Sona trouble...

[Firebert]

I've been playing Sona in both Classic and Domination (I'm level 14), and am queueing for Draft for Classic and Blind for Domination.

For Classic, I seem to get shouted at for not warding (because I spend all my starting gold on the Meki Pendant as suggested by the item list, and all following gold on mana regeneration items), shouted at for attacking minions in my lane (because apparently I don't need gold and only a portion of XP). I've had people intentionally feed because I was attacking minions, and told me to go AD Carry, boots and all. >_>

So clearly the Riot recommended starting item set for Classic for Sona is completely wrong according to the people I've been playing with. I've been on a League of Legends build calculator to try and work out a better strategy that includes more mana regeneration AND sight wards but nothing seems to work short of taking Clarity (which robs me of a Summoner Spell later in the game when Mana stops being an issue).

My Mastery build for Classic so far:
4AP and 4% Cooldown Reduction in Offense, Summoner's Insight, Expanded Mind and 2/3 Meditation (going for the extra CD reduction in Utility). Ususally take Teleport and Flash as I sometimes have to port back for mana.

I'm doing far better in Domination, except that I don't like the on-use item (Odin's Veil) because they have very small icons that I have to click (unless someone can tell me if there's a keybind for it). I drop an AP in the Offensive tree for Summoner's Wrath, drop one out of Meditation for Archaic Knowledge and swap the point in Summoner's Insight for Improved Recall or one in Good Hands (depending on how other games have gone). I occasionally get namecalled for capping the first tower out of the upper walkway, but apart from that I've had up to almost 30 assists just by latching onto anyone I could keep up with and wanted me. :3

I use Exhaust and Ghost in Domination.

The other problem I've had with my Domination build is either the team don't do so well and I'm no-where near finishing my item list, or we do so well and I have an extra slot (as the blue mana gem in the first slot is used for the Archangel's Staff later on).

My runes are a mess (as I've just got back to playing and found out I can't Sivir all that well any more):
3x 4.59 mana red
1x 0.42HP/level red
3x 0.05mp5/level yellow
1x 0.74 magic resist yellow
4x 0.24mp5 blues
1x 3.24 mana/level quintessence

That's about it.

So yeah. Halp?

[Deleted]

I've been playing Sona in both Classic and Domination (I'm level 14), and am queueing for Draft for Classic and Blind for Domination.

For Classic, I seem to get shouted at for not warding (because I spend all my starting gold on the Meki Pendant as suggested by the item list, and all following gold on mana regeneration items), shouted at for attacking minions in my lane (because apparently I don't need gold and only a portion of XP). I've had people intentionally feed because I was attacking minions, and told me to go AD Carry, boots and all. >_>

So clearly the Riot recommended starting item set for Classic for Sona is completely wrong according to the people I've been playing with. I've been on a League of Legends build calculator to try and work out a better strategy that includes more mana regeneration AND sight wards but nothing seems to work short of taking Clarity (which robs me of a Summoner Spell later in the game when Mana stops being an issue).

My Mastery build for Classic so far:
4AP and 4% Cooldown Reduction in Offense, Summoner's Insight, Expanded Mind and 2/3 Meditation (going for the extra CD reduction in Utility). Ususally take Teleport and Flash as I sometimes have to port back for mana.

I'm doing far better in Domination, except that I don't like the on-use item (Odin's Veil) because they have very small icons that I have to click (unless someone can tell me if there's a keybind for it). I drop an AP in the Offensive tree for Summoner's Wrath, drop one out of Meditation for Archaic Knowledge and swap the point in Summoner's Insight for Improved Recall or one in Good Hands (depending on how other games have gone). I occasionally get namecalled for capping the first tower out of the upper walkway, but apart from that I've had up to almost 30 assists just by latching onto anyone I could keep up with and wanted me. :3

I use Exhaust and Ghost in Domination.

The other problem I've had with my Domination build is either the team don't do so well and I'm no-where near finishing my item list, or we do so well and I have an extra slot (as the blue mana gem in the first slot is used for the Archangel's Staff later on).

