Strategy Guide: s by MissyMegan

Introduction

I am a Diamond Support/AP Mid Player. I have been playing for over three years and have been Diamond since Season 2. Support is my best role and I have done it in Solo Que as well as in Ranked 5's for high elo teams. I decided that rather than making a ton of different guides, I would make just one. This is a general guide going into detail about the role itself, as well as the 9 Supports I currently play. Above are the Items, Abilities, Masteries and Runes of the Champions.

Season 2

Diamond

Season 3

Diamond

Season 4

Diamond

25 Helpful Gameplay Tips

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Top 5 Supports

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Top 5 Underestimated Supports

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Support's Role

Supports have three main roles to fulfill throughout the game. The three main/core roles supports play are Map/Vision control, allowing your Marksman to farm as easily as possible, and Protection. These are the three core roles supports play because a large portion of the game is fought in multiple areas of the map. If you don't have vision of or , you will put your team at a disadvantage in global gold and experience. Besides that, vision is needed to ensure you can farm, do buffs, roam through the jungle, and or catch enemies. Vision goes a long way. Secondly, if you don't allow your Marksman to safely/easily farm during the laning phase, he will have a tough time transitioning over to the mid game. Making laning phase easier would be, warding bushes, and river, shielding/healing your carry, disengaging or engaging fights. Why protection? Shouldn't your carries be able to position correctly? As much as positioning correctly does play a large part of any carries or rather, anyones job in the game protecting them is essential. You cant position correctly 100% of the time because enemies have so many gap closers it makes it impossible to dodge everyone. Many bruisers jobs are to be an anti carry and are to aim for the carries. If you have ever watched me play I try to protect my carries every game I'm support. At the end of the day I may not do the most damage but give me decent carries and I will keep them alive.

Core Roles:

Map/Vision Control
Allow Carry To Farm Safely
Protecting your Carries

Secondary Roles:

Initiating Fights
Catching

Disengaging
Following Up

Summoner Spells

What Summoners are for Support players, and what do you feel the best are?

I think for any champion, including Support the best Summoner is . I feel the utility it brings is unmatched. You can as an initiate, follow-up, securing a kill, or escape. Some champions like or can initiate amazingly with that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Beside their is also , , , , and . All of them have their own unique way they can help your team, but the most important two are and . is a decent ability but has a long cool down and nearly halved by . I think it would be 3rd best ability to use, but I don't recommend it at this time. although gives a bunch of mana to you and your surrounding allies, that's all it does. If you watch your mana, most times you will not be in a situation without any, in which case you would probably back and buy items. can be used in certain situations such as an team trying to push and take towers & objectives quickly as an group, but most times you want to be able to win 2v2's. Being able to win even fights or having summoners to defend or attack with are better than ones that just barely sustain you, or get you somewhere faster for your bot lane. was my favorite support skill. It reveals a small area on the map for 5 seconds, while being very useful, I feel the cool down is way too long.

When do I choose Exhaust over Ignite?

The main two summoners, beside , are and . The tricky part is, when would you choose exhaust over ignite? has more kill potential and damage output. Many people prefer ignite because, beside doing damage it also reduces healing effects. The way I determine if I'm going to choose is by taking a look at the enemy team. Do they have a strong dive comp, or initiate? Can I protect my carries, or reduce burst damage? Examples of champions I take exhaust against are: , , , and . Effect: Exhausts target enemy champion, reducing their movement speed and damage dealt by 30% for 2.5 seconds and reducing their attack speed by 50% for the duration. Also, I almost never run ignite on champions with low kill potential such as and . A good note is to check what summoners your team has against champions with health regeneration like and . If your team is running only one , taking it could be an option.

Runes

Default Support Runes

This is my default support page. Not everyone has 20 rune pages or enough IP to buy everything. This works for most or all supports. Some pages may be a little better, such as for or Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration for , but this should be your default. It provides you with Armor and Magic resistance, both of which are good early, mid and late game.

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Possible Secondary Rune Page (Mana Issue Supports)

Such as:
Some may find this unorthodox or unnecessary but I love this page. I love to poke, especially on Lulu and I find I run low on mana. This helps with sustaining your mana during aggressive bot lanes. It provides you with a little less armor and magic resistance but still allows you to remain tanky.

