Hello summoners! Sona has been talking to me lately, and I don't know if you hear her voice too. Sometimes I feel like i'm going a bit crazy with the voices in my head. I'm Unownreality, a former support main, and still, an avid Sona player. I am still in the top 500 sona players in NA, with over 500 matches played in ranked alone. Sona is one of the few champions that has both a strong offense and strong defense as a support. Most supports are either all damage (Brand/Zyra) or all heal (Taric/Soraka). Instead, Sona is in the middle.

Hopefully my guide will help you take the silent string player and play the funeral music for your enemies. If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!

Updated for patch 9.10 on 5/26/2019

Pre-season and Mobafire guide appearance changes all in the same week! Yikes! Consider the guide a current work in progress while I adjust to preseason changes and the new mobafire setup. I'll include a new Chapter, Work in progress, to show the changes I make to the guide as I input them.

11/20/18
- Reevaluated all champion matchups based on the 1-5 scale.
- Tier Tracker will be reset!

12/9/18
- Adjusted for 8.24

1/9/18
- Nothing really changes in the bottom lane meta, or with sona.

2/10/18
- Updated for patches 9.2 and 9.3 (was away for a bit)
- Zyra no longer a counter (nerfed hard x2)

5/26/19
- Updated everything to patch 9.10
- Sona drops a few tiers :(
- Added Yuumi to matchups

To do List:
-Go through all champions for synergy levels
-Retouch all icons in the guide to improve appearance.
-Work on getting some experience in pre-season!

Pros

- High damage burst potential
- High healing stats
- High mobility
- CC lockdowns and slows
- Low cooldowns with the option for reduction
- All Lock on abilities, no point necessary. (Except Crescendo)

Cons

- Low HP and defense stats
- Susceptible to Assasins, Mages, and burst damage.
- High mana costs
- Falls off as the game goes on

Major Rune Sorcery

Keystone Summon Aery

Aery has the ability to make Sona's attacks a bit more powerful while also increasing the effectiveness of shields and heals.

2nd Major Manaflow Band

One of Sona's largest weaknesses is her mana costs and mana consumption. This reduces the effects not by the refund of an ability, but the gain of a substantial amount of mana. This helps make early game, a little less intense in regards to mana.

3rd Major Transcendence

Most of the support items have a cooldown reduction effect. This can make the additional stacks of cooldown reduction give you some additional AP.

4th Major Scorch

This is really the only viable option for a support in this tree. Scorch does a small amount of damage, which can only help laning phase.

Minor Rune: Resolve

Runes Revitalize & Conditioning

Conditioning:

This is going to give you that early game armor boost to prevent against the adc from killing you as fast. biscuits and frequent pots from Kleptomancy will double its bonus to 10 armor.

Revitalize:

Makes your heals more powerful and your shields more powerful. This should be self-explanatory as to why you take it as a healing support.

OR

Inspiration

Magical Footwear:

This is something I run on most supports, just because of future's market. Because our missions usually don't complete until 10+ mins, I usually go magical footwear. Support items are expensive, and the free boots are helpful. If you play sona more aggressively, you might want to go into the Resolve tree as posted above.

Future's Market:

This is something I love to run on all supports. Supports do not cs, and because they will roam, they may not be getting all the gold they need to get specific items. In addition, if you are in lane, and your ADC calls for a back, you should go with them, especially if the lane is pushed. Future's Market ensures that if you're short a little gold for that item, but need to back, its not wasted time. I tend to use this 3 or 4 times per game.

Sorcery

Celerity:

This was actually suggested in the comments, and I tried it out. Yay bonus movement speed!

Gathering Storm:

This is something that is a risk. If your game is over sub 30, it would have been more worth to take Scorch. Right now, the meta is favoring longer term matches, so I believe this too is a good choice.

Sona Support

Patch 8.6: B+
Patch 8.7: B+
Patch 8.8: B+
Patch 8.9: B+
Patch 8.10: B+
Patch 8.11: B+
Patch 8.12: A
Patch 8.13: A
Patch 8.14: A
Patch 8.15: A
Patch 8.16: A
Patch 8.17: A
Patch 8.18: A
Patch 8.19: B+
Patch 8.20: B+
Patch 8.21: B+
Patch 9.3: A-
Patch 9.4: A-
Patch 9.5: A
Patch 9.6: A+
Patch 9.7: A+
Patch 9.8: B-
Patch 9.9: B-
Patch 9.10: B-

Passive: Power Chord

Power Cord
After casting 3 spells, Sona's next attack deals bonus magic damage in addition to a bonus effect depending on what song Sona last activated.

