Sona Build Guide by FINWolfie

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to my Sona guide.

• In this guide you will learn how to play Sona as a destructive hybrid carry. The guide is written in plain white for the most part, but there are different colors to point out main parts of the text, pay attention especially to those parts.
• The guide will go on with the intention of teaching you what you need, when you need it. First you will learn her kit, then the choices to make before the game, after that the choices in the champion select and lastly the items to build.
• There's one missing part in the guide, the match-ups, this is meant to be. The match-ups are completely skill and itemization based.
• Please pay the time to comment on the guide with your opinions on what could be improved and what your own experiences have taught you.
• If you found the guide somewhat helpful, you can rate it up, the C2V is not on. If you think the guide was awful, and my methods are completely stupid and nobody should play Sona like this, rate the guide down.
• 0. The introduction.
• 1. Her kit is explained.
• 2. You're presented with the optimal rune page.
• 3. You're given a detailed description on masteries.
• 4. Your preferred summoner spells are explained.
• 5. You're introduced to the optimal build for APC Sona.
• 6. More viable items are explained.

(Picture by: GisAlmeida on DeviantART)

I. Abilities explained

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You should absolutely max this first. This is your main damage source and it's passive Staccato also allows you to deal twice the damage with Power Chord and with Lich Bane and Muramana you will deal AMAZING damage to any opponent. Persistent aura radiating from Sona will give nearby allies 4/8/12/16/20 AD + AP until she changes stances.

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This is your second main ability in the battle. On activation, Sona heals herself and the most wounded nearby allied champion for 40/55/70/85/100 (+0.25 per AP). Sona also radiates an aura which grants her allies and herself 6/7/8/9/10 armor and magic resist for 3 seconds which stacks with the persistent aura that grants the same stats until Sona casts another spell.

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This here, is your only escape and catch-up ability. While Sona is super powerful as a carry, this ability just isn't anything notable in her kit. There's not much use of this for her as a carry, aside from the Power Chord effect, Tempo. It slows the targets movement speed on your next AA by 40% for the following 2 seconds. The way I see it, the only upside to this spell is the fact that it's AoE and grants your allies movement speed aswell.

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You should obviously take a point on Crescendo when you can, at levels 6/11/16 and therefore max it third.
There are some good and some bad things about Crescendo that you will notice. This is your main initiating ability and you should use it to open teamfights if the targets are clustered up all together. This can be helped beforehand with the right team comp.

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II. Runes

Greater Seal of Armor is a standard rune choice for every champion. You should pick this for increased armor and reduced damage from minions, monsters and enemy champions.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is the second standard choice for your rune book. Flat magic resistance allows you to take less damage from spells early on and will stack up to your late game items such as Chalice of Harmony.

greater mark of hybrid penetration greater mark of hybrid penetration is one of your most powerful tools when playing Sona. You will ignore and penetrate through enemy defenses with both your Power Chord and your abilities even better than you could ever imagine.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power works as a free Doran's Ring giving you the additional AP you will need for your scaling in early game. As the game progresses this will also add up to the crazy amounts of damage gained from items like Rabadon's Deathcap.

greater quintessence of hybrid penetration greater quintessence of hybrid penetration Basically stacks up like the recommended marks pierching through the enemy defenses. These should be used in combination with Greater Mark of Ability Powers, but if you can afford greater mark of hybrid penetrations those are even more viable.

Greater Mark of Ability Power These are pretty standard aswell, but less effective than hybrid penetration. These give a total of 5,31 AP and offer a third of Doran's Ring. You should use these instead of hybrid penetration incase the enemy team is naturally squishy and wont most likely be building any magic resistance or armor during the match.

III. Masteries

This is a pretty normal mastery combination for AP carries that use mana as a resource, and should therefore be considered possibly the best possible set-up for Sona aswell. Feel free to try out different mastery sets, but this is the one I recommend.