Runes

Domination

Electrocute

Predator

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Masteries

The mastery pages I use are above for each champion. The most standard is 9/21 which is for ranged squishy champions like , , , , and also work for . The second mastery page i use is 16/14 or close variation to that. Its for more tanky supports such as , , , and .

0/9/21

This is my 0/9/21 mastery page. This is my standard Mastery page for most of my supports. You can always alter a few of them such as removing or and getting or getting . I like this page because, not only does it give health it gives movement speed, mana regeneration, starting and passive gold and more.

0/16/14

This is my 0/16/14 mastery page. This is my main page for tanky supports, such as , , and . For I usually run more because of his mana pool. This page provides you with more tank stats than the previous one, giving more armor, health regeneration, and also reduces damage taken from critical hits.

Starting Items

What starting items are the best?

Well that all depends. You change starting items depending on the lane you are facing. If you're fighting an extremely poke heavy bot lane you could do the start. If you're a melee such as or you may want to start with . If you want to play more passively, usually if you are ranged, you might find to be useful because it provides passive gold, while allowing you to build into Talisman of Ascension.

or

Default Start: For most of my supports I start this way because although I'm aggressive I still like the passive gold, and health/mana regen. It also allows me to upgrade later to an Talisman of Ascension.
Relic Shield Start: Many times for , , and I will buy then upgrade it to Targon's Brace. Occasionally I will start this way with because his high auto attack damage make it easy to last hit. After lane phase I sell Targon's Brace for . I honestly like the feel of Talisman of Ascension over that of Face of the Mountain.
Situational Start: I don't go this start very often, because you either lack early or . It does work against very heavy poke comps and aggressive bot lanes, but I dont think its a substantial difference and prefer the other starts. Some supports like can even do a start, but I prefer the other two.

Tip

Although I start with in all my starting items, after buying I replace it with . This allows me to have the start of two wards, but then still the ability to sweep wards at a low level. Also buying and placing it in Tri Bush, or behind help with early counter warding and vision.

Ability Sequence

I've seen people max other skills first.
Why do you max certain skills over others?

Every game is different. There are different situations and possibilities in every game. Much like runes and items, sometimes you have to change them depending on the lane your facing.
Examples:

I personally like to get at level 1 because its better for catching and engaging. If your team invades it has a much longer range than and locks them down longer. is more damage, but maxing is very good, for the cool down and utility it brings. stays at an 9 second cool down, so maxing next is better in my opinion because it gives you more chances to initiate when you miss.
>>>>>>

- Leona I actually never change my skill order. I think she is one of the few exceptions because, the only real other option could potentially be to max first, but I really never see a reason to. My skill order for is start with then, , into . From here you want to max first then . Gives you more burst damage, higher tank stats and lower cool down on your stuns.
>>>>>>

- I max than because this gives more damage. You can also max and if you find your on the defensive the entire time. The reduced cool down on poly-morph and upgraded shield could help you stay alive.
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- Some max first because it gives movement speed and attack speed to get into position. I personally don't because I like the cool down on . This gives me decent damage on my than lower cool down on because I feel knock up is very useful in a fight.
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- You can start off with if your teams invading. I find if you're not invading, starting with works very well. The early trades and poke damage help quite a bit. has no real sustain so maxing shield is her only way to attempt to poke the enemy without going pure AP. Not only does it give a shield but also bonus damage.
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- I try to play very aggresive when I . Her is very good, and that accompanied by being able to heal + damage with maxing work very well. I usually don't max second though, because I like the movement, slow and damage, that provides.
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- You generally max because it provides you with more burst as well as a bunch of armor. In some cases, you're being harassed and poked to much bottom lane, taking to much damage that you cant land your stuns. Your Marksman may also be taking to much damage and, shatter's armor just isn't enough. This is when instead of maxing you would go for than next.
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- If your teams invading, I like to start with first. My reasoning behind this is because if your team catches an enemy, silence will stop them from flashing for 1.5 seconds, in which you get extra damage and may secure the kill. If i'm losing lane and cant poke I wont get until around level 7 because I may not have the chance to use to poke early and I don't want to push the wave.
>>>>>>

- She is much like in respects to maxing heal over damage. Generally you want to max first because this provides you and your carry with extra damage, as well as you being able to poke and burst. If you find you are falling behind, and can't poke much you would switch to and sit back and sustain lane.
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Item Choices

Many of your item choices seem to be the same. Why is that?

