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Hey, im moon, and I've been playing Sona since season 6. I made this guide to share my knowledge and experience of AP Sona with you. This build came about because one of my friends, who was the person who recommended I try Sona, gave me the wrong build, which ended up being a mix of his Sona build, and his Ahri build. I personally modified it a little, but this guide, and all of my experience would not have existed, if it wasn't for him getting me into League, or introducing me to becoming a Sona main.

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Sona Is one of the strongest supports in the meta right now. She has the perfect kit, with amazing poke, a strong heal (that comes with a shield if you are in her aura), damage reduction, a movement speed buff, a slow, and a stun.

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Flash - Flash is the best Summoner Spell in the game by far (This means you should take flash in every game).


Exhaust - Exhaust targets an enemy champion, reducing their damage dealt by 40% and slows them by 30% for 2.5 seconds.


Heal - It Heals the you and the allied champion nearest to the your cursor (or the most wounded ally if no target is near the cursor) for 90-345 health, and gives affected champions +30% movement speed for 1 second.


Ignite - Ignite is also a viable option, targeting an enemy champion, dealing 70-410 true damage (depending on champion level) over 5 seconds and applying Grievous Wounds to them for the duration.


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Passive - Power Chord - After 3 ability casts, Sona's next basic attack will deal 15-235 (at levels 1-18) (+20% of Ability Power) bonus magic damage, with an additional effect depending on the last basic ability cast.





Q - Hymn of Valor - Sona sends out bolts of sound that deal 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+60% of Ability Power) magic damage to the two nearest enemies within 700-range, prioritizing champions. Her aura gives a damage buff for 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 (+20% of Ability Power) magic damage on their next auto attack.





W - Aria of Perseverance - Sona heals herself and a nearby allied champion for 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+25% of Ability Power). Her aura gives a shield for 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+30% of Ability Power) up to 1.5 seconds.






E - Song of Celerity - Sona gains 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14% (+8% per 100 Ability Power) movement speed for 3 seconds. The buff lasts for an additional 4 seconds while Sona is out of combat. Her aura gives allies in it a movement speed buff for 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14% (+6% per 100 Ability Power) movement speed for 3 seconds.





R - Crescendo - Sona forces enemy champions to dance (stun) for 1.5 seconds and take 150 / 250 / 350 (+50% of Ability Power) magic damage. The passive on this ability reduces Sona's basic ability cooldowns by 10 / 25 / 40% with each point in your ult.

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Runes

Summon Aery

Aery is one of the best runes out for supports. Sona benefits from this especially, due to the aura on her Aria of Perseverance, giving a bit more shield then just aery would.

Manaflow Band

This is useful for the early game, giving you more mana, and giving you a good amount of regen after you get a good amount of bonus mana, for just being a Sona and poking with your Hymn of Valor.

Transcendence

Since Celerity took such a big hit with the season 9 changes, its no longer viable on many champions, with Hecarim being the exception, I personally switched over to transcendence, since you already pass the cdr cap if you take the scaling cdr rune, due to Cosmic Insight, which just gives us free ap. If you are feeling like you are going to do well in a game,or are going to take both adaptive damage runes, then you can take Absolute Focus, for it to be useful you are going to need to be over 70% health, which should not be that hard to do since you heal for so much with Aria of Perseverance.

Waterwalking

This one of the most underrated runes in my opinion. It is extremely beneficial in teamfights revolving around Baron Nashor, and dragon. This could potentially be the peel that you need to get your team out if you are losing, or the damage you need to win the teamfight.

Future's Market

This is one of the most unique runes i have seen, and it is something that i personally have wanted for a long time. This rune lets you go into debt in the shop. This is super beneficial for Sona, allowing her to get an item earlier than normal. For example, i have gotten a Rod of Ages at the 10:30 mark, instead of the normal 12-13 minute mark.

Cosmic Insight

This is one of the most useful runes in the game right now, giving you 5% CDR (cooldown reduction) across the board.

Itemization

Rod of Ages - This is a great early game item, due to the fact that it gives you a good amount of mana, and its passive becomes better over time, so it is probably better that you get it first item over 3rd or 4th, especially due to the fact that Lich Bane, which is the third item in this build, scales better with the more AP you have. RoA's other passive is also super useful for the early to mid game, due to it giving you mana back for 15% of the damage taken. This allows you to take a little bit of damage to get some mana back, if you are going to have either a team fight or a little skirmish bot lane.

Lich Bane - This is where most of Sona's burst comes from, due to lich bane's passive, spellblade, which deals 75% base AD (+ 50% AP) on-hit bonus magic damage (1.5 second cooldown). This will combo with Power Chord, which allows for an insane amount of burst in such a short time, allowing for some insane one shot potential, if you use her Power Chord with her q, Hymn of Valor. Doing this boosts the amount of damage the empowered auto attack will do in the first place, not including the lich bane, but with it, you are going to be doing roughly 1.5x the amount you would have been without it.

