Why hello there, welcome to my Soraka guide!
Soraka is an easy to play champion, with some awesome abilities. If you're new at supports, you should definitely start out with Soraka!
This guide will teach you my way of playing Soraka support, with runes, summoners, masteries, item builds and more.
Bear in mind, the item build at the top of the guide is only the core build. Look at the item build section to see the full itembuild!

Soraka is a strong support champion, but she's also very squishy. She's a great sustain support, and has the highest burst healing out of all the champs in the game.

Pros

Great lane sustain
High burst healing
A relatively low-cooldown silence
Global heal ult
Magic resist aura
Huge armor buff with Astral Blessing

Cons

Low base health
No real escapes besides summoner Flash
Long cooldowns on her healing abilities
Short range on her offensive abilities

For summoners I pick Flash and Exhaust

Instead of Exhaust you can pick Heal or Clairvoyance, although I don't like Clairvoyance anymore, with the extremely long cooldown it's almost only usable with a premade team that you communicate with.
Whether to pick Heal or Exhaust is basically just what you prefer the most, since they are both great for better lane control.

For runes I choose:

• Armor marks, to be more tanky in the AD carry bot lane.
• Gold per 10 seals and quints, to increase the gold income, as you won't be farming as the support.
• Cooldown reduction glyphs, to help reduce the long cooldowns on Soraka's spells.

My masteries are pretty standard support, maximizing CDR and gold income, for the best laning phase.
You can also put some points into the defensive tree instead of the offensive tree, if you want to be tankier, but I prefer the extra AP and CDR.

Passive: Consecration
Great passive, 16 magic resist at level 1 is pretty nice. Not much else to say.



Q: Starcall
Great spell to spam in teamfights, since the magic resist reduction will become very noticeable after even a few stacks.



W: Astral Blessing
Your bread and butter skill. Great heal, but what makes this spell even more awesome is the bonus armor that it grants. 125 bonus armor at rank 5, that's a lot of armor.
In teamfights it can be worth it to use this ability on a tank, to give them even more armor and to be able to tank the damage even longer.



E: Infuse
A nice and fast silence ability. If you're quick, this can be used to interrupt ults like Katarina's or Nunu's. Can of course also be used in lane to give your laning partner mana, for more sustain.



R: Wish
Great ult, you can save pretty much anyone, anywhere on the map. It does require a bit of practice and map awareness to use this ability at the right time.
Bear in mind that you can secure yourself an assist by using the ult.

Always max Astral Blessing first for big heals. Whether you max Starcall or Infuse second depends on how many teamfights you're having in the game. If there are many fights, max Starcall after a couple of points in Infuse.
Always remember to skill up Wish when you can.

In team fights, Soraka should use her Astral Blessing on the main tank before the initiate. This way the tank will have even more armor, and will be able to tank the enemies for a longer period of time.
When your team mates get low on health, you're going to use Wish.
If the enemy team has a champion with a castable spell, for instance Katarina's ult, you can silence her to basically put her out of the team fight. Use your Starcall to reduce the enemies' magic resist, so your AP carry can get in there and really do some work on them.
Remember to avoid damage as much as possible, so you can save your heal for everyone else but you.

Core build

This is a pretty standard support build, with a lot of gold per 10 items.
Start out with a Faerie Charm, 3x sight ward and 2x Health Potion, then rush Philosopher's Stone, followed by a Heart of Gold.
You can also buy a Kage's Pick, but it's not every game you'll want to do that.
When playing support Soraka, always buy wards when you go back. I prefer buying Ionian Boots of Lucidity on Soraka, since she benefits a lot from the cooldown reduction, letting you spam Infuse on your lane partner.
Remember to buy an Oracle's Elixir when you can afford it, and when you think it's needed (if the enemies have a lot of vision and know your position where ever you are).

Full build

If the game goes on long enough for you to finish your core build, you can buy different, situational, items.

• Shurelya's Battlesong
  Amazing item, really active for either initating a fight or running away, also gives you cdr, health and improved regens. I get this every game, basically a core item for every support, in my opinion.
  
• Locket of the Iron Solari
  I think that this is a really great item, and it's a great way to convert your HoG to a better item. The shield is very nice for teamfights, so consider picking up this item.
  
• Aegis of the Legion
  Another great support item. The aura is what makes this item as good as it is, granting all your team mates +12 armor, + 15 magic resistance and +8 attack damage. I get this item nearly every game I support.
  
• Will of the Ancients
  If you have team mates who benefit well from spellvamp (Vladimir, Kennen, Katarina, etc.) this is a great item to get. Very situational, depends on your teammates.
  
• Zeke's Herald
  This is a nice item if you want to grant your AD carry even more damage, with the +20 % attack speed and 12 % life steal aura. This item will also grant you some cdr and health, making you a bit tankier. Definitely a great support item that you should consider buying late game.
  
• Rabadon's Deathcap
  Get this item if you have CDR capped. AP is great on Soraka, making for even bigger heals and more damage in teamfights, when using Starcall.
  
• Soul Shroud
  Another support item, with an aura that grants your team mates mana regen and cdr. Grants a lot of health as well, so consider this item if you feel like you're too squishy and dying too fast in fights.
  
• Frozen Heart
  An untraditional item on Soraka, but it might work if they have a lot of fed AD heroes on the enemy team. Do not get this item unless you get focused by AD's a lot. The reason this item is not optimal on Soraka is that she doesn't need to be in the middle of the fight, which you'll have to be in order to get the most out of the aura.

Check out my website for gameplay of Soraka

Soraka is an easy to play champion, but like any other champ she can be played perfectly, meaning perfect ults that save teammates, nice teamfights with lots of action and awesome silences. Soraka has room for you to make a lot of game changing stuff.

Thanks for reading, now go out there and carry with support Soraka! ^^,