Q: Hymn of Valor

Sona plays the Hymn of Valor, sends out bolts of sound, dealing magic damage to two nearby enemies, prioritizing champions and monsters. Sona gains a temporary aura that grants allies tagged by the zone bonus damage on their next attack against enemies.

W: Aria of Perseverance

Sona plays the Aria of Perseverance, sending out protective melodies, healing Sona and a nearby wounded ally. Sona gains a temporary aura that grants allies tagged by the zone a temporary shield.

E: Song of Celerity

Sona plays the Song of Celerity, granting nearby allies bonus Movement Speed. Sona gains a temporary aura that grants allied champions tagged by the zone bonus Movement Speed on their next attack.

R: Crescendo

Sona plays her ultimate chord, stunning enemy champions and forcing them to dance and dealing magic damage to them. Each rank reduces the base cooldown of Sona's basic abilities.

Passive

Power Cord
This is very similar to Annie's passive. After using 3 abilities it empowers the next auto attack to do one of three things. An empowered Q deals bonus damage, and is great when combined with Lich Bane to burst enemies out. An empowered W reduces the enemies damage output, similar to exhaust. An empowered E slows enemies movement speed.

Q

Your main damage. When you Q, it targets 2 enemies, and favors champions. Follow up with an auto attack and apply your aura to allies to boost damage output on the next autos.

W

Your healing ability. Max your W first if you find that the enemy has high damage output and you need to survive. In extended firefights, combined with the heal, make sure to apply the aura which gives a small shield.

E

Your movement speed boost. Its great for spamming to escape into a fight and getting your team into an engaging position.

R

Your ultimate can make or break a fight. Line up your enemies and cast ult to stun (Technically make them dance), and deal a decent amount of damage. As you level up, it decreases the cooldown on the rest of your abilities.

Vision

Eye of the Watchers

This is going to be your main source of income in addition to your warding item. You could take coin line, however, you will sacrifice your boost to ability power, and cold income will be slightly less, as sona tends to roam.

Twin Shadows

It's back and feels great again! Going twin shadows is a decent boost to your mobility, damage output and with the meta favoring invisible champions, can spot them before they gank your lane or catch you warding.

Sorcerer's Shoes or Ionian Boots of Lucidity?

This is much more subjective. If you like the damage boost, and are mainly focusing on damage over healing, I'd go the Sorcerer's Shoes. The penetration helps, especially in the current meta. However, If you are going for more of a support build, Ionian Boots of Lucidity is a better option. The early CDR combined with the higher CDR cap makes this a great item for spamming abilities.

Why not Rush an Ardent?

Ardent Censer was nerfed to the point that Redemption is better to get first. It does not provide sufficient buffs to justify the early buy. Redemption on the other hand, has a strong base heal and true damage burn. This hasn't changed, and remains strong.

Lich Bane and Athene's Unholy Grail

Lich
Lich Bane is kind of mandatory on Sona. Sona is constantly using an ability followed by an auto attack. Lich bane amplifies that damage by double, and your enemy will underestimate your burst potential.

Luden's Tempest & Locket of the Iron Solari? You're a troll

Nah bb. Luden's echo is great with Lich Bane doubling your damage output again. Turn those Q -> Autos into 600 damage bursts. Locket is good with a hp heavy build. Sure it is not going to be as good as if you used it on a tank, but it can still provide 2k-3k (total) shields to the team.

There's a correct answer here. It's exhaust. Sona and ADC's have quite a large flaw in the current meta, and that's the beautiful (sarcasm) mechanic of Lethality. Any Assassin and multiple top laners with gap closers can one shot you or your ADC. Give yourself a chance of survival by combining an empowered E and exhaust. Goodbye damage burst :)

If you decide to go ignite, do so only when you are facing squishier bot lane duos, or those with healing. That can include Soraka, Janna or Nami.

So you're probably thinking by now, "Wow! Sona seems to be a really strong champion! I can't wait to rush AP on her and take out the team and solo carry". Not so fast bronzie. There is a time and a place for Sona.

Right now, the meta puts Sona in god tier, but that doesn't mean you should insta-lock every time.

Don't pick Sona if...
- ADC is Jhin. (not attack speed).
- Against a very tanky team with high survivability.
- Against a team with 3 or more gap closers
- Aggro bot lanes

You're a support. Don't.

So now you're ready to take Sona into solo queue and begin to climb the ladder. Looking to the future of Sona, I expect that she will get nerfed in future patches. I can see her healing being decreased in addition to her Q damage early game. So enjoy her while she is at the top of the tier list.

Even when Sona isn't god tier, She is really fun to play, and a good balance of Aggro damage and defensive support healing. Sona may be silent, but that doesn't mean you can't love her!

Good luck summoners!
-Unownreality