Soraka Build Guide

Soraka Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

1

Sustainment Support Soraka

2

My Favourite Build

3

Her Stars in the Sky

4

Heal - Mana - Debuff

5

Flash and CV

6

Warding

7

Runes, Masteries, Items

8

Item Discussion

9

Cheap Build

10

Gold/10 Build

11

AP Build

12

Physical Counter Build

13

Magic Counter Build

14

Gameplay (Summoner's Rift)

15

Guidelines for Decent Playing

16

Conclusion

17

• Introduction

  Hello Summoners,
   reading trough the other Soraka guides, I noticed that most of them are outdated and they focus only on some aspects of her rather than the big picture. Have fun reading my toughts and strategies on Soraka, the Starchild.
   For more detailed information, try out the links - like this one if you have trouble with abbreviations in LoL.
   Currently updating for the patch...
  
  my IGN is "Gott der 7 Meere".
  
  
  Check out my other guides if you like (Taric and Sona).
  

• Sustainment Support Soraka

  Soraka is the strongest sustainer in lane, because of her mana refund skills and her huge heal with additional armor buff. She can make her lane partner almost invincible for a short time and feed him with all the mana for spamming his skills. The silence component, her passive MR aura and her ultimate make her a strong counter to AP casters. Playing Soraka is all about keeping your teams health (and mana) bar's up and silencing any threat to your team. To be of further use to her team, she can debuff all enemies around her with a stacking Magic Resistance Reduction, that will act like a Hemoplague and increase magic damag by a lot. It can be devastating when coupled with AOE's.
  

• My Favourite Build

  Example build:
  Items:  Core     Extended core   and
  Runes:   Red: Armor or MPen - Blue: CDR - Yellow: Armor or gold/10 - Quints: MS, CDR or gold/10
  Masteries: 8/0/22 Improve your Summoner spells (Clairvoyance and Flash) get CDR and MS.
  Skill order:   Wish > Infuse > Astral Blessing > Starcall

• Her Stars in the Sky

     Consecration
  Passive: 16 MR aura.
  
  Strong early against any form of magic damage, weaker later. I am not sure about the assist-mechanics, but I believe that buffing a champion who kills in any way gives you one, so this should work as a further assist-giving mechanism.
  
     Starcall
  Activation effect: 20/30/40/50/60 Mana for 60/85/110/135/160 (+ 0.4 per AP) magic damage and a 8/9/10/11/12 Magic Resistance Reduction debuff to all enemy units that lasts 8 seconds and stacks up to 10 times every 2.5 seconds (1.5 seconds CD with maxed 40% CDR).
  
  Soraka is not a nuker, but this makes her deliver strong sustained damage (even without any AP) if no one pays attention to her. Together with Abyssal Scepter you and your allies will do true damage that will only increase if you succeed in stacking this. No AP but CDR and enough durability to chain this spell will make you deal significant damage out of the blue if you make the effort to use this skill.
  As a closing example: If you would succeed in stacking it 5 times (8 sec duration, with 1.5 sec CD) and add your Scepter, you get to -80 MR. All magic damage on a target with -80 MR will be multiplied by 44%! Playing with champions like Fiddlestick (Dread) and Amumu (Cursed Touch) makes buying magic penetration a waste (Info on Magic Resistance).
  
     Astral Blessing
  Activation effect: 80/110/140/170/200 Mana for a 70/140/210/280/350 (+ 0.45 per AP) single target heal with a 25/50/75/100/125 Armor buff lasting for 5 seconds every 20 seconds (12 sec).
  
  Although Mana intensive, its the best heal a AD carry facing another AD carry can get. The CD is annoyingly long but that only makes CDR much more effective here. Better than the heal, the huge armor buff is incredibly powerful. If you find yourself loosing sight of a target in the heat of battle, remember that you can click on the champion picture on the left side instead of accidentally healing a minion.
  
     Infuse
  On allied cast: Restores 40/80/120/160/200 Mana to target ally (NO self-cast possible) every 10 seconds (6 sec).
  On enemy cast: An instant free cast 50/100/150/200/250 (+ 0.75 per AP) magic damage together with a 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds silence every 10 seconds (6 sec).
  
  As allied sustain this equals to 166 MReg/5sec on max rank with 40% CDR. Unfortunately with the last patch, you now have to worry about your own mana. This is still almost a free Clarity every 6 seconds!
  Better yet: on enemies this can be cast to almost chain silence someone. 2.5 seconds silence is one of the longest silences in the game, and castable every 6 seconds... This shuts down any form of AP DPS'ers in their tracks (Ryze, Cassiopeia, Karthus). Plus the - free - damage is very sizable early.
  
