melee champion is very doable. You will find yourself in more trouble against ranged champions, so keep your distance.



Sit back and relax. If you play Soraka, it means that your AD Carry will just farm and nothing else, unless your jungler comes to gank of course. Use Astral Blessing on whoever gets focused, and silence the one you want to kill. ALWAYS have a ward up, in case their jungler comes to gank. More explanation about warding is found in the section below :)

Ashe

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Rather good lane, she can spam Volley unlimited in early game because of your Infuse. You might want to level Astral Blessing over Volley because Ashe is far from mana hungry.

Caitlyn

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Same as Ashe, a good lane because Caitlyn is a good farmer and Soraka supports just that. Caitlyn also is not mana hungry, so put some extra points in Astral Blessing.

Corki

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Not the best of all lanes, because he is way more aggressive. He has the kit to go aggressive, which does not make him a good lane partner for Soraka.

Ezreal

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Same as Corki, he prefers aggression while Soraka does not.

Graves

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The lane match that says: We will not die. Graves' True Grit makes him rather tanky already, and Soraka helps. Good lane if the enemy has a "kill lane".

Kennen

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Hell no. He does not even use mana, why would you ever pick him and Soraka in one lane...

Kog

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Not too good of a lane, he is all about aggression while Soraka is passive. Would not recommend!

MF

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Also an aggressive laner, she falls of a little late game so you will need to get early game kills, which will be hard if you pick Soraka.

Sivir

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It's okayish, Sivir has decent early and late game, so if you want to go for afk farming early and net some kills later (her ult is awesome in late game) this can certainly work. She is also pretty mana hungry on early levels, so this works.

Trist

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Again an aggressive laner, better not pick Soraka when you see an ally has picked Tristana.

Urgot

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He is not even an AD Carry... I would not recommend Soraka with him since he will probably get a Tear of the Goddess early so he does not need your mana. He also has such a strong early game, it should be exploited by picking an aggressive support.

Varus

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Since you are pretty defensive/sustain and he is all about burst, this lane does not work very well. However he uses quite some mana so it might work, but there are better supports for him.

Vayne

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She is the late game carry, so going safe and picking Soraka alongside Vayne is not a bad idea at all. If Vayne gets farmed up in early game, she wrecks in late game so I'd say this is a great lane!

Warding

But seriously, warding is the most important job of a support. Doesn't mean that other people should not do it (in early game your jungler (probably along with Wriggle's Lantern), your top laner (to stop ganks from their jungler) and your mid (to stop ganks from top, bot and jungler) will also do it.), but in mid and late game you will be the one placing the most wards. You should always have at least 3 in your inventory as soon as teamfights start to break out.

Anyways, if you are new to the support role, or if you don't know where to place wards, here are a bunch of screenshots to help you.

In case you have played more often, and you know the map, I took an image from the internet and used Paint to draw some circles to show you where you should place wards in certain stages:



Early game
Mid-late game
When doing Dragon or Baron, respectively
Black : When pushing the midlane

And the rest of this section shows screenshots of that place, in case you do not know the map by heart yet.

In early game, you will want to place wards here:


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In mid- and lategame, you will want to place wards here:


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Sjoemieh is one of my classmates, nice guy and not a bad player at all :) He just wanted his moment of fame, well here ya go!

If your team is about to do Dragon, you will want to place wards here:


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If your team is about to do Baron, you will want to place wards here:



You could also place that ward a bit higher, just in the brush (but in such a way you can still see the Wraiths). If someone has an Oracle up, they often forget to check that spot!



If you are pushing the midlane up to their inhibitor turret, those places are nice places to ward:


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Oracles and Vision Wards

Almost all the time if the enemy team has any of those champions in them:
Akali, Evelynn, Shaco, Talon, Teemo, Twitch, Vayne, Wukong.
They have some really annoying stealth, and Oracles detect them when they are close to you.
Otherwise I do not recommend taking an Oracle early, it is quite costly and if you die you will have to spend another 400 gold. One way or another, get your gp/10 items first.
Reasoning behind this is that usually, your jungler gets one early. If he/she doesn't, you could consider it but a Vision Ward usually does the job just fine.



At the start, if the enemy has one of the champions listed above, you could get some until you can buy Oracles. When everyone hits about level 7, you should always have one up near Dragon so you can destroy the enemy ward that is probably there. Later on, having one at Baron is also great. For the rest, I do not recommend using them as a Sight Ward gives you pretty much the same vision.

Teamfights

The enemy AP carry, for the simple reason you can silence them. As for healing, focus it on the who is getting focused by the enemy AD carry, because they will benefit from the armor bonus.



Anyone who has the means to kill you. Nocturne and Tryndamere come to mind, but Graves, Evelynn and Kassadin are also dangerous. Heal yourself if you must! No reason to be scared of the enemy support or tank, when it comes to damage. Be wary of their CC - even though you are a little bit tanky you can still die quickly when focused.



Somewhere in the middle of your team. You have your Q, which requires you to stand quite close, but you do not want to get focused either.

Ranked Play

She is picked probably most right after Janna, and I understand why. With an AD carry who uses a lot of mana like Ezreal, Corki, and Kog'Maw, she really shines. She has a global ult, silences enemies, heals allies and shreds Magic Resist.

So, when is a good time to pick her?

• If you have an AD carry to lane with
• If your team does not have a support already
• If your team has enough damage

Videos

So, I have this cool program called LoL Replay, but I have no idea how I can edit stuff. Any help is appreciated, just leave a comment or send me a PM :)

Anyways, some videos you should watch:

Soraka Champion Spotlight:

I could not find it :o If you do, help me out :P

Shurelia's zoning guide:

My scores

Below here are also ranked scores, but they are with my ranked 5x5 team:

Special thanks to...

All the people who have commented and/or voted on my guide. No matter if it was an up- or downvote, I appreciate everything you guys did.

Some very special thanks go to:

- Kusoku for helping me out greatly with the use of columns, thanks a lot dude!
- MissMaw for making the awesome banners in this guide. Visit her sig shop right here!
- LaCorpse, for making all the small banners in this guide. Visit her sig shop right here.
- jhoijhoi for writing her Guide to making a Guide. It has helped me in so many ways, I can't link it enough. If you are going to make a guide yourself, READ IT!

To do list

• Add my own made videos
• Add a list of possible enemy botlaners

Summary

Runes: Flat Armor Marks, gp/10 Seals, MR/lvl Glyphs, gp/10 Quintessences.
Masteries: 0-9-21
Spells: Flash/ Clairvoyance or Exhaust, Ignite.
Items: Mercury's Treads, Shurelya's Reverie, Aegis of the Legion, Randuin's Omen, Sight Ward, Zeke's Herald.
Skill Sequence: R>E>W>Q

I hope you liked reading, enjoy playing Soraka! :)