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Let's talk Sona (wall of text incoming)

TheOrgansolofan·1/31/2016, 8:33:26 PM·5 votes·702 views

Sona’s kit is probably in need of another rework. Her in lane patterns are annoying to deal with and feel as unrewarding as ever, although the new ‘tag your friends with an aura’ was a step in the right direction. If she falls behind, she spams her W to heal up her lane mate and shield poke, and if she is ahead, your ADC is going to get chunked out of lane by targetable harass unless you can all-in her or get jungle help. Mid to late, she is an ulti bot that offers utility to her team with her auras, arguably only two of which are useful outside of laning phase (W and E).

I propose this rework of her kit that bolsters the strength of her auras while increasing Sona’s counter play by introducing another skill shot into her kit. In addition, I have made a pass at Sona’s passive to create additional counter play in her harass pattern and offer meaningful choices to the player instead of ‘get to three stacks then Q-auto the ADC.’

**_ New passive: Power Chord Every X seconds, Sona’s next basic attack deals X-XX (by level) bonus magic damage and deals an additional effect depending on which of her abilities she used last. Power Chord’s cool down is decreased by X seconds when Sona hits a champion with ‘Hymn of Valor.’ Power Chord can be used on allied champions.

Similar to her original passive, Power Chord gains additional power depending on which ability was used last. The time-gating of the bonus effect instead of the stacking passive gives the opponent a window where Sona is less powerful, but rewards landing Q - Hymn of Valor, which is now a skill shot. It also prevents the spamming of skills to get the bonus effect from Power Chord, which is, quite frankly, a very boring play pattern. Laning should be making good choices, not hitting Q and W off cooldown and zoning out the lane opponent, or hanging back spamming W when behind. Now that Power Chord can be used on allies as well, it opens up additional options to the player. If desirable, the cool down of Power Chord and Hymn of Valor can be tuned so that Power Chord’s up-time is highly dependent on landing Hymn of Valor, mimicking the old play style.

**_ New Q: Hymn of Valor (cool down X/X/X/X/X seconds, X/X/X/X/X mana) Passive: Power Chord deals an additional X/X/X/X/X + (X of AP) bonus magic damage if used on an enemy unit. If Power Chord is used on an ally champion, it instead heals for X/X/X/X/X plus (X/X/X/X/X of AP)% of the target’s missing health.

Active: Sona plays the Hymn of Valor, sending out a shockwave in a straight line, until it collides with an ally champion or an enemy unit. If the unit hit was an allied champion, they are healed for X/X/X/X/X plus (X/X/X/X/X of AP) % of their missing health. If it was an enemy unit, they take X/X/X/X/X + (X of AP) magic damage.

Sona’s bread-and-butter ability retains the ability to poke out the enemy laners while adding the ability to dodge its damage. It also swallowed the old W active and allows allies to be hit, which means the player must make the choice to use the ability to harass or heal. The Power Chord ability is similar to the old Q, but since ally champions can be targeted, it can now be used as additional healing. The play pattern of ‘hit Q -> Power Chord bonus damage auto’ still exists but is largely dependent on landing the skill shot, adding counter play. In addition, the ability is now stopped by enemy minions, so Sona will now have to position more aggressively to land her harass. In team fights, this move should be thrown out for additional poke on the front line (item 3151 and item 3116 would probably be good buys). This is intended to be ranked second in priority after R.

**_ New E: Song of Celerity (cooldown X seconds, X/X/X/X/X mana) Passive: Sona gains (X of AP)% bonus movement speed. Power Chord will slow the enemy unit by half of this amount. If used on an ally, they gain (X of AP)% bonus movement speed.

_Active: Sona plays the Song of Celerity. Sona and the nearest ally champion gain X/X/X/X/X% movement speed that decays over X seconds. _

Similar to Sona’s old E. AP and bonus movement speed scaling should help Sona run around the map to ward and synergizes well with support items that grant AP and movement speed (like item 3504). The Power Chord effect is not useful when Sona has little bonus speed and AP but has a greater effect in the mid- and late-game when she has item 3117 or item 3009 and item 3092, allowing her to roam and make plays when Crescendo is down. She can receive ganks by using the active component, Power Chord, and her new W to greatly speed up her allies or get in range of the opponent to slow them. Using the E active then Power Chord increases the Power Chord effect (grants move speed/scales off of bonus move speed). Flat cooldown should prevent too much impact in extended fights. This is intended to be ranked third in priority, after R and Q.   **_ New R: Crescendo (cooldown X/X/X seconds, X/X/X mana) Passive: Power Chord’s bonus damage now deals X/X/X + (X of AP) bonus damage if used on an enemy unit. If used on an ally champion, the damage of their basic attacks is increased by X/X/X + (X of AP)% for X/X/X seconds.

