Hello Soraka fans! My name is Thor, and this is my Soulstealer Soraka guide. I've played Soraka as my main across two accounts and absolutely love the changes we have seen in Soraka moving into season 5. A lot of effort and all of the experience I have garnered playing this amazing champion has gone into this guide and I truly hope that you not only find it useful, but that you provide feedback that will help me make it better over time.

Pros

+ Best single target heal + Ranged silence/snare + Great early game poke + Party wide heal

Soraka has by far the best single target heal in the game in Astral Infusion. The sustain it provides in the early lane phase as well as team fights is amazing. The ranged silence she provides in Equinox is really good for stopping enemy advances or saving you and your AD carry in a retreat. And her raid wide heal Wish can save someone in a close 1v1 from the other side of the map.

Cons

+ VERY squishy + Spacial awareness + Susceptible to CC + Relies on AD carry

For all of her qualities, Soraka does have some pitfalls that you need to keep in mind while playing her. She is extremely squishy and can be killed very quickly if you get in trouble with positioning. Because of Soraka's defensive cons, your spacial awareness and not allowing yourself to be CC'd is paramount to your success. Heres the worst part...a successful Soraka relies on a successful AD carry. A poor AD carry will mean a very frustrating game for you.

The Utility Tree provides Soraka with 3 very important aspects of her game. Gold generation and mana sustain which is imperative to her early laning phase, and movespeed which will be a huge benefit to her egress, aggressiveness, and ability to get to injuried allies quickly.

Tier 1 Fleet of Foot provides 1.5% movespeed and my overall design is to try to increase my movespeed as much as possible allowing me to escape aggressive enemies and get to my injuried allies faster. Scout allows me to place my wards from a further distance which makes the warding portion of my game (the most important part of my job) easier and safer.

Tier 2 Summoner's Insight reduces the CD of summoner spells by 10% and is essential with the use of both Clarity and Heal as your chosen spells. Alchemist is also essential to your pre 6 lane phase as Mana Potion's will be a huge part of your success before you build more mana regen.

Tier 3 Greed adds to your gold generation which as a good support is very important. The quicker you can build gold, the quicker you can build your essential items. The fourth point in the third tier is simply a preference between Phasewalker from Tier 1 or Runic Affinity from Tier 3. I prefer Phasewalker .

Tier 4 Scavenger and Wealth piggy back off of Greed from Tier 3. Your final 2 points in Tier 4 should go into Inspiration to help you keep up with your AD carry's level.

Tier 5 Bandit provides yet more gold generation. Your finaly 3 points from Tier 5 should go into Expanded Mind from Tier 4 to add to your mana pool. There is nothing worse than an oom healer...

Tier 6 Wanderer provides even more movespeed and is greatly advised.


The Defense Tree provides Soraka with added resists, health padding, and reduction to damage taken from enemy champions. Remember, Soraka is squishy and needs all the help she can get. The health padding is probably the most important part of the choices taken in this tree. The more health Soraka has to work with, the more healing she can do without endangering herself in the process.

Tier 1 Block reduces basic attack damage taken from enemy champions by 2 and [enchanted armor]] increases both armor and magic resistance by 5%.

Tier 2 Unyielding redcues all damage taken from enemy champions and Veteran Scars increases health by 36.

Tier 3 Juggernaut increases health by 3%.


Long story short...

Movement Speed:
+6.5% movespeed

Mana Sustain:
10% increase duration to potions
+5% maximum mana

Gold Generation:
+40 starting gold
1.5 gold per 10 sec
1 gold per minion kill
+15 gold per champion kill/assist

Damage Reduction:
Reduced basic attack damage taken by 2
Reduced champion damage (melee by 2 range by 1)
+5% armor
+5% magic resistance

Health Padding:
+36 health
+3% maximum health

Misc:
+15% cast range on trinkets
10% CD reduction on summoner spells
1 second cast time reduction to recall
+10 XP per 10 seconds near higher level allies

• Greater Quintessence of Armor
  
• Greater Mark of Mana Regeneration
  
• Greater Glyph of Mana Regeneration
  
• Greater Seal of Health

This is where I expect to get a lot of grief, as I have experienced a lot of it in game when allied players see my choice of summoner spells.