These are the items I usually get on my supports. I can probably add a few later, but these are the ones I normally use. After much trial and error and thousands of games, I find that these work the best. You never want to build the exact same build every game, but you can have a default structure. The default structure is your "main" set of items, but can be changed by the enemy having certain champions. An example would be if your enemy has heavy Ability Power champions like & , you may want to replace with something like a or .

Default & Core Items

Ruby Sightstone

Cost: 1,550 (125)

+360 Health
Unique Passive - Ward Refresh: Holds 5 charges and refills upon visiting the shop.
Unique Active - Ghost Ward: Consumes a charge to place a that reveals the surrounding area for 3 minutes. A player may only have 3 Stealth Wards on the map at one time.

This is the MOST IMPORTANT item for any Support player to buy. Not only does it drop wards, it also gives a decent amount of health. should be one of the first items a support buys, and can be later upgraded. Map & Vision control are very important.

Talisman of Ascension

Cost: 2,000 (970)

+20% Cooldown Reduction
+10 Health Regen per 5 seconds
+15 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
+2 Gold per 10 seconds
Unique Passive - Favor: Being near a minion death without dealing the killing blow grants 4 Gold.
Unique Active: Grants nearby allies +40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. (60 second cooldown)

This favorite support item. This provides you with cooldown, regen and a speed boost to your team. It gives you the ability to catch or escape situations which greatly affect your team. Some like Face of the Mountain which is decent, but I prefer this on ALL my supports.

Locket of the Iron Solari

Cost: 2,550 (600)

+300 Health
+20 Armor
+10% Cooldown Reduction
UNIQUE Active: Grants a shield to nearby allies for 5 seconds that absorbs up to 50 (+10 per level) damage (60 second cooldown).
UNIQUE Aura - Legion: Grants nearby allies +20 Magic Resist and +10 Health Regen per 5 seconds.

I find this to be very important also, because not only does it increase your health and armor, it also increases your nearby allies magic resistance and health regen. The shield it gives also helps a lot, because at level 18 it gives a shield for 230. If you can land it on all 5 members, that's an extra 1150 health combined.

Mikael's Crucible

Cost: 1,600 (720)

+40 Magic Resist
+12 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
UNIQUE Passive - Mana Font: Increases Mana Regen by 1% for every 1% of missing Mana.
UNIQUE Active: Removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences, and slows on an allied champion and heals that champion for 150 (+10% of maximum Health) (180 second cooldown).

I find this item to be very useful as well. I put it on most of my champions, not only because the magic resistance and mana regeneration, but also because the removal. It removes all stuns, roots, taunts, fears, silences and slows on an allied champion or yourself, and heals them for a decent amount. Some may argue this isn't core, which it may not be, but its a cheap item and I feel it fits a supports role very well. Does not remove suppress such as and .

Randuin's Omen

Cost: 3,000 (1,000)

+500 Health
+70 Armor
UNIQUE Passive - Cold Steel: When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker's Attack Speed by 15% and Movement Speed by 10% for 1 seconds.
UNIQUE Active: Slows the Movement Speed of nearby enemy units by 35% for 2 seconds (+1 second per 200 Armor and +1 second per 200 Magic Resist) (60 second cooldown).

I really like this in my core builds. It gives armor and health, as well as slowing enemies attack and movement speeds. Its active also slows surrounding enemies, which makes it a very good item, especially on and who are usually in the middle of the fights. If enemy is heavy than can be swapped out, but either way a good item.

Oracle's Lens

Cost: 475 (475)

Limited to 1 Trinket.
UNIQUE Active: Reveals and disables nearby invisible traps, devices and wards for 6 seconds in a medium radius and grants detection of nearby invisible units for 8 seconds (60 second cooldown.)

Normally you want to start with an because the early vision, and warding from ganks is needed. After buying or Rubystone sell the to buy . This lets you have the vision early, then once you are able to place wards constantly, you can remove enemy wards. Late game after some core items are built, upgrade into this.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Cost: 1,000 (675)

UNIQUE Passive: +15% Cooldown Reduction
UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed

I get these boots on most of my supports, usually ranged like , , and . They're cheap and very good, providing much needed cool down reduction and movement speed. They can be late/all game or later sold and replaced with . Most times you have items to replace that cool down with, so getting later is more helpful.

