RECENT CHANGES (BY PATCH)

05/17/16 (Chromie patch) - reviewed; no significant changes 04/07/16 (Dehaka patch) - reviewed; no significant changes 01/13/16 (Greymane patch) - reviewed; no significant changes 8/19/15 (Kharazim patch) - reviewed; minor changes, see notes below 6/2/15 (Johanna patch and game launch) - reviewed guide. 5/30/15 (Kael'thas patch) - started this guide.

Build Disclaimer: Don't let me tell you how to play this Hero. Play him how you play him best! There are many Heroes and many builds that can be viable in the right hands. This is just one guide amongst many and is my take on this Hero. Have fun, and enjoy! If you want to talk shop, I can often be found playing with friend and steamer Kennigma on twitch.tv/kennigma.

NAME Sonya CLASS Warrior SUB-CLASS Part tank, part assassin, part specialist MY DIFFICULTY RATING Medium, abilities take some skill, varied builds ATTACK DISTANCE Melee ACTUAL FIGHT DISTANCE Melee MOBILITY Scoots with spear (Q), but otherwise slow COMPETITIVE? Yes! As a Bruiser/Assassin, 2nd or 3rd warrior pick Sonya is a Warrior, but she's in a sort of weird place where she's sort of a tank, but not as good as other tanks. As of the Kharazim patch, she can be just as good dealing damage as other Asassins. And sort of a specialist in being able to take merc camps and bosses on her own, but not qu...wait...she is actually just as good as a specialist at taking merc camps and bosses! Instead of mana to spend in a fight, Sonya generates Fury as she deals damage, take damage, or uses Ancient Spear successfully. This means Sonya can keep using her abilities as long as she keeps generating Fury, giving her a built-in sustain mechanic. Seismic Slam is typically her Fury dump go-to, since it can be essentially spammed every 1 second, meaning if you have Fury to spend, you're spending it on SLAMS! For most fights, you're going to lead with Ancient Spear or Leap, use that Fury to start your Seismic Slam spam, and weave that in between Auto Attack hits until you can cast Ancient Spear again. Whirlwind is less used due to its lower damage output and target it puts on your back for a barrage of stuns and enemy damage. Depending on how you play Sonya, she will do well in either Siege damage or Hero damage; she won't necessarily always post gaudy Assassin-like numbers, but when built for it, she can throw down with most damage dealers. Is Sonya competitive? Sonya has been slowly buffed over the patches, and the Korean pro meta has brought Sonya onto the verge of NA tier 1 status. She's not drafted for the tank or jungling roles as much as an early lane counter to Leoric and damage dealer with some survivability. But right now, played as a sort of Bruiser/Assassin, Sonya is very capable. Morales patch updates General Notes: Two things about Sonya with this patch. First, with the patch itself, Sonya only has one bug fix change: Her Auto Attack is no longer on cooldown after using Seismic Slam. This is a big deal, as it means she can more intuitively and smoothly attack after using her abilities. Second, the meta has moved Sonya from being just a sad jungler to being a very nearly tier 1 Bruiser/Assassin. Leoric has seen phenomenal amounts of play due to his lane clear power, but Sonya has been tapped as a very good counter to Leoric. In addition, the Asian meta has shifted to 2- and 3-warrior comps, which includes Sonya as a key element. Lastly, dominant warriors Leoric and Johanna actually get small lane clear nerfs this patch, which may reduce their popularity just a bit. Basically, this all means that Assassin Sonya is back and dropping gaudy damage numbers. Kharazim patch updates General Notes: In addition to Superiority being rolled into Mercenary Lord for all affected Heroes, and a small hp pool improvement, Sonya mostly received small quality of life changes with this patch. First, healing from Life Funnel was reduced and overall healing from Whirlwind was changed to heal less against non-Heroes, and more against Heroes. This seems in line with the desired playstyle for Sonya; it was always a bit out-of-character to just Whirlwind in a creep wave and heal up 50% or more of your health. Second, she can use Shot of Fury and remain mounted. Good deal for less awkward engages!

(Q) Ancient Spear Cooldown: 13 seconds Allows you to close the distance to an enemy, generate some fury, and stun the target very briefly, usually enough to just call it an interrupt. But all of this happens only if you actually hit the target successfully. Must master this!

