SONA BUILD GUIDE: The Underestimated Support by Magique89

Introduction

Sona, the Maven of the Strings, is one of the best supports in the game. People are constantly underrating her, due to the fact that there are supports like Janna, Soraka, Taric, Karma, etc..

She requires quite a bit of micromanagement (will explain later), but if played right, can make a huge impact on the results of a game.

She is rather weak early game, and can die fairly easy unless played right.

Sona's main job is to heal and buff her allies, while cc'ing enemies.

Sona's best attributes can be seen below

Extremely easy laning phase - Easy to harass with
Doesn't fade away as the game progresses
Can keep allies alive via heals
Can Speed boost her entire team
Can completely shut down the enemy team
Can slow enemies
Can reduce dmg dealt by enemies

Hopefully this guide will change some of your view points on Sona, and hopefully make her a little more recognized and played in ranked game.

Please enjoy the guide and let me know if you have any comments or questions in the comment section below!

Summoner Spells

I find that Flash and Clairvoyance are a must on most support champions.

Going into Detail

Explanation:
Is a must on any support
Allows you to scout enemy junglers
Allows you to prevent possible ganks
Allows you to scout possible baits
Allows you to scout major buffs and neutral camps (Red / Blue Buffs, Dragon, and Baron)

Explanation:
Allows you to escape possible bad positioning
Allows you to get into the perfect position for a perfect
Can be used as an escape mechanism
Can be used to chase enemies
Generally used in conjunction with your Ultimate.

Some other possible Summoner Spells might include the following:

Removes all debuffs from your champion, pretty self explanatory.

[summoners/ghost.png]

can be replaced for Flash, but really its just a personal preference as to which you like better.

Masteries

I find the following mastery page to work best on Sona

[http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q387/PeTr1F13D/SonaMasteries.jpg]

Plain and simple, you're goal with masteries on Sona is to achieve as much CDR, AP, and Regen as possible.

Going into Detail

Offense

Archmage's Savvy is a must seeing as no other first tier masteries really benefits Sona
Deadliness is a slot filler
Sorcery is used to decrease the cooldowns on Sona's abilities, Makes for easier spamming late-game
Archaic Knowledge to deal more damage with your actual spells

Utility

Perseverence Increases the regen you get from both your s and your . The more regen you have, the longer you can stay in lane, keep a push going, etc..
Good Hands Mainly used as a slot filler to unlock the next tier of masteries.
Awareness The superior tier 2 mastery. Not much more to say other than the fact that you level faster.
Meditation Increases your mana regen, allowing you to spam spells, stay in lane longer, and keep a push going.
Utility Mastery Increases buff durations. If you're lucky, you might be able to get a blue buff if your jungler doesn't need it. Also increases duration of Baron Buff, which is extremely beneficial.
Quickness More movement speed grants you the ability to escape a chasing enemy, chase a fleeing enemy, etc..
Blink of an Eye Reduces the cooldown on your flash by 15 seconds. Pretty self-explanatory.
Intelligence Reduces cooldowns by 6%, means you can spam spells faster late game - in team fights.
Mystical Vision Reduces cooldown on and increases the duration by 4 seconds.
Presence of the Master Reduces cooldowns on summoner spells even more!

Alternative Masteries

[http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q387/PeTr1F13D/SonaMasteriesv2.jpg]

This page will provide you with some more lane-staying power, as you will be more durable, while being able to regen some decent health early and mid game.

Runes

Optimal Rune Setup

[http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q387/PeTr1F13D/SonaRunesv2.jpg]

x9(Greater Mark of Insight): +0.95 magic penetration

Makes Sona's spells hit harder, pretty self explanatory

x9(Greater Seal of Clarity): +0.065 mana regen / 5 sec. per level (1.17 at champion level 18)

Supplies mana regen, allowing you to stay in lane longer

x9(Greater Glyph of Force): +.17 AP per level (3.06 ap @ level 18)

Since you're not going to be building too much AP, and that you will be reaching cdr cap via items and masteries, this is the best option.

x2(Greater Quintessence of Fortitude): +26 Health

Supplies some much needed health for early game, allows you to play a little more aggressive.

x1(Greater Quintessence of Potency): +4.95 AP

Makes your spells hit harder and makes your heals heal for more.
Mainly used to help your early game damage and healing output.

