Sona rework concept based on Odyssey Onslaught augment effects

[P] Composer: Sona's Q, W, and E all have a shared cooldown which starts at 6 seconds. The second, third, and fourth rank-ups in each of Q, W, or E reduces this shared cooldown by 0.5 seconds. Repeating the same ability in a row will grant the 'repetitive' debuff. Each stack of 'repetitive' will multiplicatively diminish effects from further repeated casts of that ability by 35% and increase its mana cost by 35%, stacking up to 5 times. Casting a different ability or pausing for 5 seconds between ability casts will remove all stacks of 'repetitive'.

Playing certain sequences of abilities will activate bonus effects [causing a distinct audio snippet to play]. Pausing for more than 5 seconds between ability casts will cancel the sequence. R counts as a wildcard which can replace any other note to complete any of the sequences below.

E Q Q Boisterous Sona's next basic attack deals AOE magic damage

Q W W Clutch Grants a shield to the last ally healed by Aria of Perseverance

W E W Benediction Aria of Perseverance heals one extra ally

Q W E Rouse Empowers nearby allies to deal bonus damage

W W Q E W W Lullaby of the Oasis [calming and mysterious song similar to Arabesque by Debussy] Aria of Perseverance pulses for several seconds, healing nearby allies and restoring a very small amount of mana.

E W E Q E E Rise of the Typhoon [exhilarating song like Ride of the Valkyries] Song of Celerity lasts bonus time, deflects some damage from incoming ranged attacks, and grants Tenacity to Sona.

Q Q E W Q Q Ode to Destruction [dramatic song like O Fortuna] Hymn of Valor pulses, dealing damage over time in an area of effect surrounding Sona.

Note: You can chain together sequences to achieve multiple effects like (Q [W W) {R E W} W] (Clutch) [Lullaby of the Oasis] {Benediction}

The rest of Sona's kit would remain similar to current but would be heavily rebalanced with number adjustments to accommodate this new passive into her overall power budget. She would have high base numbers on her Q W E, so they start out as full stand-alone abilities, and lower than normal scaling with ability rank on Q W E because her scaling is split between her standard abilities and the song effects. Early on, her cooldowns and mana will make it difficult to play many songs in a fight, so Sona players will need to plan one combo to lead in with, but the initial base strength of the effects and abilities would determine her early-mid power curve. Later on she would become much less cooldown and mana dependent, but her ability scalings can be adjusted to balance her to any desired power curve after level 3. I'm not imagining her as a hyperscaler or earlygame champion with this kit. There are actually a lot more balance levers to smooth out her power progression without risking her being a boring W spam bot in laning since 'repetitive' debuff and needing to use combos would discourage ability spam.

The combos would take a while to memorize, and that would increase her skill ceiling. I have some ideas on how they could be implemented that would make learning them a more gradual skill curve as you improve with them. When you are playing songs, the abilities that casting would continue a sequence that you've started would get a musical note icon on them. That way, you'll know that if you play that note, you're continuing a valid sequence. If playing a note would finish a sequence, then that ability will have a bright glowing gold note on it. If you don't remember which sequence what you played matches then you may be surprised by which effect you trigger, but you'll still be able to successfully play song sequences.

When a song effect triggers, a buff icon would appear above your ability menu which would show the notes you played to activate the buff. When you trigger Clutch for example, you'd see a buff icon appear tile with 3 dots at the top: Purple, Blue, Blue = E Q Q If you play Ode to Destruction, you'd get a buff icon that shows 3 dots at the top and 3 dots at the bottom: Blue, Blue, Purple Green, Blue, Blue = Q Q E W Q Q

The "Repetitive" debuff would also show here as a red note with an X over it.

This will help you learn the different songs. Over time, you would learn which combinations trigger which effects without needing to hover of your passive description to read the combos, and you'd learn what the effects do. Hovering over the buff icons would show the scalings and effects of the different songs, because it would be too much information to fit into the in-game passive text, so the passive would simply list the sequences and their names, like:

Playing certain sequences of abilities will activate bonus effects. Pausing for more than 5 between ability casts will cancel the sequence. R counts as a wildcard which can replace any other note to complete any of the sequences below. E Q Q (Boisterous) Q W W (Clutch) W E W (Benediction) Q W E (Rouse) W W Q E W W (Lullaby of the Oasis) E W E Q E E (Rise of the Typhoon) Q Q E W Q Q (Ode to Destruction)

Each buff tile would have the full description when you hover over it. So if you hovered over clutch, you'd read something like: Q W W Clutch Grants a shield scaling equal to 35/50/65/80/95 (+0.15 AP) to the last ally healed by Aria of Perseverance. This effect scales with ability rank in Aria of Perseverance.