Hey everyone, I'm notquitesherlock, known as The Detective on the NA Servers. This is my first guide but I've been playing League since back in Beta.

The new Soraka rework is one of my favorite recent reworks, and I think that it makes her into a unique and dynamic support. She no longer feels like a "battery", just supplying your team with health and mana. She brings zone control, very powerful spot healing, and most importantly, FUN ways to outplay your opponents.

For Runes, there are two Rune pages I've had success with. One focuses on shoring up Soraka's defensive stats, while providing some health regen and AP. This one uses

The other rune page, and my personal favorite once you learn the ins and outs of the champion, focuses entirely on Movement Speed and regen, both health and mana. The Ambulance build enhances your ability to run in, heal correct targets, and book it out of the front lines.

My Mastery setup for Soraka is similar to that of other Mage supports, such as Morgana. I prefer 9-0-21 masteries, making sure to get all of the masteries for Movement speed and regen. Soraka is one of the few champions who has a dual cost to her main spell; her heal costs her 10% of her Max Health AND mana, so you need regen. Movement Speed is also extremely important, due to the low range on her heal and her need to refill her health with successive Q's.

When purchasing items for Soraka, there are two things to keep in mind: your costs and your role. Soraka is (as far as I know) unique in that she has two costs for one of her main abilities, 10% of her max health AND mana costs. To that end, I value regen items very highly.
Your role is to protect the carry and provide zone control, in that order. Utility items are very good, which is why Talisman of Ascension is perfect for you. You don't need aggressive AP items, but if you want to provide more catching potential for your team, then Rylai's and Twin Shadows are very powerful when combined with your slows/root. Aegis provides more group benefits to the people you are rushing to heal, and Banshee's/Frozen Heart give you some much needed defensive stats to be able to survive your ambulance runs.

Alternatively you can go into a much more aggressive start. If this is the case, start with Q for that harass early in lane and get a Frostfang into Frost Queen's Claim. This build will be squishy, but your slows will be unforgiving. Stack AP items such as Rylai's, Morellonomicon, and Twin Shadows for great chase and catch potential.

Despite all your new toys, you are still a healer at heart. Max W in lane in order to maximize your ability to win trades. In addition, the level of your W affects how much health your Starfall heals you for, not your Q. Maz Q next for harass followed by E. As with all Ultimates, grab it every chance you can.

Now that your heal is both short range and costly in terms of health, you have to play Soraka very differently in lane. Your heals are now best used in clutch situations rather than keeping people at full. In lane, use your range attacks and Q to get some harass on the enemies. Your full cycle is use health to heal, get health back from Q, rinse, repeat. You want to lower their health to encourage good trades in the lane. When the trading begins, stay behind your carry and heal your carry up.
Your E is your new fancy tool and it is fantastic for both disengage and engage. It instantly silences, so use it on carries such as Graves, Ezreal, and Lucian who are dependent upon spells. You can also use it to catch people, especially if you snag someone with a slow.

Pros:

Very powerful spot healing
Zone control with her E
A mapwide ultimate

Cons:

SQUISHY, especially in lane
Susceptible to CC
Cannot carry a team

Where Soraka excels (and becomes much more fun than her previous version) is in team fights. Once again, it is important to remember your roles: You provide spot healing to your carry (or carries if you have multiple), and zone control for your team. Use your speed items (and boost from your passive) to run to injured targets, heal them up, then land some Q's to bring your health back up.

Your E and R are extremely important in team fights, so they deserve a little write up on their own.

First, Soraka's E, Equinox, is a potent tool in your support arsenal. Use it to follow up other CC on your team with a powerful root, silence threats/people running away, or completely stop channels. Here are some scenarios:

Root and silence an already rooted Xerath
Stop a Yi's meditate and watch him panic
Place next to an Anivia/Karthus/Yasuo wall and completely separate the enemy

Soraka's ultimate, Wish, remains relatively unchanged, with two exceptions: It now removes Grievous Wounds beforehand and heals more if people are below 40% health (they will have the Medic icon on their head if so). Depending on your team comp, you'll want to use this to maximum efficiency rather than saving one person. Ideally, you want to heal everyone with it, but don't wait so long that some of your targets are dead. I've found that activating it immediately after the first burst of a team fight is best; this spot heals some people who need it and saves whoever the first target was.

Alternatively, if you're in a team comp which has one major carry, such as Kogmaw, Trist, or Vayne, save it in a teamfight for when they are threatened. It provides an additional burst of healing that, when combined with any other peel your team has, can 100% turn the tide in a fight.

I hope you all have as much fun playing the new Soraka as I have been. I will be updating this guide periodically based on feedback from users; in addition, if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear them. Thanks for reading my guide, and I'll see you on the Rift!