Mercury's Treads

Cost: 1,200 (475)

+25 Magic Resist
UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed
UNIQUE Passive - Tenacity: Reduces the duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, silences, blinds, and immobilizes by 35%.

These boots are very good on most champions for late game. They can be your standard boots on champions like , , who are melee or initiating and in fights, rather then poking from the outside.

Situational Items

Face of the Mountain

Cost: 2,000 (675)

+375 Health
+10% Cooldown Reduction
+25 Health Regen per 5 seconds
UNIQUE Passive - Spoils of War: Melee basic attacks execute minions below 200 Health. Killing a minion heals the nearest allied champion for 2% of your maximum Health and grants them (kill + 10) Gold. These effects require a nearby allied champion. Recharges every 30 seconds. Max 4 charges. UNIQUE Active - Deadly Phalanx: Consumes 20% of your current Health to shield target ally for 10% of your maximum Health for 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, the target explodes dealing 10% of your maximum Health as magic damage in an area. (60 second cooldown)

I don't get this item very often. While I do start with on , , and , I dont find this item to be as useful as Talisman of Ascension late game. I usually upgrade it to Targon's Brace during the lane phase, but sell it later.

Banshee's Veil

Cost: 2,750 (875)

+450 Health
+55 Magic Resist
UNIQUE Passive: Grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 25 seconds.
UNIQUE Passive: Grants 45 Health Regen per 5 for up to 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion or when the spell shield breaks.

This can be a very useful item for heavy CC or Engage teams. Not only does it provide health and magic resistance it also blocks 1 spell. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 25 seconds.

Frozen Heart

Cost: 2,900 (550)

+95 Armor
+400 Mana
+20% Cooldown Reduction
UNIQUE Aura: Reduces the Attack Speed of nearby enemies by 20%.

I usually prefer buying instead, but that does not make this a bad item. This item gives a ton of armor, mana and cooldown reduction. It also slows the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%. This works especially well vs AD heavy comps, or champions like .

Sunfire Cape

Cost: 2,650 (930)

+450 Health
+45 Armor
UNIQUE Passive: Deals 25 (+ character level) magic damage per second to nearby enemies.

This is also a good item to get. Gives a decent amount of health and armor, as well as dealing passive magic damage per second to nearby enemies. It may not seem like a lot, but 25+18 damage per second, in just 5 seconds that's 215 extra magic damage.

Thornmail

Cost: 2,200 (1,180)

+100 Armor
UNIQUE Passive: Upon being hit by a basic attack, returns 30% of the incoming damage (before being reduced by defenses) to the attacker as magic damage.

This provides you with a ton of armor and also Upon being auto attacked, returns 30% of the incoming damage to the attack as magic damage. This may not be the best item, its pure armor, but if the enemy has a lot of AD damage or their AD damage carries are ahead I think this is a good item.

Zeke's Herald

Cost: 2,450 (800)

+250 Health
+20% Cooldown Reduction
UNIQUE Aura: Grants allied champions +10% Life Steal and +20 Attack Damage.

I don't particularly love this item on every champion, it really depends. It's good for AD heavy team comps, in which it provides an aura granting 10% life steal and +20 attack damage. I do however find if your missing cool down reduction late game on after selling than this item fits.

Guardian Angel

Cost: 2,750 (1,310)

+50 Armor
+40 Magic Resist
UNIQUE Passive: Upon taking lethal damage, restores 30% of maximum Health and Mana after 4 seconds of stasis (5 minute cooldown).

I don't get this much on support, but I find if they are focusing me and as part of my job its to keep my teammates alive and use my to help keep them alive, in some situations it can work. It provides armor, and magic resistance, with a 30% health Resurrection.

Warding Totem

Cost: 0

Passive: Becomes Greater Totem at level 9 and can be further upgraded with gold.
UNIQUE Active: Places an invisible ward that lasts 60 seconds (120 second cooldown.) Limit 3 Stealth Wards on the map per player.

