It's been a few days at least right? I want to try her out but I've been afraid to since I don't want to burden my team. I've seen once person play her and healed themselves close to death. Is there a consensus on her build yet?
AbyssionKnight5 votesI think her heal costs her too much of her health, and that the fact she's really defenseless on her own isn't amazing. I agree with assessments that Sona or Nami are ultimately better choices for healers since they bring more to the team than just raw healing.
Nagoh Shan4 votesHer Q is a wash, not really any better or worse than her old Q. It costs a freakish amount of mana though.
Her E and R are definitely better, by a good bit.
Her W is horrible and unfun, and leads to most of the bad situations she finds herself in. Insanely short range, high mana cost tacked onto a health cost. Can't outheal damage any better than any other heal in the game, and is actually worse than other heals when topping of health for lane sustain.
Her passive is unnoticeable. I have never once felt that it allowed me to do anything that wouldn't be accomplish-able with a W that had a sane range. It's only purpose, and it's stated purpose was to counter the range deficit when chasing down injured allies.
Basically ignore your W. It's an OOC heal for all intents and purposes. The only time it should be used in the middle of a fight is if your Q or E are on cooldown and will not be available in .6s or so. Your E is everything, your E is life. You can face tank, and you will because people will go after you first for hate of E, 3-4 enemies for a good 5 to 6 seconds if you have your E and R available. Hard CC will wreck your day, so Leona, Blitz, Thresh, Nami, and even Annie can all hard counter you. You do not hard counter anything, even assassins you simply make life more annoying for them.
Nami's teamfight ability will be higher. She may have about half the heal on her first bounce of ebb/flow, with her second heal bounce being almost as high at high AP values. The main thing is her ability to heal, damage, and prevent the use of allied abilities for as long as Soraka. Equinox is the majority of Soraka's power, but it has the exact same duration as Nami's Aqua prison. Both negate enemy ability for the same duration. Soraka does gain the advantage in this power for having a much higher damage, if you can get enemies to stay in it. Though Aqua Prison does have a 40% faster cooldown and lower mana cost, so that is probably up to preference.
Sona is another one that's capable of doing everything Soraka can well enough that Soraka's weaknesses are too much. Her heal/shield is well proven in teamfights, and i will always rather have Aria of Perseverance over Astral Infusion. She has the potential for really good damage, can sustain, has a more reliable movespeed buff that can be use when it would actually be helpful.
Basically, they tried so hard to make Soraka the "Best healer" that they gave her a sickening amount of weaknesses to the point where lesser heal values would be better because they are already known to work, and don't come with all the baggage that Soraka has to deal with. It's the silliest trap ever. Who cares if she can heal for 300HPS, when an ADC can deal well over that. Try to keep up with that damage, and now both your health bar and your teammate's are dropping and they only had to attack one enemy to get that result. You're better off adding your damage in, and just trying to forget you're a healer and going for the kill. All of Vesh's supposed "Bullshit moments" are available to other similar supports without the cost.
"Team engages! Oh no, we can't use our abilities...Damn you Soraka! Wait, that's Aqua prison. No big deal, carry on."
Not that it really matters, I think Vesh clocked out on Soraka, it's been over a week since he's responded to feedback on the changes IIRC. I think what we have is what we're getting, unfortunately.
JustMyBassCannon1 votesHer W is horrible and unfun, and leads to most of the bad situations she finds herself in. Insanely short range, high mana cost tacked onto a health cost. Can't outheal damage any better than any other heal in the game, and is actually worse than other heals when topping of health for lane sustain.
20-40 is a high mana cost for a heal? I'm looking at all the other heals, and I'm seeing 65-85, 60-100, 60-120, 60-140, 70-90, and 70-130. Soraka's only high-cost heal is Wish, which is 100 mana (matching the other ultimate-based heal, Monsoon, in cost)
I'll agree that the health cost is unfair, but the mana cost is almost nonexistent.
And it can't out-heal better than the other options? Base of 110-240, +60% of AP. Taric: 60-220 +30% AP +5% bonus HP, increased by 40% effectiveness if only on himself Sona: 25-105 +20% AP, increasing by +1% per 1% missing HP of the healed unit (up to 50-210 +40% AP) Kayle: 60-240 +45% AP Nami: 65-185 +30% AP, potentially could increase the bounced heal value if you have more than 200 AP Nidalee: 45-205 +50% AP Alistar: 30-90 +10% AP to allies, double that to himself
Oh, by the way, it has anywhere from half to one tenth the cooldown of those other options
I'm not going to say Soraka's rework is perfect from day 1, but she gets a lot more shit than she deserves, and too many inaccurate claims like this.
