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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Clairvoyance
Flash
Ability Order
Power Chord (PASSIVE)
Sona Passive Ability
Introduction
Introduction
Hi again, this is my second guide on mobafire. Seeing as though all of those trollvoters decided to vote me down on my graves guide simply over appearance probably without even reading it, I decided to make one with a format. I thank all the people who downvoted but gave a good reason for it, I appreciate your comments.
Anyway, this is my guide to the Maven of the Strings, Sona. She was the 1st champ I ever bought, and still my favorite support to play. She is the most powerful support in the burst apartment next to

She can do it all, give a speed boost, heal, attack, stun, debuff, slow, give armor and magic resistance, attack power and ability power and more. But in spite of what her character description says she is not an easy champ to play. I will try to show you two ways of playing her, as carry and support, either way she does extremely well when played correctly and can easily snowball her team into victory.
I will probably note this in every guide I make. I am not a high elo player or some beta tester. I am not the best by far, so I won't pretend that I am. But what I can tell you that I have watched how most of the best players play Sona and have played Sona enough to know her do's and don'ts when playing as this
Her champion spotlight:
credits/shout-outs to:
Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here. My bro Kanna the Agony for encouraging me to buy her, and crispykreem's sadly outdated guide which taught me how to play Sona can be found here http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/sona-epic-heals-epic-dmg-epic-win-updated-1-21-11-19367. While outdated, it is still an excellent guide and I suggest it if you guys want to learn to play Sona better, as he is much better than I am. Simply look at his k/d/a ratios to see for yourself.
Pros / Cons
spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace |
Pros
![]() + Works with nearly any team composition + Flexible, can go carry/support or full support + Powerful burst damage + Auras can buff your whole team + Packs plenty of CC + Teamfight changing ult + Excluding your ult you don't even have to aim your abilities |
space |
space |
Cons
![]() - Squishy as hell!!! - Easily focused - CC spam can ruin her potential in a fight - High Priority Target - Hard to Play Efficiently - Mana starved early-mid game - Almost useless without a teammate nearby |
Masteries
The recent patch crated massive changes to how you build sona in terms of masteries. Here is how I do learned to do it when going full support. I borrowed from Mowen's Faceroll Support sona guide. It is a 0/9/21 mastery build. You put a point in MR, max Armor, and grab the health masteries. I go 21 utility points for summoner spells, grabbing mastery points for summoner spells, the now useful

Offense Masteries




Note: Only use when going carry
Defense Masteries




Utility Masteries

Not as needed with the new mastery page but still very viable.
1 point of

Note: Perseverance is so far down the tree now all you can take is good hands, so take it.
















