A little fact about me is that I identify as a “Soraka ARAM main.” Reason being? You don’t want to fuck with me when playing Soraka.
Soraka is an extremely powerful champion in ARAM, both for her quick healing skills and her massive sustain in most situations. Soraka, in my opinion, is one of the most versitile champions players can use in ARAM as she can be built like a Tank, Support or as a pseudo “Battle Mage.”
The only downfall to Soraka is that she doesn’t deal a whole lot of damage, though again, this will depend on how Soraka is built, what Runes players have chosen to use and how aggressive players choose to be while playing ARAM.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash & Clarity/Heal (depending on preference)
RUNES: Dark Harvest, Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, Ravenous Hunter // Manaflow Band & Transcendence
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, W, E
FIRST BUY: Lost Chapter
BUILD ORDER: Luden’s Echo, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Ardent Censer, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Zhonya’s Hourglass/Banshee’s Veil and Void Staff
COMBOS: Players will want to make themselves familiar with Soraka’s abilities since all of them can feed off of each other in a way.
Soraka’s E has the ability to both silence and root enemies. Enemies must stand in Soraka’s E, Equinox, for at least 1.5 seconds for them to be rooted, however, even if players aren’t rooted, Soraka’s silence lasts for long enough to hit an enemy with a Q, Starcall.
Starcall will both heal Soraka overtime and can trigger her W, Astral Infusion’s, passive. If Soraka is under the effects of Rejuvenate, which triggers when champions are hit with her Q, allies healed with Astral Infusion will also receive Rejuvenate and Soraka will not have to use as much of her health to heal allies.
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR SORAKA IN ARAM
FLASH
As is with most champions in ARAM, Soraka really benefits from having Flash on her kit. Flash should always be used for escaping as it will be very unlikely for Soraka to seal a last hit on low health champions due to her abilities’ lack of damage and animation length.
Even with a good amount of Dark Harvest on Soraka, if you choose to build her that way, it is risky to Flash forward as a root or a stun can potentially destroy a Soraka play.
CLARITY
I personally use Clarity more than the average player simply because I get frustrated when I do not have mana. Depending on how much healing your team needs, Soraka players may find themselves out of mana fairly quickly. I personally find that as Soraka I tend to outlive my allies because of her Q. Fewer deaths mean fewer opportunities to reset mana, and if you’re not a fan of building items like Rod of Ages, you may be screwed.
HEAL
Heal tends to be the better choice to take on Soraka simply due to the fact that healing a player with Soraka’s W will take some of Soraka’s health. The awesome thing about having Heal on Soraka is the fact that Soraka tends to build lots of healing amplification, causing Heal to provide more health in one go.
As useful as Heal can be for Soraka players, players can commonly survive simply off of Soraka’s Q.
RUNE TREES FOR SORAKA IN ARAM
Brand plays like many other mages such as Veigar, Morgana, Twisted Fate, Heimerdinger, Brand, Karthus, Anivia, Teemo, Zyra, Ziggs, AP Miss Fortune, and Malzahar where she can either use domination runes or sorcery runes. Though Soraka can also build tanky runes like Garen, Singed or Dr. Mundo.
As mentioned there are a variety of runes players can choose to use when playing Soraka. I’ve found the following three rune builds to be useful when playing Soraka, depending on the situation she is put in.
The rune trees include:
Domination/Sorcery – Burst Damage Heavy
Resolve/Sorcery- Tank who Heals
Sorcery/Resolve – Semi Damage, Semi Heal
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR SORAKA (DOMINATION/SORCERY)
I personally prefer a “damage heavy” Soraka, meaning that I try to avoid defensive items and become less of a Support character. Although there is no way to truly build Soraka to deal lots of damage, players can benefit from giving her Domination Runes to help provide more burst damage.
As a suggestion, if you are uncomfortable with Soraka or are worried about your first time with her, don’t use Domination Runes. Instead, I would recommend one of the alternate Rune suggestions found below.
Note: I must stress that this build isn’t meant to be used with healing in mind, but allows damage to be the focus with healing taking a close second wheel.
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 15% AP) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 Damage (ARAM only).
