Let's talk about Sona (for all)

RiotFearless·4/19/2014, 2:07:28 AM·19 votes·17,582 views

Hey all,

I started this thread (http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=4452848) on GD, but being a noob, I didn't realize that this would not allow our international players to give me their thoughts. So let's talk here. :)

Re-post of the basic questions:

With the continuing goal of making Support players have more meaningful gameplay and enjoy their choices throughout each game of League of Legends, we’re looking at making sure Sona feels as awesome as possible.

Things that are already pretty awesome:

Sona’s role as a buff/enabler support is solid and rewarding. Sona’s ult is impactful and allows Sona players to make big plays that they and their team can appreciate.

Things that need to be more awesome:

Sona’s auras are powerful, but not satisfying to use, and create very little interaction. Sona’s basic abilities don’t have as much skill expression as many other supports.

These are my current thoughts, as a dude who has been thinking about Sona gameplay a lot lately. I want you to tell me where I’m on track, where I’m wrong, and where I’m totally missing something.

Other things I want to hear from you:

What do you love about playing Sona? What do you not like about playing Sona? What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona? What moments of a Sona game make you feel like you’ve made a play for your team?

Edit to fix my link.

180 Comments

Alythar4/19/2014, 7:52:14 AM35 votes

As a longtime Sona main, I really felt like I needed to jump in on this thread. Thanks for asking us.

I really appreciate her auras, but I think you're absolutely right that they largely go unnoticed. I don't really think my carries are EVER thinking "okay she's blue right now, so I hit harder". Honestly, Sona's not thinking that either. She's thinking primarily that she needs to poke, heal, or speed folks up, and the auras are like icing on the cake.

Again, I love auras, but based on the direction Riot's gameplay philosophy is headed, I can see how they make less sense as a core part of this champion's power. If you'd like to try a small tweak without messing too much with the champion, I think the obvious place to look is at shifting power to her power chords.

I have watched a couple of friends learn Sona after me, and one thing that always shocks me is how undervalued the green and purple power chords are. Blue just always seems like the better choice, especially for newer players. The truth is that green ones saves lives and purple ones secure kills, but they are much, much harder to time and implement than the very obvious, straightforward blue damage.

Could it be possible to make those two choices more attractive? Cycling through chords is an essential aspect of good Sona play. It's delightful that you have players counting "one two three, one two three, one two three" on a musical champion - how perfect! So it seems natural to reinforce that element while also creating more variety in plays. It's also possible that slight visual reinforcement could help - the "Minus DMG" sign that Arcade Sona throws out with a green powerchord makes it more obvious that she just did something impactful.

As for what makes Sona so special, I'll refer to what my friends told me once. They said that in times of danger, when they hear Sona coming, they feel like everything is going to be alright. Just the sounds of those soothing chords inspires confidence - that's the fantasy of the bard character after all, isn't it? When they said that, it made my day.

Thanks again for reaching out to the community. Sona is a real gem League's cast of characters, and those of us who love her sincerely appreciate you keeping us in mind.

RiotXelnath4/19/2014, 10:40:26 PM12 votes

Posting a random idea for ya, Fearless:

Crazy idea - what if instead of having auras permanently attached to her, Sona created "sound zones".

E.g. circular areas of musical beats where allies ran faster, did more damage, healed etc?

Then there's movement and counterplay to the effect's area? Might be frustrating when enemies run out, but also gives Sona a reason to be at risk.

Haven't thought about this too much.

Nady4/19/2014, 2:12:24 PM8 votes

Posted this on the NA forums. Gonna repost it here:

My opinion probably isn't going to be a popular one, but this is my take on it after maining Sona for my entire league career.

I feel like Sona needs to be retuned as a mage support... Her skill set doesn't align her to being a protecting character like Janna and other traditional supports. She should be something along the lines of Orianna, Karma, and Annie instead of being a buff bot. Lulu is a better protector than Sona, and that says a lot considering Lulu is also a support/mage hybrid.

Her auras don't feel rewarding, this is common knowledge. I wouldn't mind if they were taken out completely in return for meaningful AP ratios on her base skills and an increase in what her passive's power. Sona players should be rewarded for using their passive correctly. If her auras were taken out, it could be exchanged for a Q power chord that can poke decently into late game, a W power chord that debuffs an enemy harder, and an E power chord that slows more. Teammates should be able to say "MAN SONA, if you hadn't hit the W power chord I'd be so dead". Better visuals when enemies are hit with these chords would also influence the reward that Sona players and her teammates feel.

Things that need to stay are her spammy playstyle and overall focus on positioning over worrying about where your mouse pointer is for use of your base skills. Having skillshots or smartcasted abilities like the new summoner heal would lose the feeling of Sona. She needs to be about perfect timing. The fact that her skill floor is low is ideal, it's that hitting her skill ceiling needs to be rewarded in a more visual way.

TL;DR Take out auras, give AP ratios and buffed passive. Focus on timing vs skill complexity.

RiotRiot Whist4/20/2014, 5:12:57 AM7 votes

I would love our music champion to have timing based elements in her kit.

I loved the early days of sona when it was okay to grab blue buff, it felt like guitar hero in a way as you wanted to hit the buttons perfectly as each skill went off CD.

I feel that having actual timing based gameplay would be extremely unique and rewarding to play. Even something as simple as during her ult's CC tapping R to the correct rhythm would add extra ticks of damage or increase the duration slightly would be fun (but I'd like to go a lot further than that)

The main problem would be how lag might affect this, and making sure there is noticeable visual queues for hearing impaired players.

Just an idea :)

Linna Excel4/19/2014, 4:43:48 AM7 votes

I saw a good point raised in the GD thread: why play Sona when annie has that mini stun on her W? It's a lot more readily available, that's for sure.

