Build Guide by Pwnzor1130

Introduction

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to my first guide! Some people may think that Soraka is underpowered, but if you play her correctly you can do wonders! I've done the math and she can put out some very impressive heals. You may have seen other guides similar to mine, and that's because they inspired me to make this. I took their ideas and tweaked, turning out more than 100 more HPS than the best one! This does come at at the expense of some survivability, but I believe that the healing and speed more than makes up for it.

You can find the old version and its variant in team 2.

You can find them here:

Nobody Dies on Soraka's Watch!
WARNING: Use of this guide will get Soraka banned!

All of my math is in the last section. If there are any errors in there or this guide, please leave a comment and I will fix it.

Terminology

AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks)

CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)

FB = First Blood

AP = Ability Power

AD = Attack Damage

MD = Magic Damage

AS = Attack Speed

MS = Movement Speed

MR = Magic Resistance

ArPen = Armor Penetration

MPen = Magic Penetration

LS = Life Steal

SV = Spell Vamp

DPS = Strong Auto-attacker

MDPS = Strong spells; casters

CDR = Cooldown Reduction

OOM = Out of Mana

MP = Mana

HP = Health

MP Regen = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds

HP Regen = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

HPS = Heals per Second

Mp5 = Mana gained per 5 seconds

Background and Abilities

Soraka, the Starchild of Ionia, was the first of her kind. While there are many who tap into the rich magical energies of Valoran, she was the first to tap into the magic of the cosmos. Reaching beyond the terrestrial firmament, Soraka was capable of invoking the power of the stars, evolving beyond her kin. That is, until she let her most primal of emotions rule her. Warwick, a mercenary chemist in the service of Noxus, had caused untold suffering and death amongst Soraka's people. Unstoppable anger and hatred welled within her and she cursed the man to become a beast. Soraka lost much of her power for this misstep, sliding several steps down the evolutionary ladder in an instant. Though she is still a champion of the Ionian people, Soraka has joined the League of Legends in hopes of reversing her curse and redeeming herself in the eyes of the stars.

''Though having fallen from grace, Soraka is nonetheless determined to once again be one with the stars.''
Increases surrounding allies' magic resistance by 16

A very nice ultimate that could save you or a teammate from that nasty Evelynn.
A shower of stars falls from the sky, striking all nearby enemies for magic damage and reducing their magic resistance temporarily.
Strikes nearby enemy units for 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.25) magic damage and reduces their Magic Resistance by 8 for 8 seconds. This effect stacks up to 20 times.
Cost
40/50/60/70/80 Mana
Range
630

Spam this during team fights and any AP carries or mages will love you. The stacking MR penetration helps a lot.
Soraka blesses a friendly unit, restoring health and increasing armor for a short time.
Restores 80/130/180/230/280 (+1) health and grants 15/20/25/30/35 bonus armor for 9 seconds.
Cost
90/110/130/150/170 Mana
Range
650

Amazing AP scaling is what makes this heal great. When combined with Wish and Heal it will make you and your allies nigh invincible (unless the enemy team has been fed like mad).
If cast on an allied champion, restores mana to the target and to Soraka. If cast on an enemy champion, silences them for a few seconds and deals damage.
On Ally Cast: Restores 25/50/75/100/125 mana to the target, and an equal amount to self. (Double gain on self cast.)

On Enemy Cast: Silences the target for 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 second(s) and deals 50/100/150/200/250 (+0.6) magic damage.
Cost
No Cost
Range
725

Free mana is great, and can also be used for harassment while saving you from that pesky Katarina's ultimate.
Soraka fills her allies with hope, instantly restoring health to all friendly champions.
Instantly restores 200/320/440 (+1.3) health to all allied champions.
Cost
200/275/350 Mana
Range
25000

Pretty good ultimate and the opposite of Karthas's ultimate. A global heal that can be used for that extra healing during a team fight (recommended use) and saving yourself or an ally (only when necessary). If you want, you can also use it to get assists from across the map, but don't be selfish. Having this off CD can be a lifesaver.

