Fixing Sona (aka Ways we can retain Sona's identity and tune her kit without unending nerfs)

Sona is a champion who has lost her identity and been drowned under constant nerfs.

[[Segment of Expository Ranting]]

• The "rework" was just nerfs so extreme it could be called a "rework" instead of just "nerfs". Admittedly, if you could overcome her mana limitations with your build, she WAS overpowered.
• "Auras"? Don't exist anymore, not on Sona. Short-term buffs, esp of the 1.5sec variety are NOT Auras. I don't think I've ever heard Gangplank or Nunu or Warwick referred to as "aura" champs, not in the manner of classic Sona, or Taric's Armor aura, or Janna's Movespeed aura, or Heimer's Regen aura.
• Even after the "rework" nerfed her areas of effect by almost 90% (Math: Area = Pi x Radius Squared, so a drop of Area from ~3mil un-game Units to ~300k Units is ~90%), even after the durations were made insanely low, even after the secondary effects often didn't apply (an unused shield is no benefit, an on-hit effect on someone who isn't autoattack is no benefit), Sona has continued to receive constant nerfs patch after patch.

So, in addition to completely losing her identity by having all her Auras REMOVED, on top of the radius nerf, there continue to be Sona issues so egregious that she's STILL on the nerfing radar above far more troublesome and oppressive choices. Clearly, we just plain have a DESIGN issue that needs to be revisited properly, and bundling a bunch of nerfs together and calling it a "rework" does not fix a DESIGN issue. (I would argue there are a few other champs like Elise, Kassadin, Kalista, Yasuo, etc that have glaring design issues, but that's for other threads.) [[End of Ranting]]

Time to actually fix Sona! The goals of these changes are the ACTUAL unachieved rework goals.

• Retain Sona's identity as an AURA champion. Rework Sona has NO Auras, none.
• Encourage Sona to play more actively. Rework Sona is even MORE passive than before, longer Q range and longer cooldowns DISCOURAGE activity (why get close when you don't need to Power Chord because its cooldown is 50% longer?).
• Give Sona clearly visible power, which I interpret as a clear radius where she is having an impact within, and not without. Rework Sona has no more/less visible power than Classic Sona, utter failure here.

Passive: Power Chord - Applies after EVERY ability use (no longer resets autoattack timer when it procs), for a substantially reduced amount of damage. Current ~20-200+ 20% AP vs New ~6-60+ 5% AP

Q: Hymn of Sorrow - Active, same as now, but roughly 650 range, something that extends only slightly beyond her autoattack range. Roughly the same damage, this is an adjustable lever that can be balanced! Design! (Renamed in the spirit of Amumu and Karthus to reflect changes. Even Swain said so.)

• Current 8sec Cooldown vs New 7sec Cooldown, ie rework reversion.
• Power Chord Bonus - ~10-100 (by level) + 10% AP (Again, adjustable, this is simply about 40-50% of old Power Chord, so the Q bonus amount is roughly the same)
• New AURA - Sona creates a 550-radius Aura for 7 seconds around herself which damages foes within. Does NOT apply spell effects (no Rylai's Liandry's shenanigans).
• Aura deals 6/9/13/16/20 + 5% AP damage per second. *Auras still persist for 1.5sec upon a spell cast activating a new aura, same as classic Sona.

W: Aria of Perseverance - Active, same as now. Perhaps a range reduction on the active. No longer scales with missing health.

• Current 10sec Cooldown vs New 7sec Cooldown, ie rework reversion.
• Power Chord Bonus - Reduces the target's damage dealt by 15% (no AP scaling) for 1.5 seconds, down from 20% + 2% per 100 AP for 3 seconds
• New AURA - Sona creates a 550-radius Aura for 7 seconds which heals allies within. MAY not apply spell effects (Ardent Censer abuse?) -Aura heals 2/4/6/8/10 + 5% AP per second.

E: Song of Celerity - Active increases the movement speed of ALL allies within 550-radius by 8/11/14/17/20, no AP scaling, for 1.5 seconds. Cooldown reversion to 7 seconds.

• Power Chord Bonus - Slows the target by 30% for 1 second. No AP scaling. (Down from 40% + AP scaling for 2 seconds.)
• New AURA - Sona creates a 550-radius Aura for 7 seconds which increases the movespeed of allies within.
• Aura grants 4/6/8/10/12 + 3% AP movement speed. Note: Flat values as per old Sona and current Nami, not % values.

R: Crescendo - Wider, but shorter range. Rather than being something Sona can now fling far out of her area of effect, bring it in closer to her, but also wider so it is more reliable and dangerous within these closer quarters. 650-700 range seems appropriate, not extending far outside Sona's Aura radius. No longer grants bonuses to other abilities when ranked up. Mana cost change to 100 across all ranks, to reflect design consistency.

This achieves the design goals for the Sona rework, while restoring her identity:

• Sona has Auras again, actual Auras. 7 second durations make them effectively indefinite, if you want to spend the mana to maintain them when their cooldown comes up. They're persistent, she can any given aura up at any given time, but they're not unlimited and free.

• These Auras actually do stuff, stuff with lackluster bases and mediocre scaling, all tune-able balance knobs. Sona must choose how her item investments go for Mana vs Surviviability vs AP for scaling. She's very constrained by mana, she needs a lot of it to utilize Power Chord and her actives. But she's squishy, she puts herself at risk TO use her Q and Power Chord. But she won't be very effective without some AP either. This provides meaningful decisions for players to make.

• These auras match her autoattack radius, giving a very clear and visual field of power and influence. Reducing the range of her Q and R helps with this as well. You can see where Sona is and where her impact is. You can see where it isn't.

• To benefit from Power Chord, Sona needs to be in there, autoattacking. She cannot sit back for 10sec to try to front load a very large nuke. With an autoattack, Q, autoattack combo. There is no autoattack reset anymore, and Power Chord damage is split across multiple ability uses. Anytime you don't autoattack between abilities, you're wasting it. This encourages her to be active to contribute damage to her team, since she isn't exporting the damage to her allies. If you want to sit back and heal/shield and export damage to others, play Nami or Lulu or Janna.

This is how you would rework Sona and give her several tune-able balance knobs, without wrecking her identity by stripping all her Auras, and making her even MORE passive by wrecking her cooldowns.