(W) Seismic Slam Cooldown: 1 seconds In any fight, this is likely the bread and butter ability to spam any chance you get. There's really nothing else to spent Fury on beyond this and Whirlwind, so may as well spam it.

(E) Whirlwind Cooldown: 4 seconds Good wave clear ability and can get you through bodyblocks or soft collision moments with minions. Used to be a major source of healing when popped in a creep wave or amongst 3-5 enemy Heroes, but these days is usually popped as an afterthought and not usually part of any rotation during a fight.

(Trait) Fury Hey, it's a trait! Really, though, this just changes Sonya's Mana bar into a Fury bar which she can build up or spend by using abilities or being in combat.

LET'S TALK ABOUT BUILDS
Sonya has lots of builds. Really, since she's sort of a part tank, part assassin (damage dealer), and part specialist (taking merc camps and bosses solo), she can be built out to support any of those three roles. And inside those roles, she can pick all sorts of alternate choices and come out with some neat hybrid builds. Currently, it's popular to play Sonya as a Leoric-busting Bruiser/Assassin, but she can pull minor solo queue tank duties and jungler as well.

BUILD: COMPETITIVE BRUISER

Picks	War Paint	Focused Attack	Ferocious Healing	Wrath of the Berserker	Mystical Spear	Nerves of Steel	Ignore Pain
Alts					Spell Shield

Competitive players prefer to stay alive to keep dealing damage and being part of a fight. In this build, Sonya is playing the damage follower, meaning your actual initiator will open the fight, and you'll follow right in and lay down as much damage on priority targets as you can. More than likely you'll want to back out as your Ancient Spear resets so you can dive back in again. Spell Shield is an option against heavy ability burst coming out of the enemy.


BUILD: ASSASSIN

Picks	Shot of Fury	Shattered Ground	Poisoned Spear	Wrath of the Berserker	Mystical Spear	Furious Blow	Nexus Blades
Alts					Aftershock		Ignore Pain

THis is just another Assassin/DPS build example, this time emphasizing the raw power of Seismic Slam without the bigger Auto Attacks. At level 20, if you find yourself being targeted hard, pick up Ignore Pain for extra survival early on. Otherwise, these picks are all about dropping damage quick and spamming Seismic Slam.


BUILD: MERCS AND BOSSES

Picks	War Paint	Mercenary Lord	Poisoned Spear	Wrath of the Berserker	Mystical Spear	Furious Blow	Ignore Pain
Alts					Spell Shield		Anger Management	Nexus Blades

Sonya can play a lot like a specialist by going for this build and taking our siege giants at level 4, bruisers at level 6ish, and solo bosses at level 10. The beginning is not very flexible, as you need War Paint and Mercenary Lord to stay alive, and Wrath of the Berserker to give you that push for bosses. After that, you can be a bit more flexible, particularly at level 20 where you can pick Ignore Pain if team fights are leaving you hurt quickly, or Nexus Blades if the enemy has not prioritized you at all. I like Mystical Spear mostly for the cooldown reduction, which is basically a small increase in your Fury over time. Essentially, you're wandering the map, making sure you know where the enemy is, staying away from them, and picking opportunities to slip away and take those camps or bosses unbeknownst to the enemy. Be very careful to make sure you get away, especially to a boss, without being seen on the minimap! Be aware of creep minions, Zagara tumors, or enemy wall structures giving you away. Also, your shouts and slams can be heard by someone coming near!


BUILD: TANKY

Picks	War Paint	Hurricane	Ferocious Healing	Leap	Spell Shield	Nerves of Steel	Ignore Pain
Alts	Block		Composite Spear			Imposing Presence	Nexus Blades

Sonya's tank abilities are back-loaded into the level 13, 16, and 20 talent tiers. As such, the early levels aren't quite that important, but this build picks up things to help out, such as War Paint for extra healing and Hurricane to counter stuns and roots. Composite Spear and Leap help Sonya always initiate, even a second time in quick succession for peels. Imposing Presence can be swapped in against a team heavy on Auto Attack damage, and if you're already winning, the slow from Nexus Blades is still useful for some minor CC. Is this a crazy tanky build? It's ok, but Sonya still needs to watch that she doesn't overextend and has a healer who is on the ball, plus follow-up damage from her team so the fight doesn't last so long that she can't keep the defenses up. The name of this game, though, is initiate fights and lead your team!

