Sonya Build Guide : SEISMIC F*CKING SLAM - An In-Depth Guide to Sonya :: Heroes of the Storm (HotS) Strategy Builds

Sonya

Build: Seismic Slam

Level 1

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Level 10

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Level 16

Level 20

Threats to Sonya with this build

Threat

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Threat		Notes
1	Murky	Child's play for Sonya. Seismic Slam does half of his health, and Ancient Spear does the other half. Easy kills in lane and easy 1v1s past that.
1	Abathur	Super easy to deal with. If he Symbiotes a minion, you can kill it near instantly. If he Symbiotes a hero, you can just leave. Additionally, if you find him, you can kill him much quicker than other heroes.
2	Malfurion	Simple battle. Moonfire does little damage, Entangling Roots can be ignored in many circumstances. He's rather annoying with his heals, but he's probably the easiest Support to deal with.
2	Jaina	God bless Wrath of the Berserker. Shuts down the entire gimmick of her kit, which is CC and burst. You can ignore CC with Wrath, and burst her down quicker than she can you. In lane, you can just shrug off her damage, really.
2	Zeratul	Speaking of, Zeratul is mad easy to deal with. If he tries to gank you, Seismic Slam him once and he'll likely be wise enough to Blink away.
2	Tassadar	Nothing he can do against you in lane. He's forced to play passive, which a lot of Tassadar players are uncomfortable with doing.
3	Leoric	Haven't had too much experience with this yet, but your kit kind ajust goes against his. His Q slows you a bit, but it's nothing to worry about; his W can easily be left, and even if it's not, can just be healed back up by Whirlwind. His E is rather annoying to deal with, but if you save your Ancient Spear for until after it, then you can get him relatively easily. If he picks Entomb, then you can Ancient Spear out of it, or just kill him, really. If he picks March of the Black King, just leave it, since you have REALLY high movement speed.
3	Illidan	Pretty simple, really. If he jumps on you, employ the tactic of Seismic F*cking Slam. He'll likely Evasion out of fear, but that doesn't stop you, thankfully.
3	The Lost Vikings	This one's situational. It all depends on the player, really. If it's a good TLV, he should be able to bully you relatively easy with Baelog and Erik. Otherwise, you can just kill them off one by one. Bam!
3	Anub'arak	He can't 1v1 you in any circumstance, and in teamfights, you'll just tank better than him. Easy.
3	Valla	See: Tychus.
3	Thrall	There are two kind of Thrall players: extremely aggressive ones, and passive ones. Nothing in between. The first type will try and kill you immediately, in which you can just hit him back really hard. The second type just pokes with Q and soaks. Neither are anything to worry about. Watch out for Sundering in teamfights.
3	Azmodan	All you gotta do is watch out for poke and kill his minions. Relatively easy to deal with.
3	Brightwing	In lane, she's pretty annoying since she can heal most of your damage. However, past 10, you can shrug off everything she does, easily.
3	E.T.C.	Poor little E.T.C. He got nerfed into the ground and now he's child's play.
3	Kerrigan	Usually pretty easy to deal with. Her burst isn't that scary against you at any point in the game, so just try and shut her down in teamfights.
3	Raynor	See: Tychus.
3	Tyrael	Nothing Tyrael can do against the good ol' Sonya Steamroller. Laning phase isn't too hard, and teamfights are a breeze.
3	Uther	Great counterpick to Uther! Hard for him to deal with you in Wrath form, and his heals likely can't compete with your damage (unless he's dead, in which he can spam Flash of Light). Highly consider this since Uther is picked nearly every game.
4	Tychus	The only way Tychus can win lane against you is if he has a really annoying Support (see: Li Li) or a hyper lane bully with him. Otherwise, if he goes in to poke you, poke him back, harder.
4	Rehgar	One of the easier Supports to deal with. He's still certainly annoying with the Totem, but he can certainly be dealt with.
4	Nova	Though I do have a deep hatred for Nova, she's thankfully not too difficult with Sonya. Harder to deal with than Zeratul, but, on the bright side, if you can jump her in teamfights, she's probably dead.
4	Chen	The only concern you should have with Chen is your ability to kill him. Under no circumstances will he win lane against you in a solo lane, and if he's in a duo lane against you, he'll probably be carried by the other person if you're losing.
4	Muradin	He tanks better than you, but that's about it. Similar to Jaina, his gimmick is CC, which can be ignored. Laning phase is a breeze as well.
5	Sonya	Funnily enough, Sonya is usually a pretty easy matchup as Sonya. Most people tend to go either a Boss Solo build or some kind of healing build, so you can just easily out-DPS her.
5	Stitches	This one's random, really. If he pulls you into their team, one of two things will happen; A. You'll just steamroll their squishies, or B. You'll get killed immediately. Dependent on their team comp, but nevertheless, watch out for stray hooks.
5	Sylvanas	She's a strong lane bully, and can prevent about half of your burst with her E. Just play passive in this lane unless you see a good chance to jump her.
6	Gazlowe	Stay away from the turrets and you'll be okay. Problem is, of course, smart Gazlowes zone you with the turrets. You can take them out pretty easily, but they'll likely just be replaced.
6	Arthas	You'll likely lose trades with him in lane, and in teamfights, he'll deny you pretty hard. Difficult to deal with, but not impossible.
6	Falstad	His Barrel Roll is a fantastic escape from your shenanigans, and he'll probably win trades. Difficult to deal with, to say the least.
6	Kael'thas	He's sort of like Jaina, if instead of CC, she just had more burst. He's annoying in lane and in fights, and will keep you dancing around the battlefield with Phoenix and Flamestrike. Watch out for him.
6	Johanna	Obviously, she can out tank you, and she can CC you even harder. Unfortunately, Wrath of the Berserker does nothing to Falling Sword. If she's smart, she'll try and shut you down in teamfights.
7	Tyrande	Yikes! This one's annoying to lane against. If you try to go in to poke with Seismic Slam, she'll mark you and hit you harder. In teamfights, Starfall wrecks you.
7	Diablo	Diablo can play really aggressively in lane against any hero, and that certainly doesn't exclude you. He's very unlikely to be in a solo lane, as if he flips you into an Assassin you'll take a TON of damage. He can usually out tank you in teamfights, as well. Watch out for this one.
7	Nazeebo	Yikes! Laning phase against this guy is hard. Can't do anything against the Spiders or the Toads, and you'll likely have to waste Fury on Seismic Slam to get out of his wall. Not impossible to deal with, but certainly hard.
8	Li Li	Ughhh. HATE playing against Li Li as Sonya. Her kit kinda shuts down yours. Her Q heals back any damage you deal really quickly, her W makes it so you'll likely lose trades, and her E makes it so your only hope is Seismic Slam, which isn't enough in most sircumstances.
8	The Butcher	Heh, as someone whose second favorite hero is The Butcher, I know not to screw with this guy. He'll win trades no matter what, and if he charges you you gotta leave. Smack him in teamfights, but never try to 1v1 him.
9	Sgt. Hammer	Annoying, to say the least. She can easily leave if you jump on her, and pokes you with Napalm Strike and Artillery. Really difficult to deal with, and ganks probably won't help you either. Perhaps with a Zeratul or Nova, but otherwise, you gotta play passive.
9	Zagara	She'll zone you reaaallly hard. Your only hope is ganks and jumping on her. Otherwise, pray she'll focus on minions rather than your head.
10		No Threat

