Soraka is not the best support right now but she's definitely viable and very annoying to play against especially if she's good. Her pros, I would say, are that she's irrefutably the best healer, has global influence with Wish and can stop mages and channels with her Silence. It's hard to win trades against her with her low CD heal, which makes her a good laner. The only real cons of hers is that she's very squishy and she can't do very much damage on her own.




Flash +

Increases your kill-power during laning phase. It's also good vs healing champs and against squishies like Sona or Janna.

IMO it's a worse spell atm for a support but it's good on Soraka because you're very squishy and it can save you, and also because assassins are very popular in the meta.

Heal is possible since you build items that increase the potency of heals like Ardent and Redemption. It can be more useful on you than on your ADC. In this case your ADC should pick a different spell, usually Barrier or Cleanse or something.

Runes are pretty straight forward with Summon Aery so you can shield your ADC with your heals and be slightly more annoying to your enemies with Q and E.

Both Resolve and Inspiration are good secondary options. I like Resolve for the increased healing and tankiness but if you want Inspiration then go with CDR + cookies.

Gives you a speed boost when running to low allies. Might help you save someone.

A useful poking tool in lane. Be very annoying with this and keep using it whenever it's off CD as the mana cost is quite low. If you hit an enemy with Starcall, you can heal yourself by retreating afterwards. Basically, once you've hit someone, facing away from them will heal you. So your go-to tactic is hit-turn around-and walk back a bit to heal.

Your bread and butter, gives health to targeted allies. It does cost you your health though so what's important is to keep track of your health when you're using this in a skirmish. And try to keep back and heal your ADC/ally instead of trying to participate in the fight too much, lest the enemy notices you're at 10% HP from healing over and over.

An AoE silence that can stop channels like Bullet Time or The Culling. It's mostly useful on AD casters or mages since they're always going to rely on their abilities to do damage, so when a fight starts you can pop an E underneath them and basically make them useless for the duration or until they run out of it. Enemies that stay in E will get stunned, but this is very rare because the duration is pretty long.

A heal that affects all your allies. It's best used during teamfights I think rather than saving a lone low ally, because the CD is so long and the heal isn't that strong. If you can save a high priority target though it might be worth losing, but if you can use it to MAYBE save Shen up top lane, think about whether it's worth it or not. If you max this or mix-max it, it does a lot of damage. You can use it whenever it's off CD to chunk enemy ADCs or squishy supports.

Levels 1, 2 and 3: Start the game with a point in Q. Don't start W because it means you have NO presence until level 2. Level 2 you get W, then E at level 3. After that, you can either max E or mix-max E and W.

Mix-maxing means you should first rank up E to rank 3, then start maxing W until it's rank 5. This will make you an okay poker but keep your healing high as well. But if you are winning lane or against a squishy bot lane, I suggest going all the way with E max and keeping on the pressure.

Max R at levels 6, 11 and 16.

Easy to get to the 500 gold with your low CD and low mana Q that you will pretty much be spamming all laning phase. I like this item path more as it gives you some more dmg/healing with the AP and mana sustain.

Ancient Coin is fine too though if you prefer to be a bit more passive.

Pick up Frostfang first back to get to your Eye of Frost as soon as you can.

Your boots of choice though Boots of Swiftness are a good alternative if you like to go fast.

Rush this with an attack-speed ADC like Xayah, Twitch, Kog'Maw. Otherwise pick up Redemption as your first big item.

Redemption can make or break a game used right. I usually like to keep it off CD for a good teamfight, but it's good to use it to just save one person if it can.

Upgrade to Eye of Frost which gives you an extra ward slot and some health.

Good item if you need a Cleanse for your ADC. Has some nice stats as well and will keep your mana tank full.

Nice AP item that will allow you to engage teamfights since you otherwise have no way of doing so. It is also useful for scouting unwarded areas; release the ghosts and if they don't find anyone, you know it's safe.

Usually want this item every game as well as it's incredibly useful in a teamfight.

Warmog's is not something you want every game because it's very expensive as an item. But it's useful because it'll give you loads of health and crazy health regen with its passive, which is good because as long as you're sustained so is your team because you can keep supplying them with healing.

Level 1 Start your Q so you have some lane control at level 1. Starting W is a noob trap mistake that people do thinking it's Soraka's main ability. But there's nothing to really heal at level 2 and you won't be able to properly poke the enemy or stop them from poking you/your ADC if you do take it.

Level 2 You're not one of those supports who can go crazy at level 2 and get kills, but do try to get level 2 first anyway so that you can prevent the enemy bot lane from engaging on you and your ADC. You'll have your heal at level 2 so you can maybe even win a fight as long as you can delay it long enough to keep healing your ADC. Be careful that they don't engage on you because some enemies will know that, as long as you're alive, they can't really kill your ADC.

Level 3 Equinox will be your bread and butter in laning phase. It will do a lot of damage to a squishy ADC/support and it's rather long-ranged and difficult to dodge. Keep using it a lot to do a lot of damage and be annoying. Note: If they have a support like Leona or Thresh, someone who is very aggressive, be more cautious with your E spam. Once you use it, it's possible that they will look to engage on you, knowing it'll on CD for a long time.

Level 6 You don't get a big power spike at 6 like a lot of champions do because your ult doesn't contribute to your fighting prowess. But you and your ADC get a bit more survivability.

Teamfights You're not much of a peeler or a tank but you're good against divers with your E and even against assassins, as long as you're not their target. You want to stay behind as much as possible because otherwise you're probably dead. But still in range to assist your team and especially your ADC. Heal your priority carries and keep your E handy to stop a mage or assassin from using their combo.