Hey guys, so this is the most voted jungle guide I was requested to make. A little bit about me, I'm an admin of the Facebook group League of Legends NA. I've been playing this game since season 2-ish. I've been a jungle main for around 2 years and so I've learned a lot over the years and I thought I would share some of that experience and knowledge here. Now, I know people out there will think I'm trolling around going "wtf Soraka jg?", and you're probably right. This isn't a serious guide to climbing solo queue, and within reason. It's just for a little bit of fun with friends. Old Soraka used to be a pretty good utility jungler, but now I think she's fallen off a little so I'm reintroducing it. But, I think it's fun to break the meta every once and a while and to step back and look at the beautiful things in life. So, without further ado, here's the jungle guide to Soraka! ^.^

Let's get down to business!

PROS:

-A secondary support for your team

-Even if you fall behind, your heals are still valuable to your team.

-It's fun

-If you pull it off, you have something to brag about

-Does really good damage alone.

-Good at counter ganking and keeping allies alive especially from across the map where she can just press R.

-Not many think you are going to do this.

CONS:

-Requires a certain team comp in order to be successful

-You may get raged at for picking Soraka jungle

-Not for serious play (don't play this in ranked)

-Clears are slow and require you to kite very precisely

-If you get a bad leash it can be really bad for you

-Easily countered

-Meh ganks

-Hard engage destroys her

-Will lose duels 1v1 to most junglers out there

-Not easy to play well.

On runes for Soraka jungle you can use a variety of runes but I prefer to go with the standard AP Quints, armor yellows, AP blues, and Hybrid Pen reds. You can go with CDR and MR blues as well.

Masteries on Soraka, I prefer to get the 9 in Offense and 21 in Defense because realistically, Soraka doesn't have an easy clear early and you'll need all the sustainability you can get because she can really take a beating without any abilities to self-heal other than Q. If you prefer 0 in Offense and 9 in Utility, that is also fine.

Smite: You will obviously need this.

Flash: You have no escapes as Soraka and if you are caught, you are dead.

Heal: This is an option to get in place of flash if you think you will need it in the game but I would not sacrifice your only means of escaping. Your clears are already pretty slow and if you don't kite properly you will get very low or get executed. Getting heal may prevent some of that.

Starcall(Q): You want to get this skill first because you will be using this ability in between your autos while clearing. It should give pretty decent sustain. But, you still need to be able to kite the camps well. Remember to kill the little monsters first and then the big ones. You will be maxing this ability first because it is your main damage source.

Astral Infusion (W): Your purpose is to heal and assist your allies. It cannot be self-cast so getting this at level 2 or 3 is pretty useless. Skip this ability, and then get it at level 4 and start maxing it second after Q.

Equinox (E): It is hard as hell to root your enemies in it, but you should really just be using this as a zoning tool. I feel like this is the worst part about Soraka's kit. It is useless on jungle monsters but you do need to get a second ability at level 2 so go with this one since it's better than nothing.

Wish (R): The bread and butter of this champ. You use this skill to get some sweet assists from your laners even though you're helping them survive a little. It is the best you can offer; a global heal.

For item builds, you do not want to build full AP Soraka because teams out there are savage and will prey on you. I recommend building one or 2 damage items, and then building full tank after that. Or you can just simply build full utility tank because at the end of the day, you're not there to deal damage.

Ranger's Trailblazer: On junglers that struggle in the early game and off meta junglers especially you will definitely need this item if you want to have any hope of surviving. You do not want any of the other jungle items on Soraka because she doesn't 1v1 people, plain and simple, and she doesn't want to be in a position to get engaged on if she's close enough to smite them. You want to play her very defensively and shoot out skillshots in the back with your carries while simultaneously keeping them sustained. You can't do that if you don't sustain yourself too. You know what they say, put the mask on yourself first before your children.

Runeglaive: I think building AP is excellent on Soraka. She can deal a good amount of damage on her own. She can kite pretty well because she can stay very safe too while doing it.

Cinderhulk: Not a bad build considering half your build is going to be tanky anyway, so more health doesn't hurt. Especially into a team comp that can burst and hard engage. You definitely do not want to be glass cannon.

