I'd be interested to see whatever updates you put. I'm not saying Sona tank is completely impossible, although apparently that is what I typed. It's not exactly what I was thinking. Oops.
I just couldn't find a way that worked well with the fail teams I kept getting.
I think what I meant to say is, that unless given the ideal team comp, Sona is a billion times more effective played in a more traditional style, as far as I have found so far. Some of that is that is what I have the most practice playing Sona as, some of it is your team doesn't expect the type of playstyle you come out with when playing this.

I think what might be more effective, to create a tank Sona, would be a hybrid AP/Tanky build, with maybe a final build of something like: Shurelya's, CD reduct boots, an omen, force of nature, either archangels or void staff, and a deathcap.
Thats just off the top of my head, and theres probs a better way to build than that (and obvs i'm not giving any thought to build order here), but you get the idea of what I'm saying anyways, little bit of tankyness, couple high ap items. The reason i'm suggesting this is because, once again, people aren't expecting tanky Sona, they expect heals, and the heals from Sona can cause a win (as i'm sure you know). That AP helps with your heals, and damage output some, but mostly your heals, which is also important for your own survival.

Anyways, just my rambling ideas at 1am. I've been playing with the idea of a tanky sona lately, just because it pisses people off when they can't kill that *****. ;) Lmao.
Anyways, sorry for any grammar fails, unfinished sentences, etc, etc. Just my 1 am ramblings. :)

AHA, finally remembered my password >.>

Or more specifically, the user name. Oops.

Anyway, to the naysayers, there are a few issues with the build, yes.

First off, it costs a lot of monies, no doubt. It requires a lot of farming, and a team that's willing to accept that their "support" actually wants last hits early game. If this can be accepted, the costs aren't that bad, honestly, so long as yeu rush the heart of gold and the philo stone, and play very aggressively.

It takes a bit of effort to get used to actually last hitting with Sona, since her timing is weird, with the autoattack hitting at a different time than it looks like it should. There's also issues with having to know EXACTLY where her Q hits at max range, so that yeu can constantly dip in and out of combat to harass. Even Xin can get beaten down pretty quickly by a pro Sona, but it takes some real skill to pull it off due to the ranges of xin's charge and sona's Q.

Is it the best tank build ever? Alright, alright, no, it's not. It's kind of a silly build, but I use it myself when playing Sona about 80% of the time, since it's funny as hell and works startlingly well.

Downsides are as follows:

- Very slow start, and can't really begin tanking team fights until about level 10 or so in most cases.
- Very expensive mana costs early game as well, due to the need to be aggressive with lane pushing, despite that this is typically a very big no-no. This also takes a lot of getting used to doing.
- Very expensive items; if yeur team won't let yeu farm, it will not work. Period. Taking top lane with Sona, however, can fix this nicely, though it wastes part of her healing capacity, but allows her to be far more aggressive without issue. This is *STRESSED* however, that this is not a "Sona who just lets her carry farm while she babysits" build. It is a very aggressive early game offensive mage that shifts into a tank midgame. Just because she has a heal doesn't mean she's forced to give up all CS and kills completely, which many people will be highly skeptical about, and many carries will whine about. ONLY PLAY THIS IN A NORMAL QUEUE OR WITH FRIENDS.
- Very low health early-mid game, and takes until about level 15ish or so until yeu're sitting on a comfy 3k health, whereas many tanks can reach this a good 5 levels sooner.



There are two other issues that need to be addressed:

Flash, although very nice, and can help position her ulti... isn't that needed. She's near impossible to kill and has two hastes, and two slows with this build, allowing her to get into position without it. She will be in about the middle-rear of most fights, serving as a guard for the ranged carry mostly, allowing severe mobility and preventing bruisers from getting at the range carry. She tends to sit a little bit on front of the ranged carry, but a bit behind the main tank in most cases, which tends to taunt people into attacking her. If yeu're doing well yeu can run up closer, but yeu won't be squishy enough to really need flash all that much. It's a really nice spell, and the game practically revolves around both teams having flash on every single champion -_- However, in this case, she can get away without it just fine in practice.

Second, is the issue about the automatic assumption of the Spirit Visage. It is true that it has health, CDR, and some MR, as well as a healing buff, however, in practice, I found it to be generally uneconomical, and really doesn't work that well. If yeu have a "real" support being used, however, as well as Sona? Then by all means, tack it on if yeu absolutely need it, I just have found that, compared to the other items listed, it's more or less just not as effective in practice as it sounds. She won't be healing for much, and while the bonus healing is NICE... it doesn't overrule any of the other items. If I were to get anything in it's place, it'd probably be a Soul Shroud instead, which gives a much larger health boost, the same 10% CDR, as well as a nice mana aura, which helps with her kinda weak pool in this build.