Nagoh Shan1 votes20-40 is a high mana cost for a heal? I'm looking at all the other heals, and I'm seeing 65-85, 60-100, 60-120, 60-140, 70-90, and 70-130. Soraka's only high-cost heal is Wish, which is 100 mana (matching the other ultimate-based heal, Monsoon, in cost)
Yes, I think so at least
When there are two costs to a power, and both are roughly equivalent to costs in other powers, then they are both too high. (mana cost and health cost)
She pays the same cost for one W as the cost for Karthus and Aatrox Q's put together, and the only effect is a heal.
You also have to remember that mana costs are not just for the gross heal. They are to pay for every part of the power. Secondary effects, range, ect...
Sona's heal is 25 / 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 to 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 depending on health but there's also a shield adding in 5 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+ 20% AP) (+10 / 20 / 40 for Crescendo rank) extra mitigation on top. It also has 2x the range that Astral infusion does. Oh, and it heals/shields both Sona and the target. So double those numbers to get the actual gross healing and shielding.
Nami also has the potential do deal damage as well as heal, which is counted as part of her mana cost. She can heal up to two targets and damage one, or damage up to two targets and heal one, depending on her first target. Either way, the ability is -incredibly- mana efficient. Dealing a good chunk of damage or healing for a good bit of health both and at the same time. She also does this with 60% greater range.
Kayle has a large MS steroid attached to her heal, and twice the range, but I guess that doesn't have anything to do with the cost I'm sure.
Taric has the potential to heal both an ally and himself at the same cast, and gets scaling off both his AP and health, gets to heal himself whenever he wants (With a bonus), and has a much longer range.
Nidalee also has an attack speed boost steroid that goes up to 60%, attached to her heal, but I doubt that's counted in the cost of the heal.
Alistar can heal multiple allies with one cast and mana expenditure.
And it can't out-heal better than the other options?
No, she will not outheal damage. Period. Damage will always beat her heal
If you try to outheal damage you will only succeed at dropping two health bars for the enemy effort of attacking one person. I've tried. It was claimed, and I thought it would work, but it doesn't.
Sona won't let you outheal damage, Nami wont, and neither will Soraka. Nami has proven sustain and can shut down groups with her Q just like Soraka can with her E. Sona is a sustain Goddess, and has excellent poke.
Their heal is well proven, and Soraka's doesn't allow for anything theirs doesn't also allow. Soraka just comes with a lot more baggage for a perception of a reality that doesn't exist. If you leave her be and just attack her friend, it won't be her heal that keeps you from killing them, more often then not. In a 2v2 situation, her W is going to be the least valuable part of her contribution. Something quite unfortunate for the "Dedicated Healer" of LoL.
I'm not going to say Soraka's rework is perfect from day 1, but she gets a lot more shit than she deserves, and too many inaccurate claims like this.
Maybe she does. Actually I know she does, but not from me. I love her R changes, and her new E. Her Q is just different, not bad. Reminds me of Zyra and I love Zyra. Her W is awful and her passive is awful and I like the other changes a lot. It just seems so bad to have those two aspects hold the rework back so much.
Linna Excel3 votesBarely viable compared to her nerfed state of unviable, but less fun to play or play against than before. She's an annoying champ for everyone involved and for that she's got a sub 50% win rate.
I Love Ornn1 votesOf course her win rate will lower, she just got reworked and people are still learning her new abilities. Not to mention how many more people have been player her to try her out.
Dovhakkin8213 votesThe reworked Soraka once fallen god of the celestial plain has become nothing more then a weak cc, life devouring healing gimmick, and new passive that really has no point. The only thing she still has is her global heal ult........ and I'm sure the nerfed the numbers on that. I 
the you will not like her at all if you played her alot before the rework.
Gareth Tankin3 votesShe is a snowballer. Either you build her well and play her well and your adc plays with her well and she is an utterly obnoxious enemy... that or you guys get behind and get shoved out of lane.