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Soraka players should always try to proc Dark Harvest and should also take advantage of Soraka’s Heal (W) in order to get assists and refresh Dark Harvest’s timer. I personally find it much easier to proc Dark Harvest by using Soraka’s E as it has more range. There’s also a decent chance that you will root enemy champions as many players are unaware that her root both silences and roots players.
As mentioned, securing a root can often lead to your team jumping of said champion which may lead to multiple kills, especially if Dark Harvest is reset and a second champion is under a 50% heath.
TASTE OF BLOOD
Damaging enemy champions heal players between 18-35 (10% bonus AP) health based on level. Taste of Blood can proc every 15 seconds in ARAM.
Using Taste of Blood as a Rune can help make sure that Soraka players are receiving the most health they can possibly get while still dealing damage to enemy champions.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Since all of Soraka’s abilities are AoEs, she will not receive as much healing from Ravenous Hunter. I still prefer using Ravenous Hunter to other Runes of this tier, though, Ultimate Hunter, which works in a similar fashion and reduces Soraka’s ultimate up to a maximum of 25%, can also be used.
Using Ultimate Hunter or Ravenous Hunter will be a personal preference, though, I prefer Ravenous Hunter since in most cases I won’t have to rely on Soraka’s Ultimate.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Soraka really benefits from Manaflow Band, especially if allies take a plethora of damage. Manaflow Band + Clarity makes all mana issues fly out the window so you can further focus on damage.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Transcendence is one of my favourite Runes to use on Soraka, especially if you’re someone who overbuilds CDR or needs an extra cooldown along the way.
TANKY RUNES FOR SORAKA (RESOLVE/SORCERY)
If you’re on a team with no tank, I recommend building Soraka as a tanky character. Since Soraka doesn’t deal the most damage, you can use her healing and bulkiness to your team’s advantage.
Tanky Runes can essentially make Soraka a healing cow, causing her and allies to become unkillable. This would also mean that Soraka will take a more passive role in ARAM, taking the bulk of damage or out healing enemies’ damage against allies.
GRASP OF THE UNDYING
It’s hard to explain what Grasp of the Undying does, simply because it’s a mechanic that has a lot of bits and pieces to make sure that players don’t get too tanky too soon.
Simply laid out, Grasp of the Undying will passively build stacks as players enter and exit battle. When players get 4 stacks they have 6 seconds to hit enemy champions to receive 2.4% of your maximum health in bonus magic damage, restore 1.2% of your maximum health and most importantly it will permanently grant you 6 bonus health.
I personally really like Grasp of the Undying as it helps make sure that Soraka players have enough health to proc items like Warmog’s Armor early. To be honest, a tanky Soraka can be one of the best things to have on a team, especially in a longer game of ARAM.
DEMOLISH
Every 45 seconds players will have the ability to generate stacks on enemy turrets. If players manage to get 6 stacks within 3 seconds they will deal 50 + 20% of their maximum health as bonus physical damage.
Demolish comes in especially handy if your team consists of primarily other tanks or magic damage. Basically, if you can’t take down turrets quickly as a team, this is the rune for you! The only other Rune I would think about taking is Font of Life, which Heals allies by 5 + 1% of your maximum health over 1.75 seconds whenever you slow or immobilize an enemy champion. Font of Life will appear as a little leaf above the champion’s head.
While it can be useful for players to receive some extra health from you marking enemy champions, extra damage can really make the difference in ARAM. Take Demolish, you’ll thank me.
SECOND WIND
After taking damage from enemy champions, players will receive 6 + 4% of their missing help over a 10 second period.
Second Wind can help Soraka players stay phat and full of health, but players can also substitute it with Bone Plating, which has a 45-second cooldown and merely reduces the damage Soraka takes.
I personally love Second Wind because it has no cooldown and can be abused by taking a little bit of damage from enemy champions and backing out.
OVERGROWTH
Players receive 5 bonus health for every 8 minions that die near them, After gaining 15 stacks (80 minions) players will receive an additional 3.5% maximum health.
Do I need to explain how overpowered that is? No? Thank you.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Soraka really benefits from Manaflow Band, especially if allies take a plethora of damage. Manaflow Band + Clarity makes all mana issues fly out the window so you can further focus on damage.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Transcendence is one of my favourite Runes to use on Soraka, especially if you’re someone who overbuilds CDR or needs an extra cooldown along the way.
