Soraka is still a strong support good heals, an amazing armor buff at crucial moment, good passive mr buff, and a global heal to save your team.

21 in the utility tree is important for the cdr and I personally love the gp/5 mastery and it has good synergy with my quints and any gp/5 items that I buy. 9 in offensive is mostly for the extra cdr.

Marks: I use armor pen these used to be better before some nerfs. The reason why I use them is so you can auto attack harrass and do a little more damage to towers. These are not that important I might be switching to armor or cdr. You can use whatever you want here. Personal preference.

Seals: I like the extra armor helps for exchanging auto attacks. Seals is another slot thats dependent on play style other good choices are ap/lvl and mana regen/lvl.

Glyphs: I use mana regen/lvl these help to heal more often without getting too low on mana. Another rune slot depending on personal preference. Other good rune choices are CDR, and ap/lvl.

Quints: I am a big fan of gp/5. When I play soraka ideally I want my laning partner to have every last hit and the majority of my gold will be spent on wards.

Claivoyance is an obvious choice for supports helps maintain map control and to keep track of opposing teams jungler. Also if an enemy tries to go in the bush to try to juke remember to cv the bush so you dont lose sight of them.

The reason I take ghost rather than flash. Unlike other supports you dont need flash to gain positioning. During team fights im in the back for me its a better option to run away and stay out of the damage rather than flash a very minimal distance. Point is you dont need flash for positioning.

I do not harrass with starcall. I still take a point in it for extra damage for ganks or for when the enemy is chasing me. Be very careful with this skill its a mana hole. Only spam it when you have the mana to afford to use it. Otherwise save mana for your heals.

I lvl the heal over the silence because the armor and hp bonus is more important than a single target silence. Dont interpret this wrong sorakas silence is amazing but your top priority is anti-death. Save those allies.

WARDS WARDS WARDS!!!

Top priority items:

Wards: Best item in the game most important item you will be buying all game long

Aegis: Give your team even more armor and even more magic resistance than what you are already giving them! This item is a must!

Oracles: Place your wards and kill theirs. Own the map.

Gp/5: I only get one gold per 5 item and that item is a philostone. Its a gold per 5 item that will build into an item that I personally love. Also with the hp regen early you can afford to heal allies more and this is a decent amount of mana regen to avoid having to back frequently.

Reverie: Use to kite better, avoid initiations, help your team initiate with it.

Mana manip: not crucially important to lane with I dont like to have it during the lane I prefer pots. Figure out who your laning with and than judge do they really need the mana? I normally only get when I lane with Gangplank or viegar

Ward often, Ward everything.

I might update guide later to include screenshots of good locations if you dont already know.

Good spots: Enemy buffs, Dragon, Baron, Jungle entrances, River leading into lane.

IMPORTANT SO YOU DONT FEED: Dont face check blindly into the river so you can place a ward. I see alot of people die because there trying to place a ward. If you have map control you will know where they are and than you can be safe at placing your ward. If you lack vision of an area but you want to place a ward there use your CV.

Key targets to silence: Anyone with a game changing ultimate. Examples: Zilean, Janna, Karthus

Use as interrupts for channels: Nunu, Galio, Karthus

Rammus: he gets a bullet to himself with the recent fotm. When he comes to gank or initiate silence his taunt.

Silence is amazing. Make your own judgement depending on the game. Just dont underestimate that silence it can be game changing.

Soraka doesnt need kills unlike other heroes. This will take alot of judgment to learn. If there is a risk of an enemy getting away than give it all you got if you get the kill oh well. If the kill is a for sure thing than let your teammates get that last hit in.

Position yourself safely. Do not run in the middle of the fight so you can starcall. You are not DPS!!! Stay near carries if they start taking damage heal them. Use your silence to protect whoever is focusing them. If the enemy is not focusing your carry or your carry is too pro to take damage than heal whoever is taking the damage even if its a tank. Keep your team alive. In a team fight dont wait last minute to ult ult as soon as there health starts dropping. Soraka ult is a good counter to enemy initiations, aoe, and burst. Time your ult at the same time as the enemies major burst/dps. Its important for you to linger behind so you dont get caught in stuns if your stunned you cant heal. THIS MAKES YOU USELESS!

WARNING this is situational! If your team wants to B cause there low hp dont let them you just won a team fight so heal them up and take map objectives! (enemy buffs, towers, baron, dragon)

Remember your heal gives armor buff this makes tanking towers easier.

Viegar: I start mana manip when i lane with viegar and I lane as long as possible making sure he gets the farm he needs to make the enemy team rage at there team mates for letting him get that much farm

Gangplank: Again I usually start with mana manip for this lane. This lane combo is for maximum efficency at xp denying. Also gangplank needs a ton of farm and with a soraka aiding him this goal is easily obtained.

Nasus: Again help him get massive farm to piss off the enemy late game.