The biggest problem, is mostly that to pull this build off, yeu can *NOT* play her like a normal Sona. Yeu can't just sit back and idly allow someone else to take every CS. If yeu do, it will not work. Yeu have to be aggressive, attack the enemies constantly, shove them back to their tower and whittle away at it with Q-chord pokes. Almost no one has had to deal with a highly aggressive Sona before, due to the lack of pushing in higher end games, and the fact that sona's Q tends to hit minions as well. In this one case, yeu actually WANT to be farming minion kills, which is why her Q is leveled so quickly into the game. This same high level Q, and aggressive behaviour, will also net yeu a few early kills in most cases, which once again, is something rarely done by Sona players, who typically just let the carry get the kills, and don't even get their nuke.

To play Sona as a tank, requires a completely different mindset from typical Sona play. She can't just mill about and let the carry eat all the kills, which is why I actually suggest putting her on the top lane instead.

This means, however, that this build also requires a rather specific team composition, where one of the two carries is a jungler, with a tank/support bottom and Sona up top. In this method, it works quite nicely.

But yeah, it's an awkward way to play her at first, and many teams will be like WTF ARE YEU DOING!?

Get a few friends together who build a team comp around it though, and give her the kills she needs to power it, and she will shine as a tank, being quite on par with the other "real" tanks in the game, such as Rammus. Except, unlike rammus, who has a cooldown on a single target taunt, Sona taunts the entire team simply by being present >=3

Anyway, I'll update the build in a bit with some additional information that I've listed here, since this needs to be in the main guide more clearly. I listed it a bit, but didn't fully put it as a "this is how yeu have to play to get it to work" section dedicated to itself. As it's obvious that people have a very hard time prying themselves away from the typical "Sona just sits there and watches and spams heal on the carry" mindset, I'll have to go in and state that more clearly.

It still works, and is fun to use, and quite effective, but it is also very slow to start and requires a team that's more or less built around it to truly get it to work at its' best. Tank Sona *CAN* work without an ideal team comp, but yeu're probably going to be pissing off a carry who isn't getting much CS in the process.

Alright. My final words on the matter:
In certain games, when you have a strong tank, the survivability can be useful. However, in most games, the fact that you have to sacrifice so much damage and heals output for that survivability is not worth it. Maybe... one game in 20 would this be a viable build. And a normal Sona build would work just fine in those.
I do like the idea though, I just can't find a viable way to build it. Those items just don't exist.

I lol'd. I mean, I've trolled offering to tank as Sona (who hasn't..), but never actually attempted to do it.
This actually looks like it could possibly be a viable build (I haven't actually tried it yet.. I'm not going to try it while playing with anyone i know... lulz)
Anyways... I think i'm gonna try it out and play with your build some. I don't think this is the best tank Sona build (if it's even possible, once again, I need to see for myself), mostly because of huge costs.
Anyways, if i can make a tank Sona work (and i'm a pretty badass Sona if I might claim that title for myself...) I'll provide you with a lovely thumbs up.

and that ^

No Spirit Visage on tank Sona? Son, I am disappoint.

I have to admit. I first just chuckled at the title. But I think this could actually work. A few suggestions, though.

1. stacking armor > stacking health on tank sona. Drop the randuins for a Frozen Heart, and banshees for a FoN. Also, I forget the name of the item, but 15% more heal on Sona is op. Obviously this changes if they have excessive true damage, but this is why. Sona's heals are NOT affected by armor and mr. In that sense, your heals will be healing a greater percentage of your health. Also, contrary to popular belief, the effects of armor DO NOT taper off as you stack. Only the percentages (there is a lot of controversy about this, but I did a bit of research).

2. Drop the clarity and health regen start. I know you stated your reasons, but with mana regen runes and a meki pendant, your health will be fine early game. If you know when to use your spells, you should have very little mana isssues after your phil stone anyway. Clairvoyance or flash or even exhaust would be interesting replacements. I'd run her as a tank/support, and even if you don't people will expect you to take cv. SOMEONE'S gotta take it. Sometimes your e isn't good enough escape to warrant flash. Exhaust is to peel carries from your carries. Your job changes slightly as a tank.

3. Also, with this tank build, I think the biggest issue is the cost. Most Sona players are aware of the bad ap ratios, and very few build ap. Mostly cooldown and then defenses just like this. But it is hard to place a Sona in lane if she is to tank. In the current meta, the ad carry is bottom, and if she goes bottom, she'd have to steal cs to build this, wouldn't she? I build a phil stone and HoG like you, but it's hardly enough cs to build everything you put. This is the biggest issue I think about this build.


All this being said, I LOVE the concept of using Sona as a tank. If she stacks armor and mr, she'd be really impossible to kill. The constant healing of allies makes her a threat still, even if they aren't stupid. The point about bad AP ratios is very valid. Her ult and power chords are simply a piece of cake to pull off if you're sitting in the middle of the battle. It's all theoretically fantastic. If you could solve #3 for me, I think this could not only be interesting, but viable at higher levels than one would expect. Thank you, and I will be voting up!

EDIT: another use for flash is the ever-imba flash into ult. Assists in lane and great for positioning if you need it.

Thumbs up, i love unconventional builds, and since i started playing Sona, the tank build was one of the things i wanted to try out.

i got one word for ya mate

FAIL