Gday my name is Moondos and I play the warrior role for Basilisk (Top 5 Teams in Aus/NZ). It took me 45 games to get to Rank 1 and I am currently hovering around 3800 MMR.

Sonya is my most played champ and have roughly 80% win rate on her. She is often banned against me (which makes me more happy than sad) and is the reason why I reached rank 1 in a week.

I look forward to you learning a lot in my guide and if you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment.

For proof of who I am here is my hotslogs page :) https://www.hotslogs.com/Player/Profile?PlayerID=3256565

Sonya is a high sustained damage warrior that is absolutely terrifying when played correctly and underwhelming if played wrong. You need to learn when to go in, when to pull out, who to target and when to target. This comes with experience but I'm hoping this guide will reduce the learning curve to wrecking face with this amazing hero.

Sonya is NOT someone you want to solo tank with. For a warrior she is quite squishy, especially as she will be focused heavily in fights. She shines most when paired with another warrior to split the damage in order to get into the back line of the enemy team.

Sonya is a barbarian from the Diablo franchise (which is likely inspired by Red Sonja). She is capable of devastating the enemy back line and striking terror into their healers.

Pros:

- Excellent lane presence with great sustain.
- Both bursty and sustained damage.
- Is a walking bulldozer capable of destroying structures and bosses.
- Scary initiation (if you can land your Q).
- Probably the best duelist in the game, capable of 2v1 if your a little ahead.
- Capable of soloing bosses and camps with ease.
- Has high sustain with whirlwind.

Cons:

- Fairly squishy for a warrior
- Prone to cc especially as whirlwind is her main form of sustain.
- There is a learning curve in order to play her effectively.
- Your team has to be on the same page as you or your going to get wrecked.

Trait

Fury
Instead of mana, Sonya uses Fury. You get Fury through damaging your enemy with auto attacks or abilities as well as when you take damage and of course with Shot of Fury.
Something people tend to forget is the 10% extra movement given when an ability is used. This gives Sonya fantastic chase potential.

(Q) Ancient Spear
This is Sonya's engaging ability and main source of fury generation. The key to a good Sonya is landing your Q's and knowing when to land them.

(W) Seismic Slam
Ah Sonya's W. Such a satisfying ability and probably my favourite thing about her. Nothing makes me happier than spamming W on some poor squishy's face or being a human bulldozer taking down forts. This ability is your main source of dps. You want to be spamming this ability on a single target.

(E) Whirlwind
Your spin to win ability. Does less single target damage than Slam so it is best used on multiple enemies. Basically you want to pop this ability when the enemy has used their cc and just run into their team. What is great about this is that you lose unit collision whilst spinning so when you have a fat*** Azmodoan blocking your way just spin right through him or a pesky Nazeebo uses his Zombie Wall just spin right through. The spin DOES NOT let you pass through structures.
Another cool thing is that this ability also gives you health back for the damage you deal.
More enemies = more damage = more life gained.


(R) See Talent Rundown :)

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I have put the talents in order of viability with the talents I recommend for new players at the top.

Level 1:

Shot of Fury
THE go to talent. 50 fury at will is an amazing talent and will often catch your enemies unawares and give you increased duration on Wrath of the Beserker.

War Paint
This is the 2nd best talent to take as it gives good sustain vs bosses and merc camps.

Block
Able to reduce AA damage every so often. This is good for the laning phase but as a Sonya you won't need this talent.

Endless Fury
Again a useless talent, your not ever going to have 200 fury.

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Level 4

Superiority
Probably the best talent to take (especially if your just starting off). Note that you take half damage from structures as well as mercs, minions and even bosses. This is your go to talent.

Hurricane
Quite useful when your against champs like Malfurion.

Furious Blow
Pretty useless ability as you will become rage starved extremely quickly with this talent.

Shattered Ground
Sorta useful but not really. It increases your dps in team fights a little bit but you can skip this talent.

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Level 7

Ferocious Healing
This is a must if you want to solo bosses and you didn't take War Paint. If you are just starting to learn Sonya then take this talent, gives a ton of sustain instantly.

Composite Spear
Great for getting into the backline. You want to come from the side and Q the ranged carries or healer. Great for escapes when coupled with Mystical Spear.

