Introduction:

Hello, my summoner name is Śoraka.
https://eune.op.gg/summoner/userName=%C5%9Aoraka
As the name suggests I mostly play Soraka as support and I aim to climb challenger with it!

I started playing around 2021 September, closed S11 in Platinum I. but in S12, I reached Diamond IV in 150 games, playing 99% Soraka with a nice 62% win rate and started climbing up to Masters.

[Recently top 100. Soraka EUNE, and top 860 Soraka world]

More importantly I played 80% of my games solo, which makes my winrate and accomplishments a bit more serious.

I try a lot of variations of builds and runes so I usually make a unique set of runes and items every game, depending on the circumstances and the given team compositions and matchups.

Pros

• Early lane dominance if played well
• Strongest healing sustain support in the game!
• Global ultimate to help your team wherever you are
• Kinda slippery with the QE combo and the bonus movement speed. (+HoT)

Cons

• The whole enemy team will flash-ult-ignite on you right as they see you to kill you first
• Squishy
• Limited engage and disengage possibilities ( Janna has better disengage, Nami has better engage )

Primary Paths
Sorcery: Here your absolute go to is Summon Aery while Arcane Comet is not too terrible, but it is more damage focused, does not work with Soraka's defensive/supportive abilities.
Resolve: Guardian Is playable, if you are forced in bad matchups like Xerath, you want to get a relich shield and defensive rune setup so he cant take you out of the lane.


Rest of the paths do not really worth a mention.

Here comes to rune choices to boost your Soraka to fit into any team comp.
Nimbus Cloak: It gives your some extra movement speed which is good if enemy has some scary assasins or really fast running dudes like Hecarim. Movement speed is good your baiting, kiting, avoiding skill shots.
Nullifying Orb: If enemy has many ap champions and/OR enemy bot lane is an AP duo. They will not expect this rune to save you in close situations. It will help you survive vs heavy AP enemies. Really good trick.
Manaflow Band: General pick, it is also good vs those situations mentioned above. It all goes down to playstyle, knowledge and confidence. I use this rune most of the time, it is never a mistake sticking to this.

Transcendence: This gives you some extra ability haste which is great to spam heals. When people say "support gap" is 99% of the time is because you managed to spam heals in a teamfight and the enemy team just couldnt handle it.
Celerity: Extra movement speed, but it is only useful with your passive, which I think is not enough reason to go with this rune. Your passive already gives you just enough MS.
Absolute Focus: This rune gives you extra AP if you are above 70% HP. Well you really easily fall under 70% and then this rune already is useless so I prefer not using this unless you are trolling with AP Soraka.

Scorch: Really good rune to utilize your early game potential. I take this literally 99% of the time. This is almost a must-go if you want to dominate lane in the early phase. I do not use it when enemy team has so scary duo that I know I will have to go defensive and cannot make use of this rune.
Waterwalking: Good rune for roaming and setting up fights early in the river. However Soraka does not have that good roaming potential, as she has low mobility and cc options, plus you can use your R from any distance. I never take this.
Gathering Storm: This is the rune I take when I do not want to confront the enemy bot lane because they will burst me on lvl 1... It is better to sit back and stay defensive sometimes, then you do not benefit from Scorch, just go ahead and use Gathering storm for a better scaling into late game.

Secondary Path
Resolve: This is a very strong secondary path. Grants you some tankiness and stronger heals!
Bone Plating is op vs bursting and continous damage, the damage reduction time is short but the amount is op. Good weapon in trading.
Second Wind is a good alternative if they not trying to burst but rather harass you. Against harassment, second wind is better.
Revitalize is the second rune to take in this path, it is a very op tool in your hands and the biggest reason why you choose Resolve over Inspiration.

Inspiration: I actually use this quite few times if I know an early Zhonya will be necessary to survive fights.
Perfect Timing gives you the possibility to own a stopwatch for free, although you need to wait for it, but you can shorten the time required with takedowns.
Cosmic Insight Is the other runes I take here for the reduced summoner spell cooldowns.

As for the adaptive runes, I go with 1 CDR, 1 adaptive power and 1 scaling health or armor.
I take 1 adaptive power + 2x armor if the enemy full ad.
I take 1 adaptive power + 1x magic resist + 1x health if enemy full ap.

