Talk:Sona/@comment-16477585-20130916221924

Oh Sona. How much I love and hate you at the same time. Here's a champion that nearly has it all, except a wall flash. People think Sona is easy to play but that simply isn't true. She's not at a Janna or Thresh level of difficulty but she's harder to master than Taric, Blitzcrank, Leona, and a number of other champions. Basically I'm saying she's not worthy of the "10/100" anymore. There is a lot of difficult decisions/hidden depth to her kit than a lot of players seem to realize.

Passive:

Few things first...

-Stances passives persist for 1 second after swapping

-Her passive resets her auto attack (!)

-Her auras passive's have 1000 range

-All abilities have a 7 second cooldown. CDR!

Say what you want about her passive I see it as one of her redeeming qualities as a support champion. Once upon a time she was a faceroll champion that didn't have stance specific effects for her passive.

Q: MAGIC DAMAGE:  50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250  (+ 70% AP)

I love this ability, maybe a bit too much. 700 range is a misleading number. According to the ability details panel it has a targeting diameter of 1400 (and even that number might not be completely accurate). A lot of its targeting has to do with where minions are and her positon in relation to them. It's somewhat rng based but they more you play her the better senses you gain about whether it should hit or not. Simply utilizing her Q damage to the full potential is enough to distinguish a pro Sona and a first timer. You need to pay attention to when they're last hitting and what their support can do to you if you get in range. It seems that a lot of people forget about the persistent effect of her stances. Before W had its aura nerfed it was debatable which stance you should be in but now there's rarely a time during a team fight or laning phase that it would be better to leave any stance active but Q. The 20 AP goes towards effecting the strength of your abilities and adds oomph to your auto attacks. It will help your laning partner last hit and give them more lifesteal in the process. It can be worth running away from minions to change back to Q stance if you don't want to push the wave. It's better to go from Q to W then it is to W from W for the AP bonus. It's also better to Q from Q.
 * ATTACK DAMAGE AND ABILITY POWER:  4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20

''' Power Chord's bonus magic damage will be doubled. '''

TONS OF DAMAGE. Used to be slightly more before the passive change but oh well. You will use this power chord the most during the laning phase but less and less so as team fights happen. Kill stealing happens a lot with this ability.

W: HEAL:  40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120  (+ 25% AP) ''' Power Chord will also reduce the target's damage output by 20% for 3 seconds. '''
 * Back in the day this ability used to be broken... not so much anymore. It's still a good ability but not one to ever put more points than Q in or even E in some cases. Simply put: don't spam this ability. It's not a heal, it's a hybrid defensive aura. You should only be using W if you're trading to lower damage taken or to heal if you're both missing health (unless you're full mana).
 * BONUS ARMOR / MAGIC RESIST:  6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
 * Lasts for 3 seconds.
 * AURA ARMOR / MAGIC RESIST:  6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
 * Persists 1 second after leaving stance. Unless you're for sure getting AoE'd without dealing damage back (like Karthus ult) you'd be better staying in Q stance for the 20 AP/AD.

 20% damage reduction is quite a lot. The damage reduction stacks with exhaust's 30%. Works extremely well versus burst based champions like Zed or Riven. Helpful to protect your carry when being dove during team fights/being ganked if slowing them won't save your ally from the damage. Please don't use to poke with, that's what Q's is for.

E: MOVEMENT SPEED INCREASE:  6 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 14% 
 * Useful for when traveling or catching a runner. The active works on minions. If you're leaving base when minions are spawning you can stand in the middle lane and have it so all minions get a boost when leaving. That will cause minions to arrive sooner than the enemy's minions so they will meet closer to their tower. Assuming the lanes are equal it will cause the enemy's lane to push when the next wave arrives meaning ganking will become easier. If the lane is already pushing it will push even faster which means they're more likely to miss minions to tower. Worth noting it has a flat mana cost of 65 at all ranks. That's equal to W's mana cost at rank 2 or Q's at rank 5. Be careful using at rank 1, generally you don't use unless at full mana/traveling back to lane/stance dancing for passive/using for the slow. I like to put a 2nd point in E as soon as the bottom tower down when you begin to roam and clear wards.
 * FLAT MOVEMENT SPEED:  4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
 * Travel to lane/objectives faster! It grants more flat movement speed than Janna's passive at rank 3.
 *  Power Chord will also slow the target by 40% for 2 seconds. 
 * Great for buying time for your jungler to close distance or to keep an off-target from fleeing/getting in range of your team. It's typically the lesser used of the power chords but never one to count off.

R: Stuns for 1.5 seconds. It has 1000 range which is quite a lot. Don't feel like you need to flash every time you used your ult, you can often catch more than one person by simply walking up to them while they are dealing damage. It's a bit skinnier than the animation lets on to be so cast with intent, using the range indicator wouldn't be a bad idea. An ultimate that misses late game can lose your team the game. It has the highest AP ratio of her abilities so if possible you want to be in Q stance when casting it. The mana cost is quite large so be sure you manage your mana and don't run OOM mid team fight.

Skill Order: Q > W > (Q/E)* > (Q/E/(W))** > Q > R > Q > W > Q > E > R


 * In most cases you'll want to rank Q at level 3, however, if you're laning and doing well and have the potential for a kill it can be worth ranking E for its chord passsive and the ability to stance dance: (while in Q stance, 2 stacks) auto > Q > auto (passive) > W > auto(x) (at this point you're going all in with your AD so exhaust/flash will likely be used here) > Q > E > auto (passive)


 * I almost always rank E at level 4 if I didn't at level 3. Unless you're losing lane or getting poke beyond belief should you put a 2nd rank in W. Before the change to her W I'd be more likely to but since the change it gains very little per rank. You used to gain 3 resists on activation and 3 on its passive aura but now it only gains 1 for each in addition to the +25 heal for 5 mana.

Always, always start with Q first on Sona. If you start with W you're doing it wrong. If you start E then you must be playing master league. Remeber that Sona gets an auto attack reset when she gains 3 stacks... that means you want to cast Q twice as soon as you spawn (not 3!@#). Keep an eye on your passive stack, when you're at 2 stacks and are looking to trade you want to auto > Q > auto(passive) to get the most out of your kit.

Runes: http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/20138144#runes (see Caster Support page)

Mana regen (mana regen Quint!/seals/glyphs mixed in) > magic pen > CDR > AP > GP10 > health per level > armor pen (hybrid pen!!! you have +20 AD, don't discount your autos) [I would recommend 2 hybrid runes on Sona]

Masteries: 9/0/21. I like to take 1% lifesteal/spell vamp since you deal quite a lot of damage for a support.

Build: 2 green wards, 1 pink ward, 3/4 mana potions, 2 hp potions. I tend to skip Philo Stone on Sona. I find the health from Ruby Sightstone and the CDR from Kindlegem are more important and efficient. I rune enough mana regen and buy enough mana potions to be more effective early game as a fighter support that autos instead of just running away during exchanges. If I get ahead and steal enough kills I'll often buy Sorc Boots mid game. Sometimes even Mejai's or a blue elixir. Late game you'll want to buy a Zeke's and or a WotA.

Now get out there and steal some kills and creeps! Master Sona and you'll find yourself jumping ELO in no time.