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Spells:
Flash
Clairvoyance
Ability Order
Power Chord (PASSIVE)
Sona Passive Ability
Introduction
In another way, it takes alot of practice to master her perfectly, managing your mana earlygame, using the right Power Chord on the right target and, most importantly, timing your ultimate.
If you want to play a support who is easy to learn, always benefits his/hers teams alot and is really fun to play I thouroughly suggest Sona.

+ Strong harass and strong damage earlygame if timed correctly with


+ Healing spell that doesnt require micro-management, unlike


+ Speed buff, amazing when chasing/being chased
+ Auras, you dont notice them, but they help alot
+ Slow and damage reduction if

- Squishy
- Manastarved earlygame
- Weak healing compared to other supports like


- Bad scaling with AP
- Takes time to learn how to use



I admit, without this Sona would be just a spellspammer with an ultimate. However, this brings in alot of fun and clever thinking to Sona.
How it works: After three spellcasts, your next attack deals bonus damage and applies an effect. The damage is only noticable in earlygame harass, but the effects are the important stuff.
Use with

Mostly useable in early ganking (before level 4) and harassing in lane.
Use with

This is really hard to time, but if you can time this on a



Use with

Use it whenever you are chasing, obviously. Dont use it while being chased, the range and duration is so small that it's not worth it.

Sona's only damaging spell, besides her ultimate. Great harass earlygame, but the damage inst much lategame. However, if you keep spamming this in teamfights next to their squishy, it will deal significant damage. The aura is alot better than the activation, always turn it on when taking down towers or dragon/baron.
NOTE: This can be maxed first if you are dominating your lane and really want to put pressure on your opponents. This is very risky however, since your allies will barely feel your






Great spell, both the activation and the persistant effect. Upgrading this doesn't do nearly as much difference as upgrading

To spam or not to spam?
In early- and midgame teamfights you may not have enough mana to constatly spam all three abilities. The most important one to save mana for is of course



When you got some mana from your


This is what makes Sona a viable support. Period. This ultimate can and have changed teamfights and games. This is without question one of the best AOE stuns in the game, only thrumphed by


Using this correctly separates the good Sona players from the bad. The best tip I can give about this wonderful spell is to remember that it can be used both offensively and defensively.
If you see the whole opponent team rushing towards your team in a narrow passage and you can hit 3-4 with it, dont hesitate to use it. It will give your team the time to engage and take out a dangerous target or two. However, interrupting abilities like







An example of what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLwFl8hDTc8
(It's a bit overkill, but you get the idea.)

Aria of Perserverance
8/11/14/17/20 armor
8/11/14/17/20 magic resist
16/22/28/34/40 armor upon activation to Sona and one ally
16/22/28/34/40 magic resist upon activation to Sona and one ally

8/11/14/17/20 Attack Damage
8/11/14/17/20 Ability Power

8/11/14/17/20 movement speed
6/8/10/12/14% movement speed upon activation

Consecration
16 magic resist

25/50/75/100/125 armor upon activation


10/15/20/25/30 armor

15/25/37.5 Attack Damage upon activation
15/25/37.5 Ability Power upon activation


14/23/32/41/50 Attack Damage upon activation

3 % movement speed
As we can conclude when looking at these numbers, while other supports may have stronger auras than Sona that grant more stats, Sona can keep her auras up at almost all times.
Example:


Meanwhile,

Clairvoyance
A must-have on every support, always pick this spell. Don't believe me?
No ward on dragon or baron yet?

Is your jungler safe from counterjungling?

Can their jungler be counterjungled?

Is your toplane pushing far without a ward?

Their support took out all your wards at baron with a


Chasing someone into the jungle and want to know which way he/she took?

You get the idea...
Flash
Probably the best escape spell, this spell will save your life a million times. Can also be used to get into position to

Also viable








Not viable











Always take











1 point in


Take if you got the summoner spell




Don't take



More than one point in




Greater seal of replenishment Sona really needs these seals to be able to keep up with other supports in healing output earlygame.


Other viable runes
Greater seal of vitality



6. Movement Speed
Great for supports, as alot of MS will let them support their teammates quickly. Sona got her

5. Ability Power:
This is not very good on Sona since the nerf. Her



This concludes that Ability Power isn't very useful on Sona, although not wasted.
4.
Armor and Magic Resist
Always good to have on every champion in the game.

3. Mana regeneration (MP5):
Great stats for Sona, alot of mana regeneration is particularly useful earlygame, when your mana pool is small. That is why Philosopher's Stone, Seal of Replenishment,

2. Mana
Mana: is generally better than mana regeneration, at least mid- and lategame since a large mana pool will let you spam through fights better than MP5 will.
1. Cooldown Reduction (CDR):
Hands down, this is the best thing you can have on Sona. When you get close to the 40% cap, you can keep all three auras up at the same time, which is a huge boost for your team.Important numbers to notice about CDR:
Max CDR: 40%



This also means that you need 25% CDR to get to the cap. This can be done with:






Blue buff: 25%
Note: Do not try to take a blue buff from your AP nuker, like


Starting items
Starting items can differ alot, but these are the combinations of items I usually start with:


Standard setup. Allows you to not having to recall early for wards and gives you a little bit of mana regen.