Top

Fury

This is your passive. It makes it so you don't have to worry about spamming abilities long-term because of mana, however, it makes it so you can't mindlessly spam your abilities in quick succession. You need to build up your Fury to really burst people down. Additionally, it gives you movement speed when you attack stuff, which is great during Whirlwind or when trying to catch up to people.

Ancient Spear

Ancient Spear is a rather simple ability. It what makes Sonya so great at jumping people, as it's your only way to catch up to people. If you take Wrath of the Berserker, this will be your main initiation tool. It can be used as an escape as well sometimes, and in other situations, a wall hop. Ultimately, this ability is what ties your kit together. Don't be afraid to use this just to gain the 40 Fury as a wave is closing, or on a tower.

Seismic Slam

Ohhhhh baby, Seismic Slam! This is what makes Sonya so good. Seismic Slam is not only a HUGE burst on the primary target, but it can also destroy people BEHIND them! A really good combo for destroying squishies late game is Wrath of tne Berserker - Shot of Fury - Ancient Spear - Seismic Slam - Seismic Slam - Seismic Slam. The damage boost is easily enough to destroy them in three Slams. One, two, three, dead! It's beautiful, really. Keep in mind that if you follow the primary build, this will cost almost as much as Whirlwind, so be careful how you're spending your Fury. If you find that you're too low, use Shot of Fury or Ancient Spear if either of them are up.