Think of it like... thresh can always bring a skillshot 2s stun to a fight, no matter how fed the enemy is he can bring their dmg to 0 for 2s. Soraka's W gets fewer and fewer casts (brings the enemies dmg to 0 less and less) the more dps the enemy has. She also doesn't have any hard CC (like most supports), instead it's a silence which is very awkward against an adc. That means when you get behind it can be very tough to stop enemy dmg, which is bad because it's already very tough to stop enemies from chasing you down (awkward/delayed disengage). She also needs gold (AP) for Astral Infusion to really stay relevant against high dmg/fed enemies...
It is kinda easy to get behind as new Soraka and it can be very frustrating when you do get behind... on the otherhand if she can get the adc ahead with her early amazing healing or get a number of assists (global ult) and then build stuff like archangels or soulstealer or zhonyas she can be very strong and very annoying to fight.
My suggestion is to find an adc you can trust or get a friend who is willing to learn and just practice with Soraka support.
Gareth Tankin1 votesIf anyone thinks otherwise, feel free to say why, I mean I have played near 100 games as her but I do tend to avoid ranked.
I hated the rework for the first dozen~ games it's so easy to screw up and utterly throw the lane against good enemies and you don't even get that good of a reward for winning. Then I started thinking that she is balanced (got allot of early hp5, learned to better use equinox, learned when it's good to rush AP, exc.) she has a very strong first few levels, utterly obnoxious healing in them and if you're adc doesn't take advantage of that... you just tend to become less and less effective than the other support. It's messy, it's hilarious at times though since she seems like a champ where you just stack as much AP as you can get away with (I've managed to build coin->tear->sightstone->archangels->ionian treads->rabadons in a number of games, 500hp heals every 1.3s~, 600~hp ult, we were winning 5v5s without losing a single person).
ScuffedChains2 votesIdk how she is controlling her wise, but I still light her butt up with an aggressive support still.
I Love Ornn2 votesI personally loved it. The heal is pretty solid and its a blast to use the new star call. Her e is a bit hard to land perfectly but nevertheless a fine ability.
FantasySniper2 votesWorks great, people just need to hit their [Q]s and they'll be fine. Her healing is insane, and honestly kinda scary.
Both 
and 
lines work on her great. 
is implied. 
work great, especially with her passive.
Other options are 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
.
She scales the worst with health out of any champion, and the only reason you would bother getting Spirit Visage/Locket of Salami is to make sure you aren't poked down and have strong sustain.
is a personal favorite I've found great success with. It makes hitting your [E] snare guaranteed, too. Despite how slowly your bananas travel, that's sometimes become a miracle in disguise because it will ensure they are hit only after they use any gap-closers had you not used your [E].
MasticatingGrill2 votesShe's quite awful right now. Broken kit. A totally different champ wearing the old skin.
For variety her Q should come inward starting beyond the maximum target range.
Her W is a free double for the enemy IF said enemy is mobile and knows how to poke. She will waste mana on Qs that never hit, and their ADC hits will reduce her health. Yi comes in and kills both. For weeks. SUPPORT snowballs or you lose forever? WHAT.
E is a strange trade. I feel the old one had a compelling risk and utility for saving mid lane. New one is a poor deterrent against attacks but has some uses in team fights with good comp. There are no mana pumps now, and after all these other champs I expect she will lose Silence later. RITO ARE YOU DAFT. SILENCE IS ONE OF THE THREE COMPONENTS OF STUN. YOU KEPT STUN. YOU KEPT BLIND. THERE ARE A MILLION ROOTS. Y U NO SILENCE. GO BACK TO BALANCING SCHOOL.
R is pretty awesome. Simple rework on it. However if any of her spells should have a health cost. R should cost her 50% of current health before applying the heal. Give her a W self heal again. Maybe even give the R scaling based on how low her health is instead of or in addition to how low allies are.
This entire rework is junk and should have been used toward introducing a new champ.
Nagoh Shan1 votesThe entire rework isn't junk, honestly. If I could keep the old W, the new E and R, and get a new passive, I'd flip a coin to see which Q is used, and I'd call that a successful rework.
Right now she's a lot like a Support Fiora. She has virtually no passive and a W that actively tries to get her killed, yet she can still do amazing things when played well, and doesn't fall behind.
The new E is incredibly strong, and the Q isn't any harder to hit than Zyra or Karthus'.
Problem is, she isn't a strong counter to anything, and she's hard countered...hard, and by a lot of things. She won't see competitive play and her pick/win rate will drop, probably dramatically, as people learn to manage playing against her E like they do Nami's Aqua Prison.
