Sonya Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Sonya. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Sonya's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Sonya's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
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1 | ? ✓ ? |
4 | ? ? ✓ |
7 | ? ? ✓ |
10 | ? ✓ |
13 | ? ✘︎ ✓ |
16 | ? ✓ ? |
20 | ? ? ? ✓ |
Sonya's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Single Target Build
RecommendedSonya's Single Target Build, differently from other options, will be a good choice in all games, as it does not depend on Whirlwind or Leap to deal damage. Shot Of Fury and Rampage will greatly increase her DPS, and Poisoned Spear can be a good choice if you do not need the extra self-sustain from Battle Rage.
Seismic Slam Build
SituationalSonya's Seismic Slam Build has a different playstyle than the other options. It is focused on constantly hitting the enemy frontline with Basic Attacks and Seismic Slams, dealing high damage to the tank and to Melee Heroes near them.
Whirlwind Build
SituationalLevel 1 Talents for Sonya
Every 4th cast of Seismic Slam deals 40% more damage to the primary target and costs no Fury.
Sonya's Basic Attacks heal for 30% of the damage dealt.
Every 16 seconds, gain 60 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 60%.
Stores up to 3 charges. Charges refresh 200% faster while Fury's Movement Speed bonus is active.
Discussion
Furious Blow is Sonya's only damage-oriented choice at this tier. In sustain damage dealing situations, such as while pushing or claiming Mercenary Camps, this Talent amounts to a 10% damage increase and a 6 Rage cost decrease to Seismic Slam. In practice, Furious Blow allows your fourth Seismic Slam to be used as a means of dealing "surprise" burst damage. In general, Furious Blow should be picked if you plan on getting Leap at Level 10, as it will greatly increase the burst damage dealt by you after the Stun.
War Paint provides you with a significant amount of self-sustain. Although Sonya's Basic Attacks are not particularly strong by default, many of the Talents we recommend focus on improving them, making War Paint a generally solid choice. In the early stages of the game, the Talent allows you to remain at a comfortable Health level while laning and clearing Mercenary Camps; later on, it outright allows you to trade favourably with many if not all Heroes. War Paint is of limited use against burst-compositions however, as it requires much uptime to payoff. In case you are going for a Whirlwind Build, you should prefer Tough As Nails over War Paint, as time spent spinning is time not spent attacking.
The mitigation provided by Tough As Nails is generally overshadowed by the amount of self-sustain provided by War Paint. The latter choice is also much more versatile, in that it has PvE uses. Still, Tough as Nails has niche use against Heroes with powerful Basic Attacks such as Greymane, Stukov, Hanzo or Thrall. It also has the advantage of being active while using Whirlwind, whereas War Paint has no effect of its own. See to use an Ability every 4 seconds to maximise Tough as Nail's uptime. Do not pick this Talent against Heroes with fast-hitting Basic Attacks (such as D.Va and Genji).
Level 4 Talents for Sonya
Increase Seismic Slam's splash damage by 250%. Targeting a Hero with Seismic Slam further increases its splash damage by 250%, while targeting other enemies increases the length of its splash by 66%.
Reduce the cooldown of Whirlwind by 2 seconds. Casting Whirlwind removes all Slows and Roots from Sonya.
Activate to gain 50 Fury. Usable while Whirlwinding.
Passive: After casting Seismic Slam, your next Basic Attack deals 40% more damage.
Discussion
Shattered Ground is an excellent choice when paired with other Seismic Slam Talents. It is excellent against a Melee Composition, as Seismic Slam's splash damage can destroy multiple close Heroes. It also greatly increases Sonya's waveclear, making it excellent if your team composition does lack said waveclear.
Hurricane provides an important cooldown reduction to the Ability upon which Sonya relies to survive team fights. The crowd control removal is also a powerful aspect, though it requires proper timing to see a payoff.
Shot Of Fury is an excellent quality of life improvement for Sonya. It does not only provides a useful burst of Fury, but the extra damage provided by it will greatly increase your DPS against all enemies or Structures. Due to its versatility and synergy with other Talents, Shot of Fury is the standard Talent at this tier.
Level 7 Talents for Sonya
Ancient Spear deals an additional 100% damage over 6 seconds.
Increases the healing of Whirlwind to 35% of damage dealt.
- Charges: 2
- Recharge Time: 30 seconds
Activate to instantly restore 10% of Sonya's maximum Health. Stores up to 2 charges. Usable while Whirlwinding.
Passive: Sonya deals 25% more damage to Mercenaries.
Discussion
Poisoned Spear is a large damage multiplier for an Ability that deals a respectable amount of baseline damage, and that ends up further increased while Wrath of the Berserker is active. Outside of her Ancient Spear plus Seismic Slam combo, Sonya does not typically have much uptime against nimble Heroes; Poisoned Spear helps her maximise her burst damage and general ability to trade A notable side-effect of Poisoned Spear is that the damage-over-time effect prevents Stealthing. Poisoned Spear is generally picked against team compositions that only feature one Tank.
Life Funnel greatly improves Sonya's combat self-sustain, granted you are able to channel Whirlwind reliably. As such, it is a strong pick against team compositions that lack reliable means of interrupting.
Battle Rage is a more reliable source of sustain than Life Funnel. It is recommended if you cannot channel Whirlwind reliably. Besides that, the extra damage on Mercenaries is a useful addition that should not be underestimated.
Level 10 Talents for Sonya
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Leap into the air, dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies, and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.
- 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.
Discussion
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
Depending on your team composition, you may wish to pick up Leap as an additional initiation tool, as a peeling tool, or as part of a combo piece. The Ability does come, however, at the steep price of having to give Wrath of the Berserker up. Leap could also be strongly considered when your team composition oddly features four other damage dealers, as may often the case in Quick Match situations.
