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Strategy is highly subjective and may become outdated without any notice. Because of this, the League of Legends Wiki has decided to retire strategy pages and would recommend using other platforms (such as YouTube) to find guides. For more information visit this thread.
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Champion Spotlight[]
Recommended Items[]
Tips[]
- Playing As
Soraka
- Soraka is a powerful ally in battle, using her strong healing to keep the party moving forward.
- You can use Wish on your allies from across the map to save them from otherwise fatal events.
- Equinox can be used as a powerful zoning tool to keep enemies at bay.
- Playing Against Soraka
- Focus on attacking Soraka when she ever ventures to the frontline to heal her allies.
- Take advantage of Soraka's long cooldown on Equinox if she uses it to harass.
- It's easier to focus Soraka than the ally she is healing.
Playstyle[]
- Laning
Soraka’s a support who works best in the immediate proximity of her 
marksman. Here she can keep her lane partner healthy with 
Astral Infusion before turning to 
Starcall to damage the enemy bot lane champions and restore some of her own health. 
Equinox has serious potential to win trades, too – casting it beneath an enemy AD caster (
Graves and 
Varus, for example) greatly reduces their damage output, while using it beneath the enemy support cuts off their ability to use their array of abilities and summoner spells.
Equinox can be a lifesaver when the enemy jungler comes in to gank, too. Whenever Soraka casts the portal along the jungler’s attack route, she effectively forces them to choose between a longer gank path and the ability’s silence/snare gauntlet. Additionally, if her marksman’s already close to death but closer to the relative safety of their tower, then the speed boost from 
Salvation helps Soraka motor away from her enemies. Of course, if all else fails, Soraka can break the emergency glass and hit the big red 
Wish button to buy her allies a few extra seconds of life.
- Teamfights
Soraka’s teamfight presence relies on sharp decision-making and making the most of Astral Infusion’s extremely low cooldown. Though she’s generally better off sticking close to – and healing up – her team’s backline, Salvation gives her enough movement speed to fly to the frontline and heal her suffering tanks. This presents risks, though: without the extra movement speed, she returns to her team’s backline – and safety – relatively slowly, giving the enemy team plenty of opportunities to wade in and cut her down. Soraka can diminish this threat by casting Equinox on the battle’s frontline, hopefully dissuading all but the most determined assassins from bursting through to kill her.
Finally, Wish has enough raw power to turn around seemingly lost fights. Timing is critical: using it early on tops off health and keeps the momentum of a fight in your team’s hands, but saving it until the last moment grants significantly more health and can fully dispirit a confident enemy team.
Ability Usage[]
- Use Salvation to weave in and out of danger and determine which ally needs healing. Be careful not to lead yourself into danger, as some allies may not be able to be saved.
- Salvation's indicator, which appears on allies below 40% maximum health, also indicates when they will receive the 50% increased heal from Wish.
- Salvation only gives bonus movement speed when approaching low-health allies in range. Thus, it might even be beneficial to leave allies low just long enough to escape danger.
- Observant enemy players will be able to notice changes in Soraka's movement speed when a low-health ally is in range. Be sure that your jungler or roaming ally does not enter your vicinity at low health if you need their presence to be elusive.
- Leveling Starcall at rank 1 is desirable if you and your laning partner seek to reach level 2 first.
- Maxing it first will give greater poke potential, a larger self-heal, and enable lane dominance. It also extends the duration of Rejuvenation when casting Astral Infusion on an ally.
- Starcall's projectile falls more slowly the longer the distance at which it is cast from.
- If cast from a long range, you may need to lead your target. Oftentimes in laning, the enemy laner will move back after last-hitting a minion. Try casting the ability behind them. However, keep in mind that moving forward far enough to do so may put you in range of retaliation.
- In desperate circumstances or situations where you may need to land a faster Starcall consider casting it as close to Soraka as possible. This is easiest using Flash to get on top of an opponent beforehand.
- Sometimes, it may be unnecessary to use Starcall if Soraka is at full health, and if Astral Infusion is maxed first instead, the damage in early laning may be negligible. In this case, it may better to conserve your mana for more appropriate times.
- Starcall provides vision of unwarded brush for a brief period. Use this to check bushes rather than warding them or directly facechecking, as this can help prevent unwanted deaths.
- Maxing it first will give greater poke potential, a larger self-heal, and enable lane dominance. It also extends the duration of Rejuvenation when casting
- Leveling Astral Infusion at level 1 is desirable if you wish to give your a jungler a "perfect" leash in the support role, need to level it on-point in the case of early jungle invades, and/or seek to play passive in lane. Maxing it first will dramatically buff the heal on an ally.
- Soraka should be able to heal her jungler once during the leash, step out of experience range when her jungler Smite's the buff, and then heal her jungler a second time while heading to lane with her ADC in a fashionable time frame.
- Despite its health cost, Astral Infusion has a relatively low mana cost. As such, in a support role in lane, Soraka can remain relevant with only a couple points of extra mana regeneration.
