Hello everyone! I am KingKongca and a Sona mid main since season 2. I am currently platinum 3 in the NA server and looking to do even better! I decided to make this guide to explain in details some aspect of how Sona should be played in mid lane. So, if you want some tips on how to farm or win trades for example, you are at the right place. Also, I want to point out that english is not my first language but I'll try to do my best in that regard!

This spell is your main tool to damage, poke and farm. The important things to mention about this spell is both wave prioritize closest champions then closest minions/monsters. They also auto target them as long enemies are in range AND you can see them (at the moment you cast it). Last thing is the aura boost your damage on your next autoattack. Be sure to use this to deal extra damage to your opponent or to farm more efficiently.


This spell gives you the substain needed to win lane. Use it to negate damage with the shield and the heal received. You could win most trades if use properly. Don't forget that you also heal the ally with the less health around you. Try to not spam it during laning phase since it costs a lot of mana.


You max this spell last since you don't gain much by leveling it. Mostly use to chase down an ennemy or escape a bad situation. You can also use it to boost your team with a nice movement speed buff. It also helps you to roam between lanes. The thing with this spell is that it scales really hard with your ability power. So while playing Sona mid, you are going to run REALLY FAST mid and late game.


This spell is one of the reason roaming with Sona is really good. Each time you have your ult up, you can potentially go to a lane and get easy kills/assists. I recommend roaming depending on your ult cooldown.

The difference between a good Sona player and an average one is how efficient the player uses her passive. This passive alone gives Sona so much versatility that it is sometimes hard to know in which way you should use it. In this section, I will try to explain in which situation each part of the passive should be used.


First of all, you can proc the passive each time you used 3 spells. The next AA will deal bonus damage and get a second effect depending on the last spell used.

LAST SPELL USED

Staccato

-Use it to burst down an enemy before he kills someone
-Use it to deal a lot of damage

Diminuendo

-Use it to negate damage when trading
-Use it to save an ally from getting burst
-Use it in long fights when you don't have enough damage to kill the enemy quickly
-Use it whenever it is the only way for you to survive

Tempo

-Use it against an enemy that can easily go away that you or your team can't kill right away
-Use it against a tank/fighter that want to get close so you can kite him or save an ally

In conclusion, using your passive to get the most damage possible is not always the best option. Always try to save yourself or your allies by choosing the right passive.

FIRST ITEMS



Basic starting items for any mage mid.

FIRST BACK

Buy this item first if it's going to be hard to kill your ennemy.
OR
Buy this item if you think you can get a kill soon with or without the help of your jungler. Also, getting this item first helps you a lot for farming.
AND IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY
A must to start roaming
Vision wins the game, buy this anytime you can.


EARLY RUSH


First item to finish after buying a Sheen. You will be spamming a lot of spells. The mana you gain from this item is really important. The CDR and AP ratio are nice and the shield it procures you when maxed out can save your life.


Second item to finish. You will be autoattacking a lot with your Q+AA combo. The extra damage from your autoattack boosts a lot your DPS. Also, it gives you mana, AP, CDR and movement speed. Everything Sona Mid needs.


I usually finish this item third, but if you don't have enough money to finish one of the two items before and your have 800 gold to spend. Finish you boots. Magic pen is really nice and movement speed helps a lot your roaming potential early in the game.


LAST ITEMS

Damage, Damage, Damage! Nothing else to say!

Gives you AP, CDR, mana. Also, the passive boost your burst even more. Great item!

You will need this as the game progress. Enemies will buy magic resist items to negate your burst.


SITUATIONAL ITEMS


You will need this item in games with a lot of assassins. You will need bulk to survive long enough to have an impact in team fights. It gives you enough mana to replace Archangel's Staff as a first item in those games.


Same as Rod of Ages, you will need this items in games with a lot assassins and a mid laner purely AD like Yasuo and Zed.


If you are confident in your skills and you are against a team that has trouble to get to you, feel free to buy this item. It is really easy to stack it since Sona gets easily assists. (And kills)


You will need this item against teams that relies a lot on healing power. This item will inflict Grievous Wounds and can be a game changer against teams with a Soraka and Dr. Mundo for example.


FINAL BUILD

FIRST TREE


Since Sona has an excelent 3 hits combo in Auto Attack + Q + Auto Attack. This rune helps you to deal significant damage in lane.


This rune is the best for Sona for dueling during lane phase.


Probably the best choice here since you want to get a lot of AP. Sona is a monster late game. This rune ensures you will do your job as a carry in late game phase.


I prefer that rune simply because it can help you roam way more. Also Sona is pretty squishy. Having more movement speed can help her survive.

SECOND TREE


Sona is mana hungry. This rune will help overcome the problem.


