Sona Build Guide by WolfeOrome

Introduction

WARNING! This guide is for season 3. Pre-season update is under construction!

Welcome to my Sona guide!
In this guide, you'll find my personal suggestions on how to be a great support player with Sona!


A little about me:
My username is WolfeOrome. I've been playing League of Legends since right before the end of season 2. I'm pretty new to ranked, but I finished at Silver III this season, and I played either Jungle or Support pretty much the whole time. I'm not claiming to be an incredible player, or to know everything there is to know about being a support. However, this is a build that has worked well for me, and hopefully will for you too.

That said, I'll try to keep this short, sweet and to the point. So without further ado, here's the guide!

Maven of the Strings: Pros and Cons

Sona is a versatile and powerful support. She has a nice kit, works well with basically any ADC, and of course she's gorgeous ;) If you're new to support, I highly recommend Sona, since her ultimate is her only skill shot and she's very easy to pick up and learn quickly. However, every champion has their pros and cons:

Pros

Cons

Strong healing ability Aria of Perseverance Good CC stun with Crescendo Cool combos using Power Chord, including double damage and slow Most abilities auto-target Incredibly gorgeous

Power Chord is difficult to master Low movement speed and no escape Low damage output Low base health

Abilities

Let's start with abilities. Sona has a great kit that is very versatile and can help you be a great support.

Power Chord: The most underrated ability in Sona's arsenal. Power Chord has a special effect and deals extra damage after every third spell. More on this in the Strategy section.

Hymn of Valor: Sona's only offensive spell besides her ultimate. Max this second, since your main job is to keep your carry alive so healing is more important.

Aria of Perseverance: Your most important spell as support Sona. This spell automatically finds the weakest ally in range and heals them, as well as healing you. Max this first, and use it whenever your carry needs health.

Song of Celerity: This spell is important to have one point in early on, so you can use it with Power Chord to slow enemies, but level it up last. The movement speed bonus is hardly anything, and those points can be better spend leveling up your heal or damage.

Crescendo: Sona's ultimate ability which damages and stuns all opponents in its path. Crescendo is a very powerful spell, and can easily turn the tide in a team fight.

I usually max out Aria of Perseverance first. As a support, your main job is to keep your carry alive at all costs. Aria of Perseverance is a fairly strong healing spell, and it also heals Sona. This is especially important at early levels when you and your carry don't have much health anyway.

Hymn of Valor is the next spell you should level up. It has good poking potential, and can help you harass your enemies. Combined with Power Chord, your next basic attack deals 200% magic damage. If you like, you can put put some points into Hymn of Valor before maxing Aria of Perseverance to have a little more early game harass. Some people prefer to max Hymn of Valor first, since it does a lot more damage and gives your ADC a nice AD bonus with its aura. It's really just personal preference depending on your play style. If you're poking a lot and your ADC is doing a good job not getting killed, you can delay maxing Aura of Perseverance.

The reason I don't level up Song of Celerity sooner is that it just isn't worth it. When combined with Power Chord, your next attack will slow an enemy by 40%. This is the same no matter what level Song of Celerity is, so the only real benefit of leveling it up is the movement speed bonus. It gives a tiny bit extra movement speed, but it's hardly noticeable, and the heal and poke are much more important at early levels of the game.

As with any champion, level up the ultimate spell whenever you are able to. Crescendo deals 100 more magic damage every level (150/250/350), and it also does 80% AP as magic damage, all while stunning the enemies for 1.5 seconds. In the middle of a teamfight, this can be game changing. I've been in games where we were losing, then I landed a Crescendo that hit several enemy champions, and my team got an Ace and pushed to the Nexus for a win. I've also been in games where the enemy team had Sona, and one well-placed Crescendo lost us the game. Never underestimate the influence of a support on teamfights.

Masteries

Most of these masteries are fairly self-explanatory, but here's my reason for choosing them:

Summoner's Wrath is a great skill for supports in my opinion, because it helps your ADC so much. As a support, I always take Exhaust, and Summoner's Wrath lowers the exhausted enemy's armor and magic resist by 10. Your ADC will love you for this.

The defense tree is pretty standard, with several points in Armor, Magic Resist, and Health. Sona is pretty squishy, especially at early levels, so these points are well spent.

The Utility tree is a bit more flexible. I take Meditation on the first tier because the extra mana regen is helpful, but this is just personal preference. Wanderer is also a viable option, since it would help you get around to place wards and get to teamfights. This is especially true for Sona, since she has very low mobility.

For supports, I always get Greed and Wealth . Since supports are supposed to help the ADC farm and not actually get any last hits for themselves, it can be hard to get enough gold to buy the all-important wards or items you may need. Greed and Wealth help out a lot, as well as the Quintessences of Gold.

If you really need more gold, you can trade Summoner's Wrath for Pickpocket . It really just depends on your situation.

