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Can we look at sona again?

majulito·8/23/2014, 11:14:59 PM·21 votes·2,189 views

I've tried playing sona and she just feels sub par. Prior to her rework she was a lane bully and provided decent sustain but would run out of mana. After however she feels weak at all stages of the game.

Her heal feels pretty weak early and doesn't get much better unless the target is pretty much dead which at that point its probably too late. The shield the aura provides is small and doesn't scale well either. Not to mention to get the shield you have to hug sona.

Her E which is about granting ms requires you to be again hugging her. If you're in a situation that you need to run and sona is ahead of you she has to stop or go back to speed you up. If she is behind you you have to wait for her to catch up and kamakazi you for the speed boost before it runs out.

Her Q cd feels too long and too weak. The aura portion enabling bonus magic damage on next hit is nice but in it self feels weak and is often used on minions as opposed to poke.

53 Comments

HowPlayGAEM8/24/2014, 2:35:03 AM9 votes

I think part of the problem with Sona is that she needs to be balanced for the best case scenario, and outside of that its just crap. For example:

  • The shield is weak and has a very short duration, but can theoretically hit 4 allies, so it can't be too strong. Healing reduced thanks to increased cooldown

  • Speed boost got its range cut by a whopping 650, but now is actually useful in early levels. Still, 350 range for just a speed boost is incredibly short ranged, especially for a support character. Cooldown increased by a whopping 5 seconds.

  • Q aura can give a pretty decent damage boost, but if it hits only one or two allies it ends up lackluster.

Her fragility doesn't mesh well with her massive range nerfs, and her abysmal AP scalings aren't even worth exploring.

While I understand Riot wanted to make Sona's gameplay more engaging, I don't believe they succeeded; it ended up being simply annoying.

ModUlanopo8/24/2014, 4:48:02 AM6 votes

I did a lot of testing when she went live and I continue to play her almost exclusively. What Fearless should have said was that they deliberately nerfed her lane power and moved it to her team fight capability. They balanced her around the "worst case" scenario of Ardent Censer proc x4 every 6 seconds. It's not difficult to have >80% uptime on a +25% AS buff. Overall, she's considerably stronger than she was pre-rework. It's just that her early game is completely different.

She's no longer a poke champion, at least not the way she was. It simply requires too much effort and risk to play her with the old style. Try taking W at level 1 instead of Q and play more of a rope-a-dope style where you counter their aggression instead of being the aggressor. I started having success the moment I switched to this play style. It still doesn't feel like Sona, but it is effective.

Emmy Cha0s8/24/2014, 12:04:49 AM5 votes

True for the most part, players have been saying this for almost 8 weeks now and nothing's happened. It's tiring knowing that our voices as the players is being downright ignored and they keep repeatedly feeding us the same dis-informative excuses every time. The only part of what you said that's questionable is the CD on Q. It's the only spell that still remains even remotely close to the original CD and the ones on W and E are considerably more hindering. In general though, none of her abilities should've had CD nerfs considering their actual effects got nerfed as well, thus no trade-offs were given.

Meanwhile on the Rift: Morgana doesn't even notice the attempted "nerfs" she's being given.

Brindale8/24/2014, 12:27:57 AM4 votes

Tbh, I'm completely fine with sona now, other than her ult, as either they nerfed the width of it, or the visual for it pre-work was apparently just bigger looking :/.

YouLostMe8/24/2014, 12:47:32 AM3 votes

I don't feel the same things you do. Sona post-rework is a much healthier lane bully with better sustain and a better lategame.

At 0 AP, the heal is stronger if your target is below 40% HP. At high AP, it's stronger at higher %HP levels. That's not nearly "pretty much dead" and doesn't account for the shield, which does not requiring hugging but just a quick tag within the 350 range.

The E has a larger speed boost for Sona, which is reasonable because she's on a support income so she can keep moving fast without having to burn gold on T2 boots. If she's ahead of you, her ms boost will push her further ahead, like every other ms boost in the game.

The longer Q cd is part of what makes her a healthier lane bully, because power got transferred from power chord: staccato to her bonus damage aura. Reducing the cd is pretty much not going to happen. If you are blowing Q on minions, that means you're not in range to hit a champion, so don't waste your Q and you'll notice you become a lot more effective.

Deep Terror Nami8/24/2014, 4:56:30 AM3 votes

Simply put, Sona is a champion whose every ability is multiplied in effectiveness for each team member you hit with it. That's who she is; it's her identity. If you make her stronger, you have to nerf her teamfight potential and take away part of why Sona is Sona.

You can't really expect her to be overpowering in both 5v5's and 1v1's. It's a tradeoff just like champions who scale great late game and have trouble early, or champs who are boss lvl 6 but fall off at 14. Asking for her to be the best in every situation is unreasonable.

Earl Eulrich8/24/2014, 12:22:36 PM1 votes

She´s completely broken once you get some AP, Riot really still doesn´t understand that scaling MS is just insanely strong.

Karn Bishop8/24/2014, 4:39:26 PM1 votes

Remember when old xerath mains said new xerath didn't feel like himself anymore? remember how everyone laughed at us and ignored our plight? had everyone defended xerath this wouldn't be happening and you only have your self to blame.