My Sona based rework idea -RHYTHM-

Sona as a champion mechanically has nothing to do with music and this irks me, So in light of all the Sona thread attempting to get attention, I will post my Idea of how to better her, I will disclaim that I don't know the balance in numbers for this Idea but I would like to see the rhythm mechanic become a thing as it would increase her skill ceiling tenfold, something she is in dire need of currently

Rhythm

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Sona now has a new resource bar under her mana bar, it does not deplete but it has a little bar that moves left and right, the bar has a different color in the center, if Sona casts an ability while the little bar is in the center color, she gains a stack of rhythm, works well as Sona has instant cast spells (Think like the active reload system in Gears or War, or the combat system in Undertale) Rhythm would effect Sona's abilities and make them 10% stronger, for every stack of rhythm Sona the window to correctly cast a spell becomes smaller, but with every stack she gains 10% more potency to her spells, rhythm would have 5* maximum stacks and would be very difficult to correctly time, specially when you consider latency, So Sona would not be in 5* stack mode most of the game If Sona does not cast a spell in 10 seconds, rhythm begins to deplete, for each stack of rhythm she has this depletion time is reduced by 1 second causing Sona to keep casting to keep up her stacks If Sona does not hit the rhythm at the correct window frame she loses 2 stacks of rhythm At level 6 and 11, the tempo increases

Initially this would mean that Sona's base spell values and ratios would need to be reduced by some value between 20-30%* but she can potential have her base spells be 50% more powerful

As a critique to myself on this idea, it's not exactly a great idea to keep your eyes glued to her resource bar all game, I can only suggest that with this resource, have Sona play her music, but have a music queue to indicate when she can cast a spell (maybe add an extra layer of reverb in the window of opportunity to cast, but just spitballing...)

*Numbers are numbers, they can change, I can't vision these numbers being implemented if this idea was used

So with this system, we have a Sona who has to know what she is doing, perform beautifully if the music queues were added, have to manage her resource to get do better and all in all, a skill ceiling that actually has room for improvement. Would love critique on this Idea, this isn't a buff Sona thread, it's a make her a more skillful champion thread.

[Critique Responses] **Mana **- Combo casting and keeping up with rhythm stacks would make her oom all the time True, maybe having more rhythm stacks could act like Cassiopia's old passive, reducing 10% of the mana cost for each stack

Predictability - Enemies would know when to stay away from Sona From what I explained from this post, I mentioned that it would take 1 second for the bar to move left to right, 1 second isn't a lot of time so really you can't anticipate it all the time

Situation - She should use spells when they are needed, not because of the minigame Again, 1 second isn't a lot of time