Sona has taken over the competitive League of Legends scene in the bottom lane, not as a traditional support but as a carry—Riot Games will be shaving off some of her strength with some nerfs in Patch 9.13 as a result.
“While it may seem like we’re doing this just because of the in-vogue bot lane Sona, she’s been extremely close to our thresholds for acceptable win rates in solo queue for awhile,” Riot said. These thresholds were outlined in an earlier developer’s post that gave details on how champion’s are balanced by the team.
Sona has been combined with multiple other supports to great success, with the most popular duo being Taric. Their crowd control and sustainability make it very hard to chase, run away, or kill them in lane. In the later stages of the game, they share these same characteristics with the rest of their team, making them one of the best teamfight-centric duos.
The changes are relatively simple—her Q, Hymn of Valor, has had its damage ratio lowered from 0.3 ability power to 0.2 ability power. Her E, Song of Celerity, has been decreased as well, going from six percent movement speed per 100 ability power to three percent movement speed per 100 ability power.
“We’re seeing Sona and Tahm Kench, Sona and Pyke, etc. which points toward specifically nerfing her rather than Taric,” Riot said. “To be clear, we’re not explicitly trying to kill Sona + XX bot lanes: Even if she were a standard bot carry, she’d still be deserving of a nerf on multiple fronts.”