In my opinion, Clarity is a MUST HAVE for Soraka. Admittedly it loses its star power in the late game as your mana regeneration is so good by then that it only serves to help your team in team fights, but in the early game it makes the difference in dominating your lane. With the 10% CD reduc to summoner spells you should easily be able to get 2-3 Clarity's off before your first return to shop. It allows you to use your Starcall much more often than you normally would and be a very aggressive support early.

Heal is also one of the better choices for Soraka, especially in her early game. It provides a means of egress when the enemy pushes hard or if the jungler comes from river for a gank, it adds an additional heal to help save on mana, and its useful for pushing against retreating enemy champions and can make the difference between them getting away or getting a first kill early in lane.

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

• Watch for the arrows around Soraka that will indicate where someone who will trigger the passive is positioned.
• Use this to your advantage to escape from dangerous situations by running after retreating allies that trigger this passive ability.

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Starcall: Soraka calls down a star at a target location. Enemies standing at the point of impact take magic damage. Starcall takes more time to fall the farther the ability is cast. Enemies standing in the center take 50% increased damage and are slowed for 2 seconds.

Take Starcall at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. It should be the first ability you max out without question.

• Use Starcall early to show your enemy team that you plan on being aggressive. It will make them weary of pushing the lane which will allow your AD carry to farm minions with a bit less pressure from the enemy bottom tandem.
• Pay attention early to how your enemy falls back from your approach. Most players have "tendencies" that you will be able to take advantage of. This will allow you to better decide how to place your Starcall to ensure it strikes your enemy.
• Be aggressive with your Starcall as it greatly increases the chances of your AD carry getting an early kill or two in lane, but try to minimize your misses as much as you can. If your not sure you can land it, don't waste the mana.

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Astral Infusion: Passive: Each enemy champion hit by Starcall heals Soraka. The healing is increased if Soraka is missing health. Active: Soraka blesses a friendly unit, restoring its health. Astral Infusion cannot be self-cast, nor can it be cast if Soraka is below 5% of her maximum health.

Take Astral Infusion at levels 2 and 8. After you max out Starcall at level 9 your choice between maxing out Astral Infusion and Equinox is based on how the enemy team is playing against yours. If they are doing a lot of damage max out Astral Infusion first. If not max out Equinox.

• Be liberal with your use of Astral Infusion. It is the best single target heal in the game hands down. Your # 1 job is that of a healer.
• Be cautious when using Astral Infusion below 50% health. You never want your healing to put you into a position where you can be ganked or killed in lane. Try to use your Starcall to steal health so you dont endanger yourself by healing others.
• Howver...If it comes down to you dying because you healed your AD carry or your AD carry dying because you didn't...remember...Your # 1 job is that of a healer. If you die because you peel and heal, but your AD survives, you've done your job.

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Equinox: Soraka creates a zone at a target location for 1.5 seconds. Enemy champions standing in the zone take magic damage and are silenced until they leave. At the end of the zone's duration, all enemy champions inside are rooted for a few seconds and take additional magic damage.

Take Equinox at level 4. After you max out Starcall at level 9 your choice between maxing out Astral Infusion and Equinox is based on how the enemy team is playing against yours. If they are doing a lot of damage max out Astral Infusion first. If not max out Equinox.

• Equinox is a huge mana sink. Only use it when you have to. Your mana is much better spent on Starcall and AStral Infusion.
• You want to use Equinox in 3 situations. 1) When retreating from enemy advance, drop it where you think the enemy will be when it pops, snaring them or causing them to stop their advance and giving you and your allies some breathing room. 2) Drop it on someone trying to use a cast time ability to negate it. 3) Later in team fights when everyone is grouped up drop it on the mosh pit to give your team the advantage.

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Wish: Soraka calls upon the stars, first removing Grievous Wounds and then restoring 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.

Take Wish at levels 6 11 and 16 no questions asked.

