Soraka has a ~50 damage AOE (which also shreds MR) + her auto-attack damage at level 1. This gives her a huge advantage in the very early laning phases due to her ability to always come out ahead when trading blows with other champions. Starcall is also on a 2 second cooldown, allowing for more opportunities to get "free" damage off, when the opposing champion's spells are still on cooldown.

Added to her sustain in lane, with her heal and her infuse, it is very hard to push a good Soraka player out of lane and away from farming. Her pushing the lane with starcall will also cause you to lose creep kills too, when your tower starts eating their minions.

She's not one of the best champions to carry with, but still viable if people know how to play her (but then again, all champions are). Getting 10 stacks of shred on a person, then baiting a tower dive is fun everytime.

HeroHenry

United States1723 Posts

April 20 2012 04:24 GMT

#82

How should battle-raka be built and what are some good match ups for her? I was thinking about picking her against ahri or ryze.

ManyCookies

1164 Posts

April 20 2012 04:54 GMT

#83

Standard AP caster runes, Q->E->W then Q>W>E. First main item should be WOTA, mostly situational from there (Ryali's and DC both good). Boots Lucidity or Mercs, personal preference.

dae

Canada1600 Posts

April 20 2012 04:58 GMT

#84

When I was watching scarra do it, he was starting boots three, getting 1-3 dorans rings depending on how well he was doing, merc treads(rarely cdr boots) then getting like revolver, frozen heart, wota, abyssal (order may be off). She is best against short range champions that cant really cs under tower, or who cant deal with sustained damage on them. Honestly she does well against 90% of normal ap mids in lane as you can just perma push the lane.

Its really funny when you get fed and they dont have the burst to kill you and you just run around killing everything with q spam.

Edit - rylais is good too if they are heavy melee that are kitable. Skill order is R>Q, then e or w based on how scared you are of the other mid (w if they have burst/are chunking you, e if you can just zone and laugh at their damage).

ManyCookies

1164 Posts

April 21 2012 16:49 GMT

#85

Has anyone tried top Soraka? Her sustained damage is super amazing, she can have a ton of armour for some trades, and she should be able to heavily punish most tops for CSing.

TwoToneTerran

United States8841 Posts

April 21 2012 16:51 GMT

#86

It's alright purely because Soraka is such a strong solo laner but you're wasting her if she's not against a mage. Her passive gives her a huge advantage early against their ilk.

arb

Noobville17921 Posts

April 21 2012 17:19 GMT

#87

On April 20 2012 13:24 HeroHenry wrote:
How should battle-raka be built and what are some good match ups for her? I was thinking about picking her against ahri or ryze.

she's strong vs karthus

Gooey

United States944 Posts

April 21 2012 17:44 GMT

#88

On April 20 2012 13:24 HeroHenry wrote:
How should battle-raka be built and what are some good match ups for her? I was thinking about picking her against ahri or ryze.

She also counters kassadin very hard. Her range on her E is 75 more range than kassadin's Q, so he can never get close enough, in theory, to cast it on you (also helps that her E is instant and his Q is a projectile). Also, the fact that he is melee and has weak AoE means you can just push him under tower the whole time. She shuts him down quite hard and keeps him from roaming around the map, which is his strong point.

On April 22 2012 01:49 ManyCookies wrote:
Has anyone tried top Soraka? Her sustained damage is super amazing, she can have a ton of armour for some trades, and she should be able to heavily punish most tops for CSing.

I don't like pushing top early on, which is what you do as soraka. The ability to stall the lane at your tower pre level 9 for most tops is the goal. Soraka just guarantees that. Your Q pushes the lane every time you harass with it. She has no real escape mechanism, so over-extending on her is very risky.

Mor1anz

50 Posts

July 11 2012 17:42 GMT

#89

Soraka seems to be really not so popular anymore as support (atleast at my elo)

I try to play her quite often when im forced to support but those offensive bot lane combos seem to be a real pain if your not coordinated with ur ad, which basicly always happens when im support.

good thing i have
http://www.mixcloud.com/Soraka/pro-gaming-support-mix/

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

July 11 2012 18:39 GMT

#90

On July 12 2012 02:42 Mor1anz wrote:
Soraka seems to be really not so popular anymore as support (atleast at my elo)

I try to play her quite often when im forced to support but those offensive bot lane combos seem to be a real pain if your not coordinated with ur ad, which basicly always happens when im support.

good thing i have
http://www.mixcloud.com/Soraka/pro-gaming-support-mix/

I am pretty sure "offensive" supports such as Leona and Blitzcrank counter Soraka. Soraka, in turn, counters poke supports such as Janna and Sona.

