the time is almost upon us fellow soraka mains when soraka gets nerfed to the ground again

CasterGilgamesh·Sep 7, 2015·92 votes·8,605 views

Champion.gg - Soraka Support Stats, Builds, Runes, Masteries and Counters

soraka has a 8.38% play rate riot as we all know riot hates her almost as much as sona so she will probably get nerf hammered to the ground all from getting played just a few times competitively RIP. like seriously riot nerfed her out of every solo lane then nerfed her in duo lane with Insanely low health regen lol and lets give a shout out to other champions that keep getting nerf hammered meanwhile barely gets hit by any nerfs

176 Comments

LadyRenlySep 7, 201538 votes

You can't honestly expect people to focus Soraka because she deals no damage!

5000000000000000Sep 7, 20158 votes

Wards don't do damage, why should I get sightstone?

Ariel the CruelSep 7, 20159 votes

You joke, But I've seen this genuinely asked before.

Only Play DariusSep 7, 201560 votes

Well according to the Geneva convention you aren't supposed to shoot at medics. Maybe people are just trying to play a civilized game.

manbearswineSep 7, 20154 votes

{quoted}

You can't honestly expect people to focus Soraka because she deals no damage!

You can't expect people to focus the support as they are generally low priority targets,when a support becomes a high priority target then something is wrong.

IcyPepperSep 7, 201526 votes

I don't think a support being a high priority target is a bad thing.

Unlike other supports, Soraka has no hard engage. She can't lead a fight. As a trade-off, she becomes a priority target in teamfights. You kill her, the enemy team loses a lot of their safety. The team has to protect her as well as the carries, since she doesn't have any cc outside of a silence and occasionally a slow. No peel for banana girl.

FantasySniperSep 7, 20156 votes

Would you call that a healthy playstyle, though? Having to force the enemy team to focus an extra opponent when usually that tactic is completely impractical?

IcyPepperSep 7, 201520 votes

Yes, as long as there's not too many supports that force that behavior, making Soraka one of the few (if not the) dedicated healer of league.

Soraka cannot dive your team like Leona can, she can't knock up your entire team like Braum can (or shield huge projectiles), she doesn't have the lock-down or the catching-out of Thresh/Blitz/Nautilus, and she doesn't provide any buffs outside of healing and items like Sona, Karma, Taric (although he's not the greatest example, rework ahoy!), or even Lulu if you count her E and ult.

It may be annoying to some, but Soraka is special in that regard. She's typically squishy as hell to boot, so she's not exactly the hardest to kill if you can get to her (which is the hard part). Since she isn't a tank support, early/mid game she's pretty vulnerable if you catch her out. Don't let her play passively, that's what she wants.

OrisiSep 8, 20156 votes

Agreed, I have this issue a lot in lane as a support main. Everyone feels it is counter-intuitive to focus Soraka in-lane early, because they don't actually understand the effect her kit has. She has little peel and little self-heal and is very squishy early on. An engage support can help make short work of her, and then you're 2v1 against their adc to either finish the engage or just push them out of lane. She WANTS you to focus her adc so she can stand back and heal the crap outta them and make you waste everything.

But nah, we'll just keep doing that because the supports not a threat. It's not like she's worth gold or anything.

IcyPepperSep 8, 20155 votes

A Caitlyn can net away.

A Jinx can lay down traps and zap you.

Ezreal can blink.

Vayne can condemn and tumble.

Soraka can... put down a silence aoe that you can walk out of, or heal herself a little bit with her Q (which won't deal much damage to you pre-6, since most of them level W first). Soraka's main option when caught out or focused is to run the hell away, which talisman helps with but she doesn't have any huge peel of her own.

FantasySniperSep 9, 20153 votes

Woah the downvote spam. I just legit asked a question and got a satisfying answer, why's everyone gotta think it was a stupid question?

IcyPepperSep 9, 20154 votes

Because people disagreed that it's an impractical tactic, I guess?

I didn't bother downvoting you at all, but I do hope my answer was satisfying enough anyway :/

AbyssphereSep 7, 20157 votes

{quoted}

Would you call that a healthy playstyle, though? Having to force the enemy team to focus an extra opponent when usually that tactic is completely impractical?

