Sona Support Build

I’ve only recently started playing as Sona because I’m not too partial to music-themed characters; however, Sona was one of only a few support champs remaining in my champion store, so I snagged her for a cool 3150 IP.  What follows is a solid Sona support build for Season 3 in the League of Legends.  Just have a look at my results in the screenshot below. Mobafire build still to come.

While Sona can be played AD, AP, Support, or quite possibly a tank or any combination of these, I prefer her in a support role paired with any ADC in the bottom lane.  Below are some recommended Rune and Masteries pages to consider for your own build.

Sona Support Build

Runes:

• Marks (Red) – Magic Penetration (+7.8)
• Seals (Yellow) – Flat Armor (+13)
• Glyphs (Blue) –  Flat Ability Power (+11)
• Quintessences (Purple) – Gold (+3.0/10)

Masteries (0-13-17):

• Offense – 0
• Defense – 13, with emphasis on health, resistances, and damage reduction
• Utility – 17, with emphasis on summoner spells, mana, gold, experience, and Pickpocket

Early Items:

I start the game by picking up a Faerie Charm, two Sight Wards, two Health Potions, and two Mana Potions.  Your goal is to save a minimum of 670 gold worth of farm so you can purchase your Philosopher’s Stone and two more Sight Wards (or more) on first back. Take full advantage of the Pickpocket mastery and harass the enemy ADC and Support.  Taric is an especially vulnerable target.

If you manage to save more from assists or even first blood, consider (in this order), Kage’s Lucky Pick, one or two more Faerie Charms (for Chalice of Harmony), Boots of Speed (for Ionian Boots of Lucidity), Ruby Crystal (for Sightstone), and always leave enough for two more Sight Wards and/or a Vision Ward.

About twenty minutes in, you should have completed or near completed the following core item build:

Core Items:

• Philosopher’s Stone
• Kage’s Lucky Pick
• Ruby Sightstone
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Chalice of Harmony

Once you have the above core items, your next items will all be situational.   For example, you could purchase Fiendish Codex to put towards Athene’s Unholy Grail (AP + CDR), or Kindlegem (Health + CDR) to put towards Shurelya’s Reverie.  Lean on AP for damage and healing power, or consider health if you’re an early target in team fights or take a lot of poke damage.  Regardless, CDR is your priority mid-game so you can keep your teammates alive with rapid heals and chase or escape from frequent speed boosts.

Late Items:

• Runic Bulwark – This is almost always in my build due to its balanced armor and magic resistance, coupled with it’s 300 health.  The aura also aids tremendously in team fights.
• Athene’s Unholy Grail – If you’re not in need of the”cleanse” offered by Mikael’s Crucible (you should be positioned behind your team anyway) take the added AP and max your CDR.  This is commonly in my build.
• Mikael’s Crucible (situational) – If you need an escape from an annoying CC enemy team comp, this will help keep you from becoming a secure kill if you get caught.  Paired with Shurelya’s Reverie and Sona’s movement speed ability, I’ve had a few miraculous escapes.
• Shurelya’s Reverie – I rarely get the chance to fully build this, but this provides a more secure escape or kill for teammates with it’s additional speed boost.
• Locket of the Iron Solari (situational)– I don’t build this often, but if you’re struggling in team fights, the active shield can make all the difference in a team fight.
• Zeke’s Herald (situational) – If your team comp is heavily AD-based, the added lifesteal aura will be appreciated by your teammates.

General Considerations:

• When playing as a support, always, ALWAYS have two or more wards with you.  A support that doesn’t ward, loses games.  In reflection of games lost, too many can be attributed to lack of map control and awareness.
• Don’t fall too far behind in experience and levels.  As a support you’ll want to follow your team into battle, but spending too much time between lanes and not landing assists or kills, you’ll quickly fall behind.  Choose any deviations from bot lane carefully and plan ganks with appropriate pings to improve successful kills.
• Your speed boost is enough to get you an assist.  If you’re one hit away from death but you can send an ally into battle with a little more speed (and/or health), stick around long enough to spam a few more spells to help your teammates land a kill.
• Sona’s ultimate, Power Chord, is best used to stun a medium to low-health ADC during the laning phase to secure a kill, and often, a double kill.  Otherwise, save it for emergencies or team fights and position yourself to maximize its use on multiple enemies.
• Power Chord pairs nicely with other champion abilities for heavy AOE damage and disables.  Consider these champions in your team composition to maximize Sona’s abilities: Miss Fortune, Amumu, Pantheon, Malzahar, Annie, Brand, Cassiopeia, Fiddlesticks, Galio, Jarvan IV, Katarina, Kennen, Malphite, Lux, Morgana, Nunu, Rammus, Rumble, Viktor, Vladimir, Wukong, Zac, Ziggs, and Zyra.

Summary:

Sona has become one of my favorite support champions to play on the Fields of Justice.  She is very versatile in the way she can support her team and has a very modest learning curve.  She also synergizes well with many other champions, making her a viable support in many team compositions.

As a bonus for all you Sona fans (and soon-to-be fans), I’ve collected several Sona desktop wallpapers showing off her available skins – Pentakill Sona, Arcade Sona, Guqin Sona, Muse Sona, the original Sona portrait, new default Sona portrait, and limited edition Silent Night Sona.