Whirlwind

Wonderful wave clear and healing tool. Be sure to know that this is NOT your main damage tool, even in AOE circumstances. The best times to use Whirlwind are:

Other than that, be conservative how you spend your Fury with this, as it consumes Fury more than any other ability.

Leap

Your first Heroic choice. I find this ability to be very situational. I only take this over if my team has no initiation outside of me whatsoever. By all means, it is not a bad ability; it's a great escape as well as an initiation, but keep in mind that if you choose this you're losing a LOT of damage and crowd control reduction. Be careful with your choice for this.

Wrath of the Berserker

This is what makes your damage so ridiculous. 40% extra damage is HUGE, and the crowd control reduction isn't too shabby either. You can steamroll people with this, and usually just ignore front liners to kill back liners. Unfortunately, picking this gives up Leap's fantastic initiation. However, I consider it worth in most situations.

Top

No War Paint provides an okay level of sustain, but in the end it's not really worth it, as you can get the same amount from Whirlwind.

No Block is not a bad talent in and of itself, but it's really only good against heavily auto-attack reliant teams. I almost never pick this.

No This talent is intended to let you build up a huge amount of Fury then unleash it in trades. However, you rarely build up over 120 Fury, so most of the time it's just wasted.

Yes Great for pinches where is on cooldown and you're in bad need of some Fury. Gives you a free or two, which is always useful. If you pick this talent, make sure to use it as soon as the game starts so you enter lane with 50 Fury.

Maybe If you time your attacks correctly, this talent has the ability to be super powerful. It's awkward to do so, however, and this build is not focused on auto attacks. It's an okay follow up to . All I can say is consider this, but be wary.

Yes Gives you great waveclear and makes it so you can hit some backliners at the start of teamfights. Pretty useful.

Maybe If the enemy team has a few kiters or heavy crowd controllers, pick this up. I rarely do, but I know it's useful.

No The only use of this talent is the boss soloing build, which is gimmicky at best. Boss solos are too time and resource consuming, and if a or finds you during it, you're screwed. Nevertheless, outside of boss battling, this talent has near zero use, so I would almost never pick this up.

No Ancient Spear should not be used for damage only, so this talent is ultimately wasted.

Yes Gives your Ancient Spear longer range, which will give you a lot more kills when you're chasing people mounted. I personally prefer for raw damage, but this talent is very good as well.

Yes After a Seismic Slam, your next basic attack will do a lot more damage. Gives you a lot more raw damage. Enough said.

No Never worth it over the previous two. The healing isn't enough for the Fury cost, and your healer will have it covered anyways.

Maybe See Abilities.

Yes See Abilities.

No I've considered taking this a few times when I'm taking too much damage constantly, but overall, it's not worth it compared to the other talents.

Yes Lovely talent, makes it so when you spam you don't use as much Fury.

Yes Great synergy with , and gives you an escape. Consider this.

Maybe Good against bursty mages like or , but you shouldn't have to worry about it enough to pick this talent. I'd only consider this if I'm REALLY getting shafted hard.

Yes The bread and butter of this build. Gives you a ton of damage combined with . Nothing more to say, really.

No Unneeded.

Maybe I would only consider taking this over if the enemy team has two or more heavy auto attackers ( , , , etc.), but it's a rare occurence that I would actually take it.

Yes Good choice if you need to tank heavier and you're taking too much damage.

No No, no, no. You will be stuck with the wrong people most likely, and it makes it so melee carries on your team can't hit whoever you hit. Never take this.

No The additional CC reduction isn't enough to consider picking this talent, and the Fury generation should only be used to prolong the actual Berserker state. I almost never take this.

No This build isn't auto-attack focused.

Yes Lets you steamroll their team while not having to worry about damage for 4 seconds. I take this in almost every single situation, no question.

What's Sonya good at? Top

This build employs Sonya as a tank while still doing a hefty amount of damage with and . Sonya is a good initiator, and can easily catch up to enemy carries.

Sonya is innately good at taking camps, and can solo the Siege Camp pretty early on.

Trading with Sonya and winning is stuff of legend.

At the end of the day, Sonya is the definition of "spank and tank".

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