My runes are a mess (as I've just got back to playing and found out I can't Sivir all that well any more):
3x 4.59 mana red
1x 0.42HP/level red
3x 0.05mp5/level yellow
1x 0.74 magic resist yellow
4x 0.24mp5 blues
1x 3.24 mana/level quintessence

That's about it.

So yeah. Halp?

It's Dominion.. will try to help when i finished reading

Ok, to help you:
You're lvl 14 - you shouldnt underestimate the powergain by more talentpoints/runeslots
1. Don't buy runes till ur lvl 30.. save ur IP u WILL NEED it
2 u should go for a X/X/21+X build later on where u get the goldregen and more starting gold - makes it easier to get wards and start till u get ur first items
3. build gold per time items, philosopher's stone, heart of gold, the libram which i cant remember the name of so youre not in need of minionkills
4. try to always have wards with you and just secure the safety of your AD carry, heal him up, maybe harass the enemy if ur setup allows it
5. get "supporter" items - Shurelyas, aegis of the legion or stuff like that - boots and oracle vision, clean enemy wards to get bonus gold and reduce their map control, try to stay safe and just don't die - if u die, do it to save a more important person in ur team (most cases ur AD carry)
6. when u're lvl 30 get gold/time quintessences, manaregen yellows.. red/blue can be magicpen or AP/lvl, defensive stuff like armor and mr/lvl etc.. try to only use "Primary" runes so you don't waste stats
7. don't waste time when shopping, try to get your stuff into your window before being back in the base, so you can finish ur business faster
finally: YES, the "recommended items" in most cases are completely crap - do NEVER rely on them..

[Ellesarr]

your team is right, you should not take any lasthits as sona, and its generaly your job to ward near bot lane aswell.

start with a faerie charm 4 wards and 1 pot or faerie charm 3 wards 2 pots depending on your masteries.

you should not have any manaissues after building the faerie charm into a philosophers stone.

keep buying wards while you build a heart of gold.

keep buying wards while you make an aeges

keep buying wards while making a shurelya's

keep buying wards

wards








wards

[Ravyna]

as sona you are a supporter that means several things: you should not take creep or champion kills, buy wards and support items
that means more or less you start the game with the manaregen component from philosophers stone and wards heal you carry and support him in any way you can
continue to buy gold over time items (philosophers stone heart of gold kages lucky pick) and wards. when you got the gold for it buy support items (shurelias reverie aegis of the legion will of the ancients etc)
as summoner spells i would suggest flash/exhaust
for runes go with gold over time in quint (buy the lvl 3 ones and use them once you rach lvl 20)
manaregen in yellow
ap or ap/perlvl in blue
magicpen in red
for masteries just put everything in the support tree for now
generally speaking the build riot gives is often just wrong
hope i could help if you need more hlp just write it

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 03:44 PM ----------

a what i wrote is for normal mode i would recommend annother champ for dominion since supporter are rather useless there

[Firebert]

It's Dominion.. will try to help when i finished reading

Sorry. >_>

[Tyratops]

As as Support I normally take a Faerie Charm to start with and then some wards/potions. You should avoid killing the minions if your Carry is present.

Take GP5 glyphs/items/masteries to offset the lower gold income due to letting your carry farm.

[Firebert]

start with a faerie charm 4 wards and 1 pot or faerie charm 3 wards 2 pots depending on your masteries.
you should not have any manaissues after building the faerie charm into a philosophers stone.
keep buying wards while you build a heart of gold.
keep buying wards while you make an aeges
keep buying wards while making a shurelya's
keep buying wards
wards
wards

So, Ward slot, Potion Slot, Philosopher's Stone, Heart Of Gold, Aegis of ? and Shurelya's Reverie for my build.

What replaces the potions when I get to a point where I don't need them?

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 04:52 PM ----------

As as Support I normally take a Faerie Charm to start with and then some wards/potions. You should avoid killing the minions if your Carry is present.

Take GP5 glyphs/items/masteries to offset the lower gold income due to letting your carry farm.

So I can farm when I'm on my own in the bottom lane. I can't get gold runes until 20 (and to the poster above, I can't buy level 3 runes until level 20 either), but I think I can get to Wealth (my client's bugged) in the Utility tree.

