Why do we like/not like the new Sona?

capus·Aug 1, 2014·18 votes·2,596 views

I'm personally against the whole rework as many others are. I find it unnecessary and bad for the game. My biggest issue however is that her identity is lost. She's no longer Sona "Maven of the strings" she's now Sona "Maven of 3 second jingles". The whole idea of the aura's was that it was a song she was playing to encourage the team to fight harder. The range was big because it was a song, sound doesn't travel just 4 feet away from it's source. It feels like all riot cared about was making Sona look cool and flashy for the LCS.

I know everyone doesn't share my opinion. I want to hear other people's opinions of the new Sona. Is she better of? Is her identity truly lost? Were her aura's toxic for play? What would you have changed?

47 Comments

MackleDogeAug 1, 201415 votes

I feel like the Sona that was shipped to live with these changes is either A) not who Sona is or supposed to be or B) incomplete and in need of more work from Riot. Fearless seems pretty confident that all of us are wrong, I don't really see it, but to be fair he's a paid professional and I just play the game.

The whole selling point is supposed to be that Sona can have a more meaningful impact in a fashion that gives her decisions meaning while allowing her opponent clear timings to play against Sona. That's great. That isn't what is happening on live. The concept of what these changes are supposed to bring about don't match what the actual performance and kit on live feels like or plays like. I play in lane against Sona, I don't care that she is there. She doesn't have any impact, she doesn't have any influence, the lane is already free as soon as the opposing support picks Sona, just as it was on PBE.

The entire concept that Sona needed changes to begin with is flawed to me, her issues were that she had good tools and a strong effect in the game, but that it "didn't translate well to other players". Well, I hate to break it to people, but that isn't a good reason to change a champion, especially when the entire premise isn't even true. Sona didn't translate as useful to some people. People who played Sona and people who were informed and knowledgeable about the game knew very well that Sona was a solid support and could have a strong influence in the game when played correctly. To put it in perspective: an uninformed player is pretty likely to think that a jungler letting them die in lane and getting dragon instead is a bad decision and doesn't have a lot of impact. This is obviously flawed thinking and it would be completely foolish to make changes to the game around kill gold, dragon gold, and dragon giving a global bonus just because this player doesn't understand the mechanic of dragon and the overall impact and long term influence of the situation. In the same vein, it was foolish (in my opinion) to change Sona because players that were uninformed and lacked a true appreciation of Sona's usage and influence didn't value her.

MialeeAug 2, 20149 votes

Exactly there are more than 100 champions in the game a new player with just couple dozen games or even few hundred might have not even see all champions in a game that does not mean that the champions are flawed.

Also since we talk about clarity, LOL has the worst tooltips ever... In game you have no idea what the abilities do exactly nor you can see it on the client outside the game i.e. ap/ad ratios, radii of abilities etc so these should be fixed first.

MackleDogeAug 2, 20146 votes

That's a pretty good point. Information availability as far as champion base damages and ratios aren't available to players without them visiting some form of third party site. Personally, that seems to be a bit illogical and makes it difficult for players (and especially new players) to learn important information about champions such as what skills to level first, what type of damage you do, what sort of items you should build, and more. It can't be expected for specific champions to come across as effective or strong when they are reliant on the player actually knowing how the game works.

StaconaAug 1, 201413 votes

Sona definitely got massively nerfed this patch and will not get played at all competitively in her current state- she needs lower cooldowns and higher aura range

Pika310Dec 26, 20143 votes

#BetterNerfSona

StaconaDec 26, 20141 votes

Sona is very powerful and does need to be toned down, but at the same time lower cooldowns and higher aura ranges are needed

Major YikesAug 2, 20148 votes

TL;DR: I liked old Sona but thought she could use some changes. I feel instead they removed unique parts of her kit and replaced them with lookalikes that don't do the same thing.