Active: The same, but possibly with stun duration, base damage and AP ratio tuning

Largely similar to her old ultimate, Crescendo now sports a fancy new Power Chord effect. The bonus damage is kind of added for mid-lane Sona and should be less impactful on support Sona (Q with item 3285 -> Ult -> item 3100 + Power Chord auto for big damage). The damage boon on allies will help set Sona apart from other supports, and adds to Crescendo’s moment of power for her and her chosen ally (especially if she opted for item 3050). Lots of tuning might need to done on this one to prevent it from doing too much. The original wording was ‘damage increased,’ but I felt that it could be abused if used on burst mages and assassins. Of course, rank this skill when available.

**_ 'Where did her auras go?' you might ask. Instead of her auras being invoked when she casts a spell, I though shifting the auras to an ability active would allow for greater appreciation of their power and really set Sona apart from the rest.

_New W: Spirit of the Muse (cooldown X/X/X/X/X seconds, X mana) Passive: When this ability is cast, Power Chord loses its bonus effects from ‘Hymn of Valor’ and ‘Song of Celerity.’ Instead, using Power Chord while Spirit of the Muse is active extends its duration by X/X/X/X (rank in ultimate) seconds. _

Active: Creates an aura around Sona that has a different effect depending on which song she is playing. The aura lasts for X seconds.

Hymn of Valor: Allies that enter the aura are shielded for X/X/X/X/X + (X of AP). Allies can only be affected by the shield once per cast. In addition, enemies that enter and leave the field are damaged by X/X/X/X/X (scales with rank in Q) magic damage. Enemies can be affected up to twice (once entering, once leaving).

_Song of Celerity: Allies that enter the aura gain X + (X/X/X/X/X of AP) % bonus movement speed. Once an ally is inside the aura, the aura’s radius doubles; enemies caught in the aura are slowed for X/X/X/X/X% (scales with rank in E). _

Now that the healing from ‘Aria of Perseverance’ is shifted to Q, this leaves us with a new skill, Spirit of the Muse. Since Sona’s auras are now able to be activated at will, their power can be properly tuned and showcased. Trying to initiate a team fight? Use E + W to speed up the team and possibly catch an enemy or two out of position with the new slow field. When fleeing, the E+W can be used to slow oncoming attackers for a short while. Need to save your squishies? Use Q + W to protect them and (at least attempt to) prevent enemies from charging head-long into your back line. With item 3116, the Q+W aura will slow opponents entering and leaving, increasing kiting potential. A savvy player will notice that the aura can change between the two if the duration is long enough. To prevent abuse, the player must use Power Chord effectively to extend the duration of the auras if needed, and sacrifice the extra effects of Power Chord granted by Q, E, or R. Effectively, however, the auras can overlap if played correctly. A high(-ish) mana cost will prevent spamming the move off cool down and encourage the player to think before they use their auras. This skill is intended to be ranked last.

**_ TL;DR Sona’s identity in her current state is supposed to be ‘lane bully that transitions to team fighter with aura support for her team’ but executes that in a way that feels unrewarding, although the power is there. Her play pattern is stale, and when behind, she is largely dead weight for her team unless she hits an amazing ultimate. When ahead, her laning changes from harass to zoning and is not fun to play against. Her mid and late are in the same vein as support Annie but with poorer damage and scaling, or Lulu with less utility.

With these proposed changes, Sona gains a skill shot nuke that offers counter play to her lane pattern and offers up a choice to the player to harass or heal with her skills. Changes to Power Chord also promote new choices and open up a window of opportunity for the opponent to jump on Sona and her allies, and break up the ‘spam skills -> hit Q empowered Power Chord’ pattern. New scaling on Sona’s E should increase its relevance in the mid- to late-game and allow Sona to roam, make plays when Crescendo is down, and help engage/disengage team fights for her team. New Power Chord effects on Crescendo will allow for her mid lane role to stay while offering more utility to support Sona. Finally, shifting her auras to an active will create moments where Sona and her allies can appreciate her power, and appropriate gating of the cool down and mana cost of the ability will allow opponents to take advantage when the aura is down.

**_

I would really appreciate it if you vote and leave a comment below telling me what you think about the changes above. Sona was one of the first supports I played in the role, and I would love to see her get some love again sometime soon.

5 Comments

MorningEspeon1/31/2016, 9:19:51 PM1 votes

I really like the idea you came up with. I don't, however, like that she has literally no wave clear in her kit. The one suggestion I have is to change the Q to pass through minions and deal reduced damage to them and stopping at first champion hit, something like a Jhin W. Past that, your W idea is a touch confusing and I'm having a hard time grasping how you intend it to work... +1 though!

