Sona Build Guide by Visinvictus

Introduction

Sona is an amazing support champion, and played correctly is one of the few support champions capable of actually carrying a team to victory. Not only does she provide strong support to the ADC in the early laning phase, with strong poke, heals, shields and CC, she is absolutely dominant in mid to late game team fights and skirmishes. The only way you should lose a game as Sona is if your team loses every single lane in the early game.

After polishing my build order and strategies, I was able to achieve over 70% win rates on my push to platinum ranking. As of the last 20 ranked games I played with Sona when writing this guide I have 17 wins and 3 losses.

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-history/NA/38102024?champion=37

Strategy

In the early game laning phase you are going to want to harass using your Hymn of Valor followed immediately by an auto attack. You get massive power spikes on this ability at level 3 and level 5, so if you can level up first here you can often secure a kill on the other team. Don't forget to be aggressive!

In a lot of cases you will want to follow up your harassment with a quick Aria of Perseverance as this will heal you, and shield you from any return pokes from the enemy team. You can also use this to negate a lot of the damage when your ad carry is trading with the enemy laners.

At level 6 you can get an almost guaranteed kill or double kill using Crescendo and Exhaust during an all in. Focus the least mobile champion first to ensure that you get the kill. The key to securing these kills is to make sure your ADC knows you are going in and engages with you - use pings on enemy champions to let your team know about your intentions. Typing "Go all in on their ADC at level 6" is even better. All but the most dense team mates will know what to do here.

During later game team fights you can either initiate with Crescendo if you see a good opportunity, or use it defensively if the enemy team likes to initiate. Between this, Exhaust, and an Aria of Perseverance power chord for even more damage reduction, you can make assassins lives a nightmare.

Finally, do not be afraid to take kills. Obviously do not go out of your way to steal the kills, but keep auto attacking during engagements and pick someone off with your Hymn of Valor if they are getting away. Because Sona can do quite a bit of burst damage, I often take kills by accident - all this means is that I become even more of a power house and I can support the rest of my team more effectively.

Items

Athene's Unholy Grail
Most Sona players may see this as an unconventional pick, preferring Mikael's Crucible instead. In certain circumstances I might agree, especially if the other team has someone with a strong lengthy lock down like malzahar or warwick. However, for the most part I find the additional CDR and mana regeneration (and mana refresh) on Athene's to be completely invaluable, and it requires less skill (read: no skill) to maximize the use of Athene's. This frees your attention to exhaust enemy champions at the perfect time, and land the perfect ult in team fights, and these will win you games more than a Mikael's will.

Iceborn Gauntlet
This item is another unconventional pick - I have had many people comment on it in games. Iceborn Gauntlet is simply an amazing item on Sona - it gives you an area of effect slow, bonus damage, armor, mana and coooldown reduction. This item is extremely effective at locking down enemy melee champions and allowing your carry to kite. This item allows you to actually carry games, making it invaluable in solo queue.

Talisman of Ascension
While many players prefer the Frost Queen's Claim, I greatly prefer the hp regeneration and speed boost from the Talisman of Ascension build path. The speed boost allows your entire team to engage and disengage better when used properly. Don't underestimate the early game health regeneration from Nomad's Medallion as well, it translates into 30 hp every minion wave, allowing you to be more aggressive with your trades.

Skill Sequence

Getting Aria of Perseverance at level 1 lets you give your jungler a really good start with a heal and a shield - apply this right before the 3rd monster's auto attack and most junglers should finish their first pull at close to full hp. You will get a lot of thank you's from your junglers, and a happy jungler is the best type of jungler to have on your team in solo queue.

Don't get Song of Celerity until at least level 7, because you just won't have the mana to use it and you need the power in blue or green for harrassing and healing. You can delay getting this until up to level 10 depending on whether or not you actually think you need it. Many Sona players make the mistake of ranking this skill too early, when it is effectively a waste of a skill point in a critical phase of the game.