Overview

Basic Abilities

Fury (Trait)

Use Fury instead of Mana, which is gained by taking or dealing damage. Using a Basic or Heroic Ability grants 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.

Use Fury instead of Mana, which is gained by taking or dealing damage. Using a Basic or Heroic Ability grants 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds.

Ancient Spear (Q)

Cooldown: 13 seconds

Throw out a spear that pulls you to the first enemy hit, dealing 173 (+4% per level) damage and briefly stunning them. If this hits an enemy, generate 40 Fury 13 secondsThrow out a spear that pulls you to the first enemy hit, dealing 173 (+4% per level) damage and briefly stunning them. If this hits an enemy, generate 40 Fury

Seismic Slam (W)

25 Fury | Cooldown: 1 second

Deals 176 (+4% per level) damage to the target enemy, and 44 (+4% per level) to enemies behind the target. 251 secondDeals 176 (+4% per level) damage to the target enemy, and 44 (+4% per level) to enemies behind the target.

Whirlwind

40 Fury Cooldown: 5 seconds

Deals 441 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies over 3 seconds, and heals for 25% of damage dealt. Healing tripled versus Heroes. 405 secondsDeals 441 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies over 3 seconds, and heals for 25% of damage dealt. Healing tripled versus Heroes.

Sample Builds

Sonya : Primary Sonya Build (MSB 2018 Patch) War Paint Basic Attacks heal you for 30% of the damage dealt. Hurricane Reduces the cooldown of Whirlwind by 2 second and Whirlwind removes all slows and roots on Sonya. Battle Rage Activate to instantly restore 10% of Sonya's maximum Health. Stores up to 2 charges, 8 second cooldown. Passive: Sonya deals 25% more damage to Mercenaries. Wrath of the Berserker Increase damage dealt by 40%. Reduce the duration of Stuns, Roots, and Slows against you by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds, and extends by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained. No Escape Increases the Movement Speed bonus from using Basic and Heroic Abilities to 20%. Nerves of Steel Activate to gain 25% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 3 seconds. Usable while Whirlwinding. Ignore Pain Activate to gain 60 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 60% less damage. Usable while Whirlwinding.

Sonya : Secondary Sonya Build (MSB 2018) Tough As Nails Every 12 seconds, gain 75 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 75%. Stores up to 3 charges. Charges refresh 200% faster while Fury's Movement Speed bonus is active. Hurricane Reduces the cooldown of Whirlwind by 2 second and Whirlwind removes all slows and roots on Sonya. Poisoned Spear Ancient Spear deals an additional 100% damage over 6 seconds. Wrath of the Berserker Increase damage dealt by 40%. Reduce the duration of Stuns, Roots, and Slows against you by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds, and extends by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained. No Escape Increases the Movement Speed bonus from using Basic and Heroic Abilities to 20%. Nerves of Steel Activate to gain 25% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 3 seconds. Usable while Whirlwinding. Composite Spear Increases Ancient Spear's range by 50%. Hitting an enemy Hero with Ancient Spear grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.

Talent Breakdown

Level 1

Furious Blow (W) (Not Recommended)

Every 4th cast of Seismic Slam deals 50% more damage to the primary target and costs no Fury.

Every 4th cast of Seismic Slam deals 50% more damage to the primary target and costs no Fury.

War Paint (Recommended)

Basic Attacks heal you for 30% of the damage dealt.



Basic Attacks heal you for 30% of the damage dealt.

Tough As Nails (Trait) (Situational)

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. 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.

Level 4

Shattered Ground (W) (Not Recommended)

Increase the length of Seismic Slam's splash by 66% and increase its slash damage to 75% of its base damage.

Increase the length of Seismic Slam's splash by 66% and increase its slash damage to 75% of its base damage.

Hurricane (E) (Recommended)

Reduces the cooldown of Whirlwind by 2 seconds. Casting Whirlwind removes all Slows and Roots from Sonya.

