Sonya Abilities and Strategy

• Try and keep your Fury full before impending engagements. Note that it does not decay over time.
• When laning, you can tank enemy Minions to generate Fury and keep allied Minions healthy.
• Ancient Spear is great for generating Fury and should be often used on non-Heroes for doing so.
• To maximize sustain damage and Fury's Movement Speed uptime, do this: cast 1 Seismic Slam, execute 2 Basic Attacks, repeat.
• When possible, Whirlwind is best used on multiple targets. Heroes give more self-healing.
• Try to constantly generate Fury during Wrath of the Berserker to extend its duration.
• Sonya can use Wrath of the Berserker to take down enemy Structures when uncontested.
• Shot Of Fury at Level 4 can be used to extend Wrath of the Berserker's duration by 5 seconds.
• Avoid using Nerves of Steel at Level 16 and Ignore Pain at Level 20 at the same time.

Fury (D) Sonya

• Passive

Use Fury instead of Mana, which is gained by taking damage or dealing Basic Attack damage. Using a Basic or Heroic Ability grants 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.

Sonya uses Fury instead of Mana. Seismic Slam costs 25 Fury, Whirlwind costs 40 Fury, and every other Basic or Heroic Ability costs no Fury. In addition to that, whenever you use a Basic or Heroic Ability, Sonya gains a small but nonetheless useful amount of Movement Speed for a few seconds.

Contrary to Mana on other Heroes, Fury does not regenerate over time. Sonya has to generate it: Basic Attacks generate 6 Fury, each instance of damage taken generates 2 Fury, Ancient Spear generates 40 Fury, and activating Shot Of Fury at Level 4 gives 50 Fury. The maximum amount of Fury that can be stored is 100.

As a resource, Fury is not particularly difficult to manage, though it is an integral part of Sonya's playstyle. A simple rule of thumb is to not spend it when you may not be able to regenerate it before engaging in any kind of player combat, for which you always want your Fury bar to be full or nearly so. Do not waste Ancient Spear's cooldown to generate Fury when almost full because you may need it shortly after for damage or mobility.

The small Movement Speed bonus that Sonya gets when using a Basic or Heroic Ability is quite useful to outmanoeuvre, chase, or escape from many less-mobile Heroes. Movement Speed is helpful for increasing your Basic Attack uptime as well, granted that you maintain the effect by using an Ability at least once every 4 seconds.

Ancient Spear (Q) Sonya

• Cooldown: 13 seconds

Throw out a spear that pulls Sonya to the first enemy hit, dealing 173 (+4% per level) damage and briefly stunning them. If this hits an enemy, generate 40 Fury.

Ancient Spear is a Basic Ability with many important functions. Besides dealing a large amount of damage, the Ability acts as Sonya's main gap-closer, interrupt tool, and Fury generator. If you pick Mystical Spear at Level 13, you can also use it as a mobility tool when not hitting an enemy, even across impassable terrain.

Failing to hit an enemy with Ancient Spear during a team fight can leave you Fury-starved for an extended period of time, especially if you do not have Shot Of Fury at Level 4 as an alternative way to generate Fury, as you will then have to rely on Basic Attacks to generate enough Fury to use your other Basic Abilities. If you have Wrath of the Berserker as Heroic Ability, this will also cause its duration to be shorter. For this reason, it is essential that you learn the Ability's range and projectile speed so that you may reliably hit your intended target, even in high stress situations. Do know that keen opponents who understand the importance of the Ability may attempt to juke you to avoid being hit, at which point experience and prediction skills will come into play.

Seismic Slam (W) Sonya

• Fury: 25
• Cooldown: 1 seconds

Deals 176 (+4% per level) damage to the target enemy, and 44 (+4% per level) to enemies behind the target.

Seismic Slam is a point-and-click Basic Ability that can be used to deal damage to a given enemy and a lower amount of damage to any enemy unit behind them. With such a high damage value on a very short cooldown, it is one of the best sustain damage Abilities in the game, and is key to eliminating Heroes, Mercenaries, and Structures alike. Due to its short range, it is important to remain near your foes as much as possible, when it is safe to do so. Fury generation has a similar level of importance as you will not be able to use Seismic Slam without it.