I'm not going to lie, when I first heard about the rework I was pretty excited. Sona was a champ that I enjoyed playing, but she lacked power in her auras. Reading the changes made me think about how cool these new actives would be with her auras, and how there would be a greater need for positioning to get all of them right. But as the rework continued, and it came closer to live, I began to realize something. That was it. There were no more auras or passive buffs Sona could give to her allies. All of the small stat increases that gave your team the advantage were gone. My next thought was that the buffs Sona gives her allies in those circles would refresh, because there has to be a point to their durations increasing when touching your allies. From actually playing her I found out this doesn't happen either. Her buffs are now a one time deal. What I thought would be an improvement to old Sona became an entirely different champ than what I expected.

Pika310Aug 1, 20146 votes

I'm not opposed to the changes they attempted to make to Sona. Their basic ideas looked very sound and satisfying on paper, but when implementing them it suddenly became a terribly jumbled mess of mistranslating numbers and a severe, albeit justified fear of creating another Braum/Thresh. The PBE time was super short and the rush to release this unfinished product to live was reckless and premature. In actuality, this still has a high probability of success rate if and only if player suggestions start being implemented asap, while it's still possible to keep collateral damage to a minimal and I don't mean Grave's ult. That buff to him was well-deserved.

Angry MonsterAug 2, 20146 votes

So i am not a sona main. I play tanks and engage supports. So the poke play style does not work for me and i can not compare the two sona kits(old and new).

The part i do not get though is how in hell they justify making her more squishy in the early game. I would of thought that was impossible 4 months ago. I have seen a few Sonas and play her once(bad time for my lane parter) I do not see how she can compeate against any tank support. If she gets caught once she is dead. At least with nami you got options/CC instead of damage or run only strategy.

DicersonAug 1, 20145 votes

I personally love the way the new Sona plays. Each of her auras, although temporary, provides a meaningful boost, and the fact that they are no longer permanent makes me feel better about switching them around because it is no longer giving up a aura for something else, but changing auras because this one has had its full effect. Its far better, smoother, and WAY more useful than the old system, although i agree that it doesnt make much sense for sound to travel 4 feet. Although if the cinematic scenes are anything to judge by, the proportions of champion to map are WAAAAAAAAYY off.

MrBuffingtonAug 1, 20144 votes

My background: I played a fair amount of Sona last season, and have played a grand total of one [bot] game with her since the rework. I was decent enough with the old Sona to play in Silver last season, but I was (and am) by no means an expert on her (for example, I would never consciously make use of her different Powerchords).

I thought the rework was somewhat unnecessary and random (Sona seemed like one of the least problem champions in the game), but I suppose I can understand why Riot wants to get rid of the 'invisible' aura powers (in which case I expect a change to Fiddlestick's and Heimerdinger's passive fairly soon, as well as every other aura in the game, otherwise the change to Sona seems even more random).

From the one game I've played of Sona, I can say I enjoyed aspects of her gameplay, but I agree with MackleDoge in that I do not think she was ready for release. The range on her auras in lane seem usable, but beyond lane phase it is incredibly difficult to make use of her short range auras without putting yourself in a lot of risk. Moreover, she is something of a short range poke mage (her Q has the same range as Caitlyn's autos, not great for your primary poke spell) and she is incredibly squishy early. Basically, she's Nami without near the range Nami has (nor CC, or any real defensive abilities. Her heal is still more of a sustain ability than a clutch/defensive heal).

I think Sona has a difficult identity in the game. Naturally because she is so squishy, she's more of a mid-back line support, however she lacks a lot of peel that makes other back line supports so effective (Nami, Zyra, for example). With her aura ranges as they are, she needs to be really, really close to the front line to make any use of them, which is a problem for her. Essentially now she has little ability to affect the game that is not occurring within 350 units of her, and the benefits she does grant her team from putting herself at that risk do not justify that risk, imo. Her auras are basically a big target for the enemy team to aim their AoE spells.

I do think the rework has potential, I still did enjoy playing Sona (though I don't know if it was because I like Sona or because I like the rework), but three things I would like to see are an increase in her defenses, a minor increase to her aura range, and an increase to her base move speed.

Pika310Aug 1, 20143 votes

and an increase to her base move speed.