I usually don't upgrade this item, but I start every game with . Even though the ward only lasts 1 minute, it also gives you that extra vision, when you need extra bush control, or vision early. I replace it with an after I buy my

Spellthief's Edge

Cost: 365 (365)

+10 Ability Power
+3 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
+2 Gold per 10 seconds
UNIQUE Passive - Tribute: Basic attacks against champions grant 4 Gold, up to once every 10 seconds per enemy. Killing a minion disables this passive for 10 seconds.

I don't really like this item, but I can see it being decent. Provides you with a small amount of , and mana regeneration as well as Gp10 and bonus gold on auto attacking. I don't really like this, because it relies on auto attacks, not skills and if you kill a minion its passive is disabled for 10 seconds. I wouldn't say this is the worst item you can get, and can see it being decent on , , , , and .

Frost Queen's Claim

Cost: 2,000 (715)

+50 Ability Power
+10 Mana Regen per 5 seconds
+4 Gold per 10 seconds
UNIQUE Passive - Tribute: Spells and basic attacks against champions grant 8 Gold, up to once every 10 seconds per enemy. Killing a minion disables this passive for 10 seconds.
UNIQUE Active - Arctic Embrace: Chills target enemy champion and all nearby enemies, dealing 50 Magic damage and reducing Movement Speed by 50% for 2 seconds (60 second cooldown.)

As stated above, I don't really like this item. I know it "can" grant 8 gold, for each spell and basic attack against enemy champions once every 10 seconds, but 1 wave of minions being cleared in a few seconds with Talisman of Ascension can grant you 4 x 6 gold, every wave. Also prevents you from having to land everything, and risk being over extended. The slow and extra damage may be nice, and can work in some situations.

Ninja Tabi

Cost: 1,000 (375)

+25 Armor
UNIQUE Passive: Blocks 10% of the damage from basic attacks.
UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed

I'm not a huge fan of or because I prefer the cooldown reduction or tenacity. These are still viable and work well against comps with a lot of AD damage, but little . Another bonus is that they are very cheap to buy.

Boots of Mobility

Cost: 1,000 (675)

UNIQUE Passive - Enhanced Movement: +45 Movement Speed. Increases to +105 Movement Speed when out of combat for 5 seconds.

I'm not a huge fan of or because I prefer the cooldown reduction or tenacity. These boots still work, I find they can be useful if you feel like you are to slow to be able to initiate properly. They provide you with a ton of movement speed when out of combat.

There are a few AP items you can buy. I don't normally go for much AP even though it affects most of them in some way, either pure damage, bigger shields, or better heals. They do help, and if you feel your tanky enough, or your teams needs more damage, then here are a few AP items that can work for your supports.

Pros & Cons

Pro's & Con's

Viability & Priority

Helpful Tips & Ability Sequence

Final Builds & Situational Items

Thresh

Pros:
+ Grab & Mini Stun
+ Great Initiate
+ Slow & Push/Pull

Viability:
10/10
Priority:
Very High

Cons:
- Long Wind-Up on

- Long Cool-Downs Early
- Easy to dodge

Helpful Tips:

When you land Death Sentence tug twice, before pressing it again to leap to the target.
Dark Passage is an amazing help to your allies and can be used as an escape or to pull an all to lane for an gank.
Flay infront of you to push back enemy, or behind you to pull them towards you.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Face of the MountainZeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Leona

Pros:
+ Has two Stuns
+ Great Initiate
+ Tanky

Viability:
8.5/10
Priority:
High

Cons:
- No Sustain
- can be interrupted
- All In & Can be poked down

Helpful Tips:

When enemy places a ward, auto attack + Shield of Daybreak + auto attack will kill it before it goes invisible.
Your main combo is Zenith Blade + Eclipse + Shield of Daybreak. Eclipse can be casted mid-air.
Sunlight passive will deal additional magic damage when an allied champion does damage to them.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Face of the MountainZeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Lulu

Pros:
+ Great Poke
+ Slow & Knock-Up & Heal
+ (Speed Boost or Polymorph)

Viability:
9/10
Priority:
Very High

Cons:
- Squishy
- Small Shield
- Mana Issues

Helpful Tips:

Glitterlance is an amazing poke. Use it & auto attack for more damage. When you have enough mana, you may also Help, Pix!.
Wild Growth can be used on an ally who is initiating to knock up the enemy team, or as an defensive ability to save a dying ally.
Whimsy can be used in multiple situations. It can stop channels such as Death Lotus and The Culling. Can also be used as a silence or to stop enemies from attacking for the duration.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Zeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Blitzcrank

