How to make Soraka a pure healing support

Wolfeur·May 24, 2014·6 votes·1,204 views

Hello everyone. First of all, I'm not English-speaking and I'm sure there will be many mistakes in this post and I apologize if I ravage your language. Then, I'd like to present to you a concept I thought about for Soraka's rework. A concept that would make her a real duolaner and great asset in team fights.

Some problem we had with Soraka were her capacity to be played anywhere, spamming her Q for high amount of damage and her W being really too simple to use, without any risk. Thus, I decided to change her to make her heal capacities and Starcall more useful when in presence of more enemies, but also making it more risky to use. I found some concepts that I thought were interesting and I decided to mix them.

|Spell|Specifications|Effects|Commentaries |- |Astral Heart|passive|The most wounded friendly champion in 400 range from Soraka's spells friendly targets is healed for 2(lvl 1)/3(lvl 7)/4(lvl 13)% of his missing health. Soraka and the targets can benefit from this passive.|This passive supersedes Salvation by offering an auxiliary heal power that allows Soraka to: 1° heal multiple targets with Volition or enhance the healing on a single target, 2° heal with Devotion, 3° modularize the power of Wish, 4° feel more useful when healing a tank. |Starcall|known level 1, 6 ranks, range: 250, cost: 20/30/35/40/45/50 mana, static cooldown: 5/4/3.5/3/2.5/2)|Soraka summons a shower of stars in a 500 circle, dealing 0/15/25/35/45/55 (+0.15 AP). Champions hit by Starcall get a stack of Astral Mark (up to 4 stacks), refreshing its duration. When a mark detonates via Volition or Devotion, it deals the same damage again. After 10 sec, all stacks are consumed, dealing no damage. The marks can detonate regardless of the distance.|By making Starcall known at start, I offer Soraka to use the Astral Mark debuff with one of the two other spells, although it doesn't do any damage. Soraka can now play aggressively but needs to use other spells to get results from Starcall such as better heal/buffs/debuffs and longer CC. |Volition|range: 750, cost: 80/100/120/140/160 mana, cooldown: 15|Soraka binds to a friendly unit or herself for 4 seconds, dealing herself 20/35/50/65/80 (+0.15 AP) per second and healing the target for the same amount. An Astral Mark detonates on every marked champion each second, healing Soraka and her target for 4/7/10/13/16 (+0.03 AP) per detonated mark. Soraka can move freely but cannot use abilities. The bond is interrupted if Soraka's health should reach 0 or she activates Volition again. Astral Heart is applied every second.|Soraka's healing ability is not instantaneous anymore and now she has to put herself in a dangerous situation to heal. She can either heal without marks but it won't be very effective and will lose a lot of health OR she can try to place her marks but it requires playing aggressive. However, don't forget that you can benefit the passive while you deal yourself the damage, or let your ally benefit from it, making the spell always effective, even without Starcall although it will still hurt you a lot. Plus, in the best scenario, if she places 4 marks on every 5 enemies, the spell will cost no health and will be twice as effective! |Devotion|range: 725, cost: 50 mana, cooldown: 10|On enemy cast: Soraka reduces the target's armor by 12/18/24/30/36 and deals 40/70/100/130/160(+0.4% AP) magic damage. All the target's marks detonate, rooting the target 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 second and reducing his magic resist by 4/5/6/7/8 per mark. On ally cast: Soraka transfuses 40/50/60/70/80 of her armor to her target for 3 seconds. A mark detonates on every champion, giving 12/15/18/21/24 bonus armor to Soraka and 8/10/12/14/16 bonus magic resist to her target for 3 seconds.|Devotion is a good way to get a small unexpected poke on a highly marked champion and a good CC Soraka never had before. The ally cast part is quite similar to that of Volition: it transfers Soraka's stats to him; every champion marked improving the effect on the target while mitigating the effect on Soraka. But since armor reduction is more powerful than bonus armor, the armor drain per mark equals 30% (instead of 20%) of the given amount to mitigate more efficiently. Remember that Astral Heart allies only on ally cast. |Wish|range: global, cost: 100 mana, cooldown: 160/145/130|Soraka instantly heals all friendly champions for 150/250/350 (+ 0.55 AP).|Everyone seemed happy with Wish as it was, thus I didn't change it even if it will be used differently because of Astral Heart.