I don't feel her base MS is a problem, no direct changes were made to it after all. The reason she feels slower and roaming/rotating has become more laborious is due solely to the removal of Celerity's passive MS buff. If her individual MS seems to be the issue, Mobility Boots are an option, although some players will opt for Swiftness due to Mobi's balancing. Talisman is another option thanks in large part to the new buff it was just given granting +20 MS, which would mitigate the downtime on Mobi's. I personally suggest building Talisman now on at least mage supports, if not all supports not only because of this, but also due to the large nerf given to FQC.

MrBuffingtonAug 1, 20142 votes

I don't think it used to be a problem, but because she is so dependent on getting around to her team now, she either needs to burn a lot of mana spamming E or else she can't get to her teammates to buff them. Honestly any method of passively increasing her speed would be very helpful; she relies on positioning to use her spells but has no real way of getting around unless she's constantly using E. I will try out the Talisman build, thanks for the suggestion.

OrinneAug 2, 20144 votes

Keep in mind that pre-rework, Sona could afford to sit in the back, so lower MS wasn't an issue. Post rework, Sona has to constantly be on top of her teammates to be useful, to the point where 330 MS is no longer appropriate. She's not an AD carry, she's not a mage with huge zone/cc/mobility potential, and she's not Lulu's 10 abilities in 4 buttons. She really shouldn't be in the 2nd lowest MS category anymore.

Pika310Aug 2, 20143 votes

So opposed to directly addressing the issue, her insufficient (non)aura range, you would rather take a round-about solution that may only with great uncertainty fix the issue? I've seen this line of thought used by multiple gaming companies before, most note-worthy being Konami. It's a risky gambit that sometimes works, sometimes transitions into a different set of issues or sometimes simply fails to accomplish anything at all. If we're lucky, it'd be the first and things would end up for the best, but why take that risk in the first place?

OrinneAug 2, 20141 votes

Changing Sona's MS from 330 to 335 or 340 is a round-about, risky solution?

Pika310Aug 2, 20143 votes

Yes, that's what I said.

OrinneAug 2, 20141 votes

In what way? Keep in mind that this is less about fixing her aura ranges, and more about fixing the fact that she's just inappropriately slow.

Pika310Aug 3, 20143 votes

I've already answered these questions. In regard to the movement speed issue, I'll just quote myself:

I don't feel her base MS is a problem, no direct changes were made to it after all. The reason she feels slower and roaming/rotating has become more laborious is due solely to the removal of Celerity's passive MS buff. If her individual MS seems to be the issue, Mobility Boots are an option, although some players will opt for Swiftness due to Mobi's balancing. Talisman is another option thanks in large part to the new buff it was just given granting +20 MS, which would mitigate the downtime on Mobi's.

OrinneAug 3, 20142 votes

So she has to buy items to patch up a weakness she doesn't need?

Pika310Aug 3, 20143 votes

That's a loaded question. She has this weakness at this very moment, I gave viable options to work around it as-is. You want a solution to it? Fine, 10 more MS would make up for her own individual loss from Celerity's nerf, but does nothing for her teammates. Or Celerity could retain its passive aura it used to have. I won't say that about either of the other 2 abilities, but Celerity is justifiably the only one that should have it returned. It's the least useful, especially now so and requires a lot of "Oomph" to be more than a single-point ability only usable for Tempo.

XXnIE66RuiAug 2, 20144 votes

Logically, the new aura tagging system does not make a whole lot of sense, largely because the auras have limited duration. It doesn't make any sense to be a songstress if the song just... runs out. (Perhaps they could drain mana, like Karthus's E, which would match better the idea of a 'magical song' - magic should be tiresome to use constantly). It also doesn't make sense that the range is so short if they're songs - unless 350 units is a lot more ground than it seems, it feels like music would reach farther than that (the original auras definitely felt more like song).

That said, I do enjoy the new system. I do feel it'd have made more sense on another character, but I enjoy it. She feels undertuned right now, but she's also more satisfying to play and the clarity of how she's actually helping has improved considerably.

