Overview
Speak softly and carry a big stick is a mantra meant for Sona. She’s an enchanter-type support whose kit revolves around music, and she excels at both poking down enemies in lane and then healing you and your allies back up. Her ultimate has the potential to be game changing, which makes her a good pick for enchanter lovers who want to do more than support their allies. Click here for the latest data on her best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Sona
New Sona players don't play aggressively because they think she's an enchanter. Experienced Sona players are always in the enemy face pressing Q. And the best Sona players realize you need to be able to do both -- sometimes stepping up for poke means you will die. And dying is bad (hope this helps).
Sona scales well into late game, and her ultimate can single handedly win you a fight. That doesn't mean you should save it for a perfect multi-person ultimate, though -- it may be too late at that point! It's best to be proactive with it to get the most value.
Strengths
Sona is extremely annoying to lane against because of the range on her Hymn of Valor [Q], and when combined with a steady barrage of auto-attacks or her Power Chord [P], it can quickly chunk enemies out of lane. In addition, as long as you are able to skirt all-ins, you can step back and heal up any damage traded back at you with Aria of Perseverance [W]. In the right matchups, there will be very little enemies can do against Sona early in the game, and as the game progresses, she will continue to deal an unexpected amount of damage in fights to pair alongside Crescendo [R], which can stun multiple enemies if they clump atop each other.
Weaknesses
She is very squishy -- like many enchanter champions -- which means that she can be vulnerable to a counter-engage if she steps up too many times to look for poke. The best way to deal with her is to force the issue early so that she isn’t able to find multiple rotations of poke on you (at which point it is too late to all-in and win). If she is forced to use her Flash early, it will greatly decrease the amount of pressure she can apply on the lane. In fights, getting into range for a proper Crescendo [R] will often put her in harm’s way, or it will cost her Flash -- either scenario leaves her vulnerable to being turned on, especially if enemies are able to dodge the ult.
Game Plan
Early Game: Poke as much as possible with your Hymn of Valor [Q] -- you should constantly try to use your range to chunk enemies low.
Mid Game: Play safe and look to support your teammates from behind. You can use Crescendo [R] to generate picks onto isolated players if they’re not careful -- you don’t always have to look for multiple people.
Late Game: At this point, all of her spells are going to find immense value, and she should be a priority target for enemy teams to kill. You’ll want to play back and support your team -- you don’t even have to land an ult to be valuable, but a good ult can single handedly win you the game.