Reduces the cooldown of Whirlwind by 2 seconds. Casting Whirlwind removes all Slows and Roots from Sonya.

Shot of Fury (Trait) (Situational)

Cooldown: 40 seconds

Active: Activate to gain 50 Fury. Usable while Whirlwinding.

Passive: After casting Seismic Slam, your next Basic Attack deals 40% more damage. 40 secondsActivate to gain 50 Fury. Usable while Whirlwinding.After casting Seismic Slam, your next Basic Attack deals 40% more damage.

Level 7

Poisoned Spear (Q) (Recommended)

Ancient Spear deals an additional 100% damage over 6 seconds.



Ancient Spear deals an additional 100% damage over 6 seconds.

Life Funnel (E) (Situational)

Increases the healing of Whirlwind to 35% of damage dealt



Increases the healing of Whirlwind to 35% of damage dealt

Battle Rage (Situational)

Charge Cooldown: 30 seconds

Active: Activate to instantly restore 10% of Sonya's maximum Health. Stores up to 2 charges.

Passive: Sonya deals 25% more damage to Mercenaries. 30 secondsActivate to instantly restore 10% of Sonya's maximum Health. Stores up to 2 charges.Sonya deals 25% more damage to Mercenaries.

Level 10

Leap (R1) (Situational)

Cooldown: 70 seconds

Leap into the air, dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies, and stunning them for 1.25 seconds. 70 secondsLeap into the air, dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies, and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.

Wrath of the Berserker (R2) (Recommended)

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Increase damage dealt by 40%. Reduce the duration of stuns, slows, and roots against you by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds, and extends by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained. 60 secondsIncrease damage dealt by 40%. Reduce the duration of stuns, slows, and roots against you by 50%. Lasts 15 seconds, and extends by 1 second for every 10 Fury gained.

Level 13

Mystical Spear (Q) (Situational)

Ancient Spear always pulls Sonya to the target location even if it doesn't hit and enemy. When used this way, Ancient Spear's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Ancient Spear always pulls Sonya to the target location even if it doesn't hit and enemy. When used this way, Ancient Spear's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Ruthless (E) (Situational)

Whirlwind deals an additional 50 (+4% per level) damage per second to Heroes below 33% Health. Does not generate additional healing.

Whirlwind deals an additional 50 (+4% per level) damage per second to Heroes below 33% Health. Does not generate additional healing.

No Escape (Trait) (Recommended)

Increases the Movement Speed bonus from using Basic and Heroic Abilities to 20%



Increases the Movement Speed bonus from using Basic and Heroic Abilities to 20%

Level 16

Giant Slammer (W) (Not Recommended)

Seismic Slam deals an additional 2% of Heroes's maximum Health as damage.



Seismic Slam deals an additional 2% of Heroes's maximum Health as damage.

Rampage (Situational)

Increase Basic Attack damage by 25%. Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Ancient Spear by 0.5 seconds.

Increase Basic Attack damage by 25%. Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Ancient Spear by 0.5 seconds.

Nerves of Steel (Recommended)

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Active: Activate to gain 25% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 3 seconds. Usable while Whirlwinding. 60 secondsActivate to gain 25% of your maximum Health as a Shield for 3 seconds. Usable while Whirlwinding.

Level 20

Arreat Crater (R1) (Situational)

Leap leaves behind an impassable crater for 5 seconds. Reduces Leap's cooldown by 20 seconds

Leap leaves behind an impassable crater for 5 seconds. Reduces Leap's cooldown by 20 seconds

Striding Giant (R2) (Not Recommended)

Cooldown: 30 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 secondsWrath of the Berserker increases maximum Health by 10% and grants Striding Giant, which can be activated to become Unstoppable for 2 seconds.

Composite Spear (Q) (Situational)

Increases the range of Ancient Spear by 50%. Hitting an enemy Hero with Ancient Spear grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.

