Sona Build Guide by TheFanciestBard

Introduction

Greetings everyone and welcome to my mid Sona guide! I played mid Sona somewhat frequently in S2 but the changes in S3 actually gave mid Sona more to work with and increased her viability. If you're looking for a guide on how to play lovely lady in more than just bot lane look no further! This guide will be a little short and sweet but don't let that fool you.

Why Sona mid? SHE R SUPPORT NOOB

Alright.. Alright.. You've got me there. Sona is one of the more iconic supports in the game and she is extremely strong in that role, but what is it that makes her strong? Sona is notorious for her insane poke and good CC with a little bit of everything thrown into her kit. Her AP ratios are actually very, very good (Outside of her W scaling which is understandably bad) and it leads to her dealing surprisingly good damage if allowed to build straight AP.

Sona plays very similarly to a burst mage and she is comparable to Annie in that regard as she has a very high damage combo with descent sustained damage afterwards. She is a good pick if your team is tanky, lacks a reliable form of AoE CC, or if you know the match-up would be favorable to her (Yes she has good match-ups in lane, go figure.)

Runes

Runes are simple and attempt to amplify Sona's already high base damage.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Negates early magic resist and helps get the most out of your burst. This is a core rune.

Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration - With Sona's Aria of Perseverance she is able to out poke and out trade people. Her mana costs are somewhat high so this helps keep you in lane longer! Swap these for Greater Seal of Armor if you're facing an AD mid for some reason.

Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power - Core rune. They gives more AP at level 6 then flat ability power and that's when her burst is strongest in lane.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power - Staple AP mid rune, nothing else offers more for Sona than this rune.

Masteries

Simple 21-9-0 build aimed at getting more AP and damage out of her abilities while also helping her absolutely terrible base stats. Sona is one of the squishiest champions in the League and the extra health and resistance helps tremendously both in lane and out of it. Swap magic resist and armor in the defense tree based on who you're facing mid.

Ability sequence and explaination

Hymn of Valor - This is your bread and butter. At rank 5 this does 250 + 70% of your ability power on a 7 second cooldown. That's a lot of poke in and out of lane and it's the reason Sona is so good at poking someone down.

Aria of Perseverance - A heal and a defensive buff. This is maxed second since your Hymn of Valor is your only real damage source. This is good for keeping you in lane longer and keeping someone alive!

Song of Celerity - Movement speed ability. It's maxed last as the utility and damage of the other two abilites are more important. This is useful for escaping ganks, chasing someone down, or getting to lane quicker. Never forget this ability.

Crescendo - The base damage on this is fairly good and the scaling at 80% is amazing. The stun is just the icing on the cake and in addition to doing massive damage it locks down a champion or an entire team for 1.5 seconds. That's a long time in the middle of a fight. Rank whenever you can.

Item explaination

-Core items-
Sorcerer's Shoes - Magic pen, movement speed, they're a winner. Get these after your catalyst the protector preferably, although most of the time I wait until after both catalyst the protector and Tear of the Goddess if I'm doing good in lane.

Rod of Ages - Health, Mana, Ability power. This item makes you tankier which is always welcomed as Sona is extremely squishy and prone to being bursted down. It gives you great staying power and there isn't an item you should get before this.

Archangel's Staff - Sona spams a lot, she fills a tear quick, the passive has good synergy with Rod of Ages and it upgrades into Seraph's Embrace which has an amazingly good active for Sona if she gets focused.

Lich Bane - Part of Sona's combo is her Power Chord and this adds even more damage to it. This item ups her burst so much it's almost silly and it adds to her sustained damage as Sona's cooldowns are all very short and easily spammable.

-Offensive-

Rabadon's Deathcap - With the recent buff to Rabadon's AP passive this item is once again a must have on anyone dealing AP damage. Pick it up whenever you feel you can afford it. If you're doing well early enough build it before finishing the Lich Bane as the Sheen still hurts early on.

Deathfire Grasp - What's better than some burst combo? MORE BURST! Use this before your combo and you will instagib anyone in your path. The AP and CDR are also nice with making your Crescendo cooldown shorter.

Void Staff - More magic penetration. Kind of boring honestly but it helps and it's great if people are stacking magic resist.

-Defensive-

Zhonya's Hourglass - Armor, AP, and an active that'll save your butt. This item is fantastic on any caster and vs AD heavy teams the armor helps a ton.

Abyssal Mask - Gives a nice chunk of magic resist and AP. The passive is not wasted as Sona is actually somewhat short range and the range of the aura is about the same as your Hymn of Valor

Warmog's Armor - Wait what? Yes. If you're getting bursted down, focused, or anything, slapping this on with your Rod of Ages will make you a very tanky Sona. Her burst is also high enough to warrant an entirely defensive item.

Laning and how to play AP Sona.

Laning phase is where AP Sona shines most. Levels 1-5 you should focus on just poking your opponent down with a combination of Hymn of Valor and Power Chord. To set the pace of the lane always charge 2 stacks of your passive before heading to lane. Hymn of Valor + Power Chord at level 1 will easily do 30-40% of someone's HP unless they're a tank or stacking magic resist.

At level 6 you can easily get a kill. Crescendo + Hymn of Valor + Power Chord and finish off with an Ignite will kill all but the hardiest mids. Flashing in on them suddenly is a great way to surprise a more caution player who is scare of Sona's poke.

