Hi everyone! Did you ever though that, maybe, all roles are equally important? Supporting is no exception and I'll just show you why. This is my first guide and, I know I'm risking to get a pretty low rate, but you gotta take a shot and hope you've got it well taken. Please make a positive vote! :)

When you want to win a game, but you don't feel like doing pretty much of a thing, you take a support, just because it's easier. But it's not. A Support must put in his/her mind that kills aren't for them. They're for their partner. One time, I was laning at the bottom lane, as Tristana, with a support Blitzcrank against Ashe and Soraka. The adrenaline was coming up because Ashe just went with 3 bars of Health and Soraka (For a suprise of my own) starts attacking me like hell, because I was low on life too. Instead of helping me, Blitzcrank starts an Overdrive and tries to kill Ashe (Unsuccessfully). Meanwhile I was dead, murdered by a bloody Soraka.( Ignite, Infuse damage and Starcalls were enough).
If Blitzcrank would have attacked Soraka I could still be alive, gathered enough Mana for a Rocket Jump and jumped out to safety. You don't pick a Support just because you feel like you wanna play it. You pick it to help your partner picking kills. Why shouldn't you steal kills? Because you have Gold Generators and your partner doesn't. They need it. You don't.

Warding is very important. When the river is warded you can know if the jungler or other player is coming for a gank or know if the enemy team is trying to kill the dragon for an extra global 180 gold. But how to place them? In the early game put a Sight Ward on the extremity of the bush around 3-4 minutes after the start of the game. If the enemy support places another Sight Ward don't use your Vision Ward right away. Let your Sight Ward disappear and then put a Vision Ward and clear the Sight Ward. If your enemy doesn't have a Vision Ward then there's no worry for putting a Vision Ward yourself. But if he does, you only use the Vision Ward after the enemy as used it. If your first Sight Ward disappears, simply use the other Sight Ward. Another thing that some Supports like to do is ward the bottom bushes of the lane. That's wrong. The Support itself works as a ward. It will be a waste of wards, even when the enemy Supporter is an Alistar or a Blitzcrank and you need, no wait, you THINK you need to know their position so you can avoid a Rocket Grab or a Pulverize, but you don't. The answer for them is simple: your own positioning. When fighting against an enemy Supporter Blitzcrank; Just stay away from the extremity of the bush and support from the center or from the other extremity of the bush and tell your partner to stay opposite to the enemy bush, behind the minions, ALWAYS! When fighting against an enemy Supporter Alistar; Just stay on the bushes and don't let Alistar stay in the front of you or your partner, because of Headbutt.
At middle game it's your job to ward the entire map, but only the fundamental places (dragon, the currently pushing lane gank bushes, etc...) and, if necessary, ward Nashor Baron if you see that the enemy is capable of defeating him.
In late game Ward the Nashor Baron always and the rest of the map if possible. By then you should have your build almost complete but before buying Rylai's Crystal Scepter, make sure you have a 5x stack of Sight Ward. Here are some examples:
This one shows how to ward the river in the early game:

• Red - The Misplaced Sight Ward.
• Blue - The Vision Ward that will clearly make the other Sight Ward go away.
• Brown - The Line of Sight. You cannot know if the enemy is going to kill the dragon or not.
• Purple - Area where you should put the ward if you want to ward both the dragon and the Blue Golem ramp, where your enemy comes to gank.
  

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  On this one we can see how to ward the bottom bushes:
  
  
  Warding the Bottom Bushes

  
  
  
  • Red - The misplaced Sight Ward.
  • Blue - The essential spot for a Sight Ward.
  • Black - You, working as a ward.
    

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    And, on this one, it's shown the entire map warded at late game:
    
    

    Late Game Map Warded

    
    
    
    • Green Dots - Sight Ward.
    • Blue Dots - Vision Ward.