She'll never have a CC as good as Annie or Nami or Leona or Fiddle before you nerfed it. Or morgana or zyra, or whoever else has better CC...

She'll never have Soraka's clutch heals or wave pushing ability.

She'll never have support Nidalee's poke.

She'll never have Taric's fabulousness.

She'll never have support kayle's versatility.

So how exactly is she supposed to be made better? By taking away invisible power but replacing it with weaker visible power?

MakeYouSayYumYum4/19/2014, 2:42:40 AM6 votes

Her ult is fun, and the positioning aspect of her kit. High points are mainly in the ultimate, while her spell actives and passives don't have enough impact late game.

I think adding a few mechanics to her non-ultimate spells would be awesome, like Sona could channel spells for powerful effects. Example, Sona could channel her Q to shred resistances, channel W to create a juggernaut of a teammate, or channel E for awesome ASPD buffs. If she wants a quick effect but with less impact, she could play as normal.

HigeR4/20/2014, 8:41:24 PM5 votes

Based on what you guys have said... I think I have deviced a kit in my head that would be pretty interesting to expose :P

first, we take crescendo away... yes I know, "WHY WOULD YOU TAKE AWAY SONA'S BIGGEST TRAIT?!?!?!" mostly because I won't remove it completely :P

in place of Crescendo we put: Power Cord, this would work like a leblanc's ult but with NO cooldown whatsoever, instead you get to use your power chord every 3 skills by activating it, meaning that you could keep autoattacking without wasting a power chord while being able to modify your choice. Perhaps this could be like Mantra too since you need power chord to poke in lane, so maybe at lvl 0 it can be activated as well.

Her passive would become: Ethwal Hero (hehe) Sona plays a song indefinitely by holding down the key emanating an aura around her and sends out an spell when she releases it.

This would mean that her lingering auras would be weaker but holding down the key would give powerful buffs, for example for her W you could increase health regen around Sona, the rest remains the same but more powerful if held. When she releases the key, current spells happen, meaning she could just tap to enter into lingering aura mode, in this mode, only one aura can exist but when holding down the keys all 3 can happen at the same time (this would inquire into HUGE mana costs though).

And now the cherry on top, at level 6 you can level up Power cord (her ult now) and will adquire: Crescendo When Sona presses 4 keys at the same time, she'll enter Crescendo mode, applying her current power chord choice and turning all her skills into Crescendo (kind of like Zyra's passive, when you die, all your skills become 1) when one key is pressed, she'll cast crescendo and go back into regular mode with ALL skills refreshed.

Take in account that you can't cast crescendo mode if you're in CD, so you're better off holding down the keys one by one; Crescendo and Power chord have no mana cost though, so if you hold down the keys until almost manaless and then R you can apply a nice buff to your teammates while having a free Crescendo at yous disposal.

So this is my idea :P I think it would allow Sona players to experience something like Guitar Hero where you have to tap or hold the keys according to the situation. The downside would be the huge mana cost 3 auras would have and I think Sona would require some new particles :S

CS3Narutoi4/19/2014, 3:37:28 AM5 votes

I love playing Sona because, well, because she is unique. This was what first drawn me into Sona. Sona essentially have three aspects: Her active ability, managing her Power Chord; and finally, the Aura component that as many have already said is the least appreciated and interactive. A bit more on specifics later, because first I'd like to explain the reason I first played and still continue to play Sona.

Another factor that led me to Sona was her lore. I'm a fan of Galio/Alistair/Quinn etc. styles of lore. Though, I do think that Sona's lore can be expanded a bit more, because her current goal to be in the League seems a bit weak. K, think I sidetracked a bit from the main topic here, but in my opinion, I think that a champion's lore actually defines who that champion is. It gives them their identity, their style, and most importantly, their purpose and gameplay. And again, being the silent orphaned child, it kinda makes sense that she would want to inspire hope and valor into people(and other creatures!) around her. But it seems a slight bit lacking. Is she suppose to be the background buffing her allies with her music? Or is she more of the active assertive character who wins the game for her team? As it stands(or float?) right now, I think her background music-buffing fits her silent but graceful personality.

By now, I think what you've said were spot on and the community have also already pointed out Sona's high and low end points. (Aura not really satisfying, active feeling bland, not quite reaching her potential, etc. etc.) As for most interesting decisions and impactful moments? Good ults win teamfights. Correct Power Chords can also turn a dive around. And as many have said, she's also pretty versatile and works decently with the majority of ADC/marksmen and fits well in most team comps.

Finally, here are some random thoughts:

Are Sona's all auto-targeting skills(besides ult) too easy to use and therefore are limiting her capabilities? Is it because as her opponent you can only dodge her ult so she needs to be weak and squishy as a form of counterplay?
Is her heal on a too low cooldown so its effects are weak? (The extra active bonus AR & MR makes it seem like it should be used similarly to Soraka's heal, but the travel time kinda delays it :/ [Maybe a fix could be instead doubles the passive aura resistances for 1~2 secs for everyone with activated?])
Her aura seems just there. Now I know auras should be "just there", but it would be kinda interesting if they were more than just just there.
Should Sona be super Aura girl, or be more active? Wasn't there this old thread where Riot mentioned Sona should've been the Aura maven or something? XD
And this is from that comment about positioning... So the closer you are, the louder they hear the music, and the stronger the effect? Meh just a random idea, and I think unclear intents on positioning will create the old Karma's kit issues...
Is her passive not really standing out visually and under-appreciated by allies? And also hard for opponents to predict which Power Cord she will use because all her basic spells share the same short cooldown? Is she not standing out because (besides being mute) of visual aspects?
Can Sona play two different songs at once? What happens if she mixes her songs together? What would happen when she finishes her musical performance? Wow, this sorta got me into remembering the "QTrain" that Scarizard/Wav3break was talking about in his Rengar rework thread XD

Oh! And, "Sona’s role as a buff/enabler support is solid and rewarding." Enabler part is rewarding, but her buff numbers seem small... It's more like her debuff(Power Chord) that seems rewarding. It's also more of the active items I tend to buy (Mikael's, Locket, etc.) that seems to save my allies rather than just my basic skills.