Alternative Runes

x9(Greater Seal of Resilience): +1.41 armor

Increases your ability to cope with both minion damage and AD harassers

x9(Greater Glyph of Shielding): +0.15 magic resist per level (2.7 at champion level 18)

Increases magic resist. Helps cope with AP carries.

x9(Greater Glyph of Warding): +1.49 Magic Resist

Can be replaced for AP if you see that you're going up against 2 or more AP nukers, especially in bot lane.

x3(Greater Quintessence of Potency): +4.95 AP

Can replace your 2 HP quints for these if you feel comfortable enough with knowing that you won't die early game.

Skills

Note that there will be a separate section on knowing what Power Chord to use and when

Passive: Power Chord

After casting 3 spells, Sona's next attack deals 14 damage + 9 x lvl in bonus magic and a bonus effect depending on Sona's last song played.

Additionally, Sona's Auras persist for 3 seconds after deactivating and set off a 2 second global cooldown.

Explanation:
Every 3 spells, Sona's auto attack will do bonus damage - and apply a special effect based off of your last spell casted.
Extremely powerful passive and should be used correctly!
Know what the bonus effect do and Take advantage of them!

Q: Hymn of Valor

Persistent Aura: Sona plays the Hymn of Valor, increasing nearby allied champions Damage and Ability Power by 6/8/10/12/14.

Activation: Sona fires bolts of sound, dealing 50/100/150/200/250 (+70% ability power) magic damage to the nearest two enemies (prioritizes champions).

Power Chord - Stacatto: Deals double power chord damage

Cost 65 Mana
Range 700

Explanation:
Increases nearby allied champions' AD and AP by 6/8/10/12/14.
Deals a fair amount of damage to the nearest 2 enemies (prioritizes champions)
Should be used to harass in lane
Bonus effect deals double the damage of

W: Aria of Perseverance

Persistent Aura: Sona plays the Aria of Perseverance, increasing nearby allied champions Armor and Magic Resist by 8/11/14/17/20.

Activation: Sona sends out healing melodies, healing Sona and the most wounded nearby allied champion by 35/70/105/140/175 (+35% ability power).

Power Chord - Diminuendo: Debuffs the target to deal 20% less damage for 3 seconds

Cost 65 Mana
Range 1000

Explanation:
Amazing AoE heal
Heals nearest 2 allies (prioritizes low health > high health)
Should be used to keep your health up to par after taking damage while harassing
Bonus effect reduces damage done by that target by 20% for 3 seconds!

E: Song of Celerity

Persistent Aura: Sona plays the Song of Celerity, granting nearby allied champions 8/11/14/17/20 bonus Movement Speed.

Activation: Sona energizes nearby allies, granting them 6/8/10/12/14% Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds.

Power Chord - Tempo: Slows the target by 25% for 2 seconds

Cost 65 Mana
Range 1000

Explanation:
Provides a sustained movement speed boost
On activation, supplies 6/8/10/12/14% Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds
Bonus effect reduces enemy's movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds!

R: Crescendo

Sona plays her ultimate chord, forcing enemy champions in a line in front of her to dance, taking 150/250/350 (+80% ability power) magic damage over 1.5 seconds.

Cost 140/120/100 Mana
Range 1000

Explanation:
AoE ulti that is used to shut down the enemy team
Very similar to an Amumu ulti
Note that there is a slight delay between cast time and the spell actually taking effect
Should save this ult until you can land it on at least 4/5 of the enemy champions

Power Chords

Every 3 spell casts, Sona charges a Power Chord, which adds a bonus effect to her next auto attack (depending on the last ability casted).

The effects and uses will be listed below.

[skills/sona/q.png]

Deals double the damage that Power Chord would have usually done

Harass
Nuke
Last hit minions

Reduces the damage output of that target by 20% for 3 seconds

Duff the enemy carry
Help alleviate some of the damage done by hard hitters (, , , etc..)

Reduces movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds

Slow a fleeing enemy
Help you escape from overextending

Item Builds

Reasons for Item Purchases

As Sona, there are a few stats that need to be prioritized over others.
These stats will be listed below, in order from most important to least important

CDR
AP / Health
Health / AP
Team beneficial items (, , etc..)
Resistances
Regen

Below I have listed some of the better items to get on Sona, with a few reasons as to why you might want to get them.

__________________________________________________________________

Boots

The boots of choice.
This will drastically reduce the cooldowns on your spells, allowing you to spam more and make full use of [skills/sona/p.png]

Counter cc boots.
Build these if the enemy team has 3+ forms of hard cc (stun, silence, etc..)
I tend to not build this otherwise, seeing as I incorporate the new tenacity item, [items/eleisas-miracle.png]

If you do so happen to buy Merc Treads, replace your [items/eleisas-miracle.png]

for a different item, such as [items/soul-shroud.png]

, etc..