     Wish
  Activation effect: 100/175/250 Mana for a 200/320/440 (+ 0.7 per AP) global heal to all allied champions every 120/110/100 seconds (72/66/60 sec).
  
  A ultimate that deserves the name and suits Soraka's reputation as healer. It is quite big with max. level and some AP.  But the best part about this, is that it gives you tons of assists on all fights, regardless where you are on the map. No kill after level 6 where you don't get extra money (and may stack your Mejai's Soulstealer if like to).
  

• Heal - Mana - Debuff

  > > >
  
  The CD on your skills is (almost) unchanged by level, meaning CDR has a huge impact in early game. You only need enough heal to remove enemy harassment, put any other point into your Infuse. Get your ultimate whenever you can and use it to help your teammates. It takes quite some time, to get the map-awareness and timing.
  Be careful with the early game CD of your heal, a Soraka that doesn't heal when it is needed is useless.
  
  Example skillorder (Not a blueprint):
  
  
  Tip: Spam your Infuse, it's free!
  

• Flash and CV

  - Combined with your wards, Clairvoyance will allow you unlimited map-awareness. Best support spell there is.
  - Without means of escape you are dead if focused. This is best avoided with Flash or Ghost. Since Flash provides the most in terms of utility, allowing you to silence or heal over quite a distance and your masteries and runes will give you a high speed already it is generally preferred. If you are confident that you can avoid death with clever positioning, there are other - situational - options: Heal, Exhaust, Teleport, Promote or even Ignite (I suggest you go premade tough). Please don't ever spoil a game by taking Revive for Soraka.

• Warding

  This section is the crucial one. It has the biggest impact on the game and it separates the "oh-we-didn't-notice-you" from the "you-did-an-awesome-job-supporting" Sorakas. WARD-ING; buying wards, placing wards, destroying wards. Every one gets wards after they buy items. A good support gets wards before items. You don't just buy one ward for emergencies, it is your duty to buy at least 3 green and a pink ward. You ward your river bush AND dragon AND buffs AND if someone asks, you get them wards. That means proper warding. A good support will win games with only 2 items - having spent the rest of his money on wards. A truly outstanding support will win games with only basic boots.
  Let's face it, wards replace the best items. What use is a Rabadons or IE when the person carrying it face-checks a bush where the enemy Warwick, Morgana, Taric are awaiting him. Wards win games. You don't have to spend all your money, don't exaggerate. But you should get used to the fact that you will finish only few item at best when playing support, because your money goes on warding. Not just in endgame, but during the whole game. You buy your first wards as first items, and every time you return. No time of the game goes past when there is not at least one spot - a decisive spot - warded. Gold reg items, masteries and runes are one way to get the money for warding BUT they are not mandatory for spending money on those green and pink Fog of War deniers.
  I usually buy about +20 green Sight Ward and +5 pink Vision Ward. Vision Wards are totally worth their money because they give you true vision, an assurance that is worth the 50 additional gold, especially when a well placed Vision Ward leads to the discovery of one or two enemy wards. Please keep in mind that you don't have to destroy enemy wards per se. Sometimes giving the enemy the illusion of better map control can be an excellent baiting opportunity. Thanks to warding, jungling becomes a piece of cake, dragon and baron are easily done, the enemy Akali curses because she just has been killed in her you-can't-see-me-sphere. Now every one has been angry at the opposing support for clearing wards with an oracle, but you should just continue warding, and bring him down. Don't let him succeed in stopping you from warding - rather place your wards in unexpected locations and bushes. Even a good support with oracle won't see every ward. Always consider that he has given up the equivalent of ~5 wards of money that he can't place. That means his team will have less vision. Map awareness comes from placing wards, not from destroying them. Focus on your job and let another person get oracles. Also, because oracles are very obvious way to detect stealth, I would advise against them if you are facing stealth champions. I generally prefer Vision Wards over Oracle, they are fare better for your team in early game, when you are just so easily killed. There is no gold lost with warding, and I advice you to only buy oracles when you have boots, and can run away if they chase you.
  Better yet, let someone tanky who comes around more (e.g. your jungler) get an oracle.
  Now you realize how important wards are, they only are as good as their placement. I will show warding examples in the next sections, read the following guide for a summary on warding and you should learn to place them better with every game you play - just buy some wards for "learning" purposes and place them on "new" spots every game.
  Warding alwo includes the wards of your teammates. One isolated ward helps far less than a line of two or 3 wards spread across the map. Tell your Mid/Top/Jungler to ward if they don't, explain them if they place wards badly. This helps a lot if done correctly and ganks will become virtually impossible for the enemy. If you want, you can type something funny into the chat, to make them place wards... like this true story.
  By the way you are supposed to know the spawn and respawn times of major neutrals by heart and type them in the chat so your warding is timed well!
     - Baron Nashor      spawn 15:00     respawn every 7min  (300 gold AND 900 xp for each player)
     - Dragon                spawn   2:30     respawn every 6min  (190 gold NO xp) for each player)
     - Blue/Red Buff      spawn   1:55     respawn every 5min 
  If you achieve ward dominance over these spots, AND your team abuses this you will win for sure.
  
