Ask a Sona Main - BloodWater - Completed
Hey everyone,
Please put your hands together for BloodWater, here for his very first Ask a Champion Main! Known for his scintillating Sona play in the pro scene, the former LCS support player will be here answering your questions about the Maven of the Strings for the next few hours. Let’s get this party started!
He’ll be hanging out for the next few hours to answer your Sona questions, so go ahead and ask him anything!
UPDATE - This AMA is officially closed! Thanks for all of the great questions and a big thank you to BloodWater for hanging out!
------How did you get into League of Legends? How long have you been playing?
My brother introduced me to League of Legends. Before that, I used to play Dota 1 a lot. I am not sure exactly when I started playing the game, but I believe I have been playing for about four or five years now.
Where does your Summoner name come from?
When I played World of Warcraft, my character was named Blackwater. Since this name was not available when I tried to use it for League of Legends, I simply used BloodWater instead since it was the closest relation I could think of.
What got you hooked on playing Sona? To date, how many games have you played as her?
I used to play Sona a lot about two years ago because I felt really in sync with the champion, and her kit fits my playstyle very well. I found it really easy to harass my opponents and win trades in lane, so that’s part of the main reason I played her so much. I also have probably played over thousands of games with that champion .
Who is your go-to champion if Sona gets banned?
I do not really have a go-to champion. I usually pick depending on my team comp and the enemy team comp, but if I have to blind pick a support it will usually be Braum because I believe he is a versatile champion to blind pick.
If you could describe Sona’s playstyle in a sentence, what would it be?
Sona's playstyle is very easy to get used to, but it is hard to pull off properly. This is because she best fits a passive-aggressive play-style. Since she’s so vulnerable to crowd control and ganks, it’s very easy to make mistakes.
Knowing when and how to go on the offensive is key because one mistake could result in a bad trade or possibly a death.
What runes and masteries do you run on her?
I run hybrid penetration marks, health seals, flat magic resist glyphs, and flat armor quints. If you find yourself struggling with containing your mana pool, try running a mana regeneration quint or a few mana regeneration glyphs instead. That should help.
What is Sona’s core item build?
I stick to the old school Sona support build, which is buying Frostfang and Sightstone as soon as possible as well as Boots of Swiftness. After that, I rush Aegis depending on the enemy team's magic damage output, and Eye of the Watchers for additional wards and cooldown reduction.
Next I can choose to opt into Mikael's Crucible or Zeke’s depending on whether my ADC needs critical % chance or a cleanse from enemy CC abilities so he can survive. As a last item, you can build Ardent Censor because I believe the attack speed it offers is very valuable late game.
Another option is to just build a lot of AP items on Sona instead and hope you can snowball with it. However, I do not use this build pattern because it makes Sona extremely squishy and vulnerable, which good players will know how to abuse.
What are Sona’s easiest matchups? What are her toughest?
Some of Sona's easiest matchups are Soraka and Janna. Some of the hardest ones are champions with strong CC such as Leona, Thresh, Alistar, or Taric.
What is Sona’s main job in lane? What about Teamfights?
Sona's main job in laning phase is to make powerful trades with her q and w auras. It is very hard to out trade her and her ADC with those activated. She also provides a lot of pressure because of the high range of her Q.
In teamfights, it is important to keep an eye out for the enemy assassins (or the highest threat on the enemy team) and peel for your teammates, or look for the perfect engage if your team is ahead or you need to start out a fight. All of this depends on the current state of the game.
If someone is playing Sona for the first time, what is the most important thing to bear in mind?
Not to overextend in lane because you are a very vulnerable champion with no escapes, so it's easy to take advantage of that. Be precise with your ultimate and do not over think and hesitate because that will make you miss, which could be very bad for the fight.
How do you balance being aggressive in lane while protecting Sona’s tiny health bar?
You play behind the minion wave and use your abilities and auto attacks to harass making sure you do not overextend by walking too far in front of the minion wave.
How do you set up for a quality Crescendo?
Keep an eye out for people who are clumping up or enemy team engages. Sona is strong when engaging because of her flash ult combo, or disengaging because she can ult people who try to dive the backline and peel with her E.
What’s a neat trick about Sona that players may not know?
Using the W special chord when engaging in 2v2 fights reduces the target's damage output. Only use the Q special chord when poking/harassing.
What’s your favorite Sona skin?
Silent Night Sona, and I don't even own it.
What’s the best Sona play you have ever pulled off?
I have landed a 4 or 5 man ult numerous times in the LCS versus teams such as Curse, CLG, and maybe more (I don't quite remember). What I remember is that I was playing Sona, Zuna was on Tristana, Xmithie on Jarvan jungle, and I landed a 4-5 man ult on all of CLG at dragon. It was summer of 2014 I believe, and by beating CLG in the best of 3 we put them in a relegations match against team Curse.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! If readers want to reach out, where can they find you?
- You can reach me on Twitter here - https://twitter.com/BloodWaterx
- If you want to do an even deeper dive into bot lane you can check out The Art of Support (2nd Edition), a book I recently wrote, which digs into the support role.
Stick around in the comments and ask BloodWater any questions you have about Sona!
if you think you need HP.