Boots of Swiftness - Boots of swiftness are my go to pick for boots, due to the slow resist they give you, and they do have the fastest consistent movement speed buff, out of all the boots, but are the second best to Mobility Boots if you are not in combat.

Redemption - This is probably the most important item in the build, due to the fact that you are still the support, not the mid laner. From my experience, teams who do not have somebody with a Redemption on the team tend to lose more often than not. Redemption is what is going to prolong team fights, it can heal your team if your W, Aria of Perseverance, is on cooldown, which is not necessarily going to be an issue due to the amount of cdr you are going to end up with, and it can heal your entire team if everybody is low, and your team wants to take baron, or another objective. This will make it easier for you to prepare your entire team for taking it.

Rabadon's Deathcap - This is my personal preference for the last item in my build. It scales all of the AP you had by 40%, giving you much more AP then you had before buying it, and this item is why Sona can still one shot (or burst down) people late game. While using rabadons, you should be ending with 520 AP, which is more than enough AP for any support.

Luden's Tempest - This is a good alternative instead of rabadon's, but I personally prefer rabadon's, for the AP scaling by 40%, but ludens is also a good option. It gives you the runic echoes passive, which is similar to the Statikk Shiv passive, but is more for mages, then for champs that work with attack speed.

Archangel's Staff / Seraph's Embrace - This is be a viable option, but it would require you to build Tear of the Goddess early on in the game. I personally prefer to build item by item, without building items in between, but if you want to, that's your call, but to make it effective, and deal damage, then you would have to build it early. If you do build Tear of the Goddess early, then you will have a good amount of AP at the end of the game, not as much as Rabadon's Deathcap, but it will also give you a shield, using 20% of your mana.

Hextech Rocketbelt - This is something I played around with a little bit when i was ~100k mastery. My reasoning for using it was to get better engage for your flash ult combo. It would be something like this:
Hextech Rocketbelt --> Flash --> Crescendo
or
Flash --> Hextech Rocketbelt --> Crescendo.
It gives you a little extra range before you cast your ult, which if used correctly, could be the way you can get the entire enemy team stunned.

Liandry's Torment - This item is very situational on sona. It could be effective if the enemy team has a tankier team composition, such as a Nautilus support, a Poppy top, and a Galio mid lane. It gives you a little bit of damage over time, which could be useful.

Mejai's Soulstealer - Mejai's is extremely situational on Sona, and i personally would only recommend it mid lane. However, if your adc disconnects, or you are extremely far ahead, then mejai's is an option. It does give you a lot of AP, but only if you have a lot of kills/ assists without dying. If you are able to stay alive for a long portion of the game, and you want all of the AP, by all means, go for it, but it is not something i would personally recommend if you are playing sona support.

Morellonomicon - This item's passive is very good, applying grievous wounds to any enemies you hit with an ability. This could help mitigate the healing from champs that can just spam heals, such as a Soraka.

Void Staff - This item is a very solid item choice, if the enemy team decides to build lots of magic resist. This item ignores 40% of it, so that your Hymn of Valor + Power Chord combo will still do lots of damage.

Spellbinder - I have started to run spellbinder on sona mid, in place of redemption, since a lot of your kit has a very low cooldown, allowing you to get this item to max stacks quickly, allowing for a pretty big burst of speed and damage (100 MS and AP). This is super useful for chasing down champions with mobility skills, such as Vayne's Tumble.


Runes




Sorcery

Summon Aery - Damaging an enemy champion signals Aery to dash to them, dealing 15 - 40 (based on level) (10% of Ability Power) (15% of Bonus Attack Damage) Adaptive damage. Abilities targeted at allied champions signal Aery to dash to them, shielding them for 30 - 80 (based on level) (25% of Ability Power) (40% of Bonus Attack Damage).


Manaflow Band - Read above

Transcendence - Read above

Waterwalking - This one of the most underrated runes out there in my opinion. It is extremely beneficial in teamfights revolving around Baron Nashor, and dragon. This could potentially be the peel that you need to get your team out if you are losing, or the damage you need to win the teamfight.

Resolve

Bone Plating - If you are going against a more poke heavy lane, such as Ashe / Janna, then bone plating is going to be a good option for you to keep a little bit more health in small trades, giving you a better chance of winning longer skirmishes, maybe forcing a back out of the enemy, due to their lack of sustain.

Revitalize - This rune is very strong once you get Athene's Unholy Grail, due to the increased healing from poking your enemy, with the rune giving you another 5% (15% if the person you are healing is under 40% health), giving you a massive heal if you have max stacks on grail.

The new runes are pretty interchangeable, but for normal support i like to use CDR, Adaptive force (or armor depending on the matchup), and health.


