Meta Report - Sona Lux Bot Lane

Welcome to the Meta Report, where we go over some of the latest picks, builds, and trends. In this episode, we have a look at the Sona Lux bot lane that has been played in the LEC and European Regional Leagues, exploring how the double support duo works, its strengths and its weaknesses.

[@sonofskeletor]

This was a great video, super informative and well explained. Please make more of these thanks

[@XayedOnline]

i just played a game agains this combo, we got turret and killed them many dies without dying, but mid to late game was impossible because of the heals and shields they provided the team.

[@r4pt0rx68]

yes its just frustrating to play against, they make squishies undying providing damage / shields / speed buffs .... idk this is busted better ban or dodge

[@heldlh0375]

next patch riot nerfing lux's w Hopefully we can see some changes that's easier to play against them

[@JiosWrld]

This hurt me reading it what you say

[@cyrkielnetwork]

I played as Sona with Lux. Whole enemy team could not deal any damage to us in 2vs5. In Sona Taric you needed Taric ult, but with Lux it just: SHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELDSHIELD...

[@chuckdalle]

I love this kind of creativity !! Riot should encourage this kind of ideas, it makes things so much more exciting than just "adc + tank supp" every single game liek the last 5 years

[@Digi7y]

What's exciting in an unkillable annoying shield demons ruining games? Things like that are the most uninteractive playstyles out there relying on cheese and being annoying? Now you're about to tell me Yi + Taric/Lulu boosting strats are completely fine. If you don't like standard LoL that has been established for 10 years now, don't play :/

[@fernandossmm]

@@Digi7y Riot is trying to change this, if you hadn't noticed. These strats are not what they want, but having lux supp be viable, or syndra bot is totally a win in their book.

[@Digi7y]

@@fernandossmm Such tactics exist since Season 5, they aren't trying hard enough, also how does this have anything to do with the viability of mages bot and lux support? The only issue here is how abusable support items are.

[@eviltom8783]

i agree with what you are saying, but all of these combos are super unfun and uninteractive to play against

[@stevenyee850]

Low skill cap champions/strategies should be viable for low elo players but it's a problem when braindead becomes viable in high level play..

[@sunclonkt7839]

Guys it'a a great strategy as long as your team has bruiser top/jg to carry and frontliners to protect Sona, Lux.

[@张桓瑜]

Imagine Sona+Ocean Soul.... terrifying

[@h0mu636]

+DR.mundo

[@caliope812]

Had a game yesterday with all that you said. Sona Lux Mundo ocean soul. We didnt even scratch them. It was horrible x)

[@h0mu636]

@@caliope812 they need to make an item that counters shields as well ! there is just no way to burst down those shields

[@fenn774]

@@h0mu636 blitzcrank

[@oxey_]

@@fenn774 Renekton too

My team just stomped Sona and Lux early game with a Lulu + Swain combo, but mid and late game was impossible due to permaheal and permashield

[@Rawmantikos]

Their advantage is the upper hand of the Laning Phase's Income due to their range but also they remain squishy. You can notice even in the professional games the lack of positioning so imagine in the Solo/Due Queue. I recommend Glacial Augment on both of them. Thresh, Nautilus & Blitzcrank are great against them. Also Pyke for his R which ignores all shields. 2:57 Braum should take Aftershock in the first place. Taric can take Grasp of the Undying instead.

[@RossWasTaken]

They kinda rely on the guardian to stop them from getting busted by any engage support. 1 player will probably always need guardian

[@Rawmantikos]

@@RossWasTaken That's why I use it on champions that can replace it & still manage to take the burst like Leona's W & Braum's E. On Thresh & Nautilus I prefer Guardian.

[@RossWasTaken]

@@Rawmantikos Those are some very interesting rune choices o.O

[@Rawmantikos]

@@RossWasTaken I simply have own & critical way of thinking instead of copying what professionals do. About Braum for instance, they take Guardian which indeed fully scales with him. Maximum Health of Q & Ability Power of R. But instead I invest in E which doesn't scale with anything but blocks mostly everything (+ the 10% Bonus Movement Speed it provides.) Aftershock scales with Armor & Magic Resist just like my W does & if I wait till it activates & then using W I can protect my squishies from bursts even if my E is down.