MANA FOCUSSED/HEALING RUNES FOR SORAKA (SORCERY/RESOLVE)
I’m not the biggest fan of building champions with Sorcery. While I admit that Sorcery built champions tend to be able to sit back a bit, it’s not the playstyle I’m a fan of.
Building Soraka Sorcery/Resolve will make sure that she will deal sporadic damage to enemies, as long as they don’t dodge her abilities/passives. Sorcery/Resolve will also make sure that Soraka gets the most out of her healing while reducing the risk of running out of the mana to continue doing damage.
Sorcery/Resolve is the most common build for Soraka players.
ARCANE COMET
Dealing damage to an enemy champion will case a comet to be hurled at said champions’ current location, dealing between 30-100 damage ( + 20% AP) after a short delay.
Arcane Comet’s cooldown sits between 20-8 seconds and will depend on the player’s level.
Arcane Comet is paired extremely well with weapons like Liandry’s Torment, which apply a burn onto enemy champions. The reason being? Arcane Comet’s cooldown can be reduced by 10% for every enemy hit in an AoE and an extra 5% for persistent damage.
The only downfall to Arcane Comet? Players are usually able to dodge their hits. If you notice your Arcane Comet is up, I would recommend using your E to status effect the enemy champion, raising the chances of the enemy being hit by said comet.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Soraka really benefits from Manaflow Band, especially if allies take a plethora of damage. Manaflow Band + Clarity makes all mana issues fly out the window so you can further focus on damage.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Transcendence is one of my favourite Runes to use on Soraka, especially if you’re someone who overbuilds CDR or needs an extra cooldown along the way.
GATHERING STORM
Gathering Storm provides players with more AP every 6 minutes. The stats look like the following: 0 / 8 / 24 / 48 / 80, etc.
I would recommend Gathering Storm over Scorch simply due to the fact that having more AP is more beneficial for Soraka players.
REVITALIZE
Due to the reduced healing players have in ARAM, Soraka players will benefit from any healing amplification they can receive.
Revitalize provides players with an extra 5% boost on healing and shielding, which gets increased to 10% when players are under 40% health. Soraka players will also receive a 10% increase from incoming healing and shielding as well as self-healing and shielding if they are under 40% health.
Revitalize stacks extremely well with Astral Infusion’s passive, raising the chances of clutch saves from heals.
SECOND WIND
After taking damage from enemy champions, players will receive 6 + 4% of their missing help over a 10 second period.
Second Wind can help Soraka players stay phat and full of health, but players can also substitute it with Bone Plating, which has a 45-second cooldown and merely reduces the damage Soraka takes.
I personally love Second Wind because it has no cooldown and can be abused by taking a little bit of damage from enemy champions and backing out.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY SORAKA IN ARAM
Maxing your Abilities with Soraka is going to depend on how you play her and whether or not your team is struggling with health. If you’re trying to deal a lot of damage or are in extra need of Crowd Control (CC) I would recommend levelling up your abilities as Q, E, W, however, if you need to heal your allies a lot, power up your abilities in the Q, W, E order. No matter what your Q will always be the ability you power up first, however, the following is a breakdown of what each ability does and what power-ups do.
STARCALL (Q)
Soraka deals AoE damage after 0.25-1 seconds, based on range, and slows enemies by 30% for 2 seconds. If players hit at least one enemy, Soraka gains Rejuvenation which will heal her for 2.5 seconds and grant bonus movement speed.
While Soraka is Rejuvenated, displayed by particle effects that surround her, she can also Rejuvenate others with Astral Infusion.
When Starcall is levelled up it gains more Magic Damage amounting to 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 (+ 35% AP), it gains a boost in Self Heal, amounting to 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 (+ 30% AP) and Bonus Movement Speed amounting to 10% / 12.5% / 15% / 17.5% / 20%. Levelling up Starcall will also increase it’s Mana Cost by 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 and Cooldown to 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 seconds. Starcall is
I can’t say that this is true for every champion, but sometimes it’s very clear what ability you should power up first based on how many stats it affects.
Starcall should be used every time it is off cooldown. Depending on what’s going on and how far into the game you are, you may even want to use Starcall to farm minions, making chances of completing gear pieces even more likely.
