How it feels to face New Sona in lane

EnvyDragon··1 votes·563 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOu-5ebDpc

Let me just say this: all along I have been against Sona's new Q. I felt that it didn't make sense for her to only buff the one autoattack, especially because so few champions actually rely on autoattacks for their effectiveness. It's unsatisfying to buff one autoattack for your ADC in lane, and it's unsatisfying to watch the buff go to waste on 3 of your allies because they aren't in a position to ever use it.

Just now, I played against a Sona who rushed Sheen.

First of all, I didn't know her Q enhanced her own autoattacks. It doesn't say that anywhere in the tooltip and the buff isn't visible enough to really see for sure. Second, it's such a monstrous increase in damage at low levels, particularly when her power chord is up, that it basically feels like playing against old Nidalee - except the spears are undodgeable.

People have been asking SINCE THE REWORK WAS ANNOUNCED for a change to the way her Q functions. The ONLY WAY TO USE IT IN A SATISFYING WAY IS TO CAST IT SELFISHLY. It is NO fun to play against and NO fun to play with.

EDIT: Did you know Q'd basic attacks double-proc Spellthief's Edge? Including the bonus damage? This is goddamn lewd.

4 Comments

The5lacker2 votes

Considering they cut the bonus damage on Q's Power Chord on half, it hasn't actually changed the damage at all.

And it doesn't even half half of the damage of a Nid spear nor a third of the range.

XXnIE66Rui1 votes

Rushing Sheen was already a viable option on old Sona (see Lich Bane Bitch Lane), but since old Sona also had other, more passive buffs, building pure support items was also a viable option. Now, however (this is only my experience) it honestly feels like if you don't rush Sheen you're going to be pretty useless for a while. Oppressive poke by taking advantage of mistakes is the best thing Sona can offer in lane right now. And it has to be taking advantage of a positional mistake - a quick-thinking support can stop her on her tracks and score a kill when she tries to poke hard. I'd honestly be okay with her having less oppressive poke but compensating with a better E or a stronger W.

The SE thing seems like a bug though.

EnvyDragon2 votes

Rushing Sheen was already a viable option on old Sona (see Lich Bane Bitch Lane), but since old Sona also had other, more passive buffs, building pure support items was also a viable option. Now, however (this is only my experience) it honestly feels like if you don't rush Sheen you're going to be pretty useless for a while. Oppressive poke by taking advantage of mistakes is the best thing Sona can offer in lane right now. And it has to be taking advantage of a positional mistake - a quick-thinking support can stop her on her tracks and score a kill when she tries to poke hard. I'd honestly be okay with her having less oppressive poke but compensating with a better E or a stronger W.

The SE thing seems like a bug though.

I'm not arguing that Sona is overpowered - if anything I agree with you. From the looks of things, Sona kept winning lane in internal playtests and they went "Hmm, she must have too much power in her auras." I say this because in the last few rounds of PBE patches, they mainly nerfed her shield.

The thing is, when I play Sona, I don't do it so I can chunk someone with one autoattack. I do it so I can buff my allies and feel useful throwing down teamwide effects. It feels wrong to have her W shield feel so inconsequential, her E speedboost barely there without tons of AP, and a Q that can give Sona the ability to deal 164 undodgeable damage at level 1 before reductions.

If I want to kill champions, I don't play a support. If I want to play a support that can cause damage, I play Leona or Vel'Koz or Zyra, not Sona. Because while yes, Sona has always had poke, the reason you play her is because she is the aura champion. She buffs allies. She throws out Power Chords based on context. She is a force multiplier.

New Sona only ever uses her Q Power Chord. There are problems here.

This is probably overkill, and probably a knee-jerk reaction, but I really think Sona's rework needs to be sent back to PBE for another month or so. She cannot POSSIBLY stay like this.

XXnIE66Rui2 votes

We're in full agreement, then, because that is how I feel about it, too. Again, only my personal experience (and I really only played bots, who are very lenient when you do silly things), but I only really felt I was getting the full use out of Sona in lane by doing what the Sona you played against did - rushing Sheen to dish out oppressive poke damage, when what I really wanted to be doing was assisting my ADC and occasionally landing a poke or two (not terribly unlike any other poke support).

I also felt like not rushing AP was the worst possible itemization decision since she's so reliant on it, and there is virtually no choice of item that beats Lich Bane in that regard since her other skills feel very underwhelming without points into them/her ult/significant AP. I mean, if my Q is the most effective skill I have early on and Lich Bane is going to complement that AND give me some AP and some much needed movement speed on top of it, I'm definitely going to go for it. And then it feels a bit like I'm playing a mid that scales into utility late game (Lulu?), not so much a support.

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