Hey, thanks for reading my guide! I wanted to make a guide for the relatively recent meta shift towards E-max (or at least E-priority) Barrier Soraka. The idea is to win lane and use Barrier both to bait early all-ins and to keep yourself safe from being focused down in skirmishes. You then evolve into a strong healer in the mid-game, just like any other Soraka build. It's pretty fun, try it out!

If you've ever played an enchanter, this rune page might look familiar. Here's what I would use as a standard rune page for lane-bully Soraka:

SORCERY

Summon Aery - Does extra poke damage and shields your ally whenever you heal them. Absolutely perfect for Soraka. This is for sure her best keystone. In patch 8.16 the early damage was nerfed in favor of a small early shield buff, which is a bit sad for this Soraka build.

Manaflow Band - If you poke frequently you may find yourself running out of mana. This rune is hugely helpful and a better choice for Soraka than the other options anyways.

Transcendence - In my build, you will overcap on CDR, so Transcendence works well here to give some nice AP. Before Celerity was changed I took that, but with its many changes, it doesn't quite feel worth it to me on any champ anymore. If you want to take Absolute Focus, it could add to your damage pretty well, but only if you have enough health to make it worth!

Gathering Storm - Gathering Storm is an actual rune and it's never going to be a bad choice. Scorch does absolutely nothing now. Might as well have this rune as your late-game insurance policy.

RESOLVE

Bone Plating works best with the theme of this build (lane bullying), enabling you to mitigate a little damage in extended trades, but if you have confidence in yourself, go Demolish!

Revitalize - This rune is AMAZING for Soraka. She as a champion is all about her healing and this only helps that. In addition, it helps her heal more when she hits a Starcall, which is absolutely necessary because Soraka's base health regen is terrible. Always take this, it's the only reason I'm not recommending Inspiration as a secondary tree.

You should take the two adaptive (AP) stats and then any of the final tree's defensive stats depending on the damage of the enemy comp. If necessary you can go both defensive stats. Just make sure you take adaptive/AP in the first slot.

If you want to take INSPIRATION as a secondary tree, Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight are my picks. You could also take Biscuit Delivery over Magical Footwear if you feel like you want the extra mana and/or sustain, but usually Manaflow Band and hitting Starcall every once in a while is enough for me.

Barrier is taken to bait the enemy into all-inning you or just as protection against divers who go into the backline. Positioning is very, very important on Soraka. She can keep her whole team alive, but finds it much more difficult to keep herself alive. Barrier is a (somewhat selfish) choice that can keep you alive, especially when enemies forget you have it. This spell is a Korean meta pick on Soraka.

Flash is necessary on almost every champion. Soraka is no exception to this.

Other options are:

Ignite can be taken when you are confident it can get you a kill in lane. Pretty good in its buffed state.

Exhaust can be taken when there are many assassins on the enemy team and you prioritize shutting them down for teamfights over the self-protection given by Barrier.

The biggest thing I can tell you here is to adapt.

Unless something strange happens at the very start of the game (maybe the enemy team invades and you have to keep someone alive so you start W), start Q ( Starcall). This allows you to poke and heal up in any early trades.

After that, assess the situation. Has your bonobo ADC taken enough damage to beg for healing? If so, you may (begrudgingly) take W ( Astral Infusion) and keep them alive. If your poking is going well, put your second skill point into E ( Equinox). Your third skill point should go into whatever ability you do not yet have.

A standard skill order is three points into E, then W max so that you can still effectively transition into your role as a huge mid-game healer. This is good for poking into melee and ranged supports. If you think you can bully a melee support matchup, you should instead put three points into Q, then W max.

Of course, if you're facing, say, a Brand that is basically killing your ADC with a single spell rotation, you're going to want to max W as soon as you can.

Adapt based on the situation! Trust your own judgment!

STARTING ITEMS



Spellthief's Edge is ideal for lane bully Soraka. It adds extra damage to her poke. As long as you poke while you have Spellthief procs up, you should have no trouble getting your ward quest done, either... except for the ******* nerf Riot did because of the Frostmancy solo lane strat.
Sad.

Health Potion is a standard start. Take two and remember that you have a slightly bigger pool of health available to you with these two potions than either ADC does. Because of this, you can tank poke better than your ADC; the enemy ADC can withstand less poke than their support. Try to target their ADC with poke if you have the chance.

Refillable Potion start has been wiped out by the 50 gold increase to support item cost. A shame, but Soraka always sustained well with Starcall in lane anyways. If you think you'll be poked out of lane later into laning phase, take this.