Starter kit

Spellthief's Edge Is your general starting support item. You buy this most of the cases because it grant you gold based on dealing damage to enemy players which allows you to stack this item as fast as you want. It grants you the possibility to complete the item quest faster than the other support items. However this is also the riskiest support items because you need to go in to harass the enemy. It can be dangerous to do this if the enemy bot has a high damage - cc duo.

Relic Shield is the other possible option for starting support item. This is useful when you know you do not want to confront the enemy bot duo, so you play in a defensive style. It gives you more health than spellthief, and lets you get gold while playing defensive, so this is the item you need in hard match ups.

As for the 100 gold left, I just take 2 health potions most of the time. I would go 1 pink ward instead if I decided on Relic Shield and I think I can benefit from it. For example against Twitch or Viego or something like that.

Mythic item options

Moonstone Renewer is the strongest item on Soraka in my opinion. It grants your partner extra sustain, gives you AP, HP, and REALLY STRONG heals!

Locket of the Iron Solari I havent built this item for a long time because the shield is quite small, the stats arent that great for Soraka and the gold efficiency is really low on this one.

Imperial Mandate Not a bad item, and for supports like Nami, Janna it is very good, because they cant spam their heals and shield like you do. You have better choices.

Shurelya's Battlesong I started to like this item, if your team needs some engage/disengage potential. If you have moonstone but your top/jng just cannot reach the enemy without getting kited to death then it wasnt a smart choice. The ability haste from its passive is quite good, and you can use the active to cover up your teams weaknesses.

Third item options

Ardent Censer although in higher elo, you will already need some defensive items, due to the enemy realizing your threath. So I would prefer this as possible 3rd or 4th item IF your team befenits from attack speed greatly. (fed adc or multiple auto-attackers)

Redemption is also very good and one of the most picked item on Soraka. This item needs a little skill to use it effective tho. You can make huge teamfight comebacks, casting the active and ulting right away if your team already needs heals. The enemy literaly has to kill your team 3 times to outdamage this heal. Also very important that it gives you health, so its harder to kill you, ability haste to spam W, and even if they can take you down, you can still cast the active.

Mikael's Blessing It does give you magic resistance and 20% extra healing and shielding, however the active does not work on suppressions like Malzahar ultimate. I feel like it is not worth to build it only against cc, because it works only once and Leona can put 3 cc on you in one run. If enemy has a fed ap carry who likes to focus you and they sure have a lot of cc you can build it.

Staff of Flowing Water is a great item as it not only boosts your allies but the ability haste is great for you as well. If you feel safe in fights, this will help your carry harder.

Zhonya's Hourglass is a quite necessary item most of the times due to the focus you will get. The armor and active will help you survive longer, while the AP and ability haste is useful for you generally.

Fourth item options

If you have not built it already you can go for this item as fourth. The reasons are described above.

If you have not built it already but you would benefit from it, you can go for this item as fourth. The reasons are described above.

If you have not built it already you can go for this item as fourth. The reasons are described above.

Banshee's Veil is very effective if there are spells in the enemy you want to avoid for example Blitzcrank hook. This item is also good vs full ap enemy team. (but it is easier to outplayer than a Zhonya)

Warmog's Armor is kinda expensive, and does not synergy with you that much. I dont think it is worth buying.

Chemtech Putrifier is a great item if the enemy team has very high healing abilities and due to immortal shieldbow and many champions having ton of heals, I usually buy this soon.

Fifth item options

Good choice for overall defense as last item. If you do not need to Zhonya some skills like Zed ult, and also do not need spellshield for any initiative skills, but you still want to be tankier, Warmog does a great job on this.

If he game is all about back to back fights longing into min 30-40 you do not need to defend yourself that hard, consider Watchful Wardstone as your last item to be able to store more pink wards with you to grant your team vision which is the key to succesfully initiate or evade teamfights.

Whatever you built already at this point, if you have not built Redemption yet, it is never too late.

If not built yet but you feel like you need it, go for it.

If not built yet but you feel like you need it, go for it.

Rabadon's Deathcap is a fun item, gives you more ap, which increases your damage and heals. I do not recommend this on ranked tryharding tho. Late game it does not matter how much ap you have, you do not have enough to burst and there are better item to increase your heals.