- Reserving her Astral Infusion until after she has hit enemy champions with Starcall will pass the health regeneration onto her target ally and maximizes the ratio of health and mana cost to heal amount.
- Casting Astral Infusion many times over a short period can drain a large portion of Soraka's health. Be mindful of positioning in extended trades.
- Once both Starcall and Astral Infusion are leveled at least once, Soraka should be seeking to land Starcalls to regain some or all of the health that is lost from casting Astral Infusion.
- If Soraka fails to land enough sufficient Starcall's, it may be necessary to invest in some alternative health restoration methods through itemization, including health regeneration and consumables.
- If
- Astral Infusion can be a powerful, though risky, lane control tool if used effectively.
- Equinox is rarely leveled first and is typically the last ability to be maxed.
- Due to Equinox's instantaneous cast time, it can be used to swiftly interrupt channeled abilities, such as Katarina's Death Lotus or Janna's Monsoon.
- Alternatively, it can also be used as a trap to prevent enemy champions from engaging from a Teleport or other global ability. For example, when placed in the epicenter of Pantheon's Grand Skyfall, it can prevent him from leaping onto an ally with Aegis of Zeonia due to the silence field and will subsequently root him, making him vulnerable to a counter-engage.
- Alternatively, it can also be used as a trap to prevent enemy champions from engaging from a
- Because the root from Equinox is extremely difficult to land, consider using it as a crowd-control extension ability instead. When Amumu, for example, lands a Curse of the Sad Mummy on multiple enemies, a slightly delayed Equinox can effectively disable them for an even longer period of time - preventing them from Flashing and then rooting them - allowing your allies to make quick work without fear of retaliation.
- When escaping from a dangerous situation, lead the path of your enemy and cast Equinox where they would be rooted.
- While Equinox never guarantees a root if any enemy champion simply walks over its entire radius, the slow from Starcall will make the root more likely to occur.
- Equinox cannot deal damage to lane minions or neutral monsters.
- Due to
- Use Wish in the early laning phase to make an impact on allied lanes across the map.
- If you are sure only a single ally will die and that a Wish will not be able to save them, it may be wise to conserve it for a more appropriate use.
- Some enemy champions, like Katarina with Death Lotus, can constantly reapply Grievous Wounds over a period of time. Be sure to engage them in a more favorable circumstance when possible.
- If you are sure only a single ally will die and that a
Runes[]
- Keystones:
- Summon Aery
- Summon Aery is the keystone taken in most cases on Soraka. Summon Aery works great for both of Soraka's playstyle, both for passive healing with her Astral Infusion applying the shield, and for playing aggressive in lane with Starcall and her basic attack applying the damage. Taking Summon Aery also gives you Sorcery as your primary tree, which is a much wanted tree on Soraka because of the Ability Power it gives, and a lot of good runes.
- Guardian
- Unsealed Spellbook
- Unsealed Spellbook is a very situational keystone that can work in certain scenarios on Soraka. If you are up against a team with a lot of long range Crowd control the ability to switch to Cleanse and have your Summoner spells off Cooldown more often can be very useful.
- Trees:
- Resolve
- Resolve is almost always taken on Soraka either as the primary or the secondary tree. As Soraka you are often the primary target for the enemy team, so the extra survivability from the Resolve can go a long way with helping you not die as easily.
- Bone Plating makes you a lot more durable making it the best rune for Soraka from any slot in the Resolve tree and should therefor be taken every game.
- Revitalize is usually the the other rune taken in the Resolve tree on Soraka because of its amazing synergy with her kit (works with Starcall, Astral Infusion and Wish).
- Second Wind is what most other champions would take together with Bone Plating, but is usually dropped for Revitalize on Soraka. Second Wind can still be good in matchups where just walking up to cast your Starcall might be dangerous. Can be taken with Revitalize if Resolve is your primary tree.
- Sorcery
- Sorcery is taken almost as often as Resolve except when running Unsealed Spellbook where Resolve is often your secondary tree instead.
- Manaflow Band is a good choice to increase your lane pressure with the ability to cast your Starcall more often, can be replaced with Nullifying Orb when facing heavy magic damage burst.
- Celerity gives Soraka some much needed safety with the ability to make dodging abilities easier, and making it easier to get away from the enemy. Transcendence can also be taken to get some extra Ability Power from going over the Cooldown Reduction cap, but is usually not taken because of how strong the Movement Speed from Celerity is.
- Scorch and Gathering Storm are both good options on Soraka and mostly comes down to how you want to play. Scorch gives Soraka even more poke in lane, making her already strong early game even stronger, but is not nearly as good as Gathering Storm later in the game. Gathering Storm is also a viable choice if you don't want to play as aggressive because of preference or when facing a difficult lane matchup.
- Inspiration
- Inspiration is rarely taken on Soraka, but can be good if you can get away with less lane pressure from Sorcery, or less durability from Resolve.
- Biscuit Delivery is always a good choice, especially when facing heavy poke allowing you to more easily sustain both yourself and your ADC.
