AP Jungle soraka is a really effective disruption/sustain jungler. She has extremely good aoe clears, extremely high sustain, and she is a very powerful asset to the right teams. Her skillset gives her a lot of versatility in skill leveling and builds as well. Soraka can go tankraka, auraka, burstraka, mageraka, sustainraka, dps raka, etc. For this guide, I'll be focusing mainly on Mage/sustain raka.

Before you say something like "She can't jungle dude" or "There are junglers that do what she does but better", well each champion has their own unique playstyle. Some people do enjoy mindlessly bashing keys and getting kills/wins (Ryze), others enjoy waiting silently as an opponent makes a mistake and kills them before they realise what they've done (Shaco). Soraka has her own unique playstyle that many other champions do not have (I mean, who can help sustain all your laner's health and mana and help them all win?? Jungle Sona?) She's a very situational pick, but in the right situation she can be devastating in the right hands.


***New sections: Early game, Mid game, Late game, coming soon***
***Video incoming very soon!***

Pros:

Fast clear

Extremely high sustain

Able to help lanes sustain by giving health + mana

Able to countergank globally with ult

Good lengthy disrupt with silence

Magic resist reduction on enemy team, as well as aura MR

Cons:

very squishy

Prone to counterjungling

Doesn't duel very well vs current meta like lee sin and udyr

Reliant on a tanky top that won't fail hard

Quints: Health

Soraka needs the 3x26 health for her early levels. She has a low base health, and it makes her very prone to counterjunglers like lee sin and udyr. With the extra health, she can more easily stall their counterjungling and give enough time for your team to come 1v3/4 their jungler.




Marks: M. Pen

Magic penetration marks helps with overall damage on lanes. The marks also help Soraka transition into mid/lategame better. M. Pen + MR reduction on her Q means that you can bypass a lot of champion/minion magic resist.



Seals: Armor

Pretty self explanatory. Armor is needed for the jungle.



Glyphs: CDR

CDR is more of a personal preference for me. Soraka has extremely high cooldowns, so the CDR helps make her nuke (Silence) as well as heal come up faster.



Alternate runes!


These runes are all viable substitutes in the right situations. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed will help with ganks on non-gap closer champs and teams. Greater Quintessence of Ability Power Greater Glyph of Ability Power Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power gives you more Damage in the Jungle and for ganks if you think you'll need it. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist will help vs AP based teamcomps, and generally make Soraka even stronger ganking an AP lane!

The most effective mastery tree for jungle AP soraka is 0/9/21.

Key Masteries are:


more health for early game


For jungler exp. More exp means you get to higher levels faster, and you get better base stats faster


The movespeed helps you stay in range when ganking and using Q


A very good consumable that costs only 1 point


Blue and red are very important to soraka as a jungler. Red makes her ganks infinitely more potent. Blues help her clear and sustain through the jungle

As ap jungle soraka, you have to find the balance between enough survivability to stay in teamfights, as well as ability power for higher damage/heals.


Start:
x5
Always start Hunter's Machete as any jungler. 10% bonus damage is invaluable. The 5 Health Potions will ensue you are able to gank with near full hp at level 3 as well.


First back:

You want Boots on first back because they help you stay in range for your Q ganks. The Spirit Stone will help you keep up your mana in the jungler. Lategame, you can choose to either turn the spirit stone into a Spirit of the Spectral Wraith for jungle sustain, Spirit of the Ancient Golem for survivability, or you can choose to just sell it for a more expensive item.


Cores:

Unless you are really fed, you want to choose only 1-2 of these items. Chalice of Harmony ensures that you will pretty much never run oom. Sheen adds a ton of damage to your AAs. Tear of the Goddess give you more mana, but I still think that Chalice is a much better pick in most situations.


Squishy AP:

Finish whatever core items you decided to build first. Athene's Unholy Grail's stats are all extremely good for soraka. The CDR, Mana regen, and aibility power all help her out. Lich Bane makes her bananas OP, as well as give her more movement speed for your ganks. Archangel's Staff gives mana and ability power. Abyssal Mask and Void Staff are decent mid-late game items that give you higher damage and better heals. Rabadon's Deathcap should be one of your last items (unless you're fed) since it is extremely expensive for a jungler to build.


Survival:

I usually get survival items either when I feel I am too squishy for their team's damage, or when I have completed ~2 AP items (Whichever one comes first). Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives extremely high health as well as good ability power for a defensive item. It also gives a super strong slow that turns soraka's Q into an Aoe 15% slow. Liandry's Torment Is also a good item, but instead of a slow, it gives a strong DoT. Zhonya's Hourglass and Guardian Angel are lategame survival items.

Of course you need smite you derp! :P



These 3 summoner spells are situational (Though I prefer flash). Take Flash if they have many champions with gapclosers, escapes, or AoE disrupts like Amumu. Take Ghost if their champions don't have much gapclosers (Such as vs udyr, Warwick, or Fiora). Exhaust is also a viable option if you think you'll be in more skirmishes rather than teamfights.

