I recently started playing Soraka and realized she is really fun and a useful champion for the team. I was wondering if any of you could give me some tips on what items to buy for her. I usually end up buying items with auras to help the team. Is that worth it or should i just stack lots of ability power and mana. any ideas?

What I like about Soraka is her abilities are very spammy, so I get items that activate on magic use.

My build is:
Tear of the Goddess
Mercury boots
Innervate locket
Upgrade tear to archmage staff
Lichbane
Some sort of armor

When I play I go 100% support not even picking up the q skill until late game usually. 1 rank if my lanemate isn't able to push well without it.

!.) Mana Manipulator (if lanemate doesn't use mana get the ingredients but not full mana manipulator then buy some pots)

2.) Aegis of the Legion

3.) Mercury's/Ninja boots depending on the opposing team. (-cc is great if they have it so preference to mercury)

4.) Frozen Heart

5.) Mana Manioulator -> Soul Shroud

From there you should have a good feel of where your team is in the game. Innervating locket could be a lategame choice if you are pushing together and need small heals.

If you're getting focused get more armor/magic resist. A Banshee's Veil is great vs magic on Soraka.

hey thanks for the tips ill be sure to try those builds.

I find it strange that although the character is listed as "easy," there are a lot of nuances to play Soraka. Its probably just me.

Here are my thoughts (I am actually thinking of making a guide for her, since not a lot of people like to play support characters).

Soraka is an unbelievably great pressure character but you have to know a few things to play her well:

1) The range of starfall. Always be aware the range of this ability, as you can get LOTS of last hits on minions (farming/creeping pressure) AND fleeing champions (lots of my kills are last hits on champions that bit off more than they could chew),

2) She is very squishy, but gets lots of money if played well.

3) she is very powerful in the early game, weakens tremendously in mid game (beware of ganking around level 6-10) and then strengthens considerably with the right gear in late game (for pressure and support purposes, not really for tanking or soloing).

Without going into a ton of detail (you will see a guide by me appearing on these forums within the week methinks), item wise you need:

1) Tear of the Goddess (for the mana gain on spell cast - you need this extra stuff)

2) Blasting Wand

3) Aegis (for the aura)

4) Archmage staff (1+2; converts your mana into AP and damage for Starfall and Infuse, but keep in mind that AP makes your heals MUCH better than your damage)

*5) Mercury's boots

*6) Frozen Heart

* these are interchangable. you don't REALLY need boots on Soraka, as you are typically in the back of meatshields.

Frozen heart at the end of this build is great for a ton of reasons:

a) extra mana for heals and AP conversion

b) armor (soraka is squishy)

c) Lower cooldowns! (starfall should now be 2-3 seconds! spammage in a group fight will SERIOUSLY pressure the enemy into making mistakes)

Other items I found VERY useful: Void staff (40% spell penetration). This is great for high level Infuse (250+ damage) and Starfall (180+ damage).

I hope that helps. I should have a guide out this week hopefully.

Rank 1 starcall is invaluable throughout the entire game. Even if you go full support (maxing heal/mana), you should still have rank 1 starcall for last hits, the debuff, and of course if you go locket.

Also, starcall works against stealthed champions. So, spam away even if creeps aren't around. You won't see the actual starcall, but she'll make the animation.

Yup, Starcall is a great skill to have.
If anything, I usually leave her healing for later on. Most people do stack ways for them to survive a fight already, so it's usually the last thing anyone will need. Lvl1 gives the same armor as Lvl5, and so Lvl1 is usually all you'll need till mid game.

I usually prioritize Infuse, since it's the largest mana return this game has to offer. It's also Soraka's exclusive ability, and her only CC (silence). She also never need any mana item as long as you keep Infuse maxed out.

I usually get 1 or 2 (or up to 5) early kills with smart use of Infuse and Exhaust. Learn the limit of when to use it on yourself, your friend, or your opponents, and it easily becomes the best spell in the game.

As for stats, I prioritize CD reduction. Soraka comes built in with MR and AR (passive and Astral Blessing), which makes her quite tough for a healer. Scaling on anything but Wish is relatively poor, and you get a much better return from CD reduction--especially since it means you can heal more often (or keep more friends buffed with extra armor), put up Starcall debuff much faster, and also Infuse a lot more. Short CD means you can afford to pop one on the enemy, knowing that it will be up again for you to use very quickly.
ps. A 1.6 sec starcall hurts a **** ton even with low AP.

The reason I like to pickup heal at lvl 1 is because I go heavy support as I said. Starcall is nice sure, but if I lane with a heavy dps like twitch/shaco I just focus on healing them and infusing myself/them. Starcall is just a waste of mana if you lane with a heavy dps carry that you can support well in my opinion. If you use it too often then you'll run out of mana for heals.

Generally with this playstyle the game doesn't last very long with a good team so I've never gotten AP on Sora. The biggest problem I have is getting my CD items. I don't need bigger heals, I just need them more often.

If you do plan on starcallspam then I'm sure you'll still be effective support late game and maybe mid. But early and mid my build has proved very hard to kill. I can tank Trynd halfway across the map leading him to a gank once I get my Aegis and that's before I have boots and then keep on laning.

But the point is, AP scales well on the heals, not on the damage. A decent AP item will effectively double the healing on a low level wish or blessing. Since blessing has a very short cooldown, you can easily spam the ability with a high level infuse.

i used to play an exclusively healing/prot Monk back in my Guild Wars days, so I love Soraka's utility.

EDIT: the problem with early healing is that you WON'T get near enough money to get your necessary items, so you will be behind on good items most of the game.

Since Soraka can stay in the lane much longer than the typical champion, starfall, then infuse then blessing gives her a ton of staying power and a ton of gold for when you eventually need to go back to the fountain (this is like, 5-6 minutes into the game when you are floating 1000+ gold)

That's what I like about Sora though, she doesn't really have necessary items. She's very strong without any so a shortage of money isn't a problem early/mid game.

If you do make it to late game then you can always starcallspam an empty lane or some forest creeps to get what you need.

I guess it is important to keep in mind I play Sora with 5 man premades so for pugs you may need to build differently. Especially since the game will likely go much longer. Also I played her when promote was available and took out enough towers that money wasn't an issue.