Remlap1223Aug 3, 20144 votes

I wouldn't have minded the rework to Sona as long as it kept her identity as an aura mage. Riot's summoner 13 fix is a small buff on top of a sea of nerfs to new Sona. Sure the damage and heals are higher, but you're also losing the persistent effect, and the cooldowns are ludicrous. Good luck with trying to build Sona with anything other than CDR. And even with all the bugbears i have with her scaling and cooldowns, I would have been ok with it, if she still wasn't so damn squishy. She's literally the easiest champion in the game to kill. After the rework, no compensation buffs to Sona's defenses were given, which led to one of two things happening:

Scenario 1: Sona plays extremely passively and the ADC gets melted as a result, followed by Sona who has no kitiing potential from the ADC as a buffer.

Scenario 2: Sona yolos into the frontline, and is killed instantly, with a 50/50 chance that the ADC survives. But the enemy ADC still gets a kill off.

At this point, Karthus and Darius would be better supports than Sona. Fearless sees potential, but I see a rework "oopsie" that blows Evelynn's, Skarner's, and Gragas'' out of the water.

Pika310Aug 3, 20142 votes

I liked Evelynn's rework personally. Mind I only started playing her just before it, so I'm probably not one to talk. Although, her new transition over from AP to a mostly AD-hybrid feels a lot stronger, especially into the later parts of the game.

Pika310Dec 23, 20144 votes

Is she better of? Is her identity truly lost? Were her aura's toxic for play?

The "rework" itself was a compilation of at least 15 separate numerical nerfs. Since then, they continue to nerf her even further. She used to be a C-class champion before the "rework," it turned her into a F-class champion and now...

Her identity has been lost. She no longer plays music, she doesn't have auras and her abilities cooldowns are varied numbers, as opposed to being identical. This is not Sona, it's some ugly trash that Fearless shoved down our throats.

Her auras were NOT toxic. Many champions grant their allies extra base stats to this day. Just to name only a few: Janna Braum Heimerdinger Nami Orianna

DryditchDec 26, 20144 votes

Sion "RAAAAAHR"

Sona Jingle

Old Sion: "I just want to cut things... and eat flesh."

Old Sona: Makes Beethoven cry

Riot really doesn't get champ identity in these reworks... do they?

Arby099Aug 1, 20143 votes

As someone who likes support and wanted to like sona, I enjoy the visual feedback I get from the update.

SmokingPuffinAug 1, 20143 votes

Is her identity truly lost?

Not for me. I prefer the new auras to the old ones. There's more positioning and timing in there. There's more differentiation between good and bad Sonas as well.

I still see the auras as a huge part of her power budget and they now have their own unique mechanic. I think it's cool.

Were her aura's toxic for play?

They weren't toxic, but passive boosts like that are always more powerful than they are fun. Much of Sona's power budget used to be spent just on existing near the team, so it often felt like the only active impact you were making on fights was your R.

FiskAug 2, 20143 votes

I know the new rework is very different but in my opinion the new sona is actually much stronger and feels better to play. The thing was before she just kinda pressed Q poked you out maybe auto attack you once or twice and sat there in lane as just a big ball of stats. As you can imagine that's not a very fun way to play a champ and it's hard to notice you are doing something (especially for newer players). Now she provides some gameplay as you have to A. be in the right position to maximize aura output B. Use the correct aura and C. Time your aura right. This essentially the same thing as she did before except her auras are much more meaningful and noticeable over small amounts of time. Now shes more about pulling the right aura at the right time more than ever. She makes really good "clutch plays". Also I recommend maxing W now as it is much better at max rank than previously and just a really good trading ability in skirmishes. New sona is about making plays, tagging plays with her auras and buffing her team massively in important moments where as before she poked in lane then became a walking ult.

suckitsummonerAug 2, 20143 votes

Serves you all right.

You keep crying out for reworks and unnecessary changes and then you get rekt.

I know Sona rework wasn't a community chosen thing, but everytime someone talks about rework everyones says "Yes", and when it comes out and it's crap, you all QQ but when a new one is talked about, everyone goes all "MAKE IT RIOT".

