Sona: a horde of issues.

So just tried her again and once more run into the same issues. She is way to slow for a champion that needs to be ducking in and out of combat; she lacks high damage to pressure a lane; so much of her power only shows AFTER you max out your CDR; And everyone's favorite issue "HER SUPPORT RANGE IS WAY TO SMALL"

So let's go through these real quick. For a champion who's thing (I think) is to pop in and out of combat/ be super mobile around the battle field helping her allies, Sona is REALLY slow, like insanely slow for a champion without gap clear. How are you expected to do next to anything if you can't run down or run away from people? I'm all for punishing bad positioning, but this is insane you literally can't escape anyone if you don't have your ultimate up. And you need to finish targets off or else they simply outrun you so chasing is pointless 95% of the time.

She lacks high damage, don't let anyone lie to you that this is not the case. She DOES have pretty constant damage, in that she can and often will poke enemies 4-5 times a minute. While nice in some ways it does often mean that she is predictable. If a Sona is poking you a lot, chances are she is going to keep trying to poke you. Play tiny bit safe, don't stand near unwarded bushes she could be in, and BOOM you have defeated her damage output. Even her late game damage isn't amazing (even with a full mage burst itemization). She doesn't do enough to 100-0 you, so if you can survive the first burst you can often just counter blast her.

Sona i think is probably the prime example of a champion who is just BAD without CDR. Many characters aren't great without it sure, but i can't think of any other that really just feels bad to play until you get like 30% or more CDR. Her damage spell might be in a fine place, but for how lack luster the other bonuses are, they sure make you really wait a long time for each of them.

And now we come to the biggest issue her support range. Let's not lie to ourselves 350 range is horrible for a support skill. it is down right unacceptable that a character designed to function only in a support role, should have all of their support skills with 350 range. I would not even expect a tank based support to have this low of range to active their abilities. So why is one of the most fragile characters expected to do this? Why is that character expected to do it with low mobility AND bad cooldowns? Why create a support character who is bad in the early game?

For those who are going to mention her win rate (50% +), please also remember that she has a 3% play rate. So of the very very few players who use her, they tend to basically coin flip between losing and winning. For reference we have someone like Thresh who has around the same % win rate, but sees a 40% play rate.

I will admit i don't know how the preseason changes will effect her, but right now i don't have high hopes that Sona will get the love and attention she needs to move back into a viable spot in the meta game.