  Early game: River and if asked buffs, dragon (dragon always with vision ward).
  Mid game: Mid cross-sections and buffs/dragon when respawn.
  Late game: Defensive or offensive warding of jungle cross-sections and of Baron -  but avoid soloing.
  
  Sadly I can't show you where exactly to place every one of your wards, because it is never the same. You will find a lot on warding in my Build Discussion section, but finally it is up to you to learn it.
  
  Just let me remind you that you will only become a good or even outstanding support if you master warding.
  

• Runes, Masteries, Items

  There is no specific item or rune that decides your fate in the mach. What matters is your total setup. I want to point out which stats are best for Soraka and some ways to get them.
  
  (We have to see how much mana she uses up, now that Infuse no longer works as self-sustain.)
  
  There is one stat that decides your lane: Cooldown Reduction. Although CDR in general improves Soraka's performance, it is your lane-ing phase, where the long CD of your heal will be noticed most. You can easily start with 15% CDR form runes and masteries without any sacrifices and just by getting another CDR item, you will reach 30%. Your Heal, will be usable more frequent, your Mana will replenish faster and you even have more harassing potential with your silence. Rush this. Together with CDR, your survivability should build up fast. Soraka dies in a heartbeat when she is CC'ed. This has to be avoided by all means. Get Movement Speed to stay out of trouble and ward properly. Since your base MS is low, you need more than tire 2 boots, get [mastery_text=Swiftness] and Greater Quintessence of Swiftness and rush your Shurelya's Reverie. However, even if you get really strong, you miss the point of supporting if you don't ward properly. There is no reason why you should rush any item - even gold items - before buying wards. Still, Gold/10 seconds is nice to have and you will aim for this with masteries, open rune slots and your next items. Especially Heart of Gold unites all the stats you need, as Health is what you want next. Increase your survivability so you never die, before proceeding to buy offensive stats as powerfull aura items or AP.
  Avoid any items/runes/masteries that give you unwanted stats like AS, AD, APen, crit, lifesteal, spellvamp for your core build - every piece of gold spent on them decreases your performance. Thats why one particular stat deserves a closer look: HPreg. Only if the enemy harassment can't be out-healed should you take Health regeneration into consideration. Remember that you don't have the money for luxuries (even when we buy items that give us HPreg, you should always be aware that you don't need it and thus not prioritize it).
  
  Your runes are item replacements that you don't have to buy in game. With the usual money shortage of supports runes provide valuable stats for nothing. They are crucial. They have their biggest impact on early game if you take flat stats or on late game if you take per level stats. The same holds true for masteries. Get only the stats you desperately need and upgrade your summoner spells.
  
  In my opinion you should be flexible with your runes/masteries/items. Tweak your build so it fits your desperate needs always (Read the Build discussion section for further information).
  
  
  Masteries
  
  As support you are torn between the Utility mastery tree and some points into defense or offense. Depending on enemy (and your own) team composition you might go more into one or the other. As long as you want to support, you should try to get Greed and if you like Wealth for a more flexible starting item choice. Whatever you do, get as much Movement and CDR as possible. As an example:
  
  
  
  
  Runes
  
  I know that runes are expensive. I don't expect you to try them all out just to know what works best (I have done that for you already). Here is my line of thought: Soraka's sustain will probably win you the lane if you get over the first 3 levels unharmed. Get defense stats and CDR to improve your early game-play, when you are still weak.
  
  (Armor) - vs the minion's and enemy carrie's physical dmg. (MPen) is another option.
  (Armor) or (Gold/10sec) - Defense or Gold.
  (CDR) - More Heal and Mana early game.
  (Movespeed) - No real options here since you need movespeed that much. (gold/10sec) if you can't do it otherwise.
  
  To get exactly 15% CDR you can use 7 blue, a yellow and a red flat CDR rune (5% from runes + 10% from masteries) or  9 blue and 2 quints flat CDR for (9% from runes + 6% from masteries).
  