[@cokrinobobo]

Two things. This bot was getting popular through 10.15 but didn't truly explode until 10.16 when Riot said they would be on break. Which opened the floodgates for people to abuse this. Secondly "they have a fragile early lane" yes but also no. Pro's are taking roamer supports because killing the lane w/o jungle assist & even with it is extremely difficult. It's significantly easier to try and snowball other areas than it is to stay in lane with Lux/Sona's constant harass.

[@chrisgriffith6718]

Two things: 1) I hope this doesn't get nerfed. It's not broken and I think it's incredibly innovative. Riot always looks at things like this and wants it gone. I really hope they leave it as is. It has clear counterplay. Creativity like this is far better for the game than doubling down and enforcing the meta. Pushing the boundaries of the meta should be a good thing. 2) It's already stated elsewhere in the comments, but C9 showed it in proplay before MAD and, while this video doesn't outright say MAD did it first, it definitely insinuates it. Not a mad C9 fan or anything. Just like things presented factually.

[@hattapalkan8395]

I hope you realize the duo has over 60% winrate.

[@sunveil3739]

it needs to be nerfed but i hope they nerf double support items and not one of the champions in order to stop shit like this from happening

[@iondustt]

Yea but C9 lost with it.

[@comradedyatlov199]

" its not broken " and thats when i stopped reading. These kind of things are not healthy for the game, it does nothing but ruin the little enjoyment there is anymore. The problem with not forcing a meta is that champs that are EXTREMELY frustrating/unfair to play against such as my personal favourites: Ekko, Kayn, Camille, Kha´Zix, , Fizz, Lux, Sona, and so on... Most of these champs have something in common they take WAY To long to kill, either they die 3 times ( ekko ) or just heal an outrageous amount ( Kayn, Sona ) Or just plainly makes the game a horror game ( Kha´Zix, Fizz ). The problem with sona and lux bot is that it does not matter if you crush lane, once they get ONE item they just become pure heal/shield bots, which means its extremely tedious killing them/enemies. But What about griveous WOUNDS JUST BUY executioner, morello, bramble vest. Grevious Wounds have no impact when you get to such a healing level where you struggle to keep up with damage. Oh and these problems arent as apparent in proplay because Its an entierly different game compared to solo queue which is a complete disaster when these kind of "Pick whatever metas" are in play. I would honestly just prefer a standard meta like, Tank meta, Assassin meta. etc... Just something other then the shitshow we have right now.

[@chrisgriffith6718]

@@comradedyatlov199 I'm not sure how you expect to have a convo if you stop reading and then reply. I read all of yours and I understand where you're coming from - I do. But I think the high winrate in solo/duo as well as pro is because people are still experimenting with how to handle it. But even this video showed where it was weak and how to counter it. Take aggressive roaming supports and punish the fact that Sona Lux won't be able to follow early (Pyke, Naut, Leona, Blitz, Bard, Thresh etc. who can roam mid easily and often) or punish your adc within that window very easily. If you want League to be less innovative and have less creativity.. then that's fine. That's your argument. I, on the other hand, do not. I want a worlds where all 150 champs get used. I want a worlds where we see combinations come out of regions that we never see elsewhere. A good example is a champion like Brand. In 2014, he was a midlaner. If you played him anywhere else, you were considered a troll. Then.. some players messed around and figured it out. Then RIOT themselves put out an article by Riot NAKYLE in his "Dark Horses" series about support Brand. Since then, we saw it played by Likkrit in worlds and Brand rarely sees his old role even by the top Brand players. When he was first shifted to support, he had an absurd winrate. But as people found a way to play against it, his winrate died to put him in a B tier of supports pretty much until they did his rework in season 7. Even then, they doubled his passive at the start of season 8 just to put him in the A tier. The point is .. things that seem broken *usually* aren't. There is counterplay and I wish RIOT would give the community time to figure it out. If it were like Sona/Taric where, after almost an entire split went by and no one found true counterplay and it got Liquid the finals of MSI, then I get it. That's broken. But they were basically like "omg for two weeks it's had a good winrate .. better get rid of it" .. that seems silly, honestly. But dude .. I respect your opinion. You want the game to have a set meta that only makes huge jumps (tank to assassin to w/e) instead of incremental. You want the meta to define what champs you see and if those champs aren't in the meta, you won't see them. I get it. I just can't ever subscribe to that way of thinking. And with that, I hope you win your next promo series games in League

[@OsirusHandle]

Sona is carrying this, she works well with plenty of other supports. Ive had the most success with Pyke due to his bigtime kill pressure: enemy shows up and you just immediately all in and kill them. Lux has always been pretty decent on her own though.