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OFFENSE TREE Tier 1 Double-Edged Sword is a tricky mastery, but you possibly either won't notice using it, or you're playing like you should with it normally. It allows you to deal more damage to the enemies, but you have to be careful, because they also deal more damage to you. Tier 2 Mental Force to climb up the offense tree further. Tier 3 Executioner is going to help you a lot in early game. If you can poke the enemy lower than 50% of their maximum health, your abilities and AAs will deal more damage afterwards. Tier 4 Dangerous Game will help you sustain yourself in teamfights and in fights, since it will partiallly restore your health and mana. The mana restore also stacks with the unique passive of Athene's Unholy Grail. Tier 5 Devastating Strikes to stack more hybrid penetration with your runes, and Arcane Blade for free spellsword effect. Tier 6 Havoc will help you deal more damage overall, just like Double-Edged Sword but without any backfire.

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UTILITY TREE Tier 1 Meditation for the extra mana regen, because you're going to spam your abilities. Phasewalker instead of others because you need it to get further on the tree. Tier 2 Summoner's Insight for reduced cooldown on your summoner spells, this is crucial to lower the CD on your only ideal escape, Flash. Tier 3 Since you're the mid laner and you use mana as a resource, you're probably going to get at least a few blue buffs in the game, to extend those, choose Runic Affinity .

IV. Summoner Spells

Flash
Allows you to instantly teleport a short distance towards your cursor.
This is probably the most ideal summoner spell pick, because Sona relies on her movement speed and ultimate for any escape attempt. These however aren't too viable, and Flash is most likely going to be your only way out of a tricky situation.

Barrier
Gives you a shield based on your level, for a few seconds.
Another ideal spell for squishy champions like Sona is obviously Barrier. It allows you to partially or sometimes even completely avoid taking damage from the next spell that hits you. You should take this if facing enemies such as Nidalee, Lux or Caitlyn for example.
Ignite
Allows you to deal decent over-time true damage to an enemy champion.
You should pick this in combination of Flash for possibly the best summoner spell combination. Ignite allows you to secure kills without the need of diving low healthed enemies under their towers, and risking your own life. It's also efficient against enemies with health regen abilities.

V. THE Build for APC Sona

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Sorcerer's Shoes
Sorcerer's Shoes are your best choice, because they offer the magic penetration above all else, you can upgrade them with either Enchantment: Furor to catch up to enemies that are naturally faster than you. Or you can choose to build Enchantment: Homeguard to get back to lane faster, this is recommended if the opponent is clearing minion waves faster than you.

Muramana which is the fully stacked version of Manamune is possibly THE BEST ITEM for Sona ever. It allows you to deal immense damage with both your Hymn of Valor and Power Chord. I can not pressure enough of getting the early Tear of the Goddess and stacking it up as fast as possible to get this item. This doubles your effort in teamfights and duels for the rest of the game. Never switch anything for this item.
Void Staff
Void Staff is your main magic penetration item. This is combination with your rune page and masteries will give you the capability of piercing any single magic resist item. Depending on the need, build this after getting Tear of the Goddess or Lich Bane.

Lich Bane is one more super strong steroid item for Sona. Much like for Muramana, you must build a part first, Sheen should be your second early core item in combination with the tear. And when you get it, your damage will once again double in combination with all the magic + armor penetration and spellsword from masteries.
Rabadon's Deathcap
Rabadon's Deathcap is an obvious item for any AP scaling and magic damage based champion. You should build it after Void Staff for the unique passive it offers. While "The Hat" is super expensive, it's also worth saving for. You might want to finish off Manamune after getting Needlessly Large Rod and then finish Rabadon's Deathcap.

Deathfire Grasp is one more strong APC item build from Needlessly Large Rod and should be treated as a steroid. It will grant you massive damage buff against a particular champion for a few seconds, and in that time Sona can deal massive damage. After using the active, your combo should be Crescendo -> Hymn of Valor -> Power Chord (Staccato). However powerful this item is, it should be built last.

VI. More viable items

Abyssal Mask is another good item to replace Void Staff with. It shreds a flat amount of magic resist in a decent AoE range. Consider getting this is more than 2 of the enemy team members are buying magic resist, or if they deal more magic damage in general than they should.

Rod of Ages is your best choice for health as you need the mana and AP from it aswell. Consider building this instead of Deathfire Grasp if the enemy team has assassins.

Liandry's Torment is another good item if you need health WITH magic penetration. You should consider building this instead of Void Staff incase the enemy team has assassins. It might be worth building RoA instead of Deathfire Grasp and get a Void Staff incase you need the magic penetration more than the health.