All right! This is Mamooah. Welcome to my first guide, which happens to be for the beloved Maven of the Strings, Sona.

Disclaimer: Some of the things mentioned might seem ineffective, weird, wrong, worse-than-worse However, this is how I've come to play Sona and found that it works for me! Might do the same for you, might not.

PRO TIP: The effectiveness of this build is enhanced by at least 76% ( :O :O :O ) if you use the Silent Night Sona skin!

Out of my almost 2500 games, I have probably played with Sona the most. I have tried several different item builds, some of which worked and others that didn't. Of course saying that an item build doesn't work isn't very accurate, as there is a lot of things that factor in, such as the composition of the opponents' team, the personal skill of the player etc.

This build will focus on how to maximize the ball-breaking effect that Sona has on the opposing team, and as is often the case, cause an early surrender, or in other cases, total devastation and disarray on the enemy ranks.

WARNING: Lots of text follows, so be patient.
WARNING 2: I'm not a native english speaker, so there might be a few mistakes here and there. Apologies in advance.

Sona is not Soraka. Meaning she has neither the high, single-target heal capacity nor the "OH S##T!" full team heal.

She's not Kayle either. She can't render an ally impervious to damage for 3 seconds.

She's definitely not Karma, as she doesn't have all-powerful shields to protect her allies.

She's not Janna, having a super awesome knock-up ability every few seconds, even though she's hotter than Janna.

And she's definitely not Alistar. She doesn't have an AoE heal, and you can DEFINITELY milk those!


What is she then? She's a super mobile support caster, able to sustain her team through frequent healing bursts, provide extra movement speed/magic resistance to her whole team, reduce damage output/movement speed of her enemies through (Power Chord) - Diminuendo and (Power Chord) - Tempo and a totally bad-*** ultimate, a near-spammable AoE stun with decent damage. Plus, she has the greatest set of ...You know what? Never mind!

Pros

• Provides several buffs to allies and debuffs to enemies.
• Very mobile.
• Can sustain the team for extended periods of time, even on chain/prolonged fights.
• Relatively easy to pick up and play.
• More aggressive than other equivalent supports.
• Not the best farmer, but quite ok as far as supports go.
• Wins games for the team if she manages to get a few items early.
• Well proportionate!!!

Cons

• Very squishy.
• Gets focused a lot.
• If you have a ****py early game, it isn't likely to change.
• Requires good spatial awareness and good positioning in fights, to avoid providing free kills.

These are the runes that I use with Sona.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration:
You definitely don't want to go out of mana too fast. Harassing your opponents, while healing your lane mate can be quite draining. These runes, along with a Meki Pendant and 2x Mana Potion will get you easily all the way until level 6+, even through moderate action. Late game, these runes, along with the mana pool accumulated through Tear of the Goddess/ Archangel's Staff, will allow you to basically break your fingers while spamming spells to soothe the pain of your allies and bring devastation to your enemies, even without the Golem buff, which probably the AP carry of your team will most likely need anyway!

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power:
Self explanatory, you get a bit of extra ability power to boost your healing and damaging spells.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration:
Well,I am cheap, plus I don't like using secondary runes, so I am using these magic penetration runes which boost, however slightly, Sona's harassing abilities and the damage from her ultimate. In any case, you could always pick some ability power runes, or even some defensive ones.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power:
Boosts your early game healing and harassing potential. Maybe not that important late-game, but the difference early game is noticeable, and that's when you need all the help you can get. You can always opt to use some defensive quints to support your survivability.

The Masteries focus on Cooldown reduction, mobility and mana regeneration.

Sorcery + Intelligence give a sweet 9% cooldown reduction on your abilities.

Perseverence + Meditation result in even more enhanced mana regeneration.

Presence of the Master + Mystical Vision + Blink of an Eye allow you to be able to reveal a part of the map for 10 seconds every 50 seconds, and help prevent ganks on your lane or those overextending top laners(damn them!), scare away attackers of unattended turrets(you'll be amazed how often that works!) or even discover the location of that pesky jungler on low health. And of course, more readily available Flash = win!

The following items focus on making you completely self sustained and independent of the blue buff as early as possible, slightly more durable, and able to spam your abilities due to a total of 39% of cooldown reduction.

I choose to start off with Meki Pendant and 2x Mana Potion . This helps sustain my mana levels throughout the strenuous first parts of the laning phase. As soon as possible, upgrade your Meki Pendant into Tear of the Goddess so that you can benefit from its passive as soon as possible.

After that I usually grab Boots , and start building towards Fiendish Codex . The mana regen and cooldown reduction are really beneficial.

Next in line is Kindlegem . By that time, the first teamfights will start taking place, so the extra hp, and the cooldown reduction can turn the tide!

Afterwards, Boots of Swiftness , and you are off! Someone would argue, "Why not Mercury's Treads ?". Well, if Sona DOES get stunned/rooted and focused on, she will most likely die anyway, so your best bet is to prevent that from happening. The mobility that those boots offer during the battle is what will most likely keep you alive. That and ...

... Spirit Visage !

