How are people building Soraka?

Siachi·Oct 24, 2014·1 votes·657 views

To make a long story short, I can't seem to win a PvP game with Soraka. As far as I can remember, I've won exactly one Normal game. Maybe it's just because most of my games so far have been on a smurf account, where teams are uncoordinated, but I didn't have much luck on my normal account either (Both PBE and on Live). Either way, I'm not going to blame it on the rework, i'd rather blame it on my ineptitude.

So, to the people who've had success with the new Soraka, how have you been playing her? Runes, Masteries, Item Build order, Starting Items, general playstyle, the whole she-bang. Do you play any differently if you're behind, or is she just one of those characters that, if your team is doing good then she makes them better, but if the team's doing bad she can't help them at all.

6 Comments

TeemoHunter1337Oct 24, 20141 votes

talisman of ancesion--->sightstone--->boots(mobility or defensive)--->locket--->spirit visage--->frozen heart

basically lots of defense+ regen.

talisman +locket for crazy regen sightstone for support spirit visage for increased healing and regen frozen heart to cut enemy AS and for tankyness.

Fried NoobOct 24, 20141 votes

I've found success with starting Q for scouting, then taking a point in W since the base heal is good enough for the vast majority of laning phase (unless your ADC has a death wish), then either maxing E for easy damage or Q for more self-heal, than maxing W and whatever you didn't max first, while obviously taking ult when you can.

NoMonkuOct 24, 20141 votes

I used to get Q first, but then I started to get W as the heal is overall easier to play with. You can top off your jungler if you are helping leash and can heal your ADC if they fail/trade early game. If you want to rush to level 2, though, getting Q will be better as you can "push" faster with Q's AoE damage. At 3 I get E then I max heal, as its tied to how much your Q will heal when you hit a champion + bigger heals. I used to max Q, but its harass is easily dodged and if you miss, you'll be OOM and possibly w/o HP either if you've been topping off your ADC. Also maxing heal requires you to have to heal less as it heals MORE per rank(obviously... wish I was smart to realize this earlier). Ult is used the same way as before, just got buffed for people below 40% hp I think.

In terms of laning, I harass with auto's if I can and use Q for vision/self-heal. An upside to not maxing Q is that it does so little damage people don't seem to care if they get hit by it, so free HP for you. Eventually around levels 7-9 if you're still in laning phase and things are equal, as long as they don't have a healing support, you should basically be able to win lane through sustain as any damage they do will get healed by you. Teamfight wise just heal whoever is lowest and back off when you get low, trying to be bait and to heal/CC if you can and still impact the fight.

Item wise I go start with item 3301 , 3 item 2003 , and 1 item 2004 . Pots you can interchange to how you play, trading more/less mana pots depending on how much you spam. First buy is item 2049 and/or item 3096 , getting the other one after when you buy one of them. After this, you should go towards item 3028 as it will solve all your mana issues. You will go OOM no matter what if you spam, so this solves that, also you will build it into item 3222 eventually. As you start roaming, after your or their bot tower is gone, get item 3117 as it helps you move around the map and get to places faster. As you teamfight more, finish your support item and that's my "core" item 3069 . Its pretty cheap and has lots of useful pieces that helps shore up a lot of your issues.

After this it comes down to situational stuff. If their team has a lot of magic damage and your jungler/top doesn't/can't get it for some reason, get it. If for some reason they have a lot of auto attackers, go for FH. Outside of situational team items, you can start focusing on just making yourself tanky. I prefer going for resistances (def/mr) over just flat HP(warmogs) because your hp taken from your W is based off your current HP, so the more HP you have the more you hurt yourself to heal. Also those items are expensive, which is why idc for them. Hope this helps.

Oh and you can try starting with item 3303 if you want, I did at first too, but I decided against it. It doesn't offer me sustain and raka isn't really a harass support, so I switched up for coin, but if you like it, go for it.

AMYS GRAVEOct 24, 20141 votes

i've had a lot of success with item 2041 item 3340 item 2043 to start

with item 2045 item 3096 item 3174 item 3341 item 1001 in my core items

taking w q e at levels 1 2 3 and maxing them in that order taking r whenever available.

the item 2041 is really important throught the game to keep your health and mana up as sorakas new kit burns through both.

items with health/mana regen are quite good too. i mostly stay in the back lines laying down my q and e as i come forward to heal my allies and get in range of a group of enemies. i won't get a lot of kills but end game can be 2-2-30 quite easily.

Skia AsteriOct 24, 20141 votes

AP and Move speed are core. Situationally armour or magic resist items. Avoiding HP other than sight stone unless it comes with some form of healing (Spirit Visage and Iron Locket). Talisman of Ascension gives all the mana she needed.

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1593464821/218693738

JedenVojakOct 25, 20141 votes

Since the new Soraka's spells suck, I generally build her as an AD support champion. I have a mix of offense and defense masteries, with a bit of utility for mana and health regen. I generally go for item 3050 , followed by item 3006 . Since you're playing support (because Riot apparently doesn't want Soraka in any other lane), you'll have to buy item 2049 at some point, although I like to delay that purchase as much as possible. From there I tend to build toward these items depending on the situation: item 3071 item 3124 item 3025 item 3504

Generally you want to auto attack whenever they give you the opportunity to do so. You will surprise them with how much damage your auto attacks actually do. The game probably won't last long enough to get past the Zeke's and Sightstone but if it does get long, you can bask in the glory of giving everyone AD and Lifesteal + Shredding Armor - makes taking objectives go much smoother.