Spection's Guide to Soraka [S7 RANK #14 NA, #86 WORLDWIDE] [S11 GM]
Build Guide By Spection
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358
26
1,017,593
Views
95
Comments
Soraka Build Guide By Spection
1,017,593
Views
95
Comments
Soraka Build Guide By Spection
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Soraka Guide
Spection's Guide to Soraka [S7 RANK #14 NA, #86 WORLDWIDE] [S11 GM]
Hmm I am having some problems with Ardent, cuz I see you're basing on it mainly. I am just not sure if it is still a good idea to rush it after the nerfs (if there's no point, what is better to rush sightstone for example?). Because I used to rush Ardent at its finest moment and now i am not sure if it is THAT profitable. And what about harassing other players? I do not know if it is better to play more def or more offensive, not sure what would be more useful for my AD. I am from diamond too on EUNE and I was #183 best Soraka #thatfame and i am just curious about your opinion. Or maybe your order in build is just random and maybe you think the same way as I do. I also see you're depending so much on MS with those runes and not sure if it is not better to take more CDR or AP?
Anyway great guide!!
Ardent is still the best first item for Soraka because of the ease at which she can apply it to the entire team at once. It gives MS, AP, and CDR, all stats Soraka likes. You can go Sightstone first if you need early vision against a gank heavy jungler.
As for Celerity vs. Transcendence, you can take either one. They are pretty close in power, but Celerity comes out on top if you build raw AP, while transcendence is better if you get more supportive defensive items that lead you to overcap on CDR.
As for offensive vs. defensive in lane, you should poke if the enemy cannot respond to your poke well. You can also play agressive to create pressure for your ADC to be able to farm. It really depends on the matchup. Let me know if you'd like a more detailed explanation.
Thanks again for your comment!
I forgot to ask why do u prefer to take heal over exhaust? I have been trying playing with it... but for me it does not feel right. How long did it take for you to get used to it? And do u always pick heal?
> [w] Pretty unusable in laning phase
Agree 100%, though this wasnt the case while old runes still existed. Too bad Riot broke it
I can see you favor stacking AP to get more healing, I tried this and wow it was awesome! Still, I believe you should adding a section on options for some defensive utility items (i.e. a Locket with Talisman and Ruby Sightstone instead of Watchers), as the Locket is essentially another small wish in shield form for team fights.
Also, with the nerfs to Ardent, I feel like it's more of a situational item for Soraka (and most utility supports) now. It's great for attack speed based champions like Tristana and Kog, but not as good for Crit-based champions like MF or Jhin.
This way, you'd free up another situational spot for more AP. Talisman also gives Soraka more utility with the active speed boost which works well with Celerity. Use Talisman before Wish to get more AP aka more heal.
Anyways, great work!
At some point, I should expand this guide to include other playstyles. Right now, it focuses solely on my own playstyle as well as the items I build. I should discuss in detail why I don't buy locket, but in short it just isn't effective unless you have a large health pool. (i.e Ruby Sightstone and warmogs). By the numbers, buying an AP item like Athenes grants way more healing and is therefore suited to my playstyle.
Ardent was nerfed, but Soraka is still one of the best users of it. It gives stats she likes, from MS to AP to a unique passive she can keep up all the time. Even with champs that don't abuse it, it's still a solid choice because you can use it too! It's nice for stacking Athenes that much faster.
I don't like Talisman because I feel it is slot inefficient. I would rather have a rabadons or a zhonyas, these grant what I feel to be much more immediate benefits that are felt more strongly. You can live without the MS if you are confident in your positioning, and the extra MS from celerity is negligible. You get a lot more from your passive.
Thanks for the criticisms. Feel free to ask if you have more questions!
[icon= salvation ability]
Tho I still have few problems while playing as her, I'm getting better.
Before I checked this guide, I used similar builds/runes, but played badly.
(For Supp Mains, I'm open for coaching/Teaching and for tips & tricks.)
Team Fight: I stay little bit farther away from my team just so I'm not in the middle of my team. But not too far away of course so the enemy jungler can't like.. "Focus on me and kill me".
(It's kinda hard to explain)
That's a good balance to have. You want to hang back but not too far back. Itemizing into a Banshee's Veil can help you a lot with this, preventing you from being picked.
Well, Let's just say, "Where do I place it in" By that I mean, I usually place it either in the middle of the target/targets or, try to predict where they would be going.
Other way that I use E is when they have Example: Kha'Zix --> I know they have that "leap" ability (W) So When I see Him coming, I usually place it near me where he landed and hopefully it roots him. Of course there are times when this works, but you can't really trust this method.
But as you said, E is good for "Canceling" Ults, Like Miss Fortune's R. (To be honest, I enjoy playing Supp, but it's pretty hard sometimes to play vs Silvers/golds. Sometimes I wonder how do I get them in the enemy team & in my team. I mean, I haven't even started ranked games yet
Anyways, Thank you again.
