Soraka Counters: Who Beats Soraka

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Soraka counters are champions who pull her out of position, execute the targets she heals, or keep damage ticking after Wish lands. She is a ranged support with 550 attack range, a slow on Starcall (Q), a silence-then-root zone on Equinox (E), and an instant team-wide heal on her ultimate, so lockdown and burst beat her, not slow trades.

This list is editorial. I went through each kit against Soraka’s abilities instead of sorting a win-rate table, so every reason below names the ability and the key it sits on.

Why is Soraka hard to counter?

• Salvation (passive): Soraka runs faster towards nearby low health allies.
• Starcall (Q): a star falls at the target location, dealing magic damage and slowing enemies. If an enemy champion is hit, Soraka recovers Health. Cooldown 8/7/6/5/4 seconds by rank.
• Astral Infusion (W): she sacrifices a portion of her own health to heal another friendly champion. Cooldown 6/5/4/3/2 seconds.
• Equinox (E): a zone that silences all enemies inside. When it expires, everyone still inside is rooted. Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 seconds.
• Wish (R): instantly restores health to herself and all allied champions. Cooldown 150/135/120 seconds.

Thing is, she’s a health pump with a built-in refund. Starcall heals her when it hits a champion, Astral Infusion turns that health into a heal for her partner, and at rank 5 the W cooldown is 2 seconds. Burst her partner and Wish answers it. Dive her instead? Equinox silences you first (and roots you if you’re still standing in it when it ends). That is the loop good Soraka counters break.

Which champions are the best Soraka counters?

Pyke

Death From Below (R) blinks to and executes low health enemies, and an execute doesn’t care how much healing is queued up behind the target. Bone Skewer (Q) can pull an enemy towards him, which drags Soraka off her 550 range and into melee. Funny enough, her own W helps you: Astral Infusion sacrifices her health, so a Soraka who has been healing hard is already low, which is exactly what Death From Below looks for.

Blitzcrank

Rocket Grab (Q) grabs an opponent on its path and drags it back to him. Power Fist (E) then pops the target up in the air. In practice, a grabbed Soraka is standing next to a Blitzcrank, not inside her own Equinox zone and not next to the ally she wants to heal. Static Field (R) also silences nearby enemies briefly, which stops her from casting Astral Infusion or Wish while it lasts.

Nautilus

Nautilus is the pick when you want her to stop moving. Dredge Line (Q) pulls Soraka and Nautilus together, Staggering Blow (passive) roots her on his first attack, and Depth Charge (R) chases an opponent, knocks up everything along the way, then knocks the target into the air and stuns them. Salvation only speeds her up towards low health allies, not away from a shockwave that follows her.

Alistar

Every crowd control effect on Alistar is cleared when he presses Unbreakable Will (R), and the physical and magical damage he takes is reduced while it runs. Equinox roots whoever is still inside when it expires; Alistar presses R and walks out. Pulverize (Q) tosses nearby enemies into the air, Headbutt (W) knocks the target back, so he can separate Soraka from her partner, and Trample (E) ignores unit collision (minions don’t block his path to her).

Brand

Blaze (passive) deals damage over 4 seconds, stacks up to 3 times, and at max stacks on a champion it becomes unstable and detonates in an area. Wish is a single heal. Does Blaze stop ticking just because she pressed it? No. Pyroclasm (R) bounces up to 5 times between Brand and nearby enemies and prioritizes stacking Blaze to max on champions, so a Soraka standing beside her partner eats the bounces too, and Sear (Q) stuns any target that is already ablaze.

How do you play the lane against Soraka?

• Leave Equinox before it expires. The silence is immediate, but the root only hits enemies still inside when the zone ends, so walk out.
• Don’t give Starcall free hits. It heals Soraka only when it hits an enemy champion. Dodge the star and her Q heals nothing.
• Hit the partner, then switch to her. Every Astral Infusion costs her own health, so a Soraka who heals a lot is the softer target by the end of the trade.
• Count Wish. It is 150 seconds at rank 1. Once it’s down, all-ins stick.
• Bring a pull or an execute. Trading auto attacks into an Astral Infusion cooldown that drops to 2 seconds at rank 5 feeds her heal loop.