[@MauriceGucci]

Whenever you are even just considering doing an educational video like this one: do it please. They are awesome!

[@ildile8248]

The guy who invents these strategies must be the number 1 fan of sona in the world

[@sunveil3739]

Schuhbart, yes he is, he only plays sona,

[@madam_queen]

If we add Seraphine both of them can abuse Seraphine's abilities with Lux's Q rooting the enemies making Seraphine's E a stun and both Sona and Lux's W giving out shields activating the heal on Seraphine's W. Seraphine will be a midlaner but the trio will only be together in teamfights and not during the laning phase.

[@shadygecko3793]

In what situations would Sona take Aery over Guardian? Asking for a friend.

[@Shakarez]

Aery for when you're vs ranged lanes and more poke damage, Guardian vs All In.

[@yuumir1072]

Against extremely aggressive picks like Brand Zyra Mf Draven Swain Jhin etc..

[@madterFalcon21]

Against lanes that lack the hard cc to punish you for frequently procing aery. Most of the time I just end up taking guardian though since your main priority is just surviving.

[@SushiSamuraiXDDD]

Just a quick correction: C9 brought the pairing to pro play before MAD. Not that it matters since EUW soloq invented it, but you made seem as though it was the other way around for competitive.

[@sbaculasams9118]

exacty

[@ramonce_yt]

I thought it was EUW soloq then LAS who played it first professionaly. Played in an ERL match then followed by C9 then MAD.

[@Shakarez]

This is an LEC product so it's going to be centered around LEC matches. I said Sona bans started popping up more often and that it has been played all over the world (Was played in pro play in 4 different ERL matches before it even showed up in LCS)

[@004Kamui]

You totally forgot to add point #3, why this is playable. ADCs are just hot garbage until they get to 3 sometimes even 4 items and just get destroyed by everything and anything. That's just a great way to introduce everything into bot lane also including irelia-seju or neeko-leona etc.

[@iskrenstoyanov5260]

Cait , Jhin , Ashe and Kalista would disagree To add there is just too much ad dmg in the game and it's easier to build against ad so you would rather go magic dmg that's the main reason

[@yuumi1249]

@@iskrenstoyanov5260 yea 1 game I was against a Jhin Senna lane and both me(the Sona) and my friend(the Lux) bought seekers. I felt really dirty but LP is LP

[@siegejay6364]

@shakarez I wish you could give a distinction as to why there needs to be 2 spellthiefs in botlane. I know the answer (sharing the minion gold with the support wont hurt the "botlane" carry) but i can't really explain it to myself in words and the little nuances. So i hope you can.

[@Shakarez]

Shard of True Ice as an item has insane value. For 400g investment and enough poking you get an item worth over 1800g that also has wards

[@Fiercehowler]

just played it now ... Sett , Rengar , zed , sona , lux . we almost lost cause enemy shen was fed AF and was able to facetank everything , but mid-late we win hard :D

[@xeroqlasbb9774]

Who is voicing this? He sounds so familiar

[@NogrudCastro]

Shakarez aka Kayle Bot

[@Shakarez]

It's me ^^ casters were on break or working on other projects so I took over aside from just producing / script writing

[@xeroqlasbb9774]

@@Shakarez Can't forget that smooth voice, hopefully you will do some more

[@HumanDictionary7]

Well done Shakarez!! Appreciate you stepping up, with a good recording nonetheless :) cheers man!! 🍻

[@SH1RO_13]

Thing is C9 used it 1st b4 everyone else not mad

[@henifekih4897]

he didn't say MAD picked it first, nor did C9, I think it was played 5 times in other minor leagues (4 EU and 1 LAT) before it hit the big stages. Thing is when someone plays something new/weird in the EU solo Q people ask questions and try to understand and adapt, they dont make fun of it on streams

[@sebastianstammer9265]

I AM the only one that thinks that this is something fresh to the Game. Like it's less toxic that kogmaw-lulu

[@ooloongjohnson4015]

Maybe because we haven't played against it yet

[@attilaoberhauser6484]

is it still worth playing sona-lux after the nerfs?

