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Sona, Maven of the Strings [Rework Concept]

ThornsOfTheRose·4/21/2018, 3:30:11 PM·18 votes·9,497 views

Note: Before anyone criticizes me for drafting a Sona rework concept even though I have no matches in my Match History, I moved to the Garena server two years ago since it's closer to home, so lower ping and whatnot.

I'm back again after three years with another Sona rework concept! This rework mainly aims to give Sona some complexity and decision making capabilities (raise her skill floor and skill ceiling a little bit), but should also give her some early game survivability while keeping her late game strong but counterable. This rework also introduces some changes that will hopefully make her burst damage more manageable for enemies, but should also greatly boost her team's overall damage when played right. Without further ado, have a look at the rework and tell me what you like/dislike about it.

Aim: • Make auras feel like auras again • More "musical" theme • Shift power from Power Chord and Actives into Auras • Keep more or less strong late game • Make early game standard strength • Emphasize on her strengths in extended engagements • Emphasize on her weakness to hard CC • Hard CC pre-6

Health : 492 (76) Health Regen: 4.5 (0.55) Mana : 340 (45) Mana Regen : 11.5 (0.4) AD : 40 (2) Att. Speed : 0.64 (2.3) Armor : 28 (3.3) M. Resist : 30 (0.5) Range : 575 Move Speed : 320

*minor stat changes

(NEW) PASSIVE: Maven of the Strings “Sona plays her Songs with a certain tempo. A Perfect Song occurs when a Song is played within 5 (affected by Cooldown Reduction) seconds to 6 seconds after playing a Song, granting a stack of Consonance. Each stack of Consonance increases the power of Sona’s Melody Auras by 100% of the base value, up to 5 stacks.

Sona can gain Consonance stacks out of combat, but only up to 2 stacks of Consonance can take effect when out of combat with enemy Champions or jungle monsters. If Sona plays a Song off-beat, she loses all stacks of Consonance.

Additionally, after every three Perfect Songs played, Sona’s next basic attack is a Power Chord. Power Chords deal bonus magic damage and apply different effects depending on the last Song played.”

Bonus Damage: 10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/112/124/136/148/160/172/184/196 (+ 0.2 AP)

Staccato: deals even more bonus magic damage over 4 seconds. (Hymn of Valor) Damage: 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/18/20/22/24 (+ 0.02 AP) per second.

Diminuendo: reduces target’s damage output by 25 (+ 0.05 AP)% for 4 seconds. (Aria of Perseverance)

Fermata: target is Snared for 0.7 (+ 0.007 AP) seconds, capped at 1.75 seconds. (Song of Celerity)

“Playing a Song puts all of Sona’s basic abilities on a 1 second static cooldown.”

(UPDATED) Q: Hymn of Valor “Sona plays the Hymn of Valor. If the Song is perfect, her next basic attack within 2 seconds echoes, damaging enemies near the target and applying on-hit effects.”

Cooldown: 1 second Mana Cost: 40 mana Range: Self Echo Damage: 50% (+ 0.1 AP) AD

Tune: “The Hymn of Valor buffs nearby allied Champions. Nearby allied Champions' next basic attack or spell within 6 seconds deal bonus magic damage. Area of effect spells apply 33% effectiveness.”

Aura Range: 350 units Damage: 12/24/36/48/60 (+ 0.15 AP)

Melody: “Sona then continues playing the Hymn of Valor for up to 6 seconds. Allied Champions in hearing range deal bonus magic damage on every basic attack.”

Aura Range: 500 units Damage: 3/4/5/6/7 (+ 0.03 AP)

(UPDATED) W: Aria of Perseverance “Sona plays the Aria of Perseverance. If the Song is perfect, her next basic attack within 2 seconds heals herself.”

Cooldown: 1 second Mana Cost: 40 mana Range: Self Self Heal: 15/30/45/60/75 (+ 0.15 AP)

Tune: “The Aria of Perseverance buffs nearby allied Champions. Nearby allied Champions gain a shield for 2 seconds.”

Aura Range: 350 units Shield: 35/55/75/95/115 (+ 0.4 AP)

Melody: “Sona then continues playing the Aria of Perseverance for up to 6 seconds. Allied Champions in hearing range receive a small heal every second.”

Aura Range: 500 units Heal: 3/4/5/6/7 (+ 0.015 AP)

(UPDATED) E: Song of Celerity “Sona plays the Song of Celerity. If the Song is perfect, her next basic attack within 2 seconds slows the target for 1.25 sec.”

