I play a lot of Sona and Soraka, but I have trouble deciding who to play. I know that Sona has a better poke and disengage and Soraka has the silence and the better heal, but I have a hard time figuring out which will be more useful.
I play blind-pick normals mostly; is this just more of a counter-pick decision for draft play? Or is there a synergistic reason to choose one over the other?
I'm no expert, but I think I can find a few reasons.
1: Crowd Control. Does your team have enough CC without you? if so; Soraka is a good choice. If not, Sona will be better in teamfights.
2: Your ADC. Do you have a mobile/safe ADC? Then Sona's gonna suffice, since you don't need to heal as much. Soraka has no damage compared to Sona, so a safe ADC will mean she has more mana and time for poke, thus helping more in lane than Soraka would be able to.
3: Their ADC. If they have Caitlyn, playing Soraka would pretty much be a death sentence. That ult is not something you want to be Soraka against. Lucian, Vayne, Kalista and Ezreal are pretty bad matchups for Soraka too.
4: Their support. If they have Thresh or Leona as support, Soraka will be able to save her ADC better than Sona would, while Sona is more effective against the likes of, say, Taric, Alistar, Zyra perhaps, and maybe even Morgana.
5: The rest of your team. If your team is relatively squishy, Soraka will be able to heal them for more and keep them up for longer. Of course, Soraka is also good alongside tanks, surprisingly. If your team already has decent sustain, say Olaf, Lee Sin, Fiora, Irelia ect. Sona may work better in the team.
6: Last, but not least in any way, The enemy team. If they have a powerful assassin like Katarina, Fizz, Yasuo or Akali who can quickly and easily jump in and out of your team, and possibly take someone while in there, Soraka will be a horrible choice. Especially against Katarina. Soraka can't build defensively due to her W, and as such, Sona would be a better choice by a mile since she can build a lot of health and not be punished for it, unlike Soraka.
Long post, I know, but I think these are kinda useful to keep in mind.
Edit: Ah, sorry. Didn't catch the part about "Normals Blindpick." I'm gonna leave the tips here anyway, because they might still be useful.
Sona will almost always be the better choice. She does more damage, is more reliable, has an aoe stun ult, and can heal herself.
Soraka's new spells suck, and she is just mega gimped at the moment, imo. There is no reason to pick Soraka in a game where Sona is not banned.
Do you not have a tank? If you don't, you probably want to go raka so you can make everyone tanky. Does your ADC synergize well with heavy poke or team lacks aoe cc? Probably go sona and repeatedly force the enemy to back.
If they have a powerful assassin like Katarina, Fizz, Yasuo or Akali who can quickly and easily jump in and out of your team, and possibly take someone while in there, Soraka will be a horrible choice. Especially against Katarina.
I disagree. Raka has one of the best tools for dealing with assassins - her E. Sona's only answer to an assassin is to try to burst them down asap with her Q and hope her W is enough to prevent the ADC from dying in the meantime. When an assassin dives in and gets that silence field thrown down under them, they can't do anything and just get blown up.
It depends on what you're laning against so that's more of a draft pick decision
Sona: when you want an all-rounder type of support with a bit of additional focus on poking Soraka: when you want to lose