The difference between the two is we put 9 points into defense for survivability over the damage of the offense tree.
I am having trouble getting the masteries to work on moba so here is the link:
support sona masteries:
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree2=0-1-3-0-4-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree3=1-0-3-0-2-3-0-0-3-1-0-4-0-0-3-1&v=2
carry sona masteries:
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=1-0-3-0-0-4-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree2=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree3=1-0-3-0-2-3-0-0-3-1-0-4-0-0-3-1&v=2
Runes
-
: These are better than MrP early game when runes are strongest. It gives flat ap to give your heals and damage a bit more oomph. It helps a little into late game too. Pretty much the standard choice for every single caster excluding
Ryze
-
: MrP for early game damage and late game ownage.
-
: Extra ap for late game doesn't hurt
-
: Combined with
Morello's Evil Tome and
Tear of the Goddess gives you all the mana regen you need for mid-endgame. Also helps when their jungler or greedy ap carry takes your blue.
Summoner Spells
Spells that make you say Bravo! Encore!:
[Flash]: Currently called THE best summoner spell in the game. Seriously, it is an extra escape ability in a can. This has saved my *** countless times and it will save yours too. Also great for chasing. Sadly, it is going to be nerfed in Season 2, we will jsut have to wait and see. | space |
[Clairvoyance]: The best support spell in the game. You will inf this in every higher elo match when their team has a support. This is for good reason. For champs who must face check a bush otherwise like ![]() ![]() |
space |
[Ignite]: Every ap carry's best friend. Combined with power chord and a bursty/high sustained damage teammate like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Some spells are still viable but these are my favorites. |
[
Power Chord:This is the single hardest thing to utilize correctly on Sona and seperates the good Sonas from the pro Sonas. What it does is that every three spells she casts next auto attack will deal bonus damage and add an effect based on what spell you used last, based on this the attack will have the following effects:
All: Sona's next attack deals extra 14 + (9 x level) magic damage
Hymn of Valor, Staccato: It doubles the bonus damage of your next
Power Chord. It is your main harass combined with the initial damage from
Hymn of Valor and part of your burst combo as carry sona which I will go into later.
Aria of Perseverance, Diminuendo:Lowers the damage output of all of the attacks and abilities of the target by 20% for 4 seconds. A sadly underused effect. But a very powerful one. Throw it at a powerful enemy channeled ult like
Nunu & Willump's
Absolute Zero,
Fiddlesticks's
Crowstormor
Katarina's
Death Lotus or burst combo like those of
Ryze,
Annie, or
LeBlanc to severely hamper their effectiveness. These are only a few examples, but in a nutshell generally you will want to throw this at carries about to do a lot of damage.
Song of Celerity, Tempo: The afflicted target will be slowed by 40% for the next two seconds. A powerful slow in fact. Use for chasing/kiting/escaping your foes.
But be careful, you can't use this passive when silenced so be warned when going against characters such as
Kassadin and malazahar with silences and other hard cc.
Hymn of Valor: As carry sona the ability you max first, on support you max this second. The reason why you max this first is to maximize your early game harass with this ability. It is unique is while you don't aim it, you have to be within a certain proximity of an enemy champion to target him/her. This can either be dangerous or not so depending on your foe. But remember it's ad and ap aura boost. When your lane partner or other teammate wants to burst someone down, get within aura range and blast your opponent while staying close enough to your bursty teammate so they can benefit from the aura. The reason why I still max this earlier than song of celerity on support sona is because this simply has more utility. What is better, a measly 20 movement speed boost or a huge 250+ damage nuke with a .7 ratio that you don't even need to aim. Yeah, easy decision.
[Aria of Perseverance]:This is your support aura that you max first when going full support. It gives an aura that boosts armor and magic resistance. It also shoots out a ray that hits the most wounded allied teammate and heals them while granting double the bonuses of the aura for 3 seconds Along with the diminuendo power chord use this to brace for a combo or ult you know you won't be able to outrun. You can also use to save a fleeing teammate by healing them and getting close enough so that your aura and the bonus stack to give the person a maximum of 45 ARMOR AND MAGIC RESIST that is enormous to save an oversxtending teammate's tail from being focused down by their pesky junglers. Don't forget to turn it on when you see something like
Karthus's
Requiem or
Ezreal's
Trueshot Barrage Sadly, the heal is less than all of the other healers with only a .25 ratio. In addition, they just increased the mana cost which makes it even weaker of a heal as it's only strength before was that it could be spammed without fail in order to catch up in healing. I hope Riot buffs this in the future. Because in spite of riot thinks, they are making sona underpowered at this point =(
Song of Celerity: Helpful, but probably your least important skill. It gives a small speed boost early game but a fairly large one late game at 20 bonus. But generally, unless saving a teammate's *** you generally will not find too many uses for it except getting to an objective, running, or helping teammate chase. When getting away, spam this with
Aria of Perseverance and shoot tempo power chords at your chasing foes to slow him down. When chasing with this, charge into them with a teammate and slow them with the tempo power chord so what ever team mate you have can burst him down. I grab at level 3 or 4 as carry and support sona to get access to the slow and chasing, but leave it there until level 14.
Crescendo: Your game changing ult. It is a skillshot nuke that stuns all foes in range by forcing them to dance for 1.5 seconds. You can interrupt channeled abilities with this, stop those charging gankers,or simply stun them for your team can make them cry for mercy without retaliation. It works wonders with other ults like
Amumu's
Curse of the Sad Mummy,
Nunu & Willump's
Absolute Zero, or
Fiddlesticks's
Crowstorm just to name a few. This is the sole reason why people decide to ban sona in ranked is because of this aoe stun and her nuking/saving power.
[/list]
[*] On a team full of devastating aoe channeled ults (
Nunu & Willump,
Katarina,
Fiddlesticks,
Pantheon e.t.c) or simply champs with mighty aoe damage (
Veigar,
Brand,
Annie,
Anivia) Remember to use this when they activate or make sure they follow you in order to deal maximum damage.
[*] Inversely, if no one on your team has cc ready to disrupt a champion like one of the above, you can use this to interrupt it. Use this only if your team can't stop it/them, because it is ideal to have this ult ready just in case.