Honestly I didn't like Sona's either. But I don't like reworks in general, so I may be biased.

KhmeraAug 8, 20143 votes

I have no complaints except her E range being so short and maybe maybe an increase in her aura range. Considering Janna 's passive, Taric 's W aura, and Soraka 's old passive are/were 500 - 1000 in range. I weak 350 aura range just doesn't cut it, it should at least be 500.

P.S. Solo Lane Sona ain't as stronk.

The5lackerAug 1, 20142 votes

If a champion's identity is unhealthy, that identity needs to be changed. Nostalgia is not an excuse to have terrible design, and Sona's old design was bad. No matter how much you liked it, no matter how much you were used to it, no matter how old it was (in fact, BECAUSE it was old), it was still a bad design that couldn't be satisfyingly balanced.

And can someone explain to me what's changed about Sona's "identity?" Like, seriously. How was her identity ever tied to negligible bonuses? Sona's always been about amplifying the strengths of her team and dance parties. New Sona amplifies the strengths of her team and still has dance parties. Where's the problem?

Oh, right, there is no problem, there's just change, and if there's one thing players hate it's change, despite bitching about everything else needing to be changed. Because the League community is filled with spoiled children who have no concern for the game as a whole, just that they get to have their own personal fantasies fulfilled.

Screw you. As a wise bug once said, change is good, especially good changes like this. I love the new Sona design. She does everything important that the old Sona did, but better.

OrinneAug 2, 20145 votes

No one said her identity was tied to passive auras. They're saying that it doesn't make a lot of sense for a song mage to tag people at melee range to give them bonuses. That's something you throw onto a dancer-archetype.

In addition to that, the problem with the changes is that the numbers clearly aren't properly balanced, yet the designer who reworked her pretty much ignores everyone's feedback and insists they're fine because "she's a support and she does stuff, therefore the changes are fine". In addition, the changes were pretty much rushed out of PBE, despite the implication that they would remain on PBE for some time and despite the overwhelmingly negative feedback that was given.

Lastly, there's no point in writing a giant ball of paragraphs with no substance. Provide some evidence to back up your claims instead of regurgitating buzz words and tidbits of information from Riot you chose to take at face value.

NekoEvangelineAug 2, 20145 votes

And can someone explain to me what's changed about Sona's "identity?"

For me a big part of what drew me to Sona was the idea of the music being the power she had. when i pressed QWE i did not see it as "casting a spell" but instead changing my song the music aiding my allies in battle Q invigorating my allies to strike harder, W re-enforcing my allies resolve to stand in danger and endure hardships, and E a song of high tempo and joy to fill my allies with fast feet. those effects were small and constant as the music that gave them there power was constant, with the change to give her auras bigger, but shorter duration effects fundamentally change that, the power comes no longer from the music she plays, but from barely the first note she strums.

listening to magical music gives you a shield that last barely 2 seconds, a single augmented attack, or a one time speed buff, it just doesn't make sense, the first seconds of a song are not the part of songs that make me feel all the emotions and sensations music in the real world gives you.

And furthermore to hear that magical music you don't need to be standing within a few persons lengths of the player, or dose Sona just play very quietly? and we have to get very close to hear her.

Music is made of both rhythms and crescendos, with these changes the rhythm is gone there's no longer a need to chose an aura, to play the one song that will benefit your team the most for the situation, because in a split second you can hit all 3 buttons and give your closest allies all you can give them in an instant, and then the music stops, and there is nothing but silence until her cooldowns come back up and the music is allowed to begin again

For context Sona was my first champion i chose to play, and the champion i "learned" to play league with i did not play ranked in S2 and i considered her my main though out all of season 3. weather or not this is good for her playability i make no comment, but her identity has changed, and perhaps for the few of us soft hatred that fell in love with that identity we will just have to be disappointed.

sorry that got longer than i thought it would. TL:DR pre change Sona was all about playing music to give consistent small buffs, post change its about strumming a short chord for a short buff, where she once personified the identity of music its peaks and its valleys, its crescendos along with its rhythms, now the identity of music has been muted down to nothing but short crescendos and pauses.