  Slightly adjust your rune setup if you know that itimization requires specific stats (e.g. another 5% CDR or more Mana). You can also experiment with AP runes (They stand for a more AP carry build, not pure supporting, but work well too). Sadly you can't escape the fact that Supports are forced to go for Gold/10sec, and there is an overwhelming force imposing Quints and now even Seals of Avarice and the Greed mastery on you. Don't let that blind you to the fact that other stats can be better. I favor movespeed especially, others might cheer on Health; the higher your elo gets, the less will you have a choice in this matter - in the end, Money and Wards win the game.
  
  Finally: as a good rune setup for most champs takes Red: Armor Penetration, Yellow: Armor, Blue: Magic Resist, Quints: Movespeed, you might as well use them for Soraka, indeed I encourage you to buy these Runes first when you get to summoner level 20 and can buy Tire 3 Runes.
  
  Items
  
  ALWAYS GET:
  
  
  Utility:
    Speed (Get at least early.)
  [item_icon=Soul Shroud] CDR   (Get a quick in any case.)
    Mana   (Usually a is enough when having Mana issues.)
  [item_icon=Soul Shroud] MReg   (Some MReg is needed, but the or should be enough.)
    AP   (Other stats have priority tough.)
    Consumables   (The Elixir is awesome, since together with your Kindlegem it gives you quite a bit of CDR until you get the advanced CDR items, AP is nice too.)
  
  Durability:
     Defense vs. Balanced   (Get cheap HP and later or [item_icon=Soul Shroud].)
  -> / -> / vs. Physical Damage   (With Astral Blessing you should be at +300 Armor.)
  -> / vs. Magic Damage   (Together with runes and Masteries you steer towards +150 MR.)
  
  Situational:
  On request   (Usually is better.)
  

• Item Discussion

  Is this the best starting item ?
  No, it isn't. Ther are a number of good starting stats, but HPreg certainly isn't one of them. The only reason why you could possibly start with this, is that you get your Philo stone quicker. But who would want to loose his lane, just to get a Philo? As far as I can see, there are 3 decent starting options for soraka, and another 3 slightly worse ones.
  The best thing you can get for your early lane is: Sight Wards! Lots of them. It is not a bad idea, to start with only wards in your inventrory. Soraka has all the lane sustain she needs, and the only thing that will make her recall, is a dark area around her lane. The next option is for agressive laners and gankers: you will need Boots of Speed aside form all the wards you can get. Altough you will stay in lane less time, you will escape dangerous situations, and this allows you to always walk in the much needed experience range. Ther third option I propose is for very strong poking champs, or mana-hungry lane partners: get a Elixir of Brilliance together with wards. There is nothing better than this - unfortunately only tempoprary - consumable, that will decrease your CD's by another 10% and give you some tasty AP on top of that. It should last long enough to win you the early levels, and when it expires, you will have achieved lane dominance. Make sure you only start using it, when you need more Heal and Mana/Silence than your innert CD's can handle. If you start with some CDR quints, you will even reach the 30% CDR mark at level 1. Believe me when I tell you that this is close to OP on Soraka.
  The lesser starting options range from Faerie Charm over Amplifying Tome to a Regrowth Pendant.
  When you face stealthers in lane, or have a jungler that want's to gank a lot: get a Vision Ward.
  
  Starting items: 5x1x or 3x or 2x or 4x.
  
  Why not Merc's ?
  You can stay out of Combat range with just healing and Infusing, so these boots allow you to ward quickly, and to be where the action is. If you have no CDR runes think about getting Ionian Boots of Lucidity early.
  
  Boots: Get if you feel save, else take .
  
  Is Aegis still viable ?
  You need one big defensive item early. After the nerf to Aegis (it now doesn't work on minions any more), it is no "better" or "worse" than [item_text=Soul Shroud]. Get Aegis if you need MR, else take the Shroud for a lot of HP. Alert your teammates to your item choice and don't buy Aegis if your tank is already getting it.
  
  Defensive Auras: Get [item_icon=Soul Shroud] if your tank is getting or you don't need MR.
  
  When to get Shurelya's ?
  The Reverie is a wonderful item, and if used properly, one of the best in game items. There is a reason why you get Movespeed. Positioning decides most battles. If your team asks for it, get it asap. If you loose battles because your team is in the wrong place: prioritize this! The upgrades to your gold/10 items, namely Shurelya's Reverie, Randuin's Omen and Deathfire Grasp are worth their gold. However, they are situational, and if someone in your team already has it, not needed two times. Situational means: if you are killed by their AD carry over and over again, take Randuins. If they have a fed HP champ like Cho, get DFG. If your team needs mobility, get Shurelya's. As of the last patch, there is now even a new option, the Locket of the Iron Solari is a decent tank item that you can take early if you are struggling and the Zeke's Herald may replace Shurelya's even... if your team mates request that.
  
