Hello everyone! This is my first build/guide so be nice ^^. Anyways with that out of the way i just want to say that I am NOT a top level player, nor is my elo that high (1400 ATM) so take this build with a grain of salt. I've been looking around for good Soraka builds and guides and to be quite honest I have not found anything i like. So i have been testing around with bits and parts of builds i do like and compiled them together to create this. It is not full on AP, nor is it full on support, it is a combination of both and is living at a happy median that has been working wonders for me. So anyways that's enough about me and this build i should probably great to the more important stuff.

Soraka, the Starchild of Ionia, was the first of her kind. While there are many who tap into the rich magical energies of Valoran, she was the first to tap into the magic of the cosmos itself - the celestial sea in which it is theorized that Runeterra swims among other like bodies. While Runeterran magicians are limited by the finite (though tremendous) powers of runes, there have always been those who have searched to go further. Reaching beyond the terrestrial firmament of Runeterra, Soraka was capable of invoking the power of the stars, evolving beyond her kin. This power has changed her in fantastical ways - it is for this reason that she became known as the Starchild.

Though Soraka was once trans-human, Soraka has fallen since she let the most primal of emotions rule her. Warwick, a mercenary chemist in the service of Noxus, had caused untold suffering and death among Soraka's people. An alchemical genius who took no responsibility for the atrocities he'd caused, Warwick became known as ''the Deathmaker'' by the Ionian people. As Noxian murder and terror pushed ever-forward across her land, unstoppable anger and hatred welled within Soraka. She called down the power of the heavens to curse and forever change the Deathmaker, and she mutated the man into a werewolf - a wild, murderous beast. For this misstep, Soraka lost much of her power, sacrificing her trans-human ascension and sliding several steps down the evolutionary ladder in an instant. Though she is still a champion of the Ionian people, Soraka has joined the League of Legends in hopes of reversing her curse and redeeming herself in the eyes of the stars.

Though having fallen from grace, Soraka is nonetheless determined to once again be one with the stars.

Pros:

Good heals
some great auras
solid early, mid, and late game
tons of gold per 5
overall solid

Cons:

very squishy
Mid game might be a grind
9/10 you will be the focus

These are the two best summoner spells you can have as Soraka IMO:
- A must have for a support character. This allows you to track the enemy jungler, watch out for ganks, and really what ever else you need it to do. With the mastery it is on a very short CD and gives a huge area of vision for quite awhile. Overall an amazing spell to have you MUST have it.
- Again this is a must have for really almost every champion in the game IMO. Flash is fantastic escape option and allow your squishy *** to GTFO of battles, tough spots etc. This spell has saved me so many times I've lost count months ago.


Other spell i have seen other guides recommend:
- Fortify can be a good skill. It shuts down BD characters (sivir, yi) and can save many turrets. Even if your fighting by your tower and you use fortify it can greatly up teams DPS because the turret gets increased damage AND attack speed so i guess that can help. Overall a good skill and if you want you can throw this one in just the main problem is what are you going to replace? CV is beastly and flash is almost your only escape option. So if you can live without one of the two take this skill it is really nice i just think its a close third to the top 2.
- Heal is stupid, don't get it. Honestly there is no point you already have two heals what good is a third one? Not to mention it really doesn't heal for THAT much and has a very long CD. Overall i think this would be a useless pick.
- Ignite is Ignite, what else do i need to say? Good spell on every hero in this game and just a solid pick but really... Is it that necessary? No, it is not. If you want to pick Ignite be my guest but there are far better options.
- Wtf? Rally? I've only ever used this skill once and it was when i went a full on troll team with terrible champions and we all had revive, rally. Honestly i think this is completely useless skill, i can say some nice things about it but its all just cover ups to how bad this skill really is. I REALLY do not recommend this skill but i have seen guides use it so w/e.
- Oh exhaust, how i love thee. I've been using ranged AD carries since i was lvl 1 so i love this spell but on support characters... Not so much. I loved this spell because my enemies couldn't run from me etc. but why would that matter I'm soraka. It can help in ganks i suppose but at the end of the day, again there are better skills to have AND exhaust is better equiped on other champions.


ANYWHO that's my rant on what and what not to get i hope it helps and that we can all agree ^^'

I don't have much to say about the rune choice i have. I can expand on why i didn't pick some runes and why i selected CDR runes over the other runes later but for now i'll just talk about the CDR runes and why i like them. The way i look at this i like to break the scenario down into bits and pieces and look at all the pros and cons.

Will health be and issue? Well... No because you are Soraka, as squishy as you may be, you are Soraka and if played SMARTLY you SHOULD not die early game. Will i run out of Mana? No... Again, you are Soraka, running out of mana should very rarely happen if ever. Even though i am Soraka, will I have the armour/MR to handle a tough lane? Again, you are Soraka, you can just heal up yourself and your teammate and if you must you can camp by your turret and unless they dive you (which i would be shocked if they did) then you should not die.

