Disable Sona on ARAM

magic pole··9 votes·5,064 views

This champion is oppressive on ARAM. Ever heard of Sisyphus ? Every time I get matched against a Sona in ARAM that is how I feel.

When she is on my team, it's hilarious. I can recklessly dive at level 3 because i basically have infinite health thanks to this champion; it feels like bullshit and i know it is, but it's hilarious. When she's on the other team, you experience the direct opposite. You may occasionally get lucky and have a hard engage team against a Sona without tanks, but unless that unlikely scenario occurs, you just lose. Straight up. No counter play, you just lose. Harass and poke is irrelevant because with the increased mana regen on ARAM, SoNa (yes she brings out the salt in us ARAM payers) has infinite mana which translates into infinite health for her team.

Her meaningful weakness in Summoner's Rift of a squishy support who must put herself at risk in order to land some harass completely flies out the window on Howling Abyss. Why? Because it's a 5v5 and there is a tower mere teemos behind her. She doesn't have to put herself into those risky situations since she has 4 members who can lay down the harass while she sits back and spams infinite health for her teammates. They can lose trades HARD, and yet they in fact win those trades because then they can sit back and heal up. Meanwhile, you cannot effectively dive until your team is quite leveled, by which point Sona and her team will have starved you of kills and XP (by killing you) while they get uncontested kills and heal back to max HP for free. Had a close trade and got the enemy to 10% HP but they won and you died? Typically, on ARAM, that's ok as then your team can finish the low HP enemy off. Sona? lol nope just let them sit back for a minute or 2 and they are once again full HP.

You may say "But warmog's offers this possibility". Yes, but warmog's requires 3000+ HP in order to activate, which will require 1 full HP item purchased before the completed warmog's. Consequently it can only be built on full tanks or on bruisers as a later item. Point is , Warmog's only becomes a possibility quite far into an ARAM match, whereas Sona basically provides a Warmog's for each of her teammates from the start of the game, 0:00.

You may also say, "Soraka is just as bad!". Again, you would be mistaken. Soraka wastes her own HP to heal her teammates, leaving herself actually vulnerable. And, in order to continue the healing, Soraka actually has to put herself at risk by getting in range to land her Q. Yes, Soraka can build a Warmog's (which is in fact quite OP), yet see above and realize she won't be able to do that until 15 min+ into the match.

Sona can be beaten, but you need a hard engage/ burst comp. If you do not burst 3+ members of the enemy team in a 5v5 in less than 4 seconds or so, Sona always wins. Her and her team can run away and hide under turret, and just wait til they are full health (while you are still low from the fight), and then put back on the aggression and win through sheer HP.

Champions are disabled on URF and other featured game modes because they in fact are extremely OP and break the mode due to alternate scenarios which diverge from the aspects of Summoner's Rift which champions are balanced around. Why can't we be consistent and remove Sona from ARAM? She is overly strong on Howling Abyss due to the nature of the map; at the very least, she needs an actual nerf. No, that -50% healing nerf was not sufficient. That is how broken this champion is on this map.

37 Comments

Pika3107 votes

Literally the past 7 or more games I've seen Sona in ARAM have all been losses for her team. Didn't matter if she was on my team, the enemy team or I was spectating. I haven't seen Sona win a game on Howling Abyss in a very long time.

magic pole2 votes

bc you are bronze and bronzes don't know how to abuse the broken champ that is Sona.

not surprising

they probably level Q or E first and rush aegis or frost queens

what you deserve3 votes

lol what the hell mmr is different for different maps, you realize that, right?

magic pole1 votes

yeah And i get ranked with Master tier players in ARAM

Demonatian7 votes

Sounds like someone who does not know how to actually play against a Sona.

magic pole2 votes

haha good one. but this is ARAM were talking about which is even more trolly than blind pick summoner rift where teamwork and cohesion is nonexistent

yes you hard engage on her and burst her but it is rare to get a comp with that ability and even more rare to get a team that will actually sack up and do so instead of sitting under tower and getting poked to death.

GreenLore6 votes

Overall I think they should make all champs avaliable in aram to prevent people from building aram-focused accounts where they just buy the champs who are op in aram and only have to worry about some of the free-rotation champs.

magic pole2 votes

i agree. this is the best post in this thread.

idk maybe I'm crazy but i see Sona a hell of a fucking lot in ARAM. Makes me feel like people do actually makes ARAM specific account while I'm buying lots of champs and often get stuck with some boring dud like Warwick Udyr Evelynn

I played 8 ARAM games tonight and i shit you not Sona was in 4 of them. 3x on the enemy team and once on mine. They were all face roll games for the team with Sona (i.e., the team with Sona destroys nexus while the team without her lands maybe 10% of damage on the first turret), except for 1 match in which I rolled a Fiddlesticks. They had Sona and 4 squishies. I just landed ult after ult and won this game actually as 4v5 since one of my trio computer shitted out on him.

only reason we won is because fiddlesticks ult is absurd and has enough AoE burst to make sona's sustain fall away.

