Two philo stones is a bit of of an overkill and nine points in offense is a must. You gain more in 9 points than putting 9 in defensive.

All you need for AP on Sona is Deathcap and replace Rylias with Abyssal. Tear/Archangel arent needed at all, you aren't stacking mana so your crippling its potenital.

Your heals will be fine with just those 2 items.

Get Soul Shroud, Deathcap, Abyssal, and Shurleyas. <- what I listed is all you need to play Sona AP/Support.

About mana regen: It's ok with 2 Philo + AAS. I just don't get, why don't you like the Archangel's, while it has quite good AP per gold with huge mana regen. I agree, that in mid/late game, Sona's damage should be just third-rate output, but her heal is nothing without some ability power (Not to mention, that after recent nerfs at W it needs tons of AP to be good). K, nuff said.
As for the auras: When I solo queue, people cry that I have no AP, when I queue with friends, they cry that the aura-items suck. "You are useless support if you do nothing". I promise to try out Soul Shroud, but it's the only item that fits atm.
Ok, gtg to try it out!

Get soul shroud if you think you need more manaregen.

Honestly with mp5 seals, masteries, shuryleas, and soul shroud, your mana regen will be more than enough.

Tear/Archangels is just a waste on Sona.
I only say this due to the fact she is based off of auras and adding to that with items should be your first priority.

Remember, when Sona seems like a good pick for your team comp, its because she SUPPORTS with auras, heals, and not magic nuking type dmg.

RoA gives no mana regen which is the main reason of building Archangel. It's also hard to build early game, as I have to start with mana reg. item, and then focus on philosophers. I consider buying 2x Faerie + 2 pots (360+80 = 440, maybe 1 hp pot, but it's not necessary) or 2 Faerie + potion + ward if they got a jungler, and building Catalyst even before philosophers... I'll have to try it out first. Tear is much easier to get, rly.

I don't like Tear, if you want a Mana/AP item get RoA. Supports should prioritize, Aura, then Tank and finally AP (90% of the time, imo ofc).

To be honest this is why I decided to write this guide. First of all, I was really surprised when people forced me to buy AP (and kept flaming for like 30% of the game for no AP... if 300 AP is nothing on support, then I wonder what kind of support do they want). Your build is very similar to my first one (Chalice of Harmony, Mercury's Treads, Soul Shroud, Zhonya's Hourglass, Aegis of the Legion, Will of the Ancients), and I don't deny it. This is just a kind of hybrid build - a bit of AP, and the competetive support engine (gps + warding). THIS IS NOT AN AP NUKER, apart from Archangel, which is just very good Item, the next AP is the crowd-controling Rylai's. The Rabadon is avery-closing item to use in very-late game, when warding is no more that much necessary.


Meki pedant = 390, 2x Mana potion = 80, 390+80 = 470. I do it for like 4 months :P.


I'll consider buying some CDR. If you find it so important, try out Ionian Boot of Lucidity instead for .

Thanks for constructive feedback.

Well you mentioned about improvements. Regular Early Game section is a huge text wall and hard to read therefore. Your items are too long, you really don't have to include wards there, because you can explain it in the text. Also I don't think you need 2 philohopher's stones, because it takes a long time to pay back them and u can spend those coins to complete Archangel faster or something else.

Also you will not have enough coins to buy Meki Pendant and 2 mana potions, only enough coins for like 1 mana potion and health potion, i think...

I agree on the point, that you DO NEED coins and exp. It's ******** you don't. Sona is OFFENSIVE support, not a babysitter. She's good for nothing without some proper AP and CDR. Heal without ap at lvl 5 is just pathetic 175. Not good for anything, really. I recommend you to build up more cooldown reduction early game, because most likely you won't reach Shurelya's Reverie and than that's about it.

With some minor improvements you will gain a +1 from me :)