Max Healing AP Soraka (Under Construction)

Introduction

This guide mainly focuses on the AP support style of Soraka.

This guide will try to help you understand how to play an AP Soraka, along with some information on how to be a useful support, and some information on warding.

This guide is focused for mid to higher level play, but it can still be used at lower levels.

Quick Note: If Riot keeps the changes planned for Soraka that are currently proposed then I will have to change this build as AP will be greatly nerfed on Soraka. The post can be found here Your text to link here...

Pros / Cons

There are many Pro's and Con's to playing and AP Soraka.

Pro's

-Being able to heal champions for half their health.
-Being able to stay in a lane with your partner for an increased time.
-Lowering opponents armor.
-Healing mana for teammates and yourself.
-Silencing opponent's ultimate's or just silencing in general.
-Being able to turn a game around when you join team fights.
-Having a very high amount of assists.
-Healing teammates across the map with your ult.

Con's

-Not farming creeps.
-Very squishy for most of the game.
-Having low damage output.
-Having to sit behind your team in team fight's.
-Cool down's get annoying early game.
-You can tend to be focused in team fight's.

Good Lane Composition's

This will provide some good champions to put with Soraka for competitive play, or just for fun if you want to be annoying.

Ranged Carries:

Soraka & Caitlyn This has been on of the best lane compositions I have seen with Soraka & Tristana
Soraka & Miss Fortune.
Soraka & Vayne A very good lane composition if you want to get some early kills for your team.
Soraka & Ashe You will stay in this lane for a very long time if you focus on using Infuse on Ashe.
Soraka & Kog'Maw.
Soraka & Ezreal. Another lane where Infuse will help get early kills or keep a lot of pressure on the other team.
Soraka & Nidalee It becomes very hard to kill you when Nidalee gets her heal also.


Soraka Is the best in a lane with a ranged player due to the fact that they can keep pressure on early game, until they get past their squishy levels.

Melee AP & AD

Soraka & Poppy This lane composition keeps people away from your turret and you also can do a lot of damage.
Soraka & Akali You will be able to keep some good lane harassment.
Soraka & Pantheon.
Soraka & Xin Zhao This can be a very tough lane, because Xin Zhao has some good damage output and you can keep him up for a very long time.
Soraka & Jax.


Most other champions not listed you will find generally jungling or solo lanning.

Tank's

Soraka & Cho'Gath, Cho'Gath will be able to keep constant pressure on the opponents with you constantly using Infuse on him.
Soraka & Leona The main goal of this composition is to stay alive and wait for gank's as you two will not be putting out much damage.
Soraka & Maokai, Infuse becomes very helpful to keep them at bay until a gank comes.
Soraka & Rammus This lane will be able to put out some damage and it has a lot of CC.
Soraka & Nasus This lane can get deadly when Nasus gets his ult because he will be able to dive without as much of a worry.



When it comes to lanning with Soraka you will not want to farm creeps unless you are alone in the lane when your partner dies or goes back. If you don't farm creeps your lane partner can sometimes out farm the middle lane.

What to do as a Support

You are on your team to support not farm, so while you are lanning you will want to refrain from farming creeps as it gives your carries or tank's a very good advantage when it comes to gold. Only farm when your partner is not there or if creeps and opponents are on your turret. When you get items like Heart of Gold & Philosopher's Stone they will help you get gold without having to farm.

You will also need to give sight to your team when needed. If an opposing team doesn't have a jungler save your Clairvoyance for when someone call's and MIA to see if you can find the person, if someone pings that an opponent is heading in a direction using Clairvoyance can scare some enemies away if you land it on them. Also if the opponents keep running into your bushes in your lane you can use Clairvoyance to get sight of them and scare them out.

Masteries (Needs to be edited)

The reason I go with a 0/9/21 choice for masteries on Soraka is for the fact that it aims to reduce her cool-downs on her abilities and her summoner spells. The defensive masteries are there to give you a little of speed after you dodge and give you some armor and magic resist.