  Active Items: should be your first item after boots and gold/10 items.
  
  Is this item viable on Soraka ?
  For Soraka, we have surprising synergy with this item. Her Infuse will not only silence, but slow every 6 seconds now. Her Starcall will become a reliable AOE slow on top of that.
  The stats, HP and AP are good, unfortunately your main stat, CDR is lacking. If you want to build AP carry, this is your item, but for Supports, only get this if your team lacks CC and you already have your core build.
  

• Cheap Build

  As in my Sona guide, I will show you a cheap and powerful build, that enables you to grow strong with assist money, and a gold/10sec build that allows you to itemize and ward properly without (many) assists.
  deumira's Soraka guide suggested most of this build, I only suggest you get CDR runes instead of MReg, as your Infuse provides you with that.
  
  [builder=Soraka/5b3ebbb8daccadf3210ae9bfc67e862d]
  Build progression:
  -> -> -> -> [item_icon=Soul Shroud]
  Start with Boots and a ward, and try to get Armor and the Shroud asap.  Upgrade your boots and keep the warding up. Gold items are not mandatory for warding and you will just delay your build a little only to get more money after your team wins those fights due to your warding. Slowly get HP for survivability and more aura support.
  

• Gold/10 Build

  But as the former build DEPENDS on assist money for warding (and warding is what proper supports prioritize), you will use a different build for very long games (as your early strength might go unnoticed, but your lack of money won't) or high elo games where you won't get that many assists at all. Preferable in this case:
  
  [builder=Soraka/da5a3976da06c911b332b8f9c123a5c5]
  Build progression:
  -> -> () -> -> or -> [item_icon=Soul Shroud]
  Start with Wards and the Charm and rush your Philo Stone. The goal is to get your Shurelya's as quick as possible without making sacrifices in warding. If your lane is going bad, consider Ionian Boots of Lucidity and buy more gold items (Heart of Gold, Kage's Lucky Pick) - one way or another you need that CDR.
  With capped CDR, start working on your teams aura needs and your own survivability.
  
  
  

• AP Build

  This build is for the more fearles and advances Sorakas, that are familiar with the limits of this champion and want to explore how much you can abuse her excellent AP-ratios. But keep in mind that we don't want to sacrifice her support aspects and make her a pure AP carry.
  
  [builder=Soraka/f20881dd191b697bf1f9a4c1f7f3f70a]
  Build progression:
  -> -> -> or -> / ->
  With runes and an Amplifying Tome you will already start with quite some AP. Get your gold items asap. If you feel confident that the enemy can't reach you, skip the HoG, but I always get some HP, to not be a one-shot target. After your Boots (don't take Sorcerers, you need to avoid trouble, so speed is your best friend), you may choose between Rabadon's Deathcap, Will of the Ancients and Abyssal Scepter.
  Upgrades include Deathfire Grasp if your team needs it. For quick CDR get a Elixir of Brilliance.
  

• Physical Counter Build

  Now these builds will work for nearly all games... but sometimes the enemy makes the fatal mistake of taking ALL physical or magical damage (or their only one different carry fails). That is the time for hard counter builds. All physical teams are EASY to shut down completely with the following:
  
  [builder=Soraka/0ae1748de9612766509dde95322c2672]
  Build progression:
  -> -> -> ->
  Get some Armor Runes, and rush early game Armor. Max your Astral Blessing asap. The Shroud is your perfect anti physical item, giving you Armor and CDR. Just remember that you still die quickly if you get no HP. If you need more gold, buy a Philo stone, and upgrade it to a Miracle if you need Tenacity.
  However, his build will fail catastrophically if the enemy has AP based Champs and you are vulnerable to any form of Magic damage (e.g. Ashe arrows).
  

• Magic Counter Build

  All magical teams are more difficult to counter because they mostly have a lot of CC, Dots and on top of that: nukes.
  Lets face it, when they really focus someone, he will probably be dead if he isn't the tank (All the more reason for your team to have a decent one like Galio :). However, your chances go up a lot if you get Tenacity and MR so they don't do true damage to you (and your team):
  
  [builder=Soraka/3689cf17dfcfa7d658ff04b635de430c]
  Build progression:
  -> -> -> -> or or or [item_icon=Force of Nature]
  Start with an elixir, if you think your lane will have trouble and you will be required to heal a lot. Level your infuse, as it is your best protection from casters. The silence will help you prevent many kills. Your passive Consecration will help a lot in early game. Be advised to get more MR and HP early! Mandatory are Merc's, a lot of HP and MR (get these in rune-from too if you can); for nukers get Banshees, for dots get Force of Nature, for suppressions get Quicksilver Sash. Keep an Elixir of Brilliance ready to use always, as it is your best emergency boost: cheap, fast and stronger healing when you need it. Finally: Consider getting Heal or Cleanse.
  