All: Sona's next attack deals extra 14 + (9 x level) magic damage
Hymn of Valor, Staccato: It doubles the bonus damage of your next


Aria of Perseverance, Diminuendo:Lowers the damage output of all of the attacks and abilities of the target by 20% for 4 seconds. A sadly underused effect. But a very powerful one. Throw it at a powerful enemy channeled ult like









Song of Celerity, Tempo: The afflicted target will be slowed by 40% for the next two seconds. A powerful slow in fact. Use for chasing/kiting/escaping your foes.
But be careful, you can't use this passive when silenced so be warned when going against characters such as

Tips and Tricks
- As carry, spam your staccato power chord to deal maximum early game damage before going in for the kill.
- To help gank carries, lure a carry towards you (without being too reckless) with two charges into power chord. Then when your teammate is ready, burst that carry down as your teammate will jump from the bush/stealth/ with ult to beat the **** out of the cocky carry's ***.
- Remember to harass with this as much as you can without going oom to zone them out of experience and gold.

Tips and Tricks
- As your main damage skill, remember to spam it often.
- Unless you are close enough to the enemy champion you want to hit your hymn of valor won't target becasue it might target a minion instead. So when poking with this,
Song of Celerity in before firing your q and quickly rush out to avoid counterattacks.
- When enemies are chasing you, don't be afraid to try and deter them with this if you have the mana. It has a low cd and high damage so in a dangerous situation remember to use it between the cd of your other spells.





Tips and Tricks
- Spam this with with
Song of Celerity while fleeing to maximize your chances of you or a teammate surviving.
- Brace your teammates for a global ult or large aoe like
Karthus's
Requiem or fiddlestick's
Crowstorm by sitting near them with the passive aura of this ability. That bonus magic resist can take up to 13% of the damage off the dang ult for your team, and 31% for you and your most wounded ally as long as you are close by. Not too shabby eh?
- This heal has a deceptively long range. When you put your mouse over it, the aura range is the same as the heal range. the heal can be used on allies through walls so spam away when an ally is getting away.


Tips and Tricks
- The powerful slow off this thing is very neglected. Take advantage of it to kite foes are to simply get the hell out.
- When your team wants to engage or retreat, don't forget to activate this. It can make all the difference when getting away for running after them.
- Spam this when getting back to lane once you get your
Tear of the Goddess to build stacks and get back to lane quicker.







[/list]
Tips and Tricks
[*] On a team full of devastating aoe channeled ults (








[*] Inversely, if no one on your team has cc ready to disrupt a champion like one of the above, you can use this to interrupt it. Use this only if your team can't stop it/them, because it is ideal to have this ult ready just in case.
Ability Sequence Order
Support Sona
For support sona this is the sequence. You need your
Aria of Perseverance maxed first as it is for your sustainability in lane. Then followed by
Hymn of Valor as it is your main source of damage output. Grab
Song of Celerity at level 4 and max it last as it is probably the most insignificant. Just remember to level your ult at levels 6, 11, and 16.
But when going carry, max
Hymn of Valor first (after your ult of course), then
Aria of Perseverance, then finally
Song of Celerity in order to maximize harass as sustain early game. so that it instead looks like this:
For support sona this is the sequence. You need your



