Hey! Thank you for stopping by my guide.

I have enjoyed playing Soraka for a very long time. She is currently the champion I have the most time put into, as well as the champion I feel the most skilled with. Don't believe me? I have a 70% winrate on her over 73 games with a 7.30 KDA. She took me from Gold 5 to Diamond in just under 100 games. You can check out my op.gg for more details. I play Soraka in a very different manner, though. My build tends more toward AP and less toward health. This allows Soraka's healing to be incredibly impactful, with Astral Infusion healing for around 600-700 health at full build every 1.5 seconds. Busted? I sure think so. However, this way of playing Soraka is far more challenging because she ends up being so much more fragile. Great positioning and awareness are key to overcoming your foes.

Below you'll find a comprehensive guide on playing Soraka as a glass cannon healer. This is my third guide on mobaFIRE, and I have put a lot of work into making it as good as I can with the knowledge I have. Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, please leave feedback so I can make it better for everybody!

Proof of ranking

NOTE: ABOVE RANK IS MY PEAK RANK.

I hope to see you all ingame!

- Spection

Pros

+ Crazy high healing power + Map wide pressure with Redemption and Wish + Safe in lane, hard to abuse if she is positioned carefully + Healing values are so high enemies will not expect them, making it easy to bait people + Strong poke in lane, Equinox is great for messing with channeled ultimates like Miss Fortune's Bullet Time + Self sustain with Starcall is much stronger + Having a smaller health pool means Astral Infusion costs less + All items are pretty cheap and attainable (except for Rabadon's Deathcap

Cons

- Very susceptible to ganks in the very early game, has no getaway - Starcall can mess with the ADC's farming if done incorrectly - Very squishy and often a priority target in teamfights. (That's what Zhonya's Hourglass is for!) - Reliant on her team to protect her, can be troublesome if team is unwilling or unable to do so

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Soraka gains 70% bonus movement speed when moving towards allied champions below 40% of their maximum health.

• Use this to roam and get back to lane quicker! The range is fairly large, and you will get an indicator when you are close enough to gain the MS.
• Can also be used to escape after someone who has very low health.
• Benefits strongly from Celerity, making your heals do a good deal more.
• Indicator also shows when Wish will do increased healing.
  

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Starcall:

Soraka calls down a star at the target area, landing after 0.25 - 1 (based on target range) seconds, dealing magic damage and Slow icon slowing enemies hit by 30% for 2 seconds.

MAGIC DAMAGE:
70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 35% AP)
Striking at least one enemy champion grants Soraka Rejuvenation for 4 seconds, during which she can Rejuvenate allies healed by Astral Infusion.

ALLIED DURATION:
3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5
Rejuvenation heals every 0.5 seconds and grants 10% bonus movement speed when not moving towards enemy champions.

• Very basic spell. Speed at which the star falls decreases with distance, so it's easier to hit the closer they are to you. However, you should usually be casting this spell safely at max range.
• After you hit Starcall, heal whoever is nearest immeadiately afterwards so you benefit from as much of the regeneration as possible.
• Slow will proc Font of Life, meaning increased healing.
• Use this spell when you are fleeing from an enemy, as whenever you have Rejuvenation active, you gain 10% MS when running away from enemies. Use this to help your ADC as well.

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Astral Infusion:

Soraka heals the target ally champion. Astral Infusion cannot be self-cast, nor can it be cast if Soraka is below 5% maximum health.

HEAL:
80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)

• Your bread and butter. Pretty unusable in laning phase, incredibly strong once it reaches max level. Be cautious about how you use this spell. Spam it when it is needed, but don't heal someone who's clearly about to Recall or is lifestealing off of minions.
• Applies Rejuvenation, giving it a strong HoT component.
• When you are about to back, expend all of your health before doing so. You can take yourself all the way down to 1 health this way.

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Equinox:

Soraka deals magic damage to all enemy champions in an area and creates a zone within that silences enemy champions standing on it.
MAGIC DAMAGE:
70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 40% AP)

After 1.5 seconds the zone detonates, dealing the same magic damage to all enemy champions within and briefly rooting them.

