This is my Tanky Sona build, a build i started toying with when nocturn was released and i was fed up at being ganked when puggies didn't back me up.

I went with magic pen, mana/5, and cooldown per level. with a cooldown per level quint and 2 move speed quints. the reason for this was ensuring a high level of mobility combined with low level sustainability. the magic pen is to boost not only hymn of valor but also power chord.

standard caster masteries with the included 30% neutral buff duration. this is to ensure that when you get blue, the mob you killed spawns shortly after it fades. and again i took magic pen to enhance my harass/killing blow abilitys.

There are some grey areas reguarding the order of item purchases. you always want to start with meki and 2 mana pots. this helps you stay in lane longer off the start. depending on how your opponents are playing and the laning is going you want to get philosopher's early and hold it for a while, complete your chalace, and get 3 speed boots. the order you get them is up to you.

once you have completed the basic 3 items, go for spirit visage. this will make you much harder to kill by adding more MR and strengthening your heals. next you snag thornmail to punish melee's who think a support is squishy and also to help you solo large creep pushes.

at this point the philosopher's stone has done it's job and you should upgrade it to a reverie. round out the build with Rylai's for better kitting/harassing and also the extra HP.

every item in this build except the boots gives you hp, armor, or MR.


an alternate build allows for Force of nature instead of Rylai's. only use this against a magic heavy team. the 7% movement speed is nice however.

While the build works fine as listed, here are some alternate items that also play well with it.
always get reverie, chalice, boots, and visage.

for 5th item slot a force of nature is good if they don't have enough melee to worry you. 6th item can be traded for an aegis of the legion if you find your damage and hp are fine and want to help your team more.

another option is thornmail 5th and force of nature 6th. this spikes your survivability due to massive health regen and MR, while also giving you more speed for kiting and pursuit.

make sure you evaluate the enemy team, and if you die check what took you down. if heavy physical lean towards and aegis 6th, magical lean towards a force of nature.

be nice to your teammates, if one of them needs blue let them have it and use clarity for your own needs. if not, take blue and use clarity to keep your carries in the fight longer.

I always focus on healing and my ulti. next focus is hymn of valor, and last focus is song of celerity. i make sure to get celerity at level 4 as it's great for gank dives and retreating. also lets you charge power chord faster due to cooldowns.

The reason to focus on heal over hymn is that heal lets you stay on the lane and fight longer. hymn is weak early game reguardless. the main use i use hymn is to empower power chord to deal double damage. i frequently jump out of bushes with a hymn and chord, then hide again.

ghost and clarity are highly useful. ghost letting you avoid early ganks or get that last shot needed for a kill as well as helping kite late game or rush to someone's aid.

clarity is for your early laning phase. late game either get blue and use clarity to suppport your team or let someone else have blue and use clarity for yourself in team fights.

Pros:
Heal focus lets you 1v1, 1v2, and 2v2 with ease, letting you be placed on any lane.
High survivability ensures you're there for your team the whole time.
caped cooldown reduction without blue buff lets you ignore it if a team mate needs it more.
surprisingly tanky makes opponents waste cooldowns on you for no gain, in fact it's better thanks to spirit visage amplifing your self heal and healing someone else every time.
Rescue missions are a breeze, swoop in and cresendo then escort your ally to safety while staying behind them kiting/harassing.
the items before Rylai's are all cheap to build. you don't need to last hit as much as other builds do. and when you are build complete just run elixir's.

Cons:
You are a little squishy early game, so hide behind minions and be willing to heal a lot.
Low damage output forces you to kite and manage your songs carefully to try and power chord after hymn of valor.
despite being solidly tanked you have no taunt. so if your opponents are smart they can focus down the rest of your team and attempt to 5v1 you.

Supports and carries get focused. the better the support is doing the more likely you get focused. this build allows you to fight almost anyone toe to toe, and has let me kite/harass 4 on 1 and deal enough damage to force the entire team to retreat from me. power chord is strong no matter what items you build and try to always fire it after a hymn or celerity. preferred hymn.

with this build and a blue buff you should be able to shepherd your team up the lanes and hold them at the towers nearly indefinately. you are also tanky enough to tower dive with ghost thanks to thornmail reducing tower damage. i've had fed nocturns jump me with all cooldowns and fall at my feet. just always remember to kite them. your power chord is worth firing at a melee, your auto-attack is not.

this build netted me a 12/2/14 game last time i used it. i have also gotten a quadrakill followed by an ace, i got all 5 but the last took too long for pentakill.

please post any questions, i'll try and remember to check and address them =)