Changing Sona to be More Interesting

Disclaimer: I'm hired to balance, while I like to think I have a decent grasp of balance I'm sure that if this kit was directly ported into the game it would have major problems. I'm also 100% sure that someone who does balance and design at Riot could probably do a better job than me, but I have opinions and ideas that I think are worth posting, so I'll post them.

By now it's become evident that Riot doesn't like Sona's play style because of its simplistic nature. They also don't want to grant Sona any extra power through skillshots as that would go against her theme. Both of these opinions are understandable and OK, but what isn't OK is leaving Sona in her current weak state.

Rather than suggest a straight number buff (which would be one way to solve a lot of problems) I wanted to suggest a slight rework to power chord to make it slightly stronger when comboed correctly. The basic idea is that landing a powerchord on an enemy would mark them for a few seconds, the hitting them with Q would pop the mark, enhancing the effect of the powerchord.

General Power Chord Change After casting 3 basic abilities, Sona's next basic attack will deal bonus magic damage. Sona's ult now generates a charge of powerchord, this doesn't change the effect that is currently on.

Just a small change, was basicly implemented so Sona has a surprising way to Q-Powerchord into Q. By sitting on two charges with Q as the last cast spell Sona can R-Auto-Q for a high damage combo.

Hymn of Valour Powerchord (I'm using English spelling, not American, even if it's American in the game) Hitting an enemy with a Q powerchord marks them with a mark of valour for 3 seconds. Hitting a valour marked target with Q deals 50% of powerchord's damage (not Q enchanted) to the enemy hit and 100% of powerchords damage to enemies within a 300 unit AOE, the marked enemy does not take the AOE damage.

Gives Sona a stronger abet less reliable harass option in lane. It's going to be very obvious when Sona wants to use this against you, as she has to stack her passive then wait on Q CD before hitting you with her mark of valour. Basically Sona trying to hit you with this would be like a support Ashe holding her passive to zone you, it's completely obvious that she's doing it and rather easy to stay out of her range.

Aria of Perseverance Powerchord Hitting an enemy with a W powerchord marks them with a mark of perseverance for 3 seconds. Hitting a perseverance marked target with Q silences them for 2 seconds. (making Sona smile smugly)

Kind of makes thematic sense, the champ who is most based around sound having a CC based around sound. Outside of that it makes her most useless powerchord far more useful and as with the other chords acts as an extension of the chords effect. W powerchord is all about reducing the damage that an enemy can deal, silencing them would actually make this effect noticeable.

Song of Celerity Powerchord Hitting an enemy with an E powerchord marks them with a mark of celerity for 3 seconds. Hitting a celerity marked target with Q snares them for 1 second.

Sona's one of the only two champs with a primary support tag without a hard CC before level 6. The other champ is Nunu, but his ice blast slow is on demand allowing him to peel somewhat even without hard CC. Sona's only slow is on her E powerchord, which is both super situational and fairly weak. Giving Sona a hard CC pre 6 would allow her to compete in the current support environment.

Overall I'd hope these changes would allow Sona to contribute in a way that doesn't just involve dealing more damage, while still allowing her to contribute with high damage if she wants to.