I recently hit Master tier on NA and decided to make a guide on one of the champion that helped me get there.
Ummm.. first time writing a guide so go easy on me.

Pros

+Great Heals
+AOE Silence+Snare
+Gloabal Ulty


Cons

-Immobile
-Lack of Engage
-No self sustain

Passive - Salvation
Soraka gains 70% movement speed when moving towards allied champions below 40% of their maximum health. Play Video
Nice little passive to catch up to low allies running away from enemy champions or to escape with your low ally out of a fight




Q - Starcall

Soraka calls down a star which lands after a 0.25 - 1 second delay depending upon the target's distance from Soraka, dealing magic damage to all enemies it hits. Each enemy champion hit by Starcall heals Soraka, increased by 1% for every 1% of her missing health.
Play Video
This skill is your bread and butter. Use this to sustain yourself in lane and poke your opponent. Starcall also grants vision of the area before it lands.




W - Astral Infusion

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.
Play Video
Astral Infusion has a very low cooldown (4-2sec) allowing you get off multiple heals in a prolonged fight. However it costs 10% of maximum health to cast, so use it sparingly.



E - Equinox

Soraka creates a zone at a target location for 1.5 seconds, dealing magic damage to all enemy champions standing inside as it is cast. All enemy champions inside the zone are silenced as long as they remain on it.
Play Video
A great zoning tool for teamfights. Use this ability to cut enemies off making them think twice on engaging. Hitting the snare is not easy, so I recommend using Equinox to make sure certain assassins can not wreck havoc in your backline.



R - Wish

Soraka calls upon the stars, first removing Grievous Wounds and then restoring health to all allied champions on the field, including untargetable allies.
Play Video
Wish is a very useful tool to help other lanes in the early game, and transitions into team fights as a very crucial spell too.

This is your best friend. In clustered fights, when it becomes hard to click on your target. A good way to aim heal is by clicking on your teammates portraits. Now you won't heal that minion...

At level 6, take time to look at your friendly's health bar to turn unfavorable trades around or just grab some free assists with Wish .

+ +

Start of Lane Phase

Remember to always use your to avoid jungle ganks. Try to alternate warding totem with your ADC to keep an eye on River at all times. Warding totems last 60 seconds and have a 120 seconds cooldown, if timed right you and your ADC should have this point permanently warded.


First Back

At this point you should have 1-2 and a or even better a .


General Warding Spots

credit to astrolia

Starting Items

or


give better combat stats compared to , however can't always trade with enemy support in certain match ups. With the recent buffs to unless you are very certain you can trade with enemy support. is a better for Soraka as it scales much better as the game progresses.

I recommend not upgrading. Keep it until you need more inventory space.




Early Cores

At around 600 Gold, try to find a time to fit in a back. Gives good gold generation.

Always a good pick up, it builds into a lot of your Core items

Support needs to ward this is CORE

Denying enemy vision with a permanent ward is very valuable

Remember to switch to Lens after obtaining denying enemy vision is a must

Cheap Mana Regen that builds into a lot of your items

Movement Speed saves lives literally

Great pick when you aren't having a great time surviving the ADC's Autos

Great pick up against a fed AP champion


Boot Upgrades

Mobility boots + Passive will help you get into the fight match sooner

Cheap boots that provides you with the CDR to spam more heals

If you have trouble surviving against the enemy ADs

Very situational I would only recommend when playing against very high AOE CC comp

Late Game Itemization

This is usually your best bet as a defensive item. It gives a mix of resistances and can revive you if you die. This makes it extremely hard for assassins to jump on you in teamfights.

Extremely under rated item. is almost 100% gold efficient and one of the highest MR item. You can also build up to 30% movement speed over 2 seconds, whenever you are near turrets, destroyed turrets, or Void Gates.

My favorite item to get on Soraka. helps you avoid assassination attempts and also stalls time for your team to come help you. Not to mention there is a special interaction with and .