• Watch your entire teams health at all times.
• Dont be afraid to use it to save someone in a 1v1 situation across the map. It could make the difference and tip the odds forever in your favor allowing your team to get a kill they otherwise would not have gotten.
• Whenever possible try to use it when multiple people are below 40% health to gain the extra healing and make the most of the huge mana cost.

Starter Package:

Stealth Ward will provide you with your first ward. It should be your first item because warding should be your first priority, even before healing.

Ancient Coin provides you with your gold generation from AD minion kills and gives you 25% base mana regen.

X 4

Your going to want these Mana Potion's for the early laning phase. Ideally your going to want to use 2 of them before your first Clarity and the other 2 in between your first and second Clarity. This should allow you to be aggressive in the lane, without going oom or having to return to base before level 6.

Essentials:

Sightstone should be the very first item you pick up on your first return to base. It provides 150 health which will sustain your heals and it gives you 3 additional wards to use, allowing you to fully ward the brush and river. This should happen right around level 6. Keep in mind that it is at level 6 that the junglers begin to gank, so having your wards up is imperative to controlling the lane.

Upgrading Ancient Coin to Nomad's Medallion provides you with 25% health regen in addition to the 25% mana regen that Ancient Coin provided, and adds 10 movespeed, 2 gold per 10 seconds, and increases the gold per AD minion kill by 1 up to 3.

Boots increases your movespeed by 25 which can make the difference between evading an enemy gank/advance or feeding the enemy team with your untimely demise.

Core Build:

Boots of Swiftness increases your movespeed by 60 and reduces movement impairing effects by 25%. This makes it much harder for the enemy to get to you, easier for you to get to your allies, especially with your passive, and negates some of the stress from movement impairing effects.

talisman of ascension

Upgrading Nomad's Medallion to talisman of ascension increases the health and mana regen from 25% to 100%, increases the movespeed from 10 to 20, and adds a 10% CDR (cool down reduction). More importantly the activated ability on it can increase an allies movement speed by 40% for 3 seconds which is huge for evading or pushing for a kill.

By the time you reach level 6, you should have a pretty good idea of how well your going to be able to avoid dying. If, and ONLY IF, you are confident that you will be able to stay alive for the vast majority of the game, grab Mejai's Soulstealer ASAP. With the way Soraka is able to pile up assists, you can easily get this item to stack to 20, granting you 180 AP (20 + 8 per stack) and 15% CDR. This takes a lot of patience and practice to keep yourself between 2-3 deaths per game, but the returns are amazing for such a cheap investment.

Warmog's Armor provides you with 800 health. That along with the health regeneration will help to sustain your healing output in the late game as well as allow you a little breathing room in team fights, bettering your chances of avoiding death and maintaining your stacks of Mejai's Soulstealer.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter provides you with 400 health. It also provides an additional 100 ability power once again buffing your damage and healing. But its passive ability is the biggest reason for taking this item. You can use it in the late game team fights to drop your Starcall on top of the mosh pit to slow the enemy team by 15% for 1.5 seconds giving your team the opportunity to finish off a trip, quad or penta. Invaluable.

Upgrades:

Upgrading your Stealth Ward to a Greater Vision Totem provides you with a ward that lasts until killed. This is huge for warding Baron and Dragon and knowing if and when the enemy team makes a move on those massive party wide buffs. Take this upgrade at level 9 without question!

Ruby Sightstone upgrades your Sightstone so that it provides an additional 250 health and holds 1 additional charge to your wards allowing you to place more wards as you push lanes giving you a clearer line of sight in the jungle. Take this ASAP!

Boots of Swiftness - Homeguard upgrades your Boots of Swiftness so that it provides you with almost immediate health and mana regen when returning to base, as well as a masive degrading speed boost when leaving the shop that you can use to get back into the frey quickly.

I will be adding a gameplay and strategy overview at some point tonight or tomorrow. But for now, any feedback on what is already here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to check this guide out. I hope you like it, I hope you find it helpful, and I hope your jungle que times are better than mine.