This was the first version of the kit when I posted it:

Salvation: (passive) The most wounded allied champion in 300 range from Soraka's Astral Blessing and Wish targets is healed for 2(lvl 1)/3.5*(lvl 7)/5(lvl 13)*% of his missing health per second for 3 seconds. The passive stacks in duration only. Soraka and the targets can benefit from this passive.

I created this passive with the goal of making a support that can actually REGEN his teammate, instead of simply instantly heal them.

Starcall: (known lvl 1, 6 ranks, range: 250, cost: 20/30/40/50/60/70 mana, static cooldown: 5/4/3.5/3/2.5/2) Soraka summons a shower of stars in a 500 circle, dealing 0/15/25/35/45/55 (+0.15 AP). Champions hit by Starcall get a stack of Astral Mark (up to 10 stacks), refreshing its duration. When a mark explodes with Astral Blessing or Wish, it deals the same damage again. After 10 sec, all stacks are consumed, dealing no damage.

Starcall is known level 1 to offer the possibility to use Astral Blessing correctly by marking the enemy, but it does almost no damage at all. Astral Blessing and Wish will benefit from how much champions will be hit by Starcall (which makes less damage than before). This "forces" Soraka to play where there are more champions (ie botlane). Plus, Starcall makes twice the damage to champions, making her less effective towards minions waves. To compensate, I made Starcall a ranged ability but since it can be really powerful if stacked enough, I made the cooldown static to avoid too great spamming.

Astral Blessing: (range: 750, cost: 80/100/120/140/160 mana, cooldown: 15) Soraka binds to an ally or herself for 4 seconds, dealing herself 20/35/50/65/80 (+0.15 AP) per second and healing the target for the same amount. An Astral Mark explodes on every marked champion each second, Soraka is dealt 20% less damage and target is healed 20% more per mark exploded. Soraka can move freely but cannot use abilities. The tether is interrupted if Soraka's health should go below 1 or she activates Astral Blessing again. Salvation is activated at the beginning of the spell only.

With this changes, Soraka's Astral Blessing is not instantaneous anymore and that makes the ability less efficient but potentially more effective. But the great change is that she uses her OWN health to heal her teammate! This is what makes Soraka's healing ability really risky. The way for this to be the most efficient in lane phase is to use Starcall at least 4 times on the two enemy champions to reduce the amount of damage taken and to improve the heal. Don't forget that you can benefit the passive while you deal yourself the damage, or let your ally benefit from it, making the spell always effective, even without Starcall. The ability is clearly more useful in a duolane. And in team fights, if the enemy team is sufficiently packed, Astral Blessing could deal no damage to Soraka and the heal be twice as effective!

Infuse: (range: 725, cost: 50 mana, cooldown: 10) On enemy cast: Soraka interrupts channelling abilities, deals 40/70/100/130/160(+0.4% AP) magic damage and drains 2/4/6/8/10% (+1 per 50 AP) of target's current mana, adding it into a mana pool. (A crowd control could be useful here but I don't know what wouldn't be useless nor OP as shit, I thought about a possible blind) On ally cast: Soraka reduces target ally's abilities' cooldowns by 1 second. If the target uses mana, he is given all the mana in the mana pool.

The silence has been deleted in the same way as Kassadin's and the mana-scaling removed as well. What I like about this Infuse is that it introduce two concepts we never saw before: Draining enemy's mana and reducing ALLY's cooldowns. The idea of the mana pool is there to force Soraka to use Infuse offensively if you want it to be really useful on your ally.