ROOT DURATION:
1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2

• Powerful spell, helpful for disrupting and shutting down assassins and stopping channeled abilities. Never use it to poke.
• Wait until an enemy is CC'd before using this ability to ensure it goes off and roots them
• It can be used to cut off escape routes and stop people from flashing over walls if timed right.
• Very effective at shutting down an assassin, especially one who relies on abilities to be mobile. ( Riven, looking at you.)

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Wish:

Soraka calls upon the power of the stars to heal every ally on the map as well as herself. This heal increases by 50% on targets that are below 40% of their maximum health.

HEAL: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 55% AP)

• Incredibly absurd ability. When used on a target with low health, it can approach 1,000 health in value.
• You can and should use this ability to save allies across the map. however, you should only do so if you are preventing a shutdown, enabling someone to kill someone in a situation that they wouldn't have been able to otherwise, or allowing someone to pick up an objective.

Flash is standard on most summoners and Soraka isn't an exception. Soraka does not have any real escape outside of Rejuvenation's MS passive, so flash is a must.

Ghost is another option for Soraka to take. It helps in frenzied teamfights to be able to move faster to outmaneuver enemies and such. It's also nice for roams, especially to low health team mates. If you don't really need Heal or Cleanse, go for this.

and Heal is pretty standard on enchanters. With all your healing empowerment, you'll be making heal do up to 35% more to low health targets. This can be over 500 health. Take Exhaust instead if there is a late game burst threat that you need to deal with.

Cleanse is a more selfish summoner spell. If you fear you are going to be locked out of the game by CC, take this so you can heal for as long as possible.

Sorcery

• Summon Aery is a no-brainer on Soraka. It enhances her already solid poke and gives her even more defensive power. What's not to like?
• Manaflow Band is a strong option for players who aren't as good at managing mana costs, or if you want to go for a more lane harass heavy build/playstyle.
• Transcendence is great for Soraka. It will help her get a bit of extra AP. Celerity doesn't really help you at all because you have very few MS bonuses outside of your passive. However, it can definitely help.
• Gathering Storm helps to support that late game heal monster fantasy we all desire to reach on Soraka. Scorch is an excellent alternative if you are in a lane where you feel like you may poke freely. Summon Aery and Scorch make for a nasty poking combo.

Resolve

• Font of Life grants additional healing for your carries. Your Q ( Starcall and your E ( Equinox) both proc it, meaning you should always have it active.
• Revitalize is the new Windspeaker's Blessing . Makes Wish even more obscenely powerful, and helps you sustain through Rejuvenation better.

• The most important thing I can tell you is to have fun. You're playing a game and you should treat it as such! If you fixate on how poorly your team is doing and how hard you're going to lose, you definitely will lose. If you just play to have fun, you will do really well and you might turn around that game that you thought you would have lost!
• If you're nervous about your ranking (everyone gets nervous when they're in a precarious position), you should be stop playing after your second consecutive loss. It may seem like a weird thing to do, but your state of mind and mentality after losing declines, even if you convince yourself you're not. This is the most dangerous thing as you can lose many games in a row with your damaged state of mind, damaging it and your elo further. If you win a couple of games in a row, stop at a point where you feel satisfied and happy. Don't let your winning streak get to your head, or find yourself losing a game when you least want to, such as a series. Be graceful in victory or defeat, whether you carried or got carried. Take each game and ask yourself how you could improve your performance.
• Think! If you want to be smart about how you approach a team fight or initiate a gank, things will go better for you. Before you jump on that Lux with 100 health left, think about where her teammates are, and if she has enough mana to combo you down. If you analyze the situation with enough care you might realize it's not worth the risk and back off, avoiding giving the enemy team a free kill. The ability to think about how to approach a situation is what separates great players from good players and will almost certainly decide your ranking.
• Always be doing something. You should always be with your carry or warding. Take advantage of your low mana costs and spam Starcall whenever possible. There is a lot you can do in and out of teamfights. As Jhin would say, every moment matters!
• Be nice. If you are nasty to your teammates after they mess up, you will damage their state of mind and their precision, making them worse players. If you congratulate them on a good double kill, dragon steal, gank, etc, they will play better and respond to you when you ask for help. There's nothing worse than pissing off your team and having them not be there when you need them most.
• Ping. The second you see an enemy disappear from your field of vision, you should ping to let the team know in the case that they're too busy to notice it. Ping if you're roaming and intend to gank so your teammate can respond. Ping when you're coming into lane so your jungler can react if he doesn't check his minimap. Instead of pinging where the enemy is missing, ping directly in your ally's field of vision so they won't miss it. It's an extremely good habit that may save your teammate's lives and score you your team kills.
• Watch the minimap. It gives you valuable information. You will have better response time with your ultimate, saving lives and winning your teammate's lanes for them. You should immediately ping if you see someone roaming or just appear on the minimap, as knowing where the jungler can be is valuable information if you want to play aggressive.
• You get what you get and you don't get upset. If you are playing draft and you don't get the role you want, improvise. Any good player should have skill in at least three roles, although more is always better. It is highly uncommon that you'd have to take your last choice, people in ranked are usually flexible and will let you have a role if you are kind and convincing.
• Ask nicely. If you want help with a dragon or for someone else to give you their role, it doesn't hurt to say please and thank you. It may make them more responsive to you that game and later when playing with others!
  
