Soraka Build Guide by

🌙 SORAKA BELONGS IN MIDLANE! 🌙Here's why: (detailed + all matchups!!!)

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Soraka Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (9) More Soraka Guides

Runes: EQUINOX POKE (main)

1 2

Sorcery

Summon Aery

Manaflow Band

Transcendence

Scorch

Domination

Taste of Blood

Ultimate Hunter

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2

Barrier is Best!

Barrier

Flash

Items

Spawn

Rush Dark Seal and Ionian Boots

CORE 3 ITEMS !!! (first redemption

Choose from:

Situational choices:

Soraka ult haste (meme)

Ability Order 3 points Q, then max W

Soraka Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Akshan

Extreme

UNSAFE LANE: Akshan players will stealth and bait you into pushing so that he can grapple onto you. He WILL force your flash and WILL control the lane after this happens. Do not push, even if you don't see him (unless he recently died or is seen in other parts of the map. If you do have the balls to go head-on, make sure you have a stacked wave. (tip: you can cancel his grapple, preferably the moment he attaches it to the wall)

Amumu

Ideal

Jungler with CC --> Confirm root on your E.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Amumu

Ideal

Jungler with CC --> Confirm root on your E.

Champion Build Guide

PROS

+ Lot of mana for a midlaner
+ Extreme lane sustain (heal)
+ Outplay potential underestimated
+ Self peel against divers
+ Level 6 early enables plays
+ CC Chain through Equinox
Since Soraka's kit is balanced around her support role, she thrives in the midlane. Short cooldowns, massive lane sustain and an increased mana pool is why Soraka has a stronger potential in the midlane (we are mainly talking about the power beholds as a trading ability). If played correctly, she even becomes the aggressor in certain matchups that seem absurd to think about (midrange matchups usually). What I've noticed a lot is that the enemy midlaner often seems to underestimate how much damage you deal/heal, which often causes them to misscalculate their trades and forces their early recalls. Soraka accesses level 6 faster, allowing you to change destiny of your losing lanes.

CONS

- NOT the damage carry
- Forces enemies to buy antiheal
- Wish requires your full attention after 6
- Crucial to land your Starcall
- Long cooldown on Equinox
- Farming has a big learning curve
Farming with Soraka is a bit differen than farming with any other champion. This is due to her having slow attack speed. However, one wave clearing tip is that once you acquire level 3 , you can clear caster minions with only 2 Q's. Optionally, you can pick one Attack Speed rune instead of Adaptive Force (champions like Ahri also do this). Next up, remember that Soraka doesn't deal damage later on (this is also not your job!). You have more freedom in positioning to land your Q's in teamfights as Soraka mid, but that doesn't mean that you should grief a whole fight over it: better safe than sorry. Although Soraka has roam potential, it is best to only "roam" using . If she gets caught by the enemy Kha'Zix, it usually doesn't end well. To have consistent succesful ganks/skirmishes, you need to understand ALL the power that beholds and respect its long cooldown to ensure a succesful roam. Biggest con of Soraka mid is flaming teammates.

SUMMONER SPELLS

-

FLASH: This is just mandatory. forgives you for getting caught, and also in a clutch, helps you finish off champions with a burst play.

SMITE: I personally always take . It helps you stay alive while rejuvenating from your . It is basically raw damage reduction (doesn't get affected by Grievous Wounds), so you get the most out of your healing and negate their for the most part.

TELEPORT: Only take against really difficult matchups, such as , , , , ... .

Ability Usage in the Midlane

Artwork by Nicolas Aucher-fargue

PASSIVE
ABILITY

SALVATION (Passive): Salvation is really good for skirmishes in the early game. It ensures you'll be able to help your jungler in those scuttle crab fights, while the enemy midlaner still needs to catch up. You can use it without actively trying to heal teammates. Let's say you're getting ganked and your low health jungler is right behind you doing . You can use that movement speed to escape the gank without even needing to waste . also helps her roam potential: if you see your toplaner getting low on health, you can get there at like double speed (especially if you already rushed . That 70% movement speed boost will catch them off guard and won't give them enough time to ping enemies missing.

