League of Legends Sona Rework: Riot Responds To Fan Concerns

League of Legends’ original music-themed champion, Sona was first released more than a decade ago in patch 1.0.0.101. Since then Sona simple kit has changed very little, only receiving a minor gameplay update in patch 10.4 to nerf her solo lane potential. Riot Games’ recent updates for Dr Mundo, Irelia, and Tahm Kench shows the developer is actively looking at tweaking outdated kits. Since the Sona rework debuted on PBE, the community reaction has been lukewarm. Fans find the new changes underwhelming, many calling it a nerf. Players feel that the AP ratio is quite poor and her abilities now deal less damage. Riot Games Lead Game Designer, Jeevun ‘Jag’ Sidhu responded to fans on Twitter regarding these concerns saying fans are “undervaluing some of the specifics.”

Regarding concerns about her ultimate, he said “We've seen a lot of playtests where Sona gets to two ultimates in the same late game teamfight, which many players do not think will happen at all. So that's a fair amount of misalignment.”

However, Riot Jag emphasized on Riot’s commitment to giving fans a good reworked Sona by saying:

Sona’s Upcoming Rework

The Sona changes involve a decrease in mana costs overall and a new ability haste mechanic added to her passive. The new passive called Resonance, grants Sona ability haste stacks when she uses her abilities to damage enemies or help allies. After reaching a 120 stacks cap on Ability Haste, she receives bonus Ability Power. This makes Sona a strong late-game champion who scales up infinitely like Nasus or Veigar.

Since Seraphine’s release, Sona’s relevance in League started fading with many dubbing Seraphine as Sona 2.0. Perhaps this rework will help the maven of the strings carve her own niche in League of Legends. Sona’s update is expected to enter the main client with the 11.16 update.