These runes will ensure you almost NEVER run out of Mana. It's almost 6.0/s at start. So, yeah... :) The scaling AP will help you with poking. Around level 8 is when you beat out straight AP (10.6) compared to scaling which is (28.0 level 18)

Every time I play with a Soraka I see them bring Ancient coin. It's understandable if you're not aggressive. However, sometimes I'll see a Soraka poke more than the Minions die (like me) so this item will give you 15 Gold every time you land a Q. With a 15-30 second cooldown on the item this will get you a tiny bit more gold in the long run if played correctly.

-- A brief intro --
Throughout laning phase you must be careful. Since this build is not nearly as tanky as the typical build you need to take advantage of the life steal Riot has given you. It's not common, but this build is ment for the more pokey Soraka. The one to run up to their ADC head on and fight them in a 1v1. Yes, this is a thing and it works very well especially when your ADC helps. Now, I'm not saying to run into lane and fight the ADC. They have a support too trying to protect them and a jungler that might be nearby, so keep that in mind. But pretty much you just want to poke a ton. If you're rushing the Mana regen page in this Build and masteries you should be set on Mana regen. If you really want to taunt the enemies use a Q and then wait a few seconds after it comes off cooldown to use it again. It will look like you spent 0 mana on it.

-- Dealing with CC --
CC is pretty hard to manage with Soraka however, it's not impossible. With champions like Leona, Thresh, and Alistar where they throw themselves into the fight. If you can just silence on top of them once they arrive or even do it earlier for the ultimate BM, you can easily shut them down without worry. Just be careful of the ADC.

If you manage to get CC'd though and mess up the silence. Probably the best escape is to Q the ADC or whomever is squishy and use the movement speed to get away. If necessary, flash.

-- 2v2 Fights botlane --
I find the best way to win fights is to Silence the support and focus the ADC. So, if lux and vayne are botlane and they fight Soraka(you) and Varus. Throw your silence on Lux enough to stun her if she tries to get closer (make her back up) and Q focus the Vayne. If Varus knows what he is doing he will focus Vayne with you. You WILL take damage most likely. An Important thing to remember is you're the support. Just because you're squishy doesn't mean you cannot engage fights. Usually when I fight I front line for my ADC and if I get low I get behind him and he is still full HP fighting. But hey, it's very situational. You do what you feel is the best possible course of action. :)

-- Team fights --
For teamfights you always want to make sure the Midlaner or whoever is fed with a majority of them being Ability based to stay silenced and CC'd for the longest time possible. If your team focuses the CC'd champion good good, if not. It's your job to make sure they can't hurt your team. Make sure you save your ULT only for desperate times, it's CD is long so gotta use it wisely. Just do typical Soraka things except don't hide in the back... I get it, you'll probably die. But that's the risk you take for playing her this way. Get in the fight and protect your team. If you're in the back you cannot heal the people front lining. "But they're tanks! They're fine" you say... That's true, but if they get low you're responsible. It's brutal but hey...

-- Split Pushing --
WHAAAT, SPLIT PUSHING?! Calm down there, notice how this build shows Soraka having a ZZ'rot. Wanna know why? Well, it's because split pushing is wonderful and sometimes your team just doesn't know how. So, go top or whatever lane needs pushing and place the portal and just leave it. Go help the team and watch as the ZZ just pushes the lane. It's quite beautiful.

Okay, briefly I want to explain something VERY important. This Soraka build has not been used in Gold Divisions and up. I've seen pros use this build before but I made this in Bronze 4. It got me to Silver 2. My point is don't go into a Platinum game expecting to whoop butt easy. Because I have no clue how hard it will be or how things will change. Who knows, maybe building the traditional Soraka build is good for High Elo and bad for Low Elo. Just keep that in mind. :)