So yeah, here are all of my "notes" heheh. Thanks for reading, and hope you guys can make Sona even better!! :)

By the way... GD link not working :P

Sire Hippington4/19/2014, 1:46:43 PM4 votes

The beiggest problem with sona are her QWE, all 3 skills are extremly easy t use, it actually doesn't matter if u watch ur screen or faceroll, as non of those skills would even require clicking at something, it's enough to simply press the button, even tetris got more mechanical depth. U don't even need particular timeing as all 3 skills have a very low cd.

The other problem is that most of her power is invisble, the 3 auras, the insanly strong E skill wich u only notice if u play against Sona, the W-Powercord, all pretty strong but hard to notice.
Especially in clashes, the only real visible impact is ur ult, while ur auras have huge impact in clashes, u simply don't get statisfying feedback from them.

Her Ult is great and definitly needs to stay, and her passive also feels pretty great, only W and E powercords need to feel more statisfying. While i think that both are strong enough and don't need buffs, the sure need more visual impact, s people notice their ass was saved by Sonas dmg reduce or they could catch that guy cause of the powercord slow.

I think the 4 aspects sona should definitly keep is:

strong poke
good sustain
depening on positioning
vulnerable to all-ins

I think her auras need to go, and i'm not sure if the E spell should stay, as even the active part is a huge chunk of invisible power.

Her Q and W could become skillshots, Q dmging all emeys in a line while buffing the dmg of ally in that aoe, W Healing all allys in a line and reducing the dmg or def-stats of enemys hit, so u get utillity out of hiting allys aswell as hitting enemys with her Q+W, so she can deside wich is more use, or try to position in a way that allows her to hit enemys and allys alike.

whatever u do, please make her Q+W+E more interesting to use, and also to play against.

notzhep4/19/2014, 8:08:28 PM4 votes

I used to main sona in s3. Here's my input.

What do you love about playing Sona?

Juggling spells to get the right power cord off.
q + power cord q at lvl 5-9. It hurts quite a bit for a support.
Now that adc switched to attack speed quints, sona's lvl 1-2 poke becomes relevant again. Before that, adc would just life steal all the poke back at lvl 1-2.
Sona's non-ultimate spells are visually subtle, as I think they should be given her lore. The same point makes arcade sona unappealing to me.
The qwe active mechanics. Just need to be in range to cast. It has its unique feel compared to skillshots.
q and w,e have different ranges! This makes it more interesting than just getting to x range and spamming all 3 spells. The huge w range makes saving an almost offscreen ally pretty cool too.

What do you not like about playing Sona?

I can't play her much since the advent of leona/thresh/annie near the end of s3. She's way too squishy against those champions.
Power cord w feels useless. It's hard to gauge when the 20% damage reduction would save someone. Hell, assassins most often will 1 shot the adc despite the reduction, so I tend to use power cord e instead to eliminate any chase/disengage potential afterward.
Crescendo feels slow to cast. I know I've whiffed a few of those. It feels more like a nami ult than a sej/amumu ult to me.
e's speed boost is hard to notice until I get >150 ap or lvl 18 (both of which are rare on a support). It's a one-point wonder for the power cord, but the active and aura are quite useless.

What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona?

Look at what song am I currently playing and power cord count -> look at my cd's -> decide the order of spells to cast to get the right power cord off.

What moments of a Sona game make you feel like you’ve made a play for your team?

Power cord e to catch or slow someone.
Big crescendo, with flash as bonus.

Other

I'd like to be able to buff single allies with power cords. Perhaps by somehow 'auto-attacking' them.

WorthlessSupport4/19/2014, 3:30:56 AM4 votes

As a support main i think that the problem with Sona is that pretty much every other support does her job better than her atm. Nami offers everything Sona has, but kinda improved since she has pre 6 cc and a stronger kit overall Sona is a really situational pick because she gets countered by a lot of "meta supports" on lane She needs something unique and strong at the same time to have a real chance of being impactfull on lane and past of it Even though her pick rate is pretty high I think that this is mostly because of her being pretty easy to play and being a good support for beginnners.

GuiltyGecko4/20/2014, 7:54:11 PM4 votes

Mathmatically Sona is an insane champion with problems re: satisfaction. Auras are typically low gameplay high impact concepts that very few appreciate. Personally I think Sona is an... interesting champion. I'll leave it at that.

A quote from Riot Pwyff. It got me thinking over the last few days "I really like Sona (Second favorite support!), but how can we make her Auras feel more impactful?" This made me think of Nami! Remember when Nami was first released, and her E - Tide Caller's Blessing, felt underpowered because it was hard to appreciate it visually? Sona suffers from the same problem. The user and her allies can't appreciate or take advantage of the currently active aura because in the heat of battle no one can see it. If Sona's allies were given a visual indication of being affected by an aura it would feel more impactful. This is why I love Arcade Sona so much, and I think her visual queues could be taken further.

You will notice in the SonaWBuff1 picture, a giant red circle, along with my crudely drawn particle mock-ups under the allied champions. All of Sona's active abilities on all of her skills should have something like what appears in the Red circle. It's a better visual indicator of "Hey, I'm getting buffed!" The crudely drawn particles in on the ground in all the pictures is what should appear for the persistent aura (or something similar) so people can know "Hey! I have X Sona Aura on me right now!" This will help curb what we call invisible power, by giving her auras actually visual ques! I have more small ideas to help Sona feel more impactful outside of Ult plays, but I thought this was a good place to get the conversation started! So what do you guys think?

cAmXp1IM1M4/19/2014, 9:34:46 AM4 votes

Goods - An ultimate that compatible with every AoE ability that exists and does not exist. Healing that erase poke and harass.