If you want to rush a


If you are laning with a very mana intensive carry, like



Core items
These items are mandatory and should be bought almost every game
Philosopher's Stone Mana regen, gold and HP regen. The best support item in the game.




Sight Ward You're playing a support. Always buy wards when recalling. Never buy a 6th item on the expense of a ward slot. Wards wins games. Fact.



Optional
As a support, you often only need your core items + wards, but if you find yourself with alot of money, these items are all great choices.
Kage's Lucky Pick I almost always buy this after the core, because the gold helps so much in late-game when you want those expensive support items like








Situational items
These items aren't bad in any way, but only works in certain games or setups.

















Don't get
These are items that one could be tempted to buy, but is not reccomended.



If you're doing great and feel pretty safe, this could be useful. However, it takes alot for this thing to be maxed as a support, unless you're planning to KS alot. Even if it does get maxed, you would still be better with another CDR item since one death will lose you all those stacks. This item will make you afraid of dying to an extent that is not good for your team.




General
Sona should obviously be played in the botlane, supporting a ranged AD carry.
Your goals in earlygame is to keep your carry alive and give your carry as much farm as possible. To keep your carry alive, keep him/her topped with




To give your carry farm, don't ever lasthit a minion that your carry could have lasthitted. It's fine to lasthit when he have recalled or is unable to lasthit. It often happens that you'll get some lasthits when harassing with

If you notice your carry can't get enough lasthits because you're being pushed, you should autoattack some minons so your carry can lasthit them without the tower taking them.
Laning partners
I've found that Sona is quite an offensive support, with good damage, a slow and a stun in level 6. Therefor it is good to match her with a carry with good burst, so you can go for a kill in level 6 or harass them out.
I've found that the carry that mix best with Sona is

Carrys that lane very well with Sona:




Carrys that lane decent with Sona:


Carrys that doesnt lane well with Sona:



NOTE 1: I haven't played enough games with them to know about the more uncommon carrys


NOTE 2: This does not mean that you shouldn't pick Sona to lane with, for example a






Vs other supports
















Combinations to watch out for























1. Use your

2. Use your


3. Positioning: Move forward when you want to use your


4. Spam Q-W-E. I'm not messing around. Do it.
Example on how to babysit your support:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOnalcxPK3o
(Note that this would probably not have happened if me and Ashe would have been on Skype with each other and me constantly yelling "keep going, keep going")
- When spawning at fountain, spam your
Aria of Perseverance three times to give you a
Power Chord for a level one fight.
- Smartcast helps alot when you want to use your
Crescendo at the right moment. Instead of having to click two times, you only have to do it once. Hold down shift, hold your mouse wherever you want it and press R.
- A bit obvious, but always have
Hymn of Valor on when taking down an undefended tower]]
- Even more obvious, but always have
Song of Celerity on when moving back to lane from base. If your mana allows it, spam it everytime you need somewhere. With
Mobility Boots, this will allow you to cross the map in a matter of seconds.
- Remeber, your
Aria of Perseverance heals you for the same amound of your ally. If you are going to heal your lane partner but you're at 100% HP yourself, just autoattack (or
Hymn of Valor if you're at max mana) their
Caitlyn and take some damage, which will be healed instantly anyway.
- The above tip goes the opposite way. If you have to heal yourself, tell your ally to harass hard for a sec so he will be healed aswell. This does of course require voice communication.
- If an opponent is alone and you and your teammates can't catch up, feel free to
Flash +
Song of Celerity +
Power Chord or even
Crescendo if you have to.
Warding
Always buy Sight Wards when you recalled, you should always have your lane and the dragon warded earlygame. The baron spawns at 15.00, you should always keep it warded aswell. You DO NOT need any items beside your core, those items are just a bonus.
In a perfect world, the whole team should buy wards, sadly this is almost never the case. Therefor, spend most of your money you get from Philosopher's Stone, Kage's Lucky Pick and



Playing a support isn't anything like playing an AP or a carry.
It takes a whole different mindset and approach to the game. Instead of trying to deal as much damage as possible and die as little as possible, as a support you want everyone around you to perform as well as they can. This means giving up everything for your carrys; experience, minion kills, champion kills, even your own life if you have to.
If you are playing premade, this is made so much easier if you have voice communication.
I do admit, playing support in soloqueue can be extremely frustrating. But when you land that perfect ultimate that wins you the game, save your carry with a sliver of health or steal the baron because you warded and they didn't it makes it all worth while.
August 24, 2011

Base heal reduced to 25/50/75/100/125 from 35/70/105/140/175
Ability power ratio reduced to .25 from .35
Now grants double her passive aura bonus to her heal target and herself for 3 seconds
Reduced the lockout time while casting Sona's songs to make them more responsive
Fixed a bug where


This makes Sona more of an aurabot than she ever was. The reduction of base healing really hurts her earlygame but the AP ratio just gives us another reason not to build AP.
I find the improved aura very useful tho, 40 MR and armor for more than half of the time is really good.
September 14, 2011

Sona's heal was way too weak in rank 1 and 2, this gives the lane way more sustainability
than before. An expected and appreciated buff to Sona.
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/sona-faceroll-support-77887#chapter4
Thank you for reading my guide about Sona, please vote and leave any construcitve critisism.
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