__________________________________________________________________

More AP

Supplies the most AP in the game, allows you to heal for more, do more damage, etc..
Even though this is a fantastic item to get, try to prioritize items like [items/shurelyas-reverie.png]

and

before you get this.

[items/rylais-crystal-scepter.png]

Supplies most of the "much needed" stats on Sona.
The health and AP that it supplies is just too much to pass up. The bread and butter on this item is the slow however, and having a ~2-3 second cooldown on your Q means that you can basically perma-slow on somebody.

[items/rod-of-ages.png]

Should only be built in certain situations where their team doesn't have that much damage, and you can branch away from your core build to try and get it built before the 25 minute mark.
Supplies mediocre health, mana, and AP.
Be sure to rush your [items/catalyst-the-protector.png]

if you plan on getting this item!

[items/morellos-evil-tome.png]

Supplies mediocre AP and fairly good mana regen.
This item works wonders on Sona as it allows her to spawm spells, while being able to heal more, damage more, poke more, etc..

[items/lich-bane.png]

Very controversial item on Sona, some people love it, some people hate it.
If you are able to proc this item with your [skills/sona/p.png]

, you'd be able to dish out massive chunks of damage. Getting the early-game [items/sheen.png]

on Sona can be extremely beneficial if your bot lane doesn't have too much damage.
Supplies for great poking / nuking.

[items/zhonyas-hourglass.png]

Get this item if and only if you are getting focused in team fights.
The armor is mediocre and that AP is decent, but the bread and butter is really the activation.
This item will allow you to stay in fights longer, which generally means that your team is going to stay alive longer.

__________________________________________________________________

Team Beneficial Items

One of the better items on Sona.
Supplies some great regen and health, both which are much needed.
Keep in mind that this shouldn't be bought until your [items/philosophers-stone.png]

has been repaid.
The activation should be used during team fights to assist your team in diving in on their squishies, running from their carries, etc..

[items/soul-shroud.png]

Quite possibly the best support item in the game.
Supplies all allies in your vicinity with 12 mp5 and 10% cdr, allowing them to spam spells longer w/o worrying about mana or cooldowns.
Supplies Sona with lots of health, mp5, and CDR

[items/aegis-of-the-legion.png]

One of the most common items carried on the team support champion.
Makes it so that both you are your team are more durable, usually allowing for a better outcome in team fights.
Get this item if you feel like your team really needs that little extra resistance in order to win a team fight.

[items/will-of-the-ancients.png]

An item that is extremely underrated.
Provides both you are your team expectional AP and Spell Vamp.
Supplies you with 80ap + 25% spell vamp and your team with 30ap + 25% spell vamp.
Get this item if your team is AP heavy and you need that little extra damage in team fights.

[items/sight-ward.png]

You are a support, you should be warding.
With your GP5 items that you have, you should constantly be buying wards, no questions asked!

__________________________________________________________________

Defensive Items

In my opinion, this is by far the best item in the game atm.
Grants tons of Health, Mana, and MR.
The Unique Passive on this item is too much too pass up, allowing you to block 1 ultimate, blitz grab, amumu grab, etc..
Get this item if the enemy team has 3+ forms of hard CC.

[items/quicksilver-sash.png]

The best counter to suppressions / hard stuns.
If you get caught by a [champ/malzahar.png]

, etc.. simply pop your QSS and flash away.

Early Game

The following section will cover your Early Game gameplay as Sona.
The following will be split up into 2 sections, If you are going to level 1 fight or not.

Pre - Level 1 Team Fight

If you know for a fact that your team is going to force the level 1 team fight, put your first rank into [skills/sona/q.png]

(and start preparing your passive by Q'ing 3 times in the fountain), buy a [items/dorans-ring.png]

as your first item and start positioning yourself with your team, being sure to [summoners/clairvoyance.png]

the enemy base at roughly 8s - 12s.
When moving with your team, be sure to stay in the back.

*Sidenote*
You could also level your [skills/sona/w.png]

first if you feel like they are going to have the upper hand in the fight. Be sure to still prepare your passive while in fountain.

During the Fight

Your job is to nuke your focus with your proc'd [skills/sona/p.png]

and

. After that, simply keep auto-attacking and spamming Q on cd.
Keep in mind that since you're still level 1, you won't have much other than that 1 spell and auto-attacks.
Try to keep yourself positioned to where you aren't standing directly in the center of their entire enemy team.