Takkara

United States2503 Posts

July 11 2012 18:45 GMT

#91

I'm in shit Elo range, but I actually prefer playing Soraka against the aggressive supports like Leona/Blitz/Ali. The ability to silence their aggression at appropriate times has made a ton of difference for saving myself and my support. The burst healing ability also is your best shot at surviving the inevitable "all-in" moments that happen when you or your AD (probably your AD most of the time) gets caught by the aggression. Just my personal opinion on the issue based on my preferences.

Praetorial

United States4241 Posts

July 11 2012 18:46 GMT

#92

Was the OP to this thread as terrible when it was written as it looks now?

I just started LoL five months ago, so I'm not really sure.

Sponkz

Denmark4564 Posts

July 11 2012 21:37 GMT

#93

The OP is about ad soraka. If you want some tips regarding support soraka read further.

Runes:

Marks - armor
Seals - 8 gp10, 1 armor
Glyphs - Flat mres (can also go with flat cdr)
Quints - 2 MS, 1 gp10

Masteries:

http://www.fieldsofjustice.com/m/#/uPPlaPqyleaeZnnZau

The 2 points in awareness can be put anywhere else if needed (maybe in tough skin, if you plan on playing agressively). I find this set of masteries superior to the 1/15/14 which is common on bruiser supports like leona/blitz/taric.

Skill order is either WEWQ or WEWE then R > W > E > Q. You can choose to completely ignore starcall if you wish to play passively.

TheDougler

Canada8306 Posts

December 05 2012 17:05 GMT

#94

Wow...

How is this post so old?

K guys, seriously, play like ONE GAME as AP Soraka and tell me it's not the most fun build in the game.

Anyhow, my question is, in the build linked above, what item (if any) to take out for liandry's?

monx

Canada1400 Posts

December 05 2012 19:47 GMT

#95

just play Sona...the better version of Soraka

TheDougler

Canada8306 Posts

December 05 2012 20:12 GMT

#96

On December 06 2012 04:47 monx wrote:
just play Sona...the better version of Soraka

So you claim... But I have never seen a truely badass Sona. Would you happen to have a link to a good Sona guide handy?

Sponkz

Denmark4564 Posts

December 05 2012 21:01 GMT

#97

On December 06 2012 05:12 TheDougler wrote:

Show nested quote +

So you claim... But I have never seen a truely badass Sona. Would you happen to have a link to a good Sona guide handy?

There isn't an updated sona guide here on TL, but if you want i can give you some tips, runes, masteries etc. PM if it sounds interesting. Sona was my most played champion in S2 and helped me gain plat, so i do have some knowledge.

ticklishmusic

United States15977 Posts

December 05 2012 21:31 GMT

#98

On December 06 2012 04:47 monx wrote:
just play Sona...the better version of Soraka

Hue.

Faerie -> Philo + Boots
Kage
Ruby -> Kindle
->Boots5
Ruby/ NMM/ Cloth -> Aegis
->Shurleya's
Wand -> DFG
Wand -> Rabadon/Abyssal

GG

TheDougler

Canada8306 Posts

December 06 2012 04:02 GMT

#99

Oops wrong thread sorry!

To the above, what do you do for tier three boots in this new patch?

Requizen

United States33802 Posts

January 04 2013 20:48 GMT

#100

On December 06 2012 13:02 TheDougler wrote:
Oops wrong thread sorry!

To the above, what do you do for tier three boots in this new patch?

Not him, but Soraka is my most played support. I've been thinking mostly Homeguard, but I don't think any of them are super great on her. You can use Furor to help you run away by using E to proc the sprint, and Alacrity is good because it's just straight movement speed.

I wanted to do Crucible on her last game (was supporting a Varus, so wanted more peeling power), but they quit before I could finish it. I liked Chalice though, made W spam a bit less mana intensive and probably would have allowed for some Q spam as well. I mean, I never really feel mana hungry on her except against really aggressive lanes where I'm healing on cooldown, but it's kind of nice to never ever have to leave lane.