I don't really get why it would be unhealthy. A champion making you play a game differently should be (and is) encouraged as long as the new way to play isn't unhealthy. And I can't think of anything inherently unfun/problematic about focusing the support. As long as you have just reward for doing that, it's fine, and you absolutely get that with Soraka because the reason you ignore most supports is because they blow the majority of their power near-instantly - by the time you kill them they don't care if they die. But Soraka's impact is delayed enough due to her sustained healing that there's actually something to be gained by killing her.

Do not think that you ignore supports because they're weak, they're not. Their impact on team fights can be just as big as that of the ADC and if they all had sustained impact as Soraka does, there'd be an argument to focus each and every one of them. Presently people ignore supports because they generally burn their ults and other important moves quickly, so you're not stopping the enemy team doing anything important by killing them. But killing a Soraka before she's had the time to dish out 5+ heals? That leads to her team falling apart at the seams.

Soraka is absolutely strange to play against but strange isn't inherently bad. You have to play differently against her but if you do, you're heavily rewarded. I don't see a problem in that.

VDc0zCqe0wSep 7, 201519 votes

{quoted}

You can't expect people to focus the support as they are generally low priority targets,when a support becomes a high priority target then something is wrong.

pfffffffft, just embrace the cute spacegoat already

manbearswineSep 7, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=Puffball Reborn,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=000000020001,timestamp=2015-09-07T19:51:14.767+0000)

pfffffffft, just embrace the cute spacegoat already

That cancerous piece of shit isn't cute.

VDc0zCqe0wSep 7, 20157 votes

{quoted}

That cancerous piece of shit isn't cute.

but she is, look at those hoofs

on a more serious note i can't win with her idk why, maybe i'm just bad

i mean she doesn't roam for shit what i'm supposed to do if the opposing support starts to make some plays around the map? Ultimate helps but it's barely enough most of the times

Infinite DapsSep 8, 20157 votes

Let's talk about supports that are high priority Annie Fiddlesticks Galio Heimerdinger Maokai (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD Mordekaiser ) Morgana Nunu Orianna Shen Velkoz Zyra Lux At one time or another I've seen all of these champs played as supports that definitely need to be focused because they are pretty much mid laner #2

manbearswineSep 8, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Going To Feed,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=000000020002,timestamp=2015-09-08T00:03:37.053+0000)

Let's talk about supports that are high priority (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD ) At one time or another I've seen all of these champs played as supports that definitely need to be focused because they are pretty much mid laner #2

Only one here who is a high priority support is fiddle,and that guy is paper which jumps in the middle of your team,every other one here is low priority,what kind of moron would focus support lux when the enemy has a mid laner with no sightstone and more gold than she does?

How the hell are tanks like shen/mao/galio high priority,you're not even trying with this nonsense.

Infinite DapsSep 8, 20156 votes

Shen does enough damage and will be considerable if he hits enough of your team with the taunt you're done for. AP Galio once he gets going is death itself. Lux will 100 to 0 you with a good combo and AP build as well as Annie. Mao......okay that one was a long shot.

manbearswineSep 8, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Going To Feed,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=00000002000200000000,timestamp=2015-09-08T11:46:49.121+0000)

Shen does enough damage and will be considerable if he hits enough of your team with the taunt you're done for.

So does leona with her ult,so you position yourself that he won't hit you all,you don't focus the tank.

AP Galio once he gets going is death itself.

No he isn't,what the hell is this nonsense?

Lux will 100 to 0 you with a good combo and AP build as well as Annie.

Except that here's the thing: THEY DON'T HAVE THE GOLD,what kind of moron would focus support lux over a mid viktor? or a mid kog maw? or a mid ANYTHING?! Why would anyone who isn't braindamaged prioritize lux with support items and sighstone over her adc? are you seriously suggesting enemy assassins at a start of a fight all jump on shen? do you even understand what priority is?

Mao......okay that one was a long shot.

Oh please,he fits with this bunch perfectly,and makes as much sense as everyone here,that is no sense whatsoever.

KING OF MASKSSep 8, 20156 votes

They will have the gold if they go 4/0 in lane and build straight AP. There's a reason Annie Lux Velkoz go bot disguised as "support"; it's because you can't get easy double kills in the mid lane.

manbearswineSep 8, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=KING OF MASKS,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=0000000200020000000000000000,timestamp=2015-09-08T17:47:46.822+0000)

They will have the gold when they go 4/0 in lane and build straight AP.