Cooldown: 1 second Mana Cost: 40 mana Range: Self Slow: 21/22/23/24/25 (+ 0.08 AP)%

Tune: “The Song of Celerity buffs nearby allied Champions. Nearby allied Champions gain a burst of decaying movement speed for 1.5 seconds.”

Aura Range: 350 units Decaying Move Speed: 32/34/36/38/40 (+ 0.08 AP)%

Melody: “Sona then continues playing the Song of Celerity for up to 6 seconds. Allied Champions in hearing range receive a persistent move speed boost.”

Aura Range: 500 units Move Speed Boost: 10/15/20/25/30 (+ 0.15 AP)

(NEW) R: GRAND FINALE “Sona plays her ultimate performance, cleansing nearby allied Champions from crowd control and protecting from further effects for 1.5 seconds.

While Grand Finale is active, all Tune and Melody auras gain increased range, and Power Chord has enhanced effects. Additionally, playing a Perfect Song grants two stacks of Consonance instead of one.

Grand Finale does not interact with Maven of the Strings' tempo.”

Cooldown: 70/65/60 sec Mana Cost: 100 mana Cleanse Range: 350 units Duration: 18/19/20 seconds Tune Range Bonus: 50/75/100 units Melody Range Bonus: 100/150/200 units Staccato Bonus: Adds 1/2/3 ticks Diminuendo Bonus: Also lowers attack speed by 15/20/25% Fermata Bonus: Stuns instead and increases damage taken by 10/12/14% while stunned

Explanations: Consonance should add some depth to playing Sona since she now needs to be aware of her positioning and her surroundings, while also keeping track of the tempo timer (should be seen above skills bar). The tempo mechanic highlights her musical theme by drawing comparisons to a rhythm game. The escalating effect on Melody auras means that Sona is weakest at the start of a fight, but gradually builds up power the longer the fight lasts. The double stacking on Grand Finale should help Sona keep up the pace in quick teamfights. Additionally, the CC cleanse and immunity on Grand Finale grants Sona some pro play-worthy high moments that make Sona players feel good about themselves.

Since Consonance requires Sona to play Songs at specific times, she's now weaker to hard CC since hard CC can cause her to miss her windows of opportunity.

Only two stacks of Consonance take effect while Sona isn't in combat with champions or monsters, so she can't effectively passively heal or grant movement speed to her allies while waiting for an engage or rotating. If she's good she can, however, preemptively stack Consonance so she has max stacks right off the bat when a teamfight occurs. Consonance also gives Sona decision making capabilities, since she has to decide on whether to empower her Melody auras or play a Song off-beat for the clutch shield/movement speed.

Power Chord now takes longer to stack in the late game since it needs at least 9 seconds to charge. The change to Staccato from 40% increased damage to damage over time (still with respectable damage) is done with the intent to lower her burst damage and give some counterplay. After all, Sona is a support, not an assassin. The nerf to damage and uptime also allows us to buff Diminuendo and Tempo Fermata. Tempo is now Fermata, which Snares instead of Slows, with the slow being moved to Song of Celerity's active.

The loss of actives and Crescendo might weird some people out, but Perfect Songs now grant "actives" to Sona's basic attacks (now with 25 increased range) which should help her during laning. The loss of Crescendo's stunning potential (pun intended) is partially compensated by Fermata's Snare, which is upgraded to a Stun and damage amp under the effects of Grand Finale. Grand Finale also has the added benefit of extending Sona's aura ranges, which should help her stay safe in teamfights.

Something I find cool is that this version of Sona boost her entire team's damage by adding up to 630 damage per champion, and can heal up to 252 HP with just one ability. That's almost Lulu levels of damage and Soraka levels of healing, which IS ALSO AoE! However, that is assuming she can stay safe, not get blown up, maintain five stacks of Consonance, keep up with her teammates, and play her Songs to completion. Pretty high risk high reward if you ask me.

So that's my Sona rework concept. Please tell me what you think of it. All upvotes/downvotes/constructive praises/tips/criticisms welcome. Plain old flaming will be ignored. If it's good enough hopefully a Rioter can read this? :)

TL;DR:

  • Higher survivability while laning
  • Much, much stronger in extended engagements
  • Improved musical theme
  • Higher skill floor and skill ceiling
  • Higher synergy with AA based champs
  • Improved situational healing
  • Hard CC pre-6
  • Higher utility (CC cleanse)
  • Less burst damage
  • No more "actives"
  • More micromanaging required
  • Less Power Chords thrown at enemies
  • No more Crescendo :(

[sona-playing] Thanks for reading this far!! :D

*Some numbers and effects edited based on feedback.

