My list of suggestions for support Soraka. Definitely not for Mid Soraka
TL;DR: Just look at bullet points under 'Possible changes' TL;DR;TL;DR Maybe increase Q projectile speed. Scaling R passive with ↑ W range and ↓ HP cost. Reduce E dmg and range AND Give 10% slow plz
Hi
I'm pre-rework X-challenger Soraka player who did AMA before. I'm now low Dia 5 (LP decay OP).
I wanted to list some of the possible changes Soraka could get as RiotVesh recently mentioned he would like to tweak Soraka a bit.
I have listed potential problems and tweaks. I am not suggesting to make all these changes. I am just listing possible changes I felt reworked Soraka could get after playing some games. Some details of the suggestions are listed at the end of the post.
My opinion of new Soraka compared to old Soraka:
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Is it more "fun" to play?
Yes, these skillshots are definitely more fun. The rework was in the right direction.
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Difficulty level?
↑ Because skillshots ↑
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More Viable? Stronger or weaker?
I think new Soraka is (
VERY) weak. Fun ↑ ≠ champion strength ↑.
Current Q problem:
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Soraka doesn't restore HP right away when she lands Q on enemy champions.
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Long range Q is very hard to hit. Q projectile is very fast at close range and very slow at max range.
Possible changes:
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Instead of waiting for the 'heal' projectiles to return to her, make Soraka Q to restore HP instantly as they made a change to Evelynn R on patch 4.1.
Although I agree with what Vesh has mentioned about the slow HP restoration missile speed, I would prefer to heal instantly as this delay becomes a lot more noticeable when I'm about to die. I felt a lot of frustration when I could have survived with Q HP restoration, but I die because I get dmged before HP restore projectile gets to me.
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Make Q easier to hit enemies or more rewarding to hit at a longer range.
1. Increasing 'hit rate':
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Increase projectile's speed at max range. (Simplest solution)
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Remove Q casting time.
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Change Soraka Q to a 'charge skill'. Make Soraka Q to be a channeling skill just like Xerath or Varus Q.
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Xerath/Varus Q charging → increased range
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Soraka Q charging → increased projectile speed
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2. More rewarding:
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Get extra HP for Q distance traveled. The longer Q travels more heal Soraka can get. Increase the amount of heal Soraka gets based on missing % HP and Q distance traveled. Linear increase or get the extra bonus heal only if it travels certain minimum distance.
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The sweet spot (the center with ↑dmg and slow) gets larger the longer Q travels. Make the sweet spot to be small at close range and larger as Q gets farther away from Soraka.
Current W problem:
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High HP cost
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Short W range
Possible changes:
- Give a unique passive to Soraka's R, where each level of R will decrease W's cost by 1% and/or increase range by 15. e.g. LVL 2 R will decrease W cost by 2% and increase range by 30.
Current E problem:
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Long range and high damage. Too much offensive capabilities.
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Very unreliable snare/root.
Possible changes:
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Decrease range and damage.
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E AOE zone slows enemies or speeds up allies by 10~20%.
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E AOE zone can be manually 'closed' just like Lux's E after 1~1.25 second.
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Q + E combo system (will make Raka OP?)
- E zone will renew Q slow duration. Enemy with Q slow with .5 sec left walk into E → Q slow duration becomes 2 sec again.
- Remove E second proc. Enemy that gets hit by Q on E gets rooted.
My thoughts/reasoning: (you can skip this section)
Q
I actually really like varying Q projectile speed. This is a very interesting skillshot mechanic and I think this is the only skillshot with a varying projectile speed. It was really interesting and exciting to see a curving skillshot when Diana first came out. I felt the same excitment when I saw Soraka's new Q mechanic. I am really happy with Q skillshot mechanic and would like Riot to keep the varying projectile speed.
However, because it is so slow at the max range, enemies (with brain) can easily dodge it. Because of slow speed at a long range, Q becomes more of a 'prediction skillshot', which I don't mind. You have to use Q where you predict where your opponent will move to, but I think it is quite easy to dodge current Q skill.
To increase 'hit rate', I think simply increasing the speed at the Q max range would work. Another way might be to remove Q casting time, but I am not sure if it will work as I think it will and really increase the hit rate. If the current casting time is 0.5 second, removing Q cast time will make Q to land 0.5 second faster. I think this will increase the accuracy of the 'prediction' skillshot. As Soraka currently has slow base movement speed, I think Soraka's survivability can also greatly increase when Soraka has to run away from a melee bruiser as Soraka will not have to stop to cast Q when running away. Soraka will try to land Q to proc slow effect on the bruiser to run away, but when a melee bruiser is right in your face, stopping to cast Q will give the opponent to land auto attack or skill to land a killing blow while casting Q.
Making Soraka to 'charge' Q to increase the speed might be another way. Though I don't know if it will feel like Soraka, I think this could be an interesting new skill mechanic implementation into LOL game. Soraka will be charging Q just like Xerath, Varus, or Vi, but instead of increasing the skill distance, charging will increase the Q projectile speed. Making 'charged' Q to have a higher projectile speed at a long range could be another way.
Nidalee Q gives a great rewarding feeling of hitting at a long range as Q dmg gets increased the longer it travels. However, Soraka Q used at a close range and at a long range have everything the same except the projectile speed. Soraka Q just gets slower and harder to hit. You don't get any 'reward' for hitting enemies at a long range with a slower projectile. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
For hitting enemies with a 'harder' skillshot, I feel you should get more 'reward'. I don't think Soraka should get a higher damage, but should get a better 'utility' for hitting Q at a long range with slower projectile. Giving extra heal or making it easier to slow enemies with a larger sweet spot will make max range Q to feel more rewarding.
