So, Soraka can't break meta anymore?

Wofye·Dec 21, 2014·14 votes·2,880 views

No more Raka mid or even top? Must she be pigeonholed into support only? My friend had a lot of fun playing soraka as a jungler. Many supports can successfully solo lane and do well, why can't Soraka anymore?

Not only that, she is the only support who cannot defend herself, Sona, Janna, Lulu, Braum , etc all have something to defend themselves with and run away, but raka has slow base movement speed and no escapes or reliable cc.

Maybe it's just me, what do you guys think?

41 Comments

MrSlowDieDec 21, 20149 votes

because rito want "strategic diversity"

SaiannaDec 21, 20141 votes

what's that? I've never seen it in LoL

AbyssphereDec 21, 20145 votes

I do agree that she's been too pigeon-holed into supporting. I wouldn't quite say she has no escape but it only comes down to throwing Equinox below herself really.

DrCyanideDec 21, 20144 votes

She's about as well suited for a solo lane as Braum. She's crazy good as a healer though (at least, before the latest patch. Haven't seen as much of her since).

Rinky DinkyDec 21, 20143 votes

The last patch was a buff to people who can land q. A 5 man q with 200 AP will give 1000 hp back if you are low enough.

She needs tear now for mana sustain however. It gives her alot of good stats, and the shield active is great for her.

Buying a frozen heart with give you even more power. She is still the best healer. That aoe silence is amazing too.

Remlap1223Dec 21, 20142 votes

Then why was her AA damage nerfed? The only thing that did was reduce her poke capabilities and make people who played AD Soraka QQ. Riot says that they're only nerfing for said reasons, but a lot of extra nerfs come packaged in that nobody wanted, needed, or asked for.

Emperor of ArimaDec 21, 20143 votes

If you're playing AD Soraka, you're playing non-meta right? The most fun thing about being non-meta is making the 'unviable' work with the use of sheer skill (unless you're just a troll). That being said, for the meta heads, there's no reason for a support, especially one that doesn't scream 'I should auto attack' to have AD so high that it competes with some of the great bruisers and damage dealers in the game, healer and high AD don't even go together thematically... As for the non-meta thinkers... Having high AD just makes it too easy. :p

Remlap1223Dec 21, 20141 votes

No, the most fun thing about breaking the meta is using an unorthodox build that is viable to crush your opponents by building and playing unpredictably. AP MF is a stellar example of this. When facing MF, people expect her Q and AAs to hurt like a mother, not her E and ultimate. What made AD Soraka fun was the fact that you had a huge leg up in terms of AA damage, but your DPS scaling was terrible, and building her AD meant no sustain. After her rework, her AD build actually became more viable due to her Q's innate sustain, and allowed you to hilariously zone, bully, and AA your opponents to death.

As for support Soraka, because Soraka's peeling capabilities are lackluster compared to most supports, she made up for it by having some scary zoning and poking capabilities with beefy autoattacks and huge AOE. Taking away the AA damage means less poke. So your arguments are completely invalid.

Kowe The EwokDec 21, 20142 votes

She would be fine if silence actually worked. In 7 out of 10 cases enemies still cast ~0.75s after having the silence smybol above their head. He silence currently is useless since it simply doesn't work properly.

Duke AnaxDec 21, 20141 votes

I think that's just timing, if they start casting before the silence hit, they will finish it. unlike stun, which actually stops the cast.

Im not sure if thats intended to be this way though.

Teridax68Dec 21, 20142 votes

For some champions, Soraka among them, the choice comes to this: would you rather have champion X be able to thrive in multiple different lanes and/or the jungle, or would you rather they be the best they can be at their primary role? Soraka has a clear set of strengths and weaknesses, and all of them hinge on her allies: she's the best healer in the game, and can keep allies topped up even against heavy burst or sustained damage, but also puts herself at heavy risk and dies quickly to focus. Her weakness to hard engages is what makes her killable in teamfights, and what allows her to have the phenomenal healing and supporting power she has. Toning this power down just to make her a better solo lane pick makes little sense, just as it doesn't make much sense to make the game's most selfless champion a competent solo laner when most of her abilities are geared towards helping her team.