Mobility Boots: You are going to be running a whole lot. Either to lanes to help counter gank and keep your allies alive, or running away from the enemy jungler that is trying to kill you. This is the best item for you early game.

Mercury Treads: I don't think Soraka really needs this item because she won't be in a position to get cc'ed and she's rarely a target in team fights, but this isn't a bad choice to get if you feel like you're not going to be safe.

Ninja Tabi: Same with Mercury Treads, but keep in mind even if teams are full AD, they're not all fully AD. There is some cc that they bring. It's just not optimal to build in most situations.

Sorcerer's Shoes: More damage? Why not? If you and your team are ahead, you can afford to get more damage for yourself.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Best kiting item in the game right now. If you don't build it, you can't fight well. This way, you can provide slows for your team when dishing out your Qs. It's more reliable than your E (anything is more reliable than Soraka's E) which is so easy to get out of.

Mejai's Soulstealer: Is someone about to get a kill in another lane? Just press R and watch the stacks roll in. Would not recommend rushing this item, but it is very niche if you and your team are snowballing.

Rabadon's Deathcap: Just more AP, what else would you need?

Luden's Echo: It helps dealing burst damage to units and clears become a whole lot better. It's not best to rush this item unless you are ahead.

Zhonya's Hourglass: You probably are not going to get this item because if you are ever in a situation where you're getting picked off or you're dying easily, this really shouldn't be an item you should rush. It's more of a bait tactic to use rather than a defensive item. Just, say, if the enemy were trying to go for you, just Zhonya's and then ult, and turn the fight against them. Boom. You just baited them.

Defensive Items: As stated above, you will need to integrate defensive items into your build. The more utility you have, the more useful you will be to your team other than just damage. Locket, Frozen Heart, Banshee's, etc are great items. As for Randuin's, I don't believe that you will ever be close enough to a fight where you need to use the active for a slow, unless you are chasing a target down. But, Righteous Glory is a great tool for initiating when you don't need to be in the front line to engage. You are mostly using this item to rush in or run away with your team.

Make sure to get a really solid leash from your bot lane because you will need it. If they give you poor leash, this could set you behind, and you could be on the verge of being executed. Have your support tank the Krugs (on blue side) and vice versa on Gromp (red side). If they feel comfortable with helping you clear your first buff and do a bit of double jungling for a little bit it never hurts to help. Some may help, others may just leave you to your own devices. I would strongly recommend not playing Soraka jungle on your own. Play with friends. This shouldn't be the time to grief someone for a choice they made for going off meta, and if they don't help you, they're not really your friends, are they?

You are not an aggressive jungler. All you're really doing is just keeping your allies alive and kicking. You don't really deal a lot of damage and you don't exactly provide that much threat to the enemy. They might think "wtf soraka jg? I can take this" This may lower their sense of security because you are not there to deal damage to him. You're simply there to lend your assistance and buff and heal your laners. Counter ganking is pretty easy to do though. You don't even need to be in the lane at the exact moment the enemy decides to gank. You can just throw your ult down and that should give your laners the opportunity to run back to safety, if they haven't over extended or blown flash. At least it was worth a shot. When your laners are about to secure a kill 1v1 or 2v2, you should just ult and that would be your assist and "gank" for the day.

For the rest of the game, just play it out how you would as a support. Heal your laners, grab objectives whenever possible. You don't have good siege or hard engage, you are just sustain and damage because you are simply a very defensive champion. You don't even have substantial cc to be able to help in engaging. Disengaging is very hard to do, but that just means you have to find the right fights. Soraka does very well with both hard engage comps (cause she can keep them all sustained and they will be doing most of the work) and poke comps (she just needs to keep them all alive while her team just keeps on poking down the enemy).

WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS IN RANKED!

So, in essence this is just a funny way to look at the jungle if you're interested in doing something way off the meta. I want to point out that if you're new to Soraka as a champion, it's going to take a lot of practice and patience to get used to her. She is not a very easy champion to play and master so if you're an experienced Soraka player, this should be straightforward. I don't advise you to play this in ranked. It is much better to play with friends. She has slow clears and if you mess up you can really fall behind. It's not so bad that if Soraka as a champion falls then her team falls too, but she can still be useful to her team with her heals even if she doesn't do well herself.