This is very helpful, thanks all so far...

[Deleted]

ure getting the mp5 item you need to build phil. stone, 3 wards, healthpotions at the start
u then rush ur phil. stone and get enough wards to keep ur lane safe. then get boots and hearth of gold while ALWAYS staying with wards.. after hearth of gold depending on your amount of gold u can get Lucky pick (or whatever its called.. meaning the +AP gold/time item) and convert your phil. stone into shurelyas reverie
later on you can get aegis of the legion or any item fitting ur playstyle and team needs


regarding Dominion i can't help you.. never played it with any support champ neither am i playing it for like 6 months now

You're lvl 14 - you shouldnt underestimate the powergain by more talentpoints/runeslots
1. Don't buy runes till ur lvl 30.. save ur IP u WILL NEED it

please.. every single rune lower than t3 is just a wasted amount of IP

[Firebert]

that means more or less you start the game with the manaregen component from philosophers stone and wards heal you carry and support him in any way you can

Don't quite understand this bit. I'm supposed to be healing (but without the 7mp5 item I'll be back to base more often).

when you got the gold for it buy support items (shurelias reverie aegis of the legion will of the ancients etc)
as summoner spells i would suggest flash/exhaust

Does that mean I need to put one in Summoner's Wrath for an Improved Exhaust? I know you said everything in Utility lower.

magicpen in red

Why not mp5 or AP red runes?

a what i wrote is for normal mode i would recommend annother champ for dominion since supporter are rather useless there

Been fine in Dominion as Sona, as I'm basically an AP support character. I did have a ridiculous build involving Nashor's Tooth for the Cooldown Reduction (as I was looking to replace Odin's Veil) for effectively just alternating my heal and my damage.

[Deleted]

red runes: AP/lvl is a "secondary" rune, meaning u get a lower amount of AP per runeslot then for example when using the same rune in blue (1.9 instead of 3.06 or sth like that)
even though i'm using them, 2 on my Support page i would get them last

[Ravyna]

1. you need to start with the manaregen part of philo or you reach it later which means you get a lot less gold early on tell your carry to play more defensive than you dont need that much mana it has to work out since your start will be pretty messed up if dont got the first gold over time item early
2. improved exhaust is not necessary but i would take the point in improved flash
3. as stated by dorlok secondary runes are a lot weaker and with magicpen runes you can do a bit more dmg
4. Support champions are weaker than others in dominion since they dont have the combat strengh (and remember you get less heal in dominion)

[Firebert]

You're lvl 14 - you shouldnt underestimate the powergain by more talentpoints/runeslots
1. Don't buy runes till ur lvl 30.. save ur IP u WILL NEED it

This is conflicting. First line says get as much out of your runes and talents as possible, second says don't but runes. Clarification?

2 u should go for a X/X/21+X build later on where u get the goldregen and more starting gold - makes it easier to get wards and start till u get ur first items

Check.

3. build gold per time items, philosopher's stone, heart of gold, the libram which i cant remember the name of so youre not in need of minionkills

There's four, apparently: Avarice Blade (+12% Crit Chance, 5GPXs, 750G), Heart of Gold (250HP, 5GPXs, 825G), Kage's Lucky Pick (25AP, 5GPXs, 765G), and Philosopher's Stone (18HP5, 8MP5, 5GPXs, 800G). I'm guessing most expensive first.

Get all four or just the first three?

4. try to always have wards with you and just secure the safety of your AD carry, heal him up, maybe harass the enemy if ur setup allows it

I'm guessing I should never blow any mana on my Q.

5. get "supporter" items - Shurelyas, aegis of the legion or stuff like that - boots and oracle vision, clean enemy wards to get bonus gold and reduce their map control, try to stay safe and just don't die - if u die, do it to save a more important person in ur team (most cases ur AD carry)

As the Philosopher's Stone goes up into a Tenacity item, Lucidity boots?

Also, can you exhaust that list of supporter items? There's no such tag that I can find that differentiates a support item from anything else. Just get AoE buff items? :?

