I mean yeah it's a low cost, but if she's constantly cutting her health to heal her teammates, I don't really think she needs a mana cost on it. And yes she can recover her health with her Q but it moves extremely slow and it's not that hard to dodge because it gives a pretty cure indication that it's landing.
Her Q costs a decent amount of mana already.
Bârd32 votesBecause rito doesn't like heals.
Rew71114 votesJust look at 
, he leaves a totem that heals as much as Taric does in a instant, but it costs more.
Narasimha8 votesEh, Bard's also gives movement speed, and most importantly, it can be 'stored', up to 3 of them. Which means potentially 3x as much healing when needed.
Rew7118 votes360 manas worth of heals. That heal up to 230 each, so 720 (+135% AP) worth. With 1000 AP. This goes up to 1350 or 2070 health regained. Places one every 12 (or less seconds) and must wait 10 seconds to be the full amount.
For 300 manas worth of heals, Taric heals 220 each, so 660 (+30% AP) (+15% Taric's health, so if Taric has 3000 health, that's 450). So, 790 (+90% AP). Taric also gets healed for this amount. With 500 AP, Taric heals 450 bonus, or 1240. Must wait 18/17/16/15/14 seconds (or less) to heal again, heals can go to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds with passive, and go down by 6 seconds in total with all abilities used for 12/11/10/9/8 (or less) seconds for reuse.
That means, for every 3 heals Bard uses (at max level and waits for max heal) Taric can heal (at max level with passive) 5 or more times, sub totaling to 1100 (+150% AP) (+25% Taric's health) worth of heal. So with 500 AP and 3000 health, Taric can heal up to (+750 worth in AP) (+750 in health) to equal 2600 health that Taric can heal. And this is the least amount of possible heals.
Besides, the totems must me stood on to work, anyone can come by and take one and whoops, your down one for your ADC. Taric's are point and click. Sure, Bard can do that too, but it only does the small effect. And leaving a totem I can come by and step on isn't that safe. As someone who's played Bard a lot on the PBE, he's only stronger than Zilean, who to me is possibly the weakest support right now. His kit is made for supporting, +8% EXP, 1.1 to 1.5 second stun, bonus MS or enemy slow, and revive, but his early game is weak as ever. +8% EXP is somewhat useless as is. I wish Zilean had a more useful passive.
Silents4293 votesBeen playing bard (got him for free :/) I found his totems to be wonderfully useful, Leave 1 top, Leave 1 mid, and leave 1 for my jungler.
No other support can do this, and in a pinch the movement speed boost has saved my teams asses a few times now, might not be the strongest but it is certainty more versatile then any of the other heals, the mana cost is easily made up by grabbing a couple chimes.
Rew7111 votesThose shrines are there because Bard has to leave half the time to buff his passive. You honestly leave bot, with 3 shrines for your ADC to go and come back, go and come back, just so you can be useful. I love Bard and all, but I've mained both Taric on my main server and bard on the PBE and Taric is stronger with more of a kit. Not only the heal, but a stun that doesn't leave the enemy untouchable, a armor reduction and bonus, and bonus AD and AP for allies after a burst damage.
ChoGathsSon2 votesThose shrines are there because Bard has to leave half the time to buff his passive. You honestly leave bot, with 3 shrines for your ADC to go and come back, go and come back, just so you can be useful. I love Bard and all, but I've mained both Taric on my main server and bard on the PBE and Taric is stronger with more of a kit. Not only the heal, but a stun that doesn't leave the enemy untouchable, a armor reduction and bonus, and bonus AD and AP for allies after a burst damage.
Taric sucks lol
Bard is way better, potentially the 3rd best support atm
Rew7112 votesThat's mean. Taric has been my main since I can remember. He's the reason I prefer to support. Bard is A LOT OF FUN but don't hate on Taric.
HouseCat011 votesTaric was my first support as well xD, I don't play him much anymore, but after the mana cost reduction on his q, i'm tempted to pick him up again
HouseCat011 voteswhen i was maining him i must have somehow missed his armor reduction and the extra damage on his passive :/ now i actually really want to play a game with him
Silents4291 votesWell comparing an old ass champion in need of a rework to a new one means nothing, Taric isn't going to have all of that after his rework for sure.
In lane I do enough poking damage, my stun, and ult have been incredibly useful.
Auroramancer1 votesBard is really good though.
You can't just look at Bard and Taric from a healing perspective and say "WELL, BARD'S HEAL IS WEAKER THAN TARIC'S, THEREFORE BARD IS BAD"
Just no. It doesn't have to be the best heal in the game. But it works well with the rest of his kit.
