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Sona Build Guide by Lyraphix

Support Support Sona: Win Lane, Win Game (Updated for Season 8)

Support Support Sona: Win Lane, Win Game (Updated for Season 8)

Updated on September 20, 2018
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Lyraphix Build Guide By Lyraphix 6 3 359,189 Views 4 Comments
6 3 359,189 Views 4 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Lyraphix Sona Build Guide By Lyraphix Updated on September 20, 2018
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Runes:

Domination
Dark Harvest
Taste of Blood
Eyeball Collection
Relentless Hunter

Sorcery
Scorch
Manaflow Band

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Exhaust

Exhaust

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Hi, I'm Lyraphix, a Sona main. I've been playing Sona since long before her rework, primarily because of her great damage late game and dynamic early game. Sona fills a jack of all trades role in the current meta, and this allows her to fit into most team comps easily. Her early harass and poke is more than often enough to net a kill bot lane, and her synergy with many popular/meta adcs as of season 6 makes her a fun and mechanically simple support.
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General Play

Sona's laning phases depends on who she lanes against in the bottom lane.

Tanks


Against tanky supports she generally wants to get as much poke down on the enemy adc, while dodging the enemy supports poke. She will generally go even in trades with the enemy adc, which is great! Because Sona will have far more sustain than the enemy adc, every trade where you go even is a success. The primary goal here is to force the enemy tanky support (who generally lack poke) to try to engage on your adc to even out the health bars. When this happens, one of two results will occur. Either A: The enemy adc cannot assist the support in engaging because of the aforementioned poke, leaving her adc to take decent damage from a 2v1, or B: The enemy adc tries regardless to assist the support, and in doing so, allows you and your adc to focus and kill them.

Sustainers


Against sustain supports like Soraka, and to a lesser degree Nami or Janna, Sona's laning phase needs to be focused on getting the other support out of the picture, so that her adc can deal damage without it being healed/shielded away. In these scenarios, it is best to communicate with your adc in champ select to make sure you two are on the same page on who to focus. You preferably want to set up kills bot lane, (vastly aided by a Flash+Q=+Power Chord+Ignite for a finish on enemies =/<200 HP), but you can also settle to cripple the enemy support by lowering their HP to a point where they cannot safely assist their adc, but they are still draining experience.

Pure Mages


Mage supports who deal only cc and damage such as Annie, Brand, or Zyra are easier for Sona to play against than tanks, but harder than playing against sustain supports. These champions generally require Sona to have very good positioning. Sona will typically deal close to the same amount of damage as these supports, but lacks readily available hard cc. You must make up for this by pressuring and zoning the enemy adc when your adc is cc'd. For instance, say you have a Graves as your adc who has been stunned by an enemy Annie, and now the enemy Vayne is charging at him. Your first reaction cannot be to run away from Vayne and Annie. You must immediately make an impact by using the appropriate power chord, healing back Graves, and hitting them with your Q damage, to make sure they must either turn on you or back off. This becomes easier as the lane progresses, as health bards gradually drop and abilities are more impactful,losing 150 HP starts to matter more and more. You will always have your heal for this trading damage, but bear in mind it is fairly weak, and most effectively used as a shield in 2v2s.
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Items

The builds above depend entirely on the enemy team. The traditional support build is the one I run most frequently because it gives Sona enough tanky stats to live in the fight longer, while also providing much greater utility. I run this build over the damage build because of the current meta, in which Sona's AP damage is far less useful. However on rare occasions when they have a team consisting of something like Fiddlesticks, Teemo, Leblanc, Janna, Vayne (Generally any team with 3+ Squishihes), I go full AP. By 40 minutes you will one shot any squishy champion, and I mean this literally. Sona's Q+PC+Ignite has no counter because it happens too fast and isn't a skillshot. It is incredibly strong, and very good for carrying out of excessively low elo like bronze. However, if they have a few tanks, you will likely be eliminated fairly quickly. This build also has the advantage of winning the vast majority of 2v2 lanes, as even when your adc gets cc'd by the other support, your damage is enough to do at least 50% of the enemy adc's HP, and before then your poke is very strong. Both of these builds are highly flexible however. If you find yourself in elongated teamfights which aren't really one-sided, you may consider buying a Morellonomicon, or a Frozen heart if they have a very AD oriented team. Item flexibility is huge, and beyond her Sheen/Sightstone core, Sona is very versatile.