Items

Let's look at the items a little more in-depth:

Sightstone is extremely important for any support. The free wards will more than pay for it over the course of the game, plus it gives you 180 health. However, you need to remember that it will only let you place 2 wards at a time, meaning you'll still need to buy more at times. I used to always upgrade this to Ruby Sightstone, until a friend pointed out that it's twice the cost for only one more ward and 180 extra health. That money is better spent on Vision Ward or other items.

shurelya's reverie

shurelya's reverie is a great core item for Sona. The extra health and health regen help her be a bit more durable, and the cooldown reduction lets her spam her abilities faster. That cooldown reduction makes all the difference when your ADC is taking damage and you need to heal him as fast as possible. Shurelya's also has an active ability that's basically a 60 second Ghost, which can help in escapes or chases.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity are great for Sona for the CDR, letting her harass and heal even more rapidly. You might want to grab captain or Alacrity as well. Captain is great for games with lots of fights, or Alacrity for games where you roam a lot.

Locket of the Iron Solari is somewhat of a conditional item. If your jungler has Aegis of the Legion or Locket, then you can skip this and grab another health item such as Banshee's Veil, but generally this is a great option. Even if the jungler does have one, it can be nice to have two on the team. More Armor and Magic Resist = stronger ADC = more fed ADC = GG.

Twin Shadows is a good idea to start getting some AP, making your abilities more powerful, while still supporting the team by revealing and slowing enemies. Add in some MR and movement speed, and this item is really hard to pass up.

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shard of true ice

shard of true ice is a semi-niche item in my opinion. It's fairly cheap when building out of kage's lucky pick, which you might get for the gp10 and AP value. ONLY upgrade it to Shard of True Ice if the enemy has an overwhelming mobility advantage and if you really need the extra gp10. Shard of True Ice is one of the very few items that keeps its gp10 value when upgraded, so it can be useful in certain situations.

Athene's Unholy Grail gives lots of AP, TONS of mana, and a decent amount of CDR, plus a good amount of MR. The downside? It costs a ton. Only get this if you have lots of money and really want those extra stats.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a great item with 500 HP, 80 AP, and a slow for your attack spells. However, Sona only has two attack spells, one of which stuns anyway. Rylai's slow is only 15% for multiple-target spells, and Sona's spells are multiple-target spells. You should only get this item if you have a lot of gold and need the HP and AP boost.

Seeker's Armguard can be a great item if the enemy team has a lot of AD and not much MR. It gives you a decent amount of armor and AP, but you have to get stacks for it to be worth it. As a support, you shouldn't be getting many minion kills. Buy this at your own discretion.

Build 2

This second build is a revised version of the first. I've changed a few things around, removed some items, and overall just fixed it to make everything a little more dynamic. After talking with a couple reviewers, I decided it would be best to create a new build implementing some of their suggestions and advice. Thanks Vynertje and MissMaw for your help with this guide!

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For my revised build, I decided to go with Ignite and Flash. Flash is a must-have for pretty much any champion in the current meta, since it's a helpful escape even after Riot killed its cooldown time. Basically, everyone gets Flash, so you need it in order to keep up. Ignite is a strong aggressive spell that helps wear down your enemies in the early laning phase. Just remember to be extremely careful not to steal kills from your ADC with Ignite. Many people use Ignite as a finisher, since it does damage over time and can kill your enemy even if they run away, so learn how to use it and still let your ADC get the last hit.

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• greater mark of hybrid penetration is a very helpful rune for Sona since she is a high-aggression poke-style support. The armor and magic penetration will help you harass more effectively at every level of the game.
• Greater Seal of Armor is extremely effective for anyone in the bottom lane, since you'll be against an ADC who deals mostly physical damage. These are a must-have, so get 9 of them.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is also a must-have. Most teams have some mixture of physical damage and magic damage, so you want to be ready for both. The extra magic resist from these runes will save your life many times.
• Greater Quintessence of Health is a great choice for Sona. She has incredibly low base health (one of the lowest in the game, in fact) so she needs every bit of health she can get. Greater Quintessence of Gold is tempting since Supports have less income than other positions, but the health will be worth it in the long run. Staying alive longer = more objectives and assists = more gold.

As for masteries, almost everything is exactly the same in both builds. The main difference is that I took one point out of Summoner's Wrath and put it into Mastermind to get the extra cooldown reduction for summoner spells. The extra AP and AD from Summoner's Wrath is negligible, and the cooldown reduction will help a lot.