Emmy Cha0sDec 28, 20142 votes

Still not a single word from Riot regarding Sona. For 2 whole months. Over 3 months since the last from Fearless, even if all he's done is lie to our faces anyways.

Stashu said if he couldn't eventually fix Cass, they'd just revert the rework. Why haven't they done this for Sona yet? Riot's not even trying to fix her, she's lost her identity and she's incomparably weaker, the weakest champ in the game now matter-of-factly.

Either:

a) Riot doesn't care about Sona, so just revert her already and give us the REAL Sona back, or

b) if they continue to leave her in this pathetic state, Riot proves that they truly do hate her. This is pure prejudice and segregation.

ElphrihaimDec 28, 20142 votes

->

I have the following opinion:

It is not a matter of viability.

The reason I played Sona Buvelle was because I knew that she was effective, and I felt happy because I knew mathematically how strong her small little auras were. I played her for those small chimes when I wandered the map, forcing a smile to crack on my lips; I played her because I love music-- But I also played her because she did not demand that I press all of my buttons quickly, rather asking me to decide which aura my team needed me to hold on to.

Currently, she lacks the 'obvious decision', which is, in my opinion, part of the reason people liked Sona. They felt good for making intuitive choices, and they were able to focus on placing themselves, paying attention to the map-- instead of their abilities and reaction times.

Knight SoIaire Aug 1, 20141 votes

personaly i like the combo of q+staccato (power chord), churns enemies from lvl1 also her auras realy feel powerfull before you just had it but it was like nonexistant, all you wanted was the active effect of your skill

riot nicely merged that and playing her feels nice

MialeeAug 2, 20142 votes

I do not mean to be disrespectful but you have 3 ranked games played on sona this season (at least on this account) therefore you not noticing the passive auras is understandable.

That said if you actually try to get a cs without Q aura you will realize there is a HUGE difference! Also if you were to max E second instead of putting ranks 2-5 after 40 minutes into the game you would realize that E had an awesome aura

Knight SoIaire Aug 2, 20141 votes

riot removed the auras because nobody noticed them (invisible power) sona was standing and casting skills, nobody gave a fuq about the auras even sona who just wanted a heal or a bolt in enemys face now sona knows what power she has

nobody likes when his power goes unnoticed, like the regeneratiopn aura, or what it was ... 10 ad/ap aura (i played her in s3 before so i dont remember)

ShadowGlaive213Aug 2, 20144 votes

They could've just gave her the VFX to indicate who is being affected by the aura to make her invisible power visible instead of reworking her...

Knight SoIaire Aug 2, 20141 votes

invisible power is not invisible graphicaly

invisible power is an hp/5 buff who you cant just predict you buff someone to regenerate but a result will be "visible" after like a minute

thats why they made sona's power visible at first glance, you shield for this exact amount and you get this amount in the instant you cast the skill instead of regenerating who knows how much hp for your allies

MackleDogeAug 2, 20143 votes

because bad players and uninformed players didn't notice them

FTFY

DiminishedACAug 2, 20141 votes

The biggest reason for her rework is because no-limit aura's can be extremely powerful and game Sona's teammates a LOT of free gold in stats.

Honestly, the direction they pushed her in is actually very solid: Sona now has a reason for more powerful auras, while giving her more interactive gameplay than sitting in the back and staying a healing/stat battery. Summoners now have to play in a way that they can use her new, more powerful auras by being in the center of the action, while still maintaining as much safety as possible.

The fact that her CD's are decently low without much CDR means that she doesn't really need the persistent auras to have them up 70% of the time.

People saying that she is lackluster haven't quite figured her out yet (as to be expected). In lane, new Sona has a much more hit-and-run style gameplay; she Q>Autos and gives her lane partner the buff to auto the enemy champion. Doing this 3 times (enough to stack power chord) will result in a healthy chunk of damage on whoever you're up against. If possible, try to grab a Sheen in-lane; it really helps!

