This build is a short but sweet build on how to truley exel with sona as a support champ. This is ideal for ranked games and ive found it turns out much more usefull than the Ability power builds floating around.
Now im still fairly new with sona but have good sucsess. This suits my playstyle but others may with to put more AP items into this build.

I find with Sona stacking loads of AP items makes you a nuke damage champion instead of the support champion your ment to be. This build is mainly for assisting your team. Sure your get kills , not as many as an AP build sona but your be far more use to the team.

25/07/11
Items
Moved soul shroud and Spirit Visage into situational items , dont feel they are vital core items
Skill Order
Changed the skill order to favor healing over damage buff , seems to make more sence as a support champion
11/06/11

Changes to runes:
Added Ability power per level runes as a viable choice and now the best choice for seals/quints

Changes to Build:

Made a situational section
Moved void staff into situational
bumped will of ancients up in build order
bumped rabadons up in build order
moved ages of legon into situational
moved spirit visage into situational

Ok so your objectives as sona with this build are simple.
Keep buffs on your allies and keep your lane safe.
Take advantage of sonas passive to haras enemies why your carry farms the lane.
Use CV /Wards to keep map awareness high.
Use your damage / defence buff in lane and speed buff when chasing / evading opponents.

Basactly , keep your carrys alive and your opponents under leveled.

Pros:

Great support skills
Versitile , can change abilitys to fit the needs of the team
nice magic pen / damage
Can heal
Fast as hell with her buffs
Great escape abilitys
Keeps a lane buddy going forever

Cons:

Gets focused fast
Pretty squishy until full build
Doesnt have insane damage so 2v1 your in a bit of trouble
CC = Ouch

Note about runes:
A few people ask me why i dont take CDR runes on sona. The reason for this is becuase I dont need them. With my item build you have so much CDR that using CDR runes would be pointless. Makes more sence to boost AP or take Magic Resist

Theres a few good rune setups with Sona , I choose this one as its great for support. With my build your mana regen will end up being insane and you can constantly spam your moves.

Marks - Magic pen , This is to keep the damage up when you harras your opponents. Sonas moves even without ability power items actually do a nice chunk of damage.

Seals- Mana Regen , Early game you can burn mana fast. Your end up with high mana regen due to items so this could be changed if you want to take clarity. However I just personaly like to use these runes on sona.

Glyphs- Cooldown These runes are great on sona , however with the item build your be hitting max cooldown anyways. Personal prefrence.

Glyphs- Ability Power- Gives a greap AP boost late game if you get the AP per level runes. Pretty nice :D


Quints- I personaly take movement speed , ontop of my speed buff spell and the Shurelyas Reverie your evade attacks pretty easily.
Ability power or magic pen are also viable , or even health/ magic resist.

Masteries , Simple really. 9 In offence so your harras is more effective , 21 in utility for maximum cooldown and mana regen. 9 in defence could be nice if your worried about getting killed to easily but again, Personal prefrence makes me go 9/0/21

Ok , so you may be going "WTF ? NO ABILITY POWER FAIL!" but if you try this build your find your actually very usefull to the team and still do enough damage to get some kills.

Start with This will give you the Health + AP + Mana regen you need to keep your lane going for a good few levels. You could bypass this to rush the but I personaly always take Dorans Ring.

Or if your confident you dont need the extra health rush your Philosopher's Stone this is a vital part of the build. always get the philo stone.

Next go for your boots If the enemy team has alot of casters or CC go for Mercury Treads. Always nice to have the extra magic resist and get out of nunus ice cube faster. However you could replace these for if you feel the magic pen is more usefull and they dont have much in the way of slows/stuns.

After your boots your want to invest in a If the team have a good AD carry as the gold and defence will be helpfull early game and will turn into a nice defence item later in the game.

Next item in the build is your This item is great for sona. Your already have nice speed if you took the Swiftness quints. Ontop of your speed buff spell the active on this item can basactly garentee that no enemy will escape your team. Simply Buff your team with your spell , if you still cant catch them pop the active on this item and speed buff again.
Also works for escaping. Pop your ultimate to stun the gank , pop active on this item and then speed buff / defence buff and GTFO.
Ontop of the cool active you get a nice health / mana regen boost wich you simply cant complaine about.



Next item on the build is This is great if you have other casters on your team. Gives them a nice ability power buff and gives your some ability power. I love this item for the spell vamp , your find that your Q spell heals just as well as your W spell does. your pretty much always full health.

