The reason i decided to go with regrowth pendant and ward first is because primarily Soraka is a bottom lane champ and with the right AD Cary or Ranged partner you can almost dominate the lane with a health regen item instead of a mana regen item. Also the ward is very important to place it bottom river bush right around the time your minions collide for the first time.

Remember not every match is the same, dont be afraid to play around with a few different items or ward locations in the beginning. Placing your 1st ward in their bottom bush next to their tower is perfectly okay depending on who your up against. For instance a teemo or Twich, this would be a much better placement then river side bush.

Also taking this Health regen item will allow you to stay in lane much longer, dont be afraid to stay bottom even if you have no mana, just keep silencing them of dumping mana into your teammate.

NEVER FOR GET WARDS. anytime you go back with "B" if you cant buy a necessary item or have enough money after an important item BE SURE TO BUY WARDS. it will make you that much better as a support champ. River side bush is a must see area at all times.

My views on the choice of keeping the gold/5 items and goring straight to the Rylai's Crystal Scepter as soon as you get both of your gold/5 items done is it will allow you to be a lot more aggressive. Hence why i suggested taking the giants belt first and foremost out of the items needed to build the Scepter. Being able to take that much more damage wile healing your carry and semi-tanking for your team is just a whole new level on how to play support while your gold/10 runes are pretty much making up for all the CS your losing out on.

Be sure to keep an eye on what items your team is buying to. if one of your team is playing a champ like Nautilus there is no reason for you to build Shurelya's Reverie, but keep on making the Locket of the Iron Solari because the Nearby allied champions gain 15 health regen per 5 seconds will stack with the one Nautilus should be building.

A lot of people will tell you to build Aegis of the Legion at this point in the game but i disagree. I feel that that item is more of a late game choice if you need it. Really depends more on who your are laning against and really how the team fights are going. If you feel its needed the by all means get it before the deathcap.

AGAIN DONT FORGET WARDS, and you should have very low deaths all game so depending one the enemy team line up an Oracle's Elixir is never a bad idea. It also helps for enemy ward sweeping.

late game is were the most of your skill will be needed i think, especially if your team is not doing to well. If that's the case, a good support player can be the deciding factor in a teams comeback. Timing on your W and E are very important. Your R is more a less a fail safe. If I'm about to about to use my summoner heal spell or "f" for me, then ill usually follow my F with my R.

If you can time your silence or mana giving ability right it can totally change the out come of a team fight. For example if you see a champ that has been initiating most of their team fights like Skarner. Silence him right as it looks like he is pushing past his team or minions so he cant gab and pull someone back thus allowing your team to unexpectedly jump him. But its just as important to make sure your team is not running out of mana. For example Ziggs is an amazing at harassing before a team fight starts. Keeping him full on mana is gonna allow your team to be that much more effective at pushing back.

Overall as support if you have a teammate that is going to be more of a tank but still plays kinda AD like Malphite its ok to stay kind of even with him in CS if you ask me. by level 3 back off on CS period for a while at least until level 6.

Skills you take from level 1-5 are really up to you. I only put the order i take on here generally, not every time. If i come up against a team that is going to be way more ranged and agressive than who im laning with then ill take silence "e" or heal "w" first instead of "q". Again DONT FORGET WARDS. Even late game placing them by Barron or Dragon or even Blue and Red Buff can really help change the game.

All in all my best advice really is, be communicative. Call out MIA's learn the respawn rate of your jungles buffs and dragon and what not. Yell out when they are about to respawn and keep your team informed. Support in my opinion is to take a little bit of the game stress off the shoulders of your team mates. Thus giving them more time and energy to focus on the lane and overall well being of your towers and the enemy teams game state. A good support champ can carry your team just like any other champ type. It all depends on how much effort your willing to put in. The more work, the more wins.

- Thanks for reading my adaptation of my role as support.
-Thaddeus Art (Vasto Typhoon)