But when going carry, max



Core build:
: This solves all of your mana problems by mid-late game assuming you don't spam your spells unwisely. Mind while you gain mana by spamming your spells, the mana regen is still equal to a a
Meki Pendant. So don't get cocky and spam spells until you go oom when you need your spells most. Try to get this to max as fast as possible so you'll be ready for mid game teamfights. This is always 1st priority to build and rush it ASAP.
: A more reliable version of the
Mejai's Soulstealer. I used to take mejai's until I get to a high enough elo that they are smart enough to focus me. I just kept losing stacks. I found this to be a better choice because of 1)20% cdr will help make sure your ult is ready when needed 2)It only buffs your mana regen further. 3)Still provides a good deal of ap that does NOT go away when you are killed. If you are confident and are pwning go ahead for mejai's, but I still personally prefer Morello's.
: Well duh, they are boots
Note: Do not follow this build to the T. Buy your items according to how the game is going and change accordingly.
Support Sona
Core build:
There are only three core items on support sona because you have to be flexible. As support, you are often semi-tank, supporting and protecting your teammates while beating the wrath of god itno the enemy team. Therefore you'll have to be able to adapt. However while not as burst empowered as carry sona you will still deal a lot of damage.
When going support here is your basic early item sequence:
+
The potions are for healing in the case you get harassed. While the
Meki Pendant is to rush your tear of the goddess.
First trip back:
+
Boost of speed and your mandatory tear of the goddess.
Mid game goal:
+
+ some kind of boot upgrade. You need your codex to build into morello's if you are grabbing it. Aegis is also very useful.
End Game goal:
Congrat's you have finished your core and ready for other items.
Carry Sona
Carry Core:
Unlike support sona the core build is much more rigid for carry sona, as you need the oomph to deal damage, and these are often your best choices for most situations. But your last item is up to you. You'll see some I recommend later.
This starts off the same but branches off from support sona.
+
The potions are for healing in the case you get harassed. While the
Meki Pendant is to rush your tear of the goddess.
First trip back:
+
Boost of speed and your mandatory tear of the goddess.
Mid game goal:
+
Now here is where things differ, insteasd of getting an aegis you get a sheen for extra mana and burst.
Which boots......
If you are facing heavy cc and/or ap heavy teams. The magic resist will make you more tanky and the tenacity is always helpful.
Great for icnreasing your burst damage as carry. If their squishies are dum enough to not build any mr they are going to be hurting in the thousands once you get your full build.
Boost cdr to help with spell spamming. It is possible to go without these boots though, as blue buff/elixir of brilliance will bring you close if not exceed the cdr cap when combined with masteries. But helpful if you decide not to take morello's.
Late Game: Things Branch off from here:
: Excellent choice when you have a heavy ap/aoe heavy team. This will help them heal up after fights, pushes, and duels. The extra ap helps nearby allies counter mr if they have ap scaling skills. But the spell vamp works for all spells.
When going against a heavy ad team this is very viable. The extra hp regen, the armor, and the bit of cdr will help you survive. The acitve is extremely useful as it will help shut down their carries. Tell your team when you are going to use it for maximum effectiveness.
Gives you a 'GTFO!" button in an emergency (most prominent use is to escape
Karthus's
Requiem) while giving plenty of armor and ability power for survival and support.
When going aginst an ap ehavy team with an ap heavy team, this is a good choice. It increases your magic resist by a lot (36% reduction not including magic penetration) some ap, and an awesome aura that lowers their magic resist.
This is an excellent final item on carry sona. It provides plenty of magic penetration in the case that they are smart enough to build magic resist against you. But because it stacks multiplicatively with
Archaic Knowledge
, so you'll only squeeze out 49% penetration instead of 55%, but it is still nearly half their magic resist.
A good all-around item for support sona. It's aura stacks with
Aria of Perseverance. At rank 5 the two together gives 8 ad, 27 armor, and 30 magic resist to all teammates around you.. Actually, you should get this around mid game if you want this item, as it is inexpensive and very effective. But don't get this if your tank is going to, then it just becomes rather redundant unless your whole team is a bunch of carries who don't know how to build survivability. But i find this to be a core item on a support sona.
As support, you may have to babysit a carry at bot. So in that case grab a Philosopher's Stone early and you many want to build it into this. It gives a lot to support sona. CDR, health, mana regen, health regen, and killer active for helping you and/or teammates get away from ganks or teamfights, or simply to chase when combined with the flat bonus from
Song of Celerity. It has maximum effectiveness when near teammates so stay close.
sight ward
So badly neglected in lower ELO. Later on your best friend once you start hitting the higher elos, as the wards will either save your dragon/baron from being taken, or could save you from a gank. Always but these until you get your full build.
Remember to buy these through out the game. An
Elixir of Fortitude can save you from pesky
Ignites and other healing reduction dots.
Elixir of Brilliance is mandatory later on in the game. CDR and a good amount of ap and is basically a temporary cheaper
Blasting Wand. A
Elixir of Agility is basically something you'll just buy with spare cash later on. I've gotten a few kills with lucky crits though XD. But it still helps when pushing towers.
Oracle's Elixir is mandatory to purchase if they have any kind of stealth. It can save your life from a
Shaco,
Evelynn,
Twitch, or
Teemo lurking about, as well as allowing you to kill pesky mushrooms, boxes, and wards.





