During the C9 vs. Evil Geniuses match, Fudge found himself playing the Star Child on mid lane. Although C9 finally won, it’s time to come back a little on this strategy, perhaps not so original as it seems.
The impact of the Soraka in the game
The first question that comes to mind is: why? In fact, the idea is not necessarily bad, Soraka’s early game being quite good. As it is a support, it scales relatively little thanks to the items, which means that for the sake of balance, the basic damage of its offensive spells (A and E) are rather correct, even a little higher than those of a classic magician. This does not mean that she has more damage overall, since two of her spells are heals, generally a classic mage will do more damage on a complete trade since he has 3 spells inflicting damage ( 4 adding the ultimate). But on poke, if a Soraka hits her Q and the mage also hits only one spell, the Soraka will gain a significant advantage. Not only does his Q do slightly more damage (155 at Soraka’s lvl 5) compared to Viktor’s E (150 at Viktor’s lvl 5), spell maxed by the opponent in the match we’re interested in, and we considered that at this level of play, players are able to avoid the second ray, so it doesn’t matter if the Viktor has upgraded his spell or not. In addition, if Soraka’s Q hits, she recovers 80 hp, which means that the spell only inflicts 70 damage on her. (actually this is not exact, since it would be necessary to take into account the runes + the natural RM of the champions to know the exact damage, but it will be even more to the advantage of Soraka since the healings are not not reduced by MR, in short we will simplify our lives by staying on pure theory). As for the level chosen, (here the lvl 5 of the champion therefore the lvl 3 of the A and the E of the two adversaries), it is quite simply because from level 7, Fudge began to max out his W, but we we will come there too.
Soraka therefore wins the lane with wear, largely thanks to the heal provided as a bonus with her Q. In addition, the latter hitting the zone, it allows him to push the lane. In the match that interests us, it was not decisive, because Viktor is not bad in this area either, but against an Akali, it could be important. Finally, Soraka’s passive makes her move faster towards an ally whose HP is low. If a skirmish is played in the jungle or on a lane, it will therefore arrive faster than Viktor if his team is in difficulty. Concretely, a mid Soraka in the first levels is a champion capable of totally dominating her lane. Of course this advantage disappears relatively quickly, as soon as the items start to arrive, the AP ratios of Viktor (and those of the champions dps AP in general) being better than those of the supports.
It is also for this reason that Fudge did not max his A until the end, switching to his W at level 7. Here it was above all Soraka’s mobility that was privileged, and by making sure to best heals, the C9s were certain to win every skirmish, as long as they didn’t get outplayed by their opponents. That’s when their strategy took another turn, the Soraka stopping farming to let Aphelios recover the resources on two lanes. The goal was therefore to ensure an excellent early/mid game, while helping their ADC to reach its peak power well before the usual timing. C9 was able to secure a soul of the dragons very quickly thanks to this domination (23 minutes even if they were then bananas on the ancestral). Stat-wise, Fudge ultimately didn’t take much more resources or even inflict much more damage than Winsome the true C9 support. The strategy is therefore effective in a team with a game plan, and excellent communication / macro, but is not likely to work in soloQ. Remember that last sentence before you troll your mates!
A not-so-original strategy
Although it’s been a while since Soraka appeared in mid, this strategy isn’t as innovative as it seems. In previous seasons, the banana thrower had already found herself on the midlane, again in specific compositions, to leave powerfarm an ally. It could be either his ADC or his jungler depending on the different meta.
In addition, releasing a support on a lane other than the botlane is not unusual at the moment, Janna tops have also appeared (3 times in competition since the start of S12), as well as Karmas (12 times) and even a Lulu. Moreover, this last pick will undoubtedly remind former players of the Lulu top/mid meta, which is not necessarily a time regretted by many. On the midlane, we also had the “pleasure” of seeing Seraphine (11) as well as a Sona. Even if these picks remain marginal, this did not prevent Riot from announcing an adjustment on the support objects, so that they do not become more popular. The studio didn’t hesitate to greatly nerf some of Soraka’s spells before her rework, when players realized her ability to bully sololanes. Back then her E was either a targeted silence (instead of the current skillshot), but Soraka could also cast it on herself to return mana. The icing on the cake, his E was inflicting more than decent damage. Her W was just a classic heal, which she could also cast while targeting herself, making her a champion who could stay on the lane indefinitely.
The LS Church may still strike
For many, this Soraka mid bears the mark of Nick”LS” De Cesare, the coach of C9. Even before being coach for the team, his analysis and his understanding of the game were very famous. Some consider him a innovator of genius, others will even stick the label of Prophet (the famous LS Church). LS did it again by subsequently drafting a Ivern mida champion who only makes sense a priori in the jungle… Prophet or fraud, it’s up to you to judge, but you have to admit that for the moment it works.
esport-lol
The information may have gone unnoticed this weekend, but it is rumored that the LEC will make its big return to the Berlin studios this week. If this is confirmed, it’s good news for League of Legends fans… However, it remains to discover the conditions.
Sad news for Heimerdinger fans… The champion is not popular among the professionals and we haven’t seen him compete once yet this year in a “big” league. And while a pro wore the colors of the scientist loud and clear, he retired.