Sona Build Guide by Not Gonna Be Your Hero
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Starting Items
First/Second Backs
Ability Sequence
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction
Hello, everyone! On the NA server, my summoner's name is I Wrecks It. I'm level 30 and season 5 ranked Silver III. I main the support role, my top 3 supports being 
Sona 
Leona 
Soraka. Sona is my top champion with 143k champion points.
Anyway, I'd like to give a disclaimer. This is my first guide, and although I hope that it helps anyone out there wanting to learn about Sona I know it can't help everyone and not everyone is going to like it. I am confident in my build, in myself, and especially in my Sona. This will reflect in my guide, but I in no way think that I am the best, that this build is the best, or that it is perfect. There is always room for improvement.
Items
Spoiler: Click to view
Spellthief's Edge
Lux
Blitzcrank
Thresh
Cosmic Binding
Bard~~~
has and always will be a support's CORE item. I can't tell you how aggravating it is, as a support main, to play ADC with a support who doesn't simply rush Sightstone. Especially now that vision wards are not purchasable otherwise. I'm not saying "it's the support's job to ward" but I'm saying it's the support's duty to buy a Sightstone and use it. Pink wards are and always have been a poor way to make up for no Sightstone early on in the game. They are obvious, and often destroyed by the enemy team within minutes of putting it down (that's only if they didn't see you place it). They also, in my experience, start the silliest fights. TIP: DON'T FIGHT OVER PINKS unless you have the upper hand. Honestly - if you haven't died yet, it's your first back, you have at least 800 gold, and you don't buy this thing - I'm disappointed.
After your Sightstone, this is your top priority (for its active). At the least, you want to upgrade 
Ancient Coin into 
Nomad's Medallion or buy a 
Forbidden Idol if you back and can't afford the item yet.
These are just my personal preference. Boots of swiftness (plus Song of Celerity) with the Captain enchantment makes you and your team-mates just that much faster. With Song of Celerity you won't need 
Boots of Mobility. Sona has really good base movement speed, and even when giving her team-mates the boost of Song of Celerity she moves faster than them. I recommend buying the Captain enchantment no matter what boots you purchase for her.
I know, it's weird. Why buy a tank item, if the rest of the suggested items aren't tanky? In my opinion, Sona doesn't need to buy 
Locket of the Iron Solari because she already gives shields, and they are on a much lower cooldown. Her shields paired with
Windspeaker's Blessing
and a Rank 1-3 Crescendo passive are pretty strong. Honestly, Locket is a waste of gold on Sona. Not only does she already have shields, but she has what she's most famous for: heals. Spirit Visage is going to give her a good bit of MR and HP, and paired with Boots of Swiftness it makes her very... tenacious to the CC that enemies will try to put her under. Not only that, but it gives her the edge she needs to go up and poke the enemy's face without having to worry about getting bursted. Spirit Visage's passive, paired with her whole kit, makes her a kiting monster. Don't chase a Sona with Spirit Visage. I have managed to escape fights where my team had the disadvantage because of this item's strength on her. The longer you're alive, the longer you're providing your team with utility. In other words, the goal is to not die. And trust me, if you're making any kind of difference with your heals, the enemy is gonna come after you.After my core of Sightstone, boots, and Talisman, I always build
Spectre's Cowl at least and eventually finish off this item by the end of mid game. Spectre's Cowl's effectiveness is NOT nullified just because the enemy team doesn't have any AP. The passive goes for any damage you take from a champion. Spirit Visage paired with the 
Perseverance mastery choice, (and let's not forget your own Aria of Perseverance) makes you basically unkillable. After this, you honestly shouldn't need to be any tankier. If you're still getting destroyed and bursted down... hell, let's face it, you're not!
I usually start to finish building Lich Bane when Spirit Visage is close to completion. Somewhere along the way of building Spirit Visage, I'm definitely going to sneak in a nasty little 
Sheen. Sheen is very strong on Sona, especially since her kit only provides her with one damaging spell and you're going to be pretty much spamming all of your spells.
With all 5 of these items, you're only left with one more slot. And your options are not limited, either. It's a tough decision. What you build last depends on how well your team is doing. If you still need the extra HP after
Spirit Visage, you can go for upgrading your Sightstone > 
Ruby Sightstone - however I usually wait until finishing my build to do that since I already have enough HP from Spirit Visage.If your team is mostly auto-attack based, I would recommend going for
Ardent Censer (btw 
Frozen Heart and Ardent Censer even each other out so if the enemy team has one built you should definitely go for Ardent Censer). It's really good on Sona, considering its passive and her AOE heals.If your team is not auto-attack based, and no one built a
Frozen Heart (or if they did and you still win team fights they may as well not have one), I would recommend going for 
Zeke's Harbinger and linking its active to either your ADC or your mid laner. You should just slap it on your ADC and stick to them, but if you ever find yourself and your mid roaming - say - to push top, you could afford to link it to them.I prefer
Zeke's Harbinger > Ardent Censer, but if your ADC is getting killed quickly in fights then maybe Ardent Censer will help them out more.These suggestions are not going to work in every situation, or every game. Relying solely on one build path, for any champion, is extremely foolish. At least 1 of your items should be situational.
If the enemy team has a lot of hard CC, or if they are able to lockdown your carries easily, I would recommend building
Mikael's Crucible.If the enemy team is full AD, and you're not comfortable building
Spirit Visage then I would recommend 
Randuin's Omen instead.
Masteries
As Sona, you always want to take
Windspeaker's Blessing
and
Runic Armor
for the extra effectiveness of your heals and shields on both you and your allies.
I put 5 into
Unyielding
instead of
Recovery
because, while they're both good, I don't need even more health regen on Sona especially since I'm also taking Perseverance, starting with Ancient Coin and will eventually buy Spirit Visage.
Bandit
is a must for supports; you need as much gold income as you can get since you won't be getting farm or kills.
I choose
Explorer
over
Tough Skin
because in the lane phase, I tend to poke from the bushes. It allows me to move through the bushes faster, to get in range of my poke faster. And if it's warded, or the enemy bot lane tries to throw blind skillshots, I usually have enough movement speed to get away safely.
Explorer
also helps to get through the river to places like baron and dragon or the other lanes, but I mostly get it for the way I play Sona during the lane phase.
Summary
That's All, Folks!
There you have it! The build that saved my Sona game play. Before this build I was a terrible Sona support and could not get a decent game with her. This build has worked for me since the day I crafted it, and I trust it in almost every game I play with her. I designed the build around what Sona specifically needs and wants, what helps her to provide decent utility to her team while aiding her own kit, and helping her to survive the fights. I am open to your thoughts, constructive criticism, and I want you to vote/comment honestly! :)
For future reference, I will probably revise this, give a much more in-depth Sona support guide, fix some errors or annoying issues. So any tips or input from you commentators is very much appreciated!
Remember! You can't win every game, and getting outplayed is always possible. I just hope that my guide helped you, and if it didn't I am sorry. My play style isn't going to work for everyone. Maybe you enjoy building
Frost Queen's Claim, 
Luden's Echo, and 
Mejai's Soulstealer on Sona support. Maybe Solwolf is an inspiration to you and you enjoy breaking the meta by taking Sona top lane with 
Doran's Blade and crushing 
Darius' dreams.Whatever you decide to play, however you decide to play, whichever champion you choose to play,
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