Bads - Being unable to protect your allies on clutches (most important thing I think), being dependant on ultimate, QWE being lackluster, being unable to protect yourself, and not being intimidating.

Complaints - A passive that only being used for extra damage, currently damage burst weighs down the other two utility choices. Either all of them should deal double damage, or the damage itself should be removed to give freedom to Sona.

Auras being "stances" holds back Sona quite a lot. Auras give a lot of hidden power but since they always active, they are not being done overboard. But then it causes them to be not game changing.

I would prefer her auras giving more explosive feeling (not actual explosives though) on use and not being open 7/24, so it'll both give mechanical thinking to Sona, playmaking potentials out of ultimate, and allows them being overboard since she will have to stay in control to keep them open.

Sir ArmaMalum4/19/2014, 1:09:28 PM4 votes

wow this thread exploded since last night, anyway my $0.02.

I'll be the first to admit I haven't played Sona that much, but the occasional time I do play her...

...I like...

...Her versatility chiefly, the fact she can contribute defensively, offensively and utility wise is great.

...Her kit's approach to support is awesome. I love the idea that you can be helping always, but can master her by switching auras and using her passive at the appropriate times.

...Her passive. The idea behind her passive is awesome, I love the effect of being able to hold back an effect and choose what effect you want.

...I don't like...

...The lack of visibility to her true contributions. 50% damage reduction? Awesome on-paper, and used right can seriously help out a team. But you get no obvious satisfaction for using it until you say over Skype "You would've died in a sec if I didn't help" and I shouldn't have to say that imho.

...Dependence on allies being nearby. Small buff QoL thing, can Sona please have Taric's mechanic and heal/buff herself slightly more if no one is nearby? Like 1.5x or so?

arl9494/19/2014, 5:41:39 AM3 votes

Whenever I play Sona i feel that the range on her kit is not utilized correctly. You are a super squishy support that unless you have your stun will most likely die if not positioned correctly. While this adds a potential to the champion it can be limiting in team fights and the player is really forced to play on the safer side. Consequently Sona is not often on the front line when she needs to hit her ult. This is where we get many of the flash ults that come into play.

Overall, I think that her kit should maintain the skill for positioning, but as a champion she should utilize the fact that you she is not on the tankier side of the spectrum.

I love the fact that her passive needs to be used with the correct aura for maximum efficiency, and while others complain that her poke is not strong, comboing a hymn of valor with a power chord at lvl 3 is extremely satisfying with the right build. Often I find myself not taking Song of Celerity until I am about to recall for the first time or until close to level 9. It doesn't contribute to her kit that much as a support other than the power chord. The movement speed is nice as it lets her postpone buying boots for longer than other supports, but in general I feel that during trades and engages she is always lacking a 4th ability, while other champions have that last ability to contribute to utility or crowd control.

Rally Vincent4/22/2014, 12:11:50 PM3 votes

My background: low Diamond ranged support main from EUNE, used to play Sona quite a lot in S1 and S2 but rarely do so anymore.

I'll try to make it short.

"What do you love about playing Sona?"

Her theme of a fine artist supporting her teammates through music.
She is easy to play mechanically - decision-making is (or rather: could be) more important than fast fingers.

"What do you not like about playing Sona?"

One hit wonder late game, it feels like she does nothing after blowing her ult.
Aside from her ultimate and early laning phase her skills are unnoticable. While I'm aware that giving small buffs continuously is what you'd expect of a champion with her theme (bard/musician, auras and long lasting songs), it's not very showy and effects are often hard to notice.
Maxing E first is NEVER an option.

"What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona?"

As her playmaking is limited, her positioning is an aspect that could be interesting to expand upon. Currently she's just "stick close to teammates and gain free assist gold".

"What moments of a Sona game make you feel like you’ve made a play for your team?"

I would be surprised if anyone mentions anything else than her Flash+R "combo" seriously. Her passive is the only other thing that has any "feel good" potential during teamfights, but it's barely noticeable outside certain cases

Silberlicht4/22/2014, 4:52:16 PM3 votes

What do you love about Sona?

I love the impact a well placed ultimate has.
I love poking.
I love picking off people with a well timed Powerchord Q.
I love dashing around the sidelines of a fight, throwing in my abilities whenever I can.
I love kiting with her.
I love it when I manage to slow a target with a Powerchord E to let my Team catch up.

What do you not like about playing Sona?

It's annoying that if I want the most out of her auras, she has to build tanky -> later in the game you're just a floating aura ult bot. Yet building her with AP makes the active parts of her kit more impactful, but creates a veery squishy and delicious target.
The longer the game goes on, the more seemingly dominating her ultimate in terms of impact to the point where it almost feels like it's the only thing you can do.

What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona?

When should I ult?
In what order should I use my abilities to get the Powerchord I want?
Who should I use my Powerchord on and when?
Where should I stand to get the right targets with the active parts of my skills?
(should I facecheck that bush? Ah, what could go wrong?....)

What moments of Sona make you feel like you've made a play for your Team?

When I throw the enemies battle strategy off course by hitting a good ult.
When I enable my team to quickly disengage/reengage in a sticky fight with my E.
Small clutch heals.
(murdering an escaping low health target with a Powerchord Q >:-) )

Annotations:

Is it problematic to make her auras more interactive? Currently they only provide a small flat bonus for everyone, which is somewhat boring. Examples I could think of off the top of my hat:

E: Aura movement increase works similar to item 3251 , for everything else you have the active

Q: Only gives an AP OR AD buff. Which one the target gets is determined by whether it has more AP or AD (a lot of AD? you get a´bit more!)