Rew7111 votesOh shut up. I never said Bard is bad. Just stop typing. You're just causing a misunderstanding and at the same time making me mad at that comment. You'd better reread some other comments I've made if you can, because not once did I say Bard is bad but I did say Taric at the moment is my pick for a support since I played both. Taric to me had more for when I'm with my ADC and I would be able to help. I also wish that Bard's E did not cost anything and was like Ashe's E, you have two usable portals at a time, and as you level up, travels get faster and cool downs get shorter for another portal. I hate waisting mana on those things when getting chimes. I always wish I had two so that I could travel somewhere and then go back.
Auroramancer1 votesBard's E costs a measly 25 mana, and it would be overpowered if you had 2 charges for it.
Rew7111 votesIts not overpowered. Its a travel between places, that both allies and enemies can use. It's not broken.
Auroramancer1 votesBrah, I said TWO CHARGES of it would be overpowered
ChoGathsSon2 votes[{quoted}](name=The True Bard,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=pzcnhqTU,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-07-04T00:03:55.930+0000)
Because rito doesn't like heals.
Because dedicated healers are lame as fuck
Have you ever actually played against Soraka in season 2? Her lane phase was the most boring, obnoxious unfun shit to play against.
These changes forced her to be interactive with her sustain in lane. And it's a good thing. I could see a slight mana cost buff to Q but THATS IT.
Aeolian Melodies1 votesI was here in S1 where pre-rework Soraka was at her absolute strongest and, ironically, was considered dodge tier.
I'd take that over the current rework which feels infinitely more frustrating to play against.
ChoGathsSon2 votes[{quoted}](name=Aeolian Melodies,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=pzcnhqTU,comment-id=000400010000,timestamp=2015-07-04T15:49:55.767+0000)
I was here in S1 where pre-rework Soraka was at her absolute strongest and, ironically, was considered dodge tier.
I'd take that over the current rework which feels infinitely more frustrating to play against.
At least you can outplay her now and she can't solo lane
This form of soraka can be balanced, old soraka couldn't be
Bârd1 votesIn season 2? No. However, in season 3 I abused her sustain/free silence and took her toplane.
Those were the days
FistOfSharkiesha19 votesBecause they hate her. I understand they don't want infinite sustain but Soraka could use a buff, and her heal is definitely the best place to start. Basically her solo laning and infinite sustain is the only thing keeping Riot from wanting her to be good. By removing the mana cost from her heal, they would not touch her solo laning but make her a tad more viable as support. For a Q that is so easy to dodge, a bugged E that you can jump out of before being silenced, she needs some more reliability.
Removing the mana cost on her W is the perfect solution.
Mimaropa6 votesI think Soraka is in a good spot atm. Her heal has a low CD which keeps your tank and adc live longer in skirmishes. Yes she does hurt herself when she uses it but she has her q and ult to heal herself. She's pretty hard to lane against if she gains mana regen. A heal from her q is almost equal to the health she loses from healing her allies. Her spells are pretty slow but the range is far and aoe size is as big as Oriannas ult. Her playstyle is similar to janna. She needs to be far from danger to be able to be good in teamfights. Silence is pretty valuable these days too. Her silence is aoe and lasts pretty long, of course you can walk out of it easily but walking just makes you vulnerable to a few aa and cc. They needs to fix the bug on her e. Taking out her mana cost on heals is bad. If they did that her rate of harass and zoning is doubled. Pardon my English, not my first language
HouseCat011 votessoraka heals are honestly one of the most annoying things to play against, i can not imagine playing a slow support/adc if they removed the mana cost
Vionicesca2 votesWhich is why when you're attacking a Soraka and her ADC, you just need to kill her first, then you're good.
HouseCat011 votesexcept i can never actually get to the soraka :/ otherwise I would do that (might be good to mention that i've only played one game against a soraka recently, so i'm not exactly an expert at facing her)
Canastus13 votesIt certainly wouldn't hurt if she could regain some mana along with the already existing health bonus from hitting her Q.
Remlap122312 votesHonestly, just keep me from accidentally healing minions, and we're golden. Last game I played as Raka I literally missed about 3 heals because I accidentally healed a minion that was on top of my champion. All it takes is a priority code for lowest health champions then lowest health minions.
Edit: Also, make the HP a flat amount. Keep it scaled at about 10% of max health early game, but have it taper off into the late game. Instead of costing 10% health and 20 mana, have it cost a flat amount that starts off at about 10% health, and have that and the mana cost increase slightly each time you level the heal as a tradeoff. That way it will still cost health and mana, but instead of being a target for one aa to kill you, you'll instead just be OOm. Raka's just too easy to quickly love tap to death if you spam heal.
Robert Smith8 votesUse the Portraits on the side, i do the same when ulting as shen
HouseCat013 votesthx for the advice
Provengreil1 votesThat's possible? ulting a minion as shen, i mean, I've known about the portrait trick
Robert Smith1 votesLol, I ment when selecting an ally type skill i use the Portrait.