Rundus11/31/2016, 10:22:37 PM1 votes

I am an avid Sona fan and an avid fan of champion creation and revision (I have worked a lot with that for an internship application with Rito coming up), so I hope I can give some sound advice here. What you outlined is a decent design (without the scalings I can't be sure) with very clear weaknesses and strengths, but it isn't Sona. Her core Identity may have been intended as aura-support, but the playerbase has redefined it over time. Her q being targeted is a requirement. Otherwise she'd need to risk some of her health and mana (quite a lot of the mana) to get some procs of spellthief's and then heal up the damage cause she's uber squishy. As is, she can do that very well, and a good Sona will never have 3 stacks unless she's running back to lane. Now, as for the damage, this is also necessary. If she is behind, she can safely get q's off (even pitiful ones) whilst waiting for an opportunity with ult (there are always plenty in lane). She keeps the enemies in line by being so good at constantly hurting them, that they must hesitate to go in at all times for fear of instant death. You can really amplify her power with her team comp, and she fills certain niches extraordinarily well. With Caitlynn, they just dominate in lane and put down an adc. With Lucian or ez the burst gets phenomenal. Now, this may sound strong, but all supports have some combo(s) like that (except Taric maybe, but he still might). She isn't very strong right now, but she fills her niche better than a lot of champions, and the ones who can do it better have higher skill caps. Additionally, her q empowering an auto and hitting two targets is all the waveclear she gets without Ludens or Ult. She NEEDS that in mid lane. A Ryze q that an ally can intercept wont do enough against a Ziggs or Velkoz shoving you under tower (or god forbid a Zed, who can do that while halving your hp). Now for her w. This ability was ok, then meh, then great, and now it is ok again. When windspeaker's was stronger for tanks there were all sorts of fun things Sona could help with better than she could before. The flat armor and mr is ok on an adc, but its almost too aura-like. Why is this bad? Bc it feels like you aren't doing anything. When the adc gains 14 armor for a few seconds, it helps, but it felt a whole lot better when the ally Rammus could get a cheeky 80 Armor. Or 30ish for Graves. Windspeakers gave her w a bit of late game power, but tanks became overbearing with it and it wasn't intended for them. Anyways, the reason I'm saying this is because her w is lackluster atm since the heal is barely noticeable unless you're at death's door and the shield is what siphoned that power into trading. This helps her trade, but if she's dominating lane then this ability is often used for out-of-combat sustain, where half of the ability goes to waste. Now, don't be confused. Her w is fine as-is, despite those flaws, as in a teamfight it is immensely helpful to heal a near-dead ally for a ton of hp and shield your whole team. It is a fantastic ability mid-game and has merits in any teamfight. So many merits that its mana cost is insane. Either way, it is not the main concern of sona right now. The concern is her e. This ability is wonderful when full AP, and god-awful when you aren't for anyone but you. It gets better later, but for the most part it fails to do its job of letting Sona escape a bad position or reposition at all if the enemy has any MS buffs or cc. For instance, Malph support. He zones you with his ult by standing next to his adc, bc if you try to q him, you are in range of death. Another example is Lulu, Nami, Janna, or Brand. These champs all zone, but they can engage on Sona with minimal effort thanks to speed ups, slows, or sheer damage taking 1/3 of her hp each ability when she is in q range. In these matchups, Sona has e to help dodge abilities, but Nami don't care. She can go faster and slow you. Janna can slow you for any positional mistake. Lulu is also able to run her down. Now, I'm not saying they're op, but rather that Sona e is pitiful unless you are in team mode or build some AP to help. This ability is so lackluster that I feel bad for using it in lane unless i save someone with the slow auto or am getting ganked and can outrun them. Additionally, since this is her only mobility, Sona is often able to be slaughtered if she pushes up with an adc vs engage and doesn't have ample time to back off. It's okay to focus her since she dies so quick. The reason it isn't the most amazing is probably bc of no cc except for a conditional slow for 1 person. Others in her field do this better (Lulu q, Nami e/q, Janna q/e). You addressed that well, but without numbers it is incredibly vague.

So when it boils down to Sona's core, you get her q, ult, and w as her core parts of kit. Some would even argue for passive (i agree with them). Sona is absolutely fine in these regards. Her damage can be mitigated, but she's a good bully. Playing against one requires skill and strategy over just regular laning, same as a Lulu or Leona would. If her kit needed anything (and it kinda does), it'd be an e change. Maybe even a q buff early on. Her passive is sound, as it allows a skill gap to be present between the hit + run sona's who just q -> passive -> e away and the ones who can get two passives off in a skirmish and mong someone. As for e, I like the idea of targeted MS buffs, but the goal is AOE for team, so I'd say it's prob a better bet to up its base values and lower the scaling a tad. As a whole, Sona is a pretty healthy champ with cookie cutter niches, strengths and weaknesses. The champ you created would've made a good Sona when she was all about the team auras, but people have grown attached to other things. To take away those held precious by the champ's mains to appease those who don't like them as much would just be a douche move. I'd suggest going back to that kit, keeping the passive triggerable, keep the q targeted, and keep the ult. Fiddle with the w and e, moving the healing back to w, and see what you can do. Make sure you know your objective though. If it's just "aura chick," then I'd give her more mobility and bigger auras on all abilities at lower base values. If it's "lane bully", give her her q back, up the base damage, lower the scaling, and lower the e mana cost so she can bully easier.

I feel as though your kit just doesn't keep Sona's core intact, and the q and passive don't make sense thematically either. The w and e kinda do, but they seem too crammed. What happens after 1 q is cast and her w ends? How long does w last? CD? Why is there a gaping window of power in a champ who is made to be a strong ambiance? Like I said earlier, it's a good kit but it wouldn't fit who Sona has become enough. A lot of people would be unhappy.