Sona is still a broken faceroll champion, here is a rework idea

Sona used to be op. Before Annie support became a thing, her ulti was the go to aoe insta-won team fight. Facing her in a lane used to mean that without a gank, you were not going to win no matter what and it instantly became a farm under tower game until laning phase is over. She had oppressive damage, as well as heals that were just stupid. The changes that Riot made to her were for the better no matter what old Sona players think.

Sona still has two main problems however that I think encompass what needs to be changed on her. These two problems are that 1. she has little to no thought required to play her, and 2. that she has two modes of existence, overwhelmingly oppressive, or underwhelming to the point of uselessness. What I mostly mean by this, is that a lane against Sona currently is decided in champion select. If you pick a safe support with little initiate, and the enemy counter picks with Sona, you have lost the lane. If the enemy picks Sona, you instapick Leona or someone else with good engage and the lane is yours unless you are heavily outskilled. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the difference between an experienced Sona player, and a novice is exceptionally minimal at higher elos (Gold to Challenger). When Riot added extra effects to her spells, so that choices in game mattered more, they failed to realize that face rolling your keyboard is almost just as effective as picking when to use each spell. Once again, the reason for this lies in the simplistic nature of her play style.

For example, when your lane partner gets low, you are going to use your heal. There is no thought about this, you just know it is what Sona does. As long as your partner is not full hp, you will use the heal as mana allows, and since she heals herself as well as her ally, she can forego health regen which makes her not have mana problems due to items like chalice, and coming to lane with 3-4 mana pots. Almost no players think about the fact that you get more bang for your buck if your teammate is low, because there is no reason not to cast the spell. This style of healing also allows very little counterplay if the enemy doesnt already counter you. All trades will be lost because of this, and all it requires is Sona to hit W every ten seconds. The shield on this spell makes it so engaging after the heal is more beneficial, but it is so effective as a spammable spell, that it leads to the quantum states of Sona that we see. When behind the heal does nothing because you and your laner get one shot regardless of the weak shield. When ahead it makes it so that the enemy can not come back, even after a heavy outplay, or mistakes on a teammates part that just barely didn't kill them.

Sona's Q has the exact same problem as her W. No thought is put into it, you just know if it is up, it is time to poke. It is an autotarget spell, followed by an auto attack which puts Sona in almost no danger. No skill required, and it happens so often that the power chord is activated by your q just because of probability so you can take advantage of this mechanic without ever trying to. Once again, the spell leads to a situation where if Sona is ahead she can 1v1 the entire champion roster with ease, and if she is behind she just gets one shot if she gets in range to use the spell, and which situation she is in is generally dictated by champion select.

I believe that Sona's E and Ulti are balanced. They do not really contribute to this problem because they are basically straight utility. The changes I have come up with are rather confusing, but if you think about them, they will actually make more sense, and fit with her character very well. I believe they would also change the dual existence of Sona to a more balanced state that has increased skill cap, but is still simple enough for the average player.

At the core of the changes would be the removal of her current passive. Sona spams her spells currently just so that she can have a power chord up to harass with. Little skill required, few ways to shine, almost no counterplay available due to the effects being delivered through autos. The new passive would be an entirely new concept. When playing music, the longer and louder you play a song, the more people who can hear it, but the more energy it takes out of you. The way this would translate is that Sona can hold her spells for increased effect and range. However the longer she holds a spell, the more mana it costs to hold. The range and effect would obviously have a cap built in, and would also be effected by how far away the target is when you finally cast the spell (i.e. the closer you are to a sound, the louder it seems). The circle around Sona, which currently displays the range of her aura’s would expand to indicate the level the target will be affected, and also how far she has currently charged her spell (Think Xerath Q for this one.) The longer she holds a spell, the slower she would become, up to a certain point, just like Xerath’s Q. Lore wise think of it as the more she concentrates on playing a song (casting a spell) the slower she has to move because it is more complicated. Additionally if Sona holds a spell but does not cast it, the mana cost is partially refunded. Sona can hold her spells as long as she wants, but once her mana reaches 0 the spell will fade out and will act as if it were not cast, refunding some of the mana. One final aspect of this is when Sona is casting spells, like Xerath Q, she can’t begin charging up another spell until she casts the first.

The way this would play out is at first the spells would have almost no effect at all, but also cost almost no mana. So if sona is willing to put her spells on cooldown for a direly needed heal or a speed boost, it doesn’t cost much, but it doesn’t do a whole lot either. This allows Sona to make decisions upon whether the heal can wait, whether she has the mana to charge it to its maximum point, as well as give her positioning some thought. How close can I get to the enemy or my allies to apply this effect I just charged up. It also gives the enemy a chance to think about what Sona is doing. She is charging up a spell, and her laner is full health. She could either be getting her speed boost ready for an incoming gank, or she could be getting ready to try and close the gap to deal a large amount of damage. If it is damage then I can back up to counterplay this. If my jungler just walked into tribush and she begins charging up a spell, it is probably warded and she is getting ready to bolt. If the enemy jungler is MIA, they might have snuck into the lane bush and are getting ready to dive with the aid of the speed boost.

If you have stuck with this post this far you are a trooper, and just know there isn’t much left.

Each spell would be changed to fit with this new passive. Sona has the option on every spell of casting it on an enemy or an ally for differing effects.

Q- Hymn of Valor On enemy, deals X damage to targeted champion based on proximity to Sona and level of charge. On ally, gives the allies next auto attack a damage increase of X magic damage based on the proximity of Sona to her ally and the level of charge when cast.

W- Aria of Perseverance On enemy, reduces the amount of damage dealt by X% for 2 seconds based on proximity to Sona and level of charge. On ally, heals the target for X amount based on proximity to Sona and level of charge.

E- Song of Celerity On enemy, applies a slow of X% based on proximity to Sona and level of charge. On ally, affects all allies in range of the spell cast, increasing their movement speed by X% based on proximity to Sona and level of charge.

R- Crescendo Same spell, if cast immediately will apply the 1.5 second stun that causes fools to dance. (I like the fact that Sona can react quickly to engages with this and can save her teammates in a clutch moment.) If the spell is charged it will basically look exactly like a Xerath Q, except the stun that is applied is once again affected by the enemy’s proximity to Sona as well as charge level. A full charge would have a range of 1-3 seconds based off proximity (example).

These changes would make it so the actual skill level required to use Sona’s spells does not change. They would basically all still be auto target except for the ulti. However it would remove the level of frustration experienced by enemy laners, because if they get hit with a whopping Q, they know they watched her charge up a spell and did not bother to play against it. They could also interrupt Sona’s spell casting to cause her to lose a large chunk of mana. It would increase the level of cooperation Sona’s teammates need to have with her, because if they are not using positioning to utilize her spells optimally, she could waste her mana for little gain. Finally, it would create a divide between an okay Sona and a great Sona. The increased level of decision making allows players to have much more power when they need it, as well as keeping her away from the current “faceroll” style of play she currently exhibits.

One problem I have already realized with this that people might bring up are, “Well what if she gets ahead and just sits in a bush near the enemy tower and Q’s whenever they go up to farm?” Well just think of the amount of mana Sona would have to invest to get a single Q off if she plans on holding it and waiting. This wouldn’t be a viable pattern for her because she might use all her mana and only get someone down to ¾ hp, and even if she is far ahead and does more damage, she can’t devote too much of her mana to poking at long range, or she will go oom and be useless.

Any other comments or questions people have about this idea would be awesome.