@Riot Fearless, can we talk about Sona? It may be a bit of a read

My name is Chris, but in game I go by Raith Alghul, I started playing in September 2013 when a friend recommended the game to me.

I wasn't sure what play at first, so I did a bit of research on the different roles, and came across one that people didn't seem to want to play as much as the others, the support role. The first champion I bought was Soraka, and I played her almost every game for the first few months, then someone suggested I try Sona, so I saved up the IP and bought her too. Sona became my favorite champion pretty quickly, her low cool downs allowed for multiple uses throughout a team fight and the feeling like I could direct the outcome just through small adjustment like a heal to an ally that was being focused or diminuendo onto a carry that got too close. I really couldn't understand why people didn't want to play support.

Season 4 started and I had just hit level 30, I had a few rune pages created and a workable set of masteries so I decided to try ranked, it was a bit stressful not knowing where I would be end up but after my placements were finished I ended up silver 5, not that great but for a new player it was an accomplishment and throughout those 10 games I had a lot of moments I was proud of, like landing game changing ultimates, making good calls and healing an ally at just the right moment to turn a fight. Most of those games were on Sona. A few months later I climbed to silver 3(Still not that great) before going back to normals for a while, still playing Sona as often as I could.

When the news came out that Sona had a rework up on the PBE I was surprised, as far as I knew there were quite a few champions that were much higher priority for a rework, Sona seemed like she was in a good spot. Once I got the details on what the changes were I started to get worried, not as much because of the aura change, but because of the adjustments to Sona's cool downs, a lot of the power in her kit was tied to her passive, with cool downs twice as long even at max cool down reduction, that were different across abilities this seemed like it would throw the rhythm of her kit completely off. Without the bonus AD from Q trading in lane with basic auto attacks would be too risky for very little reward, meaning that it was either trade with Q or passive, or don't trade at all. People reassured me that with the new kit Sona would have a lot of burst to poke with, but this seemed like something that wouldn't last long, and it didn't seem like Sona. After the rework her kit felt strange, the normal rhythm I was used to with her cool downs was gone and when her passive was down it didn't seem safe to be close enough to trade, The new cool downs also made using Diminuendo and Tempo seem a lot less viable both in team fights as well, since if you ended your casting with Q your cool downs would be up a lot quicker, so you wouldn't be punished for the long downtime in between power chords. I tried playing other supports for a while, tanky supports like Braum, Leona and Taric, other poke supports like Karms, I even tried Annie support.

Nami seemed like a good choice for a while but I wasn't enjoying playing her as much as I had Sona. So I adapted to the changes, I started playing Sona with 21/0/9 masteries and AP runes, instead of 4/5/21 and a less aggressive rune page. I bought spell thief's edge and got lich bane when I was ahead, I even managed to kill the enemy mid laner in a few games, but the new play style didn't feel as rewarding with the less frequent but higher damage poke, spending the laning phase waiting for power chord to come back up made it feel like there was less depth to her kit, Sona's passive was no longer a bonus that added another layer to her kit and felt good to use well, instead it felt like a requirement in order to lane.

I've branched out to other supports, in a few games I've been against a Sona in lane, either in a mirror match or on another champion, but I've never lost a lane to them, even when I supposedly should have because of the match up, the game play always seemed very transparent, go in, Q+auto, go wait until you can repeat, and I found this far too easy to punish, I could just stop the combo on some champions and even if I couldn't I knew as soon as it was used she couldn't trade back for a while, if I had CC it was pretty easy to get a kill. When you realize a champion has that kind of weakness it's pretty easy to capitalize on, Blitzcrank is the same way really, when his Q is on cool down you have the power in lane.

Now it seems Sona is on the radar as a champion with a problematic play style, her already low base move speed is being reduced even further, meaning less to scale with the runes and masteries I've been using, and less for the % boost on her E. Aside from that the high poke that people were praising during the rework has been reduced again, now down to 40%. I don't want to see her just nerfed into oblivion, people have been asking for a response from Riot and there really hasn't been much. Jag posted a bit but it seemed like very little information was actually given in the posts aside from the statement that these changes were going to go live in patch 5.1, which they have. What worries me is that it seems like Riot is treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problems here and there really hasn't been any statement with a long term goal to ease the minds of people that play her.

I don't want you to think that I'm just complaining aimlessly without really knowing what I expect to be done about it. I have been working on an idea since July to give Sona a reason to be less passive in lane, and to allow her to have high impact abilities without it being oppressive for her enemies. Since I first suggested it I've had some time to refine the idea and improve on a few points to where it might be in a pretty workable state. I don't expect this to just be implemented immediately, no questions asked or anything, I don't really even expect it to to be used, but I want to draw attention to the options available that could give Sona some more depth and make her more rewarding. Yeah, I know I talk too much, if you're still reading I appreciate it.

Skip to here for the idea

the change is mostly to her passive, adding an additional effect to it

Passive: Powerchord: After casting 3 basic abilities, Sona's next basic attack will deal additional damage and gains an additional effect based on the last spell cast(largely unchanged) Cadence: Sona's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage on hit equal to a base amount per level + a % of her AP, when attacking enemy champions these attacks restore 2/3/4/5% of her maximum mana scaling with levels in her ultimate and generate stacks that are consumed to enhance her next basic ability. Max 3 stacks. Stacks last 6 seconds and fall off one at a time, auto attacking champions at max stacks refreshes the timer.

Q: Hymn of Valor: active affect unchanged, deals additional damage over time for 1 second per stack of cadence Staccato: next basic attack marks the target enemy for a few seconds, increasing the damage they take from allied abilities and basic attacks by a %(applies to the triggering attack as well)

W: Aria of Perseverance: active unchanged but gives a greater heal/shield based on cadence stacks Diminuendo: unchanged(should have a clarity update to make it a more visible debuff)

E: Song of Celerity: stacks of cadence reduce the cool down by 1 second per stack of cadence Tempo: unchanged

R: crescendo: unchanged

These changes are really aimed at doing a few things for Sona, the additional magic damage on her basic attacks is meant to give her a more consistent poke ability instead of the highs-and-lows that she currently has, the stacking mechanic would allow her abilities to have a higher impact if she was playing aggressively rather than passively, her opponents would have the opportunity to trade back since she would actually have a reason to be in range for trades between power chord casts. Moving staccato from a selfish poke ability to a team focused one also means that Sona would still be capable of high poke in lane with it up, but would need to follow up in an extended trade rather than a hit and run tactic in order to maximize damage. lowering the cool down on Song of Celerity based on cadence stacks isn't as much about the speed boost as it is about allowing Sona to use her other power chords without feeling as punished, chaining auto attacks and abilities together properly would allow her to slow an enemy and not feel punished by extended downtime between uses of power chord, while giving her better ability to kite and peel for allies.

Thank you for taking the time to listen, I hope to hear back.