ZephyrDrake6 votes

wow those constant 30~75 heals on aram that get further reduced due to the aura sure are unbearable. Sorry to say this but learn to play against Sona on ARAM. If you let her just sit there and spam heal a million times don't come here complaining that she is a "free warmogs". You still have mana issues in ARAM even if you build Chalice, you aren't getting that much mana back to spam endlessly, you will run out of mana eventually and Sona's heal starts at 80 mana at rank 1 and increases to 100 at max rank. No amount of mana regen is going to let you spam 100 mana cost skills forever.

Engage upon the Sona, if you don't have a hard engage team then poke as hard and as fast as you can, if you don't have that then how the hell you expect to win in the first place? by waiting for the enemy to engage you and hope they are stupid enough to screw the engage?

TheCeeJay3 votes

The list of champions who are really strong on ARAM is very extensive, disabling them would make it not ARAM anymore.

I'll agree playing against Sona and Soraka and some of the other oppressive champions on ARAM isn't fun, but it's random. The only way someone can try to guarantee that they get a certain champion is to only own that champion and hope they don't get one of the free week champs. No one actually gets to choose their champion in ARAM.

Also, ARAM isn't a featured game mode like URF is. The only time that champions have been disabled from a normal game mode is when they have a serious game breaking bug or some lore event "kills" them.

You're asking them to balance a game mode that is practically imbalanceable due to it's nature and is mainly played for fun.

magic pole1 votes

They already nerfed healing by 50% on ARAM, acknowledging the oppressiveness of heals on the map. Thing is , Sona is still oppressive despite the nerf.

and yeah, It's not fun playing against someone like Lux/Varus/Jayce on ARAM. But at least with these champs, i feel like i have counter play because i can dodge their skill shots. Meanwhile Sona i feel almost no counter play, because she and her team can always retreat and heal back to 100% in a minute or 2.

Soraka contrarily does feel annoying, but she also feels like she has counter play; she must put herself in danger to continue healing. Not the case with Sona: she can sit back at her inhib, wait for mana regen and spam heals leading to infinite health for her and her teammates

The counter play to Sona is luckily rolling a hard engage team comp with enough burst to delete Sona before she allows her team to kite away and heal back up.

magic pole1 votes

typical silver and bronze board members down voting with zero input whatsoever.

you just don't like that someone is attacking your braindead OP zero skill champion and telling it like it is

Sona could not have an ult and still be OP on this map

what you deserve5 votes

typical toxic gold player thinking he's immediately lcs-level just because he's not bronze

magic pole1 votes

im a toxic plat player , not gold trash, thanks

Demonatian6 votes

So you got boosted and call people gold and lower trash?

magic pole1 votes

up voted while still providing zero meaningful input

silvers hate to hear that people more knowledgable than them exist, but that;s why they're still silver i guess XD

silver power!

TheCeeJay2 votes

You realize most Soraka's in ARAM end up going tanky and getting a Warmog's making it so that it costs her practically nothing to heal her team, right? She doesn't have to put herself in any danger to do that. Sure, it takes a bit but if your team can stall for a bit then the Soraka can heal nonstop.

I don't even like Sona that much, she isn't my playstyle; but removing her from the game mode isn't the way to go. What they could do is do things to her specifically on ARAM like they do with some champs in Dominion, but this isn't likely I don't think.

I play ARAMs when I don't care if I win or lose really. It's a fun, random game mode. It's almost always decided by the champions your team and the enemy team gets given. Yeah, personal skill with the champion comes into play too, but Sona on her own isn't enough to win a game for her team, even on ARAM.

magic pole1 votes

yes i covered that in my post. Soraka needs 1 complete HP item and then warmogs before she can do that.

Sona on the other hand provides her team 5x warmogs (ok slightly reduced she can only heal 1 at a time) from level 3.

and yes they already cut healing by 50% but like i said it's still oppressive.

ARAM isn't fun when sona is in the game. that's the point. the game becomes a "sit under your tower and get poked while the enemy team can heal all of your harass unless you can 100-0 someone"

TheCeeJay2 votes

Well if one champion can really make ARAM not fun for you, don't play ARAM then. It's a simple fix. No one is forcing you to play it, and many people (myself included) have fun with every ARAM game regardless of who each team is randomly given.

magic pole2 votes

I play ARAMs when I don't care if I win or lose really.

see, and that's why your opinion should be devalued. I play ARAM somewhat competitively (even if relaxed), and time and time again i find SOna the single most hopeless champ to play against. Many factors cumulatively lead to this. i cover many in my posts

TheCeeJay2 votes

So, because I play a game for fun my opinion is devalued? Also "ARAM" and "competitive" are two words that should not be used in the same sentence unless there's a "not" in between them.

