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Soraka Build Guide by

Do u really get her full potential?

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Soraka Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (9) More Soraka Guides

Choose Champion Build:

General Build
Some special matchups

Runes:

Sorcery

Summon Aery

The Ultimate Hat

Transcendence

Waterwalking

Resolve

Font of Life

Revitalize

Spells:

Barrier

Heal

Items

Starting items

First b 875g

Second b 600-1400g

First Items

Next item

Possibility 1 to fill

Possibility 2 to fill

Full Build 1

Fullbuild 2

Ability Order

Soraka Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Zyra

Extreme

This will be an adc depending lane. If Zyra comes with a Cait itll be hell. U will stay under ur turret and just run from one trap to another one and back to a Zyra root. With a Sivir its a hard poking lane and u will feel like a running potion. Anyway, make ur jungler gank u a few times so u got an advantage. Keep her silenced in every fight, even after laning. And dont stand around in the range of her flowers and destroy the flowers u can use ur Q-dmg for that too.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Hey guys, Im a main Raka with almost 1kkk points.
Raka is one of the supp picks that never ever will be wrong even when hell is freezing.

First of all I have to excuse me for my English, Im no native speaker but I hope u guys will know what I wanna say.

I dont want to say this it is the one and only way. And please note maybe master/challenger and lcs players do it in a different way. But Im no high elo coach and everyone knows its almost a totally different game u play if u go solo queue < Master ;-)

The good thing I really like in this way to play her - u have almost no counters. Only some annoying matchups and u fit in in almost all matchups in ur team too. This build fits in a team without tanks too.

Pros / Cons of this way

Pros:
-> Overheal
-> Sustain for a squishy Supp
-> Every lane should be won or at least holt
-> Engage and disengage possibilities
-> Mindblow to the enemy team

Cons:
-> Squishy
-> Focused
-> Hard team depending
-> Flames inc

Useless? Not that unicorn!

Spells

The spells. The Troll-report reason ^^

Okay, they r not common picks for Raka Sums. But I`ll explain u why they r the best - for that build and playstyle.

A Soraka never should be that deep that she has to use a flash. That simple it is. And if she needs a flash, she played wrong - my oppinion. The only two cases I may miss flash from time to time is in the drake place or the baron place cause most of ur mates wont have the overview to help u with a slow or a stun to escape and flash or jump over the wall and u r for real the last lonely unicorn.
U r no dmg Dealer, u r no Tank ur job is to heal, to slow and to put the silence into the enemies. It will take some practise and experience to learn how to stay far behind, passiv but tough usefull. And keep in mind - if u r the front or in ur teammates u give a free won teamfight to the enemies. Cause most of the enemies will try to reach u to put u out of the game and if u stay behind, they first have to go through all of ur mates ur adc and apc included. Even if they reach u or u have something like a or a in the enemyteam who dont give a .... about others to reach u, u r more tanky and bait them to stay in the middle of ur team. U will be able to stay alive much longer and it is great for engages too. In laning phase u shouldnt die except they come as four or five. But for sure u never should die while a tower dive from bot and maybe with jung and they will try it many times, cause noob Raka without flash ;) And btw... since the mobile jungle u also have some exploding seeds u can use for ur escape. Every seed - one non-needed Flash.
But I think the most important fact about barrier is u will face a lot of ur whole life as a Raka will burn in ignites. So what shall u wanna flash? Their ignites? U can tank the ignite even on lvl 1 with ur barrier. Most times u force the enemy supp to take an ignite vs u so ur adc has free dmg cause no Exh. Now u think - yeah but u dont have an too. Let me show u why.

Yeah no . I play her only with heal for two years now. U can expect what kind of mass flaming this was befor it became common as support to pick heal.
Only thing I have to say for that - a heal has heal, basta.

Items

Raka got a higher CD on her W. Thats why the boots r my first item after upgrading the one time. U got 10% CDR and u will be faster than the others cause most times all buy their boots later. So u will be able to dodge many skills and if u get ganked u will be able to escape even without flash. But if u have a balanced and chilled lane u can buy first cause u will get ur cdr too but got stronger heals and a higher advantage. So u may will be able to change the lane situation.

Depending on the game situation u get sightstone or already . If u r still in laning go for Redemption, if u r already out of ur lane or go deeper buy Sightstone first. Buy the when u got but only when u have Sightstone and with lvl9 go for .

Now u should build . If u see u cant outheal the oneshot potential of a fed enemy and they one shot ur mates u may could only buy the Forbidden Idol from Redem and do Locket befor finishing Redem.

After finishing Redem and Locket go on with ending ur support item and fill ur build. Buy an too.

Skill Sequence

There r some things u should keep in mind to use the skills right.

Try to precast it, so u try to hit the enemies at the place where they will walk and dont cast it to the place they r standing. In the first level u should only cast it when u have less than 75% hp to heal urself cause u need to care about ur mana. But when u got an ADC with his power strike in the early game, use it to poke cause with Benefee its a strong poke. Keep in mind, the longer the cast way the longer it needs to hit. After u cast it, try to walk some steps away from the enemy, so u get the movement speed too. The Buff will work when the starlight animation hits u, not befor. So keep in mind u dont get the buff immediately when Q hits.

Ur quint essence. In the early game take care u dont cast it unnessecaryly cause itll be a much more powerfull poke to u than the enemies could ever do. Heal urself with ur Q and pots. When enemies go for all in and u r about to die try to give a last heal to ur adc.
While trading u should try to land a Q and heal ur adc after that so he gets the regen-buff from ur Q too. Keep in mind - it takes some time till Q-buff is activated on u.