- Magical Footwear can comfortably be picked up on Soraka because of her tendency to stay in lane in the early game without roaming. Not having to spend 300 on Boots of Speed lets you start building your Healing items earlier, and the extra Movement Speed on your boots is also good for the same reasons as Celerity.
- Cosmic Insight is a good rune on most champions just for the ability to reach 45% Cooldown Reduction, but Soraka also greatly benefits from the lower Summoner spell Cooldown allowing you to stay safer.
Items[]
- Soraka has two possible starting build paths to follow.
- Ancient Coin is the recommended starting item of choice for a standard supportive build, as it can be built into a Remnant of the Ascended. The combination of health regeneration, mana regeneration, movement speed, and cooldown reduction will allow Soraka to sustain herself and her allies more often in an Astral Infusion-centric ability path.
- However, Soraka has the lowest base health regeneration in the game, making the bonus health regen from Remnant of the Ascended much less effective on her than on most champions.
- However, Soraka has the lowest base health regeneration in the game, making the bonus health regen from
- More aggressive players who choose to max Starcall first can choose Spellthief's Edge as a starting item, taking advantage of enhanced poke capabilities. This can be built into Remnant of the Watchers, which is good for catching up to enemies.
- Soraka has a wide variety of boots to choose from:
- Boots of Swiftness or Boots of Mobility will allow her to weave in and out of danger and heal her allies more easily. Build the former if you expect to take some damage and/or if the enemy team has a lot of slows. Build the latter if you expect to roam often.
- Ninja Tabi may be necessary against teams with more than one auto-attack reliant champion.
- Mercury's Treads is a boon against CC- and magic damage-heavy teams.
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity might be a possible choice if you do not plan on building a Frozen Heart or other forms of cooldown reduction.
- Soraka has strong utility and strong base burst damage, so consider building items that complement this utility:
- Zeke's Convergence offers a mixture of defense and utility. Due to the spammable nature of Soraka's heals, she stacks the item very quickly. Once the passive kicks in, her heals become amplified. The mix of Armor, CDR, and mana also help to make her windows of weakness a bit harder to exploit.
- Ardent Censer can help turn the tides in a teamfight if more than one team member is auto-attack reliant. A well-timed Wish can allow your team to focus down an enemy or tower more quickly and Astral Infusion can apply the attack speed buff in smaller skirmishes. It combos well with Zeke's Convergence, as the attack speed allows your carries to abuse the 50% bonus critical strike change more effectively.
- Banner of Command is a great buy. The stats benefit you and your team a great deal - you heal for more and make the effective health greater thanks to added resistances, but the biggest impact of this item lies in the active.
- A Chalice of Harmony provides high mana regeneration, which is vital to allowing Soraka to support over a longer period of time, and some magic resistance.
- Athene's Unholy Grail is the more offensive upgrade if you are looking to be more aggressive.
- Mikael's Crucible is key for a more passive play style and helps immensely against a CC-heavy team if you are looking to protect a valuable carry.
- Building health on Soraka is discouraged due to Astral Infusion's percent health cost. Avoid items like Spirit Visage and Warmog's Armor.
- However, with the right runepage and items a Warmog's Armor build is viable. Due to the rapid hp regen.
- However, with the right runepage and items a
- Aegis of the Legion and Locket of the Iron Solari are valuable builds against heavy magic damage. Consider buying an Aegis into a Locket once you see a magic damage dealer on the enemy team making a strong impact.
- Stacking resistance items is preferable on Soraka because such items do not increase Astral Infusion's health cost.
- Frozen Heart should be the go-to defensive item against physical damage. It provides a healthy dose of armor, mana, and cooldown reduction. The attack speed reduction should also help against auto-attack reliant champions.
- Abyssal Mask is a decent item if the enemy team has a hefty amount of magic damage. It should also help if your team has more than one magic damage dealer.
- If you and your team are ahead, a Zhonya's Hourglass can provide an edge by giving Soraka a healthy amount of ability power and armor. The stasis passive can also aid Soraka's survivability.
- Outside of stacking resistances, Soraka should be able to make use of a hefty amount of Health Potions even on a support's budget, as she will often be below max health.
Counter Tips[]
- Soraka depletes her own health to heal others. Try dodging her Starcall early on as it is the only way she can replenish health on her own (besides health regeneration and Health Potions).
- Astral Infusion has a short range (550). Try bursting her down so that she cannot heal her allies.
- The key to keep her down in lane is to poke her down slowly and dodge Starcall. This will keep her vulnerable when she tries to heal her lane partner with Astral Infusion.
- Blitzcrank and Thresh can assert lane dominance against her. A well timed hook from either champion can force her to use Flash and play more cautiously.
- However you must play very aggressively. Otherwise Soraka will actually end up outsustaining and outharassing both of them.
- Picking Ignite instead of Exhaust can also be an option not only to zone Soraka with the threat of being killed, but also because of the Grievous Wounds. However, keep in mind the rest of her team, because if it has dangerous mobile assassins such as Kha'Zix and Zed, then it is better to still take Exhaust instead of Ignite.
- When playing against Soraka, it may be a good idea to build an early Executioner's Calling, which will cut her sustain.