STAR CALL(Q): This is such a strong ability for midlane . As a support , you need to be willing to take damage from their support/adc if you're trying to go in for a trade. You can safely trade without causing too much of a ruckus in the midlane, unlike support , that will disturb the wave of her adc, as well as taking unnecesary damage or putting you & the ADC vulnerable because of her missing her . Put at least 3 points in this, so you are able to 2-shot all 3 caster minions with this ability (helps push waves significantly).

ASTRAL INFUSION (W): The only real downside is that only has 2 abilities in the early game, because this can only be used on allies. That is completely fine though, because the power that holds, compensates that. Put 1 point into this ability at level 3 though: skirmishes happen unexpectedly, and you need this ability more than you need a level 2 in those fights. In short, you NEED to let your jungler tank more damage so they can deal more damage as well (especially if they have Conqueror: they can turn those early game fights quickly since Conqueror will provide a lot of damage and a small healing bonus). Max this after you already have gotten 3 points into , so you can 2-shot caster minions]] (I will keep repeating this). Both abilities hold a lot of power, but if you're confident about hitting the majority of your 's, you should max instead, since also provides extra health to if landed.

EQUINOX (E): Equinox... When I was new to League of Legends, I thought this ability was garbage. Small amount of damage, a silence for maybe half a second, long cooldown, ...
Now reflecting, this ability is the STRONGEST ability in the entire game. If you see certain champions that are trying to cast their core abilities (like a jumping in to follow up with a , you can preemptively silence the place where she's trying to jump to completely catch her off guard and shutting her down. is also, if not, the BEST follow up ability on a stunned unit, as it silences them once they're free to prevent a or dash, and afterwards rooting for an additional second (even more, depending on points into . In lane, don't poke too much with this since this ability has a long cooldown and barely deals damage unless they get proc'd twice. Only poke with this when your opponent is a so you can proc his passive, or if your enemy has the rune .

WISH (R): Soraka mid means you get solo XP. The more XP you accumulate, the sooner you get to Level 6. The moment you have leveled , your map awareness will become key to victory. Look at top- and botlane to look for opportunities to use . Usually, fights end up clutch in the early game, since there isn't a lot of item advantage going on. It's all about who counters who, and calculating that ones damage will kill the opponent faster than they will. Your ultimate ensures that your allies will win those clutch fights, as it gives even extra healing to low health allies (provides 150% healing). Your job this entire game is to peel for your carries, so focus on them winning their lanes. EASY way to stack and .

Because Soraka has such high survivability in lane and has the ability to gain stacks globally because of , is a guaranteed good pick. You will always start stacking once you hit Level 6. Do not take this as a starter item though: you need damage bonus to minions in order to have a good cs score. Farming with Soraka is already hard enough.

After you bought , you should rush . The main reason to buy these specific boots is NOT ONLY does Soraka have one of the lowest movement speeds in the game (325), but because of her getting acces to and more frequently. This increases your survivability by a lot, which is good for if you have bought . It increases your and spam in fights, which is all needs to do. Also solid because of her being able to dodge abilities in lane more consistently gainst e.g or ...

This is Soraka's bread and butter. Always buy this item AFTER you have bought your . Once 's passive is stacked, your healing becomes MASSIVE. Keep an eye out for when it's stacked, so that & will heal your team even more drastically. The only exception why you should take instead, would be if your team is lacking engage, or needs the ability to dodge crucial abilities (like ).

After buying , and , you'll probably start playing more for skirmishes and supporting your team. Since can't farm waves quickly, it might be beneficial to buy or . It gives you gold for supporting your team (which is your goal) and grants your team extra warding & control, which is usually the difference between winning & losing. You don't always take this though; usually you can just buy instead and farm up if the current state of the game allows that. If you do buy either or , you can still farm up minions (even without Relic shiled charges) to get a stronger gold lead. xp. TIP: put 3 lvls into to ensure you can 2-shot caster minions.

