Sona is a champion who needs no introduction. She is still thought as one of the Top 5 support champions in the game, but recently has gone quite stale in my opinion. You just crave AP for the heals/damage and you want gold/5 to keep up since you don't have any last hits and most importantly you run out of mana super quick because you love hearing her strum her harpsichord so much. I propose a new build for you all to try out with Sona. I've been trialing it myself, and although at first it might seem a bit crazy, it has been working incredibly well for me and I would love everyone who mains support Sona to give it a try.

Rune Explanation - Simple.

You don't need Magic Pen - You are a support - not AP carry. I take the armor because likely you are up against another Ranged AD/Support in bottom lane as is the current meta - and it helps. The seals are for the same reason. It gives you the ability to take some of those ashe arrows and caitlyn shots at the beginning when you need it most. The glyphs magic resist per level - cause the AP's don't get scary (usually) until later level, and plus you probably won't be interacting with them until the magic resist becomes better off with these kind. Quints pretty standard support - get those gold ones ^_^

8/0/22

I don't need the arcane - I would like to max my utility tree including both the Flash and CV masteries because they save lives!

Now now now, what on earth is going on here NightsJudgement?! Eleisa's Miracle? TWO OF THEM?! That item they added that nobody cared about? But NightsJudgement - The Tenacity doesn't stack you noob!!! Yeah yeah, let me explain.

Start with the 2 fairy charms for the mana regen and take a ward and a mana pot. From here your goal is as follows - you want to lay your ward about 3 minutes in and then you want to go back every time your ward is going to run out so that by the time you get back into lane you can lay another ward. That's the timing I use to go back.

While going back - you want to make philosophers stone with the first trip back - get a ward. Then you want to get boots and another fairy charm and another couple of wards - then you want to go back when you can afford to pick up another philsophers stone and turn your first one into a Miracle. Then grab the Ionion Boots. Then kage pick. Then turn the other stone into a Miracle for going into the mid game.

Your build is now complete - you just buy wards like crazy for your team - and if the game goes into mega late game pick up support items for whatever your team needs, perhaps an additional phil stone and turn it into a sherilias or a little AP if you must.

I find with this build - you have the gold/5 items ticking regularly at the beginning to be able to pick up items. You have insane mana/health regen early/mid game and when it gets to the stage when you're roaming about and skirmishes/team fights are happening you can literally constantly spam your spells and not worry about running out of mana. Your mana regen is literally as good as having blue buff + you fit in that awesome tenacity 25 as well as having the cool downs from the Ionian boots.

I think the health/mana regen on the miracle is totally under valued - +25 health/5 and +20 mana/5 on one is insane , and it only costs 1,300 altogether to build it - and in doing so you can slip stream from philosophers stone really easily for the gold they supply. You'll be amazed how many times someone tries to attack you - you E away with speed and watch your health/mana just shoot up again.

An obvious weakness is your health is low - missing out items like early sherelia's or heart of gold - you are susceptible to nuking. If you are playing well - you can stay at the back giving your aura's anyway - and you will constantly be able to spam 2-3 aura's on your opponents because of your intense mana regen. I have found since they buffed the base heal on sona's W that being able to do it over and over is better than being able to give a few bigger ones, particularly for team fight sustainability and pushing power. Also means you never have to take blue buff!

If things are going SUPER well, I sometimes throw in an early Mejai's

Anyways, go and give it a try. Let me know what you think.

A small section on laning here.

You want to keep your carry healthy as possible while trying to harass your opponents away from creeps. The perfect situation is your carry last hitting only while you sit in the bush slipping out to Q the enemy and throw an autoattack on them and then running back into the bush. You keep them from last hitting and your carry just last hits without any harass so they can get a perfect score. Often it doesn't work out like this, but if you can do your best to try make that situation!

Also, since you don't have to worry about last hitting, you should spend as much time as possible looking on the minimap. Use your CV to try find the enemy jungler and ping him everytime you find him. Call SS for other lanes if nobody has - it can save lives. It doesn't matter if they are just in the bush or something and you didn't know, just call them constantly. Have a constant idea and awareness of where everyone on the map is, and most importantly keep an eye on the ward you have placed to protect your lane, and ping and back as soon as you see their ganks. You should have AT LEAST a ward that sits in a position that allows you to see dragon (closer towards your side than right in the middle of dragon) but also if you can afford the wards, one into the TRI-BUSH beside you is great too.

Remember - laning is for laning - not for kills. Encourage your carry to farm up like crazy and try stop your enemies from farming - don't worry about kills unless the situation obviously presents itself.

Just a quick set of things to look out for and do in a team fight.

Do
1. Focus on using your heal to keep everyone alive. Make sure you are near the carry but back in the fight. Sona can heal from a massive range - take advantage of this - you don't have to be in the middle of a fight.

2. Keep an eye on your charges for a power chord. When you have done 3 spells (heal your team, damage someone if they come near, help a kiting champion run faster) make sure you abuse the power chord everytime. Your Q-chord is nice early game harass but in team fights you should be focusing on hitting their carry or damage dealer if they are nearby with the W and fleeing champions with E-chord so they can't escape. This in my opinion makes the difference between a great sona and a spammy sona.

3. Do make sure you chose the perfect time for your ultimate. It is fight changing - but it's not an initiate in my opinion. Let ammumu or galio do that - that is an initiate. Sona waits for a few seconds at least for the fight to begin, and then times her ult to put their team out of position and your team in. Those few seconds allow you to kill their damage dealer, and lets your carry move away from their tank. Don't just run in and use it to start a fight, use it to win a fight that is already underway.

4. When things are getting **** - be sure to lead the way spamming your E and not forgetting about your sheralia's late game to allow a quick escape. You can usually get most of your team out and heal them as you run. Sometimes even enough to let everyone turn back around and fight again if being chased!

Sona is a great addition to a team fight, but you need to know your ranges on your heal, and timing your power chords actually adds skill now and it comes with practice.