The Sona rework planned for League of Legends' 11.16 patch might be nerfing her capabilities even further

The Sona rework is probably one of the most awaited changes within League of Legends.

Sona is quite the old champion as she made her League of Legends debut in 2010. This means that her kit is quite simplistic and does not synchronize with the current champions within the game. In short, Sona is way too outdated, so Riot Games decided to rework and make her more viable to the current meta.

Sona’s update is expected to enter the main client with the 11.16 update, though she has already made her mark in the PBE. From the initial player feedback, she seems underwhelming. Her new update works by gaining stacks every time an ability hits a champion.

The more stacks she gains, the more ability haste she obtains. Once Sona’s basic ability haste reaches its cap, she starts gaining cooldown reduction for her ultimate.

Ok cool can you fix the monstrosity of a "rework" for Sona that is on PBE rn?

— mini (@2minilol) July 23, 2021

Players, however, feel that her changes have nerfed the champion even more in League of Legends.

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Fans feel Sona rework in League of Legends is basically a nerf

The Sona rework in League of Legends seems to have a catch to it. While it provides ability haste, the cooldown of the abilities seems to have been increased as well. Players feel that the AP ratio is quite poor for the champion, which means that her abilities now deal less damage.

However, riot’s Lead Game Designer, Jeevun Sidhu, responded to this by saying that users might be overlooking some specifics regarding the Sona rework in League of Legends.

Regarding Sona PBE feedback:We care about how players are responding to the changes, and we've seen a fair amount of sentiment that this is a nerf.From my perspective, I suspect that some people are undervaluing some of the specifics.(1/4)

— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) July 27, 2021

He mentioned:

“Regarding Sona PBE feedback: We care about how players are responding to the changes, and we’ve seen a fair amount of sentiment that this is a nerf. From my perspective, I suspect that some people are undervaluing some of the specifics.”

He added:

“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. The basic ability haste is also very front-loaded compared to live, particularly if the Sona player plays the lane well. It’s worse at 16, but you would need 80 Ability Haste from other sources for the old level 11 R Passive to break even with the new one.”

Concerning the feedback from gamers, he mentioned that if the need arises, they will pull back the rework and also, for the time being, remove the AP ratio nerf:

“That being said, we’re open to the perspective that we’re overvaluing it. To that end, we’re removing the AP Ratio nerf for tomorrow’s PBE build, and we will proceed cautiously in case we need to pull back.”

It seems that the Sona rework in League of Legends might have some complications, and it will take some testing before players are satisfied. Though this looked good on paper, the reality of the update seems different. The extended time that Riot has before 11.16 drops can be used to ensure that the rework is something that enhances the potential of the champion.