Option of Boots

I usually buy this item really early, even before buying the first (Mythic) item. This is because if I die or just recall, I wanna arrive back fast on the lane. Moving faster in battle, or rotate faster is also very important. Upgrading the boots comes second after the Mythic item is ready. There are some exceptions when you get full boots before Mythic item, for example if you are low on gold and benefit good from that type of Boots.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity is a great pick for Soraka. It gives you ability haste and summoner spell cooldown reduction which is very very good since you always get focused by the enemy teams and you have to use your summoners to save yourself.

Mercury's Treads is a good counter against heavy cc enemy teams. Sometimes a little tenacity is the difference between life and death, for example you get hit by Lux Q and she starts ulting, with this boots you can actually flash away before the ult hits you. Also good item vs full ap enemy team.

Plated Steelcaps counters full ad and also hard AA enemy teams. It makes wonders to keep you alive in these situations.

Boots of Swiftness is kinda rare choice overall, but it is quite good if you want to run on the map a lot and you benefit from slow resistance more than tenacity. (fast rotating teammates, strategies etc)

Mobility Boots are not a great option for Soraka because you do not roam around the map that much to make good use of this item. It also gives less MS while in combat than any other boots.

Sorcerer's Shoes are out of the question unless you are trolling with full ap Soraka.

NOPE.

Early game is where you shine and win the lane so try to dominate it and snowball for later. A 10/10 Soraka finds her way to dominate early in every match up. This is harder than it sounds because you might find it difficult vs hard burst and engage enemies like Nautilus - Draven.
Dominating means throwin auto attacks and Q's repeatedly at the enemies and taking less damage than them at the end. This stacks your support item, giving you gold, while gaining kill pressure on the lane and hopefully a cs difference among the two adcs.
I would say lvl 1-6 is your playground after that you are getting outdamaged by most supports, or if you have dominated you can expect enemy jungler showing up really soon.
Best to do is to go safer after 6, this makes your enemy annoyed that they have planned ganks and all ins on you but they can not because you are out of reach, and also leaves you open to help your team with your ultimate, since it is a global healing, you have to keep an eye on the minimap and help your allies.
A good Soraka should have less than 5 deaths in a game. If you die more you are probably mispositioning, or being too greedy on vision control, or saving teammates who dove too deep into the enemy.

Well you are gonna start putting points in W now, so you are losing your power. Your Qs hurt less and enemy hurts more. Try to sit back a little, relax.
Since you are relaxing, you can keep an eye on the enemy jungler, where does he go? Which of your teammate has got no ward and going to get ganked? PING HIM!
Make calls for your jungler, ward the drake, or even the enemy jungle, who knows, maybe you have Gripexx on your team... Last but not least: watch your teammates fight. You can save them with your R. Not only that but you can easily steal some free juicy assists with that too. ;)

So how do you win a balanced match? If you ever had this question after a game where you were leading but lost, you are on good road. It is not enough to make the lead for your team. More often than not if they are weak players with a lead, they will lose it soon enough. You have to constantly think ahead how to save your teammates from threats. Who is your real carry? How do you win the game?

Do not go into risky situations. CONTROL YOUR TEAM! Ping them danger even if you think he knows, the enemy is going for him, split pushing without vision. Push them out of playing automatically. Make them use their brain. Communicate with them.

If you do not make big mistakes, then it goes down to teamfights. You have to be more useful than the enemy support is. Think ahead then do you need to use your E? Can you waste it or do you have to keep it to stop something like a Katarina R? How do you use your Qs? Can you use it for simple damage and heal buff, or do you have to use it for zoning? How do you use your W? Heal when your ally has greater missing health or use it for the small amounts to give for example ardent buff?

Always answer these questions best as you can.