Seismic Slam deals some damage to foes behind your initial target too. This effect is typically not taken into account during team fights as this limited damage is rarely worth the hassle of having to reposition yourself but you should definitely play around it while laning as it will contribute to your waveclear.

Sonya's fast Attack Speed makes it possible to land 2 Basic Attacks between each Seismic Slam. By casting Seismic Slam every 2 Basic Attacks, you will maximise your sustain damage and promote Fury generation. By casting it on cooldown, you will maximize your burst damage at the cost of Fury.

Whirlwind (E) Sonya

• Fury: 40
• Cooldown: 5 seconds

Deals 138 (+4% per level) damage a second to nearby enemies for 3 seconds, healing for 25% of damage dealt. Healing tripled versus Heroes.

Whirlwind is a channeled Ability that can be used to deal damage and heal for a portion of the damage dealt, even when moving. Sonya can pass through enemy units during its effect, denying enemy Heroes the possibility to body block her.

The self-healing provided by Whirlwind allows Sonya to self-sustain while laning and increases her survivability in team fights, especially when she is able to hit multiple enemy Heroes with it because the self-healing that comes from damaging them is increased.

Whirlwind can also be situationally useful for both chasing and escaping. Since it does not have a casting animation, unlike Ancient Spear and Seismic Slam, you can instantly benefit from the Movement Speed increase provided by Fury without having to stop moving.

Whirlwind is notably powerful against team compositions that lack reliable means of interrupting it. Hitting several Heroes at once can yield an impressive amount of healing, though one should see to first and foremost remain in a safe position. Considering that Whirlwind's healing depends on the amount of damage done with it, effects that increase Sonya's Spell Damage or increase the damage taken by enemies (for example Armor reduction) will effectively cause Whirlwind to heal more.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Leap (R) Sonya

• Heroic
• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Leap into the air, dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies, and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.

Leap is a strong Heroic Ability that allows Sonya to become Unstoppable and jump towards a target location. Upon impact, all enemies take damage and are Stunned, interrupting any channel in progress (such as Mosh Pit by E.T.C.).

Leap can be used either as a gap-closer or as an escape, to survive unexpected ganks or to counter delayed crowd-control effects (notably Temporal Loop by Chromie). During team fights, Leap is a powerful engage which can enable several other Abilities that require a setup of some sort to be effective (for example Ring of Frost by Jaina).

When using Leap on moving enemy Heroes, you should take into account their Movement Speed and Sonya's travel time during Leap's animation, otherwise you will end up missing the target. Be aware of possible jukes as well.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Wrath of the Berserker (R) Sonya

• Heroic
• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Increase damage dealt by 40%. Reduce the duration of Stuns, Roots, and Slows against Sonya by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds, and extends by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained.

Wrath of the Berserker is a strong Heroic Ability which greatly empowers the damage that Sonya deals with Basic Attacks and Abilities and reduces the duration of most crowd control effects: Stuns (including Sleeps), Roots, and Slows. The effect lasts 15 seconds, extended by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained.

Wrath of the Berserker temporarily turns Sonya into a force to be reckoned with, even for the toughest of Tanks and Bruisers, as it greatly increases Sonya's damage. While active, Sonya becomes so powerful that Heroes without mobility and lack of peeling will not be able to survive.

The reduced duration of most crowd control effects is quite useful when fighting against Heroes who have access to Stuns (including Sleeps), Roots, and Slows. These are all effects that can be used for peeling, thus not allowing Sonya to deal damage on the desired target.

Outside of general player combat, Wrath of the Berserker is useful for very quickly claiming Mercenary Camps, waveclearing, or destroying Structures. Due to its relatively short cooldown and potentially high uptime with correct Fury management, one should not shy away from using the Ability outside of team fights as well. This is typically achieved by aggressively delivering Basic Attacks, using Ancient Spear, and activating Shot Of Fury at Level 4 before Wrath of the Berserker expires.