War Paint [ good ] - This talent is a competitive one at level 1, and will essentially help you live longer, be tankier, and sustain, since you will fill with Auto Attack in between spamming Seismic Slam in a crowd. Definitely the popular talent at level 1 these days.

Block [ situational ] - This has its uses, but doesn't really seem all that great on Sonya. If she's tanking, she'll probably be eating lots of ability damage, and dropping some basic attack damage may not amount to much overall. Sonya is also not that tanky to begin with, so it's not like this talent will help her live much longer. Still, it's useful enough to try out.

Endless Fury [ not recommended ] - There are really no specific moments in a match where I consciously think about storing up Fury, and wish I had more of it to unleash into the next fight. If I am full at 100 and walk into a fight, I can still pretty much spam Seismic Slam until my arms get tired. I don't know of any builds that really pick this talent.

Shot of Fury [ situational ] - There are times where I wish I could wade into a fight with some extra Fury, or run out just as someone starts to run away, and my Ancient Spear is on cooldown. It happens, but I'm not sure it happens enough to spend a talent point here. Definitely worth trying out. This talent was much more liked in the Closed Beta. If your entire goal is to maximize your DPS, you will look hard at this talent.

Focused Attack [ good ] - You'll always be using Auto Attack as part of your normal freny of damage, so this talent helps your bottom line. Competitive with Shattered Ground, but Focused Attack is better against a single target.

Shattered Ground [ situational ] - This is the normal pick for most any Sonya at this tier, as it adds to her bottom line damage on an ability she will spam the entire game. Does not help her single target damage, but can help against certain melee-heavy enemy teams.

Hurricane [ not recommended ] - If you don't have issues with roots and slows, this talent isn't going to be something you pick. In fact, I don't actually ever pick it as there are other options here, especially Mercenary Lord with the Mercs and Bosses build.

Mercenary Lord [ not recommended ] - Basically mandatory on the Mercs and Bosses build, you need to be able to survive the big hits from the bosses and the little pew-pew hits from the merc camps. With this talent, you'll walk away from most of those encounters at 50% health or better, even at low levels. Not necessary for any other build, however. Only consider this if you think you'll be jungling.

Poisoned Spear [ situational ] - This talent is basically part of the current meta, and a very popular pick. You should always be landing the Ancient Spear when you use it, so adding some more damage as you sink in your Seismic Slam and Auto Attack follow-ups just adds to your burst potential. If you're not sold on Follow Through at this tier, this would be a great next choice.

Composite Spear [ not recommended ] - Makes your Ancient Spear wicked long, but I find if I do make use of this length, it results in me being overextended and quickly killed. Pick it if you like it, but I actually do prefer the shorter spear.

Follow Through [ good ] - This talent used to be written off until Sonya got fixed up so her first attack after Ancient Spear triggered this talent. Now it's awesome! Especially since you'll always be alternating between Auto Attack and Seismic Slam anyway.

Ferocious Healing [ situational ] - A great way to add some additional sustain to fights, but you do have to spend precious Fury for the heal, which means your DPS will take a shot as you have to skip a Seismic Slam or two. Questionable, but interesting enough to give it a try sometimes. It's difficult to rate this well, since it is a useful talent, but it's just not one I pick up unless I absolutely need the healing.

Leap [ situational ] - If you're playing the tank role, and/or need to initiate or even add some extra CC, this is a talent to pick up. Can be good for a follow to another initiator, like using it as a secondary stun or to dive onto someone hurt, but I tend to find Wrath of the Berserker to still be better in that role.

Wrath of the Berserker [ good ] - This heroic is necessary to solo bosses from level 10 and on. Also useful if there is another initiator on the team and you need some follow-up damage to their initiate. Basically, if you're not initiating, you take this heroic.

Life Funnel [ not recommended ] - I don't find this talent all that interesting. This occurs only when I Whirlwind and I just don't use that much unless I'm killing a creep wave or trying to escape.

Aftershock [ not recommended ] - It's true, Sonya will spam Seismic Slam and will benefit from this talent, but I've just not very often found myself in a situation where this cost reduction would have yielded more kills. Definitely a tempting pick if you do Furious Blow at level 16.

