So what were the plans/ideas behind Soraka's reverted changes?

ModAcademy Kayn·Feb 2, 2016·3 votes·564 views

So for those under a rock, they gave another attempt on Soraka's Q and W, making it Heal Health and Restore Mana over 5 seconds, while being able to give that buff to another. But that got reverted. So I was wondering what the goal that was trying to be reached with the changes in the first place?

5 Comments

StoryDuckFeb 2, 20162 votes

They are trying to balance the changes with Windspeaker really amping up her healing and Grievous Wounds only effecting self-heals. The problem was that the changes made her W too weak and made her far too dependent on Q which would just make her another "Poke with Q" support which we already have many of those.

Ulquiorra995Feb 2, 20162 votes

The changes were supposed to make her more interactive.

...and they failed horribly - which is why they are being postponed, I guess. Her lane remained the same, and she was useless in teamfights unless you managed to get a 3000 HP with Warmogs on a support budget before they begin. I hope they put more thought into it the next time those changes come up.

Slamurai JackFeb 2, 20161 votes

The changes were only reverted because they're not ready yet; a Rioter commented saying to expect them to go live in 6.4. As for the intent, they want to add more points of risk by forcing her to interact with the enemy more instead of just sitting back and spamming W, especially early in lane.

BârdFeb 2, 20161 votes

They are going in the game, but not just yet. They need another PBE cycle to finalize things, and it will be out in 6.4

PartholonianFeb 2, 20161 votes

On paper it looks like a massive nerf if you max W first, but a slight buff if you max Q first and never use W at all (i.e. solo laning). That doesn't seem like a good idea; it's the solo lane version of her that was unhealthy.

The reason she isn't "interactive" is that almost any interaction ends in her immediate death. She combines a base stat squishiness rivaled only by Sona with 0 escapes, unique in class near total inability to heal/shield herself (even worse with the rework) and one very weak attempt at disengage; staying outside the range of something like Leona E is her only way to not be 100-0'd at any moment. Until interaction becomes non-suicidal for her she isn't going to do it; she's either going to contribute from a safe distance or not contribute at all.