Thoughts on the Soraka changes?

Krys Star··5 votes·844 views

I just tried her out (finally, after all the bans and dodges), and I have mixed feelings about these changes. They're nice, but... bad too? The benefits you receive from Starcall are fun and exciting, strangely enough. But the impact size is so awful now, even though it's unchanged but rather its particle/hitbox fixed. But the slow more than makes up for it.

I opted for maxing out Starcall first, to reap its benefits of self-sustain, slow and providing my ally with a nice hot. This made Astral Infusion feel like a horrible spell, however, because of its innate 10% health cost and weak healing. Maxing out Astral Infusion doesn't seem that appealing, though, because you're sacrificing better self-sustain for it. It also sucks not being able to max Equinox second, because of how important Starcall is now.

My biggest gripe is that hitting multiple champions with Starcall doesn't amplify the self-healing, because I felt a bit crippled. It was too much of a struggle to stay alive than an accomplishment. I kind of wish hitting multiple champions amplified the healing by like, 20% per champion struck, because it was pretty stressful trying to stay alive. But maybe that's just me, and I only tried her for one game. But as a Soraka main with over 820 games from last season, and having mained her every season since season 1 started (and being my very first purchase back in 2010), I felt like I was being slapped in the face lightly for doing my job lol. x_x

9 Comments

Sona FemBoy3 votes

Her self-sustain is crippled. The new idea is to hit more Q's in rapid succession to get the same sustain as before and thus make her interact more, but it's just not worth it for a HoT. HoTs don't belong in mobas, fights are too fast paced.

She doesn't have the sustain anymore to justify a 10% max health cost. They should reduce it and she'll be good, if this is how they want her played.

Krys Star1 votes

I agree. It was 8% max health cost at one point. If anything, at least give it a scaling health cost based on rank. I prefer to max out Starcall now, because its benefits are so golden now. Problem is, I'm sacrificing more health trying to heal through Astral Infusion on top of keeping Rejuvenation active.

JacctheInsomniac3 votes

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Krys Star2 votes

Yes, I agree. It's terrifying playing Soraka now, but I'll always play her even if she's weak. Which she kind of is at the moment. Starcall's travel is too slow, and its impact size too small, to warrant how weak her self-sustain is now. In lane it's not that bad, unless you're against hyper-aggressive players. The changes are nice by concept, but the numbers are off, as are the rewards.

I've had so many instances where 2-3 people jump on me, and Starcall does nothing for me because 4 seconds is too long when I'm getting bursted down within 1.5 second. I've never had this much trouble staying alive as Soraka before, which is good because her survival was a bit too high for what she gave. Problem is, the risk is so high, but the reward isn't really there. I'm hiding behind my team mates more than ever now. Riot got what they aimed for, but they also left her feeling unrewarding to play. You can't appreciate the HoT all. It needs to amplify by like, 25% per champion struck, for a total of 100% at 4 champs (since you need one champ to even start the ticking to begin with).

I hope Riot or rickless are reading this. It is literally stressful to play Soraka and try and survive, especially in the dive/assassin meta. I wont stop playing Soraka, even if she's crippled, but she needs a bit of help.

AntaresWhite2 votes

Yeah it feels pretty underwhelming to play her sometimes now either you max w and you are pretty much a extra health bar for a teammate or you max q and you might live slightly longer. Id even accept the current heal back on the missing health ratio just anything to make her sustain actually BE sustain again.

Nameless Voice2 votes

I really don't like the removal of the "sweet spot" on her Q. It took a lot of practice/skill to be able to regularly hit enemies in the sweet spot, and I feel taking that away and applying the slow to the whole AoE takes away some of the skill that used to differentiate good and bad Soraka players.

Important caveat: I haven't played her yet since the changes.

Krys Star1 votes

Yeah, I miss the sweet spot too. I actually managed to master it on her too, landing it with such precision. A sweet spot would've been nice for double healing or something. :) Idk.

IcyPepper2 votes

Honestly, I'm starting to think they should get rid of the health cost completely from her W.

If it were up to me, I'd say remove her base health regen completely, and make her completely reliant on her Q passive (and potions) to heal while buffing the HoT on herself (but not allies).

The health cost doesn't make sense, and the fact that it remains at 10% (instead of a flat cost) punishes her for building health (mana sightstone when?), makes Warmogs Soraka bullshit, and how we're being invited to max Q first yet the health cost on her W doesn't scale per level is just frustrating.

I invite changes to her to be more interactive, but some things on her kit are just frustrating... for everybody.

I'll give her a shot after class. Maybe her %max hp health cost that never changes per level will feel better with her new healing mechanic. I doubt it, but I'll try it.

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