Soraka is the most common pick for a supporter. The reasons are: major healing, both by hp and mp, extra armor (also very big) for a few seconds, a constant magic resistance and magic resistance shred (this will allow your partner to deal extra damage with his/her abilities). Also, her ultimate allows her to do a global support by healing and it's very useful in teamfights. Talking about Astral Blessing, the 2nd ability; Astral Blessing is very good but very expensive in terms of mana so we buy a Faerie Charm (check "Items" Chapter) so we don't run out of mana points, because in an older patch Soraka was able to cast Infuse (3rd ability) on herself and that was very good but... :( new patches come in. ^^ No problem at all because we find a way to make them good. Back to what's important; Astral Blessing is also very good and I think Soraka was made to support AD carrys and nothing else. Major armor bonus (25/45/65/85/105) allows the AD carry to deal physical damage to the enemy AD carry and still don't lose much health.
Talking about Infuse, the 3rd ability; Infuse is very good because no other champion as an ability that restores mana(40/80/120/160/200) and has the option of silencing the enemy and deal some damage. The mana restore is very useful because AD carrys don't have much mana or mana regeneration, so their abilities will look like they cost 1000 mana. But Soraka can make that sensation disappear. With a Cooldown of 10 seconds, who doesn't want Soraka as a support?
Talking about her first ability, Starcall; Starcall is very helpful in teamfights because it has no target limit, they just need to stay within 530 units radius from Soraka and their magic resistance will be shred like hell by 8/9/10/11/12 per stack, stacking up to 10 TIMES! At level 18 after 20 seconds in a teamfight, all the enemies will have their magic resistance reduced by an amazing amount of 120 points!
And her ultimate: Wish]! Why couldn't she just wish that the enemy nexus would explode from no where but no... a tiny heal of 200 / 320 / 440 + 70% of your ability power. A bit useless, but it heals the whole team. And you can simply use Astral Blessing on the most needed ally. ^^
Hope you liked this specific chapter about Soraka's abilities.

Why have I chosen this Runes?

• The Greater Mark of Armor; It will help you sustain physical damage from the enemy when they come into your bush or when your partner is far away and you have to leave the bush so you take some damage or when you are ganked. That's pretty much what it will do, but it's very helpful in the early game.
• The Greater Seal of Vitality; It will give you more hp to, just like what happens on the Greater Mark of Armor, help you sustain damage from the enemy or a gank.
• The Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction; It will reduce the cooldown by 0.65% per glyph and you will notice a big difference, most likely, on Astral Blessing ability and in your ultimate, Wish.
• The Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction; It will do the same thing as the Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, which is reduce the cooldowns of your abilities.
  

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  Why not having Ability Power and Mana Runes like a Greater Glyph of Ability Power or a Greater Glyph of Mana?
  Well, the Ability power would be useful for Astral Blessing and Wish but it wouldn't increase very much. Astral Blessing only uses 45% of your Ability Power to increase the healing, so... It wouldn't make much difference.
  And the Mana could be useful, but then what would you do without cooldown reduction? And Soraka's Mana starts at 260 (+40 per lvl) so... You're better off with cooldown runes.

Why go off with these items?

The Items explained by their purchase order:

Why have I chosen this Masteries?
Why take 3 points on Hardiness (+6 armor) and only 1 point on Resistance (+2 Magic Resistance) instead of making them equal?

Answer: Remember that you're going to the bottom lane, the lane that has the AD carry. Unless the AD carry is a hybrid Soraka (which I've seen before), you need the armor for the same reason you need it on runes: sustainability. The other point on Resistance (+2 Magic Resistance) is only there because we need it to reach the other Masteries of the tree.

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Now, questions about the Utility Tree.

Q.1)Why take Good Hands ?

Answer: In order to be always there for supporting your partner you can't spend much time dead. There's the reason for Good Hands .


Q.2) Why take Improved Recall instead of Scout ?

Answer: Most of the summoners think that Scout is a very good ability for supports. But it isn't. It only increases 5% of the sight radius! And Improved Recall helps you go to the base quicker. I know that 1 second isn't too much but it's still better than Scout .


Q.3)Why not take Wealth instead of Awareness ?

Answer: Wealth only gives you 20/40 initial gold. It isn't too much and it won't make much diference because, at the beginning of the game, you already have enough money to buy a Faerie Charm, 2 Sight Wards and 1 Vision Ward so... Why take it? Instead, we take Awareness because you don't kill minions or champions so you don't earn as much experience as your partner, but, with Awareness , you can receive an increased amount of experience.


Q.4 Why not maximize Awareness instead of maximizing Intelligence ?

Answer: As I've already told on previous chapters, cooldown reduction is very important on Soraka because of Astral Blessing's cooldown. That's the reason for my choice of maximizing Intelligence instead of Awareness .

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Pros

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Cons

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- Very good Healing. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- No movement disables to aid the partner in harassment.

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- Only champion that can restore mana. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- A bit squishy in early game.

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- Amazing armor bonus. oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- Cannot cast Infuse on herself.

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- Magic Resistance Shredding.

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- Silence

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- The Ultimate is a global healing.

Let me introduce you to Sona, the Maven of the Strings. Sona is so exciting to play and such a good support because of her low cooldowns, constant auras, healing, movement boost, damage and stun(and this stun couldn't be more funny). Check out the next chapter where I talk about Sona and her Abilities.

I'll explain, one by one, Sona's abilities and tell you how to rock in bottom with her (literally).