Note: Do not follow this build to the T. Buy your items according to how the game is going and change accordingly.
Support Sona
Core build:



There are only three core items on support sona because you have to be flexible. As support, you are often semi-tank, supporting and protecting your teammates while beating the wrath of god itno the enemy team. Therefore you'll have to be able to adapt. However while not as burst empowered as carry sona you will still deal a lot of damage.
When going support here is your basic early item sequence:



First trip back:


Mid game goal:


End Game goal:

Carry Sona
Carry Core:





Unlike support sona the core build is much more rigid for carry sona, as you need the oomph to deal damage, and these are often your best choices for most situations. But your last item is up to you. You'll see some I recommend later.
This starts off the same but branches off from support sona.



First trip back:


Mid game goal:


Which boots......



Late Game: Things Branch off from here:












sight ward















Early Game (levels 1-8)
Most of early game is generally rather passive. Just give the last hits to your carry, or if going carry, just last hit. Try to dodge whatever harassment they try to deal at you. Harass them back if needed. But don't put yourself too close to the fight. Remember, don't push the lane until they are dead. Generally, from around mid-high ELO onwards, the teams will generally be smart enough to gank you if you push the lane, resulting in an easy first blood for them. But if they start to get cocky nad making mistakes, show them who's boss with a nice burst from
Hymn of Valor +
Power Chord. Push their tower if you can but just try to keep yourself and your teammates alive. But if you have a jungler starting at one of the buffs, remember to give him a leash with
Hymn of Valor
Mid Game (levels 9-14):
Laning phase is over and it is time for ganks. You'll want to coordinate with your teammates to ganks on their main carries. But don't get yourself killed either like usual. If needed, go help a stuggling teammate in another lane. When the teamfights start coming be ready. As carry stay back and pelt them with
Power Chords and
Hymn of Valor, and try to stun as many enemies as you can with
Crescendo so your team can't hit them hard.
End Game (levels 15-18):[/b]
If you and your team played their cards right, you should be winning. You should have most if not all of of your build by now. You should either be nuking hard or supporting your teammates and keeping the alive and making them practically immortal. As carry sona help back door by staggering your spells while firing an auto attack each time to make the most of the lich bane bonus. To help push as support, simply activate
Hymn of Valor to boost your fellow teammates ad. Keep it up and you will probably win.
Most of early game is generally rather passive. Just give the last hits to your carry, or if going carry, just last hit. Try to dodge whatever harassment they try to deal at you. Harass them back if needed. But don't put yourself too close to the fight. Remember, don't push the lane until they are dead. Generally, from around mid-high ELO onwards, the teams will generally be smart enough to gank you if you push the lane, resulting in an easy first blood for them. But if they start to get cocky nad making mistakes, show them who's boss with a nice burst from



Mid Game (levels 9-14):
Laning phase is over and it is time for ganks. You'll want to coordinate with your teammates to ganks on their main carries. But don't get yourself killed either like usual. If needed, go help a stuggling teammate in another lane. When the teamfights start coming be ready. As carry stay back and pelt them with



End Game (levels 15-18):[/b]
If you and your team played their cards right, you should be winning. You should have most if not all of of your build by now. You should either be nuking hard or supporting your teammates and keeping the alive and making them practically immortal. As carry sona help back door by staggering your spells while firing an auto attack each time to make the most of the lich bane bonus. To help push as support, simply activate

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