Every so often, champions designed for completely different roles show up strong in the meta as an unconventional pick. Such is the case with Soraka, a support that recently spiked in popularity on the top lane, even in pro play.
With healing abilities and high poke, Soraka’s solo lane potential is high. Though squishy, she excels in sustain. Her range and crowd control make for easy poke and her global healing can turn the outcome of any fight. But this doesn’t mean Soraka top is easy to pull off.
Here are runes, build, and gameplay tips for League of Legends players hungry for fun top lane picks.
Soraka’s two strongest pillars are her poke damage and sustain. Runes should be picked to further boost those strengths, having in mind her damage scales with AP. That being said, the Sorcery path will bring her the most benefit.
Not only does Summon Aery damage enemies, it also boosts her defense. Manaflow band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm are runes that will provide Soraka with more mana, cooldown reduction, and damage. These stats are crucial for the Starchild to be able to utilize her kit more offensively.
Resolve is the best second choice to overcome squishiness as Soraka’s biggest weakness. Bone Plating and Revitalize will improve her durability, allowing for safer trades and better team fight potential.
Top lane Soraka starts with Doran’s Ring for minor AP, mana, and health boosts. With potions to help her stay alive, players can start abusing her long attack range from the first minute.
Chalice of Harmony is the first item players should go back for. With amplified mana and health regeneration, Soraka is in a safer spot to start spamming her heals, slows, and silences. Chalice also builds into Athene’s Unholy Grail, the most important item of the top lane build. Athene’s will further boost her mana regeneration, cooldown reduction, and AP. It’s a perfect item for champions with healing capabilities that are looking to deal some damage as well.
Right after comes Spirit Visage, an item usually built on tanky units as it increases the effectiveness of health restoration. With Soraka’s health regen intensified, her sustain almost makes her indestructible. More cooldown reduction, healing power, and mana regeneration from Redemption is the cherry on top of the cake.
Though top lane Soraka can output decent amounts of damage, her main focus is still supporting the team, and the game should be played with that in mind. At the start of the games, players need to look to farm on a distance that keeps them safely away from the enemy while at the same time allowing them to poke away from the lane.
Soraka won’t necessarily be looking for kills, but rather for consistent lane pressure, keeping her enemies far from farm and experience. Her time to shine comes once Wish is available and items are starting to get fully built. Players need to keep aware of the whole map for the appropriate timing of the ultimate, helping other lanes out as required.
Once the tide of the game turns towards objective control and team fights, Soraka’s job is to keep her team alive. While still using the high-ranged poke to take down enemy health, and taking advantage of crowd controlling abilities, players should stay at the back lines focusing their efforts towards healing allies.
With high health regen and low cooldowns on heals, Soraka becomes a hard target for the enemy to take down, and an even harder one to deal with if left alive. And this is where her real advantage comes from.
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