Increases the range of Ancient Spear by 50%. Hitting an enemy Hero with Ancient Spear grants 25 Armor for 4 seconds.

Ignore Pain (Recommended)

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Activate to gain 60 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 60% less damage. Usable while Whirlwinding. 60 secondsActivate to gain 60 Armor for 4 seconds, taking 60% less damage. Usable while Whirlwinding.

How She Plays

1. Effective Fury usage.

2. A word on tunnel-vision.

3. Trading: Know when to leave.

Feel the Fury of Arreat!

Hello and welcome to another installment of "A Detailed Breakdown". As I mentioned in my previous guide, I have been participating in a coaching program for the past few weeks, both to coach one team and to play on another. The one I play on has me in the offlane, and as a result, these heroes have been my focal point since it began. It seems apt, then, to write my thoughts and experiences with the heroes I am currently training on, as they are certainly where I feel most knowledgeable for the moment, and any further research done will serve to not only help improve the quality of this guide, but will improve my own level of understanding. With that in mind, today's guide is going to focus on another highly valued offlaner: Sonya.Sonya has been a part of the meta for quite some time now, all throughout this year and the vast majority of last year as well. While she is perhaps not quite as valued as Blaze, she is by no means a bad pick, and still finds her place in the typical "top 3" of offlaning, those generally being Blaze, Sonya, and Dehaka. While she does serve a similar role as the other two, she is the more "bruiser" variant, boasting considerably higher damage at the expense of less CC and overall tankiness. Still, if left to her own devices, she can not only deal incredible damage, but can sustain through enemy damage quite effectively, too.Let's start by taking a look at her basic kit to get a better idea of what exactly she does.Fury is Sonya's resource, and is a central component to her gameplay. The description is slightly misleading, as her Fury generation is not based on her damage output, or anything of the sort. Instead, she gains 6 fury per AA, 2 Fury per instance of damage taken, and 40 Fury for successfully landing her Q, Ancient Spear. Seismic Slam and Whirlwind, despite dealing damage, are Fury spenders, not generators. Leap, if you take that heroic, also does not generate Fury. It is important to enter a fight with as much Fury as possible, as without it you will lose almost all of your damage and sustain. This also means that landing your Spear is very important. I will go into more detail on Fury usage in the tips section later on in the guide.This ability is a number of things. It is your engagement tool, it is your largest Fury generator (for burst, at least). It is also both a burst tool and an escape tool, provided you take the talents that support these pieces. It should go without saying, then, that landing this ability is incredibly vital to maximizing Sonya's potential. Most incredible Sonya plays come from a great Spear landed on a squishy backliner, which she then proceeds to simply delete with her incredible point blank damage output. It is important to note that this is a skillshot, has a brief travel time, and technically stuns you until the animation ends/you hit something. Simply put, just remember to lead your targets if they are moving, and predict where they are likely to move.This is Sonya's main Fury dump, and also her greatest source of damage over the course of a fight. Generally speaking, you will be mashing this button on any target you focus, as the brief cooldown is long enough to allow Sonya to weave AA's in automatically. The splash damage is next to irrelevant, but can occasionally get you a cheeky kill by slamming a wall and letting the splash finish off a fleeing target. Those are always satisfying.Whirlwind is Sonya's primary source of self-sustain, as well as increasing her mobility in a fight. Though the description doesn't say it, this also allows Sonya to pass through units for the duration. This makes it an important spell for escaping the clutches of the enemy team in a bad situation, or breaking past a beefy frontliner. For general AoE, this spell should be used more or less on cooldown. For pure single target burst, this spell should only be used if you require the sustain to stay alive, Seismic Slam spam will net you more damage, but you will lose out on the health restore. Ideally, you want to get in with Spear, spam W until a key target dies, and then WW immediately after to recover and regroup/reposition to a new target.Before diving into these sample builds, I want to first thank Reddit user u/StarBlast2552 for the awesome suggestion of utilizing MasterLeague.net as the source for the builds that I list. I was already