EARLY ITEMS



Frostfang should be the first thing you buy upon returning to base. You need to complete your quest as quickly as possible—vision is very important!

Oracle Lens should be taken as soon as you complete your vision quest. Denying enemy vision and grabbing brush control for yourself is just too good. I tend to accidentally miss this—make sure to take this item, don't forget like me!

Chalice of Harmony gives nice mana regen if you find that to be an issue during laning phase. It builds into a core item for this build, Athene's Unholy Grail, so it can be a good first item.

Forbidden Idol was nerfed but then reverted, so it's once again a great starting item, synergizing nicely with Soraka's kit. Keep in mind this affects your healing when you hit your Q as well!

Boots must be bought at some point because you're going to need boots, either to run away or to get Tier 2 boots' effects.

Refillable Potion is good if you run out of potions early, since when you heal anyone you're losing a portion of your own health. Getting this early on can be nice.

Control Ward is so important! Even if you're low on gold early, try to get one every time you recall so that you and your ADC can be safe in lane. Later on, always keep a spot for them, preferably two, but just having one is always good too. And don't be afraid to USE THEM! Even if you've already got one placed down, these are good just to deny enemy vision!

BOOTS



Ionian Boots of Lucidity are a good choice for enchanters due to the early 10% CDR they give. They later help you overcap on CDR for some AP from Transcendence as well.

Boots of Swiftness are good if you really want to dodge skillshots.

Mobility Boots are good for roaming, if you like going fast back to lane or about the map in the mid- to late-game.

If you feel like you're being blown up too fast, Ninja Tabi (vs AD) or Mercury's Treads (vs AP) can be helpful.

CORE ITEMS



Eye of Frost can be left in its un-upgraded state for a while, as long as you've completed the ward quest. Once you reach the fabled late-game and want more wards, you can drop that 950 gold for Eye of the Watchers.

Athene's Unholy Grail is the best item for this build. After doing damage, your next heal gets its power boosted. This item was buffed as compensation for nerfs to the Forbidden Idol line, but when the nerfs to Forbidden Idol were reverted, the buffs to Athene's weren't removed (thankfully). The passive, which grants AP for % mana regen, synergizes very well with the Forbidden Idol item line and the Spellthief's Edge item line.

Ardent Censer should be rushed if you have multiple teammates who rely on auto-attacks and/or a fed ADC who can wreck everyone. For example, you might have a Kindred jungle and a Jinx ADC—both like to auto-attack. Or maybe your Tristana ADC has 6 kills, 0 deaths, and you want to buff them up as much as you can. That's when you rush Ardent Censer. The mana regen also synergizes with the passive of Athene's Unholy Grail. Either way, you want to get this item at some point because it helps your healing/utility and gives some nice AP.

Redemption is good if there are often little skirmishes happening in side lanes that you want to impact, or you can just get it for the health and heal power. The high % mana regen synergizes well with the passive of Athene's Unholy Grail.

Remember to get Oracle Lens and leave room for Control Wards!

SITUATIONAL ITEMS



Shurelya's Battlesong synergizes nicely with the passive of Athene's Unholy Grail and provides a good speed boost for your whole team.

Twin Shadows can reveal and slow enemy champions with its active while giving a good chunk of AP.

Mikael's Blessing should only be taken if you are not planning to get Athene's Unholy Grail, as their passives clash and cancel out some benefits. Mikael's is good for raw healing power in a single item slot and also for its active, which cleanses CC from an ally. If you feel that you can effectively use the active, Mikael's Blessing is a good choice.

Banshee's Veil (MR/spellshield) and Zhonya's Hourglass (armor/stopwatch) are good defensive choices, as Soraka may often be a priority target in teamfights.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter only procs off of Equinox because slows do not stack with this item, but if you want to have a better time landing your E root or getting a guaranteed slow zone, this might be okay. It has some health and a good bit of AP on it.

If you're really ahead and want to have fun Rabadon's Deathcap can work... costly though.
{But fun.)

Dark Seal can be bought early if you're smashing lane and can pick up assists/kills without dying. It provides some AP and synergizes well with Refillable Potion or Health Potion to heal you more.

Overall, Soraka is a support who everyone thinks is just another enchanter, all about heals and not offensively capable. But that's not true! Take advantage of her strong early game, position well to avoid being blown up in fights, have good map awareness to hit your Wish for cross-map saves, and you'll be leaving your enemies in the dust in no time!

I hope this guide was helpful! If you have anything that I missed or that you would like to discuss, leave a comment! Thanks for reading <3