Greetings all! I apologize in advance, I accidentally hit publish instead of save long before this build was complete. That being said, I will slowly be filling this out as time goes on, so bear with me and please be constructive in any comments. If you disagree with my choices, I suggest you read my justification for them and encourage you to think more about what I was trying to accomplish with this build than whether you would want to use the build or not.

What I was trying to create here was a simple build usable by someone new to playing Sona; one that would be relatively easy to use, not too demanding in terms of skill required and most importantly, still useful to their teammates late-game. To that end, I put together a build with a decent amount of survivability, capped CDR and a large enough mana pool to be forgiving to those who, like myself, have a tendency to spam spells with reckless abandon.

You may skip this section if you are only interested in the build itself; as the title suggests, this section is simply an explanation of the intricacies of the build, the workings of auras, and Sona as a character.

So, how can this build have a low skill requirement, yet still be useful in a late-game teamfight? The answer is simple: stacking Auras.

For those of you who don't know, Sona is a stance-based character. What that means is that whenever she activates one of her abilities (with the exception of her Ultimate Crescendo), she gains a persistent buff (stance) that remains active until she activates another stance-changing ability. Those of you who play Udyr often will know what I mean.

Now, two major things separate Sona's and Udyr's stances that make Sona, in my opinion, superior from a solely stance-based perspective.

First and foremost, all three of Sona's stances (granted by Hymn of Valor, Aria of Perseverance, and Song of Celerity) manifest as auras, affecting not only Sona, but all nearby allied champions. Because of this, even a Sona with no mana can be useful simply by standing near allied champions and allowing the buffs to do their work. Because buffs count towards combat, this also means that you can rack up assists (and thus gold) without even harming the enemy champion or healing an allied champion. Useful for any support character.

Secondly, Sona's passive, Power Chord has the unique property of keeping any of her stances active for 2 seconds after she enters another stance, thus allowing her to hold up to two auras at once, before she even buys any items. While two seconds may not seem like much, being able to utilize both Hymn of Valor's 20 AD/AP bonus and Aria of Perseverance's 15 Armor/MR at once, instead of having to pick just one, can make all the difference in the world for that tower-diving Master Yi.

In addition to character abilities, many items also utilize auras, some of which buff your allies, while others debuff or otherwise directly harm your foes. Some of the more commonly used ones being Aegis of the Legion, Will of the Ancients and Sunfire Aegis, while others such as Shurelya's Battlesong and Randuin's Omen give off a temporary aura when activated.

Keeping that in mind, your goal during the match is simple: buy as many of these aura-producing items as possible and stick close to your teammates. Use your item slots to constantly provide them with a passive boost, while leaving their own item slots free for more important items. This also makes your role in battle less demanding, as your main worry moves away from healing your allies and/or damaging your foes into staying alive, yet near enough your allies to keep them from being badly harmed in the first place.

Just remember one major thing: the more of your teammates are around, the more benefit your team gets from your auras. Its more risky than staying near the back, but you may want to stand somewhere in between your ranged allies and melee allies so that all may be buffed.

Pros + Low-cost build, easy to finish on assists and +Gold items alone. + High mana, low cooldown allows Sona to spam spells late game, keeping auras up and allies healed. + A hard target late game, requiring some focus to bring down. + A well placed Crescendo can single-handedly turn around a teamfight. + Can have between 3 and 7 auras up at any given time.

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Cons - Slow and squishy early on. - Easily mana-starved early on. - Little self-defense later, relying heavily on teammates for protection. - Extremely vulnerable to ganks. - Low AP means weaker heals.

spaaaaaaaace

• Power Chord (Passive): The effects of Power Chord, Sona's passive, are twofold. As mentioned above, it allows her auras to persist for 2 seconds after she leaves their respective stances. However, it also has a second, somewhat underestimated, effect. After Sona casts three spells, her next basic attack will deal extra magic damage equal to ten times her current level plus 8 (10*Level + 8) and add an additional effect based on what stance she is currently in.
  • Staccato- If she uses her Power Chord while performing Hymn of Valor, the bonus damage dealt by Power Chord will be doubled. Fun, but not very useful.
    
  • Diminuendo- Using Power Chord while performing the Aria of Perseverance reduces all damage the target deals by 20% for 4 seconds. This effect has countless uses, from protecting your teammates from the wrath of Baron Nashor, to reducing the healing potential of an enemy like Tryndamere who relies on lifesteal for survivability.
    
  • Tempo- Used while performing Song of Celerity, this particular spell is is my personal favorite out of Power Chord's three bonus effects. It slows its target down by 40% for two seconds, regardless of level. Using this at the right time can prevent an opponent from escaping a gank quite effectively. So, when your Nocturne pops out of the grass to slaughter a hapless target, hit them with Tempo and laugh as they try to flee before succumbing to his Unspeakable Horror.
    
  
  
• Hymn of Valor (Q): Being Sona's only damaging ability outside of her ultimate, Hymn of Valor is a fairly important spell. Although its potency is certainly lacking in this build, 250 magic damage is still nothing to laugh at for a ranged carry with only 1900 HP. With a 70% AP ratio, this ability can hit like a truck using a high AP build. Here we will be using it mainly to harass opponents and for its damage-boosting aura. The fact that it can be used while moving also makes it useful for harassing pursuers (or anyone you, yourself are pursuing).
  
  
• Aria of Perseverance (W): The spell you will be maxing out first is Aria of Perseverance, your healing ability. While its heal falls off in effectiveness later on, maxing it out early will provide your laning partner with a respectable amount of early-game sustainability. Unfortunately, it only scales for 25% of Sona's AP, so simply stacking ability power will not increase its effectiveness all that much; you are simply better off stacking CDR and using it as often as possible.
  
  
• Song of Celerity (E): To round out the third and final of Sona's main three abilities, we have Song of Celerity. We will be maxing out this spell last due to the fact that it is mainly an ability of convenience. Both the activated ability of the spell itself and its aura provide a minor speed boost to nearby allies. I recommend placing at lease one point in it early on, mainly because combining it with Power Chord makes it a powerful took to assist in ganks. Also, spamming it (even at level 1) while traveling across the map will serve several purposes: you will get to your destination slightly faster, it'll boost your mana pool if you purchased Tear of the Goddess, and most importantly it'll allow you to enter into the fray with Power Chord ready to go.
  
  
• Crescendo (R): Sona's ultimate definitely needs to be maxed out as soon as possible for one very important reason: its cooldown. The difference between CD at level 1 and at level 3 is 40 seconds (before CDR). Because it acts both as Sona's only real escape mechanism AND as a teamfight trump-card, you need to be able to use it as often as possible.