• Gameplay (Summoner's Rift)

  Protect your jungler:
  "May the stars be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out."
  
  (If you don't know what a jungler is: What's a jungler and check onGolems and Lizzards.)
  Jungling is the most challenging and rewarding champion role in the team. Having one player carrying both powerful buffs in the game roaming on the map is undoubtedly handy, and ensuring permanent control of these buffs via warding and  ganking at respawn is your key to victory. Another reason is getting dragon asap. Having said that you should realize how important their protection early game - when they are yet weak and locked in an epic battle with a giant stone golem - is. There are two types of junglers: The Udyr, Amumu, Fiddlestick, Warwick (...) fraction is usually starting at blue buff, and easily ganked early. Everyone of your team should protect them. While some of them can still jungle if successfully ganked, most of them will fail and you are likely to loose. Of course that goes both ways, as you can shut down an enemy jungler most effectively when you gank him at blue. Many reasons for staying together as a team. The other type of junglers are Xin Jao, Tryndamere, Lee Sin (...) who start at small golems. While they can be ganked too,  there are save towers near and the enemy will loose more xp going there in full force and killing those as opposed to laneing (Same goes for those starting at wolves). Your job is to make sure your team detects the enemy. Your teammates should surveil the jungle entrances to the respective jungle areas. This gives you a warning should things go tough. Now Clairvoyance has a CD of 70 seconds, meaning you can use it twice until spawn of Blue (1:55) or small Golems (1:40) once at the very start (until the 30 sec mark) and then at spawn time, or shortly before. Usually, a CV of the enemy summoner platform will already tell you if your enemy is capable of invading your jungle - the more you know the better. If you detect the enemy team at blue or golem, your team is save, can pull and walk away.  Else you better beware of enemy intrusion. Be ready to place a ward in the bush when you see the enemy coming and retreat to another bush as group. Ping them and attack if your team is dominant early or retreat until they start blue to surprise them then. Do never ever steal a kill, and especially not the first blood, the money is way better for other carries.
  Sona can ease a junglers start by taking Aria of Perseverance and healing him once he takes damage while walking away (make sure you don't steal his xp though !).
  However, your duty to the jungler is not over yet. You should ward at his request if he fears for jungle intrusion and you have to track the enemy jungler with your CV. If he deviates from his route, alert your teammates of possible ganks.
  
  Protect your jungler: /
  
  Tip: If your jungler is confident, you spotted the enemy and invasion seems unlikely, you can take the small golem champ with your lane-mate. Pull them and let them chase you, let your carry last-hit them, obviously.
  
  Lane Control:
  "Silence! I will have no meddling with my blessed child."
  
  Abuse your Infuse for lane domination. Your lane partner should know that he can spam his spells when a Soraka is around. If you still have more mana, use the Silence to dish out some damage. If they make ready to do anything, your silence will stop them in their tracks and prevent them from their foolish actions. If they still feel eager to get to the stars, heal their target (the unhealed of you tow should pay attention if they suddenly change focus) and retaliate.
  Soraka has no nuke, so don't try to suddenly jump them. She excels at winning in the long run, or with the enemy stupidity when underestimating her power and endurance. Make sure you never die in early game and keep the possible ganking routes warded/watched.
  
  Laning phase: and later / +
  
  Tip: Support every lane you can. Tell them to ward if they don't, warn them from incoming ganks, keep an eye on the minimap and ping if people are missing. You are the eyes and ears of your team and you can prevent a lot of mistakes. One of the most important things for your team is the reaction about a lane that is having trouble. Don't leave that lane alone. Tell the jungler to help, help yourself or make lane switches. This can completely turn the table for the enemy laners and is your biggest instrument to prevent enemy free farm. Try it and learn how to do it properly. (The earlier you suggest a lane change, and the less feeding, the better it will work.)
  
  Dragon:
  "When awakening the terrible dragon in its lair, your team will test their skills for the first time in an epic battle. But the enemy lurks in the trees around and may challenge the honor of killing this beast. The Courageous and Cautious are honored with the last strike and will ravage in their wrath on the grounds of Summoners Rift."
  
