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If you're going to go through with this nerf to Soraka...

Krys Star··3 votes·888 views

Then you NEED to reduce the health cost on Astral Infusion, or give it a scaling health cost based on rank. The whole idea behind Soraka's rework was so that she could be a dedicated healer, without mana restraining her but also without being too good at it via health cost.

#Starcall (Q) mana increased to 40/45/50/55/60 from 40 at all ranks #Astral Infusion (W) mana cost increased to 50/55/60/65/70 from 40/45/50/55/60

Like, I get it. Soraka's more frustrating to play against with these changes. Starcall costing 40 mana at all ranks was very questionable, and it also became an ability to max first, for me anyway. She needed a nerf. But let's not forget, Soraka doesn't get as much health back from Starcall unless she has Warmogs and 3k health, which is not my preferred build. She also gives less healing upfront, unless Starcall is active on her, but even then maxing Starcall first leaves Astral Infusion feeling disgusting without Starcall active because of its health cost and low healing until you start ranking up Astral Infusion. If you're going to go through with these changes, then Astral Infusion NEEDS some kind of adjustment to its health cost.

Originally, Riot had the idea of reducing its health cost to 8%. That's fine, or you could make Astral Infusion cost 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10% of her health. These changes are punishing Soraka for doing her job as a healer, when really, I think Soraka's main problem is that she has a constant, reliable, powerful slow attached to Starcall now, along with its 15% movement buff. If I had a choice, I'd get rid of the 15% movement buff and replace it with the original idea of giving 60+10% ap over x seconds. Only then, would I be fine with her upcoming nerfs. I know I'll get downvoted, because a majority of players hate Soraka, but this champion has been my main for 6 years. I'm passionate about Soraka, and I want her to be viable and fun for both myself and the enemy team.

13 Comments

Black k 92 votes

I have a better one:

Passive: Every time Soraka heals an ally she takes a stacking 50% damage increase from all enemy sources for the next 5 seconds that resets every time she heals.

So first heal: +50% extra damage taken

10th heal: +500% extra damage taken.

Now we can actually make meaningful in game decisions without Soraka pressing one button and stopping them.

Healurownbum1 votes

But then to make it a real passive the healing it self or something else would have to counter it like per stack she would heal more or CC better or be tankier unless you mean add that passive upon the W it self?

Krys Star1 votes

He's just speaking with seething hatred for Soraka. He doesn't mean well for her lol.

Healurownbum2 votes

I figured. But assuming so would just be wrong :)

Mayor Stubbs1 votes

Yea I see what you're saying but I disagree.

I think what made Soraka not only too strong, but also frustrating, is specifically and exclusively her ability to heal so much so quickly.

Krys Star1 votes

But that's what she's designed for: to heal. The whole point of her changes in 6.5 were to make her more interactive and engaging with the enemy team. But now, Soraka slows with Starcall, and gets the hell out of there with her 15% movement speed. She's encouraged to interact and engage with the enemy less after landing Starcall.

Like I said, these nerfs would be fine if they got rid of her movement speed buff and reintroduce mana restoration onto Starcall like they hed in 6.3 pbe cycles. That, or reduce the health cost of Astral Infusion.

Mayor Stubbs1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Frozen Sovereign,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ye5HsBZO,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2016-03-23T23:12:29.889+0000)

But that's what she's designed for: to heal. The whole point of her changes in 6.5 were to make her more interactive and engaging with the enemy team. But now, Soraka slows with Starcall, and gets the hell out of there with her 15% movement speed. She's encouraged to interact and engage with the enemy less after landing Starcall.

Like I said, these nerfs would be fine if they got rid of her movement speed buff and reintroduce mana restoration onto Starcall like they hed in 6.3 pbe cycles. That, or reduce the health cost of Astral Infusion.

