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A Sona rework: not an suggestion but an idea

KawaiiDinosaur··3 votes·1,605 views
Sona | League of Legends

Hi there guys,

Yeah Im that guy who kept complaining about Sonas new playstyle being extremly unhealthy for her and the players who she's playing against (spamming every 7 seconds her Q is really annoying.. for me), but sadly riot did remove her identity as aura champion and pushed her a bit more offensive - sadly they just gave this only way, and maxing w and e became quite a useless choice, and what happened next?

They've nerfed her Q powerchord, to decrease her poke at early game, wich is honestly pushing sona to a bad direction. Because I think it's useless to request for the old sona to return, I've tried to take that what Riot has started and push it to a new direction, wich would probably please Riot in an way and give Sona players new options what to max, instead of only going only Q.

  • New Passive(s); Crescendo and Sound Waves Well, yeah Sona gets two new passives instead of one. I don't think it'll be a big issue, since there are alot of champions with extra passives in their kit.

Sound Waves;

Each time Sona casts an ability, her next auto attack becomes a ring, damaging every enemy unit that it goes through in (700 ~ 1000) units. It's possible to avoid the ring if the enemy unit is out of it's max range or if being blocked by an ability that can stop units.(Aka, Braum shield and Yasuo Windwall) It does X Base damage + X Ability power Damage to each enemy unit it passes through. Additionally it applies on-hit effects and scales on attack speed, though, Sona needs to attack an enemy unit within 550 units range to start the passive.

Here an image how the passive would look in action (The white ring) http://i.gyazo.com/640dfad6a0c357859f693c6bea672dc2.png This passive is something unique, and is probably really strange to handle with too, though it'll be something really benifiting if you actually hit an enemy with it, because of Sonas new debuffs on her basic abilities. They'll be a bit harder to detonate with an skillshot turning auto attack, though it'll be possible to hit multiple enemies wich will be in some cases really useful.

** Crescendo** The first basic ability that Sona max levels up first, will become stronger and does an Additional effect on her ultimate ability.

  • Q - Marked enemies recieve additional damage
  • W - Allies shield refreshed if they'll attack an marked enemy OR heals on-hit
  • E - Gives allies an additional speedboost if they'll attack an marked enemy

Ultimate So I was thinking about that Sona creates an additional buff to her allies per enemy hit, so the more enemies hit, the greater stats her team recieves Otherwise I had the idea that she'll apply an debuff on enemies.

  • Q - Sona and her allies recieve additional Attack Damage and Ability Power per enemy champion hit
  • W - Sona and her allies recieve additional Armor and Magic resist per enemy champion hit
  • E - Sona and her allies recieve additional Movement Speed per enemy hit

Of course, Q and W seem to be more favorable than E, but I'll try my best to think about an better thing for her E on ultimate and debuff!

A simplier version of Syndras passive. Also giving Sona players an important option, wich ability to max first for each different situations.

Before I'll go on what kind of new abilities I gave Sona, I want to tell that each ability has an offensive part against enemy champions and an short Aura that Allies can benifit from. The Auras would still have the "snuggle zones" method from her rework, and won't be that much affected from the changes (except w and e)

All of Sonas abilities will work similar to smartcasting, like Cassiopias and Karthus Q, they won't be instantly there, but will travel from Sona to target location. Afterwards, if there is an enemy champion in (200 ~ 300) range units, the ability will apply a debuff on the enemy champions wich can be triggered from Sona and her Allies auto attack (and maybe abilities? Not sure about this). This would look a bit like this http://i.gyazo.com/4c945f4ebd32817f0c9f763c7453a960.png

Q

  • Hymn of Valor Sona will play an sharp and moderate song, that will damage and debuff enemy champions at target location, at the same time, Sona will create an aura, wich will give allies an empowered auto attack wich applies on monsters, minions, champions,** and turrets.**
  • Debuff: Fermata (stopped, pause, hold) Enemy champions being marked by Fermata, get five marks over them, wich can be triggered and consumed by Sona and her Allies. If allies attack that enemy champion, it gets damaged and stunned by 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5 seconds. This stun stacks up to 5 times. This bonus is increased by 100% for Sona (0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8/1.0 seconds if Sona hits that target) (each of her allies and herself can trigger one of them once.) Max stun per rank: 0.6/1.2/1.9/2.4/3 seconds

The ability by itself would look like this: http://i.gyazo.com/cccdc845136eb8d3ed6a42360fc88e5f.png

Of course, because of Sonas lack of pre-six, I gave her a tiny buff of counterplay and punishing like other supports can. Though, even if the debuff Bonus is increased for Sona, she has to actually hit it, wich might be hard if her next auto attack becomes an somewhat skillshot that can be avoided by being just out of range.

Before we go any further - Her Q debuff can be only triggered once per teammate. This means only if everyone of Sonas team attacks the same target, that it'll get the full stun duration. This should promote focusing the same target as Sona, as well promoting teamwork!