7. don't waste time when shopping, try to get your stuff into your window before being back in the base, so you can finish ur business faster

I do this already. Shop whilst teleporting.

[lovecraft]

@OP Don't buy runes until after level 20. That is when you have access to tier 3 runes. For runes, you should go Armor Reds, Armor or Gold per 5 sec. Yellows, CDR per lvl Blues and Gold per 10s Quints. If you continue to play her at that point.

As Sona, In classic your going to be bot lane with your AD carry. For starting items you should get a Fairies Pendant, 2 Health Pots and 3 Sight Wards. 1st trip back to base you should be able to finish your philosophers stone + 1 or 2 wards. Then work toward Heart of Gold and Boots then Aegis of the Legion. Throughout the entire game buy wards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkNsFVu_MVE this is a good video to watch so you can learn good warding placements. Also I don't know how you level your skills but, this is what I level for the 1st 6 lvls (Q,W,W,E,W,R) Max W at 9, Q at 13, E at 18 and take R on 11 and 16. For Summoner Spells, you can go exhaust/flash or CV/Flash either way is good.

Also this part is important. Let you AD carry get all the creep last hits. As support you really should be getting creep kills as the gold from them helps your AD carry a lot more then they do you. The only exception to this is if your AD recalls back to base. Last hit until they are close to the creep again.

As for Dominion I can't really help you with that.

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 04:37 PM ----------

There's four, apparently: Avarice Blade (+12% Crit Chance, 5GPXs, 750G), Heart of Gold (250HP, 5GPXs, 825G), Kage's Lucky Pick (25AP, 5GPXs, 765G), and Philosopher's Stone (18HP5, 8MP5, 5GPXs, 800G). I'm guessing most expensive first.

Avarice Blade and Kage's are a waste of gold on Sona and it really would set you back on your build, The reason you get Philosopher's Stone 1st is because of the regen. The regen keeps you in your lane longer. You honestly shouldn't be spamming your W every time it comes of CD you'll just OOM yourself. If you AD Carry is at 80% health you really don't need to hit your heal especially if you opponent isn't trying to harass your lane.

[Ravyna]

the philostone should go into shourelias reverie not into a tenacity item
for boots i would recommend mercury or the cd reduction boots (depending on how much cc the enemys got)
philo stone should be you first gold over time item then heart of gold then kages lucky pick (dont buy avarice blade)
for support items : must buy: shurelias reverie ,aegis of the legion
option buy depending on team: starks fevor, will of the ancients, dont know the name the items gives hp and you can activate if for a group shield
option items depending on the game can also be : zhonias hourglas and rabbadons deathcap (but only buy these if the games go long and you really have too much gold)
try to always keep one sloot free for wards
in a teamfight when you have full mana you can use you q for the extra dmg but only use it early if you have the mana to do so
be carefull when shopping while porting when an enemy interupts you it is possible that you realise it to late because you focus on the shop

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 04:42 PM ----------

for runes dont buy lvl 2 ones either dont buy runes at all till lvl 20 or just buy the lvl1 ones (they are really cheap)

[lovecraft]

Quote Originally Posted by Dorlok View Post
5. get "supporter" items - Shurelyas, aegis of the legion or stuff like that - boots and oracle vision, clean enemy wards to get bonus gold and reduce their map control, try to stay safe and just don't die - if u die, do it to save a more important person in ur team (most cases ur AD carry)

Also, can you exhaust that list of supporter items? There's no such tag that I can find that differentiates a support item from anything else. Just get AoE buff items?

Some of the better support items are: Shurelyas, Aegis of the Legion, Will of the Ancients, Randiun's Omen, Zeke's Herald, Abyssal Scepter, Frozen Heart. Outside of Shurelyas and Aegis and Randiun's, Build as you see fit. If you see you enemy team building a lot of MR build Abyssal Scepter. If your team got a lot of AP build Will of the Ancients, AD build Zeke's Herald,

Outside of Shurelyas, If you see one of your teammates building one of these then you shouldn't build that one he/she build with exception of Will of the Ancients where the aura stacks with a second one (meaning you will get the benefit of yours and the aura of the other one)

[Firebert]

@OP Don't buy runes until after level 20. That is when you have access to tier 3 runes.