She is designed to be a healer, but I think she heals too much currently, which is why I disagree with your suggested change

Krys Star1 votes

That's fine, disagree with me. But I still think the movement speed she gives is too much, after slowing an enemy/enemy team. She should be punished for getting close to sustain herself. Not rewarded to get the hell out of there after landing Starcall. It should restore mana as it originally did back in 6.3's pbe cycles.

Valexfor1 votes

I think that's pretty much what riot wants: before you could heal for too much with little to no consequences even if you didn't hit starcall once, it was unfair since even when the enemy had a good engage on your adc, you could just be a healing bot after the engage and heal him full hp without losing anything if not s little bit of your own hp (wich you could regenerate so fast with coin), making soraka a champion far too passive and forgiving of your mistakes. Now Soraka has to actually do something or her heals will be too weak to keep up with most damage dealers and she herself is far more approachable since she won't get back half her health by hitting a lucky starcall once, meaning you can still fight with her even when she's regenerating health making the trade far more fair. She might feel weak or in need of a buff, but only because up untill now she was too strong so people who are used to her (unfair) strenght now think she is weak. but if you're good this change nerf can actually be a buff since you can actually heal more to both yourself and your allies in the best case scenario. If you're really a Soraka main you should understand that this nerf is a nerf only for inexperienced or bad players, for a good player it might even be a buff, and anyway with these changes she's not weak, just balanced but like I said since anyone is used to her beying oppressive and unfairly strong it seems like she's not viable. It happens with a lot of champs really, a small nerf feels like it's going to make the unplayable, but when you actually play them you notice that the champ can still be played it's usually just less of a faceroll and more about actually playing the right way.

Krys Star1 votes

Increasing her mana costs to Starcall and Astral Infusion is in no way a buff, to an inexperienced or experienced Soraka player. She's not facerolling games with her heals. She's facerolling with her newly introduced Starcall's constant, powerful slows and movement speed buffs. Her heals become less frustrating to deal with, but she became frustrating to deal with in general.

Valexfor1 votes

That's what I meant: she got a nerf on her heals but she got a huge buff on other (more interactive and outplayable) parts of her kit. If an opponent manages to dodge starcall now you won't do much, but if you manage to hit them they won't kill your adc. Also if she's got the healing passive (forgot it's name) her heal become more powerful than the old one at one point. Which means that even if the skill costs more, she is also healing more. Also regeneration is better than flat out heals at higher hp since usually the enemy doesn't respect HP regen. A lot of people get cocky and start a fight against a low health voli only to prock his passive and get torn to pieces by the guy... Anyway. all in all it's a nerf to bad players, if you're good it's actually a buff which also makes her less frustrating to deal with I think that a lot of people hated soraka for the nonsensical heal which had to be so strong since all her power-budget was into it. Now her power is shifted to a combo of Starcall and Astral Infusion, this way she can't win an outplay just 'cause she clicked one skill, she has to play the game, not be a button pressing bot.

Calabok1 votes

How about

50% slow for 2 sec every heal given.

Valderis Vandala1 votes

While her health cost on her main healing ability is fucking annoying I find it impossible to argue against it, it's a necessity to limit her late game power because by then mana is endless, ergo her allies will have infinite health unless you can burst them dead.

The Q mana cost nerf won't hit her that hard, it'll force her to manage her mana in the early levels instead of just constantly spamming her Q at every opportunity without a care.

Don't know why they increased the mana cost on infusion though, seems unnecessary to me. But whatever, its not the end of the world, she'll be fine.

I don't think you want to get rid of her slow, she's a support, she needs good CC, its something she has been bad at when all she really had was her E. She's also very fragile with no escapes what so ever, she needs that movement speed buff, without it she has zero reason to take risks because she can't get out of a dangerous situation. It's the combination of good CC and the speed buff that make it possible to get closer to where she needs to be to help her team without getting killed the moment you overextend just the tiniest bit. Besides, having a speed buff is so much more fun to play with then giving a ally a boring stat boost.

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