W: Similar to Q but the amount is determined on the lower value of MR or armor (lacking armor? have some!)

If we use the current numbers, these iterations would be a nerf, freeing up power for more fun stuff.

Or would these things be too complicated?

Would Powerchords that scale with skill level be an idea to think about? They are an interesting part of the kit, but the current iteration might make it problematic to simply buff them: easy to hit (AAs), and available at full strength with only 1 point in the skill. (Potentially frustrating for enemies in lane) As of now they feel strong in the early game and seem weak later on.
I think supporting with Sona should feel like giving a concert. However her current tour manager is somewhat iffy, e.g. the lighting (auras) is too bright, and most of what sticks to peoples memory will be that massive and cool sound (Crescendo) every once in a while.

itsxjchivs4/24/2014, 3:21:40 AM3 votes

I don't use Sona all that much, but I do support pretty often. The first champion that I think of when I think of a support is Sona. She's the background music, and not the main stage. Supports take on that role fairly often, highlighting the Carries, and taking a step back, going unnoticed. Just like her auras. Many people have said this, and I agree with it 100%.

Now, continuing with other parts of her kit. The purple aura, is used for movement speed, but could it be used for attack speed as well? I feel like her buffs themselves need upgraded as a support. The blue aura already increases damage output, the green is meant for healing, and the purple movement, ( Sorry, its confusing, but I'm trying to organize my thoughts though all of this at the same time..lol) Anyways..back to the point. An idea on how to make her auras more notice-able could be to put the colored aura around the champion with the buffs as well and not just under Sona.

These are just a couple ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure they can be taken and run with in many different directions, but, this is what I have.

Zarva4/24/2014, 6:27:04 PM3 votes

Hi,

Currently not playing Sona as main, but I used to, and I still love this champion so I'll jump in there.

What I like about Sona today:

selecting the right aura for the right situation is simple to understand and fun to use,
her sustain heal is very rewarding,
Crescendo is an awesome spell gameplay-wise and matches perfectly with Sona's trivia.

What I dislike about Sona:

when I cast Q, W or E, it's sometimes hard to know if Sona will hit someone,
when I've cast Q, W or E, it's hard to know when her allies are in range of the aura,
allies who play with Sona rarely know which aura Sona is using and what it means for them,
Power Chord is a bit weird in its current state (more on this a bit below).

I think a slight VU on auras could help a lot with the range of the aura (useful for Sona and her allies, not sure if this should be visible by the enemy team), and also a VU for what the aura does (the color doesn't help much, especially for newbies).

About the direct effects of QWE spells (not their auras), I think the diversity is great but:

the Q damage is good for hitting champions and almost useless for everything else (clearing minions, attacking turrets...), I'm not asking for a plain buff because Sona would probably be OP (especially against champions),
the W heal is very good as a sustain heal throughout the whole game, probably the best spell of all champions for this purpose and that makes the spell very rewarding, however it is almost useless when saving someone from a burst. About the temporary Armor and Magic Resist, maybe the bonus should be a percentage and not a flat value (note: E already does this),
the E speed boost is too damn low at early ranks.

Overall the auras are fine. Maybe the numbers could be tweaked, like less linear curves, but the gameplay around auras is very strong as is. It's simple and efficient and brings placement in the forefront. However the passiveness from auras doesn't feel very rewarding but that's also an issue with Aura-based items and in the end I'd say that's a matter of how you like to play a support character.

To my mind, the biggest issue with Sona's kit is Power Chord. It's very hard to play with. Not "hard" as "needs skill", though skill matters with this passive, but "hard" as "painful". What I'd like to see with this spell is a reaction to which spells were recently cast, not just the last spell. Basically Sona could have a stackable buff that gets one third of the current Power Chord effect and stacks up to 3 times. For instance if Sona casts W and then lands a basic attack, the enemy would receive a 7% damage reduction (1/3 of 20%) and 4 damage (1/3 of 13 at rank 1). If Sona casts W then W and lands a basic attack, the enemy gets 13% damage reduction and 9 damage (2/3 of 20% and 13). And so on. And if Sona mixes spells, the buff could be mixed as well. Then you could end up with combinations like QQQ>AA to be super aggressive or QEE>AA to be a bit aggressive and prevent the enemy from running, etc.. You could also ask yourself "is it better to E>AA E>AA E>AA for moderate damage and sustained little slow or to EEE>AA for little damage and very strong short slow?". It brings up interesting choices, granted the numbers are tweaked accordingly. About Q's Power Chord, I'd also prefer a debuff on the target (like Armor/MR reduce) instead of plain damage, it would bring Q's Power Chord useful to the team which is in phase with W's and E's Power Chord. Also a neat addition to this new Passive, a different melody could be played when the Passive hits the target, some sort of "ta-da-da" which changes with every combination. And when players will get used to it, they will hear "dididi" and say to themselves "omg she hit me with the 40% speed debuff, I'm gonna be really slow for 2 seconds".

As a last note, thank you for all your efforts so far. Keep up the good work!

Arnai4/19/2014, 3:26:20 PM3 votes

Following Red posts for a while, I noticed a trend in reworks. Auras are generally viewed as boring and tend to be one of the first things to be scrapped. This shows in items as well (ex. the removal of mana-manipulator or WotA). So, if you want to shift power in Sonas kit around, one essential design question is: Do we follow the path of slowly removing all and every auras in our game or can we keep them while making them feel important instead of boring?

That being said, back to Sona.

I like Sona because her voice is calming and pleasant to listen to.

I like Sona because of her Pentakill Skin.

I like Sona because it is a lot of fun to find the most effective way of poking your enemys out of the lane.

I like Sona because of her unexpected kill potential.

I like Sona because she focuses on supporting and enhancing the strengths of her WHOLE team, rather than focusing on a specific ally or beeing a CC machine.