__________________________________________________________________

If You're Not Fighting (Pre - Minion Spawns)

Determine who your laning opponents are going to be, and buy your first item accordingly.

Strong pokers =
Passive champions = x2 + +

Generally, you are going to be protecting your jungler at his/her blue buff.

During this time, you can determine whether you want to do one of two things.

Ward the enemy red buff to get a possible First Blood
Save your ward for bottom river

The deciding factor is who the enemy jungler is.
If it is a champion that is dependent on that Red Buff to get a good gank, definitely ward their red. Some of these champions might include the following; [champ/masteryi.png]

, etc..

After you ward their red, simply head back to bottom lane and prepare for your laning phase.

After Minions Have Spawned

You should be bottom now with your laning ally and opponents.

You generally want to attempt to poke your opponents, getting them fairly low - which can be used to setup a possible kill.
To do so, simply get in range for your [skills/sona/q.png]

to hit them, land 1 auto-attack, and back out. Every 3 rotations of doing this, your passive will proc and unleash massive damage.

If you happen to take some damage in the process of harassing, simply heal up with [skills/sona/w.png]

.

Once the 4 minute mark hits, you want to ward the river (in the middle of the river, directly above your bottom bush) to help prevent a successful gank.

Mid Game

Mid game isn't much different that your Early Game.

Keep babysitting your carries and try to help setup as many kills on enemies as possible.

Keep warding, you should have at least 1 - 2 wards placed at all times, generally one on dragon, and another right above your bottom bush.

Make sure you buy a [items/vision-ward.png]

if you're going for that early-game dragon / baron. Its always best to know that the enemy isn't watching you take it, just waiting for the perfect time to initiate.

Try your best not to get caught alone while you're roaming the map / farming bot / etc..

Remember to let carries farm freely, you have plenty of gp5 items, and you shouldn't be stealing creeps from your carry!

Late Game

During late game, you generally want to do nothing but stick with your team. If your team starts getting split up, follow the carry and make sure he/she does not die!

Keep warding the map, and try to coordinate ganks (with your team) on unexpecting enemies.

Whenever you attempt to take dragon / baron, be sure to have either an [items/oracles-elixir.png]

on your team.

Where to Ward

[http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4900/map1d.jpg]

Props to Mobafire for the image

Team Fights

Short and simple, your job in team fights is to:

Keep your team alive via and
Deal damage to their carries via auto attacks and
CC the enemy team via
Keep movement speed buffs on your team via
Keep in mind that you should be taking full advantage of your Power Chords that were explained above!

Final Comments

Thanks for checking out my guide on Sona, the Maven of the Strings!

I hope you guys enjoyed it!

As usual, leave comments and questions below as to how I could further clarify / improve some parts of the guide.

You must be logged in to add a comment!

Comments: 34

Magique89
1 year ago
@astrolia,

You are more than welcome to write your own Sona guide to show how you play her. This guide covers how I play her.
Also, this guide is pretty outdated and I don't have the time to fully update it atm.
astrolia
1 year ago
This guide..................

You recommend Cleanse, which would either mean you're not taking CV, or you're not taking Flash/Ghost. Not taking CV on a support is like why are you playing a support. Not taking Flash/Ghost is dumb because it means you have no escape.

- Utility Mastery Increases buff durations. If you're lucky, you might be able to get a blue buff if your jungler doesn't need it.

...why would Sona get blue buff instead of the AP carry and why do you fail to even mention the AP carry and see the jungler as the only other candidate for blue buff?

- Also increases duration of Baron Buff, which is extremely beneficial.

It actually doesn't increase the timer of Baron buff.

- x9(Greater Glyph of Force): +.17 AP per level (3.06 ap @ level 18)
- Since you're not going to be building too much AP, and that you will be reaching cdr cap via items and masteries, this is the best option.

You say "Since you're not building AP" but then when we get to your items section it's like a completely different story because you recommend like every AP item ever.

- x1(Greater Quintessence of Potency): +4.95 AP
- Makes your spells hit harder and makes your heals heal for more.
- Mainly used to help your early game damage and healing output.

You're recommending ONE AP quint (5 AP) like it gives you 50 AP. "Makes your spells hit harder" and "heal for more" early game? What? 5 AP makes her Q do 3.5 more damage and 5 AP makes her W heal for 1.75 more hp.

- Cooldown % @ Level 18

You recommend scaling CDR runes on your alt page w/o saying why. Why scaling? They catch up with flats by level 13-14, and supports don't level very fast.

