Making Sona Work
So been thinking about Sona for a while and right now the current version of her in live simply does not work. It doesn't fit her theme as a musician, it doesn't fit her theme as an aura champion, and it isn't viable in the least. That said as much as I would personally prefer her rework be reverted I know that isn't going to happen so instead of crying for the impossible I want to offer my view on the direction I feel the current Sona could go in order to at least return her character as a musician, the feeling of having powerful auras and also her viability. I want to stress that I am not going to discuss specific numbers beyond mana costs, IE not going to say "Sona Q does X damage" but more I want to focus on changing her playstyle so it fits who she is, numbers can be addressed later.
That said here is how I feel Sona could be changed.
**Passive
Encore** Every 3rd time Sona's aura is refreshed on an ally it receives an additional effect.
Hymn of Valor--Damage is doubled
Aria of Perseverance--When the shield breaks it heals the target for twice the shielded value.
Song of Celerity--Ally becomes energized allowing their next auto attack to create a field for 1.5 seconds that slows enemies inside.
This effect can only trigger on the same ally once every 10 seconds.
**Hymn of Valor **40/45/50/55/60 Activation, 20 mana per sec channel 6 second CD
Active: Sona sends out bolts of sound that deal magic damage to the two nearest enemies within 700-range, prioritizing champions.
Channeled Aura: Sona and allied champions tagged with Hymn of Valor's aura deal bonus magic damage on their next basic attack refreshing every second, lasts 3 seconds once canceled or move out of range.
**Aria of Perseverance ** 60/70/80/90/100 Activation, 50 mana per sec channel 6 second CD
Active: Sona heals herself and a nearby allied champion with the lowest health percentage. The healing is increased by 0.5% for every 1% of the target's missing health.
Channeled Aura: Sona and allied champions tagged with Aria of Perseverance's aura are shielded, refreshing every second.
Song of Celerity 65 Activation, 30 mana per second channel 6 second CD
Active: Sona gains a burst of bonus movement speed that decays down to the aura bonus over 3 seconds. The duration is increased by 0.5 seconds for each ally she tags with the aura.
Channeled Aura: Allied champions tagged with Song of Celerity's aura gain movement speed refreshing every second.
Crescendo 100 Activation
Sona reaches the climax of her performance canceling all active auras to channel them into an irresistible chord that travels in a line stunning all enemies for 1.5 seconds and has additional effects for each aura Sona had active.
Hymn of Valor--Enemies hit with Crescendo will take an additional % damage for 3 seconds. Aria of Perseverance--Enemies hit deal % reduced damage for 3.5 seconds. Song of Celerity--Crescendo leaves a area behind it's path for 4 seconds slowing all enemies standing on it and speeding up all allies.
So the idea of this is to get away from the 1 time "aura" in favor of the persistent aura's we all loved without having them being "fire and forget" that riot hates. Instead they are constantly channeled consuming mana every second, up to a total of 100 mana, but granting their effects multiple times and even putting a form of power chord on her allies. This gives her that feeling of being a musician playing her concert and having the people listening being "moved" by her music. Additionally I wanted to add what I felt like was much needed interactions with her ult and so I moved some of her old power chord passives into her ult when channeling those abilities, but while it's a powerful ult you can't maintain all your auras and use it as it ends those auras and puts them on CD. The idea is that the "crescendo" would be the climax of her performance as oppose to just another thing she throws out.
Her W is now justified to have a low shield value, since it can be constantly refreshed every second as oppose to lasting 1.5 seconds and being gone. Additionally I would frankly just remove all utility scaling from her in favor of higher base values, as frankly early game is where supports need to be strong with decent utility to play off of into the late game as oppose to needing to build AP to make the utility of their kit worth while. It could be debated if aura ranges should remain the same or not with these changes and the auras now lasting until canceled and being refreshable.
Not gonna say it's perfect but I hope it's a least a starting point for discussing Sona and hopefully get some changes to her that will return a lot of her old flavor but no completely give up on the direction riot wants to take her. Anyway tell me what you think, if you like the direction or have other ideas that can work with this.
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