I like Sona because of all the diverse utility she brings to the table (Damage, Heal, Armor/MR bonus, Dmg reduction, speed up, single-target slow, Dance Party!) I like Sona because of "the Plays"!

I like Sona because she can be easily picked up and played okay, but takes a good judgement of the situation to use her Auras to the best. On the offense? Q. Getting initated on? W. Chasing/Running? E. Laning? Q, for better last-hitting.

I also kinda like Sona because nobody knows if she still has her legs o_O

Things I don't like about Sona: -When you hit her ultimate and the enemys continue whatever as if nothing happend. This. Sucks. Alot.

-Her W-Heal often doesn't heal who you want to heal. But i always thought of this as one of her drawbacks that you have to handle well in order to master her.

-Since she is an aura support, it can be hard at times to protect a single person (your ADC) from the rest of the world. But also think of that as one of her (necessary) drawbacks.

That should cover the basics. I appreciate your intention of making Sona even more cool to play, but i can hardly imagine how. If you want to make her feel more impactful, maybe up the quality of her VFX?

Acolon4/19/2014, 8:01:44 AM3 votes

I do think she needs more interaction with the auras when certain conditions are met. As for instance you mentioned on the US, her W heal is currently weak when saving someone, making it frustrating to dive with sona into a fight where the low amount of heal wouldn't make any difference. Even more when you see that Sona herself is topped off and still getting half the heals on herself, knowing that could've been more useful elsewhere.

She could need some sort of healing bonus, boosting the heal on the other champion when her own health is at maximum. Maybe even make the heal choose 2 allied champions instead of one ally and herself.

Because seeing the green numbers on me when I am topped off instead on someone else who is in need for those does feels like a waste.

vasheenomed4/19/2014, 11:57:40 AM3 votes

I think your right about Sona's auras being bad, but she doesn't have that big of a gap in skill expression, just her skill expression needs to be better defined. instead of skillshots and such, Sona's skill comes from positioning, timing, and move order. she is fast paced decisions that really change whether people die or live. yes you can just spam spells, but being able to pick the right skill at the right time and place is more important on her than others, so I think that needs to be brought out more but it is there

**What do you love about playing Sona? **

her piano feeling, I always feel like I am playing an instrument and it's such fast paced play. she focuses on positioning, timing, and move order, rather than aiming of skill shots and things other champions require.

What do you not like about playing Sona?

her auras really make her feel weak even when ahead and feel completely pointless when behind, and also some of her spells don't have enough decision-making

What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona?

what order to use my spells in, how I can maximize my effectiveness with my next 2 seconds of positioning? (where can I get to to hit the most people)

What moments of a Sona game make you feel like you’ve made a play for your team?

hitting an ult, or hitting max targets with my heal and damage spell and significantly effecting the flow of the fight

things I think would help

make her e a much higher speed boost but much shorter, so that it can help her or an ally dodge, but requires good timing, level ups of e can increase the duration instead of the speed boost. I think it adds timing and decisionmaking to her e which currently has none :/
new second part of passive "consecutive casts of same spell have x% more effect, stacking x times (or don't stack). since it is caused by the spell it can still use the same visuals/sounds, but it creates decisionmaking in "do I want to use a different spell or do I want to keep my buff up" and also gets rid of the power taken by her passive, overall keeping her aura sounds/visuals and getting rid of the auras would be best imo

if you read this and have time please tell me what you think, would love a reply so much ;.; I have been thinking about this for so long

Shoyru6/23/2014, 2:37:24 PM2 votes

Sorry in advance if this has already been discussed. Didn't read other comments.

A way to make the auras have interaction is to simply make them more powerful the closer you are to an ally. Sona and her teammates will have to make many decisions about how clumped together they want to be (with the trade-off being susceptibility to AOE) damage. Also, this gives the opposing team the task of trying to spread Sona's team out so that she cannot be as effective, forcing Sona to choose between a weak aura for two carries or a strong aura for one carry and no aura for the other. The aura probably should grow somewhat exponentially so that it can be more easily "felt" by everyone. This would even make Sona have to make more decisions in ARAM if it's tuned correctly.

Hellioning4/20/2014, 1:07:06 AM2 votes

Guess I'll restate what I said in the GD thread. I think Sona is fine, gameplay wise, though her numbers might be a little weak, or maybe she just feels weak because this meta hates her. I'm not a big fan of changing all supports to 'make plays' but I guess in a game with Thresh in it you can't really avoid it unless you really nerf him hard. Sona feels outclassed by Annie really hard.

If you do change her and get rid of her auras (because apparently people don't like them) can you at least keep her as a 'I'm helping my team' champion instead of another 'KILL KILL KILL' champion like most of them are?

HikaruDiAngelo4/20/2014, 4:46:24 AM2 votes

What do you love about playing Sona ?

Her buff/debuff/aura playstyle.

What do you not like about playing Sona ?

Her powerchords usually aren't noticiable by my allies.

What decisions are most interesting to you when you play Sona ?

What powerchord I should use in X situation, when I should ult, when I should be more passive and when I should be more agressive.

What moments of a Sona game make you feel like you’ve made a play for your team ?

When I start a TF and hit 4-5 targets with her ultimate.
When I hit a damage dealer with Diminuendo.