At the end of the day your role is to provide amazing sustainabiltiy for yourself (Duh) and for your teammate! You should NOT be dying unless you or your teammate screws up in some way to lead to a death. If your AD carry just plays passivly and last hits to get amazing CS, then you and your partner should not be dying. I choose CDR runes for the simple fact taht like i said plenty of times, you wont be dying so there is no need for other runes. With CDR runes your heals will come out faster which leads to further sustainability for you and for your partner and faster infuse which means your partner can spam his/her skills. This works well with CV because with CV you can watch fro ganks! See how all of this kind of works together?

For my masteries I like to 9/0/21. Some people might find it strage that i would put 9 into offence when I've been saying this whole time that you will not be doing the damage (because your a support character). BUT, Archmage's savvy increases your AP by 0.6 every time you level up (every bit counts!). Sorcery is CDR (which as I was talking about earlier, is awesome on Soraka). Archaic Knowledge penetrates 15% of your opponents MR (which works well with your Q). So if you really think about it, offence helps Soraka more than you would imagine, she is not a herp derp heal character as a lot of people would think she is. Besides, early game while your sitting in the brush, you will poking at the enemy champions early on in the game and a bit of offence never hurts ;D.

As for 21 into Utility... Its mainly for Presence of the Master which reduces the recharge time of your summoner skills by 15%. That goes very well with CV so that you can scan the area much more frequently and with a point into the CV mastery it makes CV a very useful spell. Other than that TBH its for greed i suppose (extra gold never hurts) and for intelligence which is again... CDR. Anyone see a recurring theme in this build?

If you took a look at my items you should see that most of them are gold per 5. This is because Soraka will NOT be getting farm. Please for the love of god do not steal farm from your AD carry, they are laning with you so that they get all the farm and so that they can stay in the lane for a longer period of time because of your heals. A fed AD carry > A fed Soraka, just saying. Now with that out of the way yes Soraka needs gold per 5 items. I have masteries and i have runes dedicated to gold per 5 and i have it that way for a reason. The Soul Shroud is mainly for CDR for yourself and for your team which is always nice. It gives a bit of extra mp regen, hp regen, and just straight up hp. It's a nice item to get you out of the mid game and slowly transition into the later portion of the game. When you get your needlessly or your Rabadon's Deathcap 90% of the time the game should end about this time. Very rarely does a game last longer than that for one reason or another. BUT if a game does last longer than that, i would most likely get Aegis of the legion. TBH at this point you want to get aura type items such as the soul shroud (which you already have), and Aegis, an Abyssal Scepter etc. OR get resistant items like a banshees veil and a QSS.

But to sum up what i said about my item choice get gold per 5 items (that unique passive update will not stop me! >:D), they will give you a little bit of everything, AP, health, and mp/hp regen. the kindlestone is for the CDR and extra bit of health which will eventually become a soul shroud. This build gives you nice auras and will also give you a decent amount of AP with the Rabadon's Deathcaps. Overall a solid build through out the entire game and i have found nothing but success with the build.

Also i good opening for Soraka would be Fairie Charm, 2x Health Pots, and 3x Wards. I don't see the need to make a new build order just for this start but its a good way to start off the game if you don't like the dorans ring. The dorans ring is just in my honest opinion the better option but the Fairie Charm can work to if you want.

The skill sequence i gave up there is just a rough sketch as to what it should look like. But as we all know our AD carry friend all play differently and have their own unique play styles. Some like to play aggressive and harass the **** out of the other team, other like to stand back and just farm up CS. Others are stupid and get them selves killed or near death, others don't do **** and are bad at last hitting. There are many different types of AD carries so for that reason you must change up your skill order because of it. Obviously if they are stupid and get hit a lot or if they are just plane getting harassed etc. you might want to max your heal first. But if your teammate is hanging back, not getting hit, just cleanly getting last hits than you might want to max infuse first because they will be spending mana and not losing HP. 9/10 you should find yourself getting infuse first for the simple fact that most AD carries are not stupid and wont take unnecessary damage.

Also a quick note about your Ulti. Please do not use it to just heal up your one laning partner, use it to heal up at least two or three people on your team. Only use it on one person if it will prevent a death. What i'm trying to say is do not just throw around your ulti willy nilly, use it smartly. Also you can use your ulti to catch and assist from a teammate if you like, i wouldn't suggest it just because really it doesn't help out Soraka that much, 1 assist is not game breaker in any way fro Soraka so don't bother... But if you have a chance to pick up 2+ ***its... go for it ;D

(Active): A shower of stars falls from the sky, striking all nearby enemy units for magic damage and reduces their Magic Resistance by 8 for 8 seconds This effect stacks up to 20 times.

