Why is Soraka not a viable AP middle?

Question

I've been playing a lot of Soraka middle and have really been enjoying it. Your Q does decent damage early game and your E is free and does great damage with Q stacks. Her W is a decent heal and her R can save anyone from across the map, providing not only utility but damage.

Early game, the Q does push the lane, but I've never really had the much of a problem with a gank. I can usually silence the jungler before any CC occurs and if I must, flash out while spamming Q.

I understand that she would probably need an AP top to do the "burst" damage (ie as E is single target and Q only does so much damage), but other than that, why is she not a viable mid?

Also, if I said anything incorrectly, just nicely fix it. <3

Answer 1

Soraka should win her lane most of the time. In higher ranked games or tournament games though, losing your lane does not turn into a surrender. From your AP in mid you want at least one thing:

• Burst damage to assassinate the scariest enemy (Ahri, Akali, Kassadin, Ryzeetc.)
• Strong AOE for team fights (Anivia, Casseopia, Morgana)
• The ability to clear creep waves quickly (Anivia, Casseopia, Morgana, Ahri)

Soraka doesn't do any of those things well. Her silence can hit hard, but she has to charge into the middle of the enemy team to use it. Her Q does good damage, but you need to hit it quite a few times to stack up the shred. It's not the burst sort of damage that will immediately melt a team.

She can win her lane but she's not a strong choice to win the game. That's why.

Answer 2

AP soraka wins almost every lane. However you and your lane opponent are not the only ones in the game. When the opponent is losing their lane, they can force fights with you even though they will lose. You either take their harass, or damage them back which pushes the lane. Soraka has no escapes so when someone comes to gank her she is pretty much dead. When it comes to solo q, if you win your lane you should try to win others. Not only does Soraka push lanes (which is good for roaming mid-game) but she has no gank presence. She has no CC so her ganks don't really do much but damage the enemy.

In short;

• Great Laning
• No Escapes
• No CC to gank lanes when she pushes lanes
• No burst damage, but has good utility late game

Answer 3

She is a viable mid, in solo queue.

Her constant pushing does make her really vulnerable to ganks.

You may not have much trouble at your ELO (Not sure what it is, but if you're playing Soraka mid successfully without being counter picked by someone like Talon..) but any one with any kind of real intelligence will counter pick Soraka mid.

Answer 4

Soraka is a viable AP middle. She is most effective in teams centered around protecting a high value hyper-carry such as Kogmaw. Her laning phase is very strong and she actually wins quite a few match ups against some of the more standard AP mid champions. She also shines in team fights where the sustain she offers in unmatched by any other champion.

Answer 5

A competent jungler, would be watching for you to over extend knowing you only have a silence to stop them ganking. Her passive is nice but the armor boost from W is kind of wasted mid vs AP (also if the jungler is doing a lot of magic damage it doesn't help much).

She's great for helping other lanes out of bad situations with her ult but she lacks good ganks like a lot of mids who can punish over extending bot/top.