Sidenote:

Sona should have an interaction with Ahri, since Ahri is the only champion who can hear Sona. :P

Psyminette4/20/2014, 4:08:53 PM2 votes

Sona's lane phase is good since her W heal could help recover HP after combat but the heal is useless in teamfights.Sona's aura do grant bonus status but it's too weak to make big changes. Yet simply buffing the aura would make her overpower.Why not start from changing her non-skill shots to skill shots or let her significantly grants a specific area's ally combat status to help turn around the situation. Here's a suggestion on Sona's Q change: Sona sends out a powerful chord in a line, damaging all enemies hit(10% reduced damage for each enemy unit hit), each enemy hit by the chord grants Sona 5/10/15/20/30 and attack damage ability power for 6 seconds,the ap and ad bonus stack up to 4 times. Nearby ally champions receive half of the ap and ad. cd: 15 sec. Sona's W, marks an area for 4 seconds, healing two ally champions who has the lowest hp in the area. Enemy champions in the area are slowed. Sona's E, On enemy cast: marks a target enemy champion with her powerful chords for 4 seconds, dealing minor damage over time.Ally champions running towards the marked enemy champion would receive bonus movement speed.On ally cast: gives the target ally champion a temporary shield and reduce the speed of enemies running towards the targeted champion. Just some suggestions, bad english plz understand :)

olallieberry4/20/2014, 9:06:56 PM2 votes

Sona Has been, by far, my favorite champion since starting the game, and I play her A LOT.

I agree with the fact that Sona's ability concepts are right on point and are very rewarding to use. Her basic ability attributes (dmg, heal, movement speed, and a FATASS STUN) would be what I would miss the most if changed.

The way that she could go about using these basic abilities could use a change. It is all about positioning thus far, if Sona is to target an enemy champion for her Q. And again, all about positioning, to heal a target ally. Her Q and W cuold use a change considering, you have to wait or go WAY OUT OF THE WAY to heal the ally you want to, instead of the guy that's going back after getting bursted. Q could also use a change to a click or skill shot. I like her E the way it is; its pretty balanced, and it's easy to pick up a few assists, without accidentally taking the kill.

Please, if you're going to rework her, giver her a visual upgrade. Her movements, skin, and body are fine, but her skirt fabric needs help. AND PLEASE fix her sausage noodle hair. Its awful. k thx!

Emerald Owl4/21/2014, 5:22:55 AM2 votes

Something I haven't seen in this thread is that Sona is, essentially, a very easy character for someone to pick up while the micromanaging is the part that people with a higher skill level will pick up on. All this talk of aura zones and such is really interesting, but might be really complicated for someone to pick up. For me, part of the appeal of Sona is something much less intense than Lulu or Nami to play as while focusing on the skills of actually supporting is more important.

However, I wouldn't entirely be opposed to big changes, as long as they're newbie-friendly. And make sense.

Sona

H4WKbl33pbl00p4/21/2014, 9:59:18 AM2 votes

I agree with the thoughts that started this thread, but feel she is still at a decent place.

Since a lot of players know that she is easy to play; she gets recommendations from veterans to newer players to play her if/when they are stuck supporting. As they play support (And if they like the role) they get to use a champion that is not too tough to use while focusing on doing other tasks that supports should also learn.

For a beginner, I think hitting Q and positioning while noticing an incoming jungler is more important than guessing a range to a skill shot and not looking at a map.

Plus changing her moves takes away from her thematic feel that her music is very free and immediate, her auras act on those who are close and are listening. If you add more targeting functions that aren't wide like her ult, then you just make a generic move that anyone else that is not Sona could have done.

These are just my opinions and there is plenty of showy supports to play at this moment and no one can come close to Thresh. If you wish to focus on making champions more impactful/satisfying, please change champions that are just awkward to use like Quinn(who's ult is her trademark and is the least satisfying thing in her kit) and Poppy (Very satisfying to tackle and clobber but awkward kit as a whole.) So please focus more on just her numbers at this moment and change moves of champions that really whole-heartedly need the help.

bbbbates4/21/2014, 3:57:47 PM2 votes

So not knowing if this thread is still alive or not, here are my 2 cents:

As a pretty (very) low ELO player who enjoys support play, I find that the most rewarding part of her kit is actually the different effects of her power chords.

For example, rather than using green to just heal, when me and my adc decide to move in for an engagement or get engaged on, the combination of exhaust plus green power chord all but removes their adc from the trade. Or using purple to both speed my team up and slow down the target. all sorts of interesting things like that make me feel like I'm impacting the game.

However I would agree that the effects of these are not super obvious, things like the the icons from arcade Sona (-dmg etc.) help, but I feel like maybe making the stat effects on other Sonas a bit more obvious would add to her her gameplay tremendously.

As for the her auras, you are spot on, using her auras does help, but it doesnt FEEL like I'm making a difference with them. Remember that this is just my 2 cents and I am a low ELO player, but I feel like maybe a visual teather of some sort would help Sona players both feel like their auras are doing something, help the other players understand that she is doing something, and for worse Sona players such as myslef, help us get a grasp of the range her auras affect.

Thanks for the post, I like it when the community gets asked how they feel about a champ and why.

TLDR: Sona could use some more visuals to make Sona players have their work not be invisible work.

AlexKondratz4/21/2014, 5:56:23 PM2 votes

Posting here since Sona is my favorite champion and one of the reasons I started playing LoL, also thanks for asking for feedback. I must admit, I'm a big aura player (going Paladin in Diablo 2 just for auras, elf in MU Online for buffing allies, bard in D&D, etc) and, as you can expect, I'm against removing or changing her auras into something else. I feel like that would kill part of what Sona is.

As I read your first post, I thought it was something like "hey, let's do some minor changes to Sona, like indicators or something" but the more I read the more I feel like there will be some big mechanics changes (sound zones, guitar hero mini game, passive rework, etc). Is that right? (I know they are just ideas, but I also saw a lot of interest into that).

Anyways, I though of something really simple for Sona (maybe someone posted it already), let's just separate her auras from her actives.