Poisoned Spear
This talent is kind of ok when attempting to burst melee assassins.

Follow Through
This talent is great for sustained damaged by alternating slam with an auto attack. A good pick if you are taking War Paint.

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Level 10

Wrath of the Berserker
This is the talent that makes Sonya absolutely terrifying! The damage increase is an insane steroid with the addition of reductions on CC but what makes this talent broken is the fact you can increase the duration! If you are smart with your rage control (landing Q's and Shot of Fury) you will have this up constantly.

Leap
Honestly this Heroic ability is a bit meh. It's quite hard to land properly and once your in the fray your quite vulnerable. I wouldn't recommend taking this talent.

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Level 13

Mystical Spear
This is the go to talent. The constant reduction of Q plus being able to pull yourself without hitting an enemy. This is useful for escaping and engaging if you miss your Q. Great synergy with Composite Spear.

Spell Shield
A solid choice if going against a hard comp like double mage.

Aftershock
Useful for bursting down bosses but it only last for 2 seconds, its pretty rare to get more that 2 aftershocks in a row during a team fight before you need to {{whirlwind, chase, or q.

Life Funnel
Pretty pathetic as you get cc'd out of your whirlwind commonly and it is only a 10% increase.

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Level 16

Nerves of Steel
This is the default choice if you are learning Sonya. Gives you that little bit of extra survivability.

No Escape
Great talent for both escaping and keeping up with your enemy. A good choice if you are experienced with Sonya.

Imposing Presence
Does the enemy have a Valla, Illidan, Sgt. Hammer etc. Then this is a solid talent.

Furious Blow
Horrible talent, avoid this. The damage does not justify the increased cost.

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Level 20

Ignore Pain
The default talent, this lets you soak all the enemies initial damage allowing you to get a lot of dps down.

Anger Management
Not a bad talent if your constantly stunned or rooted. Not really needed usually.

Nexus Blades
If your going an auto attack build then you can take this but honestly its not the best talent.

Arreat Crater
Since you're not taking Leap you don't need this.

Sonya's power is pretty stable throughout the game though her biggest spike is at level 10 (like most heroes). Sonya excels at brawling so you want to be picking fights ALL GAME. As soon as you come out of those gates you are looking for blood.
Remember that Fury is very important in fights, you don't want to be starting fights dry so you want to have about 40ish Fury before starting a fight so when you land your Q you will have ample resources to Slam the enemy's face. This is where Shot of Fury comes in very handy.

Pre 10 poke combo should look like this: 40ish Fury > Land your Ancient Spear > Seismic Slam > Auto Attack > Seismic Slam > Whirlwind to safety. Alternatively you can continue your assault if your confident in a kill.

Lane sustain: After poking your enemy you likely would have taken damage. Sonya is a boss and should feel ashamed if she ever has to use her healing well during the laning phase because you have 7 juicy minions to heal off. Basically you want to Ancient Spear into the creep wave then use Whirlwind on top of the Health Globe minion. By doing this your Whirlwind will hit all 7 minions. Your enemy will likely attack you during this but you are Sonya and you don't give a **** so just sit there like a boss and slurp up that minion hp.

Late game team fight:
For late game fights you really want to have your fury to the full before starting. The basic combo goes like this:
40ish Fury > Wrath of the Berserker > Land your Ancient Spear > Seismic Slam > Auto Attack > Seismic Slam > Whirlwind > Shot of Fury or continue slamming, repeat.

Destroying Structures

Sonya is a bulldozer with legs. She rips into towers especially with her ult. For the ultimate destruction you want to spam your W constantly and using your Q whenever it is up. See the below video for an example of her destruction.

When to use actives:
Ferocious Healing
You more or less spam this whenever it is up.

Nerves of Steel
You want to use this once you hit around 50% so you don't use it too late and die or use it too early and waste it.

Ignore Pain
This is best popped at the start of the fight when the enemy team sees you Q their squishes and say OH *$#% FIRE EVERYTHING!!!! Sonya is prone to being bursted so using this at the start will mitigate the most damage.

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3rd August 2015:
Initial release. (Still need to pretty her up).