A nice burst of speed for you and your team, also builds from Catalyst the Protector giving you decent sustain as you level up.

Very good item for and AP Supports in general. Builds out of and , gives LEGION Aura, 10% CDR, and a Active Passive that increases the power of a lane minion and immunity to magic damage. With+ + it becomes very hard to kill this annoying minion

Item to replace Banner of Command if you don't like 's Unique Passive. grants LEGION Aura, 10% CDR, and a Active that shields nearby allied champions for 5 seconds.

Everything you can ask for on +100 Armor, +400 Mana, +20% CDR, and a Aura passive that reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 15%. A great item after obtaining some HP Items.

I would only build this item against certain champions where you need grievous wounds , , . In almost all cases, is a better buy as you don't need the extra AP from .

Core item on , Removing all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences and slows and healing for 150 (+10% Max health). You can also use on yourself to get extra heals for your team. Removing CC, Healing, Mana Regen, and 10% CDR this should be one of the items you want to rush on

Gives you a huge amount of HP(+800) and some nice health regeneration. Works very well with

A mixture of and . Gives +500 Health, +70 Armor, and COLD STEEL passive. When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker's attack speed by 15% for 1 second. Build when you don't want to build and or against a full AD team comp where you can stack and
for a combined 27.75% attack speed slow.

Talisman of Ascension If you started upgrade it to Talisman of Ascension to grant nearby allies +40% movement speed for 3 seconds. Works well with and

Early Game

With your jungles permission, you may try to start a Level 1 Gromp or Krugs with your ADC. Soraka doesn't always have a easy time in the first 3 levels, so getting some EXP off the camps may benefit you a lot in the early levels.

1.Let the ADC Tank
2.Attack Small Monster with ADC
3.Start Healing the ADC
4.Let ADC Take the Monster, but stay in EXP range of the Camp
5.Heal ADC to full Health
6.Pop a potion and head off to lane

Play Video
Level 1-3

Make sure to position yourself behind the ADC. Depending on the lane match up judge how healthy you want your ADC to be. (The more burst the healthier you want your ADC)

DO NOT STAND IN FRONT OF ADC


The only exception to this is if the ADC is very low and requires you to zone. Stay behind the red line.

Level 4-5


If played correctly your ADC should be able out duel the enemy ADC


Level 6

This is when you should unlock your ulty and your screen. Use:

To find opportunity to ulty


Rinse and Repeat


Mid/Late Game

At this point, 1-2 towers should be down and you are looking to group with your team. Remember to ward constantly (refer to Warding). Remember to stay behind allies and make sure to heal them up when you are out of combat.

Using E on Soraka can be tricky especially in teamfights. It can be used to cancel channels prevent AP from maximizing their damage, but most of the time the use of Soraka E is to zone. Making the enemy team either give up damage or risk getting CC'd

Play Video
Notice how the silence did not hit anyone at the very start of the fight. It becomes much easier to be effective with your E, when it is used to zone.

Soraka as one of League of Legends' first supports, she hold a special places in my heart as of many older players alike. She has gone through a lot of changes throughout patches and she is more powerful than ever after this rework. Not only are her w and r skill very helpful for keeping allies alive, she now brings a potent AOE CC abiltity with her E. Since Soraka's W no longer increases armor, instead it will consume their own health when healing. This forces Soraka to hide behind the ADC and conserve her own health. Soraka's strength lies in drawn outfights, and therefor avoid fighting all ins as Soraka. Trade with the apposing laner and try to pot up or hit your Q to regen some HP before resuming the fight again. During the late game, Soraka should continue to heal up lower HP allies, and to protect her carries with her Q and E CC ability, a well placed E can completely change a teamfight. Another thing to note, is that Soraka will heal allies with lower HP for a higher amount so in combat avoid over healing, but don't leave them too low either to prevent them from getting picked off. Soraka is a passive champion that relies on out sustain the enemy, she is very strong in the current meta as tanks are unable to kill carries very efficiently.

Feedback is appreciated