Mystical Spear [ good ] - Even if you miss a spear hit, you can still move towards your target, which is better than not being able to close on them at all. I really like this ability for that chase or "oops" escape. Should be valued higher if you skip Leap at level 10.

Spell Shield [ situational ] - By this time in the game you will know if a Nova or Kael'thas is gunning after you each time you wade into a fight. If so, this talent can blunt a lot of that incoming ability damage from their burst. Definitely always consider this an option no matter what Sonya build you pursue.

Furious Blow [ situational ] - Decent talent, and a go-to if you're still looking to pile on damage and don't need defensive picks at this tier. Does synergize well with Aftershock which reduces subsequent slam costs.

No Escape [ good ] - It's not uncommon to just be a blade's length away from a fleeing opponent with Ancient Spear on cooldown, and a little shot of speed would be welcome. This also keeps your near your enemies after a successful engage when all they want to do is get the heck away from you. Along with Mystical Spear, this also helps your disengage.

Imposing Presence [ situational ] - Always an excellent pick for a tank going up against a team that is heavy on Auto Attack usage and damage.

Nerves of Steel [ situational ] - If Imposing Presence isn't your thing and you're acting as the tank, this is probably your next pickup. Also useful if you're trying to do damage but keep getting focused very hard.

Arreat Crater [ not recommended ] - This talent is situational, and often does as much bad as good. Useful for organized teams that want another piece to their wombo combo, but in general play, I find this to not be a desirable place to spend my last talent point.

Anger Management [ situational ] - I already usually pick and love Wrath of the Berserker and this talent choice just makes it better. Still, I usually look hard at the other two viable choices at this tier before this one.

Nexus Blades [ situational ] - Need more damage and not more survivability? This is the pick! More damage and added slow keeps enemies near your blades longer!

Ignore Pain [ situational ] - Basically Sonya's unique version of Hardened Shield is an excellent pickup for any build looking to survive just a little bit longer.

GENERAL PLAYSTYLE Generally, you want to pick a target, successfully land an Ancient Spear on them, then follow up with Seismic Slam+Auto Attack spam. Wrath of the Berserker has a low cooldown, so you probably are going to use it in every team fight. Retreat if you need to, and get back in with another spear hit. You will also want to be the one to punish an enemy who is out of position, especially as you pick up No Escape later on. But the most important thing to keep in mind: Always be landing your spear!! If you want to engage outside of a team fight and you miss your spear, you might want to just disengage and wait, even if you have Mystical Spear pulling you in. You just miss the Fury and stun, which you really want to open with. A GOOD SONYA... ...will land Ancient Spear to start a skirmish with an advantage or to enter a team fight. ...will not over-extend without purpose. ...knows when she can win a fight: killer instinct. EARLY GAME You're a good laner, but look to reposition near Leoric if there is one on the enemy team. You're a very strong counter to him with your Whirlwind sustain and spear stuns. Don't be afraid to roam/gank either, as your spear stun is excellent to lock someone down just long enough to zone or kill them. And Sonya is a typical choice to go get merc camps alone or with a friend whenever there is a lull. MID GAME Around level 10, you become a terror with Wrath of the Berserker, and you can do some deadly burst at a much earlier level than most Assassins (most of whom spike at 13/16). Land those spears and get into fights right after your tank starts taking some hits. Punish anyone out of position. LATE GAME/TEAM FIGHTS Pretty much the same playstyle as the mid game; land your spear to engage, drop damage and stick to your enemy like a bad habit. If you find yourself being targeted heavily, you can pick up more survivability talents at level 16. PLAYING AGAINST Sonya has good burst, and she always wants to open with her spear. Punish any Sonya that still walks in after a spear miss, and always be looking to juke that spear hit. Stun her out of Whirlwind, burst her or disengage if she has Wrath of the Berserker up so she wastes it. Try to engage as much as possible away from your own minion creep to avoid Whirlwind sustain through their ranks.

ABOUT ME I'm an aggressively casual player looking to climb the ranks and enjoy my free time in Heroes of the Storm. If you want to talk shop, I can often be found playing with friend and steamer Kennigma on twitch.tv/kennigma. Please comment and let me know what works and what doesn't! Other people have done better guides: Sonya - Boss soloing Rank 1 Hero League, by AmirosJones

---