I have found her shield to be sub-par in lane, but also remember that it is given to EVERY allied champion inside the aura, on top of a heal for her and an ally. Oh, and don't forget that the heal is increased the lower health your ally is!

XXnIE66RuiAug 2, 20144 votes

Hit-and-run sadly only works if the opponents are distracted (or all their skills are in cooldown). Sona's a pretty big flashing "I'm going to poke you, watch out for me" target and a quick support on the other side is going to pick up on that and be ready to engage or at the very least counter her poke (with more poke, or stop damage with a shield, etc). She has no real tools (other than her ult) to protect herself from a counter engage to her poke, and other poke supports (Zyra, Karma) are able to dish out similar amounts of damage from a safer distance while having better tools to protect themselves if they get caught (Zyra has a snare, Karma has a more powerful shield which also gives MS). Sheen does help boost damage, but it does nothing to address the fact her poke is super high risk, sadly. I myself am a big fan of Sheen/Lich Bane on new Sona even more than before, too.

I actually enjoy her new kit a lot, but it feels undertuned. With a recently released support on the level of Braum (absorb tons of damage, built-in CC in his passive, 2 skills that slow, CC in his ult, a shield that will fully block an attack and mitigate subsequent damage and a stat buff for himself and his carry, I really have to wonder why Sona is so easily countered in lane, in comparison.

PushoverAug 3, 20141 votes

I actually like the direction they took with new Sona, it's just that her numbers are undertuned. Previously, you could be decently effective while playing half asleep. Press Q if the opponents are running at you, run away. Q auto if you have a power chord up. Otherwise fall asleep on your W key until you and your ally are close to full health. Later in the game you could probably just mash W and E, and as long as you landed a reasonable ult, you were doing your job. I played Sona a fair amount last season (34 ranked games, 70% winrate), and she was simply strong past laning. Aside from the brief period where Taric was the best support and crushed Sona in lane, Sona was extremely powerful at almost no risk.

Right now, you have to be more involved, you have to heal at the right time to get value out of the shield. The biggest problem is that her low level healing abilities got nerfed too hard, forcing you to max heal instead of Q. In turn, her poke damage is greatly reduced because you don't have spare points early, leading her to deal low damage but otherwise heal as much as old Sona. She needs her ability to poke to not get walked over. You can force a fight with Sona, but if she is able to kite, she previously would be able to outheal after the fight is over. This is no longer the case, which is why she feels exceptionally weak.

As for her theme, I think it works a little better. You aren't going to be playing minute long concertos on a battlefield, I think that these are more akin to the trumpeting before a cavalry charge and those brief pieces. The range could be a little bigger, but too big and she becomes too powerful in teamfights. I think there is a certain amount of getting used to the ranges and getting used to playing with a Sona. Instead of CLICK THE DAMN LANTERN we have GET IN THE DAMN ZONE.

The one change I would like on her Q would be to change it to be any attack or single target spell procs the damage, excluding Sona's Q. That way champions that don't autoattack are still more likely to make use of the buff.

mikemil223Dec 26, 20141 votes

sona is wayy too strong now. you can build ap and just press q for dmg or you can get lichbane and possibly one more item then build tank and just as strong as the rest of the team. even in lane get sheen then q auto adc and they hit half hp like wtf. a point and click champ with major dmg and a heal/sheild. idk her q should either be able to miss at least or she should get a dmg nerf. i think she should get a dmg nerf in my opinion. i usualy get llichbane dfg and can nuke adc's and still just build tanky after that

AbyssphereDec 26, 20141 votes

She does feel clunky to play. I don't mind auras being temporary, nor smaller ranges, because it forces you to be active. But everything about her feels undertuned. Celerity does everything it does poorly, the auras could do with even 0.5 seconds longer and the aura ranges could do with even 50 more range. And the cooldowns could afford to be shorter.

Right now she feels like she gets to play a few notes every 5 seconds. With slightly longer auras and shorter cooldowns, this could flow much better. And the range increase would be very nice.