28 Comments

Supreme Senpai694/21/2018, 6:07:24 PM5 votes

On one hand I'm against any Sona changes. Personally, of course. She's probably my favorite champion and she's outrageously fun to play. But, I feel like her passive doesn't need to exist. In higher elo she's not all that great due to lacking consistent CC but in lower elo you can just spam abilities and not worry about the passive. Something to make the passive stand out more like you suggested would be great.

Other than that though honestly I'm not so sure she needs a rework. I upvoted for the sheer work and thought put into the post though. Very nice read

SpecterVonBaren4/21/2018, 9:42:05 PM5 votes

The issue with so many rework threads is that they don't actually rework the champion but make various stat adjustments and secondary effects for the already existing abilities. This one is no different.

HeimerLmao4/21/2018, 9:16:20 PM4 votes

One thing to note. With 500 ap Sona would be able to e powerchord snare for almost 4 seconds. And it scales even further. Add a cap on the snare duration.

Elphrihaim4/21/2018, 8:02:07 PM1 votes

I don't think this kit would be fun to play with because it has a huge portion of its power built around a thing that only activates while she's in-combat-- which is slightly at odds with having flat healing.

But outside of that single case, I like it because it... succeeds both at being Sona-like and at actually incentivizing musical rhythm? also it completely 300% breaks sheen so I automatically call it best kit

Staccato from 40% increased damage to damage over time (still with respectable damage)

This, however, is a blatant lie. 4 x (Level + 1) + 8% AP is not a respectable amount of damage.

(but that's literally a numerical issue instead of an actual issue)

LightningShado4/21/2018, 8:24:13 PM1 votes

Pretty good.

chipndip14/24/2018, 6:55:04 AM1 votes

  1. All of this is way too much complication for a glorified gutting of the champion. Her healing on W especially.

  2. These changes are one big gimmick with zero point to them. They don't make her more functional, nor do they really address her game play issues.

  3. No one, neither the community nor Riot, gives a rat's ass about Sona. Why do you think they updated Demacia's lore without her when she lives there, then updated Ionia's lore without her when she was born there? I personally say just don't even bother. No one really cares.

FakeGravity4/21/2018, 10:22:09 PM1 votes

the passive is a nightmare to read, i think it should be simpler, i like the idea but i was thinking something like

consonance stacks for changing the song then tune effect when a song is user and a melody effect when a song is held beyond consonance perfect time

this way she gets an immediate effect from playing a song, and then can decide if she want to earn consonance by changing the song, or wants a powerful aura by playing the same one. make the melody effect start weak and increase as the song goes long maybe?

also make this effects part of the passive and separate each skill in three parts, the tune effect the consonance reward or the melody aura

DynamiteGazelle4/22/2018, 2:30:51 AM1 votes

Consonance isn't really a musical term. I think you're thinking of resonance

PokladnicaZla4/22/2018, 8:54:14 AM1 votes

I love the new R and the passive,but wish you changed her Q and W to ot just be auto targeted. Tho, the Ultimate passive mana recovery seems a bit too much. Shouldn't mana management be one of her weaknesses?

Arakadia4/22/2018, 4:43:07 PM1 votes

I feel like Sona's burst is part of the reason people play her. If it proves too troublesome it should be removed, but imo her burst is fun and makes her a little different from the Soraka, Janna, and Lulus.

sKz Aaron D4/22/2018, 6:24:22 PM1 votes

"The Garena server"

Which one? Each country has its own that is IP locked and most VPNs cause you to have higher ping than you normally would anyway. Are you playing from like, American Samoa, Micronesia, or Guam?

FilDaFunk4/21/2018, 7:53:47 PM1 votes

Some of her melodies remind me of prework sona. That time, Sona got changed to put more power into actives because auras were quite powerful but not noticeable.

Felvyne4/21/2018, 7:28:45 PM1 votes

This looks a hell lot of complex. And I like it. I think that Sona needs to be a lot more complex if she has to be THE musician of LoL. Give her tempos, give her music, give her the ability to orquestrate the battle from behind and unable to do something big by herself, let her strengh the instruments that are her teamates and rise them into a chorus with her own music.

And this may archieve that. I like it, and I like the idea. I wish I could give this a try to get a feel.