Starcall is also why I love using Domination because Ravenous Hunter will help heal you if you’re planning on being aggressive and not relying on building health or bringing tanky runes.
ASTRAL INFUSION (W)
Soraka heals ally champions by 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+ 60% AP), though in ARAM this will be reduced by 50%. In my opinion, this is a big reason why I don’t focus on building Soraka as a healer and instead let that be my second priority, but it really depends on what your team needs.
Astral Infusion is insanely powerful with Warmog’s Armor, but when powered up Astral Infusion receives a Mana Cost Increase of 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60. At the same time, players can bring the Cooldown from 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 seconds, with 40% extra cooldown, Astral Infusion becomes spammable.
If you’re using Domination as your main Runes I would recommend only using Astral Infusion when you’re Rejuvinated as you will receive a Health Cost Reduction of 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100% instead of having to forfeit 10% Maximum Health each time. Again, with Warmog’s Armor, this isn’t usually an issue, since you can make back the health you lost very quickly, so make sure you take a good look at who is on your team before you head off into battle!
EQUINOX (E)
Soraka deals AoE damage that silences enemy champions standing in it. After 1.5 seconds if champions are still standing in it they will receive the same damage and will become rooted.
Whey levelled up Equinox will receive a Damage increase amounting to 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+ 40% AP), a Cooldown reduction amounting to 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 seconds, a root duration of 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds and a Mana cost increase of 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 9.
Receiving the extra root duration and damage increase can be extremely beneficial when trying to secure kills in team fights or in clutch situations in ARAM.
GEAR BUILDS FOR SORAKA IN ARAM
There are a few Gear builds you can use while playing Soraka and again they are going to be subjective and will depend on what runes/playstyle you want to use while playing Soraka.
DOMINATION GEAR (DAMAGE ORIENTED)
LUDENS ECHO
High Ability Power, Extra Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
IONIAN BOOTS OR SORCERER’S SHOES
I usually buy Ionian Boots first and then switch out to Sorcerer’s Shoes when I have enough Cooldown Reduction and Mana. In my opinion, there’s no shame switching out your boots based on what you need at the moment, especially because they’re not that expensive, to begin with.
Ionian Boots are most helpful when you have Clarity as it reduces the cooldown by 10% and Clarity provides a 50% mana.
ARDENT CENSER
High Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, +50% Mana Regen, +10% heals, +8% movement speed, and the ability to empower damage and attack speed. Yes. Please. Ardent Censer is the only “defensive” item I build when playing Soraka as Domination.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP
Need to amplify all that sexy Ability Power? Grab Rabadon’s Deathcap for 120 AP with a 40%increase. Woof.
ZHONYA’S HOURGLASS/BANSHEE’S VEIL
My fourth item is usually defensive unless we’re annihilating. I usually choose this item solely on the other player’s team and whether I need magic resist or armour.
VOID STAFF
It’s always great to have magic pen, especially if you’re up against a tanky team!
RESOLVE (TANKY FOCUSSED GEAR)
ROD OF AGES
If you want to build Warmog’s Armor early or want to make sure that your health is as high as it can be, I recommend building Rod of Ages. Rod of Ages gives bonus Health, Mana and Ability Power every minute for up to 10 minutes. This equals out to 200 Health, 100 Mana and 40 Ability Power, on top of its already 60 Ability Power, 300 Health, and 300 Mana. After 10 minutes Rod of Ages will have a total of 100 Ability Power, 500 Health and 400 Mana. Those are some pretty sweet stats at the end of the day.
Players will also restore mana equal to 15% of the damage taken from champions, which works really well with Resolve Runes. Players can take a good amount of damage, heal with their Q, continue to heal from Runes like Second Wind and heal the crap out of their whole team.
Rod of Ages also raises the chances of being able to use Warmog’s Armor, as players will not be able to reach it as easily without Rod of Ages’ Health boost.
IONIAN BOOTS OR SORCERER’S SHOES
I usually buy Ionian Boots first and then switch out to Sorcerer’s Shoes when I have enough Cooldown Reduction and Mana. In my opinion, there’s no shame switching out your boots based on what you need at the moment, especially because they’re not that expensive, to begin with.
Ionian Boots are most helpful when you have Clarity as it reduces the cooldown by 10% and Clarity provides a 50% mana.