using it a reference throughout my guides, to influence some of my context/decisions on what I deem recommended or situational on various talents, but the builds I listed were both my own, and very generic (based largely on what I listed as recommended in the talent breakdowns). Going forward, I am going to attempt to use largely MasterLeague's top builds from pros as the samples, but will occasionally fill in alternatives if there is a build path that, while unplayed for the most part, is still an option for anyone looking to try it (An example of this would be Mithril Leoric, which I wrote about some time ago. Almost never played, but very fun in the right situation, nonetheless).With that said, let's see some of the top builds that professional Sonya players have been using.This build, along with its similar variants (meaning the same intention but with a few swapped talents) was played in approximately 72% of Sonya games at the MSB (the most recent data/patch for competitive play).This build, while it had no similar variants, was picked in approximately 18% of Sonya games at the MSB.Now we can get into the real nitty-gritty of the guide. Let's see some context behind each of the talent choices at their respective tiers.This is a talent that rarely sees competitive play, and it is not without good reason. The other two talents on this tier are about survival, of which Sonya is in dire need of thanks to her in-your-face kit. On top of this, the damage here is really quite minimal, resulting in a net gain of about 12.5% damage over the course of four seismic slams. With respect to your overall damage, this is even less (I would estimate closer to ~8% damage, though I have not crunched the numbers on this one). The Fury you save is nice (a ~25% reduction over time, if you are Slam spamming, less if you are mixing in WW casts), but ultimately not worth sacrificing either of your survival talents, here.While very simple and self-explanatory, this talent is also quite powerful. At this tier, the choice is largely decided by the enemy composition. If they have heavy AA hitters like Hanzo, Nova, or Butcher, this talent tends to fall behind. In most other situations, however, War Paint is your go-to. It is best in lane, where you are frequently hitting minions, but will also give you a little bit of extra health throughout the course of a fight/between your Whirlwind casts.As mentioned above, this talent is typically the alternative to War Paint when there are high damage AA heroes on the enemy team. Coming into a fight with three charges of this talent gives you incredible tankiness for your opening window, and allows you to get in a number of very high damage abilities before you need to think too much about staying alive. Against heroes like Tracer or Lucio, however, they can very easily strip away your charges, rendering this talent next to useless.Seismic Slam's splash is extremely unpredictable, as it fires directly out from the opposite angle of where you hit the enemy. Given they will be typically moving around, as well as your own movement, the splash tends to go all over the place. This makes this talent extremely unreliable as well, because it does not increase the spread of the splash, only the length. This may be more viable if the spread became wider, but in its current state it has very little benefit.Whirlwind removing all Slows and Roots would be a good talent on its own, but adding 2 seconds of CDR (a 40% cooldown reduction) to Whirlwind makes this talent very, very difficult to ever pass on. To make this even more insane, we are currently in a Slow/Root meta with heroes like Malfurion and Jaina being popular picks (Malf being seen in almost every game right now, if he is not banned out). All of these benefits add up to a nearly mandatory talent. Only when there are zero roots/meaningful slows on the enemy team, coupled with a high volume of stuns, is this talent able to be even considered against.Shot of Fury is the alternative is the very specific criteria listed above is met. In many cases, it is simply not as useful as the CDR and soft cleanse on Hurricane, though it should be noted that this is a more forgiving talent for those who struggle to land their Q. This can compensate for the lack of Fury gen coming from a missed Q, letting you still properly engage in a fight. It also does give you a nice little boost to your overall damage output, as you will be getting multiple AA's out in just about every fight. Still, this leaves you with no escape options, and makes your Whirlwind less frequent, creating lower self-sustain overall (even with War Paint taken, the AA damage does not compare to WW's healing).Before this talent was nerfed, it was 99% of the time the talent to choose. It was a 150% increase to your Q damage, which has since been reduced to 100%. Even in this state, however, it proves to be a very