I wasn't aware that the only way to play Unicorn was as a 0 cs Support at bottom lane.

Wait, so you're saying Janna and Soraka are both terrible supports because their kits don't allow them aggression in lane? Then why were these the 2 dominant supports for a large part of season 2? (hint: "nerfs" they received had nothing to do w/ lane aggression)

Also, if you're sitting in lane spamming heals as Soraka, you're not playing her well. I'm sorry, but when you have a short cooldown AOE damage spell on support (no one else does), you should probably use it in engagements. "Hurr 3 seconds"? Well, if you can time things well, 3 seconds is a large portion of an engagement. If you wait until your carry is trading instead of spamming on cooldown, that armor buff is actually pretty useful (not to mention her passive's MR buff). Also, having unlimited mana in lane is pretty strong. Again, the idea with Soraka isn't that you need to all-in the enemy to win lane (and, yes, Soraka CAN win her lane). It's that you force small trades because Soraka's sustain lets you win these trades.

Lategame admittedly isn't Soraka's high point, but she'll probably do much better there than Jarvan and Fiddle (at least she's not a free kill). If Jarvan and Fiddle are somehow building their carry items from the support role, they're not buying wards, which is something the team should be exploiting before you get to lategame.

If you guys want to get Soraka buffed, that's fine by me, but don't go spouting foolishness on the levels of calling the archetypal support the worst support champ in the game.

Achievement Unlocked: Red posted in one of my threads. Rickless linked to one of mine before but never got a post until now. Anyway, yes, 105 armor is nice, but its 3 seconds, and on an enormous cooldown, and everyone knows this, meaning you will get bullied hard between W's. Taric gives 30 armor all the time, averaging out to more armor/time, and of course the first 30 armor counts for more, as armor has diminishing returns from an actual damage reduced standpoint.

But really though, I realize this - it doesn't make my earlier points incorrect. She nullifies the ability of both sides to make kills - when you aren't going to die, both sides freefarm. A draw in terms of CS/Kills is great if you win lategame, but..she is awful late.

The Corki messed up, but he wasn't in range of Leona and a shot on Ez wouldn't have made any difference. Even if it had been 2 for 1, it would still be a great trade, especially considering Leona/Ez is better than Taric/Corki late. Even if they had both died for nothing, he was still "supporting correctly." What Ez/Taric/Corki did right/wrong has no bearing on whether or not Leona did her job right.

Yes, it sucks to be a support when your team is behind. It's really bad for Leona. It's just as bad for Soraka though. Enhancing teammates who don't do anything doesn't count for much, and frankly, Soraka is easier to kill. Both are essentially looking to pick up kills from towerdives through tower DPS, but they can back off from Raka if they realize the buffs are too much. Leona will keep them there. You can at least capitalize on their mistakes.

Apples to Orangles? Sort of. A support with abilities that protect a carry vs a support with abilities that rely on the carry to tank. Yes, Soraka makes the lane more safe but it doesnt matter because "safety" isn't really a desirable goal in LoL. A horrendous slaughter is fine as long as it is even. The better lategame wins as long as this is true, but with Soraka - You can't win early. You lose late.

There are plenty of people citing her harass as good and that is sort of true, but Soraka's range is really low - if she is harassing, a Kill-Lane support can just grab her and kill her. Winning because you outharassed and sustained the enemy just means they were bad, and didn't know how to take advantage of opportunities. Raka can only protect 1 person. She either dies horribly protecting her AD, or lets them die...or stands behind them, protecting through buffs, and stalling the lane.

First of all, Janna does allow aggression - not like Leo/Taric/Blitz/Ali/Renekton but it can be done, at least a little. She can at least hold someone in place if her AD is winning. However, that's fine because Janna is actually really good late. If she can create a stalemate in lane, that's a win for her, unlike Soraka. But really, the reason they were popular is because of meta and playstyle at the time. If people had been playing then like they do now, Raka/Janna would have fallen out of popularity a lot faster.

If the opponents are stupid enough to wait until your W is up for every fight, then yes, you will probably win just as easily as you could have with any other support. Good opponents will kill/zone you out between W's.

See, you are assuming Jarvan and Fiddle support are going to be playing just like Bruiser/AP. They can, if they get massively fed, but if they don't, its ok, because they can peel better than most supports late anyway. You don't buy "carry items" as a support unless you have so much gold that you can get them, support items, and wards without trouble. A support fiddle can sit with his AD in fights and drop CC just like a normal support would. Jarvan can do the same.

Soraka is the archetypical support champ only because we associate a "support" class as doing things like healing and providing buffs. This isn't an MMO. It isn't balanced like an MMO and "supporting" in LoL is done far better by preventing damage in the first place than healing or mitigating it. Those same tools can also be turned offensively if the opportunity arises.

105 armor will negate AD damage but that won't do you any good if someone like Lee Sin or Mundo is already up in your face with perma slows. Soraka has no peel and later game where 2-3 Ignites is really common, her sustain is sorta bad. The only thing going for her is her team heal and silence.

imo her heal needs some sort of proper attention. It's just a ugly mess right now.

I have always disliked supporting as Soraka and have always felt she was pretty weak compared to other supports. This is the first time I've seen a Plat player say that she's not good. I've always just assumed I suck at playing her...

You mirror my observations. I've seen Soraka as a niche pick to counter some selective champions at select times (like Karthus' early-game ults or Taric's armor reduction and harass). And I agree, she feels useless come lategame.

Overall, I like the others supports better. Taric, Ali, Lulu, Janna, even... Sona...

Oh, the facerolling... *shiver*

yeah you almost nerfed this in half.

bump

The point of Soraka heal is to heal at the right moments, thus making the target of focus harder to kill. Also, Soraka provides a flat MR buff as a passive, so she is providing some protection against magic damage dealers. Also, the silence can shut down mages for a given amount of time for a fight if used correctly. Just because she has no hard CC doesn't mean she can't protect the AD carry.
In my opinion, Soraka is baby's first support and is easy to pick up but hard to master. Her early game is actually quite weak whileas her late game is quite strong in teamfights. I mean, free MR buff and anti-karthus ulti while lowering the other team's MR? I'm fine with that. Do I need to mention that Soraka can also easily bait people with her heals? Having more/better CC doesn't necessarily make you a better support character. Yes, it gives you a stronger presence in lane, but like Aphromoo says, you have to create a zone for your AD carry to farm. That Taric also was playing passive and Aphromoo noticed this and took advantage of it. It's not because Leona is a better support character than Taric. I can still create a zone of freefarm as Soraka against a Leona easily by having good ward placement and being aggressive when the time is right. Just because you pick Soraka doesn't mean you automatically have to play passive. When you support as Soraka, your goal is to make small engagements and then make them lose more in that engagement as you recover your losses.

reading these posts just hurts, please stop saying she's bad just cus you don't know how to play her!

defensive/passive lane only? lol

use a better build and bait your opposition to cc you so your adc has free reign to attack them or just sit in bush silencing their support, it's really easy.

l2p before you berate a character you obviously don't understand and stop focusing on her heal! a 2.5 sec silence is soooo strong