Thread:Willbachbakal/@comment-6016076-20140625164717/@comment-1330314-20140629172016

The issue of free damage without scaling is something from before Season 4 and the reworks to supports (V3.14, the patch you indicated, is the first Preseason 4 patch).

I'd say the solution to having a kit that works both without AP and with a lot of AP already lies in the Season 4 reworks: supports with 0 AP turn into late-game powerhouses not simply because of their bases, but because of the massive additional bonuses and actives they bring through items. With a typical AP build, or with an appropriate AP support build, they'd do just as well. The issue here would simply be trying to find root out all the counterplay issues present in current support kits so that they'd be healthy to play against in any position. It's fine if a solo lane support builds AP and dominates, provided that their gameplay allowed for sufficient countering potential to mitigate their scaling.

On the subject of Lulu, while I'm no expert on her, here's what I think of her:
 * The reason she's annoying to play against is that she presents very few windows of opportunity. She's designed to be really, really good at clutch-saving her allies, but in a solo lane her current patterns mean she's almost impossible to pin down and deal with properly. This can also apply to duo lane Lulu, but it's especially egregious on solo lane Lulu because her disengages and defensive capabilities become even better over time, whereas most mid laners don't even have escapes to begin with. She needs to be more vulnerable, though she could have more explosive utility to compensate.
 * Although she has an AA steroid, she's very bursty, and in combination with her CC can easily chunk her opponent for a lot of health when building AP without them being able to react. She needs to have a lot more damage to be shifted away from her Q and E and into her passive.

If I were put in charge of her, here's what I'd do:
 * Massively increase the base damage and scaling, something along the lines of 1(3level) per bolt for a total of 3(9level)  per attack total.
 * Have the bolt firing rate scale with attack speed, so that Pix doesn't start losing bolts by the 2 attacks per second mark.
 * Massively reduce the base damage and AP ratio, something along the lines of.
 * Reduce the cast range to 600.
 * Reduce the cooldown to.
 * Reduce the mana cost to mana.
 * Increase the movement speed bonus strength to 60%.
 * Have both the movement speed boost and the polymorph duration scale to seconds.
 * Reduce the mana cost to mana.
 * Reduce the shield duration to 4 seconds.
 * Have Pix physically travel from Lulu to the shielded target, meaning that at extreme ranges you'll have a small delay before being able to land max-range Glitterlances.
 * Reduce the mana cost to mana.
 * Reduce the shield duration to 4 seconds.
 * Have Pix physically travel from Lulu to the shielded target, meaning that at extreme ranges you'll have a small delay before being able to land max-range Glitterlances.
 * Have Pix physically travel from Lulu to the shielded target, meaning that at extreme ranges you'll have a small delay before being able to land max-range Glitterlances.

What this effectively means is that Lulu's damage is a lot more steady (weaker burst, better DPS) whereas her utility is a lot more explosive (shorter durations, stronger effects and/or shorter cooldowns). I don't think my numbers are exact, and they may even be a little on the weak side, but in general these are the lines I think Lulu could move towards to become both a better support and a healthier mid laner. I didn't change her shield strength or her ult, mainly because I don't consider them gamebreaking: they're extremely powerful for sure, but they deserve to be, particularly as the ultimate defines Lulu and is the prime utility she brings to a teamfight. Overall, I think the aim should be to make her a little more risky, but to give her even better clutch utility to reward proper timing, while still making her vulnerable shortly after.