Wish: (range: global, cost: 100 mana, cooldown: 160/145/130) Soraka instantly heals all allied champions for 100/175/250 (+ 0.6 AP). All Astral Marks explode simultaneously, increasing the amount of heal by 3% per mark consumed.

I read that everyone was happy with Wish, thus I didn't change it too much. But there are a few things to remember: First, it procs the passive, but since it will choose the most wounded ally, the placement is really important if you want to make sure that it procs on the right allies. Second, It removes all Astral Marks on the enemy team to create a small burst and improve the heal; this makes the ability useful in long team fights, when Astral Marks are stacked and all mates are low in health. Due to the passive and the Astral Mark buff, I reduced the base amount of heal. And by the way, since Karthus' ultimate could have a global phrase, I thought it would be fun for Soraka to have it too (maybe even one in response to Karthus' ultimate).

I'm open to critics, I clearly didn't think of many issues this rework idea could bring. It would already be a great honour for me to be read by the Rioters and know how they feel about it.

16 Comments

MichichaMay 24, 20143 votes

My biggest concern is the mana drain on Infuse. There is a reason Riot hasn't added any mana drain abilities, and I wish I could find the red post that explains why it isn't a healthy mechanic. On the topic of her healing, the main issue isn't her burst heal, its her sustain. The "infuse healer" mechanic you gave on her Astral Blessing is someting that is being explored, but the Heal over time defeats the purpose of her healing low health targets. They'll die before they get the full heal, and she'll feel useless. They want to remove a good portion of her sustain so she isn't so oppressive during the laning phase.

WolfeurMay 24, 20143 votes

I made the mana drain because I simply thought of that, but you're probably right. But for the healing capacities on low health allies and her sustain, I thought of that and I think the passive can provide enough heal to survive and her obligation to try to poke with Starcall makes her less unhealthy, I think... But if you think the heal over time isn't good enough, we can still consider an instant heal with the same logic. But then, I have to reconsider the interaction with Starcall.

MichichaMay 25, 20142 votes

You are on to something good and are on track to making a healthier Soraka. I think it's just a matter of number changes, and numbers on paper can be deceiving.

GamueMay 25, 20142 votes

The "infuse healer" mechanic you gave on her Astral Blessing is someting that is being explored, but the Heal over time defeats the purpose of her healing low health targets. They'll die before they get the full heal, and she'll feel useless. They want to remove a good portion of her sustain so she isn't so oppressive during the laning phase.

I agree with the problem of low health targets, but regen is something Riot generally considers healthy, as it’s countered by burst damage. I would personally prefer a more emergency-viable heal, but if that turns out not to be workable, then a short-term regen like this is probably the best fall-back position, I think.

As far as the rest of the kit, I have some other critiques. Note: I focused on criticism, because I think this kit idea is has a enough potential that it’s worth trying to iron out problems.

---------------------------- Salvation:

This passive applies whether or not soraka engages in combat. Because this passive is health-based and can heal Soraka, there’s the potential for players to mitigate most of the health cost for out-of-combat Astral Blessing through health stacking. ---------------------------- **Starcall: **

In terms of wave clear, I think this general formula is the way to go: split starcall’s effects into two parts, and only one of them damages minions. All of my Starcall ideas revolve around this setup as well.

As to the static cooldown, I think this is part of what the ap coefficient on live is supposed to accomplish. By making the base magic shred smaller, and attaching some of it to AP scaling, Soraka can’t gain as much shred by simply stacking tank stats and cooldown reduction. A static cooldown might not end up being necessary. ---------------------------- Astral Blessing:

Looking at this effect of the Astral Marks, your idea for a static cooldown on Starcall might be more necessary than I thought.

I think the exact application of the marks probably needs to be cleaned up a bit. Since the marks are being applied at different times during the heal, it becomes unclear exactly what the 20% is modifying. It might be better to have exploding mark directly return a chunk of health to Soraka and her target, where the size of that chunk would be 20% of the value that Astral Blessing transfers over its duration.