REDEMPTION
Redemption provides players with +200 Health, +50% Base Health Regen, +150% Base Mana Regen, +10% Cooldown Reduction. Redemption also reveals a target area for 3 seconds and will heal allies by 30-370, based on the target’s level after a 2.5-second delay.
Players will receive a 3x healing bonus if while enemies take 10% of the targets’ health as true damage and minions take 250 true damage. Redemption has a 120-second cooldown.
Redemption doesn’t have to be built as your second piece of gear if you think that you’re going to have enough health for Warmog’s Armor to proc, but it will have to depend on what you prefer. I would recommend building redemption if you are dying a lot and haven’t had the opportunity to get enough health and Warmog’s Armor whenever you’re alive for extended periods of time.
WARMOG’S ARMOR
Warmog’s Armor is one of the most powerful pieces of Gear players can purchase when playing a tank. Although Warmog’s Armour isn’t as powerful in ARAM as it is in Summoner’s Rift, it is still fairly overpowered.
Warmog’s Armor provides players +10% Cooldown Reduction, +800 Health, +200% Base Health Regeneration. Warmog’s Armour will also regenerate 5% of missing health every second if damage has not been taken from minions in the past 3 seconds of champions in the last 6 seconds.
Even if you have Warmog’s Armor it’s a good idea to continue landing your Q for the extra bonus healing. If you play a Tanky Soraka chances are you’re going to want to switch in and out of the frontline. Sometimes staying back and just healing after landing a Q is the best way to keep teammates up.
ARDENT CENSER
High Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, +50% Mana Regen, +10% heals, +8% movement speed, and the ability to empower damage and attack speed.
ATHENE’S UNHOLY GRAIL
I truthfully cannot explain why Athene’s is good in ARAM, but The Strategy Professor does a great job explaining how Athene’s Unholy Grail works here.
SORCERY (HEALING FOCUSSED GEAR)
LUDENS ECHO
High Ability Power, Extra Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
IONIAN BOOTS OR SORCERER’S SHOES
I usually buy Ionian Boots first and then switch out to Sorcerer’s Shoes when I have enough Cooldown Reduction and Mana. In my opinion, there’s no shame switching out your boots based on what you need at the moment, especially because they’re not that expensive, to begin with.
Ionian Boots are most helpful when you have Clarity as it reduces the cooldown by 10% and Clarity provides a 50% mana.
ARDENT CENSER
High Ability Power, 10% Cooldown Reduction, +50% Mana Regen, +10% heals, +8% movement speed, and the ability to empower damage and attack speed. Yes. Please. Ardent Censer is the only “defensive” item I build when playing Soraka as Domination.
REDEMPTION
Redemption provides players with +200 Health, +50% Base Health Regen, +150% Base Mana Regen, +10% Cooldown Reduction. Redemption also reveals a target area for 3 seconds and will heal allies by 30-370, based on the target’s level after a 2.5-second delay.
Players will receive a 3x healing bonus if while enemies take 10% of the targets’ health as true damage and minions take 250 true damage. Redemption has a 120-second cooldown.
Redemption doesn’t have to be built as your second piece of gear if you think that you’re going to have enough health for Warmog’s Armor to proc, but it will have to depend on what you prefer. I would recommend building redemption if you are dying a lot and haven’t had the opportunity to get enough health and Warmog’s Armor whenever you’re alive for extended periods of time.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP
Need to amplify all that sexy Ability Power? Grab Rabadon’s Deathcap for 120 AP with a 40%increase. Woof.
WARMOG’S ARMOR
Warmog’s Armor is one of the most powerful pieces of Gear players can purchase when playing a tank. Although Warmog’s Armour isn’t as powerful in ARAM as it is in Summoner’s Rift, it is still fairly overpowered.
Warmog’s Armor provides players +10% Cooldown Reduction, +800 Health, +200% Base Health Regeneration. Warmog’s Armour will also regenerate 5% of missing health every second if damage has not been taken from minions in the past 3 seconds of champions in the last 6 seconds.
Even if you have Warmog’s Armor it’s a good idea to continue landing your Q for the extra bonus healing. If you play a Tanky Soraka chances are you’re going to want to switch in and out of the frontline. Sometimes staying back and just healing after landing a Q is the best way to keep teammates up.
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