Chapter 1 - Support basics

Hello and welcome to Ciel Chan's very simple guide to Sona!

So, you have chosen support as your main role. Good choice! Supports usually stay in the back line to help their teammates pave their way to victory. Mind that support is not an easy role for you need to stay with your carry most of the time and I wouldn't recommend engaging alone so just wait for the right moment to engage with at least one teammate with you.

As a support you need to have your objectives, a general objective and some specific objectives. Your general objective as a support is to assist your carry from early to mid game and the whole team for the late game. Now you would ask what are the specific objectives? I would tell it depends on you and the support you use. For me as a Sona main, my specific objectives are: To get a lot of gold during the early game (to build up faster), lessen my ADC's death through my good sustain, and to initiate team fights properly using Sona's R. What matters most as a support is that you don't need to be conscious about your score, rather be conscious about assists. It's ok to die a lot if your carry was able to win lane for you. And most especially keep a cool head for we sometimes fail and lose some games. Cheer up and learn from your mistakes!

Chapter 2 - Sona's pros and cons

Pros:

Strong harass ability
Very high sustain
Sufficient crowd control ability
Versatile support

Cons:

Very squishy
Very immobile
No built-in escape

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnW3bUWHNpU

Chapter 3 - Laning Phase

Sona's laning phase usually only consists of poking the enemy champions and preventing your AD Carry to die so that he/she could farm well in the early stages of the game. One of Sona's pros is that she is really good at poking enemy champions from a safe distance because her Q prioritizes enemy champions first. Usually you don't need to last hit minions due to it disables Spellthief's Edge (or Frostfang) passive and it provides 10 gold (or 20 gold if Frostfang)3 times every 30 seconds (equal to 60 to 120 gold per minute)if you successfully poke an enemy champion (though I would recommend to poke two of them). Your first back will be usually because of insufficient mana or low health due to an early team fight. Recall, buy boots and Frostfang, then get back to lane, be level 6 and ready your R, then initiate the first team fight. Once you have generated enough gold to finish the quest, build up Eye of the Watchers and replace your trinket with Oracle Lens. Now you have a "side quest" which is to destroy wards so that you could prevent enemy vision.

Chapter 4 - Mid game

By Mid game you should have at least TWO of the core items stated in the guide (I would recommend going for grail). By this you should be able to cast strong heals and pokes to help your team engage. Also use your wards (Eye of the Watchers) to provide vision on key areas of the map (especially Drake and Baron). Before doing it, ensure that there are no enemy wards near you by using Oracle Lens, destroying them once detected. DO NOT roam around the map alone as the risk of getting killed easily is surely high especially if the enemy team has strong map control. Always be with a teammate for them to guard you.

Chapter 5 - Late game

By late game you should have at least 4 to 5 items (1 boot, 2 core items, and 1 AP item). This is were team fights are starting to happen very often. By this time your R should be ready every 1 to 1.5 mins (or even in just 20 or less seconds) for it is crucial for your team that you have your R to initiate the team fight, avoid enemies from escape, or preventing an ace after losing the team fight. Stay in the back line as they would prioritize you as you have good sustain and crowd control which can be a tool for your team to win on the team fight if at least you weren't taken out first. If in the case you were the only one left alive on a losing team fight, hold the lane by tower hugging and poking champions and minions if possible. NEVER EVER ENGAGE ALONE.

Chapter 6 - Super Late Game

This is the mark where in the game beyond the 40 minute mark. This is the phase where in you already have a FULL BUILD that you can be almost identical to your mid laner (if it was a mage) casting your strong painful pokes and auto attacks against enemies. Gold generation becomes pointless from this point on due to low inventory space. I would recommend that for every death you swap a non core item to another AP item (e.g. Rabaddon's Deathcap, Void Staff).

Chapter 7 - Summary

These are the most important things to do if you want to utilize Sona properly throughout the game:

-Poke champions from a safe distance.
-Avoid last hitting minions, if possible.
-Get to 40% CDR early on.
-If possible, do not miss your R to initiate a team fight properly. If the enemy team is clumped up, you have a high chance of hitting all of them.
-Do not roam the map alone, even if it's just for just warding and destroying enemy wards.
-Avoid being in the front. You are squishy and once caught, you're dead and it will be a huge disadvantage for your team in the team fight.

Mastering Sona is not that quite hard if you spend hours to learn it. Go on, use her, win or lose just go for it. Remember, a support doesn't need to be kill or death conscious, you need to be assist conscious. Assists show how much have you helped your team throughout the game. And don't forget to take a break every game no matter win or lose. A strong support requires a strong mind.

Hope you enjoy this simple guide! Feel free to share this with your friends and critique it! I'm Ciel Chan and peace out!