Now you can either get yourself , or if you opted for taking the Heart of gold you can turn this into the

The gives great defence, also the slow from the passive is really nice against champions like Xin. Combine the Active with this item with your Reverie and your speed buff your team are pretty much untouchable.
Simply do the following "Ok they are gaining on us and were taking alot of damage , Heal ... ok they are still gaining , Randuins active + speed boost spell , ok they are STILL somehow gaining on us" , pop the Reverie active and boom your away

For a great AP boost increasing your damage output and your healing potential. If you can afford it id strongly suggest this item at some point in the build. If your having a really good early game then rush this one.

These items together will give you great cooldown reduction , Nice surviverbility and insane lane time. Your mana regen will be very high and you can pretty much stay in lane all day long.

If you really get late game , OR if your under alot of focus from casters , at some point sell your dorans ring and get , The passive is amazing at saving your hot harp playing *** and the magic resist + mana is always a bonus.

Situational

This is a cheap and very usefull item for sona and her team.I leave this item for a tank to get but if its needed early game its affordable and a nice buff for early-mid game.
Need just that little bit extra on your self heals , its cheap and gives some easy magic resist + health + healing an extra 10%

For extra magic pen , this is more of an offensive role so I would only take this if your team really needs the extra fire power. However still good for someone playing more on the offence.

Skill order will change game to game , if your lane partner is not taking much damage then up your Hym of Valor for extra harras , however most sona players .. and most games you play you will find it more usefull to the team if you max your heal spell first.

With the skill Sequence I find that it changes depending on the needs of the game.
If your holding lane ok then I advise maxing out your gives your lane partner a nice damage/AP boost but importantly increases your harass potential by quite alot.

Next I focus on . Gives a nice defence boost and heals you+Lane partner.
I sometimes put more points into this if my lane is having trouble and we just need to hold the turret for longer rather than push and take the enemies turret.
This spell can keep you in lane for a long time and keep your turret safe until someone can gank your lane. So prioritise this on your situation.

- Last to max , nice speed boost. I find this is very usefull for chasing/fleeing enemies. Will help your team get a lot of kills. I normaly put a point in this at level 3 then leave it until the other 2 skills are maxed.
Also a nice trick with this is to use it to speed boost your minions down the lane.

- Your ultimate , put a point in this every time you can. Its a great stun and will save your team from ganks and help your team with fights. Use it when a team fight is initiated to give your team a jump start. It will stun the oponents for a short time so your team can attack. Also if your team are the victims of a dirty barron gank. Stun them with your ultimate and GTFO.

Summoner Spells


Great support spell , awesome cooldown, great support spell that can ruin a gank on your team and gives great map awareness.

Good early game to counter mana issues , Mid- Late game its useless to you however if you have a mana heavy AP team then its still a good support skill to assist your team with.
Good escape spell and can be used aggressivly also. I personaly always take this as my secondary spell.
Again another good escape / chase spell , works well with your speed buff
Usefull if your heal spell isnt enough. However if used wrong can hinder your healing ability and late game its healing is pretty weak. Personaly skip this spell
Good to stop healing and finish people off but personaly avoid it with sona
Another great summoner spell however not really a support players spell IMO
Fail
Lol no,

Ok so thats the guide for now , I will update this as I play sona more.
Hope this helps you become an awesome support champ. Please rate the build but please dont just look at the items and go "Fail build" and rate it negative without actually trying the build and seeing how well it works.

Any feedback / suggestions will be appreciated , Id love to improve my builds.

Dont underestimate how powerfull sonas passive is. You can easily help your team get first blood if you time your power cords correctly. Sonas power cord hit is brutal on squishy players. Expeshaly if its following your Q spell
Maybe a controvertial idea , but I find with my build if a team fight is going bad you can actually flash into the battle , pop your ultimate to stun and then speed boost / pop actives on your items and save your whole team
Dont forget that sonas ultimate can be a great initiate move if your team dont have a tank like ammumu
Mana regen is vital , using all the Cooldown reduction in this build make sure you stick to the items and your be spamming moves every few seconds without mana issues
NEVER Neglect wards , it will be your job to keep wards placed. Dont expect other people to do it.
Dont farm minions , let your Carry farm minions , your get enough gold from assists and your gold per items that you wont need to leach the minion kills

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I will update more phots on here focusing on games ive played for assists rather than kills. This was one of my earlier games were i played sona heavy AP items.