So first of all, this is just wrong. W start is extremely situational at best and if you tell any player they're about to lane with a W start Soraka, they'll start searching for the nearest cliff to jump off of. By starting W, you are basically completely surrendering the lane. Against any sort of decent players, you are going to get permanenely pushed into your tower and you're just going to be trying to keep your ad carry alive for the entire laning phase, falling hopelessly behind. You will have absolutely no lane presence and it's just going to be an absolute nightmare of a laning phase for your ad carry. What's worse about it is the fact that Soraka brings absolutely no follow up to ganks, so it's going to be really difficult to punish the enemy bot lane even if they are overextending.
By starting Q, you can establish control of the lane right away and have some sort of lane presence, which allows your ad carry to actually do things.
Also, you don't even mention putting additional points into Q over W in winning lanes, which makes me believe you are just a KDA player who really doesn't understand the dynamics of bottom lane at all.
Your runes are also quite a mess. Since the Aery nerfs, it's no longer a no-brainer. It's still a good choice, but Arcane Comet definitely deserves a mention.
Ultimate Hat is a very overrated rune and on a champion like Soraka is just not worth taking over Manaflow Band, a rune that'll make your laning phase a lot smoother and stronger. Gathering Storm is pretty gash compared to the early power of Scorch, which on top of Aery/Comet makes Soraka really hard to deal with.
Your item builds are extremely questionable. No mention of Warmog's at all, which is a really powerful late game item for Soraka once you reach the health threshold (which, with a proper build, you do)
What really blows my mind is that you don't even mention Locket, which is often a very important item for every support champion. You simply cannot leave it out of the guide, or even the core build. Especially paired with Warmog's later on, it's a really powerful item and just an extra tool to keep your team alive.
And for the love of god, get that hourglass/rylais out of there.
And finally, can people please stop linking their champion ranking as some sort of proof of their skill. It's the most meaningless statistic you can find, and only exists to stroke the ego of delusional one trick ponies. No, my friend, you are not the 14th best Soraka in NA and certainly not the 86th in the world. Any Diamond 4 or higher support main who picks up Soraka will automatically be better than you and that is a fact, not a personal attack.
This whole guide just screams to me that you don't understand how the bottom lane works at all and I guarantee you if you show this to any Diamond 5+ ad carry main, they will cringe and put you on some sort of dodge list.
Arcane comet is a lane dominance rune, and is pretty worthless in the late game. Why would you take it when you can get an added shield put into your kit? Again, this is a stylistic choice for Soraka that I don't agree with. It fits a certain agressive playstyle, but Aery offers more to her team.
Manaflow band is certainly a choice you want to play up in lane, but it isn't hard to manage your mana and do fine without it. I will mention it in the runes.
All your suggestions for rune choices cater to a different style of playing Soraka, one that I feel improperly makes use of the runes available to her. Sure it works fine but it synergizes poorly with the playstyle I detail here, and this guide is about my own way of playing Soraka in a very particular way.
Warmogs is an item I feel caters poorly to the late game healing fantasy of Soraka, as does locket. These items are part of a combo for a Soraka build that focuses on extended sieges with weaker overall heals. Different playstyle than the one I am trying to detail here, which focuses on supremacy in explosive fights where bursts of healing are needed. Locket is bad when you don't have a large health pool.
The champion ranking system is the most accurate measure of who is the best at a certain champion. It sounds like your issue is with their algorithm, not me. I believe my statistics and personal performance merit that fact, and I feel as though I can climb higher than my current position when I get down to bushiness.
All in all, your comments are based off of your idea of how Soraka should be played. Whether or not that is the generally accepted view, it is not how I play her, and this guide is a guide on my own tactics and strategies. If you want to learn how to play her in a general more "meta" manner, you should find another guide.
Thanks for your feedback and arguments.
Best,
- Spection
Losing 1 auto attack, minion, lane control after entering lane... these are the smallest of small things that highly impact how the rest of the lane will play out. I mained top lane while playing tanks with low kill potential early so I'd have to invest in learning how minions work in lane and how I could get gold lead/roaming opportunities off minions.
I could instantly tell the next 3-4 waves would be absolutely terrible to play out if I'd lose lane control during the first few minions. At higher levels it starts to be pretty common knowledge (hopefully at least) to understand how lane control works, how to play the minions out and how certain variables effects the future.
Your strat/preference/recommendation to take W first over Q is in my opinion - and many others' opinion, a bad option. It's giving away pressure and potential you can have with Soraka. This is your style of playing as you mentioned but I don't have to agree with it.
If you were doing it, sure that's fine but the problem comes in when it's being recommended to others, potentially creating more Soraka mains that start out with W. This will become a habit and harder to get rid of. Playing healbot strat is not working towards the goal of improving and will hurt you over the course of climbing the ladder.
You speak of risks a lot and how it's risky to pick Q or do a certain thing. In order to improve, you need to take those risks, make mistakes and learn from them.
You don't have to agree with my decisions, they work for me and the purpose of this guide was for other people to experiment with them too.
Again, you're treating every player like a high elo player. Very few players have the skill and game knowledge to capitalize on that and pressure her. W or Q start is simply inconsequential in lower elos, where there are so many factors that influence the outcome of a game.
This build is inherently risky. I mention that multiple times. The reason you must play so cautiously and so far back is because of the total fragility of the champion. It's good to get into that mentality so you can survive team-fights by positioning cautiously.