Sona rework revealed: LoL release date, new Maven of the Strings abilities
Riot GamesSona had center-stage taken away from her in League of Legends by both Seraphine and this year’s massive item overhaul. Now though, the Maven of the Strings is set to make an encore, with Riot buffing her in a hefty rework slated for the very next Season 11 update.
Runeterra’s songstress Sona fell out of favor with players pretty rapidly in Season 11.
Despite being a core part of the Season 10 meta with her Spellthief’s strategy alongside Lux, the item rework, plus the release of Seraphine, wiped her relevance. The major problem Riot has faced is that Sona is just an ostensibly weaker version of Seraphine kit-wise.
Her ultimate isn’t as powerful, her abilities do less while costing more mana, and in basically every situation, the Piltovan K/DA star is better than Demacia’s finest.
Riot GamesSona rework aims to buff underwhelming LoL support
Sona currently has a 51.36% win rate with a 2.18% pick rate, according to LoLalytics. Those numbers have been steadily on the rise for a few patches yet, and she’s found herself in a decent spot.
However, Riot wants it to stay that way for a long time coming.
She is getting a rework in League of Legends Season 11 in an attempt to make her a meaningful enchanter without being forced to farm.
“Preseason’s item changes have not been great to Sona,” dev Jeevun Sidhu revealed. “At the same time, she is supposed to feel rewarded to play with allies, but her mana restore mechanics are more framed as punishments.”
Hey all, the Summoner's Rift Team's Medium-Scope Champion pod – the crew that most recently looked at Samira, Akali, and Xin Zhao – is taking a look at Sona over the next few patches.
Preaseason's itemization changes have not been great to Sona. At the same time, she is (1/5)
— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) March 26, 2021
The same team who worked on the recent Samira, Akali, and Xin Zhao overhauls are also testing changes with Sona.
They are removing the mana refund mechanics on her basic abilities and lowering her mana costs to compensate for it. She is also losing her ultimate passive, which decreases her basic ability cooldowns by 10/25/40%. Instead, she is now getting a bonus passive named Accelerando.
- Read More: Our ultimate League of Legends Akshan guide
Sidhu added: “What we’re hoping for here is to buff Sona and cement her hyperscaling fantasy in a way that doesn’t solely rely on needing lane farm.”
Sona rework is live on the PBE!
The Maven of the Strings is having her passive, Q, W, E, and ultimate all changed in the long-awaited #LeagueOfLegends Season 11 update. pic.twitter.com/j5quKSHAV5
— Dexerto League (@DexertoLeague) July 23, 2021
Riot wary of top lane Sona meta re-emerging
Riot is also trying to tie down Sona more to the bot lane — either as a carry or as a support — by pairing her basic abilities to being around multiple champions.
The new Accelerando passive will now stack when Sona hits enemies with her Q, as well as healing allies with W. This will stack faster in a duo lane where she can hit two champs at once.
Gameplay designer Kevin Huang said in a July 9 blog post: “This new passive rewards Sona for using Q and W well in a duo lane, rather than penalizing her like the mana refund did.”
Once she caps out haste on Accelerando, she will receive an ultimate cooldown refund for activating the passive, allowing her to make “exciting, aggressive Crescendo plays.”
Riot GamesRiot has now confirmed the Sona rework will be dropping on LoL patch 11.16, currently scheduled for August 11. Here’s the full Maven of the Strings change list, courtesy of Riot.
Sona rework LoL patch 11.16 changes
Passive — Power Chord
- New Passive — Accelerando: Sona’s basic abilities grant her permanent Accelerando stacks. She gains +0.5 non-Ultimate Ability Haste per stack, up to 60. Once she reaches 60 non-Ultimate Ability Haste, instead of gaining additional Accelerando, she reduces her Crescendo’s current cooldown by 1.5 seconds.
Q — Hymn of Valor
- Mana cost: 75-95 >>> 50-70
- Mana refund removed
- Grants a stack of Accelerando for each bolt that hits an enemy champion
W — Aria of Perseverance
- Mana cost: 105-125 >>> 80-100
- Mana refund removed
- Grants a stack of Accelerando each time you heal another injured ally or prevent at least 25-125 damage from another ally with shields while they are shielded by Aria
E — Song of Celerity
- Mana cost: 90 >>> 65
- Mana refund removed
- Never grants Accelerando stacks
R — Crescendo
- Basic ability cooldown reduction removed
- Now hits minions and monsters as well as champions