Cooldown: 3 seconds
Cost: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 mana
Magic Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+0.25 per ability power)
Range: 630

In all honesty... not a very good spell. I get 1 point into just to farm when your AD carry abandons you in your lane (yes it happens) and you need to fend for yourself. If you are caught in a bad position in a team fight than you will probably find yourself using this in team fights. BUT if if you have good positioning than you will be in the far back behind your teammates so you will be just in range for your heal but out of range for starfall. At the end of the day it's really not that good of a spell it has its uses.
Astral Blessing
(Active): Soraka blesses a friendly unit, restoring health and granting bonus armour for 4 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 seconds
Cost: 90 / 110 / 130 / 150 / 170 mana
Heal: 60 / 120 / 180 / 240 / 300 (+0.9 per ability power)
Bonus Armour: 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80
Range: 650

Ok this skill is freaking amazing! This is what makes Soraka... Soraka. Obviously this is Soraka's heal and is just absolutely amazing. There is not much to say about this skill. But seriously though, you want to spend your heals on specific people. Most people would think... herp derp ill just heal the guy that's low on hp. NO! you heal the people that matter, like your ad/ap carries. If Leona initiates into the fight and loses half her health, don't freakin heal her. She does **** damage and other than her stuns she is useless. Use your heals on people like vayne, ashe, vladimir, malz, etc. because they are squishy and cannot stay alive for that long unless they have godlike positioning. Also they are your teams damage do keeping them alive is essential. Obviously you don't want your tanks/support characters to die, I am only throwing out order of importance. So use some common sense (its not that hard) and after a few games you should know who to heal and when at any point in time.
Infuse
(Active): Restores mana when used on Soraka. If cast on an allied champion, restores half that mana to them and half to Soraka. If cast on an enemy champion, silences them for a few seconds and deals magic damage.

Cooldown: 15 seconds
Mana Restored: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Magic Damage: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+0.6 per ability power)
Silence Duration: 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds
Range: 725

Alright this is yet another reason why Soraka is so good. She has godlike heals and she will never run out of mana because of infuse over here. For early game you will be using infuse on your teammate and on yourself 90% of the time. For mid game it is a toss up, depends on the situation. Late game in big 5v5 team fights, you will be using infuse as an offensive attack. It silences the enemy so using infuse on an AP champion practicly takes them out of the fight for 3 seconds! Imagine taking out a vlad or a mlaz or an annie for 3 whole seconds! It's amazing! Anyways thats my rant i just really can't get over how awesome this skill is xD

Also something neat i just learned today about infuse. If you use it about 1 or 2 seconds before tyrndamyre's endless rage finish's, he actually wont regain his health and you can kill him with an auto-attack. I'm assuming this applies to many other things but unfortunately i do not know them as of right now so i will update as i learn more.
Wish
(Active): Soraka fills her allies with hope, instantly restoring health to all allied champions.

Cost: 250 / 350 / 450 mana
Cooldown: 120 / 110 / 100 seconds
Heal: 200 / 320 / 440 (+1.3 per ability power)

Don't really need to talk much about this skill, its the same as her other heal except its full map and heals for more. I talked about the skill earlier so i don't want to be to redundant but yah very good skill, just another heal.

Okay everyone this is the last section in my guide and it is certainly not the least important. In fact, i would say it may be the most important section about the guide. Wards are an essential component to League of Legends and everyone knows this, they are the determining factor in which people win or lose game a lot of the time. With all that being said, it amazes me how people fail to buy wards on really any character. They are only 75 gold and they will save you and your teammates several times through out the game and can possibly set up ganks. They keep track of Baron and Dragon and watch out for roaming characters such as Alistar and Amumu.

With all that being said it is your job as the support character to buy wards for the team so that top lane does not get ganked and your jungler can keep tabs on the other team. Buy wards through out your build, I didn't put wards into the build because there are no specific times in which to get wards, nor should you have to ask when to get them. Basically you get wards whenever you have the money for them and get them often. When i say often don't go crazy get ten wards at a time. Be reasonable and get 1 or 2 maybe 3 wards every time you go back and place them in appropriate areas such as baron, dragon, their red/blue etc.

This is a picture of where to place wards, its not perfect but it is certainly very well made and will help A LOT if you are having troubles figuring out where to place wards.
Also here is a guide to wards, where to place them and everything. It's a very in depth guide and if you really want to read it look it over.
Everything you need to know about wards

That's about all i need to say about wards off the top of my head, if there is anything i have missed please don't be afraid to let me know I will be updating this when ever i learn of something new.

Alright this is it for my Soraka guide, i hope you all like it or learned a couple things from it as well. Soraka is a very fun character to play and personally my favourite support. Ultimately she isn't the flashiest character in the world and honestly the things you do get over looked for the things a vayne or a vlad would do. You will almost never got positive and TBH your score wont look that good, but at the end of the day the team could not have done it without you and you were a huge reason as to why the team won. You were the one that kept them alive all those fights and it was you that assisted them in those seemingly impossible kills that they got. You wont be getting the kills but at the end of the day getting 30+ assists is so very satisfying and believe me, you guys will love it.

July 16 - Build created!
July 17 - Created a "Wards" section and touched up on advice for starfall, and infuse. Also provided another item path in the "Items" section.