Soraka's skill sequence is relatively flexible. However, the best way of playing jungle soraka is to take Q whenever possible, then take W, followed by E (Taking R whenever possible). It should look like this:


1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18


A general rule of thumb:

Max if you want to farm/AoE or if you want to have high magic resist reduction.

Max if you want to lose. (No really, don't max heal unless you want to spend 10 minutes clearing wraiths)

Max if you know you are going to be ganking more. It is a manaless heavy nuke. It is also nice when you go to your mid, and give them full mana.

Consecration

Ally champions within 1000 range gain 16 bonus magic resistance.

Her passive isn't really the best in the jungle. The passive helps a bit when ganking lanes with AP opponents. It really comes into effect though against the typical "wombo combo", as most AoE damage spells are based on Magic damage, and Consecration combined with your Wish can help your team survive a wombo combo and turn the fight around.




Soraka summons a shower of stars to fall from the sky, striking all nearby enemy units within 530 range for 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 40% AP) magic damage and reducing their magic resistance by 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 per stack for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 10 times.

Her Q is what makes her work in the Jungle. She has very a decently fast clear with her Q, since it allows her to finish off the camp in 2-5 Qs. Soraka's Q does wonders if you gank an AP lane, since the MR from your passive combined with the MR reduction on Q decimates the opponent.




Soraka blesses a friendly unit, restoring 70 / 140 / 210 / 280 / 350 (+ 45% AP) health and granting them 25 / 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 bonus armor for 3 seconds.

Her W is an amazing sustain skill in the jungle. You will pretty much never run out of health due to your massive heal, as well as the bonus armor it provides. However, you don't want to max this skill first because you would have no damage, which results in slower ability to kill camps, less ganks, and weaker ganks.




On ally cast: Restores 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 mana to the targeted champion. Soraka cannot use Infuse on herself.

On enemy cast: Silences the target for 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 and deals 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+ 60% AP) magic damage to them.

This skill is what makes your ganks work. When you gank, use this skill when you think your opponent is going to escape or if they are going to flash out of range of you or your ally. The 2 second silence is more than enough time for your laner to provide you with CC as you both whittle down your opponent. Maxing this skill will provide a high damage nuke, as well as free mana each time you visit a lane.




Soraka fills her allies with hope, restoring 200 / 320 / 440 (+ 70% AP) health to herself and all friendly champions.

This skill is helps make soraka have an even bigger presence in the game. You can use it to countergank, such as using it when their jungler ganks a lane. You can also use it as a secondary heal in case you get counterganked/counterjungled. This ultimate will help your team survive AoE ultimate comps which are currently seeing more popularity.

To begin, take a point in Starcall. As a mana dependant jungler, you need to start Ancient Golem. This is where it will hurt if you picked Soraka jungle into a lee sin/blitzcrank team. Ask your support to explorer ward your red at 1:50.

Ask your teammates to give a smiteless leash on Ancient Golem (Usually your teammates should be giving a smiteless anyways since it's pretty standard now in season 3). Use potions to stay alive if your teammates don't give you a hard leash.

After clearing blue, take a point in Heal and look at their jungle:

If they are a counterjungling jungler, then chances are they'll go for your red. If you think they'll go for your red, skip Giant Wolf and Wraith and head straight for Elder Lizard. Make sure your teammates know that you might get counterjungled, so they can keep an eye out and turn that counterjungler into a 3/4v1 in your favor.

If they are a more passive jungler, such as amumu or nautilus, then take a level in Astral Blessing and clear wolves. Use potions as often as possible so that you are always above 60% hp.

Next, clear wraiths. This camp should be easier than wolves for soraka, and since we put 4 points into Awareness , you should have level 3 after finishing wraiths. Head to your red and clear it with smite.

Now, you can choose to either gank the lanes closest to you, or to continue and farm if all the lanes are pushed. You can go heal and infuse an ally, or even try to counterjungle if you are daringly up for it.

In a teamfight, your job is as followed:

1. Heal your allies. Your heal should be healing a lot thanks to your AP. Vs a poke comp, Soraka can just heal allies all day and they won't be able to do much against it as your tanky top hard initiates for a good teamfight.

2. Give mana to your mid (or anyone low on mana in general). Infuse shouldn't be on a very high cooldown due to your CDR, and it helps your teammates during the poking phase of a teamfight.

3. Silence high priority targets. That means you want to use silence wherever you think it would be most effective. Sometimes that means silencing the Ezreal that stepped a bit too close and want's to Arcane shift away, or silencing that Anivia that just caught a good portion of your team in her ultimate.

4. Use your Q. Constantly. In a teamfight you should be spamming your Q as much as possible. It's a great spell and has good synergy with your AP allies. It does a decent amount of damage and hits EVERYTHING within range.

In short, AP Soraka Jungle is a situational pick. You can do very well with her if you have a tanky top that can initiate like Zac or Wukong. She can also do well with a poke-based team or a team that needs a bit more sustain early game (Vayne, Nasus team). You do not want to pick her if they have someone who can just dominate you and your laners such as Lee Sin.

Soraka brings a lot to a good team in the current meta. She has an MR aura, an extremely strong Armor buff, and her entire kit makes her really good in certain situations. Before you downvote this guide and move on, I really do recommend you give the goat lady a try :3


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