Only if their opponent is shit.

There's a reason go bot disguised as "support"; it's because you can't get easy double kills in the mid lane.

Except that they rarely do.

KING OF MASKSSep 8, 20156 votes

Why bother replying if you're just going to spew utterly useless arguments?

"only if their opponent is shit" -- well no, it's quite possible for a carry support to, with the aid of their ADC, outplay reasonably skilled opponents one or two times during the laning phase. It doesn't mean their opponents were shit, it just means that they played better.

"except that they rarely do" -- you got some numbers to back that up? Fact of the matter is, it's entirely possible for a carry support (like Vel'Koz for example, with whom I've had quite a bit of success and who boasts a very comfortable ~52% win rate) to get a kill or two early and start snowballing, becoming a priority target (in some cases a higher priority target than the mid laner, if he/she does poorly in comparison).

Even if such occurrences are relatively rare, as you say (a pointless assertion, since there's pretty much no way to actually prove this; I cited win rates for VK, but that's obviously not the best metric), you've already admitted the possibility exists.

manbearswineSep 8, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=KING OF MASKS,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=000000020002000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2015-09-08T18:47:45.456+0000)

Why bother replying if you're just going to spew utterly useless arguments?

I wouldn't know,I suggest you ask yourself that.

"only if their opponent is shit" -- well no, it's quite possible for a carry support to, with the aid of their ADC, outplay reasonably skilled opponents one or two times during the laning phase. It doesn't mean their opponents were shit, it just means that they played better.

Yes but you acted as if it's a guarantee,no,it's not,and in fact it's much more likely that they will instead get crushed by skilled opponents,there's a reason they rarely get picked.

If you are telling me fed brand/zyra/lux support becomes a priority that's a fair statement,it makes sense that if somebody gets a big lead he will start changing the way the game usually flows,however nobody said here "if soraka goes 10/0 in lane she should be focused" that would actually be fair,but that's not what is being said here.

"except that they rarely do" -- you got some numbers to back that up? Fact of the matter is, it's entirely possible for a carry support (like Vel'Koz for example, with whom I've had quite a bit of success and who boasts a very comfortable ~52% win rate) to get a kill or two early and start snowballing, becoming a priority target (in some cases a higher priority target than the mid laner, if he/she does poorly in comparison).

Yes,I call them "0 competitive presence"(also considered bad by high elo players),these guys "work" because they aren't played enough for people to get used to the matchup,and they aren't played enough because they are for the most part poor picks.

Even if such occurrences are relatively rare, as you say (a pointless assertion, since there's pretty much no way to actually prove this; I cited win rates for VK, but that's obviously not the best metric), you've already admitted the possibility exists.

I don't mind the possibility being there,they also fall into uselessness if they are steamrolled instead(which again,is the more likely scenario if experienced players are involved),but point is they become priority if they achieve something rare which also justifies them being a priority,no such claim is made for soraka.

KING OF MASKSSep 8, 20156 votes

{quoted} Yes but you acted as if it's a guarantee,no,it's not

You're correct, I misspoke. Amended my earlier post.

If it comes down to a difference of elo, then fair enough. You're plat, I'm unranked; not much else to say. But I hesitate to completely rule out carry supports from competitive play.

AMYS GRAVESep 9, 20154 votes

There are plenty of supports who are high priority targets through just utility.

manbearswineSep 9, 20152 votes

{quoted}

There are plenty of supports who are high priority targets through just utility.

nope,there's not a single support in the game where an assassin would go "screw the adc and the mid laner,I'm jumping the support".

for soraka to be the only one to cause that is absurd.

AMYS GRAVESep 9, 20155 votes

If you think supports can't have more of an impact on teamfights than the ADC or mid laner you really don't understand this game. Try using your brain before your mouth.

manbearswineSep 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

If you think supports can't have more of an impact on teamfights than the ADC or mid laner you really don't understand this game. Try using your brain before your mouth.

If you think the support should be prioritized over carries then you don't have the sligthest clue on how this game works,maybe listen to what people with a brain tell you to do,as you clearly don't have one.

