Been playing Soraka till your eyes bleed? I have, and it gets pretty boring. Although Soraka's ability to sustain is unrivaled by anyone due to the health/mana replenishment, she doesn't bring much more to the table in the form of utility at any point in the game.

So a mix of bordom, can't always draft Soraka, and the want of more utility brought me to use Oriana as a primary support bot. She brings unrivaled, and invaluable amounts of utility to your team all game long.

Possitives
•Has strong mobility/team fight utility
•Has a strong shield
•Has better damage as the game goes on

Negatives
•Lacks Sustain
•Lacks a non-ult hard CC
•Lacks an "easy mode"

I focused on Health/Mana regeneration, XP gain, and increased gold.
•Health/Mana regen is needed, and stacks well with our early game Philosopher Stone to shrug off inconsistant harass on both you, and your carry in combination with your shield.
•Gaining levels faster that the enemy will turn your carry into a tank in lane very quickly. It also alows you to get your Ult before the other team.
•The greater advantage you give yourself in the gold department the more wards you can drop, the more spells you can spam, and more utility for your team both in/out of team fights.

I focus on resistances, scaling MP/5, and GP/5 in my rune selection.
•Resists allow you to trade auto attacks with the enemy in lane, or provide you the mitigation to survive an offensive comp in lane.
•Scaling mana regen is important because as you level your CDR will start to cap, and you will be wanting to spam your movement speed buff/shield as often as possible.

Why not flat MP/5 to help with her early game mana issues? Because she does not have early game mana issues when using only her spells defensivly, and her auto attacks to harass. Her masteries, starter items, and early Philo supports this playstyle enough.

•GP/5 is core on a support to aquire the items that will assist you in supporting your team.

•Heal can be taken by your AD, but because you are in a non-sustaining lane that is most likely against one with sustain you may want your carry to run Ignite to insure kills that burst healing would otherwise stop. Having a heal, and your shield will give your carry the advantage of being able to be a bully in lane, while giving you the tools to get them out if need be.
•Flash because you already have a run speed boost, and it will help you gain positional advantage in an instant on a toon that is heavly reliant on possitioning

Passive: Clockwork Windup
Orianna uses her ball as a focus for her spells and attacks. Orianna's ball automatically returns to her if she is too far away from it.

Orianna's autoattacks deal an additional 5/6.77/8.53/10.3/12.06/13.83/15.59/17.35/19.12/20.89/22.65/24.42/26.18/27.95/29.71/31.48/33.24/35 plus 20% of her Ability Power in magic damage. Subsequent attacks against the same target within 4 seconds deal an additional 15% magic damage. This bonus stacks up to 3 times.

Explanation:
Gives your auto attacks some punch. Enough to keep up, or come out on top in trades when harrasing conservitively.


Q: Command: Attack
Orianna commands her ball to shoot toward a target location, dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to targets along the way. However, it deals 10% less damage for each unit it hits (Minimum 40%).
Her ball remains behind at the target location afterwards.

Cooldown 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds
Cost 50/55/60/65/70 mana
Range 825

Explanation:
This spell alows you to brush check, position your ball, and setup your other abilities.


W: Command: Dissonance
Orianna commands her ball to release an electric pulse, dealing 70/115/160/205/250 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies.
The pulse leaves behind an energy field for 3 seconds, lowering enemy Movement Speed by 20/25/30/35/40% and increasing ally Movement Speed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 seconds. This effect diminishes over time.

Cooldown 9 seconds
Cost 70/80/90/100/110 mana
Range 1200

Explanation:
A spell that you will want to have up almost every cooldown to give your group exelent mobility accrost the map. This will either give your carry the mobility needed to secure a kill, or escape an initiation/gank.


E: Command: Protect
Passive: The ball adds 10/15/20/25/30 Armor and Magic Resist to the allied champion it is attached to.

Active: Orianna commands her ball to travel to and attach onto an allied champion, shielding them for 4 seconds from the next 80/120/160/200/240 (+40% of ability power) damage. Enemies the ball passes through along the way are damaged for 75% of the shield value: 60/90/120/150/180 (+45% of ability power).

Cooldown 7 seconds
Cost 60 mana
Range 600

Explanation:
With the proper reflexes, and a carry that isn't reckless this spell will stop 95% of all damage they will recieve in lane. It has a modest cost/CD that only improves as you gear up. This is also the spell that will setup most of your team fight combos.


R: Command: Shockwave
Orianna commands her ball to unleash a shockwave after a brief delay, dealing 150/225/300 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies and flinging them into the air a set distance in the direction of the ball.

Cooldown 120/105/90 seconds
Cost 100/125/150 mana
Range 1200

Explanation:
With practice you can use this spell to destroy whole teams, or save lives. Both situations are comboed with either Command: Attack, and/or Command: Shield to position your ball in the needed location.

This skill order will give you the most defensive build early game, and utility mid/late game.

All Game Long
Sight/Vision Wards, and Oracle's Elixer
•Wards are one of you biggest contribuitions to your team. They allow you to capitalize on the vision granted quickly with exelent group mobility. Oracles is for countering the enemies warding, and allow you to stop purchasing Vision Wards if you know you can stay alive.

Start
Faerie Charm, 2 Sight Ward, 1 Vision Ward, 1 Mana Potion
•Faerie Charm, and a mana pot will give you all the mana you need to stay in lane untill you run out of wards. The Sight Wards should be used during long stretches between your jungler ganks, and Vision previous to ganks to reduce the enemies vision.

First Purchases
Philosopher's Stone, Boots of Speed, Foran's Ring
•Philosopher's Stone, and Doran's Ring will give you all the sustain needed to to ensure the safety of your carry while also capitalizing on easy damage when you are full on mana. Boots of Speed gives you the mobility to position yourself at a faster rate.

From Here on Out
Shurelya's Reverie, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Fiendish Codex, Aegis of the Legion
These items flesh out Oriana's kit with well rounded, and focused stats.

Health, Armor, Magic Resist
•You need to beef yourself up some in a match so a stray AoE doesn't take you to half health. In combination with Command: Shield, or just the passive bonus from it your defensive stats will be in a good place.
CDR, Mana Regeneration, AP
• These stats will allow you to support with your spells as offen, and efficiently as possible.
Utility
•Shurelya's Reverie's active chains very well with the run speed, or slow from Command: Dissonence to ensure that your team has superior mobility.
•Aegis of the Legion provides damage mitigation that stacks well with Command: Shield to greatly beef up someone on your team. It also provides you with much needed defensive stats.

Super Long Games

•At this point in the game you have all the utility you need from the build, and should be looking to boost some of your ratios to help your team in the damage department. You will lose 5% CDR when you trade in Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the Sorcerers Shoes, but by this time in the game team fights generaly do not as last long, and you will benifit from burst more than CDR. The additional aura from Will of the Ancients will also boost your teams magic damage greatly when coordinating strikes in a team fight.