TeemoHunter13371 votessame old with a better poke
Paletongue1 votesShe either does crazy well or falls flat on her face.
I've had games where I could heal an ally as they tank all the damage, winning us a fight we couldn't have otherwise. On the flip side, I've had a few games where I couldn't get off a single heal before my ally is already dead, leaving me nothing to contribute to the game but an occasional silence and more gold for the enemy.
as a whole i like it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say she's better than she was previously.
Snakethrower1 votesShe has great poke and can carry from the botlane. But getting behind is deadly since she's much more reliant on items now.
NoMonku1 votesI like her. Try not to be too aggressive early on as her Q's consume a ton of mana, so you will go OOM very fast if you spam them, removing your ability to harass/self-heal. Her W and E are improved quite a bit, so you have a lot more utility and ability to save your allies then old raka. For building her I'm still experimenting to what I like best. I've been going with 0/9/21 and spellthiefs/pots first buy, but I'm sort of thinking I'll change it up to a coin. Basic items for support, sightstone and mobi boots. Then I go for a Chalice. This allows me to spam for days, so its pretty important to get if you want to spam, it also builds into Mikael's which is never bad to have. Then it's kind of up to you. A lot of people awhile ago were saying Warmogs/SV, but to me those cost an incredible amount of gold, so in most cases you will not have the ability to even finish them, especially if you fall behind.
Tengrichan1 votesThings i like about her: Her new Q and E. The improved R. The large ranges on Q and E.
What i don't like,annoyed by: The passive. It's near useless most of the time.Rework it or give it scaling range. 2500/4500/6500 range or smooth it out in smaller increments. The abysmal range on W. 450! . This feels too restrictive currently and it's more annoying than good for the soraka player.
What i would like to see: Improved passive. Increased range on W. Even if it is by 50.
Mana gainback on either when Starcall center hits enemy champion (for this you still need to level W first to work as it would be added to its passive) or when Equinox roots somebody. Both spells are hard to land so this change wouldn't be overwhelming. As currently the i feel like the manacosts are too much. Especially on Starcall.
ezreal stinks1 votesi remember at some point in the pbe her passive gave her ap for building armor/magi resist or something like that. i think the whole 'drink my blood' theme kinda flopped when they took that out. though i know she was definitely way too strong on the pbe during that stage, but the only thing that happens now is smart people just focus soraka because she isn't tanky at all, and she can't heal herself.
i've tried building her tanky, and i'm just a running silence bot, my abilities do nothing, and i'm still not that taken. her e is the only thing that is good and only if you have other cc to keep them in it. i've tried building her ap, and unless i'm just chilling behind the fight i either die very quick, or get forced out of fights. the health cost on her heal is too high.
Nagoh Shan2 votesHer passive was a literal conversion. She didn't get any bonus AP, she got AP instead of Armor that the item would have provided.
Here's a quote about it:
EDIT: If it wasn't clear from the tooltip, this is a literal conversion of MR/Armor into AP. She does not get AP as a bonus on top of the MR/Armor. Frozen Heart will give 80% of its normal armor value to her, but she gets the other 20% in AP and still gets the passive effect.
And the link if you want the S@20 article I got it from -> http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/08/red-post-collection-clarification-on.html
That part of the passive wasn't removed because she was too strong, rather it was because she was squishy enough without it that they didn't feel it was appropriate. It was overkill.
I also cannot emphasize enough how important her E is to her kit. It's what makes her or breaks her right now. Her W will get her or her teammate killed if she tries to use it for anything other than an OOC heal or an emergency "Gonna die anyway" button. Her E is what can allow her to prevent those situations.
I just feel really bad about this rework, it really did have potential, but they just didn't seem to have a coherent vision. I have to try to find the post where Morello was, in the same description of new Soraka, talking about how strong her W would be for sustain and burst countering; "If you just ignore a Soraka she'll heal her teammate through all the burst" IIRC. Then when describing her new E (in the same post, mind you) talking about how her W -wouldn't- be good at those types of saves he just described "specifically tuning" the ability for, and that's what the E was for.
MasticatingGrill1 votesIf her Q came inwards instead of outwards and the landing speeds were reversed it would be more compelling. She'd punish trying to stay at the edge of her cast range and instead encourage a proper brawl.
And a reversed trajectory would suck for Braum which is always nice.