W

  • Aria of Perseverance Sona will play an soft and slow song, that will hurt and debuff enemy champions at target location, additionally Sona heals the lowest health ally in range and creates an Aura, wich shields allies. The shield strenght and duration is increased by 1% per 1% missing health.
  • debuff: Diminuendo (soft, softly, becoming softer) Enemy champions being marked by Diminuendo, get one mark over them, wich can be triggered and consumed by Sona and her Allies. If allies attack that enemy champion, it gets damaged and their damage output get reduced. If Sona triggers the mark by herself, the damage output of that champion gets even more reduced.

This would look like this http://i.gyazo.com/fb25de7340c5284d705c98ceca1a21ec.png Yeah, with the powerchord removal, Sona lost her strenght to decrease damage output and slow, and because of that I've moved the powerchords debuffs on the debuff part on cast. The same thing happened to her E powerchord.

E

  • Song of Celerity Sona will play an strong and fast song, that will hurt and debuff enemy champions at target location, additionally Sona creates an aura, that will increase the speed of herself and her allies. The Speedboost lasts for herself and her allies until the aura decays.
  • Debuff: Largo (slow, slowly, becoming slower) Enemy champions being marked by Largo, get one mark over them, wich can be triggered and consumed by Sona and her Allies. If allies attack that enemy champion, it gets damaged and their movement speed is reduced. That debuff is doubled if Sona attacks the enemy champion.

Same discription for Aria of Perseverance/Diminuendo.

R

  • Grande Finale Sona plays an incredible and stunning chord, that stuns every enemy unit infront of her and forces them to dance.

Nothing changed much here. Removed the aura bonuses from it though. Adjust the Mana cost to 100 for every rank and it's balanced.

About her debuffs she can cast: She uses the same method as smartcasting for it, so the Aura casting won't get intterrupted, mostly it would be irritating if you need to work with them as skillshots with Sona being an aura champion. Either you use them to debuff an champion, buff yourself and allies, or do both! As well it would be good to know that each of her debuffs have travel times, Largo being the fastest (because of being bound to an ability that increases speed) Fermata inbetween the fastest and slowest and Diminuendo the slowest of all three (Because decreasing damage output is probably one of the most critical things wich i have to admit) http://i.gyazo.com/b3d607271d3c31043c897571471c7e37.png

Once a debuff has been triggered, the same champion can't recieve any debuffs for a certain amount of time, otherwise Sona would rock a bit too hard, wouldn't she?

So about gameplay with this rework.. I'd imagine her going spellthiefs edge as support item, increasing her poke damage, yet being still avoidable because of her new passive. But I really think her time shines when she actually hits her ultimate on enemies. Considering that Sona has still to be extremly close in range to hit enemies with her ultimate, she can easily take that advantage and use her new debuffs from her basic abilities, mark multiple enemies and trigger them all at once! consider her playmaking 1 second extra stun after her ultimate, making her probably one of the greatest late game treats if she does a successful combo. Even using her W and E would be much easier, Allowing Sona and her allies either to better kite or sustain a fight, or taking it as defensive option to protect Sonas team if fighting in that certain situation might be way too dangerous.

it's not finished yet, and I'll rework it again in future, but I'd be quite happy to hear opinions!

EDIT 08.02.2015: Updated a bit. Added Passive bonuses for Crescendo

9 Comments

TotemBuffalo1 votes

i like it at first i thought it would make her over powered but then again there are no exact numbers and after thinking about it i like the idea of actually making you decide what to max first which would depend on the situation or team comp, it could still use some tweaking but i like the direction your idea is going in the problem with her passive is that the debuffs werent consistent because why would you bother slowing or something when you would just do more damage with your Q and she became and offensive champ rather then a support so they nerfed her Q which was understandable but made her generally useless in the eyes of most. This way she can fit the support role better with out being overpowered but fun to use at the same time. keep up the good work

It Is I Emoto1 votes

Yeah that was my main point! Right now she has only on route, and thats just going straight damage, wich is really not healthy for Sona players, mostly because if other players don't want to go the AP route, they're putting their team in danger and having no real strong buffs. With this idea I have, you'd give her much more options what to build and having also more counterplay against opponments, except going straight damage. Lich bane would be still a favorable item, but sustaining through an teamfight to keep debuffing high prioity targets would be also an option and going bruiser-like Sona wouldn't as bad too. She could also shine in mid lane, though being really squishy, with her new passive she get's nice poke and allows also to set up, disengage ganks with damage reduction. Though this kit is more designed to be cooperative instead of being alone, since allies can also trigger the marks on the enemies.

KawaiiDinosaur1 votes

That awkward moment when you're posting a thread on your underleveled euw account

Erockandroll1 votes

I have said this in other threads but large amounts of Debuffs don't thematically work with Sona. She is made to be benevolent figure that give buffs to the Team, not oppressively remove them form the enemy. Also a Debufing aura will not do much If she needs to be so close. Particularly because of her damage and her Speed boost, She is being balanced around the ability to kite, so I don't expect that they will buff her defenses.

It's Really unlikely that they will do another Kit Rework so soon.

