Sona/Strategy

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Skill usage

• Power Chord has three distinct effects based on the last basic ability Sona used.
  • Power Chord - Staccato will deal double the damage of Power Chords base damage.
    • Charging Power Chord three times with Hymn of Valor at the start of the game can lead to an advantage fighting in the brush at level 1. (Use Hymn of Valor between the first two auto attacks)
    • Power Chord - Staccato makes Sona a good early game harasser.
  • Power Chord - Diminuendo will apply a 20% damage reduction debuff upon a target.
    • In a battle using Aria of Perseverance along with Power Chord to hit the enemy's carry can help turn the tides of the fight.
    • Aria of Perseverance's Power Chord also affects Dragon Dragon.
  • Power Chord - Tempo will apply a 40% slow for 2 seconds.
    • Do not underestimate the movement speed buff of Song of Celerity. The passive aura combined with its AoE active can give a very large speed boost to Sona's team. This combined with its slow from Song of Celerity's Power Chord can make it very difficult to catch/run away from her and her team.
• ​ Sona's Hymn of Valor 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.
  • Leveling first is great for aggressive bot lanes due to Hymn of Valor's passive aura granting additional AD and AP as well as providing decent harass during the laning phase.
• In a passive support lane, encourage your carry to trade blows with the opponent, and do the same with  Hymn of Valor and  Power Chord. Afterwards, heal yourself and your partner with  Aria of Perseverance.  This will wear down the enemy and force them out of lane in less time and mana than just poking with  Hymn of Valor.
• Use  Aria of Perseverance when an ally is being focused in order to take advantage of the bonus armor and magic resistance.
  • Aria of Perseverance's passive aura is great for a more defensive lane and also for team fights when paired with Aegis of the Legion
• Stay with the team. Sona's auras are most effective when the team groups up. Sona makes an excellent healer, Crescendo is best used when the whole team can take advantage of it, and Song of Celerity lets the entire team kite. Without a teammate around, Sona is little more than an easy gank.
• Sona can twist her auras, having the effects of two auras overlap. When a new aura is cast the previous aura effect stays up until its duration expires.
• 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. Chalice of Harmony is a valuable mana regeneration item for Sona.
• Crescendo coupled with allies' channeled abilities can devastate the opposing team, as while stunned, they can't interrupt the channel.

Build usage

• Being a support, Sona should focus on supporting her AD carry early game by warding and keeping him/her safe. If your carry can get last hits, you'll want to leave them for him/her. You can offset your lack of farm by buying Ancient Coin or  Spellthief's Edge for more sustain, better healing, and Gp10.

• If you go Sona midlane, you usually need to keep your wards up, as chance to escape ganks, when not warded, is limited, and basically impossible if your flash is down. Getting fast Sheen is recommended, as well as getting Chalice of Harmony 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 Hymn of Valor + Sheen + Power Chord.

• A valuable build for Sona is stacking auras, as all it takes is Sona's presence for her to be useful and most of the aura items you should be getting are relatively cheap.
  • The combination of level 5 Hymn of Valor and Zeke's Herald gives up to 40 AD and 10% life steal to her close allies.
  • The combination of level 5 Aria of Perseverance and Aegis of the Legion gives a total of 10 armor and 30 MR to her close allies, or 20 armor and 40 MR to both allies while Active.
  • Another defensive Aura is Frozen Heart. Its debuff over enemies decreases DPS damage output of enemy team, especially from enemy AD Carry. It can be used in combination with Power Chord - Diminuendo and Exhaust.
  • Other offensive Aura is Abyssal Scepter. Its debuff over enemies increases the magic damage output of your whole team.
  • With her Song of Celerity and a Talisman of Ascension, Sona can make it nearly impossible for the enemy to catch a dying teammate or escape from her team during a chase. These two things also allow her team to traverse great distances very quickly, such as quickly running to a tower/inhibitor after an ace to take it down before the enemy team revives or moving to a friendly tower/inhib to prevent it from being taken.

• All of Sona's skills (including her passive) scale with AP, but support Sona should prioritize cooldowns over AP. So to maximize the utility of her skills, passive and AoE stun of Crescendo
  • Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Fiendish Codex, Athene's Unholy Grail, Banner of Command, Morellonomicon, Kindlegem, Zeke's Herald, Locket of the Iron Solari, Frozen Heart and Talisman of Ascension are good options.
  • With 40% cooldown reduction, the cooldown of Hymn of Valor, Aria of Perseverance and Song of Celerity are 4,2 sec. and level 3 Crescendo cooldown is 60 sec.

• As midlaner, on the other hand, AP items with side utility should be prioritized, while getting CDR as close to 40% as possible. Athene's Unholy Grail is a must, while Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment are good to have items to make you both slightly more durable, and increase power of your poke. Lich Bane, another useful item, is however ignored by some in order to achieve higher AP and therefore stronger teamfight impact, sacrifcing personal power for stronger supportive power.

• Sona is extremely valuable in group pushes, but sustained aura rotation can deplete her mana pool quickly if not equipped properly, consider mana regeneration glyphs per level to make sure she never runs out of mana.
• Because Sona has generally low cooldowns, low mana costs, and needs to constantly switch abilities, she charges up  Seraph's Embrace faster than almost any other champion. This also helps her, as it provides one of the highest mana regens in the game, allows her to stay in long team pushes for much longer, and gives her a small shield for incoming burst.
• With 40% Cooldown Reduction, Sona can keep stacks of Guinsoo's Rageblade up easily.
• Lich Bane can add a significant amount of damage to her autoattack. Combined with Power Chord it can provide decent burst damage.
• Sona's Aria of Perseverance can shield multiple allies at once. Because of this, Ardent Censer is a very good item on her, providing cooldown reduction, mana regeneration and ability power, alongside an attack speed buff on her W.

Recommended builds

Countering

• Sona is fairly squishy throughout the game, especially at level 1. Work with your allies to kill her fast.
• When laning against Sona, be sure to play safe as she can boost her partner with her supporting spells.
• All of Sona's active stances are AoE, meaning that you can avoid her spells by moving away from her.
• Do not overextend when chasing an enemy that is accompanied with Sona. Her Song of Celerity allows her to outrun you very quickly.
• During teamfights try to kill Sona first, since she provides consistent damage/defense boosting auras through the teamfight, as well as an AoE stun.

Champion spotlight

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