AMYS GRAVESep 9, 20153 votes

You've clearly never seen a team fight changing sona/nami/lulu ult, or a clutch heal/shield, or that CC that's keeping them off of your team, or that peel to keep that suicidal vayne alive long enough to get that penta, or.... No, you only notice teh damerges. If it doesn't do teh damerges = ignore.

manbearswineSep 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

You've clearly never seen a team fight changing sona/nami/lulu ult, or a clutch heal/shield, or that CC that's keeping them off of your team, or that peel to keep that suicidal vayne alive long enough to get that penta, or.... No, you only notice teh damerges. If it doesn't do teh damerges = ignore.

Yes,in all of the thousands of games I've played support I have never seen that. /s

It doesn't matter,nobody said they are worthless and should be ignored,but they are not the biggest focus in a fight,and they shouldn't be.

AMYS GRAVESep 10, 20153 votes

but they are not the biggest focus in a fight,and they shouldn't be.

You keep saying that with no discernible reason behind why that has to be the case. Why can't the support be the first priority target?

LowvyrSep 7, 20156 votes

{quoted}

You can't honestly expect people to focus Soraka because she deals no damage!

I mean come on it's only common sense to not focus the thing that does true damage to itself, making it an extremely easy to target to kill AND it heals it's teammates. Why focus that ahahahahahahahaha

(We really need a sarcasm font style.... I would like backwards italics.)

JedenVojakSep 7, 201512 votes

She needs to be able to self-cast her W, and her E needs to damage monsters. Then she can go back in the jungle where she belongs.

67570725_DELSep 8, 20155 votes

How about if her Q healed her from monsters? That would make Soraka jungle so viable. :) I'm a Soraka main and I'd love to see jungle Raka buffed.

Support EvelynnSep 8, 20154 votes

{quoted}

How about if her Q healed her from monsters? That would make Soraka jungle so viable. :) I'm a Soraka main and I'd love to see jungle Raka buffed.

I've always wanted this, roaming ambulance.

ProvengreilSep 8, 20156 votes

this would be absolute cancer (Speaking as a raka main).

Low on HP and the enemy laners can dodge Q? hike back, throw a Q at the krugs, we good bruh.

101100111000Sep 8, 20152 votes

Make it 1/3 effective against minions and monsters.

Zac x MeSep 7, 201510 votes

Because people can't right click Soraka OP.

TNHA BaritoneSep 7, 20156 votes

In all honesty, Soraka is a LITTLE strong. She prospers hard in some lanes and does subpar in others. I think she needs a **small **nerf and a a compensation. I feel like one side of her kit is extremely strong meanwhile the other side has very little impact (Her Equinox). But I doubt she is a **real **problem.

I dont think winrates are the direct reason they would nerf her, but it is impossible to see whether a champion needs changes without using statistics

CasterGilgameshSep 7, 20157 votes

i would like her heal to have lower base but have a really good Ap ratio and let her Equinox scale better and root faster riot wants to make her high risk by forcing her to go full AP since she has a 10% max health cost per heal

TNHA BaritoneSep 7, 20151 votes

I feel like she either should be able to spam heals but it should actually noticeably reduce her HP (we both know in lane she can spam that shit all she wants) OR~ She couldn't be able to spam it, and it just would take a lot of mana/little health. I prefer burst healing that spam healing ANYDAY. Cause right now...she is burst and spam healing. I love your idea. It would force people to be squishier to have better heals which would promote good positioning and counterplay into her kit. Either people should be able 2 play her tanky and have little heals or they build her squishy and have fat heals

CasterGilgameshSep 7, 20152 votes

i liked her old heal and how it gave armor

ZephyrDrakeSep 7, 20151 votes

{quoted}

i would like her heal to have lower base but have a really good Ap ratio and let her Equinox scale better and root faster riot wants to make her high risk by forcing her to go full AP since she has a 10% max health cost per heal

except that supports generally don't get much gold and this won't stop people from building item 3083 on her along with some extra HP. Warmogs is the main cause of Soraka's winrate rising since it makes her 10% health cost be irrelevant since all she has to do is reach 3k HP, not that hard to do at all since she has a 1855 base HP at lvl 18 and warmogs gives her 800 extra, so just add a few HP and AP items and you are done

Water BreathingSep 7, 20151 votes

Soraka makes good trade offs for building warmogs. First of all, if she wants it as soon as possible (Warmogs, Ruby SS, + more hp items) Not only will she be incredibly weak before she gets 3000 HP, but she will have limited CDR, poor mana regen, almost no utility items(no Mikaels, Zekes, etc.) do even less damage than AP/Utility Soraka and her heal in general will be very weak (plus Wish will heal like nothing with no AP)

Also very hard to keep the passive up against Aoe mages like Brand, Lux, Velkoz, Ziggs, etc.