powerful choice. While not a virtually mandatory pick anymore, it is still the most frequent choice, turning your Q into a potent damaging tool that simply compliments the blowup Sonya already possesses. It is, however, the only talent on this tier that provides no self-sustain benefit, so that is important to keep in mind.If the enemy team is clumped, or if you do not need the burst healing that Battle Rage provides, Life Funnel is a powerful choice. Because the healing of Whirlwind is tripled against heroes, this is actually a 30% increase to Whirlwind's healing against heroes, instead of the regular 10% increase from minions. Even still, this will heal significantly more than Battle Rage over a long period of time, while still healing more in a burst-healing context if you can get multiple targets in your Whirlwind casts. You do not get the added bonus of increased Merc damage, however, which can be nice if you are frequently the one on your team to clear camps (you often are).Battle Rage is the alternative to Life Funnel in situations where spot healing is more important, and/or you are not going to be consistently able to Whirlwind multiple targets. It will undoubtedly heal for less over time than Life Funnel will, but the extra perk comes in the passive, allowing Sonya to more easily burn down Mercenary camps. Given she can often be the hero to do this with, this is a nice bonus that lets her spend less time there and more time in lane/rotating to an objective.I list this as situational, but I do so hesitantly. The reason for this is that it is so situational that even in games where Leap might be a slightly better choice overall, Wrath of the Berserker is so potent that it is still always going to be a viable pickup. In those situations where it can be better, however, Leap certainly does shine. It is Sonya's true engagement tool, sending her hurling directly into the enemy's backline and landing with a stun, to boot. This gives her time to get out a Seismic Slam, AA, and another Seismic Slam/Whirlwind before those who are stunned can even really respond. More important than this, however, is that it gives your team a window to engage almost uncontested. The drawback of this is the raw power you are losing beyond this initiation. You are effectively losing 40% extra damage and a 50% CC reduction in every fight, simply so that you could be the one to engage. This is a major loss, and makes Sonya much less of a killing machine.As mentioned above, this is by and large the heroic to choose in most situations. If you are ever unsure, this will always be an acceptable choice. It essentially takes everything Sonya does, and amplifies it. She becomes next to impossible to lock down (though it should be noted that the Sleep effect still has full effect on her), and her damage increases by 40%. Thanks to the short cooldown that starts when this is activated, not when it ends, you can have this heroic up in virtually every fight your team takes. In extended fights or lane fights where minions are present, you can even keep this Heroic going so long that it will be off cooldown when the first cast finally expires. Use of this heroic is simple. Use it liberally, generally wanting to activate it at the beginning of any fight. You can also activate it while pushing a structure, as it will greatly increase your siege power while simultaneously keeping you ready for a fight. Because of the fact that your Fury gen increases the duration, you should still have it activated for any engagements soon to come.This talent works on a few levels. It works well as a crutch for players who are newer to Sonya, as it allows her to engage even if she missed her Q. Perhaps more importantly, however, it works as an escape tool, a piece that Sonya would not otherwise have in her kit. She can now use her Q to pull herself over walls, or back into her own team. This gives her an opportunity to leave if things go south, instead of simply trying to walk away or deciding to all-in and hope for the best. With that said, No Escape functions in a similar (albeit less effective) role for escaping with more movespeed, though what it lacks in escape, it makes up for in added chasing/general mobility pressure.While this talent does not see play at competitive levels, according to MasterLeague statistics, Hero League and lower level play finds itself in a different boat. A common struggle for less coordinated/lower skill level players is closing out a kill. This talent makes this easier to accomplish, which can be an immense boon to both you and your team as a whole. Keep in mind, however, that it is also the most dangerous talent of the three. It is the only one without any mobility, and that will be very noticeable in taking this. Pick with caution.Another very simple yet very effective talent, No Escape simply grants Sonya greater ability to stick to targets, and