Sona might have received a mini-rework in League Season 11, but players have long yearned for a deeper upgrade to the Maven of the Strings. In Season 12, that could be happening, with Riot teasing a potential visual update for the support champion.
Riot Games has vowed, starting at the end of 2021, to give even more of the game’s aging champions overhauls and reworks.
Focusing on visual upgrades, some of the oldest members of the Rift are in line for changes. Syndra is the first champion receiving the newly-coined Art & Sustainability Update (ASU).
While no other champions have been confirmed, a look into Season 12 has seen Sona get a visual overhaul — at least in the promos Riot are releasing.
Sona’s animations showcased in a October 7 dev video, hyping up all the new changes, look different from her current ones in League of Legends.
Sona’s aura is a lot smoother, focusing on a full color fade rather than the textured waves. Her ultimate has gone down the same path too, becoming one clean stroke rather than layers of gold.
If the Sona update is confirmed, it’ll be her first major visual overhaul since Season 4. No gameplay changes are expected, however.
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It comes after the Maven of the Strings underwent a mini-rework in Season 11, which changed up her passive to buff up “her hyperscaling fantasy in a way that doesn’t solely rely on needing lane farm”.
When the changes were shipped on LoL patch 11.16, her win rate climbed from around 51.2% to over 53%, while her pick rate doubled from 2% to over 5%.
On patch 11.20, that’s since normalized to around 52% win rate with 3% pick rate — with a few nerfs along the way.
Players have rumored Sona’s visual update will be coming after Syndra’s first overhaul in nine years drops in Season 12 — but this is yet to be confirmed by Riot.