Second, you have to understand that supports will rarely hit level 18 in an average game. I usually am level 13-14 by the time most games end (even when my team is ahead) At level 14, you need to specialize your build a lot to get a heal that goes above 300 HP (100 AP to break even). You also need to micro manage your build to stay at 3k HP as you level.

ZephyrDrakeSep 7, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Water Breathing,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OsuzIbLp,comment-id=0002000000010000,timestamp=2015-09-07T20:17:49.169+0000)

Soraka makes good trade offs for building warmogs. First of all, if she wants it as soon as possible (Warmogs, Ruby SS, + more hp items) Not only will she be incredibly weak before she gets 3000 HP, but she will have limited CDR, poor mana regen, almost no utility items(no Mikaels, Zekes, etc.) do even less damage than AP/Utility Soraka and her heal in general will be very weak (plus Wish will heal like nothing with no AP)

Also very hard to keep the passive up against Aoe mages like Brand, Lux, Velkoz, Ziggs, etc.

Second, you have to understand that supports will rarely hit level 18 in an average game. I usually am level 13-14 by the time most games end (even when my team is ahead) At level 14, you need to specialize your build a lot to get a heal that goes above 300 HP (100 AP to break even). You also need to micro manage your build to stay at 3k HP as you level.

"good trade-offs" she gets 1200 HP with only warmogs+sightone so all she needs is 1800 extra HP somewhere else. It's very easy to achieve and you don't need to "stay at 3k HP" you can overshoot it quite easily. Hell you can just start building item 3136 or some other random HP+AP item. You literally don't need to heal yourself at all for quite a while since warmogs is going to keep you healthy as long as you don't get hit so just stay safe for as long as possible while your team pokes the enemy. It's very easy to get some AP + HP since there are options for it and Soraka in general don't build pure AP anyways. You are not there to deal damage. You are there to heal and if you can heal yourself by stupid amounts with Warmogs guess what? that means more heals for you

Water BreathingSep 7, 20152 votes

Regular sightstone is only 150, so it would be 950 HP. She won't hit 3000HP with only Warmogs and regular sightone at any level. She would need to build Warmogs and Ruby Sightstone at level 18, but VERY rarely do supports get level 18 in games.

And even if you think you will get to level 18, you need to sit on the gold, because the build path actually hurts Soraka until you complete it. That's a lot of gold to just waste by sitting on it.

If you want it earlier, you need to specialize. Liandry's, Riyali's, Rod of Ages are all impratical and / or too expenisve to consider on Soraka. The slow passive is pretty bad on Soraka and Liandry's passive is next to worthless as well. Rod of Ages takes too long to stack.

Soraka isn't getting Crystal Scepter, Warmog's, and Banner of Command before level 14 realistically. Even if she did, she would have so much gold and her team would be so far ahead Soraka would have won anyway.

I would argue you need to stay at 3k HP if you want to be efficient. If you somehow get 3k HP at level 14-15 you'll be sitting on extra health that hurts your heal and efficiency when it isn't necessary.

FantasySniperSep 7, 20155 votes

That is not the reason why her win-rate is high. The real reason is Zeke's Harbringer, which makes her shadowing playstyle and AP ratios even more beneficial without having to buy an expensive Rabadon's.

ZephyrDrakeSep 7, 20153 votes

{quoted}

That is not the reason why her win-rate is high. The real reason is Zeke's Harbringer, which makes her shadowing playstyle and AP ratios even more beneficial without having to buy an expensive Rabadon's.

yeah... Zeke's is going to boost her AP as much as a Rabadon's sorry but what?

FantasySniperSep 7, 20157 votes

I didn't say it was as powerful as Rabadon's. You buy Zeke's at little under two-thirds the price of Rabadon's, boosting your carry and still getting an AP multiplier. So now instead of getting a raw singular stat for yourself, you've acquired an extremely efficient item for both you and your carry.