[@leonardoc0rtez289]

Yes it is, they are S still after

[@TobalMaxD]

In LLA the compo was used before LCS and LEC.

[@emilieh4359]

schuhbart and camlsky back against to terrorize LoL player with sona :D

[@rafaalcantara4835]

I think lux-senna is a better botlane but rly underrated

[@LandelRey]

Pro tip: you can take font of life with overgrowth and become high burst, high utility heal-shield mage-tanks

[@RedesignatedClockwork]

Overgrowth is flat-out worse for this playstyle than Revitalize though.

[@RossWasTaken]

Ya overgrowth is int lol

[@nitron_biohazard9499]

It appeared in LCS before LEC not the other way around. Other than that good video

[@colespur]

Was actually coming here to say that. Clicked dislike on this video just for that. Dang this guy hating on lcs lol

[@Shadow-ashlad]

To be fair it did still originate from Challenger EUW

[@Shakarez]

@@colespur The video doesn't say anything about it being played first in LCS or LEC. Just puts a focus on MAD because this is an LEC product. It was played 5 times in ERL's before it was even picked in NA, I'm not hating on LCS jesus christ

[@TheChiramu]

It technically was picked in Korea, by Sandbox, they lost with it and it's never been picked since.

[@victortran2962]

Korea are known to have slow reaction to new meta

[@Shrroomgaming]

All I know is C9 picked it before mad lions, and C9 lost

[@thomasmichael5942]

@@Shrroomgaming Because their tanks itemized armor against a heavy MR comp and CoreJJ on blitz just stomped them.

[@Shrroomgaming]

@@thomasmichael5942 oh I know why they lost, I was more so alluding to the fact that this video implies that it was played in LEC first, but I know for a fact C9 played it before Mad Lions. Now I know this strategy was developed on EUW but C9 played it "on stage" before Mad Lions is all I'm saying

[@TheChiramu]

@@victortran2962 or maybe the EU team managed to draw all Exodia cards, where in NA and KR they didn't have the heart of the cards on their side to make it work.

[@Leo_Lionhart]

Isn’t this an old meta...I swear I have seen this pair-up in botlane a few years ago...

[@SondaroSasuke]

Seasons 1-2 maybe. Kassadin Sion was the pick down there. Basically any mage+CC was meta bot lane at the beginning of the game.

[@Leo_Lionhart]

Successful H. Oh boy, aren’t we the old boys? Season 1-2 meta...who prison break this meta from the time of forgotten era? Must be really old team with really old coach and too/2 old player(s). This is an ancient reply...I should be typing in old English. Thou shall not pass.

[@Blackkray777]

thank mr lolesport

[@fishrino4229]

Just do it so support items only work when there is a nearby champion WITHOUT a support item. An easy change doesn't infringe on more "honest" strategys.

[@highjumpkick999]

I always thought that was how Supp items work (only one champ can fully utilize it) but apparently not. A bit weird that it's not implemented from the start.

[@Elitejff12]

Just make it so only one person in a game can buy a support item. It would avoid a ton of the abuses in the game we have seen.

[@rickbrinkhuis8604]

@@Elitejff12 But that also would open up a new way of trolling your teammates

[@jeroenverschaeve3090]

@@Elitejff12 Yeah let's give trolls a whole new way to ruin games, great idea

[@highjumpkick999]

@@Elitejff12 that's a bit too much. rather, it will not activate with 2 supp items near each other. so if u somehow want two supports in 2 different lanes, it could still work.

[@NiraSader]

Getting ready for my favorite support getting nerfed again, just because pros have have found another weird strategy

[@lucascharrassier4076]

They could rework support items to counter these weird combos, like allowing only one support item per team

[@shakob4875]

@@lucascharrassier4076 People could so easily grief then

[@isacolofsson9255]

I bet it's a hard life playing a braindead support sitting at over 55% win rate plat+

[@NiraSader]

You need to have smite to buy a jg item, maybe something similar for support where you can only buy a sup item under certain circumstances

[@renatotamborino5777]

Great video! sadly no credits for the euw soloqueue creators

[@amare7590]

did you even watch the same video? they literally credited them at the very beginning.. 0:19 to be exact

[@renatotamborino5777]

@@amare7590 where is the name of the guys? Op.gg etc not only ah some random soloqueue player thats my point.

