Guqin Sona

Not gonna lie, Guqin Sona caught me off guard the first time I saw it in a ranked game back in season 3. My support locked it in and I remember thinking the instrument swap alone made Sona feel like a completely different champion. This is old school Riot doing a culture-themed skin right, and for 975 RP it still holds up way better than it should for something from January 10, 2012.

The guqin changes everything about her feel

The biggest thing here is the instrument. Sona’s default etwahl gets replaced with a traditional Chinese guqin, and the VFX follow through on that theme. Her Q sends out these warm golden notes that feel distinct from base. The W aura picks up softer tones. Played maybe 40 games with this skin last month specifically because I wanted to test how the particles read in teamfights, and they’re clean enough. Not distracting, not too subtle.

Her outfit swaps to a flowing hanfu-style dress. Greens and golds. The color palette reads well against the Rift, which matters more than people think when you’re trying to track your own positioning in a messy bot lane fight. Voice lines stay base, no new VO, but honestly Sona’s original voice work fits this aesthetic fine. She’s not exactly chatty to begin with.

Kinda feels like Riot put more effort into the model than you’d expect for a 975 RP Standard tier skin from 2012. The hair ornaments, the instrument details – small stuff that adds up. No new recall animation though, so you’re stuck with the default. Pre-6 laning feels the same mechanically, obviously, but the visual feedback on her poke with Q is just slightly more satisfying with the golden particle color.

Lunar Revel roots and the two chromas

Guqin Sona sits in the Lunar Revel skinline. One of the earlier entries before Riot started going massive with Lunar New Year releases every January. The Lunar Revel line has grown huge since then, but Guqin Sona remains one of the more tasteful ones. Not overdesigned. Just a clean cultural reference that doesnt try too hard.

There’s 2 chromas available: Golden and Meteorite. Golden leans into the existing palette harder, almost like a prestige version of itself. Meteorite goes darker, earthy browns and muted tones. (Random aside: Meteorite is genuinely underrated, I’ve seen maybe two other people use it in all my Diamond games this season.) Both chromas work but neither dramatically changes the skin’s identity. For a skin with only two options, at least both are usable.

975 RP for a Standard skin with updated VFX, solid model work, and two chroma options. Shop has it, permanent availability. Been around for over fourteen years at this point. Season 2 release, back when the game looked completely different. The fact that it still reads well on the modern Rift says something about the design fundamentals.

Should you pick up Guqin Sona?

Real verdict: if you play Sona support in ranked at all, this is one of her better options at the price point. Arcade Sona and Star Guardian Sona get more attention, sure. But Guqin has a subtlety that the flashier skins lack. Been running this in my support games when I get autofilled and it just feels right for the champion’s identity.

Could be wrong here but I think this skin ages better than most 975 RP skins from that era. The cultural theming gives it a timelessness that “cool tech” or “edgy dark” skins dont have. Worth 975 RP if you main Sona, and even if you’re just a support player who picks her situationally for peel comps or scaling lanes, the guqin instrument swap alone makes it worth considering. Skip it only if you already own one of her Legendary-tier options. For everyone else spamming Sona in solo queue, this one belongs in the rotation.