potentially enough bonus movement speed to escape a chase, in a pinch. It is worth noting that this added movement is enough to allow her to keep up with Lunara's mount passive. Given she is a decently common sight in competitive play right now, this is a good thing to keep in mind. For most heroes, however, it simply denies them the ability to effectively flee, as she will be consistently faster than them.There are a number of reasons why this talent is not very good. First, the damage itself is not overly high. Even against a tank, this is a very minimal 20 bonus damage per thousand health they have. Given your focus should generally be on the backline, you are getting... maybe 30-50 bonus damage, depending on the specific hero, per activation. More importantly, however, on this tier you already have Rampage and Nerves of Steel. One of these (NoS) is an invaluable survival tool that keeps you in the fight longer to keep the damage flowing, and the other already does roughly the same amount of damage this will to squishy targets, while simultaneously giving CDR to one of your most important cooldowns. I never recommend taking this talent, even against a tank-heavy composition.If you are dead set on taking a damage talent here, this is the one I recommend. Boasting a natural synergy with Poisoned Spear at level 7 as well as a flat AA damage increase, this will bust out excellent damage against tank and squishy alike, while increasing your potential mobility and disruption through more frequent Spear casts. Still, it is important to note that by this level, the enemy will generally have very good blowup, and can often kill you in seconds. It can be quite dangerous to commit to damage on this tier, when such a potent survival tool is available. Choose carefully, as with any damage vs. survival tradeoff. As I have mentioned in past guides, you can do more damage untalented and alive, than talented and dead.Having an on-demand shield worth a quarter of your health is incredible. Either you just made yourself 25% tankier in a given fight, or they ignore you for the duration and you gave yourself 3 seconds of protected instead (not literally, but if they ignore you, it might as well be protected). Either way, Sonya is one of those heroes who can absolutely capitalize on a 3 second window to do more damage. That can secure a kill with the kind of damage that Sonya dishes out. To make this even more powerful, the synergy with Ignore Pain at level 20 is incredibly powerful, given you can both shield and armor yourself up, or spread the cooldowns out if the damage is less burst-focused and more sustained. Either way, levels 16 and 20 are what make Sonya so tanky, and by extension, terrifying, given her incredibly high base damage.While generally used for cheeky lategame plays (re: the Washing Machine wombo combo ), Arreat Crater still has value all around in many dive comps. If you took Leap, it probably means you are already going for some sort of combo, so locking in targets hit within a small, impassable circle is probably a good thing. The 20 second cooldown reduction is also useful, though the cooldown is already fairly short. All in all, this talent is best served in combo comps, while not providing a great deal of value alone. Pairs well with heroes like Jaina, Diablo, or Zeratul.Striding Giant is... underwhelming, overall. The 10% health bonus is nice, but comes nowhere near the value of Ignore Pain for survival. Meanwhile, the active Unstoppable portion of this upgrade is also nice, but given baseline WotB already gives a 50% CC reduction, Unstoppable loses much of its value. She already can basically not be locked down. Overall, there are simply better choices on this tier that bring much more to the table.While not giving as much in the way of survival as Ignore Pain, Composite Spear does give Sonya a considerably longer range engagement, with some armor to compensate a successful engage. I do not, however, recommend taking this talent with Mystical Spear at level 13. The reason for this is that if you miss your pull, not only are you still going to fly into their team, but you are now going to do so with no Fury and no Armor. Yes, your escape becomes longer range, but I do not believe that reason enough to take both talents. If you are facing a range-heavy composition, this can be a very useful pickup to close the gap more efficiently.It has been mentioned earlier in the guide, but the power of this talent is immense. Especially in combination with Nerves of Steel at 16, Sonya becomes incredibly tanky for a decently large window of time for taking this. While some would say it provides no benefit to damage output as one of its drawbacks, I would counter that being able to have, essentially, free reign to attack for four seconds indirectly increases your damage, and by no small amount, either. Regardless of this, I can't