Why Spirit Visage you ask? Healbaiting the opponents of course! This is what makes Sona such a ball-breaker! They will look at you and go like "Oh, oh! Tasty Sona! Let's have at her!". A reckless carry might try to chase you around, but your increased speed and healing, will keep you alive long enough(in most of the cases) for your own team to take them down. More than once have I had a {Insert random Carry here} trying to chase me around, and failing/dying at the hands of my team mates as my increased mobility due to Boots of Swiftness and Song of Celerity prevented them from reaching me, and even when they did, that extra 2-3 seconds spent on attempting to kill me were fatal to them, as they were being focused down.

Following, try to finish Morello's Evil Tome for obvious reasons.

By this time, your build is complete, and hopefully the game is over.

If it does go on, try to finish Archangel's Staff and possibly work your way towards Rylai's Crystal Scepter (for even more ball-breaking through slowing enemies down with your Hymn of Valor , and the extra life), or a Rabadon's Deathcap , but most likely you won't get to see those items :D


Of course, item builds shouldn't be set in stone. See what the other team consists of, and adapt. More than once have I build Ninja Tabi, Thornmail etc, to deter those pesky AD's trying to take a bite off me.

Until Level 6

I usually start with Hymn of Valor and then get Aria of Perseverance. From then on, if the opponents are harassing heavily , I level Aria of Perseverance to help sustain my team mate and myself, as the heal becomes more mana efficient per skillup. Otherwise I just pick another point in Hymn of Valor, and a point in Song of Celerity at level 5. Of course, picking up Crescendo at 6 is a no-brainer.

Past level 6

Hopefully the fun part has started, and your services are sorely needed around the map, so maxing your Aria of Perseverance is the next logical step, with Hymn of Valor maxed afterwards, filling in with Crescendo and Song of Celerity when available. Of course, you need to see how things play out. If your team could use that extra movement speed, max out Song of Celerity over Hymn of Valor, but remember that Aria of Perseverance has priority! Or simply put, dead team mates can't run!

Flash
Well, this is the one spell you can't live without, literally. You are squishy, and you will be focused/chased a lot. This will buy you an extra crucial second to escape and avoid getting killed. Well, you know the drill with using flash!

A cool thing,however,is my self-coined "Sting Attack"(mwhahaha :D). Basically a surprise Flash + Crescendo combo on those reckless enemies that happened to overextend during the pre-battle skirmish. This gives Sona a great initiation potential that can assist the tank in engaging the enemy team. As always, use with caution!

Clairvoyance
Well, someone has to take it, it might as well be you. Your team mates will thank you. You can prevent an incoming gank, you can discover the position of enemies, check for buffs/Nashor, or simply just drop it on an enemy going "/all dance for me babeh!!".


I haven't played Sona with any other spells, but I am guessing that you could potentially replace Clairvoyance with Heal, Clarity, Ghost or Teleport.

Early game
Stay at your lane and support your lane mate by providing cover/heals. Last hit your creeps(I am totally against this tournament-y concept that says supports finish the game with almost zero creeps. You do need items otherwise you are dead weight. Of course tournaments are a totally different kind of playstyle, so I guess that's what supports are supposed to do there), and play it safe, while scouting with your Clairvoyance for bogeys.

Mid game
See if you could assist some other lanes with ganking, but no matter what you do don't just hang around alone. This is the time when ganks happen, and you don't want to get caught alone :D Help with the dragon, possibly grab the blue golem buff if noone else needs it, and start gathering with your team mates, so that the battles can begin.

Late game
This is when most enemy champions are geared up, so you really need to keep your eyes peeled. Try to stay surrounded by your team , playing melodies of joy and nurturing, escorting them to battle. Be constantly on the move, and always watch where you are going. You WILL get focused during team fights so try and be on your toes, ready to flee, possibly luring an opponent to your team, allowing them to focus them down. Try to trigger the opponent's Banshee's Veil with your Hymn of Valor so that your team mates can safely apply their crowd control effects.
Regarding your Crescendo, be the judge of the critical moment that you will unleash the alluring melodies to your foes. Avoid using it on just one enemy, and try to achieve maximum effect. Of course, there are cases where you really need to pop it, such as when an ultra fed Katarina jumps in the midst of your team, and unleashing her ultimate of death, etc. Remember, your ultimate can be used both offensively and defensively.


Be ballsy, but remember that you are neither a tank, nor a damage dealer, and definitelly not a carry, even though quite often you WILL carry your team to victory, albeit indirectly. Also keep in mind that sometimes you have to take one for the team. The cool thing though is that more often than not you'll be able to pull off sweet maneuvers and still make it back to base:)

Well, that's all with this guide about Sona, the Maven of the Strings. I hope you get to enjoy her as much as I do, and lead your team to numerous victories. She's indeed a really fun champion, and even though she's very simple to play, she's quite tricky to master and be effective. So, don't pay attention to the haters :)

This is the first guide I've ever written for any game, so any feedback will be much appreciated. Planning to do a similar guide for Garen. Will see when I get round to doing it.

Thank you for reading.

Mamooah