Itemization

Athene's Unholy Grail - This item allows you to gain stacks for poking (100 - 250 {based on level}). Healing or shielding another ally consumes charges equal to 100% of the heal or shield, to heal them, up to the original effect amount. Sona is too good without this item not to take it. It gives her an insane amount of extra healing power, which is extremely good for teamfights, allowing you to heal your squishy allies for much more health than you would normally be able to.


Ardent Censer - Heals and shields on allied champions (excluding yourself) enhance you and them with +10% - 30% (based on target's level) attack speed and 5 - 20 (based on target's level) bonus on-hit magic damage. Ardent is a good support item all around, but it is especially good on Sona, due to its passive getting activated by her auras on her abilities. Most of the items you build on Sona are based on teamfighting, which means that most of your team is going to be grouped up, allowing you to proc the passive easier.

Redemption - Allies within the area are healed for 30 - 370 (based on target's level), which is increased by 3 times your Heal Power, while enemy champions take 10% of maximum health true damage and enemy minions take 250 true damage. Everything else in the itemization is kind of interchangeable, but YOU NEED REDEMPTION NO MATTER WHAT. This item is the most influential in teamfights if you can use it correctly, healing your team up for a good amount, which can change the direction the fight is going in. When this item was released, literally every support took it, and most still do. I can't stress how important teamfights are for Sona, and how influential she is in them.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity - The CDR is nice for the early / mid game, but you can switch them out for Mobility Boots later on if you want to.

Locket of the Iron Solari - Grants a decaying shield to nearby allied champions and yourself for up to 2.5 seconds, absorbing up to 45 - 300 (based on highest level between target and caster) (+ 20% of caster's bonus health) damage . With the meta leaning towards protecting the ADC, this item is very strong, even after the nerf in patch 8.7. This will allow for your ADC to not get completely deleted, if they are someone like a Tristana, who can all in, and can get one shot easily.

Morellonomicon - This item is extremely situational, I personally take it when the enemy team has a Soraka, due to its passive negating some of the amount of healing which she can put out.

Mikael's Blessing - This item is a solid choice on Sona, if the enemy team has a lot of cc, such as a Braum, a Morgana or a Zyra. The item's active is used most effectively during teamfights, due to the fact that you can be sneaky with it, removing cc from someone when the fight gets a bit chaotic.

Frozen Heart - If the enemy team is very AD and AS based, you could build this item to stop something like a Vayne, who deals a lot of damage, and can auto you very quickly.

Luden's Tempest - Although this item is better in a situation where you build more AP, but it is still effective with a support build. If you want more insight on this item, you can read above, where I talked about it in an AP build.

Zeke's Convergence - Although this item works better on supports like Rakan and Thresh, it can still be used effectively by Sona, if she is paired with the right adc, such as a Miss Fortune or a Kog'Maw. The passive of this item synergizes well with their ultimates, due to the positioning required for them to use their ults

Rylai's Crystal Scepter - If the enemy team is super mobile, and have champions like Warwick, Garen and Aurelion Sol, then rylai's is going to be a good call, giving you a slow on your q, r, and auto attack if it is empowered by Power Chord.

Zhonya's Hourglass - I tend to take this item if the enemy team has heavy burst damage that you can get one shot by, such as a Darius for when he uses Noxian Guillotine, which will kill you almost 100% of the time.

Abyssal Mask - Although abyssal is meant for solo laners, it is a semi viable option one Sona if you need the MR that badly. I personally do not take it very often if ever, but if i do, its because the enemy team has an AP champ that can one shot you, such as a Diana, or a Veigar.

Twin Shadows - After Riot removed Frost Queen's Claim, they gave us this item in place of it, because they knew that FQC was a very common choice, due to its active ability alone. The little bit of AP and MS it gives is an added bonus, but is not the reason that the item works so well on Sona. The active has strong synergy with her Song of Celerity empowered Power Chord, giving at least an 80% slow if you can get both off, and more if you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Shurelya's Battlesong - On the other side of the spectrum from twin shadows, shurelya's replaced Talisman of Ascension, speeding you and your team up, allowing for your team to chase multiple targets, instead of catching 1 or 2 enemies out. If you pair this with Song of Celerity, your team will get a 54% movement speed buff, which is huge, due to how good her movement speed already is without the item.

Knight's Vow - If you need and your ADC need a little tankiness, if you are facing an enemy adc that can do a lot of damage, such as a Miss Fortune or a Caitlyn, then knight's vow might be a good choice, giving you and whoever you use the active on (I mostly use it on my adc or mid laner, sometimes jungler if theyre squishy), giving you both some armor and movement speed.

Spellbinder - Spellbinder is a strong option if your team is very aggressive, and is going to be looking to go all in during a team fight. A good team for this item would be something like a Sivir adc, an Akali mid, and an assassin jungler like Kha'Zix.