- Archaic Knowledge to deal more damage with your actual spells
- x9(Greater Mark of Insight): +0.95 magic penetration
- Makes Sona's spells hit harder, pretty self explanatory

No mention that magic pen will help her passive damage.

The skills section is just terrible. You basically repeat what the skill descriptions say even when they're wrong.

In example:

> After casting 3 spells, Sona's next attack deals 14 damage + 9 x lvl in bonus magic and a bonus effect depending on Sona's last song played.
> Explanation: Every 3 spells, Sona's auto attack will do bonus damage - and apply a special effect based off of your last spell casted.

> Persistent Aura: Sona plays the Hymn of Valor, increasing nearby allied champions Damage and Ability Power by 6/8/10/12/14.
> Explanation: Increases nearby allied champions' AD and AP by 6/8/10/12/14.

> Activation: Sona energizes nearby allies, granting them 6/8/10/12/14% Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds.
> On activation, supplies 6/8/10/12/14% Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds

How is it an explanation if you just repeat what the description says?
Not to mention the values there are wrong. (It's 8/11/14/17/20 AP/AD on the Q aura.)

> Amazing AoE heal
> Heals nearest 2 allies (prioritizes low health > high health)

It does not target 2 allies.
Also how is it "amazing"? The values are really low.
It's not even AoE since it only targets 1 person nearby instead of like an actual area.

> Bonus effect reduces enemy's movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds!

The Power Chord debuff is 40%.

> Should save this ult until you can land it on at least 4/5 of the enemy champions

Why?

In your runes section, you said that you won't be building much AP, but then we get to your items section, and you recommend like every AP item in the item shop, and not only that, but in the mid game section, you mention, "Remember to let carries farm freely, you have plenty of gp5 items, and you shouldn't be stealing creeps from your carry!" So where exactly do you get the money for all of this stuff? Item Builds != Recommend every item in the game on a character.

I also really like the description for Rylai's: "and having a ~2-3 second cooldown on your Q means that you can basically perma-slow on somebody." Except that Rylai's on Q means you have a 15% chance of slowing, and the lowest cooldown you can get on her Q is 4.2 seconds with 40% CDR, and the slow itself lasts 1.5 seconds. Nowhere near "basically perma-slow".

A big part of Sona is her ult in team fights yet you have very little about that written aside from advising people "hit as many people as possible". In fact, your team fight section doesn't say much at all about team fights.
Magique89
1 year ago
@Mylaur,

As a support you get all of your gold income through assists and through your gp5 items.
Also, whenever your carry leaves the lane, take advantage of the situation and get a couple of last hits.

Know that 99.9% of the time, the game won't actually carry out long enough for me to be able to get all those items.
Mylaur
1 year ago
I don't see the photobucket pics too...
Please Magique, answer to my question.
I don't see where you can get all the gold, to buy these items. You're not farming.
Please explain me.
Magique89
1 year ago
@Alphard,

I stopped playing ranked a while ago as I was just getting annoyed with how ignorant some people were.

I have over 1,500 normal games played though and I think I know what I'm talking about :)
Mosho
1 year ago
is it just me or is it that i can't see the photobucket pics?
Alphard
1 year ago
I don't see this as helpful at all, I mean philo and HoG definitely, but I mean your items are absolutely too expensive. As support you shouldn't have any cs at all, they should go to your lane partner, with 0 cs there's no way you have enough for those items. And also, I'm wondering why this guide is approved when you have 0 Sona matches played in ranked. Not trying to rage or put you down or anything man, but I feel like that is a big part of this guide's validity, and it's just gone
Mylaur
1 year ago
I suggest getting kage's lucky pick early, to have 3 gold per 5s item, and getting mastery Greed, which give +1 gold per 10s, and leaving utility mastery at 0 point.
When would you get blue or red buff ? Never. You give it to ad carry or ap carry.
Also, getting 3 Quintesse of Avarice can be a good choice, they give +3 gold per 5s, plus the Greed mastery, it does 4 per 10s.
The kage's, philosopher's, and heart of gold passive give 15 per 10s.
So it would give 19 gold per 10s ! Awesome.
It would be good, isn't it ?
elkram
1 year ago
I have a question: Why not get a point in greed for your masteries, instead of getting the point in flash cd?
reconn
1 year ago
6/2/24 with 1st time Sona. It's OP! Thanks :D

Page: 1, 2, 3, 4 >

	Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Power Chord (Passive)
	Hymn of Valor
	Aria of Perseverance
	Song of Celerity
	Crescendo