This skill makes teamfights. U pref to cast it to the mages in a teamfight. In laning most times its most effectiv if u do it on the support.
U can unterrupt some ults too, like the ult of MF or Nunu. Lucians Ult u cant unterrupt.
Thats only the first of the OP skill section in Rakas E. The root is the other one. A good point is if u run right behind a enemy u have to be at the same high on the map like him, than cast a Q to slow and silence on max range in front of him --> safe root. U will have to practise this a few times till u got a feeling for it.
The most obvisous but still often not known fact - it only does damage to champions. Minnions, Baron or Drake wont get damage by ur E.

Sure the most obvisously thing - u can run faster to ur mates who need help. But thats not all. If a teamfight failed or a gank or a dive by ur team u also can use it to escape. Ur mates can help u with ur passive if they r low life they will stay in range and run in the direction u need to run to escape so u got the running boost.
U also can safe ur mates with that skill to run faster in front of them to safe them from a cait Ult with barrier even if u r low life too.

Ur ult is the spell which makes ur enemies hate u. If u have a good and freezing lane or when u r even under turret - but safe - u can give ur ult to ur mid, jung or top if they got a gank or do a gank. But make sure u cast it when they r lower than half life to get the max heal of it. If it is a small fight 1vs2 on top or mid u also can cast ur ult befor ur mate makes a kill, if he needs the heal or not, cause u will get the money from the assist, farming with style ;)

Runes

RUNES *fapfap*

I did some tryouts with the new runes and in my oppinion the runes above are the most effective. I dont think there is any explanation need.

The tank tree - too less sustain for ur mates.

Insparation second tree - too less heal supporting. But its a good sustain path for urself. Look the second build page.

But its only my thinking. Tryout too ;-)

Team Work

Laning: Sometimes ur adc ask u what u pref as adc. The best lanes r with ADCs with a early power strike in my oppinion. But u will go well with all of the adc champs.
Take a look at the matchup description to get some details about ur laning enemies.
As Raka u will stay many times under ur turret. If ur adc wants/needs farm preparation: The melee Minnions: do one Q and one autoattack.
The canon Minnions: do one Q and two autoattacks.
The caster Minnions: one autoattack
After this one tower hit and its enough to last hit.

Warding Controll Ward: use an uncommon place to ward it. Like lower bush of red (left side).
With my build u have to save wards in the early game cause sightstone will be a later item. So learn to watch the map. Place the ward after the enemy lanes left or u r the only good option for a gank for the enemy jung.

With level 9 use ur blue ward as much as u can but please not to give free money. Put it in important areas but not too obvisously.

Ganks: If u dont have a jungler with high cc for engage u will engage. Most times it works if u just run in the middle of the lane not near the bushes, near the river and wait. The most enemies will go for u, just keep urself alive with pots, Q and use ur two Sums and if already finished . Timing is all, dont go in too early or u wasted all for nothing. When ur jungler is at the end of the drake cave u can go in or when he is in ur jungle bush (from the left map side). Thats why I love laning against and Tresh , they have ur engage, just get hooked or grabbed. Look in the matchup explanation for more details how to do it.

Get ganked: It depends on the enemy who comes. For example ganks from a r easy to handle. Silence to her spawn point and she has to go again or is a free kill for ur adc. Also a Tf, just a Silence to his ult point. Ryze and Swain from a TP r easy to handle too. Make sure ur top pushes the top tower and dont come with tp too. U should be able to safe the situation anyway so its more worth to push the tower on top while the enemy has tp. If a jungler with hard cc is coming, like , , or make sure u and ur adc dont stand beside each other, keep space between u, so they go on ur adc and u will be able to safe him or they go on u so he can kill at least one or two till u r dead. Try to unterrupt a dmg ult if u can. Like MF ult, Nunu or maybe a Janna ult.

Tipp: if the enemy has a jungle and he use his ult, count to two and cast ur Ult too. Or if u saw one of ur mates was low life cast it asap. Some ganks can end in a double kill for ur mates.
Also counter-ult is with . If he casts his ult use urs too.

Teamfights: Some simple rules:
- Q on CD
- W on CD
- Use a Pot for urself
- Dont forget ur items to use but dont waste them
- E in the most fed enemies, caster or highest cc ones

General anti-arguments

- Why no red trinket at level 9 while it is the common trinket for supps?

Yeah but I think its not the best idea to send a soraka facecheck the jungle and bushes. Ur adc or ur jungler can buy a red trinket instead.

- Why no exhaust? Why such selfish sums?

Soraka is a healer. Why the adc should take the heal if he has a healer? Just logic the healer takes heal while the carry takes a sum to put pressure into the game or safe his own *** #ADC2017. It also became the norm that top or mid taking Exhaust vs some matchups and many times the enemy team wont have an Exhaust too cause u force them to burn ur team in ignites ;)

- Why pick Raka in a counter or into a hard lane like Annie or Zyra if u know it befor u have to pick?

If u mastered the gameplay with Soraka u dont have any hard counter. The only thing u may have is a hard lane. But even if u only can hold the lane, its more than other supps may could do vs a real hard harrassing lane. U can prevent feeding on the enemy adc. The game isnt only laning too u have a Team and in a Teamfight a Soraka is a real hard Support. She can make a fight to a 8vs5 with her heals and let the enemy mess up with her silence.

Summary

I hope I were able to show some of u a good way to rock Soraka. Of course this playstyle isnt nice for everyone but maybe u try it some games to learn more about ur Raka.
And if u mastered that kind of playstyle u will notice a different gaming niveau with all other champions too.

As a Support u r one of the two real Carries with the jungler. U have to carry the lane and the jungler is the supp of all lanes. And the Starchild helps all in the team even if she isnt near.

So u a good game and