count the number of times this spell has saved my life, especially when you consider that for this window, all healing (including your own WW's) is effectively amplified, as it is with any amount of Armor. In most situations, I recommend this talent.Sonya is the definition of a bruiser. She is tanky, but is also certainly not a tank. She lacks the hard CC and raw beefiness to fill the role, but more than makes up for it with her near assassin-like damage. she tends to fit into comps as a secondary frontliner, coupled with heroes like ETC , Muradin, or Diablo, who are more capable main tanks than she will ever be. The offlane is her domain, and she tends to win most trades against melee heroes. She can struggle against ranged opponents, though most melee heroes will. Below are some tips to get the most out of your Sonya play, and are good to keep in mind when picking her up.I described how Sonya gains Fury in the trait description at the start of the guide (6 per AA, 2 per instance of damage taken, 40 from Spear), but here I would like to dive into how one should be conserving and/or making use of their Fury. In lane, the optimal thing to do is to save Fury for trading blows with the enemy, or to spend it on WW casts to sustain after trading blows. Aside from this, you should be trying to conserve your Fury, stacking it up as high as you can with AA's and Q casts (if you are not planning on trading for the duration of its cooldown/the enemy is not present). Ideally, you always want to have max Fury when you leave lane, or at least close to it, so that when you rotate lanes you are already prepped to fight.If you took Tough as Nails at level 1, this complicates your Fury usage slightly. Because it recharges 200% faster than normal while Fury's movement speed bonus is active, you want to make sure to utilize this when you can. The best way to do this is to use Seismic Slam (your lowest Fury cost) on minions only when you are missing charges, and only when the movement speed bonus has dropped off of you (this means once per 4 seconds). If you are AAing through this, you will generate more Fury than you lose, and you are regaining your charges in ~5-6 seconds, instead of 16 like the baseline charge cooldown is.In fights, you need to decide which Fury spender is more important. Seismic Slam is your burst, and will do far more on a single target, at the cost of less aoe and no Sustain. Whirlwind, on the other hand, is less burst, while doing more AOE and keeping you healthy. In most situations, you will be using WW more or less on cooldown, while filling the gaps with Seismic Slam. However, if saving WW for another SS cast or two will net you a kill on a backliner, you should definitely do so (unless you might die before accomplishing this, of course). Overall, this aspect comes with practice and general experience. You will improve at this decision-making by playing herSimply put: stop it. Seriously, though, Sonya is one of the easiest characters to tunnel-vision on a squishy backline, and wind up a mile away from her team before you know it. Perhaps not as notorious as Butcher or Illidan for it, but still very much a victim of this due to her in-your-face kit. Be constantly aware of just how far you are straying from your team, and make sure to retreat if it gets to be too much. That one kill on a backliner is not worth it if your entire team died in the process while you left them alone. You may not be a main tank, but you still have a burly body to block shots with, and the sheer pressure from your damage can force enemies to retreat. Long story short, don't go too far from your team. If you've forced the enemy to back, it is basically like killing them for that given fight. That's a victory as it is.Just because you do a lot of damage does not mean you win every trade. A well-timed Blaze stun can shut down your healing, resulting in you losing a lot more health than they will. An Artanis is going to shield the vast majority of your damage, as you do not have any Attack Speed slows or real hard CC to stop him from resetting his shield. Overall, just be aware of who you are facing, and understand that when a fight isn't going your way, just get out. There is no sense in losing extra health if you're losing more than they are.Another day, another guide come and gone. Thank you for reading! I hope you learned something from this, and I hope this gives you a better understanding of Sonya as a hero, and how to utilize her. As with every player, I am still constantly learning how to better my own play with her, and no guide will ever be perfect. If you have ideas, comments, questions, or anything else, feel free to let me know. I do my best to respond to everyone who posts. I love provoking discussion, and in doing so, my guides have been able to evolve to where they are now.Enjoy your time in the Nexus, and happy hunting, warriors.