In patch 11.16, the two champions that received the most adjustments are Karma and Sona. Sona, in particular, underwent a light rework with her passive – Symphonic Power gaining a new effect and her skill set being significantly modified.
Essentially, when her Q – Heroic Song attacks an enemy and W – Encouraging Melody supports an ally, Sona will receive stacks of Rhythm Boost. Each stack provides Sona with 0.5 ability recharge points, up to a maximum of 60. Once she reaches 60 ability recharge points, each time she receives a stack of Rhythm Boost, Sona’s ultimate will have its cooldown reduced by 1.5 seconds.
Immediately after patch 11.16 was released, Sona became an incredibly powerful Support champion with a very high win rate. According to statistics from the specialized site U.gg, Sona currently has a 52.53% win rate and is among the S+ tier Supports (extremely strong champions). Even the Lead Designer of League of Legends – RiotJag shared on Twitter that Sona after the rework is stronger than he and his colleagues at Riot Games ever intended.
RiotJag: “I’ve seen a lot of discussions about Sona’s balance in patch 11.16. My opinion is that this champion is in an extremely good state; Sona might even be stronger than we ever intended. It’s still too early for detailed assessments, and we need more data. I believe Sona’s win rate will increase even further as players become proficient with her new passive.”
As mentioned above, Sona after the light rework will have additional ability to accumulate ability recharge points from the new effect – Rhythm Boost of her passive. This enhances Sona’s healing capabilities and, to some extent, her damage output in the mid-game before her skills recharge much faster. Not to mention, the cooldown of her R – Crescendo is now shorter thanks to the new effect from her passive.
Furthermore, another notable change for Sona is the significant reduction in energy costs for her basic skills. For a champion like Sona, who uses abilities continuously with short cooldowns, this reduction in energy cost is a substantial buff. In patch 11.16, this champion will rarely find herself in an “energy-starved” situation.
We need to remember that it has only been three days since patch 11.16 was released on the international servers. Therefore, many players are still in the process of getting used to Sona’s new passive. It is very likely that as players become adept with the “new” Sona, her win rate will rise even higher, just as RiotJag predicted.