There's a reason there's no Ranked ARAM queue.

Me not caring if I win or lose in an ARAM doesn't mean I'm not going to try and win. It just means if I lose I won't be bothered by it.

Minarde1 votes

Out of curiosity, why do you think ARAM is uncompetitive? Preferably without using the "no Ranked ARAM queue" thing, because that brings up a whole other discussion about alternate maps support, playerbase size, and various other things that just gets messy.

Teams still compete to win in ARAM. Losing due to stacked teamcomps happens in every game mode occasionally. Furthermore, the stakes for winning and losing are the same as in every other permanent game mode, i.e. MMR.

I'm legitimately curious. "ARAM isn't a competitive game mode" is a relatively common opinion. However, it just seems like a completely arbitrary distinction to me.

TheCeeJay2 votes

Partially because, yeah ARAM has an MMR, but it doesn't really matter. I know you're still competing to win, but more often than not I find that people in ARAM are just there to play. On more than one occasion I've had both teams decide to not fight each other so we could all feed a poro and see it explode. People on ARAM in general seem friendlier and less likely to rage over losing because it doesn't matter.

I'm not 100% sure how MMR works in regards to different queues, but I'm pretty sure they don't interfere with one another. At least Normal MMR and Ranked MMR are two different things entirely. I'm not sure if Normal MMR takes Dominion, Blind Pick, Normal Draft and ARAM into account or if each queue type has a different MMR. The way it's always worked in my head is that each queue type has a separate MMR and so they don't have anything to do with each other. Because ARAMs MMR only effects ARAM (at least in how I think it works) there's no point really caring about it because it's ARAM.

I completely understand that some people take it super seriously and still try their hardest to win in ARAM, but my friends and I don't. When we play ARAM it's because we want a break from trying as hard as we can and just want to try a little bit. If I'm on tilt or something because of a game I take a break and play an ARAM because for some reason nothing about an ARAM can piss me off.

Your Kha'Zix on ARAM is feeding hardcore? Well, maybe they're new to Kha. Kha also isn't the strongest on ARAM anyways. Someone built something off meta that doesn't seem to be working? Oh well, at least it wasn't a long Summoner's Rift game.

It's hard to put into words why I don't think ARAM is a competitive game mode, but that's about the best I can do.

Minarde1 votes

Thanks for the insight. Sadly, it still seems mostly arbitrary (i.e. ARAM is uncompetitive because ARAM is uncompetitive) to me, but I appreciate the effort.

By the way, all maps have separate MMRs. For instance, TT has separate MMR from SR, and Dominion is separate from ARAM. Additionally, normals and ranked have separate MMR. So SR normal blinds share MMR with SR normal drafts, but ranked solo/dynamic has a different MMR.

MavenSong2 votes

A lot of champs are pretty bs on aram, it isnt ment to be fully balanced. Sona isnt that bad. People just dont seem to get that YOU DONT GROUP UP OR SHE WILL CRECENDO. As for heals its not as spamable as you think, at least not early. It does take mana. So unless they brought clarity, shes gunna have some problems early. Another fact is the heals arnt extrodanary. As with her Q, it isnt strong early. Sona thrives in teamfights because of her auras, not spamable abilities.

This can all be biased as I do (or used to, I havnt played her in a while) main her.

magic pole1 votes

But everyone is granted increased mana regen on Howling Abyss. A good Sona then starts item 3028 leaving her unhampered by mana and then places 2 points in her W.

point is no other cha,pion feels as hopeless to play against as Sona.

Pika31010 votes

[{quoted}](name=magic pole,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rwN8rZ8B,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2016-01-26T09:48:41.143+0000)

point is no other cha,pion feels as hopeless to play against as Sona.

Janna Nami Soraka Bard Lux Varus Taric Thresh Alistar Ezreal Morgana Xerath Ziggs Zilean Zyra TwistedFate Nidalee Lucian Lulu Malzahar Malphite KogMaw Katarina Fiddlesticks Heimerdinger Cassiopeia Chogath Corki Brand Blitzcrank Ashe Anivia

...and then some.

Minarde5 votes

Did you just list Bard as an OP? The rest of those champs are, at worst, decent, but Bard consistently sits at 2nd lowest winrate in ARAM.