TotalJerk5 votesHonestly, just keep me from accidentally healing minions, and we're golden. Last game I played as Raka I literally missed about 3 heals because I accidentally healed a minion that was on top of my champion. All it takes is a priority code for lowest health champions then lowest health minions.
Seriously this. Why the fuck would I EVER want to pay 10% of my health to heal a minion?
Partholonian3 votesIt should just not work on minions at all.
And since that is technically a nerf, compensate it by slightly improving her mana problems (either her max mana and mana regen themselves, or her costs).
BottleCapster2 votesHonestly, just keep me from accidentally healing minions, and we're golden. Last game I played as Raka I literally missed about 3 heals because I accidentally healed a minion that was on top of my champion. All it takes is a priority code for lowest health champions then lowest health minions.
Edit: Also, make the HP a flat amount. Keep it scaled at about 10% of max health early game, but have it taper off into the late game. Instead of costing 10% health and 20 mana, have it cost a flat amount that starts off at about 10% health, and have that and the mana cost increase slightly each time you level the heal as a tradeoff. That way it will still cost health and mana, but instead of being a target for one aa to kill you, you'll instead just be OOm. Raka's just too easy to quickly love tap to death if you spam heal.
There's a button you can set to make it so you can only target champions, I use this if i need to clutch heal people. I just hold spacebar while healing them and i'm usually golden.
MagicalGirlRosel2 votesAlso, make the HP a flat amount.
Please, please do this. I understand why it's a percentage, but the percentage cost on her W and flat heal on her Q gives her an innate drawback to stacking health other than a loss of gold and an item slot, which is incredibly counterintuitive and makes me feel stupid trying to explain it to someone who doesn't know how Soraka's stats work.
HadesBlades4 votesBring back her mana ability and ill be happy >_> rip mana and mana regen lovers
Ariel the Cruel1 votesI'm pretty sure Riot is slowly phasing out relevant mana costs if the last few champs are any indication.
Provengreil1 votes
Would like a word. And they're just the top of the mana thirsty champs.
Ariel the Cruel2 votesif the last few champs are any indication.
OperationDEEZ11 votes
I don't really care though. I hate Lux.
Cats Are Food4 votesBecause if it only... only... required health? People like me would make my teammates immortal, forever, at max CDR. You see because I can pump my AP and my Health Regen through the roof, without ever deviating from a solid support/aura build. Ontop of this I'd have good AP, and be a walking tank that spit out slows with everything I did, while making my team faster. I'd never care about raising my mana, except a few of the items help mana out a bit, but I really don't -require- those any more either. I can swap out for more heavy built items, and with a rune and mastery setup my AP and gold is going to grow no matter what. So either it needs both, or a pure mana cost. Because by forcing me to focus on mana regen and how much mana I have, you're limiting how broad a spectrum I can focus on, and you're limiting me to not being able to take on almost every role in the game except ADC... all at once. (granted AD Soraka is fun because you get to kill with Bananas)
PokladnicaZla3 votesIt has a balacing purpose.
I would rather have a small buff to her passive or something.
OverpoweredSoap2 votesWait, you can still heal minions with her W? I haven't done that yet (I use to all the time before her rework on accident lol) , but that's really funny because it would be a lose lose situation.
Jeije2 votesIt's hilarious if you can afford to build a decent amount of AP. Get Banner of Command, use it on a siege, and take towers by yourselves lol
HouseCat011 votesIt's hilarious if you can afford to build a decent amount of AP. Get Banner of Command, use it on a siege, and take towers by yourselves lol
how the heal team became viable, leading to a direct nerf of every support champion with a heal :D
OperationDEEZ12 votesA %hp cost no less.
Slamurai Jack1 votesSoraka is oom, time to fight! Jk, she can still cast her heal like 7 times. That's why it has a mana cost.
OverpoweredSoap12 votes[{quoted}](name=Slamurai Jack,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=pzcnhqTU,comment-id=0008,timestamp=2015-07-04T01:56:56.137+0000)
Soraka is oom, time to fight! Jk, she can still cast her heal like 7 times. That's why it has a mana cost.
And then someone looks at her and she instantly dies because she decided to do her job, heal.
Not to mention she can't heal herself back up if she's oom, nor can she AoE Silence either.
Or ult.
Since her ult also has a mana cost.
Aeolian Melodies1 votesNot to mention she can't heal herself back up if she's oom, nor can she AoE Silence either.
Or ult.
Since her ult also has a mana cost.
You mean... like literally every other supports?????????????????
wow pls buff rito
OverpoweredSoap1 votes[{quoted}](name=Aeolian Melodies,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=pzcnhqTU,comment-id=000800000000,timestamp=2015-07-04T15:21:18.710+0000)
You mean... like literally every other supports?????????????????
wow pls buff rito
You realize that I mentioned that she still really wouldn't be that helpful without mana right wow.