Pros:
+ Grab & Knock-Up & Silence
+ Burst Damage

Viability:
7/10
Priority:
Medium

Cons:
- No Sustain
- High Mana Costs

Helpful Tips:

Aim for the Carries and Squishies on enemy team. Landing a grab mid/late game almost always ensures a kill.
Clear enemies vision and ward a lot. Denying vision then grabbing an enemy when they are trying to ward is usually very effective.
Sometimes you can Overdrive to get close, then Static Field into an Rocket Grab then Power Fist. This ensures the enemy takes all the damage and cant flash out unless they survive the initial burst.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Face of the MountainZeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Janna

Pros:
+ Knock-Up & Slow
+ Great Disengage
+ Bonus AD on

Viability:
8/10
Priority:
High

Cons:
- Squishy
- Low Poke Damage
- No Sustain

Helpful Tips:

Howling Gale can stop some champions mid-air such as Zenith Blade from Leona or Headbutt from Alistar
Use Eye of the Storm when you poke harass. It gives more damage, as well as blocking some damage you take.
Howling Gale can be used to knock-up and catch enemy champions, as well as a defensive disengage much like Monsoon.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Zeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Nami

Pros:
+ Two Knock-Ups
+ Decent Heal & Poke

Viability:
6.5/10
Priority:
Medium

Cons:
- Squishy
- Mana Issues

Helpful Tips:

Easiest way to land Aqua Prison is when the enemy is going in for a last hit.
If you want to heal, your ally and yourself with Ebb and Flow make sure they're in range of bounce to enemy, then back to your ally or yourself.
Tidal Wave may be slow, but can be a very powerful initiate skill, or follow up to an initiate for your team. Can also be used as an disengage.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Zeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Taric

Pros:
+ Stun
+ Sustain Heals

Viability:
6.5/10
Priority:
Medium

Cons:
- Short Ranged
- Mana Issues

Helpful Tips:

If you use Imbue on yourself it heals for 40% more
If your not being poked much, max Shatter for more armor and damage.
To catch someone late game you can Talisman of Ascension to land an easier stun.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Face of the MountainZeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Soraka

Pros:
+ Great Heal & Global Heal
+ Silence & Can give
+ provides a lot of Armor

Viability:
6/10
Priority:
Medium

Cons:
- Squishy
- Weak Early Game
- Mana Issues

Helpful Tips:

Along with Sightstone rush Talisman of Ascension & Ionian Boots of Lucidity for 40% cool down reduction.
If you're going to pick Soraka make sure your team has a good tank line/initiate.
When in a fight, spam Starcall to reduce the cooldown of Astral Blessing

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Zeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Sona

Pros:
+ Poke / Burst
+ Stun & Slow
+ Bonus Damage and Aura

Viability:
7/10
Priority:
Medium

Cons:
- Squishy
- Low Heals
- Mana Issues

Helpful Tips:

Keeping Hymn of Valor up grants bonus damage and ability power. Whereas Aria of Perseverance grants bonus armor and magic resistance.
Learn how each Chord works. (Q=Double Damage, W=Lowers damage output, E= Slows)
In team fights, try to land Crescendo on more than one person.

Final Build

Talisman of Ascension

Situational Items

Zeke's Herald

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Notes:

Many of my builds are the same items. This is because this is the play style I play and like. I build tanky & cool down reduction supports with high utility. Some can be built more damage, there are also a few other item choices I will add to customize builds more. My favorite support item is Talisman of Ascension. It provides your team with a speed boost for initiating, or escaping fights.

Viability & Priority

Viability

Viability is the 1/10 Scale I'm using to determine how useful I feel a champion is.
For example is rated 10/10 because I feel he is very useful in all situations. He has an amazing kit, and can be utilized in many different ways. He can be defensive, by helping farm, shielding and escaping. He can also be aggressive by initiating fights, grabbing and slowing enemies. Whereas someone like is rated 6/10 because she is more situational. She has low , only a silence. She also has no escapes and little poke. She is mainly a sustain healer.

Priority

Priority is another form of measurement I'm using to determine how well they can affect the game and their team. Very High being the best, down to Very Low being the worst.