The idea of a health transfer ability has been discussed in a couple different threads I’ve seen. Morello seems to like the idea, but Vesh is concerned that the mechanic provides unclear incentives and foggy use-cases for the Soraka player, and several people (including me) have voted that it might be a much better fit for a tankier support like Taric or Alistar.

However, your mark mechanic has a couple advantages in this regard. For one thing, it doesn’t require Soraka to be self-injured and in direct danger at the same time. Also, allowing the player a chance to mitigate the health loss offers a clear tradeoff between engagement and self-damage, instead of the more problematic decision between an ally’s health and your own (which is usually only clear in the case of a heavily injured ally or when your own character is a tank). ----------------------------

Infuse:

Reducing an ally’s cooldowns is a novel mechanic, but it might not be balanceable. When a champion is designed to reduce its own cooldowns, the entire kit is designed around the presence of that reduction. A mechanic like this would probably have to be balanced around limiting the most extreme cases. ----------------------------

Wish:

Keep in mind that any extra situational power means the base value has to be reduced. Since Wish is already gated by a long cooldown, and requires high map awareness to use to its fullest potential, it might be best not to add additional complexity (especially when that extra power has a damage component).

WolfeurMay 25, 20143 votes

Thank you for contribution, I think your critics are quite interesting. The problem of Soraka's tankiness potential towards Salvation wasn't expected. But if the problem is legitimate in a theoretical point of view, I'd like to think about the practical side. Don't forget Soraka is not naturally tanky and that the amount of regen is based on missing health, not maximum health. This could be practically impossible for Soraka to get the passive to be efficient on its own, except if she's low health (but after all, that's the point of Salvation).

About Starcall, I don't understand exactly what you mean by "only one damages minions" and.

Concerning Astral Blessing, I agree that the definition is not very clear.^^ About Soraka's tankiness not being big enough to give her own health and still be healthy enough to continue the fight, I'd say I count on Soraka's ability to make good use of Starcall and her passive to compensate, and I'm glad you like the concept.

I agree that Wish' interaction with the mark is weird and makes the spell difficult to use correctly. I could simply rely on the passive to give it a good utility, like with the current passive.

As with Salvation problem, I'd like to think more deeply about the cooldown reduction on Infuse, to see if there is a real problem or only better synergies (like what we saw with Braum's passive interaction with Lucian's passive)

And if the interaction with Astral Mark disappears on Wish, I'd like to make one on Infuse. Something like: "On enemy cast:(...) All marks on the target explode, and the target is [CC] for [duration] per stack." This would bring an interest by forcing Soraka to choose between better heal and better CC. Maybe a bit OP when said like that, but this is only an idea I just had writing this post.

GamueMay 25, 20141 votes

Don't forget Soraka is not naturally tanky and that the amount of regen is based on missing health, not maximum health. This could be practically impossible for Soraka to get the passive to be efficient on its own, except if she's low health (but after all, that's the point of Salvation).

I fail at reading.

About Starcall, I don't understand exactly what you mean by "only one damages minions" and.

Maybe I misinterpreted your design. The damage that Starcall does on the initial cast would damage minions, but the extra damage done by mark detonation would only effect champions. Is that correct? In other words, Starcall's damage has two components, but only the first component (the initial cast) would damage minions.

And if the interaction with Astral Mark disappears on Wish, I'd like to make one on Infuse. Something like: "On enemy cast:(...) All marks on the target explode, and the target is [CC] for [duration] per stack." This would bring an interest by forcing Soraka to choose between better heal and better CC. Maybe a bit OP when said like that, but this is only an idea I just had writing this post.

Since your kit removes the silence (and the mana drain is not something Riot wants, as mentioned above), I don't think there would be a problem adding something like this to Infuse. Also, in lane, an opponent who can force Soraka to maximize her healing to counter there harassment would also be saving themselves the pain of the extra mark effect on infuse. An opponent that played more passively, however, would leave soraka free to use her stacks to hurt them more.

