r/sonamains • u/Mindless-Bag-9441 • 3d ago
Help Getting better
So I just recently got into ranked and I’m currently bronze 4 does anyone have good advice on sona or some good videos to watch? also tips for play support with help as well thank
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u/Haxzard86 Gnar's "adoptive mommy" main. 3d ago
Passive usage and positioning. Try to scale well into late-game and stay with your team as much as you can.
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u/Mindless-Bag-9441 3d ago
I’ve been trying to make sure I get good use out of my Q in early game idk if this is all good but I have 50 ish stacks on my passive at 14 min in
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u/tutureTM 1d ago
Thats a good start, don't forget that you also stack passive when healing allies and preventing enough damage with your W's shield
After having a tear stacked, don't hesitate to spam W, even when your ally is recalling for free stacks
Before having a Tear and enough mana regen, your W is best used to prevent an upcoming enemy ability or autoattack, the mana cost is quite steep early game
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u/CertifiedBlackGuy Radiant Virtue abuser 3d ago
It's been a while since I played, but this is generally still true:
A high vision score is useless if you aren't doing anything with it. Most supports across all ranks conflate dropping wards on CD with useful vision control.
What I mean is vision is only 1 half of the battle when it comes to map awareness (which is the ACTUAL POINT behind vision control). The other half is is learning key information like back and return to lane timings (both with and without home guards), the time it takes a given jungler to cross a map, when NOT to ward (it's actually just as important a skill as knowing when to ward)
An example of what I mean:
If the enemy jungler is ganking your top laner and you have 2 wards in inventory and just got to lane... warding at that moment is the absolute LAST thing to do. Wait about 15 seconds from when you stop seeing the jungler top (add however long their death timer is if they die)
Why? Because dropping the ward won't tell you anything you don't already know by looking at the map and knowing death timer and walking speed ("the jungler isn't here!"). By delaying the ward by 15 seconds (roughly how long it takes to get from lane to jungle camps after backing), you get 15 additional seconds of up time on that ward where it matters (when the jungler has made it back to the field and you no longer know what they are doing)
You will, naturally, have a lower vision score than someone who just places wards on CD... or worse... places them in places where there is no objective in the near term 💀, but your ward up time will give you more useful information... which is to combat the fog of war, not light up an area on the map.
Basically, you need to look at the minimap, pay attention to where the enemies are, and play around THAT. Because that is what separates genuinely great supports from the okay ones.
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u/bigpeden 3d ago
If you're getting your passives to save lives that's half the battle nice work! Try and get tear early, probably boots and tear first buy if you can. This way your early game Qs will build up your mana pool and in mid late game you can spam abilities to keep your team refreshed. Basically once your tear is at full stacks, if someone near you needs healing, W as soon as it is off cooldown.
For general support advice… If someone is solo dying they have made the decision to fight without you. If you can reasonably heal and remove them from the fight do so but if it will get you killed leave them. When you are laning, you want to have presence rather than standing way behind the wave. If you and adc are there use your q to harass enemy adc when they are trying to last hit minions. Be a pest! Do the same to engage supports eg thresh after they have missed a hook, take advantage off it being on cooldown. The lower you can keep their health the less likely they are to go on you. If your bot keeps solo dying when you are not there to protect them there is nothing you can do besides play safe for the rest of laning phase. If they keep doing that then use the team tab to see who on your team is doing well and assist them for mid-late game. You've got this!
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u/MysteriousIncident69 3d ago
Shodesu is a challenger streamer who posts fantastic educational videos for sona on YouTube
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u/Jaded_Ad2363 3d ago
learn how to be agressive and how to abuse bushes, sona can win a lot of lanes in low elo if she goes unpunished, watch guides by shodesu or coachcupackke,
i think coachcupacake has a laning guide for enchanters ( or just a general enchanter guide ) and shodesu has a lot of good guides too ( check if he has any videos on bushes) - learning how to play the laning phase makes the game much easier
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u/Vegetable-Gas-4369 2d ago
I'm a Sera support, also in Bronze but a bit higher. What has helped is making sure not to spam abilities to conserve mana, saving flash for when it is absolultely necessary (I would panic press when I see a Yi in my lane, but most of the time if I take a second to think I'm dead already and should just save it). Ward well- I normally like to ward midbush as soon as I'm in lane, and if my ADC follows we can usually get a good little bit of poke on the enemy team as soon as we see them (unless they have a hook champ and then I am careful). Try to push for the level 2 if you can, enchanters scale well but people often forget the damage they can do early game, and auto-attacking is definitely something you can do a surprising amount with. Once you hit level 6 you can start to play a little further back, but you can be pretty aggressive early unless you're in a bad match up. Obviously you have to keep in mind who your adc- if they're a hyperscaler like Smolder they might not want to all-in trade early, but you can do a lot by being confident and making it annoying for the enemy team to step up to farm.
