Sona/Strategy

Laning
From the start of the game, works best operating close to her allies. Here her auras help them trade effectively, with Hymn of Valor boosting her marksman’s attacks while empowering her own poke. Aria of Perseverance heals more on low health friends, so while topping off an ally’s health is relatively inefficient (particularly with its high mana cost and low base values), saving her heal for later in fights grants markedly more health and makes baiting all the more effective. Power Chord offers some tactical options, too: Aria of Perseverance’s Power Chord effectively reduces the enemy marksman’s attacks when timed correctly, while Sona can chase down fleeing enemies or escape from ganking junglers with the slow from Song of Celerity’s Power Chord.

Teamfights
In teamfights, the smaller auras encourage Sona to stay mobile enough to heal, shield and empower her allies as needed. Song of Celerity gives her plenty of movement speed, and tagging allies with the edge of her aura gives them the same buff while extending the duration of her own. And while she previously relied on flash to position for her ult, her new E’s sudden surge of mobility is significant enough to get Sona into position to use Crescendo, which is just as potent and game-changing as before. Once it’s been cast, Sona works best healing and shielding her squishier allies with Aria of Perseverance while using Hymn of Valor to amp up her allies’ damage.

Skill usage

 * has three distinct effects based on the last basic ability used. All of these effects scale with AP.
 * It will reset your auto attack, so use it after an initial attack for maximum output.
 * By charging it before a fight, you can gain the advantage from any of the effects at the very start.
 * will deal 40% more damage than 's base damage.
 * makes a good early game harasser.
 * will apply a 20% (+ 2% per 100 AP) damage reduction debuff upon a target.
 * In a battle using along with  to hit the enemy's carry can help turn the tides of the fight.
 * also affects.
 * will apply a 40% (+ 4% per 100 AP) slow for 2 seconds.
 * Do not underestimate the movement speed buff of . The active can give a very large speed boost to team. This combined with its slow from   can make it very difficult to catch/run away from her and her team.
 * ​ is very strong if leveled up quickly. However, because of her lack of escape mechanisms or survivability skills, she should still be played as a support champion.
 * In a passive support lane, encourage your carry to trade blows with the opponent, as using both your and  lets the both of you make easy and effective winning trades.
 * Use  when an ally is being focused in order to take advantage of the aura's shield.
 * Stay with the team. Sona's auras are most effective when the team groups up. makes an excellent healer,  is best used when the whole team can take advantage of it, and  lets the entire team kite. Without a teammate around,  is little more than an easy gank.
 * Early game, be wary of constant spell rotation, as it will quickly drain her mana. However, this can also be a large problem mid to late game without proper itemization. is a valuable mana regeneration item for Sona.
 * is a powerful CC that can stun an entire team. Strive not to waste it, use it to counter-engage for the highest chance of success.
 * can be used to quickly reposition for a maximum target.

Build usage

 * Being a support, should focus on supporting her AD carry early game by warding and keeping them safe. This means getting by with less gold and building so as to benefit your team.
 * Your ideal support item is . Your natural playstyle focuses on harass, and this greatly complements the damage output with an easy method of gold generation.
 * is also quite beneficial, as you can safely sustain and create a passive laning environment that zones out the enemy.
 * If you go midlane, you usually need to keep your wards up, as your chances of escaping ganks, when not warded, is limited, and basically impossible if both the wards and your flash is down. Getting a fast  is recommended, as well as getting  right afterwards. You also want to rotate your abilities, in order to have 2 stacks of your passive always ready to punish any overextending champion with  +  +.
 * Aura items are available that benefit Sona's playstyle.
 * With her and a,  can make it nearly impossible for the enemy to catch a dying teammate or escape from her team during a chase. These two also allow her team to traverse great distances very quickly, such as running to a structure after an ace to take it down before the enemy team revives or moving to a friendly structure to prevent it from being taken.
 * 's debuff to enemies' attack speed decreases the DPS of auto attacks from the enemy team while giving you more CDR and armor.
 * 's debuff to enemies' magic resist increases the magic damage output of your team while giving you more magic resist and AP.
 * is a powerful item because it's capable of saving an important teammate and let them continue in the fight by removing CC and healing them.
 * The massive mana regeneration is also extremely useful.
 * All of Sona's skills (including her passive) scale with AP, but support Sona should prioritize CDR over AP as to maximize the utility of her skills and passive.
 * CDR in fact raises her damage output faster than AP does, and more cheaply.
 * ,, , , , , , , , , and all have CDR and Sona can realistically use them.
 * With 40% cooldown reduction, the cooldown of is 4.8 seconds,  is 6 seconds,  is 7.2 seconds, and level 3  cooldown is 60 seconds.
 * is extremely valuable in teamfights and group pushes, but sustained aura rotation can deplete her mana pool quickly if not equipped properly. Use any available mana sources to extend the duration of your presence on the battle field.
 * The only possible way to go overboard on you mana is using both and  at the same time.
 * can add a significant amount of damage to her spell rotations. Combined with it can provide incredible burst damage.
 * As an alternative, a more supportive Sona player might want to get . The CC it provides is something Sona lacks, and the stats are just as beneficial.
 * 's can shield multiple allies at once. This makes  a very good item on her, providing a slew of useful stats alongside an attack speed buff for allies. No matter the composition, it will improve her team's objective taking. Also, you can further extend the duration of the Frenzy buff on a single most wounded nearby ally by approaching them no more than 3 seconds after activating the ability, thus refreshing Frenzy's duration for up to 9 seconds total.
 * Although unconventional, can make great use of  in the middle lane. As a champion who tends to auto-attack a lot, she can make use of the AD it provides (and, as a result the lifesteal it provides), while gaining a substantial amount of AP and spellvamp. Being a champion lacking a lot of natural, easy-to-use CC,  can make use of the active very well.

Countering

 * is fairly squishy throughout the game, especially at level 1. Work with your allies to kill her fast.
 * Just be careful not to give her the upper hand through your aggressiveness. Being a support, her allies are her main survivability, and making the mistake in ignoring them can prove to be more fatal than ignoring Sona.
 * Constantly try to harass and her lane partner. Doing so forces her to use, and it takes up a lot of mana in the early game.
 * When laning against, remember how she can boost her partner with her supporting spells. When focusing either of them, you're really going to be fighting both of them, so account for it by removing either from the equation with CC or zoning.
 * 's harass is targeted, which means that to avoid her damage, you need to either block the damage or not be there to take it in the first place.
 * cannot auto-target enemies not in vision, so take advantage of brush and control vision.
 * Magic Resist in general can counter a Sona focusing on damage. and  are the recommended items for this.
 * Do not overextend when chasing an enemy that is accompanied with . Her allows her to outrun you very quickly.
 * Sona is a rewarding target to remove quickly from the fight. If the opportunity presents itself, remove her from the equation.
 * Avoid grouping against a Sona. Otherwise she can end up hitting as much members of your team as possible with.
 * is best countered by using an aggressive support with ridiculous amounts of CC, such as, , or . Keep in mind that you must play very aggressively against Sona and not give her time to recover her spells; otherwise she will just end up harassing and out sustaining your aggressor of choice.
 * Alternatively, using a support with similar healing and harass, such as or, can be a good choice for stalling the lane and at least not letting the enemy snowball.