Because of Hymn of Valor's passive AD boost Sona has a very easy time last hitting and the active of Hymn of Valor can snipe low health minions while harassing your opponent. Never push your lane with it unless you're warded up and safe to do so.

Do keep in mind when building Sona you generally want to have your core items as soon as possible then rush an offensive item then a defensive one. If you're winning or feeling confident go with two offensive items ( Deathfire Grasp and Rabadon's Deathcap are my favorites ) and if you're behind or having a rough game rushing a defensive item can always help. Build to counter your lane opponent and their team.

NEVER forget that Power Chord's effect is based on what song you have active. Managing Power Chord and using the proper effect for each encounter is key to master Sona

Ganking

As a mid player your job should be to help the side lanes whenever you can. Ganking isn't only for the jungler and afk farming while top/bot is pushed up and your lane opponent is at base or dead is the worst thing you can do!

Sona can easily come in and chunk someone down with her Hymn of Valor + Power Chord combo. Combine this with a bit of CC in either lane and the slow from Song of Celerity's Power Chord proc and Sona can be surprisingly good at roaming. If you have Crescendo up then it's a guaranteed kill in any lane unless they have some form of double escape or tons of CC. Ezreal and Corki are both examples of champs that have double escapes with Flash and their movement abilities.

Matchups

This section will be broken up into three parts based on popular mid choices at the moment. A rule of thumb for mid Sona is that she is very weak against any gapcloser mid while she is very strong vs ones with weak early games or who rely on zoning their opponents.

~Favorable Match-ups~
- If there was ever an easier lane for Sona I can't think of it. 1-5 you outpoke her and can easily deny farm. Your ult completely counters her's and your burst is higher. The only way she can be a threat is if you allow her to roam which you should never do. The key to playing Kat is never be afraid of her. If she comes in for a Bouncing Blades Shunpo sinister steel combo she has nothing left and you can freely chase her down and deal damage.

- Not as popular recently but you can poke him while dodging his poke. He has weak burst but you also can't really stop him from roaming. He is easy kills in lane especially post-6.

~Skill-based match-ups~
- This lane comes down to dodging her harass and successfully winning trades. At level-6 you can ult her ult and generally burst her down in that 1.5 seconds. If she hits a charm you'll probably die because of how squishy Sona is. One of the rougher lanes for Sona but it's winnable.

- Pre-6 you can out harass her and maybe even get a cheesy kill because she is fairly squishy as well. Post-6 this match-up is almost identical to both Brand and Annie in that whoever gets the initiation on the other will die in lane. Her burst is higher than yours so if she does survive your combo you better hope you have a way out or they back off.

- If you can predict and dodge the ball even 60% of the time this match-up should be fairly easy. She has very strong 1-2 with Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance combined with her passive Clockwork Windup makes Sona's low base stats really apparent. Stay mobile and harass whenever you can to win this lane.

- Your early game is better than his and you need to press that advantage as much as possible. He has about the same ranges as you and if he catches you in a Rune Prison he'll probably chunk you a bit. Forcing him out of lane early on is fairly easy and as long as you can deny him farm he will have a problem getting tanky enough to survive your burst. If he starts aggressive he can poke you very hard with his Overload and out damage your healing.

- She out-ranges you and has a fairly strong early game with her Lucent Singularity and Illumination debuff. Thankfully she is all skill-shots and her burst combo takes a few seconds while leaving her open to yours. If you get hit by Light Binding post-6 be prepared to Crescendo your way into an escape or a kill.

- Morde will outpush you, his shield can eat some of your harass, and if you don't position well he can chunk you with his Siphon of Destruction. Not unwinnable, but no one outfarms Morde.

~Suicide lanes~
- One of two mages who can absolutely destroy Sona. Her harass is more constant, more damaging, and she can easily get a kill before level 6. At 6 her Petrifying Gaze has amazing damage and can mean the death of you before you can even think twice. The only saving grace is that she has horrible mana issues and may run herself dry trying to kill you which is your chance to counter-attack.

- The other mage who dominates Sona. She isn't very popular but with the discovery of Muramana on her she may see a rise in popularity. She out pokes you, has fairly good utility, and has the strongest burst of any mid at level 6 without a doubt. She is based entirely on skill-shots outside of her ultimate so dodging them can help a lot.

- This match-up is almost identical to Akali Fizz Kha'Zix and Talon where they don't care about your poke and will rush in, burst you down, and make you question why you're not in botlane. Most of these champions are sub-par pre-6 and denying them farm or out harassing them to get a good lead and advantage is one of the only ways to remotely win the lane.

~Special cases~
- She will simply safe farm under turret or push the lane harder than you can and go do her own thing. While you won't be dying to her and you can potentially burst her down in lane she will out CS you and make it easy for herself to roam.

- This poor guy gets out-laned by nearly everyone in the game. He is easy kills and the only way to really stop this monster is to deny him as much farm as possible. Play as aggressive as possible when facing Karthus

- The nerfs hurt her, but she's still a threat! Keep your lane pinked if you can and try to deny her roaming. If you see her going to try and gank another lane let your team know! Eve needs to snowball to stay relevant as an assassin.

Conclusion

Thanks for checking out my mid Sona guide! I hope you try it out for yourself and have some fun with one of my favorite champions! Feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.