  There are two different kinds of dragon fights: I call them Private and Public fights.
  The best case scenario means, your jungler tells you he is ready for dragon, and you take one minute to place a Vision ward at dragon, clear the enemy ward, and then proceed to place one or two more wards on the pathways to dragon (mostly blue buff and mid jungle entrance. Then you and your jungler quietly do dragon, he provides the damage and you the heal. After that you type in the respawn time, e.g. dragon killed at 12:56 means you type "drake 18:56". Two things are paramount for this. One: you have to know the enemy jungler is somewhere top. Two: you are confident that your lane partner bot can handle a 2v1 for the time. Essentially this scenario assumes that the enemy is not ready for dragon yet.
  Now the other type of dragon fights is more common and more interesting. If you start challenging the enemy vision, there should be some reaction, a CV and a new ward mostly. Now the battle has started. It is not so much about the dragon itself, but about who has vision on dragon and champion presence in the area and therefore this is about the better position in the battle to come. When your position is better you will start to battle dragon, tank it, lure it from its lair and bring it down. Because killing dragon rewards 190g per player and is roughly worth 2 kills and you should expect the enemy to gamble at least two lives for it. Mostly that of his jungler. Therefore having smite ready in your team is paramount when attempting dragon, so it can't get stolen easily. You should also make sure that the enemy teleports (if he has some) are on CD so that no solo top can suddenly appear out of nowhere and cc your team. Now there is no harm done in aborting dragon. But there has to be a path you can retreat to. You should never do dragon, when you see the enemy converging at your position from all sides - in this case better isolate the highest priority target (mostly mid) and catch it in a bad position. That means when the shoe is on the other foot, only go for dragon as a team, use CV in advance and ward all over the place.
  Now on a side note. Sure dragon is "decisive", the ~1000g is nothing to laugh at. But it only becomes a game changer when your entire team is aced because they overestimated the value of it. Only attempt to steal when you have retreat ways, e.g. Flash up, strong cc... Don't take dragon at all costs. If you trade dragon for a tower... that's not bad at all.
  
  Dragon:
  
  Tip: Respawn every 6 min.
  
  Pushing:
  "Infuse your allies with the strength to prevail."
  
  Pushing means applying pressure to a lane that - if no enemy reaction comes - will eventually result in the destruction of a tower. The new masteries are a huge boost for tower destruction, just couple [mastery_text=Siege Commander] with [mastery_text=Demolitionist], and On The Hunt.
  However, Soraka has limited "direct" pushing abilities. She can clear minions with her Starcall but other than buffing the tower-target with her Astral Blessing to last longer, she has only items like Aegis of the Legion she can resolve to. However, her strength in sustaining her teams health and mana will often enable them to push after clashes and thus she is a valuable asset in this part of the game-play as well.
  Get towers whenever you can and make sure that when you retreat, the pressure on that lane doesn't suddenly disappear and the enemy counter pushes. Pushing is very dynamic and when the element of surprise is gone - the enemy has gathered under the tower and will make his last stand - pushing stops. If you want to push effectively, then quickly adapt. With enough vision, you can easily apply pressure on more than one lane (Split-pushing) and lure the enemy out of the safety of their tower. Yes, you can force a fight and tower dive too, but that is not pushing, that brings us to the next point: Teamfights.
  
  Pushing: for sustain: for tower-tanking:
  
  Tip: If you have a poking team, you can use Soraka's superior sustain to wither them down, before diving or just taking out the tower.
  
  Teamfights:
  "I wish for justice on the field of battle."
  
  Your strength lies in your Infuse. It is an important part of your team's Crowd Control arsenal and must be used correctly in order to win. Sure, your healing is awesome and such, but the Silence is the effective way of shutting down any ability based and dangerous enemies to make them vulnerable for such time as your team needs to pre-emptively take them down... no healing needed...
   
  Now for a successful teamfight, respectfully learn the following points by heart:
  - Before starting a teamfight, mark the target with the highest priority. (You can't fully plan a teamfight, but at least try to and it makes your team feel more secure.)
  - Let the tank initiate and dissable any target with dangerous ultimates instantly.
  - Speed him up with Shurelia's active if you have it.
  - Start stacking your Starcall.
  - Let your carries do their job and help them with silencing any ability based champions - unless there is not a dangerous ultimate that you have to save your Infuse for.
  - Time your Wish right for maximum efficiency use Astral Blessing if only one person gets focussed.
  (- If that Akali tries to save herselve: Vision Ward her Twilight Shroud and get that ward money back via assist! The same goes for Twiches or Eves or any other nasty stealther, just ward in advance of theamfights here.)
  - Use flash to kite and stay out of trouble, yet still stay near your team.
  - Don't forget to use Starcall whenever it comes of CD.
  - Don't make the mistake of running away from them - it will weaken your team and you.
  You won't live through a lot, so make sure you stay save and get enough HP for it.
  