I do think the full stun might be OP, but there are plenty of other bonuses that could be used as fallback options, and the healing bonus is a hefty price to pay in exchange.

-----

EDIT: Quick additional note. As far as CC on Infuse, there's always the option of having a hard CC with a very short duration, followed by a softer form of CC that lasts a bit longer. The Astral Mark bonus could be attached to whichever portion works out better for balancing purposes.

Also, part of the reason I like the Starcall design is that the minion damage could be balanced separately from the champion damage if that turned out to be necessary, since the initial cast damage and the mark damage don't necessarily have to be the same.

WolfeurMay 26, 20143 votes

I fail at reading

It happens to everyone.^^

The damage that Starcall does on the initial cast would damage minions, but the extra damage done by mark detonation would only effect champions. Is that correct?

Yes, this is correct. The additional damage is done by the marks and only champions receive to mark.

EDIT: Quick additional note. As far as CC on Infuse, there's always the option of having a hard CC with a very short duration, followed by a softer form of CC that lasts a bit longer. The Astral Mark bonus could be attached to whichever portion works out better for balancing purposes.

I like the idea. We could consider a slow preceded (or followed) by a root. The root would be the complementary CC given by the mark. Or, if we want to CC to be stronger, a root/slow and a short stun.

But what I'm still unhappy about my kit is what to do with the 'On ally cast' part of Infuse. I'm not even sure to keep it, considering its power on enemy cast.

WolfeurMay 28, 20142 votes

This is how I redesigned it after some reflections. The names, the passive and her W and E have been changed:

Linna ExcelMay 25, 20142 votes

I don't want her to be a pure healing support.

I don't want her to be a pure support.

I want her to be a utility mage with Wish. And utility mage means a good mix of magic damage and utility. I want to take her mid and not to be a "solo lane support".

What kind of BS is that anyways??

You are solo, but you are still expected to be a support? What? I don't see Annie or Cass or Morgana players having to put up with that kind of nonsense.

WolfeurMay 25, 20144 votes

If you do not want to play a support, don't play her. Soraka is the most pure support in her concept (tied with Braum): A benevolent mage whose mission is to heal/protect people. And seeing solo lane Soraka whose lone utility is to spam Starcall for a maximum damage really bugs me... Soraka was punished by the stars for using her magic offensively and when I see Soraka deal big damage, that doesn't feel right. In her gameplay, she has to target enemy champions, because it wouldn't be healthy if she didn't have to put herself in some kind of dangerous situation, but I don't want her to be a poke champion. Her enemies are useful to improve her spells towards her allies, but she shouldn't be a high damage support like Sona, Karma, Morgana or Lulu.

Linna ExcelMay 25, 20142 votes

Except she's been viable as a non support for ages. That's why I don't want her to be locked into that role. It doesn't represent the reality of what she is too all her fans.

There have been people who got to D1 and challanger by playing her as a mage, not a support. That part of her needs to be protected just as much, if not moreso than having a heal for W.

WolfeurMay 25, 20144 votes

I understand your concern but I think we simply disagree about where Soraka should be played. I mained support since I played for the first time, and Soraka was the first support I tried. I never liked when support champions were played in other places than bot lane, because it made me feel like I wasted a great potential when I played it in support. And Soraka's lore and core gameplay makes it feel even more wrong. That's why I want her to become a true support whose potential is best at supporting, like Braum.

