After months of being in the same state and watching heroes released doing Sonya's job much better, Blizzard decided to take a look at the Barbarian girl and alter her gameplay a bit. They focused on boosting the value of Whirwind, boosting the healing received by a good amount, making it a tool to chase, stay alive and nuke through good positioning (since you ignore collision while spinning).

That said, if you were a seasoned Sonya player, you won't spot a huge difference in her gameplay, but you will surely spot a difference in her staying power.

Repeat after me. Sonya is not a tank. I mean, they could label her as an assassin and everyone would be happier, but her last two tier choices and health pool puts her in the Bruiser category. This means that you are fine in the thick of the battle, and you like to have stuff near you to hit.

You shouldn't be the one to engage a teamfight, unless you see a clearly misplaced squishy, and you should understand that Sonya is suffering from stuff that can negate her the Whirlwind duration. Stuns are your worse enemies. They turn you from a bruiser to a squishy frontliner, so you want to avoid them at all costs. Be clever on when you are pressing E. If you are facing a Johanna, wait for her to use the Condemn, then Whirlwind. If you are facing a Varian, wait for Warbringer and then Whirlwind. The rule of thumb is that if you are free to play your game, it's most probable that you will get on top of fights.

So, Sonya is a good pick when:
a) She is not the main tank.
b) She has a support to aid her
c) The enemy team has less than 2 stuns available
d) Against teams that will probably be clumped up for teamfights (where Whirlwind can fully heal you)

Avoid Sonya in all other cases.

Level 1: Two choices. Block against slow AA, big hitters (Thrall, Butcher, double tanks) or War Paint against anything else. Avoid Block if you are facing Tassadar (the new beam is negating block charges), Tracer, Tychus etc. Usually I go for War Paint for the lane sustain also.

Level 4: Two choices again. Hurricane if the enemy team has slows/roots that can make your chase harder, or Focused attack if there are no slows/roots that influence you. The added bonus of Hurricane is the reduction of Whirlwind by 1 second which is the reason why the talent is a winner most of the times.

Level 7: Ferocious healing is amazing. Low cooldown, mid-value heal, usable when spinning to create a pseudo-burst of self sustain. You will be needing this to survive the onslaught and avoid visits to the hearth (Whirlwind/Ferocious healing on a wave, will keep you fairly high on HP). Also, it combines well with War paint.

Level 10: Wrath of the berserker is a pretty straightforward and powerful heroic. 40% damage increase, 50% less CC and potentially a time extension to the duration. Sonya is defined by Wrath of the Berserker since her damage is balanced around the fact that during TFs she can get a 40% increase. Leap has its uses, but you can never ignore the direct buff to your damage output and survivability granted by Wrath. Personally I choose it in 9/10 games.

Level 13: Two choices, Life Funnel against clumped up teams or Mystical Spear against low protection from frontline teams, that you can dive to the backline and get a kill. Also, Mystical Spear is good for escaping if you need it. Keep in mind though that MOST of the times, if you fail to hit a hero,you won't like to end up in front of him (or near him) without stunning him. In a nutshell, the recent Whirlwind buff, makes Life Funnel a good choice, since the healing received is insane.

Level 16 and 20: Go for the defensive cooldowns of Nerves of Steel and Ignore pain. They practically give you a 3-5 second free time to nuke provided you don't get stunned before you use them. The trick with using them is learn to be patient and use them sequentially rather than simultaneously. Start with Ignore Pain, follow up with a Nerves of Steel.

The recent buff gave a new potential to an outdated hero. Now Sonya doesn't feel like Varian v2.0 and people started to remember the crazy burst potential of the barbarian lady, that goes Q,AA,W,AA and Whirlwind to ignore bodyblocking and get to the other side of the hero and keep hitting him with AAs. In general, teams that allow you to whirlwind, will have a tough time stopping you.

If you are clever enough and get used to the hero, you will keep track of the opponents abilities that really bother you and wait before you position yourself for the spinning thing.

During lane phase, try to go against non tanks and if you are solo don't overextend because you have no easy way out.

1) Sonya is one of the best Merc killers in the game. She can get Knight camps even at level 4. Don't prioritize camps over teamfights or soaking, but keep in mind that you can solo them.

2) Seismic slam doesn't stop the animation of AA anymore (as of many patches before), so you can chain the AA->W->AA and all will hit in almost the same interval. Use this to burst down people you charge with your Q

3) Using abilities gives you speed boost. Even Wrath of the berserker activation will make you run faster.

4) Patiently wait for the stuns to be thrown, and then go in.

5) Fury management is the most difficult part to understand on Sonya. Don't be afraid to use your spear into a minion wave in order to generate fury. Don't spend more fury than what you need to clear a wave