Pika3105 votes

Bard has been a viable pick on the professional scene since his release. Aphromoo played him competitively even before his first round of buffs and his patch history has literally been ONLY buffs and even now he continues to receive even more. He's been so overtuned that he demands target bans against any pros that are proficient at using him.

Bard is a powerful champion, that like Thresh isn't properly reflected in winrates. The winrate propaganda that sheeple cling to has become far too widespread and is not a viable replacement for common sense.

Minarde3 votes

That's a great argument if we were talking about SR. However, this is about ARAM, and a professional scene does not exist. Competitive scene, maybe, but definitely no pro scene.

If you've got an actual explanation for how Bard could be a generally strong champ in ARAM, I'd be happy to continue this discussion. Otherwise, you might want to work on your reading comprehension before calling others "sheeple."

Pika3104 votes

Sustain champs have always been considered strong in ARAM. Champs with hard CC on basic abilites generally tend to be strong, more often than not. Bard has the 2nd-strongest healing spell in the game, just below Soraka's. He has a basic spell that stuns TWO targets at once. Then a long-range ult that can be used for engage, disengage or utility.

If that's not enough, let's also point out that literally ALL of his base stats and stats-per-level are amongst the highest of all mage supports, at the singular exception of low basic attack range.


You purposefully singled out Bard, but I also listed Nami. At the very front of the list, no less. Why did you ignore Nami, when fact is Bard is just a stronger version of Nami? Why is it you didn't question Nami's viability, but you call out a champ that is the superior version?

Minarde2 votes

Alright, since you claim Bard's a stronger version of Nami, I'll use Nami as the comparison.

Bard's Q stuns up to two people. Nami's Q stuns anyone it hits. Higher base damage, but Higher CD, lower range, lower ratio, and lower duration. Bard probably wins here in most cases.

Nami's W heal outright beats Bard's uncharged W in everything except mana cost and affects up to two allies. Charged W has higher base and ratio, but can't take full advantage of CDR. Slight Nami win here.

Bard's E is useless in most situations on ARAM. Nami win.

Ults are fairly comparable. Damage for Nami against utility for Bard. Tie.

Basically, unless there's (map-specific) buffs to the rest of his kit, Bard's going to lose in comparison purely because he essentially only has three abilities in ARAM. Magical Journey's too niche on the single-lane map to be generally useful.

If that's not enough, let's also point out that literally ALL of his base stats and stats-per-level are amongst the highest of all mage supports, at the singular exception of low basic attack range.

This is actually false. His MS and hp/5 are pretty middle-of-the-pack. His mana's on the low-end; his mp/5 and AS are among the lowest in the entire game. On the other hand, you are right in that his armor and health are highest of Support/Mages, and his AD is also above-average for that group.

Sir Yamazuki3 votes

{quoted}

Bard has been a viable pick on the professional scene since his release. Aphromoo played him competitively even before his first round of buffs and his patch history has literally been ONLY buffs and even now he continues to receive even more. He's been so overtuned that he demands target bans against any pros that are proficient at using him.

Bard is a powerful champion, that like Thresh isn't properly reflected in winrates. The winrate propaganda that sheeple cling to has become far too widespread and is not a viable replacement for common sense.

There is no pro scene for ARAM, and SR and ARAM aren't even remotely close to being similar. A champion being good on SR doesn't mean they are good on ARAM. He goes from a 48% on SR down to a 36% on ARAM. It would be like complaining about Lee Sin's mobility when talking about ARAM when he's very limited there compared to SR.

Pika3104 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lord Yamazuki,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=rwN8rZ8B,comment-id=000200000000000000000001,timestamp=2016-01-27T07:31:00.669+0000)

There is no pro scene for ARAM, and SR and ARAM aren't even remotely close to being similar. A champion being good on SR doesn't mean they are good on ARAM. He goes from a 48% on SR down to a 36% on ARAM. It would be like complaining about Lee Sin's mobility when talking about ARAM when he's very limited there compared to SR.

Yet somehow I still do absurdly well with Lee Sin on ARAM, despite his lack of wards and the fact I don't play the champ, like ever. Broken champs are broken, no matter what game mode you play them in. This is a fact and winrate has literally zero value in determining this.

Sir Yamazuki2 votes

{quoted}

Yet somehow I still do absurdly well with Lee Sin on ARAM, despite his lack of wards and the fact I don't play the champ, like ever. Broken champs are broken, no matter what game mode you play them in. This is a fact.

I guess tank talon is op because I got a penta and won every time on ARAM with it.

It's simply your biased opinion seeing as an over powered champion wouldn't be losing almost 70% of the time. Have a good day though.

Frostfire Ryze1 votes

Sona in ARAM = autowin. Just auto win. Now with the healer keystone & meditation summoner spell, it's even amplified.

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