[@Digi7y]

I just played vs Shen Hecarim Orianna Lux Sona in solo q how did no one dodge lol. We got so wrecked it's not even funny.

[@silentt8296]

Why did you not dodge? Dont expect people to do that for you

[@Digi7y]

@@silentt8296 Tbh didn't pay attention what they picked, i usually dodge but my teammates don't really care and just play it out.

[@SA2004YG]

It's well known that league players are masochists

[@oxey_]

@@SA2004YG melee toplaners or adc players*

[@TykoF]

@@SA2004YG I had good laugh, thank you .

[@cryochick6736]

I am just sad after the nerfs Me and my friend would go full tank galio malphite sion shen or the like (one engage one followup) and we could just destroy lane especially with sion and galio both having good ranged poke Now we can't do it with double relic anymore

[@sonicboom5012]

This all kinda just reminds of the fasting senna strat in my opinion

[@juggernuatjeff]

Tragic that I lost my plat promos after going 8-0-0 as jhin in lane vs Sona Lux once they reached 1 item each and I had to build Qss 2nd to even stand a chance

[@cobitoor721]

lane been in all my solo q games

[@xsosxd1901]

but why both spell thief rather than just one of them having it and the other farms normally for faster spikes

[@RedesignatedClockwork]

Less mana expenditures on wave control in the early game, meaning you can instead prioritize it for harass and sustain. For high-tier play, having six wards rather than three coming out of bot + support is also massively impactful. Plus, both their core builds can be cheap - while the more expensive Lich Bane build was discussed in the video, Sona can also go Archangel's > Athene's > Ardent Censer, which is a normal build for her even as a standard support. That being said, you can definitely play farming mage Lux in the bot lane alongside a Sona - that's what I'd recommend over mage Sona and support Lux, at least. It's just a different playstyle where Lux is going to tap out on mana earlier on in the laning phase.

[@jeremiahn.2718]

@@RedesignatedClockwork this also resolves the issue many find in the lack of normal trinket wards when jglr takes oracle lens and mid takes blue ward.

[@magisteriumemporium1411]

I can see Riot might nerf support item to be picked by one player only per game

[@scarletred616]

Shield's for days am I right

[@longkissing1609]

How to see country tags??? You can find it in Cheatland quickly.

[@hermantcherdakli2053]

Finally e-girl botlane meta!

[@gneoz7238]

They shouldn't change this. It takes skill and coordination to pull it off properly in the laning phase.

[@rook7968]

Picked nautilus. Clapped them sona and lux cheeks and my mf was farming like a baby.

[@Amogusprofessional]

Can lux get removed until her hitboxes are more clear? I swear her q hitbox is the width of morgana's

[@cychan7113]

how about posting the runes, summoner spells and item builds on a screen at the beginning of the video before going into the breakdown

[@woozywitanuzi6208]

That lane swap didn't work out because they just send wunder to botlane and they just killed Finn

[@dasprojekt2049]

Even though they got the kill because wunder didnt farm and lost xp aswell rge still came out ahead

[@beyonddivinity7076]

75% winrate with it. It's so disgusting

[@eviltom8783]

you only played 4 games didn't you

[@beyonddivinity7076]

@@eviltom8783 40

[@johnaldrinco23]

do you think this is still viable after they fix lux's W bug?

[@kayyzu879]

yeah

[@bren7080]

haram botlane, i throw stone at lux & sona bismillah

[@fouadio4108]

Found the draven main

[@TheSikedSicronic]

I see now

[@MrAllallalla]

63% win rate

[@majestickaisa1163]

Hmmmm I don't think lane swapping would be a good idea sin e they can stack it from the turret :)

[@h-squid]

If they push all the way to turret they can get ganked. They have shields etc but not enough to survive long enough against 2 melee bruiser/assassins jumping on them. Even worse if midlane is talon/galio/tf etc

[@majestickaisa1163]

@@h-squid nobody picks Talon in pro play KEK

[@jkerthe1944]

then they nerf sona again..... why ????? she is wayy toooo paper rn

[@cam-ix2cl]

Awesome video. Super helpful and informative, loved it. Unsubscribed.