Keep the actives the same, but they not longer give you any aura at all. Instead of that, you must press R to enter her "aura mode", where you can choose wich one do you want to play. This allows Sona to choose between different actives and passives.
For example: Maybe I want to poke the enemy with Q, but also make sure I still give my ADC the armor and m. resist buff. This change would allow me to use my Hymn of Valor active to do some damage while also preventing some damage to my ADC with my Aria of Perseverance aura.
Once you select an aura, you go back to your "active mode". For not being stuck in "aura mode" if you press R accidentally, you can give a 2 or 3 seconds window where if nothing is pressed, it goes back to "active mode" automatically.
As for Crescendo, you just have to press R twice to use it, so there is no need to worry about losing her ultimate with this change.
Entering the "aura mode" would cost 0 mana and have no cooldown since I don't see why it should cost at all, and you could also split her mana cost between actives and auras (actual lvl 2 Q cost 50 mana, with this change it could cost 25 for the active and 25 for the aura, or maybe 40 the active, 10 for the aura, since the active having low cost would be too spameable).
Since there is the possibility of having separates actives and auras, that could also have different mana cost, would create some interesting choices "Do I wanto to keep buffing my allies with damage while I use E to go faster? Or maybe it's better to do some damage while going for green aura to mitigate some damage for all?". I think it can also make balancing easier, since you can tweek actives or auras without affecting the other at all.
Almost forgot, her "enter aura mode" (first R) is available at lvl 1, while Crescendo would still have to be unlocked at 6.

TL;DR: Separate actives and auras with R

Press R once and you access the auras (Press R twice for Crescendo.)
You have the possibility to use an active like Q while playing your W aura (you do damage while also preventing damage into an ally).
You can balance actives and auras separately, like mana costs, different CDs for actives and auras, etc.
The kit would remain the same, but would also add some gameplay decisions to players. Choosing the right active and the right aura both would be more demanding and rewarding.
Sona players won't be mad with this (at least I think so).

I think that simple change can give you good results, or at least a good "first step" into a new direction for Sona: It's not much effort as a kit or ability rework (well, maybe it is, but at least her abilities are already coded), you shift some power to auras now that you can freely choose wich one you want to play regardless the active you use. All this without upsetting Sona players too much for making a big change to her kit.

Just my idea, thanks for reading!

P.S: If you go for a major change, please give her a different dancing animation. I'm tired of Yasuo showing off his flute (or harmonica) while I just move my arms, when Sona is supposed to be the musician champion.

ElyFairy4/21/2014, 7:16:00 PM2 votes

Hello,

I am a support main, so I'd like to share my thoughts on this as someone who plays a variety of support styles.

**What I don't like: **

The auras are indeed overlooked too often. The main thing that bugs me is that it's difficult to keep up with where the aura ends. I have to hover over my ability to see the range of it, but my adcs can't see it with me, so it negates any kind of interaction between the two players. Think of it this way: A player knows how to interact with Thresh's lantern because he/she sees that it is clickable. If there was a way to make the range visible to both Sona and nearby allies, sort of like how Morgana's ultimate range is visible to both her and those affected, I think that issue would be resolved.Perhaps not permanently display the range, as that would make positioning a bit too easy in respects to champion zones imo, but maybe once in a while or when she switches auras? It would prompt more awareness of what each aura's utility is.

I also agree with some of the previous posts that it'd be nice if we could visually see the effects of power cord.

**What I do like: **

Sona's Q does marvelous damage if you've got the build for it. Even after it was nerfed, the new support items allow for more aggressive rune and mastery builds on her, and it's great poke/harass if you know when the right time to trade is. (Not so much when you're out of position and going too ham, resulting in a massive hp drop)

Sona is a great champion to play with someone who isn't particularly comfortable with the adc role. Her bonus damage helps with CSing and trading, her heal allows for recuperation and resistance, and her speed up helps in chases and escapes. I once heard someone refer to Sona as a "nursing" champion, who gives a lot of room for mistakes on the adc's behalf.

** Decisions to consider: **

One of Sona's greatest decisions is when she should go in an harass, and which aura is best suited for this harass.

Other considerations include which mana regen item to buy, because heaven knows she cannot just spam QWE all day long or she'll end up useless. Also, which gold item to buy. If I'm supporting an experienced adc, I will go for the spellthief, because the trades will be good. But if I'm with a passive or more inexperienced adc, I'll take the gold coin, and make sure I nurse them. (coughireallydontlikepassiveadcscough)

**Play Making: **

Right now I main Annie support. And I have to say I am in love with the "FLASH ULT! DANCE MY PUPPETS!" approach. My two most fun poke lanes are Annie and Sona for that very reason.

Also, I love building Iceborn Gauntlet on her. Not sure if it's considered a "play," but it does have a surprise factor ("wtf a Sona with iceborn gauntlet?" <-- I get that all the time). Since she has nice cooldowns, by late game I have enough mana regen and cdr from unholy grail to continually spam and slow enemies.

So that took me a while to answer, but there's my honest opinion! Hope to hear more about possible improvements on her!

xhelmeto4/22/2014, 9:13:16 AM2 votes

I personally played sona a lot, because I like poking support, like sona, annie, zyra,etc.. In addition sona have both heal and poke power in lane and a AoE stun in teamfight.She is good in a sense that she can be played aggressively and defensively, and easier to make play with ult to turn the whole teamfight over.

However, sometimes I would reconsider picking sona because even she can poke and heal, she is very squishy in different phrase of the game. She is mostly dead when she gets caught by thresh, leona, alister in lane.

Moreover, in protecting carry, nami, janna, thresh or even lulu could do a better job; in terms of engaging, blitzcrank, leona, thresh is definitely better than sona; in terms of poking and dealing damage, zyra and lulu could be a better choice than lulu.

If I was playing solo queue, I would pick sona only if I know the enemy team support could not engage on me and kill me instantly. Sona is a very safe pick in solo queue support because she provided heal for AD and she can poke (somehow brainessly)

However, if I am playing team rank, I would not pick up sona because there are more "useful" support choice in providing CC in teamfight and proecting carry along with the tankiness.