Soraka is very squishy early game and creeps can hurt her badly and with the speed boost after a dodge it can help her get away from them quicker if she finds that she is being attacked.

Runes

I find that having more AP runes can be beneficial early and late game. The AP will increase the amount your heal does which will help you survive harder hits earlier. The AP is very nice when it comes to your ultimate the AP will improve the amount you will be able to heal late game

The mana regen runes are there to help again early game and late game. Early game you will go through mana very quickly until you either get a blue buff or Philosopher's Stone and a Soraka with no little or no mana regen will prompt the team to attack or gank you more often. It also help's late game as you will be burning through mana rapidly during team fights.

Skill Sequence (Needs to be edited)

For my skill sequence I start off with Astral Blessing just because it allows for a little early aggression in the lane, and being able to keep them up longer through it.

I get Starcall at level 5 just to get a little more harassment in if they get close to the turret or if I have an AP champion in my lane it allows for him to put out a little more damage with their lower magic resist.

There are mixed opinions on level 1 teamfight's and what skill to get for it, but I chose to get Astral Blessing instead of Infuse to save my team as there is usually one person on your team that gets very low on health.

Summoner Spells

Most support classes should have Clairvoyance as it is very helpful when it comes to looking for the other team, watching their jungler's path, checking bushes, and looking for MIA's. You should always start the game by landing a Clairvoyance right on the steps outside an opponent's fountain, as it will show you what items the other team is starting with and you can also see the lanes some people are heading to. Some teams will ping the map in the direction someone went if there is a MIA, and if you have Clairvoyance up you can find out exactly where they are and possibly prevent the gank. It is also helpful for checking bushes. Instead of face checking bushes which can lead to easy deaths you can Clairvoyance the bush to get some sight on it so you don't get jumped. It can also be helpful for some characters ultimate's like Fiddlesticks, Ashe,and Ezreal.


Flash is very useful to Soraka because she has no escape mechanic. You will many times find your self flashing out of ultimate's or flashing through walls to escape while being chased. But you don't always use flash to get away from things. You may be at a turret when you notice your jungler is being attacked and he is running towards you. He may be slightly too far to reach your heal before he dies and your ultimate may be on cool down, you could flash in close to him, heal him, and then silence the opponent helping him escape. You don't always have to view flash as an escape mechanic, it can be used to save lives also.

Items (Needs to be edited)

This is the build I generally use, although the chance of actually making it to the Will of the Ancients by the end of the game is very low, because you will not be farming for most of the game. Also feel free to adjust some items according to the opposing team's team composition.

I general start the game off with a Doran's Ring. It give's some AP which is helpful for heals, a little bit of extra health and some mana regen which is very helpful early game.
Alternatively you could start off the game with Faerie Charm, Sight Ward, Sight Ward Health Potion, and another Health Potion as it prevents for ganks generally below the level of 6.


If you started off the game with a Doran's Ring you will want to go back at around 875 gold, or alternatively if you have gotten a few early ganks in your lane and you have past that amount of gold before you even hit level 6 you can wait to around 1350. On your first back you will want to get a Philosopher's Sone and Sight Ward, you could wait for another 75 gold to buy a second Sight Ward so you could ward dragon and close to your lane. If you decided to wait till 1350 to go back also buy a Ruby Crystal.

The next time you go back you will want to finish off the Heart of Gold and buy some Boots of Speed along with another Sight Ward or two.



You should plan to have your Ionian Boots of Lucidity completed around 15:00-18:00 minutes into the game. At this point you should start building your Mejai's Soulstealer as the earlier you get it the more you can benefit from it. If you are doing well on gold and early assists you can sometimes get a Mejai's Soulstealer around 22:00 minutes in, but generally you will be picking it up around 25:00-29:00 minutes in. Around this point you should have either destroyed the opponents turret in your lane or lost yours and you should have begun to team fight. Your goal is to get as many assists as possible once you have Mejai's Soulstealer as it will greatly increase your AP. Make sure though you are keeping up with warding and making sure Baron is always warded, if not having Clairvoyance put on it if their whole team goes missing.