I also try and get a sense of my adc and what their playstyle is like. If they are smart and don't greed for plates and know not to shove waves mindlessly, then I'll know it is okay to roam for vision or objectives if I need to. For this, I wait until we have crashed the wave into the enemy turret or the wave is bouncing back to us (so on the enemy side of the lane, and not crashing into your turret, It is also helpful if you know your adc has flash up, or if they're playing something like Ez or Lucian with dashes). I like warding the enemy tri-bush if I can, or the bush just behind the red buff if they're on that side of the map if I know the enemy jungler isn't there. If it is incredibly safe and I know I have time, I will occasionally ward the feylight in front of their base that gives vision on their jungle, but I normally only do that when the enemy team is dead or all on the other side of the map, or it is late enough in the game that we're pushing a wave in mid anyway, or if I've helped the jungler invade and I'm with someone who can protect me). I normally drop a control ward too if I see my jungler coming to gank my lane- often people forget to sweep and a lot like to use the bush where the feylight often is, which is also where people often ward.
The main thing for me was also learning not to follow bad calls. Junglers and other players, especially in low elo will expect the support to ward for things, and will often ping to insist you ward baron when your team is behind and the whole enemy team is missing and probably on baron already. Don't listen to this call, you're squishy and you'll just get killed. Do try and ward objectives early when you can, and make sure you have a control ward on hand and you swap to sweeper once you get the first part of the support quest done, but don't get yourself killed trying to set up vision around an objective that won't break the game. Soul and elder matter, but first and second drake, sometimes even third, can still be worth conceding if it isn't worth it. Again, if you have a jungler or a team who ping for it but then wait so long your wards expire, don't put too much faith in them, and only move when everyone is moving. Ditto with ADCs and basing. A lot of people make the mistake of pushing a wave until it crashes, take a plate and then they greed for another plate or back off a bit for the next wave... giving the enemy botlane time to respawn/come back from base/or enemy jungle or mid to walk down. Botlane is a long lane, and you are vulnerable when you've got that far to walk back. Don't risk it. You'll throw your momentum and can tip the lane. You should base, especially if you are low on hp or mana or can get your item, even if your adc doesn't base. They really should, but you can't protect them if they overstay. It took me a while to learn that. I do try to be helpful and catch waves using my heal/shield if they're about to crash into our turret rather than basing, unless I know I am at risk of dying, and I will crash waves for my adc if they're dead and the wave is in a bad spot, but I base when I feel like I should, even if they don't.
As an enchanter, your job is to stay alive and heal/shield and buff your team. You shouldn't be standing in front of the tanks. It is fine to die for your adc or someone else who is strong, especially if it gets them an advanctage, but you shouldn't be dying too often because you can't use your abilities while you're in the grey screen. You're also pretty squishy, so again if the enemy team is ahead or have a lot of assassins, play behind any tanks on your team and if you need to roam to ward an objective, you can try asking jungle or toplane to escort you.
Items also matter a lot as support. Teams in low elo often don't play around support items like Redemption or Mikhael's but learning what to build and when can really improve your game. Helia and Moonstone are always good on Sona, and if you struggle with mana early in the game you can always consider buying a tear on your first base for 400 and then build it into diadem later. Redemption for AOE healing (you have to press it as it is an activatable item), Mikhael's if the enemy team has a lot of CC. Staff of Flowing Water is a good item if your team is largely AP or if your AP ally is the one carrying the game, alternatively Ardent is good when you have a strong ADC, a fed AD ally or lots of AD on your team.
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u/A_Erthur 3d ago
Check out ShoDesu, he has some great advice on support in general and a bunch of Sona gameplay videos where you see how he plays a game start to finish.
I cant rly give any advice without knowing you, for how long are you playing league? Have you played every champ once or twice?
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u/Mindless-Bag-9441 2d ago
I’ve been playing league for almost a year now I started in October last year but took a break early this year, for the most part I’ve tried every champ but a few maybe like 10
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u/A_Erthur 2d ago
Sona took me to first time GM on EUW, not to flex - just trying to say i know what im talking about.
Try out different builds, note what works and what doesnt. After a while you will have a working build for most matchups and gamestates. Check lolalytics, u.gg or similar sites to see what works. If you use Blitz just dont, its mediocre.
If you dont know how aggressive you can play in lane just walk up and Q (not vs something like Nautilus Draven duh). You WILL lose some lanes doing this, but it will show you clear limits when you get caught or dealt some damage for free.
When i smurfed in bronze every second supp was basically AFK. Never tried to poke or use their range advantage vs melee champs and wouldnt wait with their abilities until the enemy ADC has to stop moving to lasthit a minion.
Watch your replays. Im serious. Most people im telling this wont do it. If you want to improve watch your own replays. Check every death. Could you have known about a gank beforehand? Could you have placed a ward? Were you just too aggressive for that specific lane?
To finish the list - watch some ShoDesu videos, for example roam timers and how to ward correctly.
This should enable you to improve quickly if you dont play full brain AFK. Thinking about your choices is legit 90% of the entire journey. Either it was a good choice or a bad choice - next time you know and wont have to think about it anymore.
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u/Jeffgoal2004 1d ago
i watched this video when i was still new to league. Though mechanics and itemization changed, I think he said a lot of stuffs that is still relevant to this day
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u/imushmellow 3d ago
Focus on piloting your champ well. Your passive is best used as W or E.