Linna ExcelMay 25, 20142 votes

Riot hates passive supports and that's what she'd be.
She lacks the hard CC she needs to be a good support. Silence doesn't cut it. Good supports have hard CC.
I've played her support as well, but I feel like she's being wasted down there when tethered to an ADC. Also, there's too many ADCs who either don't know how to make use of her W or waste mana and expect you to be a mana battery as well.
It almost seems like she was designed to support AP champs going back, but AP champs rarely replace an ADC bot.
She's more fun to play as a mage in a solo lane. I honestly don't care about her lore at this point as much as I care about where she's the most fun to play. For me and a lot of other people that's as a mage, in mid or top.
I don't think riot knows what to do with pure supports especially now they have to buy AP. The itemization for them is weak and suboptimal at best.
Most people don't like playing support. If you do that's fine, I play it too, but it's not my favorite role and it's not that fun at times just because of how bottom works.
Most pure supports have difficulty carrying and the moment Soraka was able to start carrying games as a mage, riot started crapping teemos and nerfed her instead of reworking her more to be a utility mage.
I don't think riot knows what exactly to do with soraka other than they need to rework her. I think if they took the idea of being a pure support off of the table, they have more room to play around with her and make everyone happy.
Riot doesn't even know if her W will stay a heal at this point. That's enough to tell me that she probably shouldn't be a pure support.
Riot feels healing is toxic and removing the heal from her kit by riot's definition would make her less toxic.
They could refocus her theme and lore around being a "star caller" with a divine aspect. Then she doesn't have to be a pure support. If they want to keep a healing sub theme, just give her a HP/5 aura that scales somehow.

WolfeurMay 25, 20143 votes

Ok, if you wanna play, we're gonna play...

My kit makes her very active, since you have to play risky and constantly to be useful
The CC can be discussed, as I said in the () for Infuse
The fact that ADCs don't know how their support works is not relevant, that doesn't apply only for Soraka but for all supports.
Ok, I actually didn't understand what you said here...
That was the reason they nerfed her. Soraka has nothing to do in a solo lane. If you want a mage with poke and heal, play Nidalee...
But explain why there are so many AP supports, then. Soraka's gonna be a support, probably AP support, whether you like it or not...
And? I don't see your point here? I like it and I like Soraka, so why couldn't I have a very special support-centered-gameplay support?
But Soraka is not supposed to be a utility mage. What makes her so special is that she is the only champion to have a heal that feels directly useful at level 1!
But what about Soraka's identity? You can delete the character and create another one as well, you'll get the same result...
Soraka is the only character in the game that can heal her allies with two spells. But there are other supports. Her W could be a CC, a shield or a buff for what we know.
No, Riot feels HER CURRENT heal is toxic. Modify the way it works and the problem can be solved.
She is a star caller with a divine aspect (she even has a divine skin). And your idea of a HP/5 is exactly what you and Riot would hate, if we consider YOUR first point!

WolfeurJun 2, 20141 votes

I'm quite disappointed in the lack of response from Riot...

20776961_DELJun 3, 20141 votes

The proposed skill-set would truly force soraka into bot lane, as she would be even more dependent on her teammates. Alone she would be the most useless champion in the game ;)

About passive:

What is its cooldown?

About the q:

How long does the shower of stars last. I assume it is 1 wave?
250 range on a circle ability means that soraka will always stand at the edge of that circle when the circle has 500 range. Is that intended?
The damage dealt is wayyyyyy to low.

About W:

Soraka lost a great part of her own sustain. She would need to heal ally, then herself to make up for it.

I'll just stop here. With the current numbers proposed this skill-set offers pretty much no reward for soraka at any kind of play.

Approaching the enemy isn't rewarding because of no damage
The root is even worse and less rewarding than the silence
Her w became a lot weaker than before, she lost a lot of her sustain
She lost the ability to give mana to allies which was one unique part of her kit, while the old armor buff serves as a replacement. She even loses 80 armor in the process unless there are stacks = unacceptable
As said to begin with she would be the most useless champion alone. She could hardly sustain herself, could hardly clear a wave in front of a tower, she would still be stationary and she would lack a lot of hard cc to compensate for her weaknesses.

To conclude. I tried to like it, I see that you put a lot of work into it. But I certainly do not see this working! The numbers would have to be tweaked a lot and then maybe, just maybe parts of this skill-set could somehow work.

Keep trying though, something needs to be done! ;)