It's also worth noting that the only reason Soraka was (briefly) a viable solo laner is because of how abusive she was. Her old Q let her zone out the enemy laner practically for free, and her long-duration, point-and-click E silence gave her free and oppressive harass, particularly against casters. Focusing her didn't work well either, because she frequently built like a bruiser and could make herself super-tanky with the armor on her old W. She was viable in solo lane for all the wrong reasons, and that solo lane power ended up costing her a lot of her supporting strength, prior to her rework.

Linna ExcelDec 21, 20141 votes

Based on the number of fans she had top/mid before she became OP, I think riot should have kept her as a multirole champ and created a new primary healer that went full ret*rd in healing.

Teridax68Dec 21, 20141 votes

Considering Soraka was, and still is, the only champion in the game with two ally-oriented heals (and one of them's a global ult), I don't think it would have made sense for anyone else but her to be the game's best healer. Healing is what she has always been best known for, so if it would really be worth having a solo lane caster with strong healing power, I think that would have to go to another champion (though Sona sort of fits the bill, what with her multi-target healing power, great poke and generous AP scalings).

Linna ExcelDec 21, 20141 votes

Except her heal was on a long CD before and wasn't spammable. What riot should have done was create a new champ based around soraka's new W instead of trying to work soraka around it.

Teridax68Dec 21, 20141 votes

That's more of a technicality, though: Soraka's old heal had a long cooldown because it had no real cost (Soraka could easily manage it even when it cost 160 mana a pop), and in general its gameplay was never really that interesting. Riot tried to shoehorn a bit of clutch-saving power with her old Salvation passive (heal more on low-health targets) and the short-duration armor buff her heal gave, but in the end it still made her really passive as a support and muddied the counterplay against her (she's meant to be fragile and vulnerable on her own, but that wasn't always the case when she could heal and armor up on demand). Soraka's new W is what her old W should have been right from the start, and I'm happy for the massive power and gameplay it provides.

I also feel Soraka's kit was always worked around her heal(s). Prior to her rework, her Q got an increasingly large amount of power shifted into her heal by reducing her W's cooldown upon damaging enemy champions, and she had less CC and alternate utility than other supports just because healing took up so much of her power budget. Her old Q also made very little sense, as it forced her to get up close to her enemies for extended periods of time as a (theoretically) squishy caster support. Looking at her kit now, it just looks like the kind of power Soraka should have been about from the very beginning, whereas her brief stint as a mid-range bruiser mage never really fit her, her theme or her gameplay.

Linna ExcelDec 21, 20142 votes

I think her old hit revolved around her E and her new one around her Q.

Linna ExcelDec 21, 20142 votes

This was intentional because as always, morello hates soraka.

Bears Dont CareDec 21, 20141 votes

Context needed.

Spark Miku MikuDec 21, 20141 votes

well... if you want your silence to work on someone you need to also hit the center of the q on them... I know, because I play mid soraka.... uh, the thing about it is that when you get ulted by zed.. you immediately e on top of yourself while shooting q and then walk away.... if you're building to counter zed and already have a bit of armor and decent health... you'll survive... team fights become more difficult because you deal damage and heal well... and slow

Meep ManDec 21, 20141 votes

Well, is this a bad thing? Isn't it good to have at least a few dedicated role champions?

WofyeDec 21, 20141 votes

[{quoted}](name=Inept Maverick,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=VzHwBeA3,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2014-12-21T02:56:41.468+0000)

Well, is this a bad thing? Isn't it good to have at least a few dedicated role champions?

I personally don't believe that being capable of doing one other thing will deny her supporting role. No, it's not a "Bad" thing. I'm just sad. I used to successfully mid as Raka and it was really cool, and I had that taken away from me, it's so much harder now with minus one passive, and minus one ability (W is useless to you, it only serves to add unto an already existing ability in solo lane)

Linna ExcelDec 21, 20141 votes

[{quoted}](name=Inept Maverick,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=VzHwBeA3,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2014-12-21T02:56:41.468+0000)

Well, is this a bad thing? Isn't it good to have at least a few dedicated role champions?