Redemption grants Soraka HP, extra Heal & Shield Power and additional Ability Haste to spam & more with. Those stats are all the things stands for. The biggest catch is 's active. It calls down a beam of light that heals all allies DEPENDING on her level (another reason why being Soraka Mid is better than support). On other supports, it requires way more skill & RNG whether or not your allies will last long enough to benefit from the healing. With Soraka though, she can pretty much ensure her allies get healed off of it, as she can prolong the life of her allies through and (even helps prevent massive damage. After this item, you are free to build whatever you'd like (check the You can choose from: at the top of this guide).

General Tips & Tricks

IMPORTANT CHAMP SELECT: Soraka mid doesn't deal damage, so don't pick her with the intent of "carrying the game through damage". When deciding to take Soraka midlane, make sure your team has at least ONE tank and TWO potential carries. At last, ask your support if they could play a damage based support in champ select (e.g Xerath, Brand, Senna, Zyra, etc...) or a tank if there aren't any.

Also, prevent to pick Soraka mid if you have a Vladimir, Kayn or any other heal maniacs in your team. Antiheal would otherwise have too much value for the enemy team.
IMPORTANT BUILD PATTERN: Don't play Soraka Ability Power focused, since her Abilty Power scalings on her abilities aren't really interesting (you can buy Zhonya's Hourglass as a situational item though). After you have bought the 3 core items, you can choose to buy whatever you like (preferably support focused items like Staff of Flowing Water / Ardent Censer).
IMPORTANT SETTING ON SORAKA: For better Map Awareness to get the most out of Wish, press |Escape --> Hotkeys --> Camera Control|. Here you can link each of your allies to see them. I highly recommend using following hotkeys to pare your allies with: |Shift1, Shift2, Shift3 and Shift 4| Shift is close to your left hand, where you control your champions with.
IMPORTANT USAGE OF ABILITY EQUINOX: Use Equinox on an immobilized enemy champion. This way you ensure they take 2 instances of damage, can't dash/ Flash away, and become rooted for an additional 1-2 seconds. This gives you and your ally enough time to finish them off.
IMPORTANT VISION TIP: when you ward your middle lane's top/bot bush, walk only at that side of the lane. Let's say you warded the top bush: if the enemy jungler wants to gank you from Topside, you see him before they can gang up on you. If the jungler comes from the Botside instead (while you only had vision of your Topside), then DON'T run straight to your turret. Instead, get in your own jungle and kite them with Starcall until you arrive to your own turret.
IMPORTANT WAVE MANAGEMENT: Don't use Starcall to poke the enemy midlaner while inside their minion wave. If you do, you will ruin the entire wave and it will start pushing to the enemy's side. You can easily get ganked that way. Always try to have the wave in the middle, preferably at your side (unless you know you have good vision of where the enemy jungler is.
IMPORTANT MIA RULE: Laning against Soraka is boring. Most of your matches, the enemy midlaner will seek to roam instead, because they barely have kill potential if you know what you're doing. You NEED to ping your teammates the moment you don't have vision of your midlaner.
IMPORTANT TILT-PROOF RULE: There are a lot of narrow-minded people in League of Legends. Sometimes, one of your team members will get mad at you for locking Soraka mid. Just let those poor souls be bothered really... If they "reported" you for taking Soraka mid and you weren't toxic (don't engage on their toxicity), the system will detect you didn't do anything wrong and automatically disprove their report.

Report them instead, because the amount of feedbacks I got for a verified report penalty, really does make my day(◕‿◕✿).

Also, don't forget to have fun :). Soraka mid brought me so much joy that I even started learning BBCoding to make this guide for you. Special credit to jhoijhoi for making video's and guides on how to BBCode.

You can always add me! I play in Euw West with username Lucid Walking. :)