Be sure to buy an Oracle's Elixir so you can destroy the other team's wards.




Once you get your Mejai's Soulstealer the next item you should buy is a Needlessly Large Rod. Once you get a Needlessly Large Rod you should sell your Doran's Ring so you have room for wards and a Blasting Wand once you have the money for it. Rabadon's Deathcap is a very big item in your build. When you finish it you should see your AP jump up around 150 points, and this is around the time your ultimate heals for around 800-1000 health. It keeps increasing as you get more stacks of Mejai's Soulstealer and can get up to around 1,400 health before you even buy a Will of the Ancients.

Now it's time to build Shurelya's Reverie. You should start off with a Kindlegem and finish it off as soon as possible, because Shurelya's Reverie can provide an easy escape from team fights and a quick way to get into them. Do not be shocked if you don't get any further through your build than this before the game ends, because the amount of wards you most likely have bought add up to around 1500 gold by this time. You might not finish this item until around 35:00 mins into a game if not later. The next item you build is Randuin's Omen as it almost goes hand in hand with Shurelya's Reverie when it comes to escaping team fights. The intro item you will want to get is Warden's Mail if you do not have enough money for that buy a Chain Vest as it will build directly into Warden's Mail and this is the point in the game where armor will be very helpful.

If a game has lasted for that long and still isn't over it is most likely soon to end because the time at which you generally buy a Will of the Ancients is around 65:00 minutes in and games generally don't last that long. But if it does and you manage to get one and you have a good amount of stacks from Mejai's Soulstealer your ultimate should heal for close to 2000 health, which will instantly turn a team fight around.



Note: These items are meant to be bought if the opposing team has heavy CC, AP, or AD and aren't meant to be part of the normal build.

Zhonya's Hourglass is meant to replace Randuin's Omen. You will want to change these out if you are having problems surviving the burst damage from the opposing team. You would want to make sure your team is fine before you pop Zhonya's Hourglass if you know you won't survive.

Moonflair Spellblade is meant to be added onto the build if you are having issues with being CCed for too long and not being able to heal yourself through it or afterwards. Alternatively you could buy Quicksilver Sash if you want to be able to escape being suppressed or feared for extensive amounts of time.

Warding

Wards are essential for Soraka to buy as the rest of the team needs to focus on buying their items. The rest of the team can pitch in to help but as the support Soraka needs to be spending the most on them.

This map shows the best places to ward on a non-situational game (No wards in your lane bushs).

The wards covering Baron and Dragon are some of the most essential wards along with the ones in the river. The wards covering your jungle and your buffs are very useful to have as you can get easy ganks if you catch an enemy running through.

Note: As the game goes on use CV to check an area before you ward, as being caught by the enemy team can cost your team the game or a valuable buff. Also don't try to ward all the spots as you will waste money and not be able to complete necessary parts of your build.

Late Game

During team fights Soraka can turn the game around with the amount of healing she can do through AP healing. As Soraka you always want to stay a little bit behind you team so that you aren't the initial person to be focused. Once team fight's start things can get very hectic and name plates can over-lap, so I need be occasionally glance at the name-plates on the side of the screen and you can click on those to heal if you can't manage to click the player in the mess. Once opponents start getting brought into the middle of your team it becomes a good time to Starcall and spam your Q to raise the opponents magic resist. Alwayswatch your mana during team fight's as when you run out of mana it generally is when you can lose a team fight. Be sure you self cast and change your hotkey's if needed to make sure you can keep your mana up.

Be sure to silence ultimate's also as some of your teammates will be relying on you to stop opposing teams ultimate's.

Constantly be using Clairvoyance throughout the late game to watch for people seeking around back of your team in team fight's and also to make sure the opposing team doesn't get Baron.

Ending Notes

This was my guide on playing an AP Soraka. I hope you enjoy it and have fun playing a support class. If you have any question's comments or concerns feel free to post about them or message me, and I will try to get back to you ASAP.

Thank you.