This rune makes sure you can do a lot of damage as the game persists.

During laning phase, Sona excels at poking with Hymn of Valor. You want to abuse that to bring your opponent low on hp to get a kill with your burst or with the help of your jungler. However, spamming Q with your passive isn't always the best way to trade. Most of the time, there is two ways to efficiently trade in lane.

First Way

You have two charges of your passive. You use AA + Q + AA (Buffed by your passive and Aura from Q). This is the classic combo from Sona. It does a ton of damage really quick and doesn't require a lot of mana. It also procs the electrocute rune. In a lot of situations, if your enemy can't damage you a lot or kill you. This is the option you take.

Second Way

You have two charges of your passive. You use AA + W + AA (Buffed by your passive) + Q + AA (Buffed by you Aura). Don't use the first AA if your enemy can damage you before applying your passive.

If your enemy wants to fight back by going in or even try to kill you, this is the option you take. Your Aria of Perseverance will heal you a bit (if you are missing health) and shield you a bit of damage. But most importantly, you will debuff your enemy's damage by 25-35% for 3 seconds. This coupled with your Aria of Perseverance will negate a ton of damage. Then, your respond back with your Hymn of Valor and autoattack to deal extra damage while the opponent try to flee. This way of trading will most of the time ensure you to win trades and get unexpected kills. However, you are not bursting your opponent that way and you use more mana. So be sure to use this combo at the right time or you will run out of mana.

Here is an example on how effective it is.
This is against a Diana mid. She still lost trades due to that combo even if she had a lot of minions and have a really good burst.
Play Video

In this section, I will give you tips on how to farm more efficiently. However, Sona still has trouble to farm even with those tips. It just helps to not suffer that much from that handicap.

First Tip
Position yourself close to a dying minion whenever you want to use Hymn of Valor to poke your enemy. When farming, you have to keep in mind to lower a minion's health before using your Hymn of Valor to get most of it. Here is an example.
Play Video
Second Tip
Use the aura from Hymn of Valor to get more damage on your next autoattack. Sometimes, it is not worth it to autoattack the enemy after your Hymn of Valor. In this situation keep you autoattack to finish off a minion more easily.

Third Tip
Get a sheen early and use the passive to help you farm. When you have Sheen or Lich Bane and you use an ability. Don't forget to use your next autoattack to guarantee a creep score when you are not using this autoattack to damage an enemy.

One of the reason why Sona mid can be good when laning phase is over is how she can help her team. She provides so much utility that she can carry the game almost by herself even if you lost your lane. Here is a list of everything she can consistently do to help her team.

Heal a lot
Debuff hard the damage to an important ult to save your teammates like Fiddle's Ult
Give a lot of movement speed
Slow down really hard for 3 seconds someone while chasing
A AoE Stun that can change the tide of a teamfight
Boost everyone next autoattacks
Peel your carries in many way
Bursting down most squishies
With a few items, Sona takes down turrets really fast

Your job as a Sona Mid is to determine what is the most important thing to do for your team at a precise moment. Here is a list of situations and what you should do in reaction to them.

- You lost lane hard but your adc or your top assassin jungler is fed. Even if you don't have items, you can still be relevant to the game by peeling and healing your other carries. I still won a lot of games even if I lost lane because I was able to save my allies. You just have to accept that you are not carrying this game. In that regard, Sona Mid does a lot for the team even if she doesn't have damage compared to more classic mid champions.

-You put a ward somewhere and you see Fiddlesticks channeling his ult. Your ult is in cooldown. You can W and debuff his damage a lot. By that way, you are going to save your allies.

-At the beginning of the game (level 2), you see your jungler dueling the enemy jungler. You can easily back him up with heal and debuff damage. Most of the time, you will save your jungler even if the enemy mid laner tries to help.

-A flash Ult can easily win a team fight bot lane once you reach level 6. Don't be afraid to roam.

- You want to get first turret but enemy adc hides behind his turret while killing minions quite easily. Your heal is so good with ap that you can easily dive under turrets with your ult and Aria of Perseverance to tank some turret's hits.

Pros

Scales really hard
Great at poking
A lot of utility for the team
Can burst down squishies
Heal a lot
AoE Ult
Great at roaming
Good comeback potential

Cons

Squishy
Really hard to farm
No real escape
Mana hungry
Take times to scale
No damage without core items
You will get flamed

In conclusion, Sona can be a remarkable mid laner if used correctly. She still has obvious flaws but she also provides utility that most mid laner can't. I only recommend going mid with her if you have time to learn it correctly since it is hard the first games to be used to her and her laning phase.


This concludes my first guide. Any constructive critics is appreciated.