  

Playing Soraka during lane is fairly boring in certain lanes. However, it is not as braindead as some may think. You should position carefully, as you are really really squishy and will generally be the focus of a 2v2. Use flash generously if you need to get away, you don't want to take any chances with your life. Use Starcall with caution as your mana regeneration sucks and you don't want to be so low that you can't use Wish or a few casts of Astral Infusion. Be cautious, wait for them to start unwise fights and then out-duel them. Each lane is different. Over time you will learn to adapt your strategy to fit each lane.

Roaming

Roaming is something you should generally not do on Soraka. Up until around minute 15 or so, you should help out your ADC. You should only roam to assist with large skirmishes in your or the enemy jungle. Use your passive to help you do this. If your ADC is one who struggles on their own such as Varus or Kog'Maw, You should not leave them alone at all. Use your best judgement. Soraka ganks are bad anyway. Your ultimate is what you should use to roam. Refer to Tips & Tricks for ultimate usage for more details.

Warding during the laning phase is relatively simple. If you are on blue side, ward tri bush and near dragon pit. If you are on the red side, ward near dragon pit. Keep vision in bushes,, especially if the support is a bush cheeser. Leona comes to mind.

During the mid and late game, you should aim to always keep objectives warded with a Control Ward. Refer to the map below for a more detailed map of where to ward. Duplicate this for top lane.

Credit to Gamer Sensei for the picture


Around mid to late game, you will begin to move around the map as a group. You should rarely go off on your own at this period. You EXPLODE if targeted by an assassin, mage, or marksman. Don't get in their range! There is a balance. If you hang too far away from your team, you make yourself susceptible to assassins. After playing a fair number of games with Soraka, you will begin to find this balance. Never use Flash aggressively. It is too valuable as a defensive cooldown and could win you the game. You shouldn't try to poke with your Q at this stage, as even that could be fatal. If the team has no pick potential, then you can definitely poke but you should always be exceedingly careful. Move around a lot and try not to get pinned down by the enemy team. In addition, dying with Wish up can lose you a teamfightfor and maybe even the game. You should always try to get this ability off before you die. It applies Ardent Censer to everyone, making it very game changing.

Flex Queue has its own section because it's pretty complex and very important to understand if you want to excel in this ranked queue. I will briefly explain Flex Queue before I talk about how to take advantage of it the best in Ranked.



Exploring this system is extremely important to doing well in Ranked, and I will help you to understand the most efficient method in my opinion to winning the most games possible.

The first thing to note: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE GROUP WITH 3 or 4 OTHER PEOPLE AND PLAY RANKED. This is an excellent way to tank your elo 80 or 90% of the time unless you have carefully assembled a group of 4 or 5 people that you trust and are prepared to communicate verbally with. Even so, I do not recommend it. Due to the strange way provisionals worked this season, people got placed in much lower rankings than they were in last season.

