Sona Build Guide by Jenvas1306

Introduction

So, this is my first guide and its different from other guides for Sona you will find on Mobafire. Sona can be a very powerful support, if she is played right, so lets first talk about some things ive seen people trying with her:

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Pros / Cons

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Pros + short cooldowns, even shorter with this build + passive auras + strong poke, if used right + no need to target abilities + easy to pick up

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Cons - mana-hungry early, needs management - ultimate needs careful positioning - needs multitasking - cant target abilities - hard to master

Masteries

These Masteries are supposed to give you a little tankyness, but foremost garant you the gold you need to get your build. Additionally Wealth gives you the extra starting gold to go for the Meki Pendant and a potion, letting you and your carry stay in lane longer.

Runes

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M A R K S

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Greater Mark of Armor and Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist gives you some more tankyness, at all we want to avoid dying. As AP tends to bloom later in game i prefer scaling MR over flat MR.

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G L Y P H S

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S E A L S

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greater seal of replenishment gives you addional Manaregen, but as we go for the Athene's Unholy Grail its best to have it as flat Manaregen so you have the manaregen you need early in game and later on it doesnt hurt. Greater Seal of Gold would increase the GP10 income, but you would shorten your effectiveness early, which is when it counts to have any little advantage possible.

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S E A L S

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Q U I N T S

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To enhance our constant income further i recommend Greater Quintessence of Gold. Those plus the gold from Greed give a total of 5 gold per 10 seconds, this means we start the game with the gold from a GP-item, starting to get cash as the timer hits 1:30.

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Q U I N T S

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Summoner Spells

Skill Sequence

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Naturally you would start with Aria of Perseverance, to give your carry the sustain to farm for a longer time than the opponent, your Meki Pendant helps you to have enough mana to even counter some hard harrass.
Later in fights, use it to enhance your next autoattack with Power Chord to hit the strongest enemy carry with Diminuendo, debuffing him/her to cause 20% less damage during the next 4 seconds.
Max your heal first at level 9.

Your second ability should be Hymn of Valor. you can pick up minions (those your carry cant get!), prepare last-hits for your carry (good old spoonfeeding) and combine it with your Power Chord to poke the enemy carry with a neat Staccato buffed autoattack.

This littly utility has its most use later in game, thats why its maxed last. Song of Celerity's prime use is to accelerate your allies, to chase or just to get somewhere faster.
Together with Power Chord it allows your next autoattack to hit a running enemy with Tempo (the irony...) slowing that target for 40%. This is a trick that is difficult to pull off, but if you manage, that enemy wont know what happened to him/her.
Another kill for your team and another assist for you.

Sonas ultimate doesnt cause an aura, nor does it work with Power Chord. It needs practise to hit enemies, as you will want to hit as many as possible.
A good use of it is during clustered teamfights, sometimes to save an ally (or your own ***).
If you are confident enough you can use Crescendo to engage a fight, by combining it with Flash. For this to not be suicide you need your team to be ready, not scattered over the map and aware of your plan. Also you need the right position to begin with, a place to not be seen till you flash and not too close to an enemy tower. Dont do this without good planning.


Last but not least, Sonas passive. As you see by me mentioning Power Chord so often, it is quite important to play Sona properly.
It activates after three spellcasts and will then enhance your next autoattack by an effect depending on your last used ability.
Managing the casting and attacking in lane is the key to unlock Sona's harrass potential with Staccato.

Having it ready and using Tempo can end a hunt quickly, by you and or your ally escaping, or catching the fleeing enemy.

In fights debuffing a big source of damage with Diminuendo can easily turn the tide of said fight.

How well Power Chord is used makes a good or a great Sona. Practise and rythm is the key!

Items

This is the first item you'll get, as it gives you the Manaregen you need to do your job early in lane. Faerie Charm might seem more handy as it builds into the Philosopher's Stone, but its not enough manaregen and your GP runes and masteries give you your gold even earlier.


Athene's Unholy Grail seems to be ignored often by a lot of players and guides, but for Sona it is a blessing. 15% cdr and the immense mana-regen make it a must as a core-item for utility-Sona.


These are no sneakers, but they keep your feet cool (even those dont touch the ground), more cdr more fun, but as we go over the cdr cap anyway, you can swap for Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads.


More tankyness for you and via another aura for your allies, what else would a support get?


A crown to make you the queen of cdr, more mana- and HP-regen make you even harder to kill.


Another aura for Sona, garanting more HP-regen, the shield can be useful for teamfights. With this item you build out your ability to give those tide-turning advantages.


Yes, your 6th item-slot stays free for wards, keep warding, as that can give your team an immense advantage depending on the situation.

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Oracle's Elixir: You plan on not dying, so you should get oracles if it is necessary on your team.

Randuin's Omen: is a more pricy replacement for the Locket of the Iron Solari and is more suitable when you are getting focussed, which some teams will do if you do your job well.

Force of Nature: For those Magic-heavy enemy teams, get it instead of the locket.

Will of the Ancients: In case your team is Magic-heavy it boosts your allies quite a bit, but the spellvamp isnt of much use to yourself.

Frozen Heart: Makes a good replacement for shurelya's if some atkspeedy adc tries to shut you down.

Zeke's Herald: Can also be swapped for Shurelya's, as it gives 15% cdr and it helps your Team if its more towards AD.

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However you decide, keeping your cdr high is important and to be able to spam your abilities you will need the manaregeneration. Thats why Athene's Unholy Grail is such an important item in this build, even its pricy, you will notice its effect.

Farming

You are using Greater Quintessence of Gold and Greed , which gives you 5 Gold per 10 seconds right from 1 min 30 sec into the match. You will get the Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold to bring you up to 1.5 gold per second, so you wont need to farm.
Extra Gold comes from getting assists via Mercenary .
But you should try to help your carry to farm and you kill minions to push the lane when necessary, besides that dont waste mana to use Hymn of Valor for that and Staccato is for poking.

Being a Support

To be a good support you need to have the right mindset. So i'll give you a few DO's and DONT's:

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DO - feed your carry, give him/her all the kills and CS possible - use GP10 to get your money and therefor your build - play smart, plan and comunicate with your allies - ward, buy a ward save a life (or end one) - stick to your carry (or jungler-bodyguard if warding dragon/baron)

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DONT - try to last-hit as much as possible, you get your gold, so relax - run into enemies alone - chase alone - try to pick up an enemy carry with low hp in late game, when youre alone - try to be the carry SPACE SPACE

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Actually the best thing to happen, is when the enemy team forgets about you, while you do your excellent work in the background. Its never "dat Sona!", but you can easily cause a "dat ashe" (as example).

Last Words

This is my first guide and I'm not a pro player, I play for fun with friends, but I've seen a lot of not-well-working Sonas and I think I play her well enough to share what I know.

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