I have access to T3 runes now (via the Rune Combiner), it's just that they're a bit random.

Also I don't know how you level your skills but, this is what I level for the 1st 6 lvls (Q,W,W,E,W,R) Max W at 9, Q at 13, E at 18 and take R on 11 and 16. For Summoner Spells, you can go exhaust/flash or CV/Flash either way is good.

I've been told in most of my games to max out my W, so I max out W ASAP (and Q otherwise) without neglecting my R. I'll go Clairvoyance to save spending more mastery points on improving my summoner spells.

Let you AD carry get all the creep last hits. As support you really should be getting creep kills as the gold from them helps your AD carry a lot more then they do you.

I guess you mean I shouldn't be getting creep kills. I've never quite understood why we can't just share creep kills and level together.

As for Dominion I can't really help you with that.

Not many can I guess.

[Ravyna]

I have access to T3 runes now (via the Rune Combiner), it's just that they're a bit random.

I've been told in most of my games to max out my W, so I max out W ASAP (and Q otherwise) without neglecting my R. I'll go Clairvoyance to save spending more mastery points on improving my summoner spells.

I guess you mean I shouldn't be getting creep kills. I've never quite understood why we can't just share creep kills and level together.

Not many can I guess.

the ad carry does the most dmg lategame and his items are the most expensive -> he needs the gold from the farm to be effective (also ad carrys are not really good solo lanes because the are to squishy amd need the protection of their support especially early on

[lovecraft]

I've been told in most of my games to max out my W, so I max out W ASAP (and Q otherwise) without neglecting my R. I'll go Clairvoyance to save spending more mastery points on improving my summoner spells.

Even If you went W first it still wouldn't get maxed until lvl 9. Going Q 1st gives your AD Carry a small increase in damage early til you get your W at lvl 2. Also at the start. You should get you power chord ready at your base so you don't waste mana getting it in your lane.

[Deleted]

This is conflicting. First line says get as much out of your runes and talents as possible, second says don't but runes. Clarification?

Check.

There's four, apparently: Avarice Blade (+12% Crit Chance, 5GPXs, 750G), Heart of Gold (250HP, 5GPXs, 825G), Kage's Lucky Pick (25AP, 5GPXs, 765G), and Philosopher's Stone (18HP5, 8MP5, 5GPXs, 800G). I'm guessing most expensive first.

Get all four or just the first three?

I'm guessing I should never blow any mana on my Q.

As the Philosopher's Stone goes up into a Tenacity item, Lucidity boots?

Also, can you exhaust that list of supporter items? There's no such tag that I can find that differentiates a support item from anything else. Just get AoE buff items? :?

I do this already. Shop whilst teleporting.

i'm back so let's see what i can say
Avarice Blade is useless as Sona, completely.
The Lucky Pick is an item i get if the game really doesnt work well, and i will not get much assists -> more goldregen, the items are worth it pretty fast so it's not like u wasted gold.
Supporter items are Items that "support" your team - so items with an Aura for example.. there is this "locket" something with a shield for ur team and shurelyas + aegis - in most games i got this 3 on my support.. u won't have much gold and u can't get all slots filled cause u need place for wards, so this 3 items+boots practically is everything u'll have.

With "don't get runes till lvl 30" i made a mistake it seems.. didnt remember that t3 runes are available at lvl 20 so go ahead and get them as soon as you reach the level
The phil. stone does NOT go up into a tenacity item!!! Shurelyas on-use effect is what u will need so don't you dare buying the other thing xD
i'd get the 650g boots with the biggest movement speed increase, because it makes clearing wards quicker and thereby safer.. noone focuses the supporter anyways so you shouldn't need the tenacity

[Firebert]

Even If you went W first it still wouldn't get maxed until lvl 9. Going Q 1st gives your AD Carry a small increase in damage early til you get your W at lvl 2. Also at the start. You should get you power chord ready at your base so you don't waste mana getting it in your lane.

So, leave the base with Q on and Power Chord Ready.