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[Slight Tweak] Rewarding Soraka for Martyrdom

ShadowKnight1224·10/3/2014, 12:00:49 AM·9 votes·2,075 views

I've been playing a whole lot of Soraka lately, and I must say I really like the rework. I had my misgivings, but after playing her for several games, I have fallen in love with her gameplay. There is no feeling like turning around a fight with your heals, or getting to your ally in the nick of time. Using your Astral Infusion on a Deathmarked target and then seeing the enemy Zed allchat "F U RAKA" is the best feeling in the world.

That said, I am seeing people discussing Soraka's dangerous positioning in teamfights and especially her unclear itemisation. Smart players are learning that taking out Soraka quickly in teamfights is important, and Soraka has extremely limited options to deal with such eventualities. This leads me to an idea to encourage her martyr-like playstyle:

#Salvation

NEW: In addition to her current passive, when Soraka dies, she releases a wave of healing energy in a 400 units circle around her body. Allied champions in the area are healed for [(Level x 40) + 0.4 AP]. If Soraka dies as a result of casting Astral Infusion, the AoE increases to 600 units and the AP ratio increases to 0.6. This effect triggers even if Soraka is under the effect of Guardian Angel or Zilean's Chronoshift.

#Astral Infusion

REMOVED: Cannot be cast if Soraka is below 5% of her max health.

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Comments and criticism welcome!

43 Comments

Lneacx10/3/2014, 2:58:52 PM3 votes

I don't like this idea because it punishes foes for killing Soraka.

Right now, it's a possibility to consider killing Soraka first to get her healing out of the system, then focus the other carries. But if you give Soraka a healing wave upon death, then enemies are left with a poor choice of options:

  1. Focus not-Soraka; Soraka heals her team and you lose.
  2. Focus Soraka; Soraka dies but heals her team anyways.

While thematically this makes sense, giving Soraka healing-upon-death is a low-counterplay way to add power to her kit. Soraka, despite staying low, should never actually want to die.

Also, it'll be really sad if someone accidentally kills themselves with a miscalculated infusion :x

>> If Soraka's healing-upon-death effect a bad idea, then what about other upon-death effects, like Kog'maw, Karthus, Zyra, and new Sion? I think that the other three upon-death effects are fine because they each have counterplay: you can escape or dodge their damage. On the other hand, you can't stop Soraka's upon-death from healing her allies.

Avious10/3/2014, 12:05:17 PM3 votes

This is actually a nice idea to encourage Soraka to dive deep in fights, but I would hate it if she could suicide with her heal...

Avious10/3/2014, 7:37:46 PM3 votes

Piñata Soraka Rito plz.

YGW Caspie10/3/2014, 11:59:05 AM2 votes

These are the ideas I think Rito should actually try out in PBE and if it doesn't work out they just don't bring it to live but it's at least worth testing in my opinion.

I can see why it wouldn't be good since you kind of punish people for doing what they're intended to do which is kill the healer a.k.a Soraka, however you don't lose that much from bringing it to PBE and testing it especially since there is a lot of strong feelings about this rework and most aren't so positive.

Duke Anax10/5/2014, 4:39:42 PM2 votes

There are several people saying that this would remove the counterplay of killing Soraka.

Well you are partially wrong. It only applies when the enemy team is already half dead.

But then why are you killing Soraka instead of finishing off another thread? If you encounter a team like that any CC on Soraka should delay her healing long enough without triggering her sacrifice.

And when you start a nwew team fight, killing Soraka first is still the option, because at that point her healing would do nothing as everyone else is at full health anyway.

Avious10/3/2014, 7:51:56 PM2 votes

Just pictured her swelling and popping. Kinda twisted way to heal but W/E.

Elphrihaim10/3/2014, 5:38:33 PM2 votes

"An allied champion has been denied!"

everybody who doesn't play MOBAs with denial: waitwhat

Elphrihaim10/3/2014, 6:59:31 PM1 votes

Because then you can't be killed for gold! xD

Gorzke10/3/2014, 11:21:41 AM1 votes

Awesome idea, but I'd make it have a stattic cooldown (200 sec?). Healing after Chronoshifted, Guardian Angel and finally dying seems OP.

ora10/3/2014, 11:07:53 PM1 votes

Seeing as the general consensus is both that Soraka shouldn't kill herself (no removing min cap on w) and that an aoe heal would leave little counterplay (no aoe heal burst on death), how's this for a suggestion:

#Passive: Celestial Overload When Soraka is dealt lethal damage, the stars recognize her sacrifice and imbue her with power for a short time. During this time, the stars overwhelm her power to sustain her life, disabling Soraka but allowing her to cast her heal for no cost. Soraka can only sustain this overwhelming power for 3/4.5/6 seconds before her time is spent and she dies.

This gives Soraka a Karthus-like ult, allowing her to continue healing for a short while, but unable to follow her teammates if the fight moves. This resolves the issue where she is focused first, as if you kill her first she has a few seconds where she can heal at will, making a small area around her dangerous to fight in with her high hps healing. It also allows for the counterplay of keeping her teammates out of her reach, while also tying in with her lore, where the stars took their power from her as punishment for doing harm, as now they can reward her for giving everything to saving people from it.

Thoughts?

Sire Hippington10/4/2014, 2:32:13 PM1 votes

the idea of a martyrer sora is nice, but considering the rest of her kit, the numbers are to high, and the synergy with zilean/GA is to powerfull.

as a sidenote, i think the rework failed in one important part if playing vs Soraka: her E. One of the main complains about old sora was her no counterplay silence. So why is it still there? yes u can walk out of it to avoid 50% of the damage and the root, but the extremly frustrating long ranged instant silence still is there and screws any all-in atempts big times. It's still incredible unfun to play against.