Which items counter Soraka?

Grievous Wounds, and you don’t have to wait for a full item to get it. Executioner’s Calling costs 800 gold with 15 Attack Damage, and Oblivion Orb costs 800 with 25 Ability Power. Both apply 40% Wounds for 3 seconds. The full items with the same 40% Wounds passive are Mortal Reminder (3000 gold) and Morellonomicon (2850 gold). Thornmail and Bramble Vest apply the same 40% Wounds, but only to the champion attacking you, so don’t buy them expecting to land it on Soraka. Compare the full stat lines in our LoL items database.

Item	Cost	What it does against Soraka
Executioner’s Calling	800	15 Attack Damage. Physical damage to champions applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds.
Oblivion Orb	800	25 Ability Power. Magic damage to champions applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds.
Mortal Reminder	3000	35 Attack Damage, 30% Armor Penetration, 25% Critical Strike Chance. Physical damage applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds.
Morellonomicon	2850	75 Ability Power, 350 Health, 15 Ability Haste. Magic damage applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds.
Chempunk Chainsword	3000	45 Attack Damage, 450 Health, 15 Ability Haste. Physical damage applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds.
Mercury’s Treads	1250	20 Magic Resist, 45 Move Speed, 30% Tenacity.
Quicksilver Sash	1300	30 Magic Resist. Active removes all crowd control debuffs (excluding Airborne).
Banshee’s Veil	3000	105 Ability Power, 40 Magic Resist. Spell Shield blocks the next enemy ability.

Which one first? If you’re the marksman, Executioner’s Calling. It costs 800 gold, and 40% Wounds from physical damage shrinks both Astral Infusion and Wish for 3 seconds at a time.

When is Soraka at her weakest?

Put simply, when Wish is down. 150 seconds at rank 1, 120 at rank 3, and nothing else in her kit restores health to a whole team at once. Equinox is the second timer to watch, 20 seconds at rank 1 and 16 at rank 5, so a lane that dodged one zone has a real window before the next.

Early levels are the other soft spot. Starcall starts at an 8 second cooldown and Astral Infusion at 6, which means her first few levels don’t have the 4 second Q and 2 second W that make her feel unkillable later. To be fair, the heal on Starcall still works at level 1 if it hits you, so dodging the star early still matters.

ARAM plays by its own rules, and our Soraka ARAM guide covers how she holds up there. Her skins are on the Soraka skins page, and if you’re new to bot lane our guide to LoL roles explains what a support is expected to do.

So the Soraka counters that actually work either drag her in (Blitzcrank, Nautilus, Pyke), shrug off her crowd control (Alistar), or burn straight through one Wish (Brand). Grab one of them, pick up Grievous Wounds on your first back, and hold the all-in until her ult is gone.

FAQ

Who counters Soraka the most?

Pyke is the clearest pick: Death From Below executes low health enemies, and Astral Infusion costs Soraka her own health. Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab and Nautilus’s Dredge Line pull her out of range, and Alistar’s Unbreakable Will removes the Equinox root.

Does Grievous Wounds work against Soraka?

Yes. Executioner’s Calling, Oblivion Orb, Mortal Reminder, Morellonomicon and Chempunk Chainsword all apply 40% Wounds for 3 seconds, which reduces the healing from Astral Infusion and Wish while it lasts.

Can you dodge Soraka’s root?

Yes. Equinox silences enemies inside the zone immediately, but the root only applies to enemies still inside when the zone expires. Walk out before it ends and you are not rooted.

How long is Soraka’s ultimate cooldown?

Wish has a cooldown of 150, 135 and 120 seconds by rank. It instantly restores health to Soraka and all allied champions.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. The picks come from how abilities interact in patch 26.21, chosen editorially. We don’t use win-rate data.