Have you noticed all the gold and platinum people in mid to high silver? That's what I'm talking about. These gold and platinum players will generally group up and queue in groups of 4 or 5 to most quickly and efficiently climb back to the rating they were at previously. These groups are almost always in direct communication with one another. This generally spells death for you, unless you are a member of one of these groups, in which case you should ignore what I'm saying. You will almost always lose games with a group of 5 people in ranked unless you are as prepared as the people you will likely be facing.

Now that you know not to do this, it's time to understand the positives and negatives of queueing up alone, or with a group of players.

Solo queueing is when you just click the button and don't bother to make a party. When doing this, you will almost always get put with 9 other people who are solo queueing, but you can be placed with or against any size team comp below 5. The other team will almost always mirror your team comp.

Example: 2 groups of 3 people and 3 groups of 2 people queue at the same time. The team comp will be 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 2 = 5 to ensure the most balanced team experience. The last group of 2 will have to wait until another game can be found for them.

DO IF:

• You are confident in your ability to carry despite the skill or lack thereof of your teammates.
• You are able to take advantage of the likely disorganization of the enemy team.
• You do not need or want the extra IP.
• You want to have lightning fast queue times.
• You play solo carry champions well. ( Soraka is good at this!)

DON'T IF:

• You want to play with friends
• You need/want the extra IP.
• You work well with others and have a method of verbal communications.
• You can TRUST your fellow teammates.
• You are good at champions that require their team to excel.
• You don't mind the extra queue time.
• You are prepared to deal with a coordinated enemy team.

Now that you understand the pros of cons of queueing up alone or with a group, it's time to discuss whether queueing with 2 or 3 people is optimal.

2 ∞ Duo queueing is the most frequent type of group, and it is also, in my opinion, the most effective. Some effective duo queue comps are:

• Mid and Jungle ∞ This is the best duo queue set up in my personal opinion, allowing insane roaming potential and coordinated 4 man ganks.
• ADC and Support ∞ The most common duo queue comp. Pretty effective but only due to the fact that the two likely trust one another and are good at working together, but not as globally relevant as Mid and Jungle.
• Top and Jungle ∞ This comp is rarer but only effective if both players are highly map aware. If they aren't, the jungler will just camp top and let the other lanes sink while top gets ahead, resulting in a probable loss. If both players are map aware, it can result in deadly and effective ganks that are often more successful then Mid/Jungler ganks.

Duo queueing remains the best and most effective way to win. Here's why.

• It's impossible for your group to be placed with a group of 4, which is a very make-or-break situation that can go wildly in either direction.
• Finding one partner is pretty easy.
• The really good players who are desperately trying to get back out of silver or bronze stay in larger groups, meaning you will see much less of them.
• Coordinating large groups can be a challenge while coordinating closely with one person is much easier and can be done at a high level without verbal communication.
  To sum it up, queueing with 2 people ensures a nice balance where you have someone to work with but you aren't in any risk of facing groups of 4 or 5 coordinated people, maximizing your win chance.

3 ∞ Queuing with a group of 3 is suboptimal. Here's why.

• You're more likely to face large groups of skilled players.
• There are not a lot of triple comps that are very effective.
• Coordination between 3 people can be challenging if the 3 don't know one another very well.

To sum it up, the new dynamic queue system only works in your favor at either extreme. Queueing with a group of 4 other people is very effective if you all know one another and know how to work as a team, and queuing alone or with one other person is very effective because it means you won't have to face these titanic groups and causes the course of the game to depend more upon your personal skill, rather than the cooperation of your team members.

I would like to thank you for making it to the end of my Soraka guide. I hope you have a good idea of how to play Soraka in this unique manner. If you don't, feel free to send a friend request in League of Legends, or comment on this guide. I check both frequently. I worked pretty hard on this guide and I'm relatively proud of what I've put together, but it can always be improved. Please give me comments and thoughts on this guide. I'm still expanding! If you'd like do normal games with me, feel free to ask. I like playing with others!

- Spection