@Riot: An open letter on fostering a healthy playstyle for Sona

First off Riot, let me just say, I know where you're coming from, I too would do questionable things to Sona if given the chance. Things that might get a slap in response, but maybe not, it is always the quiet ones right?

All kidding aside Sona seems to be on your radar as a problem champion based on the nature and amount of interaction with her opponents during the laning phase, which is understandable given that her kit is one of the more well rounded kits for the support role with poke, sustain and a bit of engage/disengage. Her Hymn of Valor and staccato seems to be generally seen as the cause of the issue, it's hard to balance as it's her main/only source of damage but is also only allows for a very limited trading window against her in lane. The lower cool down and higher visibility of the spell also mean that it tends to get used over the other effects.

To fix this I want to bring up a few potential changes to her kit, which would add a second effect that could help with balancing.

Passive: Powerchord: After casting 3 basic abilities, Sona's next basic attack will deal additional damage and gains an additional effect based on the last spell cast(largely unchanged) Cadence: Sona's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage on hit equal to a base amount per level + a % of her AP, when attacking enemy champions these attacks restore 2/3/4/5% of her maximum mana scaling with levels in her ultimate and generate stacks that are consumed to enhance her next basic ability. Max 3 stacks. Stacks last 6 seconds and fall off one at a time, auto attacking champions at max stacks refreshes the timer.

Q: Hymn of Valor: active affect unchanged aside from damage being enhanced by the current number of stacks of cadence Staccato: next basic attack marks the target enemy for a few seconds, increasing the damage they take from allied abilities and basic attacks(applies to the triggering attack as well)

W: Aria of Perseverance: active unchanged but gives a greater heal/shield based on cadence stacks Diminuendo: unchanged(should have a clarity update to make it more visible)

E: Song of Celerity: reduces the ability cool down for each cadence stack Tempo: unchanged

R: Crescendo: Unchanged

The new passive could allow an amount of Sona's current burst to be redistributed throughout her kit, while also giving her more of an incentive to avoid just playing passively, the new portion of her passive also reinforces the need to make decisions when playing as Sona, since which skill she uses passive stacks on could have a significant impact on how a trade goes for her. The change to staccato also means that in order to chunk enemies in lane she needs to follow up on the attack and stay in range for a trade longer, risking having damage traded back onto her. higher risk for higher reward, should definitely be preferable to an outright nerf, which I know you would like to avoid as well.

Thank you for your time,

-Raith Alghul