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• Sightstone: a must-have for any support champion. One of your main jobs is to provide vision, and this helps with that. Two free wards at a time, plus a bit of extra health, is money well spent. Some people like to upgrade this to Ruby Sightstone, but I'd rather spend that money on pink wards or other items.
• shurelya's reverie: health, health regen, mana regen, CDR, and a Ghost aura with a 60 second cooldown. 'Nuff said.
• Boots of Mobility: I got Boots of Mobility instead of Ionian Boots of Lucidity because Sona is really ridiculously slow, and she often runs out of mana if you spam her abilities too much at early levels, so the movement speed is more valuable than the CDR. Boots of Mobility help you with warding and roaming.
• Enchantment: Distortion: Also known as "Boots of I-can-flash-a-lot." The Distortion bonus helps negate that awful nerf Riot put on Flash with the insanely long cooldown timer. Alternately, you can get the Enchantment: Homeguard bonus if you need to defend your base.
• Locket of the Iron Solari: This is one item that you should always have somewhere on your team. It doesn't matter who has it as much as just the fact that someone has it. The MR and health regen aura, plus the built-in Barrier makes this item invaluable. If your jungler doesn't have it, you should definitely get it, since it will help sustain you as well as helping the entire team in fights.
• Twin Shadows: gives bonus AP, MR, movement speed, and an active that reveals and slows nearby enemies. In my opinion, this is a great item on Sona since gives the AP boost to make her spells more powerful and magic resist to help her not be quite so squishy. The active is great too, since it allows you to not have to facecheck brush. An interesting way to use the active is to use it in team fights if someone starts to run, in order to slow them long enough for your team to finish them off. There are tons of uses for this item.

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For this build, I maxed out Hymn of Valor (Q) first, instead of Aria of Perseverance (W). The reason is this: Sona is an aggressive poking support. Yes, her job is to keep the ADC alive, so it's important to take a point in Aria of Perseverance early on, but her Hymn of Valor scales much better (gaining +50 base damage every time you level it up) and has a better AP ratio, making it a more efficient ability. You'll have your Q maxed by level 9, and you'll already have two points in Aria of Perseverance. Max out your W next, while of course leveling up your ultimate as quickly as possible. The order of leveling importance looks something like this:
R > Q > W > E

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Strategy

If you've made it this far, you should already know the mechanics behind the build and why I chose the items, masteries and runes that I did. The strategy is the hardest part of playing support, even though it's deceptively simple. Basically, support boils down to this: keep your ADC alive at ANY cost.



Farming



In the farming stage, you should stick to your carry like glue. There is no reason you should not be beside your ADC unless you die. Your job during laning is to keep your carry alive by healing and warding, and harass the enemy when possible. DO NOT KILL MINIONS!!! Minions are there for the carry, and they are NOT for you! If your carry goes in to attack the enemy, you stick right with him and help. Harass the enemy champions any chance you get, and try to stand near enough to the creep waves to get the experience. You don't need the gold from CS, because you'll get gold from assists and global objectives like towers and dragons.



Warding



Warding is one of the most important aspects of your job as support. In the current meta, League of Legends is a game where vision is king. If you're on the blue side, pop a ward into the tri-bush after a couple minutes to watch for ganks. Put a ward in the little river bush as soon as you get in the lane. Use the free ward from Explorer instead of face-checking the brush in the lane. Later in the game, put a pink ward at Baron and take out any wards the enemy might have there. However, warding is not the sole duty of supports. For a winning team, everyone should ward sometimes. It's impossible for one person (the support) to cover the entire map, so top might have to ward his own brush from time to time. Here's a map showing common ward positions:


For more information about warding, check out this site: Warding Guide



Mid-Late Game



In the mid-late game, after laning phase has died out, your job is to stay with the team and support as much as possible. Your main duty is your ADC, but if another team member needs help, don't hesitate to help them. Try to stay a little ways away from the team fights, and spam your Q and W as much as possible. If you have your team with you and you see several enemies standing near each other, throw Crescendo out and stun them to initiate. Or use Crescendo to stop people from escaping. The main thing is communication: make sure your team knows what's going on, and work with them.

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Summary

Sona is an incredible support champion if played well. The main things to remember are this:

• You are a mother hen. Your ADC is the baby chick. Protect your ADC at all costs like a mother protects her child. Die for your ADC if need be. However, this also means be a good parent and tell your ADC when he is being stupid and should get out. Sometimes ADC push too far. Kindly tell him to turn back.
• Vision is king. To quote Hamlet, "wards, wards, wards!" Seriously, vision is everything in this game. One ward could be the difference between a gank and a counter-gank. Be smart, don't just put a ward every three inches, but make sure you know where the other team's champions are.
• Be selfless. A support's job is to be selfless and help everyone out as much as possible. Push when they push, retreat when they do, and FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T TAKE THE ADC's FARM!!!

If you enjoyed this guide, please let me know. If you think it sucks and I need to fix it, please let me know! I'm always open to criticism and suggestions, and I'll try to update this guide as often as needed.



Thanks for reading!

Thanks

A very special thank you to:

Vynertje for reviewing this guide and helping me find ways to improve. You're an awesome person!


MissMaw for giving some excellent advice and helping me make the most of my runes and items.


Dylan and Zach, the guys who first showed me League of Legends and showed me how to be a better player. Thanks for putting up with all my questions and stupidity!


And anyone else who has ever played League with me, given me tips, written guides, or helped me out in any way.


People say the League of Legends community sucks. I say they're just looking in the wrong places. You guys are awesome!