Sona is one of the most flexible champions in the game,fitting most team comps and lanes.
She can be either a healbot in hard matchups by maxing W or a massive damage dealer in lane by maxing Q.She's also a safe first pick for support.
This guide was made with me intending to teach you the 2 ways i play her.
Also,this is the first guide i've ever written,so any kind of feedback is accepted.

Flexible

Safe first pick

Strong ultimate

Works with all ADCs

Free stats for your team

OP poke

Squishy

No hard CC other than ult

If you're not careful with your mana you go OOM pretty fast.

Hymn of Valor:This is your bread and butter,and your main damage ability,use it whenever is possible for poking/trading.Also,it gives out free AD/AP to nearby ally champions.

Aria of Perseverance:Its your heal,its aura gives out armor to nearby ally champions. Whoever you heal gets x2 of the passive armor,you also get this bonus.

Song of Celerity:Built in Mini-shurelias,The aura gives flat MS and the active gives a % MS increase

Crescendo: Wide AOE skillshot stun that stuns whoever in it for 1.5 seconds.Use it to initiate/follow up initates in teamfights/skirmishes

Now,lets move to the passive, Power Chord, which activates every 3 spell casts and what it does deppending on which aura is on:

1- Hymn of Valor:powerchord deals double powerchord damage,ideal for poking/killing a low health target asap

2- Aria of Perseverance powerchord reduces the damage output of the target by 20%,ideal to keep somebody in your team alive when he's getting chased or to reduce enemy damage during teamfights

3- Song of Celerityis a 40%(+AP) slow,use it for catching targets out of position,making your jungler's life easier when he comes bot or to peel for your adc.

I run 3 Sets of Runes for Sona:

Armor reds,armor yellows,Flat MR blues HP Quints (VS kill lanes)

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Armor reds,armor yellows,Flat MR blues AP quints (in a passive lane)

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Magic pen reds,armor yellows,Flat MR blues and AP quints (With an agressive early game ADC)

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You can also run AD reds or Armor pen reds for max poke.

Hybrid pen is also a good choice,but i preffer either AD or Armor pen myself.

The 3 sets of masteries i use are the following:

0/9/21 Ideal for lanes that have some kill potential,but not that much:

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0/15/15 For lanes where you are sure you will most likely take a beating or are going to get engaged on a lot(I take this vs Blitzcrank, Thresh, Leona and Annie )

Flash is mandatory for flash ult plays.

Second summoner spell can be Ignite(agressive lane), Exhaust (Theres somebody in the enemy team whose damage you have to shut down like Vayne/ Jinx/ Tryndamere) and Heal (Increased survivability vs AOE heavy comps)


Stay away from other summoner spells,specially Clarity,that one is a noob trap.

There are 5 common Skill sequences for Sona,one was already shown up in the quick guide:

1- Max Hymn of Valor and Aria of Perseverance at the same time without putting a point in E until both are maxed out

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2-Max Hymn of Valor,take a single point on Aria of Perseverance at level 2 and a point on E at level 4.This makes ganking easier for your jungler since you'll have access to your slow(E powerchord =Slow)

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3- Aria of Perseverance max ,then taking a point on Hymn of Valor level 2 and 5 and not leveling E at all until you're forced to(Vs hard lanes,IE you're with a Vayne Vs Draven Leona)

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4- Hymn of Valor without touching Song of Celerity until you're forced to.

Spellthief's Edge Or Ancient Coin+X2 Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation+ Stealth Ward+ Stealth Ward

Pick Spellthief's Edge only in lanes where you can get away with autoatack poke,else start ancient coin,which is a safer item for lanes vs Blitzcrank, Thresh, Leona and Annie.


Sell Your Stealth Ward for a Sweeping Lens,sin ce you wont need it once you get your Sightstone

Upgrade your gold item into a Frostfang or Nomad's Medallion deppending on which starting item you took.

Buy a Sightstone,you dont have to upgrade it until its the last thing you can invest your gold on since the only real benefit you get is extra health.

Getting a Chalice of Harmony allows you to use your Q and W more frequently.

Boots :Gotta go fast


Upgrade Your gold item into a Talisman of Ascension or Frost Queen's Claim , They both make your teamfighting way better.