What if my favorite champion is poorly rated? Are they useless?

Some champions may be better than others. In some situations initiate can be better than poke damage and knock up. Sometimes may have to sit back and shield the carry throughout lane and do little poke damage, but come late game the team may get much more from because her disengage is so good.
To answer that question, no, being rated lower does not make someone useless and this is more of a general rating than one that fits every game.

Warding Locations & Tips/Tricks

These are the basic warding spots for bottom lane and control.
Green markers are the most basic areas to ward. If you're pushed back to your tower you would ward the bush closer to you, so you can remain in control . Usually you would ward at the far end just to give the most vision away from you. Blue markers are for buff and dragon control. Warding behind dragon or bush near it help give vision so the enemy can't steal or kill you when going for it without being seen. The ones near red and blue buff are both offensive and defensive. If you are looking to steal or defend your buffs the edges of the bush give a good area of vision. Red markers may not always be used, but they can still be important in certain situations. Sometimes the enemy will tower dive you, or you are pushed far up towards the enemies tower and you could use the extra vision. Warding those spots will help keep you safe in both situations.

Video's

Hopefully I can make a warding guide in the future.
Below is not my video, but it is an amazing ward guide from season 3. You can learn a lot from the video, while out dated it still has important tips.
Remember if your cursor is green its in the bush. If your cursor is blue its not in the bush. You can ward over walls and farther than normally allowed because the wall will push the ward.
Practice makes perfect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPI9bmW6UFo

Wards And Jungle Timers:
Wards = 3 Minute Lifespan
Blue Buff = 5 Minute Respawn
Red Buff = 5 Minute Respawn
Dragon = 6 Minute Respawn
Baron = 7 Minute Respawn

Streaming & Videos

I stream at Twitch.tv/xMissyMeganx. I have every champion/rune page, so I can play anything. I may not be very good at some roles, top being my worst, but if its what you guys want sometimes I'll play it. I do Ranked Solo Que, Ranked 5's but mostly Normal or Customs with viewers. I don't currently have a set schedule because its often random, with job hunting and how hectic life has been lately, but hope to make one in the future. If you want to play games, chat with viewers or myself in chat, listen to good music (I think), or watch good gameplay (ok, maybe not sometimes) then why not give it a try.

I hope to make videos in the future, but for now all I have is a (well edited) Season 3 Sona Guide

Fixes & Updates

So excited to release the guide.
I know there are probably some typo's and grammatical errors. I will try to fix them asap.

Special Thanks

Thank you to everyone who helped me with this guide.
It really means a lot to me that you took the time to help. This guide took a while to make and couldn't of been as good without you guys.

Miroke & StancedMode: Critiquing
TomQShibbey: Grammatical Errors
IceCreamy: Gave me some ideas for the Pro's & Con's section
Xpecial: Tips (I took the important ones and reworded/edited them from Xpecial's Reddit Post)
coL.MeyeA: Ward tips video
Special Thanks to

For all of the Artwork
He did an amazing job on every banner, ward template, and video. I know I have some amazing paint skills, but it wouldn't have been the same if it wasn't for his help.

My Twitter Account

Spoiler: Click to view

My Ask.Fm Account

Spoiler: Click to view

s

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Choose Champion Build:

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Damnation (PASSIVE)

Death Sentence (Q)

Dark Passage (W)

Flay (E)

The Box (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Sunlight (PASSIVE)

Shield of Daybreak (Q)

Eclipse (W)

Zenith Blade (E)

Solar Flare (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Pix, Faerie Companion (PASSIVE)

Glitterlance (Q)

Whimsy (W)

Help, Pix! (E)

Wild Growth (R)

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Mana Barrier (PASSIVE)

Rocket Grab (Q)

Overdrive (W)

Power Fist (E)

Static Field (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Tailwind (PASSIVE)

Howling Gale (Q)

Zephyr (W)

Eye Of The Storm (E)

Monsoon (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Surging Tides (PASSIVE)

Aqua Prison (Q)

Ebb and Flow (W)

Tidecaller's Blessing (E)

Tidal Wave (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Bravado (PASSIVE)

Starlight's Touch (Q)

Bastion (W)

Dazzle (E)

Cosmic Radiance (R)

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Salvation (PASSIVE)

Starcall (Q)