Pro's and Con's

Pro's:

• Crazy high healing output
• Can move very fast
• Great utility and can save people at almost any time
  Con's:
• Very squishy
• You will be targeted in team fights.

Why you should go AP and CDR

A few other guides, including one that I mentioned, call for survivability. As I discovered while making my spreadsheet, this cut the healing output by almost half. Other builds have it right for you going AP and CDR, but again, add in extra Mp5 that does not really impact your game that much. They even ask you to go for extra health that would add only 200 or so hp that would get burned through anyway. Again, while making my spreadsheet, i figured out I could get 36% more healing out of Soraka. There are also guides for Soraka with other purposes, but she isn't really made out for it from my experience.

Sorry if it feels like I'm ripping on other people's builds, but I just want to show you the advantages of mine.

Summoner Spells

"What, Heal? GTFO Noob!" Heal can and will save you. You heal. More healing is always good.
Mana can be tough for you and your teammates, even with Infuse. You will see.

Runes

AP scales extremely well on Soraka, get as much as possible.
Even with Infuse you will have a hard time keeping your mana up without these. Just go with it.
AP makes your heals shine!
NOM NOM NOM AP

Items

Gives you the best speed for boots in the game when out of combat. Also, Astral Blessing, Wish and Infuse(when on you or an ally) do not count as combat.

Not only do you get amazing amounts of mana and Mp5 with this item, your mana will also be converted to AP!
Survivability, mana, and CDR; what else do you want?
By this time, you have to be stupid rich. This one item has the highest AP in the game.
Try to keep


up at all times.

Situational Items

If you're having trouble with AP nukes or mages, take this instead of Boots of Mobility:
or
for melee/AD carries.

Masteries

These are your must-have masteries, and some can be moved around:
Archmage's Savvy: AP? Why, thank you!
Sorcery: CDR allows you to throw heals, gain mana, and do everything faster.
Perseverence: Mp5 allows you to use Infuse on allies more.
Awareness: XP gain is good for you!
Meditation: Mp5 is your bread and butter for mana
Insight: Allows Clarity to help your teammates more.
Quickness: Wanna beat the Flash in a race? Take this.
Intelligence: Gets you to the CDR cap.
Presence of the Master: CDR on your summoner skills helps with mana and health.

Skilling Order

I felt that mixing Astral Blessing with Infuse allowed for a steady income of both HP and Mana. This isn't set in stone, so play around with it if you want.

Team Work and General Tips

• Use Infuse on your allies as much as possible, they will love you for it.
• Try to click on the minimap or the icons on the side of your screen during hectic fights. It really helps to avoid misclicks.
• If an enemy in your lane has a dangerous ability or ultimate with a cast time, use Infuse to shut them up.
• Never, ever go into the jungle alone. You never know if the enemy team is waiting for you where you can't see them.

Summary

Well, that's how you play Soraka for some amazing heals. If there are any errors feel free to leave them in the comments and I will check them and correct them if needed. Thanks for reading my guide, and have fun!

The Math

My spreadsheet
New Spreadsheet*
Newest Spreadsheet**
New Spreadsheet***
New Spreadsheet****
New Spreadsheet*****
New Spreadsheet******
New Spreadsheet*******
By the way, for the estimated time until you run out of mana, i assume you use it on yourself once every three cooldowns, once on an ally every three cooldowns, and once on an enemy every three cooldowns. These are arbitrary and will not always be accurate.

Like I said, feel free to post any errors in the comments and I will fix them.

*Changed to calculate the mean AP of Rod of Ages and Mejai's Soulstealer rather than the max AP
**Exchanged Deathfire Grasp to Archangel's Staff due to mean increase of ~30HPS. The damage (even for harassing) does not justify the lower AP.
***Realized Archangel's Staff stacks, so I tried it out and got another 20 HPS!
****Accounted for CDR cap and upgraded Glacial Shroud to Frozen Heart
*****Realized I didn't need sorcery after I took Frozen Heart and put the points in Defense instead.
******Changed back second Archangel's Staff to Mejai's Soulstealer
*******Added an Archangel's Staff exploitation variant.