Chalice of Harmony Should be upgraded into an Athene's Unholy Grail or Mikael's Blessing. Only pick Mikael's if the enemy team got hard cc that will most likely screw up your adc

Sheen is an awesome item on Sona and stacks up with her powerchord for some high damage,worth getting if you're ahead or need the damage at this point

Aegis of the Legion Is a solid item to pick up if your team needs the resistances or you´re vs an AOE heavy team.
Sorcerer's Shoes are your best pick for boots unless you need more cdr,in which case i'd take Ionian Boots of Lucidity



Aegis of the Legion Should be upgraded into a Locket of the Iron Solari,Remember to use the active

Sheen should be upgraded into a Iceborn guantlet (If you need peel/armor) or Lichbane (if you want the burst/Ap)

Rabadon's Deathcap Pick it up if you need stronger heals or more damage.

Ruby Sightstone Time to upgrade it.

Oracle's Lens Dont forget to upgrade your trinket

Zeke's Herald Only pick this up if your team will beneffit a lot from it (atleast 3 ad champs in your team)

Rylai's Crystal Scepter If you dont want Iceborn but need the survivability and the slow,this is a good item to pick up.

Abyssal Mask should be picked up if you need the MR and want some more AP than what twin shadows provide

Twin Shadows To be picked up when you need the slow,facecheck bushes a lot and are in the need of MR.

Frozen Heart Pick it up vs AA heavy teams if your team refuses to.

Deathfire Grasp If you want to help your APC to blow someone up ASAP,this is the item for you

Banner of Command This might look like a troll item,but it works pretty well with push comps, if you're not in one its not worth to pick up.

Void Staff If you're desesperate for damage and the enemy team stacked mr,you can take this.

Poke with Hymn of Valor,try to do it when the enemy is locked in an autoatack anmiation for a last hit so he cant retaliate,as well as with autos.If you're vs Blitzcrank or Threshyou should avoid doing this unless] you know they've wasted their Hooks,else just stay behind your minion wave.

Use your trinket for bush control (either Red or yellow trinket,and keep the one on the oposite side warded to prevent lane ganks) and keep a ward on both river(On either the river bush or in front of the Dragon pit) and tribush,even if you're blue side.

Only heal with Aria of Perseverance when it is your ADC the one who needs the heal,or both of you,Selfish use of it will cause you to go OOM unless you have chalice,so its way better to pop your pots than spamming your W for self sustain.

Once you hit lvl 6 you have a lot of fight potential,and can put a lot of lane pressure in thanks to Crescendo ,abuse this unless you're vs a hard lane ( Blitzcrank, Thresh, Leona, Annie) .

You want to land your Crescendo on as many people as possible,dont waste it on a single person unless its absolutely necessary or it will lead into a tower kill/dragon or baron.

Try to keep both Hymn of Valor and Aria of Perseverance auras as much as possible,only turning Song of Celerity on for chasing/slowing high priority targets.
Use your Aria of Perseverance Power Chord,its OP,a free 20% damage reduction on demand on any target,use it on the main damage dealer of the enemy team or whoever is trying to kill your ADC.

Dont forget to use your item actives .

When pushing keep Hymn of Valor aura on as much as possible,since that extra damage helps to take turrets down,also use the Power Chord to deal more damage to turrets.

Sona goes well with every ADC in the game,no exception,and this is because of how flexible her playstyle and kit are.

As for counters,She is mostly countered by all in and burst champions,such as Blitzcrank, Thresh, Leona and Annie, but even in these lanes a good Sona player can come out ahead by adapting her items,playstyle and skill order(Staying behind minions,maxing W).

No ADC counters Sona at all unless he/she is with one of the already said counters

Im A Plat 1 support main,and play jungle quite a bit too,with a 55.5% WR on Sona,whos my favorite champion.

I've been playing league since S2 (Lulu patch) and been a support main since then.
I was a silver player for the majority of S2 and S3 until i improved my gameplay switching up guides i saw online a little(I realized you arent forced to follow them 100% and that you should addapt to how the match is going).

I love playing Silver vs Plat matches to help other players improve at this game,feel free to invite me to one of this lobbys if you want to.

I also give out free coaching/advice in normal games,as long as you're willing to listenr to feedback.

Also,I'll be working on Leona,Lulu,Nami and Janna guides in the future.
This guide will be constantly updated and i will be adding more things into it as time goes on.

If there's any error or incongruence Do please let me know so i can fix it asap