It Is I Emoto1 votes

In other threads? I don't think I've seen alot of threads around here that Sona should become an debuff support, though I was taking this debuff/buff kit from her lore, being an talented child, using the power of the etwahl to manipulate her listeners - wich would buffing and debuffing do greatly. This kit is probably somewhat harder to master and also leaning abit to gnar, like being unable to control the transformation.

With this kit, you need to seriously know what to do, because if you're planning to use an ability, you're also doing something unconscious too. She had the power to play an mythical instrument and can touch the hearts of their listeners, yet it can also destroy and kill, while it's not being sonas will.

Though, the kit is not about touching enemies with the aura too, it's about using smartcasting to pick one or multiple enemy champions and debuff them. If you'd turn Sona into a skillshot champ that doesn't use smartcast, it'd ruin her kit probably completly, because you have to klick where the skillshot needs to go as well.

Though, Sona can't kite that well right now with her low movement speed, without any serious pre-6 cc, and an 12 second cooldown speed ability. Though I've forgot to mention that her Passive Sound Wave can be also used while moving, allowing her to trigger slow/stun marks while she's moving and allow her to kite even better.

I don't expect them to rework her again sooner or later, but I leave this here so people can give thoughts about it. Maybe even a rioter might come back and look at this and will use it in the future if they want to make sona more to an higher skillcap champ, it was still fun to work on this kit and I feel proud of it :)

Erockandroll1 votes

{quoted}

In other threads? I don't think I've seen alot of threads around here that Sona should become an debuff support, though I was taking this debuff/buff kit from her lore, being an talented child, using the power of the etwahl to manipulate her listeners - wich would buffing and debuffing do greatly. This kit is probably somewhat harder to master and also leaning abit to gnar, like being unable to control the transformation.

With this kit, you need to seriously know what to do, because if you're planning to use an ability, you're also doing something unconscious too. She had the power to play an mythical instrument and can touch the hearts of their listeners, yet it can also destroy and kill, while it's not being sonas will.

Though, the kit is not about touching enemies with the aura too, it's about using smartcasting to pick one or multiple enemy champions and debuff them. If you'd turn Sona into a skillshot champ that doesn't use smartcast, it'd ruin her kit probably completly, because you have to klick where the skillshot needs to go as well.

Though, Sona can't kite that well right now with her low movement speed, without any serious pre-6 cc, and an 12 second cooldown speed ability. Though I've forgot to mention that her Passive Sound Wave can be also used while moving, allowing her to trigger slow/stun marks while she's moving and allow her to kite even better.

I don't expect them to rework her again sooner or later, but I leave this here so people can give thoughts about it. Maybe even a rioter might come back and look at this and will use it in the future if they want to make sona more to an higher skillcap champ, it was still fun to work on this kit and I feel proud of it :)

Maybe you don't understand what I mean by "not thematically appropriate." A Kind, fair, madden of Music, Benevelent to her teammates. Does not strike as someone who would have Abilities that subtract the enemies power. This isn't to say that it wouldn't be an interesting kit, But if should be one for a completely different champion. (An Anti Sona of sorts.)

also, in case you haven't been paying attention to the PBE, there looking at reverting her MS nerf while fiddling with her HP and Mana Growth. It Looks like they may faver her Kiting over Tanking as her Late game health is getting hit.

It Is I Emoto1 votes

{quoted}

Maybe you don't understand what I mean by "not thematically appropriate." A Kind, fair, madden of Music, Benevelent to her teammates. Does not strike as someone who would have Abilities that subtract the enemies power. This isn't to say that it wouldn't be an interesting kit, But if should be one for a completely different champion. (An Anti Sona of sorts.)

Oh I see! Yeah, it's true that Sona is in nature an more friendly champ, though I've extracted the power of her powerchords and put them in her abilities, wich would do technically the same things as her current ones (well except that she's doing that 40% extra damage) I just thought, because of her lore mostly inspired (The Etwahl killed her adoptive mother, without her will) That it might fit to how the Etwahl works though I can't imagine that an sloppy Q could have killed her.. lmao

also, in case you haven't been paying attention to the PBE, there looking at reverting her MS nerf while fiddling with her HP and Mana Growth. It Looks like they may faver her Kiting over Tanking as her Late game health is getting hit.

I did! I was one of those who actually mentioned it an week earlier. I was quite happy about that she got again her movement speed, but in return to loose health is still extremly critical for an fragile champion like Sona. Her only ability that allows her to kite is her E, wich decays over time and has a 12 second cooldown. Champions like Nami, Lulu, Janna are way better in kiting than Sona, because they have more ways of mobility and crowd control, wich helps them alot.

It Is I Emoto1 votes

Bump EDIT 08.02.2015: Updated a bit. Added Passive bonuses for Crescendo

It Is I Emoto1 votes

Bump again. Sorry, kinda really want some opinions about this idea. It might be not the best solution but would allow her to be a more interactive champion, and even allow her to use other abilities in lane.. (in my opinion)

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