Item Reviews


10/10, complements Sona perfectly in every way.
10/10, you must always purchase a Sightstone, vision is absolutely essential.
9/10, gives Sona everything she wants other than Sheen in one item.
8/10, massive power spike for your adc, and is essential if the enemy support has one to, especially late game.
8/10, makes Sona hit harder, heal for more, and run faster, very good on all AP champs atm. Only purchase when ahead.
8/10, necessary as AP Sona. However, you frequently don't get to purchase this item, as AP Sona's other items are already quite expensive and if you're that ahead, the game is probably already over.
8/10, very strong item to use for a more defensive Sona build.
8/10, VERY good on a utility based Sona who needs to be able to tank and peel a little bit better. This and your E powerchord makes it very easy to chase down enemies when ahead, and is a great item for utility Sona.
8/10, an essential item for support Sona, great for saving carrys.
7/10, decent on Sona for any build, but doesn't complement her playstyle of give her options if she's in a bad spot.
7/10, good when you're ahead as AP Sona. I buy Sorc Shoes frequently to win lane and snowball the adc, but if you get behind it can be a waste of gold and scale poorly into late game.
Talisman of Ascension 6/10, Good for escapes, but Sona misses out on a lot by purchasing this item, and it's offensive capabilities are most often waste on Sona, who prefers to be near the back in teamfights.
6/10, useful if you hit late game as AP Sona and they've stacked MR, but you should be focusing the squishies, %MPen shouldn't generally be necessary unless you're fighting tanks/bruisers, and in that case, you shouldn't be building AP.
6/10, good item if you hit very late game as AP Sona and are ready to sell your Sightstone, but you will almost never reach this point and it isn't worth it at any other point in the game.
5/10, no reason to purchase on Sona over any other item.
5/10, no reason to purchase on Sona over any other item.
4/10 Sona doesn't benefit greatly from cooldown reduction as a traditional support or as an ap support, and as a utility based offtank, she has enough cooldown reduction as it is.
4/10, no reason to get this item on Sona over any other.
3/10, upgrading Spellthief's is a waste on nearly every support, and Sona is no exception
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Itemization

Wait, isn't this the same as items? No, itemization is how you build in reaction to the game, like adjusting for a poke comp or a very tanky front line. Generally, there are main areas of itemization Sona builds with, and luckily for her, she has plenty of items with which she can be useful.

First and second backs


Depending on how much gold you have when you back, you'll want to purchase different items for your first and second backs. 30 gold is the maximum amount of gold you should wait for to buy an item. Ideally you will time your backs so that you are never waiting, but sometimes it may happen.

First back:
0-600 Gold: Vision ward, Stealth Ward, Sweeper Trinket, refill to 2 of each pot.
600-1000: Amp Tome, Vision Ward, Stealth ward, Sweeper Trinket, refill to 2 of each pot
1000-1300: Amp Tome, Mana Crystal, Vision Ward, refill to 2 of each pot.
1300-1600: Sheen, Vision Ward, refill to 2 of each pot.
1600+: Sheen, Health Crystal, Vision Ward, refill to 2 of each pot

Second back:
0-800 Gold: Don't back, you need money for sightstone.
800-1300: Sightstone, Sweeper Trinket, Vision Ward, refill to 1 of each pot
1300-1600: Sightstone, Boots of Swiftness, Vision Ward, Sweeper Trinket, refill to 1 of each pot.

You might be wondering why I get sightstone on second back as Sona. Well, you and your adc can keep the river warding just with trinkets and a pink ward after first back, and your jungler can get scuttler crab if there is a threat of a Nunu or Udyr early dragon. Sheen or any of its components is a massive power spike on first back for Sona, no matter which final build path you're gearing towards, and plays a big contribution to make up for your lack of cc by outdamaging with your adc in 2v2 fights. Sona with Sheen has enough damage to hold off the enemy adc and protect your own, whereas Sightstone's value comes generally after the 15 minute mark, where jungle information and roams/dragons become crucial as you transition into mid game.


Itemization against specific comps



Sona is a reactive support for the most part, aside from some teamfight winning flash ults, and therefore her build needs to be too. Against tanky teams Sona should not be building huge amounts of AP, and against split push compositions, Locket of the Iron Solari becomes remarkably less useful.

Items Against Tanks:
Iceborn provides great peel and utility with Sona's kit, as well as synergizing very well with her passive and giving her additional armor and cooldown reduction, all perfect for comabting tanks.
Locket of the Iron Solari is very good for full 5 on 5 teamfights, especially against tanks, who generally have low base damages to begin with.
Mikael's Crucible is a great item for rescuing an adc who's been cc'd by anything, arguably the most importanat member of your team in today's meta.

Items Against Poke Compositions:
Morellonomicon gives CDR and AP, which helps greatly to heal back up any damage taken from these poke teams.
Talisman of Ascension allows Sona to provide her whole team with a double speed boost alongside her e, and completely overrun many teams who would rather stand back and poke from a distance.
Most AP items grant Sona bigger heals and stronger damage against these poke teams, which tend to consist of squishier champions, so they're even better.

Items Against Assassin Compositions:
Locket of the Iron Solari again allows you to give everyone a shield without even having to know who the Assassin is targeting.
Mikael's Crucible obviously protects the endangered ally by providing them with health and a mini cleanse.
A mix of AP and tankyish items such as Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya's, and Rylai's can allow you to survive assassins if they attack you, or use your W powerchord to greatly reduce their damage to one your allies.

Against split-push compositions, you should generally build according the the rest of the team and try to see what your allies need. If they're getting bursted down, try getting a few tankier items and a locket. If they're struggling to win teamfights because high-priority targets are getting away, invest in cooldown reduction and a Iceborn Gauntlet so you can keep your team mobile and the enemy's slow. Remember: your build needs to be fluid, and adapt with your team's needs.

And obviously, if you notice 80%+ of their damage is either physical or magical, always remind your team to invest heavily in the corresponding stat of armor or MR, as the value of these purchases will rise significantly if they are effective against more damage.
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Lyraphix
Lyraphix Sona Guide
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Support Sona: Win Lane, Win Game (Updated for Season 8)

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