Making Q easier to hit will make Soraka to become a lower skill cap champion. Making Q at a long range to become more rewarding will make Soraka to become a higher skill cap champion. I don't want Soraka to become an easier champion to play than as it is now. I would prefer Soraka to have some skill cap and a unique skill mechanic. I would prefer if a change focused on making Q to feel more rewarding. However, Q is definitely hard to land at max range, so a buff to increase Q hit rate will definitely help.
W
TBH I don't really have a problem with W, but it seems 'the community' feel W need some buff, so I am writing my suggestion. I am not happy with the skill, but it seemed 'ok' to me.
I don't think the range and cost should be changed for early game Soraka. I think W is in a pretty good place for the laning phase. Short W range gives a counter play to opponents. However, after the laning phase, where the games gets more focused into team fighting and grouping, because of W short range, it is very easy for Soraka to get hit by AOE/splash damages. It is also easy for enemies to change focus from another champion to Soraka. So to 'survive' in team fights, Soraka would like to build some tanky item (HP, armor, or MR), but will be punished by high W % cost. Any tanky item will increase effective HP cost of W. By giving scaling R passive that improves W skill, I think it will solve the high cost and short range heal.
E
Out of everything, Soraka's new E is the skill that frustrated the most. I was so excited for the rework, but one of the reasons I'm not currently playing the game is because of this skill. Slow Q projectile, low range W, high W cost, or whatever problem current Soraka has, I can deal with it. (⌐■_■)
I really think the second proc root CC is so hard to land and insanely unreliable unless it is a chain CC. It is so easy to just walk away from the zone. Yes, the AOE silence 'can' be freaking amazing in teamfights. However, unless it is a chain CC, just how often does this second proc really happen? The skill has a potential to be very good, but it is so easy to just walk out of the zone before it roots you. If the skill can be really good in 1 or 2 out of 10 times, but is almost useless in other times, I believe the skill is very unreliable and useless. There needs to be some changes to increase the proc rate of 'root'. Before talking about possible 'buffs', I will start with a discussion on nerfing the range and damage of E.
For dmg and range, I'm asking for a nerf instead of a buff. First of all, why is the total damages of E so high? Is this for ks? I don't think E needs such a high base dmg. I also do not think E should have such a long range. E can be used as more of an offensive skill due to the long range. However, Soraka should be more reactionary defensive champion. E should be used to 'protect' champions around her. An E range nerf would be appropriate to tone down her offensive capabilities. These are just my opinions based on my gameplay.
I also read several interesting Soraka play style in korean forums. I have not tried this play style. According to some high ELO Korean Soraka players' guides, they are maxing E first as a support Soraka with some offensive runes. As E has a long range and high base damage, they are saying you are able to 'poke' and trade damages. Many times you are just able to do free dmgs against enemies with long range E. (Kind of a similar way E was used with pre-rework Soraka until the nerf) As E is an AOE skill, unlike Q skillshot that can be dodged, E is much more reliable, and it is a better skill even after the laning phase. Also if you max W, you are just relying on your ADC to do dmg to enemies, but with E , Soraka is able to do a good amount of dmgs to enemies too. I don't know if this is just a different way of playing Soraka or another way of abusing long range high damage E. It is cool that Soraka has a poke skill, but I think the poking offensive skill should be Q instead of E.
Going back to the root proc rate, I think E is really is at a laughable state. It is soooo easy to just walk away from the E area. I've seen so many cases where enemies would not even try to walk around E zone and just walk straight across E. They know it takes so long for it to disappear and there's almost no penalty of just walking straight across the zone in "some cases". I really think enemies that walk across E should be slowed by 1020%. I'll be just happy with even 10% slow (maybe). If I can 'close' the zone after 11.25 second by pressing E again to root enemies on the zone, that will be fantastic, but I think the skill might become OP if rooting becomes too consistent. AOE silence skill with a high proc rate can be a very strong initiating skill if it can be used offensively. This is another reason why I think the range and damage should be nerfed if the root proc rate does go up.
When you want to root an enemy with E, there are two reasons. To catch someone or to run away from someone. So you are either using E's root offensively or defensively. When used offensively, Soraka E is usually a follow up chain CC of another CC. When used defensively, the root is to disengage by creating a distance between you and the enemy. Instead of relying on very low root proc rate, the distance could also be created if allies that walks on the zone can move 10~20% faster. As increasing root proc rate could increase Soraka's offensive capabilities, allowing allies to just move fast on the zone could increase Soraka's defensive/disengage potential. If the E movement speed buff used only as a tool to engage on enemies, I think Soraka will be wasting a great AOE skill that could be used in team fights.
Another way to make E root more reliable is through Q + E interaction system. Q slow duration is 2 seconds. Enemies that walk onto E with Q slow will get the duration renewed. Instead of giving a direct AOE slow on E, only people that were hit by the sweet spot will have a higher chance of getting rooted. Another combo system might be to just delete the whole second E damage and proc feature. Make enemies to get rooted only if they are hit by Q on E. (After writing, I realized this is just like Singed W + E combo in PBE)
I personally don't care about Q and W buffs (though I would love it). I really want E rooting to become more reliable as the current E rooting is ridiculously unreliable. If you guys have any feedback or a better way to change Soraka, I would love to hear it!
Disclaimer :
I'm just another regular player. I know a lot about pre-rework Soraka, but I still don't know a lot about new Soraka. As I like Soraka, there definitely will be some bias in this post. My suggestions are based on live server Soraka. These are just my suggestions after playing some Soraka games. If you have a different suggestion, please comment it. I would love to see it.
