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Recommended Items
Runes:
Sorcery
Domination
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Salvation (PASSIVE)
Soraka Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Aatrox
I don't have much experience in this matchup, but he just heals through your poke and can all in you relatively safely once he hits level 3.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Introduction
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.















As for the secondary path, Resolve is a good choice, considering that



The domination tree is also quite good, as it offers



In the Inspiration tree, we have a few options:




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.



On your first back, you'll want to get


Situationally, such as against burst champions,


After Grail, I generally go for


After that, your build options become much more situational:









Swap


As for boots,



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.


You'll want to level up

Max

As always, level up










I never take


✔️ 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
✔️

✔️ 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

❌ 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.
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.
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