User blog comment:PrinceVinc/Y U NO SAY MIA/SS??? by DuffTime/@comment-5194571-20121007015623/@comment-216.58.59.39-20121008170655

Well, IMO i REALLY don't think the 4 in lane, 1 roamer would work. The roamer is essentially somebody who HAS get kills/assists from roaming ganks to be successful, they have almost no cs at all since they aren't farming, and they won't even be taking the jungle camps (and if they take the jungle camps, they won't really be a roamer, just a jungler now).

You may be like "the support takes no cs and has only gp10 items early game". Well, the support ensures that the adc gets fed, either through sustained farming and/or kills. The support buys wards and maybe oracles too, but there are 2 main differences between your roamer and the support: 1) the support stays in lane, so at least he can keep up in exp, and 2) Most supports' kits are good enough that they don't really need items. ex a Sona ult will still be the same whether she has items or not, Leona still has her epic utility and innate tankiness whether she has items or not, etc. Your 'roamer' will become a liability in the mid game when he is several levels behind from not taking any exp in lane or jungle. The only time when he might not be behind is if he is insanely fed through kills/assists.

Also, about the concept of roaming, you don't really need a roamer instead of a jungler early game. Some junglers, like Alistar are always roaming anyways, so there is little point in having your roamer. By the time early-mid game rolls around (your mid/top is around lvl 7), your roamer will be behind in levels and gold while their mid/top is constantly roaming.

TLDR: The little amount of early game (pre lvl 6) pressure your roamer gives does not make up for the fact that he fall behind really hard mid game. The jungler does almost the exact same job as the roamer, except he doesn't fall off much mid game.