Depends on the role and how fun it is. A common complaint about the new soraka is she isn't fun to play or play again. She's worse anti-fun than before.

Duke AnaxDec 21, 20141 votes

She can't do some of the things she used to do, but that is a good thing, because old Soraka was a Bruiser.

However doesn't mean she is bad in Solo lane, quite the opposite in fact. She counters most assassins and is pretty save against a lot of melee champs.

And with her new ratios, when build AP she doesn't need to level her self heal to get decend sustain.

I usually start with two levels in starcall for waveclear (For goodness sake, don't try to last hit with her) then max equinox.

Build Tear and Morello, then shove the enemy out of lane and go gank.

EffectFXDec 21, 20141 votes

I'm fine with her being pigeon holed into support, her previous kit was either way too strong (on top of being straight up annoying) in solo lanes so they had to nerf it to the point where she became even worse at support.

SukishooDec 21, 20141 votes

I still play her in solo. She's perfectly fine on her own.

TakhuanDec 21, 20141 votes

Her silence is so badass now.

Knight SoIaire Dec 21, 20141 votes

yeah then look at other supports who can also solo lane leona is a tank ... all the trades he will do will result in enemy running away and slowly outscaling her braum is the same , blitz has too big downtimes ... thresh is too squishy while guys like raka and lulu were able to both win the lane and compete as a support and as a laner at the same
which caused problems

so if you could chose which would you get raka being playable mid top and jungle but not as a support and nerfed to a level of urgot or raka support who is healthy and only playable on botlane ?

EndGamer11Dec 21, 20141 votes

She NEEDS to be able to heal herself somehow. Make it use 10% of her mana and 20 HP, put it on a 30 second cooldown, I don't care. Oftentimes as Support raka even I find myself running from an enemy thinking "gee golly willikers it would sure be great to have 350 more hp right now"

PentaJumpDec 21, 20141 votes

Have you tried solo laning her? I only did it in a game where people were way beneath my skill, but it seemed alright. Max q, get double Morellos, and you have stupidly great range wave clear. You could potentially use the range to poke down your opponent. Her silence can protect you against a lot of mids, so that you hopefully won't get 100-0'd.

The Stoic HeroDec 21, 20141 votes

I remember when Janna was a viable mid lane mage, but she has been nerfed to the point of a pigeonholed support as well.

I am not a huge fan of Soraka's rework either. She was the support I played least, but I always had fun with her in ARAM. I was finally going to buy her, but I was glad I did not. Such a shame too.

NarasimhaDec 21, 20142 votes

Janna's was justified though. It was literally a case of "Oh, she's charging her Q? Well there goes my entire minion wave."

The Stoic HeroDec 21, 20141 votes

Back when ADCs could clear a minion wave faster than her charge time, it was not all that too impressive. It was one of her strengths that other supports and mages did not have, wave clear. It really made her feel unique(along with shielding towers) and made up for her only having two damaging spells.

Honestly, they should give the slow back to her ult, or give it damage. As well as fix her new splash art.

Maxlmum LeBrokenDec 21, 20141 votes

many supports? wait what? LOL

ThubanDec 21, 20141 votes

I played new Raka mid to counter a Katarina before. She didn't get anywhere either, I followed her everywhere. Trolling Katarina mains 101. It was glorious.

iluvalarDec 21, 20141 votes

What are you talking about ? Riot just buffed her ap ratio, top raka is back in buisness. Actualy, her worst role is support right now since she need so much gold to buy her AP.

o Mim oDec 21, 20141 votes

Starcall can do a lot of damage if building AP, and will also slow the target if you land it to the center of your enemy. Equinox not only silences, but if timed right, and if you lead the target correctly, it will stun them as well giving you an escape. I wouldn't play her in any other lane than support, but I can't see why she couldn't hold her own against a mid laner if you played safely. A few successful ganks may be in order, but over all she's still pretty powerful IMHO. Soraka

TruelyTrueTruethJun 6, 20171 votes

that was 2 years ago

now she is weak asf she can only be played in the support role now plus her heals dont even do as much as it used to and they destroyed her damage output she barely deals any damage now she can only do damage for the first few levels and then her damage just stops and she has the shittiest ap scalings ever like seriously wtf she used to be my all time favorite support even before the reworked soraka where her star call was spam able but they nerfed her so hard that she isnt even that good anymore i have now went to playing that busted as lulu

WofyeDec 21, 20141 votes

I tried her mid and I did pretty okay, I suppose, but, her silence still seems very weak to me.