Wrath of the Berserker is a core Ability for Sonya, making it much harder for enemies to deal with her. The extreme, raw damage increase provided by Wrath of the Berserker lets Sonya players threaten any Hero, though it is particularly devastating against isolated Assassins and Healers. The Ability also makes Sonya an outstanding at claiming Mercenary Camps and pushing with them. It should be remembered that Whirlwind and War Paint provide healing based on Sonya's damage output, meaning that Wrath of the Berserker also increases her survivability. It does reduce the duration of Slows, Roots, and Stuns. However, Silences are still a threat that you should be aware of.
Level 13 Talents for Sonya
Ancient Spear always pulls Sonya to the target location even if it doesn't hit an enemy. When used this way, Ancient Spear's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.
Whirlwind deals an additional 50 (+4% per level) damage per second to Heroes below 50% Health. Does not generate additional healing.
Increases the Movement Speed bonus from using Basic and Heroic Abilities to 20%.
Discussion
Mystical Spear provides Sonya with an essential element that is missing from her Basic Ability kit: that of unconditional mobility. Mystical Spear makes disengaging possible. However, this Talent has no effect in fights if you hit your Ancient Spear consistently.
Ruthless amounts to about 40% increase to Whirlwind's damage to Heroes below 50% Health. This Talent is not good enough to compete with No Escape, as Whirlwind is never used to deal damage, only for self-sustain. If you want to deal more burst damage, it is better to just use Seismic Slam instead. It is worth noting that the damage increase does not translate into more healing.
No Escape, as its name implies, makes it impossible for Heroes with limited mobility to escape from Sonya. This Talent can be abused in diverse ways, and is the standard pick at this Level.
Level 16 Talents for Sonya
Basic Attacks and Seismic Slam deal an additional 1.5% of Heroes' maximum Health as damage and heal Sonya for 60% of the damage dealt.
Increase Basic Attack damage by 25%. Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Ancient Spear by 1.5 seconds.
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Activate to gain 25% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 3 seconds. Usable while Whirlwinding.
Discussion
Giant Slammer adds a good extra damage and self-sustain for Sonya. In general, outside of a Siesmic Slam Build, the Rampage alternative is likely to yield more overall damage, though Giant Slammer gives you an interesting extra burst and healing.
Rampage is an excellent way of increasing your sustain damage output and mobility through the Ancient Spear's cooldown reduction effect. If you do not feel threatened by burst damage, making Nerves of Steel unappealing, Rampage is the way to go.
Nerves of Steel provides Sonya with the survivability that she needs to be able to withstand some of the heavy area of effect damage that commonly defines late-game team fights. The Shield provided by the Talent can allow you to replenish your Health through Whirlwind, as needed.
Level 20 Talents for Sonya
Leap leaves behind an impassable crater for 5 seconds. Reduces Leap's cooldown by 20 seconds.
Wrath of the Berserker increases maximum Health by 10% and grants Striding Giant, which can be activated to become Unstoppable for 2 seconds. 30 second cooldown.
Increases Ancient Spear's range by 50%. Hitting an enemy Hero with Ancient Spear grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Activate to gain 60 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 60% less damage. Usable while Whirlwinding.
Discussion
Arreat Crater is interesting on paper, and yet falls into the winmore category of Talents. Arreat Crater's effectiveness is directly proportional to how many players it manages to isolate in a perfect position for your teammates to capitalise upon. It may work well with certain Heroic Abilities such as Grav-O-Bomb 3000 and Graviton Surge however, provided you are coordinated.
Striding Giant provides a bit of survivability and an on-demand Unstoppable effect that is useful in preventing Whirlwind from being interrupted and at countering Heroes such as Artanis, Diablo, Garrosh, and Stitches, who rely on displacement and crowd control for kills.
The range increase provided by Composite Spear can be useful against range-heavy team compositions that tend to kite you to death before you can deal any significant damage. The added Armor is also notable. Composite Spear works particularly well with other Ancient Spear-related Talents.
Ignore Pain is the pinnacle of defensive Talents. Since Sonya relies on being in melee range to deal her damage, she often becomes a priority target. Ignore Pain allows you to severely punish this behaviour while being able to deliver your damage nearly unimpeded for as long as it is active.
Changelog
- 04 Jun. 2021: Builds and Talents updated after May 18 balance patch.
- 26 Mar. 2021: Updated Talent recommendations.
- 18 Feb. 2021: Builds and Talents updated to better reflect current meta.
- 25 Jan. 2021: Talents and builds updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 03 Dec. 2020: Talents and builds updated after recent balance patch.
- 24 Sep. 2020: Builds updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 29 Oct. 2019: Talent builds and recommendations reviewed and updated.
- 30 Aug. 2018: Talent descriptions updated to reflect latest balance patch.
- 13 May 2018: Talent descriptions and recommendations updated to reflect Sonya's rework patch.
- 07 Mar. 2018: Talent descriptions and recommendations updated to reflect Sonya's rework patch.
- 14 Jan. 2018: Updated Tier 2 and Tier 3 Talent discussions. Updated Whirlwind and Burst builds.
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Derenash has been playing Heroes of the Storm since 2015 and has achieved Grandmaster in multiple seasons, peaking at Top 1 in Season 3 and 4 of 2018. He participated in the HGC Copa America in 2018 where his team had a strong victory. He is passionate about teaching others about the game, and streams often on Twitch in Portuguese, and you can find him in Wind Striders' Discord as well where he is happy to answer any questions in English or Portuguese.
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