Howdy, welcome to my guide of how I play Soraka!

Soraka is in my opinion the best support, the best way to define her is as a babysitter while Janna is more of an aggressive support. She can give Mana and Health all the time to everyone.
With this build I've had about a 70% win rate in ~50 games.

Pros
-Non-stop healing
-Global Heal to save teammates on the other side of the map
-Free Mana
-Awesome armor buff (+80) along with a powerful Heal
-Can easily turn the tide of a battle

Cons
-Requires teammates that can play their role (you wont kill anyone)
-Hard to play correctly
-Need to be very observant of ganks
-Not a good farmer
-Somewhat vulnerable to CC (with this build you're not super squishy but you're not superman either)

For runes I take

Flat Magic Resist Marks
Level Mana regen per level Seals
Flat Cooldown reduction Glyphs
Movement speed Quints

That is in my opinion the optimal build.

I take Magic Resist instead of Armor due to the massive Armor buff you get from your Heal, just be careful not to get hit in early game since she has almost no base armor.
For Seals I like the added Mana regen, it allows you to use your Silence more aggressively instead of always using it to give yourself Mana.
Glyphs I can't really see any others that would be viable alternatives, you want a high Cooldown Reduction to be able to heal a lot more.
Quints I like the Movement speed because you want to be able to help everyone, the faster you get to someone the better chances you have of saving him. (or running away)

8 1 21 is the very best you can take. You get CDR and AP from Offense, Improved Heal from Defense and everything from Utility including Improved Clairvoyance.

Priorities -> -> ->

Just follow that with the exception of getting one point in Starcall at around 4-10. Whenever you feel like it just get one point. It helps farming lanes by yourself and the -8 Magic Res is quite useful in team-fights which should start to happen around that time.

Alright here you can change quite a bit.

- A must for Supports, if you're playing Support and you don't have CV you're doing it wrong.
- Some people might call you a 'noob' for taking Heal with Soraka (dunno why) but they'll soon shut up when you save their life with this awesome powerful AoE heal. The point spent in improve heal helps a lot (30 seconds is a lifetime).

- This is actually a good Support spell but since we're not taking Improved Fortify form the defense tree I believe it is quite worthless when compared to Clairvoyance.
- You have more than enough Mana to supply yourself and your team.
- Not needed in this build since you have Mastery and Runes giving you speed.
, , , - 'Useless' in Soraka for one reason, if you find yourself constantly needing these to survive, you're playing her wrong. Soraka (as any Support) is supposed to stay way in the back and therefor not need these spells.

In theory the Support is not supposed to farm, he should give every mob to the carry next to him but this guide is more about playing for fun rather than winning a tournament so no reason to do that (Unless you're playing with a buddy and/or confident the guy you're giving gold to will put it to good use).

Last hitting can be tricky due to her low damage output and slow projectiles, all I can say is practice makes perfect.

Once you're in Mid/Late game you should have a couple of points in Starcall.
Starcall is very nice to farm waves since it hits an unlimited number of targets and each hit lowers Magic resist by 8. Learning the delay is very useful to getting last hits.

If there's no mobs or any action around go to the jungle. With Starcall you can easily farm the Wolfs, Golems and Wraiths. But do not farm the Buffs, you don't need them and you'll take a long long time. When farming always hit the big guy (big wolf/big wraith) with your normal attacks as you spam Starcall, then in the end finish the last one with Infuse, after all those Starcall it should deal quite a bit of damage.

The goal of this build is to get cheap useful items, that not only benefit yourself but also your team.

OR Sight Ward

You should start off with Mana Manipulator. You can also start with Boots Sight Ward Health Potion but when you get used to having no Boots and staying out of harms way, you won't need them.

Philosopher's Stone

Then it's up to you. If the game is going well and you're not needing to run back and forth to save teammates, you might want to go for the Philosopher's Stone first since the sooner you get it the more gold it yields. If you find you need to always run to help teammates, grab the boots and if possible complete them .

Sight Ward

The reason for the Philosopher's Stone is so you have some passive income and that income should be put into Sight Wards. Always try to keep the Dragon warded.

OR

The choice of Boots is up to the enemy team. If they have a lot of CC (and I mean a lot), then the obvious choice is Mercury's Treads, otherwise always go with Boots of Swiftness. If they just have something like 1-2 stuns or 1-2 slows, go with Boots of Swiftness. It's better to go through the map faster than that rare 35% reduction.

Philosopher's Stone

So by now you should have Mana Manipulator, Completed Boots and a Philosopher's Stone. Remember to keep buying some Sight Wards (but make sure you do have some items) and move on.



Next item on the list is the Kindlegem. This item is just plain wonderful, it's cheap (850) grants a nice bit of Health and 10% CDR.



The Aegis of the Legion is the holy grail of Support items. The aura grants a total of 60 Armor, 75 Magic Resist and 40 Damage while also giving yourself a very big boost in survivability. It's a bit expensive but worth every penny.

Now you should still be buying Sight Wards, but when you get some more money upgrade your Kindle/ MM to Soul Shroud.

Philosopher's Stone Sight Ward

This should be your inventory and by now the game should have ended. If not, keep farming, keep buying Sight Wards and eventually grab a Guardian Angel and Rabadon's Deathcap.

Philosopher's Stone

For ward locations just read this very good guide: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/warding-helper-more-than-your-eyes-can-see-54337

The basic ones are Dragon and Baron

-

The core of any Support. Knowing when to use each skill is the essence to a good support (or a good player in general).

Your role is Support which means you are there to help your teammates. Keeping them alive and with Mana is your job so make sure you do it right.

Okay so, you have 3 skills to keep them alive. A single-target Heal, a Summoner AoE Heal and a Global Heal.
The priority for using them should be Heal-> Global-> Summoner based on Cooldowns.

One thing you must also learn is that Infuse has another use than just giving Mana, it has a very very useful Silence (and a tiny bit of damage). Your team-mates don't need to have mana over 40-50%, so don't waste Infuse on keeping them always at 100%. Instead use the Silence to help kill enemies.
For example your Infuse Silence can stop Katarina/ Malzahar's ultis, it can prevent a Shaco/ Kassadin/ Ezreal from Poofing away, it can prevent a Vladimir from entering into a pool and getting away with 1% hp.

You do have to train the timing. If you're against Kat/ Mal the only timing is using it as soon as possible. Watch them like a hawk and as soon as they ulti Silence them.
For other such as Shaco you have to pay close attention to how soon you use it. Use it too soon and he'll probably still be alive when it ends and run away. Use it too late and he'll get away. Finding that sweet spot is tricky and comes with experience. You want to let him take just enough damage and then silence him when you think he'll die before it ends.
On a Vladimir there really isn't any reason to wait, as long as he's not stunned, just go for it.

In Summary Soraka is a wonderful character and if played right, it can turn even the worst team into the best. Remember your role and keep your teammates alive while they destroy the enemy team.

If you like/dislike this guide please do leave a comment :)

Hope this guide helped you playing with Soraka!