[@JayW-um9rm]

Who thought this was a proguides video?

[@sonicboom5012]

I had to double check just to be sure

[@Kazuhiro-i]

Well sona lux needs a team with 2 neurons working xd

[@NEC_Shades]

Aaaaand nerfed

[@jorgeandrespalma2134]

Too bad is going to be nerfed next patch

[@KsaiRoks]

И не слово про UOL которые играли такой связкой в русской континентальной лиге :(

[@AnniePee]

shakarez

[@hiimsyndicate4575]

just from reading the title from the video within my subs overview I wish there was an ironic thumbs down button on yt just to tell everyone i dont like what i see.. but i like what I see :D

[@justinmadeyski6900]

NA picked it first too. Just saying

[@Dervig]

Schubart and calmsky came up with it, the same guys who thought up taric sona a year ago, they are euw players, so there

[@justinmadeyski6900]

@@Dervig talking about pro play. thanks though

[@Shakarez]

@@justinmadeyski6900 NA didn't pick it first. Was played 5 times in multiple european leagues before NA

[@liam3491]

Wrong, EU minor leagues did. NA isn't open enough to picks like this to be doing it first.

[@justinmadeyski6900]

@@liam3491 once again. pro play. i dont doubt any of this. just saying in pro play.

[@riftwalk2546]

Riot here's an idea. Only make one support item for each team and boom we get rip of this playstyle

[@fernandossmm]

Problem: you either do this associating it to a specific summoner spell, like jungle items, or allow only the first one to purchase it to keep it. First one limits player choice and variety in botlanes, and the second one allows inters to have even more power denying gold generation for another teammate.

[@SCuttherapper]

Too much troll potential

[@sunveil3739]

maybe make it so it doesnt proc when an ally also has a support item and there you go

[@Arissi]

What did C9 do

[@MakZkovich]

Nothing, Schuhbart invented it

[@mathieup.corbeil894]

Why mention MAD Lions over C9. I mean C9 played it first. While they lost (Very badly), they still were the first major region to show the pick. The phrasing makes it sound as if MAD was the first one.

[@ongxuwei]

Ok i really want this dumb strat nerfed

[@iSa_Ach]

The fact that the original people who also created the toxic Garen-Yummi and Taric-Sona Lanes managed to create another one shows these people are really motivately dedicated in exploiting the bot lane.

[@advitshah8139]

TBH its not that overpowered. It has a bunch of exploitable weaknesses and teams struggled cause they didnt know what to expect. But a little bit of theorycrafting and some time spent to counter this will see it become useless.

[@emilieh4359]

@@advitshah8139 true most ppl just dont know how to play against , and dont even bother trying to learn

[@jeremiahcyrusbarut4372]

First

[@djv1ferus467]

I just dont want that in my Game. Wtf

[@JustShotsForMeh]

Only Master Yi and Mordekaiser please.

[@ogjonii6939]

Im a victim of this new stupid meta

[@NeonColored]

I really hope this annoying combination will be gone as soon as possible.

[@sunveil3739]

there's a simple fix that they couldve done even back when sona taric was a thing but they decided to nerf sona instead, and now they reap the consequences of their past mistake

[@comradedyatlov199]

@@sunveil3739 And what is the "simple fix" ?

[@sunveil3739]

@@comradedyatlov199 the strat relies on double support items and with poking + farming 2 minions they both get 9cspm worth of income, if they make it so you cant proc supp item if someone else also has a supp item nearby then the issue is fixed

[@comradedyatlov199]

@@sunveil3739 Yeah but why would riot implement something good when we need more skins?

[@sunveil3739]

@@comradedyatlov199 ikr

[@Soulhope85]

i swear fnc gonna try this in playoffs and fail like always.

[@simonnilsson8375]

This happened last season as well, but only NA adopted this strat into the daily practice, only to get outbanned and outplayed in worlds completely. This is just a way from EU to fool the other regions to pick up a trash strat. But if NA picks it up or not, not much will change. Trash willalways stay trash, such is a qoute from the star player doublelift who’s been on a record deathstreak this season.