With the old Raka her harass was insanely good, and the MR(or was it armor?) shred and heal gave her amazing sustain and a bit of tanky capability, I don't think it was necessarily OP, it made her fun, it lets you know that its okay to break meta because she can do this and that. (Like lulu, or sona, or jannas ridiculous waveclear + aa poke with her shield). But with the new raka, I feel much more defensless and I often find myself avoiding mid-close distance cause its terrifying.

With her silence, its almost impossible to get a full duration silence and the root off, because anyone who has any amount of movement speed will step over or out of it, as well as it being kind of small and now having a ridiculously high cooldown, in team fights I do manage to get the root or more than a split second silence, but only because the target has been cc'd in it by another teammate. . . wouldn't that make the skill redundant then?

I really miss old Raka, she was much more fun, I agree with the some who said they should have made a new champion who is just a healer. My friend misses jungling as her as well.

Leaf on BushJun 6, 20171 votes

Not only that, she is the only support who cannot defend herself, Sona, Janna, Lulu, Braum , etc all have something to defend themselves with and run away, but raka has slow base movement speed and no escapes or reliable cc.

Well thats just not true. Soraka can beat most of the supports that are not damage focused 1v1, since in a battle where both sides have low damage, the constant slow from Q + selfheal wins. (I am assuming that you put a few points in Q first, since i think thats most reasonable if you want to be usefull)

You can escape with Q+E (btw you should never throw away your E as single spell unless you absolutely have to or just want to stop a channeled spell always chain it with your Q or allied spells) and you then cast out of range Q's that your pursuers run into. There are very few champions that have enough mobility to catch up with that. Despite her slow base movement speed Soraka is actually very good at kiting.

So even the enemies with the highest damage would slowly die if you play correctly. Soraka doesn't have a lot of potential to chase down kills herself, but if she is getting chased she can deal quite a lot of damage while being relatively safe.

About breaking the meta, there are some very easy match ups, especially melee assassins or more squishy melee fighters like Riven. But Sorakas main weaknesses are :

her lack of abilities to get cs under tower,
her low AD coupled with extremely slow traveling bananas make last hitting very hard

You can't consistently carry many games with a "mage approach", you often

have to transition into some kind of support to be efficient and thats kinda tricky to be support while being assigned to a solo lane.

If you are constantly getting pushed in you would

rely on your team to have any chance of breaking out and having a chance to make an impact.

Other champions get tons of damage as the game progresses and become a lot more threating to you and you simply cannot face them anymore at some point. The heal over time from Q that was strong in laning phase just wont be enough anymore so you would end up ulting in an attempt to 1v1 somebody and that on its own is a waste and probably won't be enough either.

I don't even care that Soraka isn't truly viable as support, I think it's totally OK that she is pure support. However many players don't know how to handle a solo lane Soraka, so you kinda have the surprise effect on your side should you play it.

At any rate you might be right that she is sub-optimal as solo laner but definitely not for the reasons you mentioned at first. Your options are winning early or becoming a strong support or both. ;D Carrying late game with Starcalls is unlikey to happen....very.

So long...

Akali is SO HOTJun 6, 20171 votes

A healer can really never be allowed to be able to solo lane. Supports in general can't really be allowed to solo lane. Supports are balanced around being relevant without needing a ton of gold and being able to solo lane gives them vastly more gold than they usually have which completely puts them over the top. You can look at solo lane Lulu and Season 2 Janna for reference.

FeelsCampedManJun 6, 20171 votes

Lol Prework solo lane soraka was one of the most cancerous things in this game Good thing she can't Undodgeable Q spam Shoves out the entire wave while shredding your MR and outtrading you in addition to having a no cost targetted silence