In this chapter I will explain why have I choosen this items for Sona:

• Faerie Charm - To give you an increased mana regeneration, which you will need because your abilities cooldown is so low and they are so expensive that you need this item to start the game.
• sight ward Sight Ward/Vision Ward - Explanation present on "The Art of Warding" Chapter. You also need this item to start the game.
• philosopher's stone Philosopher's Stone - This item must be the best item for supports in the early game because it gives you health and mana regeneration and it's a gold generator. You need all these things to be good support because you cant spend healing and stuff on yourself (Aldo, Sona's healing applies on herself and a nearby ally, but still...).
• Boots of Speed - Of course you need these. Even when you do have an haste ability, you have to buy boots so that you can catch up with your ally.
• Heart of Gold - Another gold generator. But this one, instead of giving you regeneration, gives you Health for a longer sustainability on the lane.
• Mercury's Treads - You buy this item for Sona for his tenacity more than you buy it for his magic resistance bonus. If you feel like you need more speed buy Boots of Swiftness or Mobility Boots.
• Kindlegem - A tiny cooldown reduction and health. The cooldown reduction is just for your ultimate but the truth is that you only buy this item for Shurelya's Battlesong.
• Shurelya's Reverie - Awesome item for Sona. When combined with a high level of Song of Celerity, there's nothing that can stop you or your allies (except stuns, suppressions, knock airbornes and slows :P). And, as an extra, you still have extra Health, cooldown reduction, Hp and Mana regeneration.
• Zeke's herald Zeke's Herald - Why not have some Attack speed and life steal for Sona? Just kidding. Actually, this buffs are for your allies, more exactly, your partner.
• Randuin's Omen - This item here is very good for teamfights. When having one; use your ultimate, Crescendo to stun them all and then, after the stun, use Randuin's Omen 's active ability for an extra debuff that will make your team win that fight.
• Aegis of the Legion - The final item, oh and don't forget to buy wards before buying this item, this item here gives your allies extreme defense advantage over the enemy because sum this item's armor and magic resistance bonus with your Aria of Perseverance armor and magic resistance bonus and voilá! It's magic! You win all the teamfights!

Why have I chosen these runes?

• Greater Mark of Resilience - An extra armor for more sustainability while supporting your partner.
• Greater Seal of Fortitude - Gives you extra health for, who guesses? More sustainability!
• Greater Glyph of Warding - If you actually buy Aegis of the Legion and fully upgrade Aria of Perseverance you will be a tanky support with lots of armor and magic resistance because of this rune and Greater Mark of Armor.
• Greater Quintessence of Avarice - For an extra gold generation. This will give you the extra gold you need to buy stuff along with gold generator masteries and items.

Why have I choosen this masteries for Sona?
Why take 3 points on Hardiness and just 1 point on Resistance instead of making them even?

Answer: Just like I said on Soraka's Masteries Guide, remeber that you are fighting against an AD carry and you need more armor than magic resistance. Truth is, you only pick 1 point on Resistance to unlock the other masteries of the tree.

Q.2) Why take health bonus instead of taking 3 points on Vigor , 2 points on Resistance and 1 point on Indomitable ?

Answer: The Health regeneration, an extra magic resistance and damage reduction would be great, but you need the initial health to resist on the first levels. Vigor would be useless after buying philosopher's stone, Indomitable would end up doing no difference and the extra magic resistance too. Just stick to the extra Health.

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Now, about the Utility tree.

Q.1) Why not take 4 points on Swiftness instead of 3 points on Good Hands and 1 point on Improved Recall ?

Answer: Swiftness would be great on Sona because she's the queen of hastes, but don't forget what's important: being there for your partner. You need Good Hands to stay little time dead and you need Improved Recall to go to the base quicker than usual.

Q.2) Why not take Scout ?

Answer: What would that be for? It just increases 5% of the sight radius! It's not very good, and there are better things to spend your points.

Q.3) Why not take Wealth ?

Answer: Wealth won't make any difference because it would be useful if you needed it on the beginning of the game, but that's not the case. You already have money for a Faerie Charm, 2x sight ward and 1x Vision Ward, so... Why take it?

Q.4) Why not maximize Intelligence instead of maximizing Awareness and taking Sage ?

Answer: Cooldown reduction on Sona won't do a thing. Her ultimate's cooldown would be the only cooldown you would ever note a difference. Instead, Awareness provides you an extra amount of experience, such as Sage .

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Pros

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Cons

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- Extremely low cooldowns. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- Very squishy

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- Amazing heal and bonus defensive stats. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- Abilities are very expensive for their cooldown.

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- Awesome haste, combine with ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- Very hard to control passive.

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Power Chord to harass.

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- Funny stun in a gigantic line.

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- Aura of Hymn of Valor is great for pushing.

I want to thank JhoiJhoi for having such a cool "How to make a Guide" guide (To see that guide click here).
Next support champion will be Blitzcrank, so stay tunned and wait for more upgrades on my guide!