  If EVER you die; learn from your mistakes. If you are too slow, get boots. If you notice some crazy high magic dmg, get MR. If they kite you to death, get a Quicksilver Sash or/and [item_text=Shurelya's Reverie]. If they kill you alone, stay with your team. If they kill you with your team, tell them who to focus. If they nuke you, get a Banshee's Veil.  And so on...
  
  Mandatory:
  Enough HP to survive, and ready and superior Movement speed.
  
  Passives:
  Your auras of course and [item_icon=Soul Shroud] [item_icon=Stark's Fervor]
  
  Actives:
  For sustained damage chain cast and use your on the most dangerous target.
  Positioning:
  If you are suppressed during figths:
  Stealthers involved ?:
  
  Tip: Positioning is your key to survival and victory. Be fast and learn where you can survive. Try to learn ALL champion abilities and ranges, so you know when you are save from them. As a final note here: You are disposable. Do not hesitate to sacrifice yourself if that means you win a battle, or a carry escapes.
  
  Baron:
  "Rid the world of the biggest of evils !"
  
  Money. Experience. A BUFF; healing, replenishing mana and giving AD and AP for your entire team. I see you get the big picture. Baron means victory. So please, by all means, try to get it! Similar to dragon you will ward and quarrel over the positioning, and there will always be clashes in the area. Warding it properly is even more important than at dragon, clearing enemy wards just the same. But most important of all: Do not split up when baron is possible. You need everyone together. People with teleport might wander, but only when ther are ready to hop right into the heat of battle.
  As with dragon: Accept defeat when you see a hopeless case. Running for baron with only parts of your team is stupid. Your jungler might try to steal it, but nothing more. Prepare for a long siege and hopefully you will only loose one or two towers.
  
  Baron: everything you got!
  
  Tip: If you are not absolutely sure of it, don't attempt baron. You just don't attempt the VICTORY thing. You DO it, or you DON'T do it, there is no in between.
  

• Guidelines for Decent Playing

  When I first played League of Legends, what I valued most, was the easy-going attitude on low levels. It was indeed your skill (not very advanced skill), that decided the games. The more I rose, the more people took this game seriously. I mean, SERIOUSLY. That was the time when emotions started to decide games. I wish I could go back to this happy playing, and I detest those summoners that poison the community by mistaking League of Legends for more than a play ground! Real life is serious enough. You are allowed to loose when you fought valiantly. You are allowed to make mistakes if you learn from them. The enjoyment comes if you can improve yourself as a player and a teammate and see that all those qualities that others neglect will indeed make you win games. I am talking about the Code. Honor the Code. If you have a hard time understanding the Code I will help you with the ways a decent players behaves himself: for honorable Ladies and Gentleman. Furthermore there are plenty of fantastic "general Gameplay" guides out there that will help you become a winner. Remember that we all belong to a brotherhood (and sisterhood) of brave people that enjoy playing together in the League. Your opponents and teammates are not so different from yourself. Don't be quick to pass judgement on others, talk about other stuff as well, and not just about bad skills.
  If you are tired after a game that went bad...
  
   I propose to you: A new game mode. Open a custom game with the title "ALL TROLL - NO RULES".
  It is the easy-going attitude in a free game, where all options are open, where you can experiment with unusual things, where dieing is part of learning and loosing just the clarification of the fact that your way did not work as intended.
  
  Someone tells you AP Miss Fortune does not work ? All roaming: fail ? Promote is bad ? That two supports are too many ? Don't believe him. Try it out yourself. You think my guide is wrong ? If you don't try it out, you will NEVER know.
  
  I will join you if I see an open game, because I always want to try new ways and I figure bot games are not the place to try things that require teamplay and are a bit boring. Have fun!

• Conclusion

  If you truly are interested in Soraka, try out all of her aspects and variations to discover how versatile she can be. I'll be glad when you tell me about your way with her, and how it works.
  
  Thank you for reading my guide. I look forward to seeing you play Soraka on the Field of Justice. Special thanks to leaguecraft and all the valiant LoL players that put up with me.
  Since this guide is brand new (06/02/2012), I appreciate you helping me improve it (seriously, I do).
  
  My ingame name is "Gott der 7 Meere".