This is basicaly the race where you have to stay with your team, heal them out of dangerous situations while maintaining vision. Do not be afraid to make calls for your team. If you feel like you already have good decision making and macro knowledge do not let them lead. You tell them and ping them what to do next. If they are smart they will listen and acknowledge your decisions.
If they are not, well.. theres nothing you can do, try to help them and turn bad situations into good.
Try to make catches too, even if you do not have good cc, some ideas where to hunt, a little bit of slow from your Q and a SILENCE is enough to catch people off guard and turn the tables in the game.
This is the most crucial part of the game, sometimes one mistake makes the game. Get hyped on making your best decisions, do not get caught, do not facecheck bushes, the WHOLE ENEMY TEAM IS HUNTING YOU! You have to know your value and do not show yourself, unless you are GOD at baiting. Be safe, stay alive, keep your team alive. Move with the carries, fed teammates, they most likely to carry with you.

- coming soon -

- coming soon -

Tips & tricks:
-If your Q hits more opponents you do not gain more HoT but after every incoming Rejuvenation the HoT gets reset. This means it will last a very little bit longer than it is with 1 target.
-HoT from Q applies after the rejuvenation reaches Soraka, but if you use W before the rejuvenation reached you, your ally still gets the HoT.
-Your Q center deals 35% extra dmg and 30% more slow. Althought it is really hard to hit.
-Aery apples shield to only 1 ally. This is interesting to know when ulting.
-Soraka R is instant. It heals everyone instantly, and then the animation happens.
-Soraka gain rejuvenation from Q even if it was blocked with a spellshield.
-When trying to run away from enemies you have to place your E in front of them so that it stuns them right when they walk in it. It takes practice because the faster the opponent the further you have to place it in front of them, they might just see it and go around. Use your Q to help yourself, when doing a QE combo, Q on enemy, and place E where you expect him to be. You can use this to disengage (when being chased) or to engage(when you chase the enemy).
Use your W mostly after hitting a Q, it is better because it will apply a HoT but also if you have Moonstone it will deal a greater heal.
-Appearently your E does not stop the enemy from smiting. That is kinda weird :/ Keep that in mind.

Soraka fits into most team compositions, but there are some situations where you do not want to force putting your Soraka in there. Althou keep in mind that if you are Soraka OTP and confident in playing her, there is no composition that can stop you from using her and being a total MVP of the game.

If you are not that confident, or higher on the elo ladder, have some other support champions that you can confidently use then here some help.

It is not efficient to use Soraka if:

Primary support roles

Pick TANK: Enemy has many assasins, and your team is generally squishy. In this situation you can pick something tanky but most important something with enough CC and sustain to help your team survive. (Braum, Alistar, Leona, Thresh, Blitzcrank etc)

Pick CARRY: If your team has many tanky champions, lacking some damage or your team lacks a type of damage for example no AP in your team then you can go ahead and fill these holes. Do not be afraid to pick a carry champion with actual damage and actively/directly help your team to Victory. (Brand, Pyke, Xerath, Pantheon, Swain etc)

Secondary support roles
(These roles are secondary because for example engage supp can be both tank or APC)

Pick an ENGAGE supp: Your team has no engage, no dash, blink, while enemy champions are very slippery. You might find it hard fighting them if you have no way to catch them. Probably wiser if you pick some champions with abilities made to engage and catch. (Blitzcrank, Nami, Thresh, Pyke etc)

Pick DISENGAGE supp: Your team are mostly squishy with no escape skills, meanwhile enemy team is made to go "hop&kill". Soraka does well in this category as well but sometimes you might feel you need more disengage in the team in order to succesfully save them. (Janna, Lulu, Braum, Thresh, Veigar etc)

Pick for SYNERGY: This is a very special category, when you pick a support only to make better synergy with your team / ADC.

Examples are:
- Braum for Lucian: Lucian can proc Braums passive CC with ease due to it's champion kit.
- Any CC champion for Samira/ Kai'Sa: Samira and Kai'sa benefit a lot from having a CC partner due to their passives.
- Lulu for Twitch: Twitch is a generally weak champion in my opinion, needs too much time to scale up and then he is still too vulnerable. To somewhat help the situation you can go Lulu, that will strengthen this rat's potential while also give you some opportunities to keep him alive but still try to avoid this situation.

We could still go on and on with these magic synergies but they do not pay off if you are not good with these champions. Sometimes it is just better to say that you know Soraka does not fulfill every expectation in this comp, but you think you will still be more useful with her than any other picks.

And yet again: a good Soraka player is better in engaging than a Pyke, disengages harder than a Janna, has more damage than Brand and carries better than Faker himself.