First, we'll start with the first question you'll hear in champ select: "Soraka top? Why are you trolling?"

The answer to that question is that there's a good chance that multiple people on the enemy team would also ask that question. Soraka's been a healer for most of her existence in league, and as such she's very prone to being underestimated. She can hold her own against many meta top laners, and she even easily beats a few.

That's not why you're playing Soraka, though. You play Soraka top lane to keep the enemy top laner from being relevant in the game. As a ranged champion, you can easily poke the enemy laner and deny CS.

Summon Aery: Aery is your little friend. She's like the spiritual successor to Deathfire Touch with a little bit of Windspeaker's Blessing thrown in. Aery is usually available whenever you Q, with the benefit of also being able to proc on autos. The shield isn't too strong, but it's useful once you start teamfighting, and especially once you get a few ranks in W.

Arcane Comet is also a viable option, as Starcall's slow will generally allow the comet to hit as well, increasing your poke damage. I still think Summon Aery is generally better, in that it provides more constant damage and can't miss.

The Ultimate Hat: Come on, why choose anything else? Wish is tilting as is, and having an even lower cooldown makes it even worse.

Celerity and Transcendence are both very viable options, but I tend to favor Celerity. Salvation's bonus movement speed can mean a massive burst of bonus AP if manipulated well. Transcendence is alright if you plan to overcap on CDR.

Scorch seems to be the most useful in the 4th row when it comes to Sorcery. The extra burn damage is fairly strong on bullies, and Soraka doesn't roam enough to make Waterwalking useful. Gathering Storm may also be useful, considering Soraka's good scaling.

As for the secondary path, Resolve is a good choice, considering that Revitalize is basically the new version of Windspeaker's Blessing . Demolish also seems good, since you'll tend to be either pushing in or forcing the enemy laner to recall a lot of the time.

The domination tree is also quite good, as it offers Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro for additional vision, and Ingenious Hunter which provides a considerable amount of CDR for active-dependent builds.

In the Inspiration tree, we have a few options: Perfect Timing is alright if you plan to be using a Stopwatch item, and it can come in handy in questionable situations. Future's Market can be useful if you want to speed up your early item power spikes, and Approach Velocity is useful for chasing to get the last few hits for an early kill.

Starting item choice on Soraka is heavily dependent on your matchup and your experience in said matchup. Doran's Ring is my go-to starting item. In some of my tougher matchups where Soraka tends to lose long fights, Doran's Shield or Corrupting Potion may be more useful.

On your first back, you'll want to get Chalice of Harmony, as you'll more often than not be rushing Athene's Unholy Grail. Most of the time, getting an item to help with your matchup isn't worth delaying Grail. The reason you're rushing Grail is that its Blood Charge passive makes it the single best early game healing buff.

Situationally, such as against burst champions, Rod of Ages is a considerable option for survivability, plus it gives a considerable amount of AP for your abilities. RoA can also be useful if you end up against a tank, since you won't be able to kill them most of the time, and you'll just want to focus on your mid to late game healing. It also allows for the activation of Warmog's Armor much earlier in the game.

After Grail, I generally go for Redemption or Locket of the Iron Solari. I tend to favor Redemption due to the heal/shield power.

After that, your build options become much more situational:

Ardent Censer is still a good item if your ADC is particularly fed
Banshee's Veil/ Zhonya's Hourglass is good if you need to avoid being picked off. Banshee's is good against CC and burst; Zhonya's is better against divers
Spirit Visage for when you need MR, and Banshee's Veil's passive isn't particularly useful
Warmog's Armor is a great late game item for when you just need to be a healbot
Stopwatch items other than Zhonya's are occasionally useful against divers. Guardian Angel against assassins; Gargoyle Stoneplate if you're just desperate to stay alive

Swap Athene's Unholy Grail for Mikael's Blessing late game. Athene's becomes much less useful as Soraka loses her ability to poke safely.

As for boots, Sorcerer's Shoes are good if you're ahead. Otherwise, I generally prefer Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads, depending on the enemy team.

Take and max Starcall first every game. It's most of your damage output. The slow is also considerable when combined with the move speed buff, and the self heal is your only sustain. Starcall's rank also determines the strength of the Rejuvenation buff when you use W.

You'll want to level up Equinox second, and generally max it last. Equinox does a considerable amount of damage at good range with a nearly instantaneous cast.

Max Astral Infusion second, but don't level it up until you actually need to heal someone. In lane, this skill is 100% useless.

As always, level up Wish whenever possible.

Flash. There's not much to say here. Flash is Flash, after all. However, Flash is usually my first consideration for replacement if I need another summoner spell.

Ignite will generally be your second summoner spell. Soraka is a strong lane bully, and Ignite can help to secure an early first blood.

Exhaust I normally take against some of the more questionable matchups, notably Tryndamere, Garen, Riven, Fiora, etc. If you know you can't 1v1, Exhaust is a good choice.

Cleanse is a niche spell against champions whose CC will most likely mean your death ( Nasus, for example.)

I never take Teleport. It's never useful for getting back to lane, your gank potential is very limited, and Ignite is more useful most of the time.

✔️ Pros ✔️

✔️ Starcall's consistent damage, healing, and CC on a 5 second base CD are very strong in a solo lane, and if your opponent is melee, it's downright oppressive early on

✔️ Soraka's build is very inexpensive, so she can purchase her core items relatively fast

✔️ Soraka is very good at preventing carry laners and juggernauts from being relevant in the mid game

✔️ Level 2 is a very strong power spike for Soraka, and it can easily get you an early kill if you can snare your lane opponent

✔️ Due to constant poking from Q, you have a very good chance of winning a 1v2 if the enemy jungler ganks early on

✔️ Many people, even good players, have a tendency to underestimate Soraka's base damage, and it adds up fast if you consistently hit with Starcall

❌ CONS ❌

❌ Soraka is very vulnerable to hard CC due to her lack of mobility and low base health

❌ Soraka isn't a tank, and if you don't have a tank elsewhere, your team may suffer

❌ Soraka's strengths are nullified against hard tanks; they'll still be tanky mid and late game

❌ Soraka is very weak against most strong early game junglers unless you have an advantage

❌ Soraka can't deal with high mobility champs very well due to her skill shot reliance

❌ At the end of the day, Soraka is a support and needs to group with her team to be useful, leaving your team lacking a split pusher

I'm not the best player, nor have I ever written a guide before. Feedback is welcome, especially when it comes to preseason changes.

Overall, this guide isn't made for competitive players. It's meant to share one of my more favorite ways to break up the monotony of playing top lane all the time.