Soraka Rework Leaked!
What was the change? Starcall: Now it's a faster skillshot that fall after a 0.5 second delay on an area enemies can't see ahead of the time. The skill range increase with her level. If Starcall land on a friend, damage to that friend is reduced by 25% for 1 second. Missing Starcall now punish Astral Infusion as now it's CD depends on landing Starcall. Also not healing your friends punish Starcall as Starcall's cooldown depend on Astral Infusion. Also although Starcall can be used more often with her new mechanics it have a "kassadin ult" kind of mana curve. The mana can be heavily refunded if she keep lands it though.
Astral Infusion: Now have a higher cooldown but can be reset if Soraka land Starcall. Healing a champion after Soraka lands a Starcall will reset Starcall cooldown. Now have an alternative self-use that work like a timed guardian keystone.
New additional passive: If Soraka heal an ally with Grievous wounds, 40% of the health cost of Astral Infusion is refunded.
Status balanced accordingly: Do less if it's outplayed or make bad decisions. Can potentially be a highlight if the player dedicate time and effort with the champion [similar with the feeling thresh causes when he predicts a death sentence].
Summary:
Basically now Soraka have a more serious Skill test going on that defines her as a champion. She need to consistently workout her Starcall > Astral Infusion > Starcall > Astral Infusion to be unleash the champion potential [not only for her own health regen but for her healing output]. Missing one Starcall at the wrong time or using it to scout at the right time might cost a lot [or everything] and, if you are facing Soraka, just flashing, dashing or side stepping her Starcall might be just enough to have an advantage over her kit.
To compensate for the new constant skill testing some cool changes happened too. Her Starcall now increase with range with her level [allowing her to use it more as a way to have vision of certain bushes and harass if she want to have that risk], she received a new secondary use for Astral Infusion that allow her to increase her movement speed and heal herself if she can predict an attack correctly [what also, important to notice, is another skill test]. Enemies now can totally see and know that she used Starcall but are not sure where she pointed it until it falls. This means that you might outplay her but she also might outplay you, pointing it exactly to where you would side step it.
Because this version of Soraka have more skill expression, Soraka will have some very interesting moments to shine as well as some hard failure moments. Her decisions now come to the board rewarding intelligence over repeated straight forward actions.
To illustrate some of the process behind this new Soraka check it out:
"If I use Equinox [her silence] now, I might guarantee that my enemy will not dash away from my Starcall. By doing that I will guarantee my next 2 heals and I might start my mechanics from there. Unfortunately if I use my Equinox this way, I will not have it to stop ekko from ulting. Should I risk it on a predict? Should I use between my friend and the enemy so we back off? What is the best action right now?"
"If I use this Starcall over the wall enemies will know I used it. If they see that I used it and I don't land it in anyone, they might engage because they know I don't have it. If I don't use it they might be there and engage us anyway. What is the correct course of action?"
"Should I use Starcall on my ally right now to avoid the damage he is going to receive? If I do so, when should I use it? What if my ally moves? What if they just don't engage when they see I use my Starcall that way?"
Exemple of skill recognition situation:
"That Soraka is very good. She walked to my direction before using Starcall. I thought she was going to use it as a harass and so my team thought. Khazix didn't thought twice before jumping on the adc. To his misfortune Soraka have actually used Starcall on her adc so that was a very good move. This unlocked part of her kit and got everybody by surprise."
"how the fuck she knew I would flash to the left?"
"She just kept walking towards me without using her starcall. I just couldn't jump in or out. She saved her Starcall well enough to make me play her mind game."
Example of outplay situation:
"Because I could read this Soraka correctly I could dodge her Starcall. That forced her to use a non-buffed Astral Infusion decreasing her healing output enough for my team to win the fight during the gap I opened."
"I saved my flash for her Starcall and used that advantage to win this fight."
The goal was to allow her enemies to feel that if they are suffering, it's because they are against a good Soraka. We want more interaction and mind game behind nullifying damage without taking out the healer feeling that Soraka have [she still can heal people quite nicely out of combat].
Detailed changes: Starcall mana cost increase each time is used if used in a row [like a small version of kassadin ult] but the mana is heavily refunded every time Soraka lands it. After landing Starcall on an enemy, Astral Infusion cooldown is reduced to 1 second for the next 1 use and will reset the current astral infusion cooldown if it was already on CD.
Astral Infusion [her heal]: Now have a 15 seconds cooldown at all levels but can still be used almost with no CD if Soraka is out of combat if healing an ally that is also out of combat. If Soraka heal an ally after she lands Starcall, Starcall cooldown is reset.
Astral infusion might be, alternatively, used on herself to allow Soraka to activate a similar effect of the guardian keystone rune only on herself for 0.5 second. Further explaning: If she takes damage during this 0.5 second window she will receive a stronger rejuvenation effect and a haste for 2.5 seconds. The healing and haste scale with the amount of health missing that Soraka used to heal her friends.
This version of that skill have a separate 30 seconds cooldown that can't be reduced by Starcall or reset Starcall cooldown.
What you guys think? I really liked and look forward for those changes! I hope Riot can talk more about it!