User blog comment:QuantumFeint/Botlane meta - where did all the supports go?/@comment-15244341-20140907114313/@comment-15244341-20140908131500

But my point about Gankplank is that he is not a support because while he has supportive abilities, he isn't designed for playing by his teammate and letting him do the work while giving support. Even if he has CC and a buff, he has zero reasons for actually doing the support role.

And this is because GP NEEDS gold. Leona, for example, doesn't even WANT gold past sightstone plus Targons, she just makes with what she gets. That is why you never see Thresh with an AD build outside of people playing it for fun. Because supports are champions that do not scale well at all with gold and levels compared with solo laners. The same thing happens with many junglers. Sejuani and Naut can technically be played support if you wish so. However, they get so much more exp from ganking and solo farming in the jungle that they are decidedly subpar in the support role. So yeah, you can play a support in a solo lane, but the way a support is designed means that while you can do it, there is probably a non-supportive champion that is better designed for that job and that will get far far more from that solo lane. Before you say something like "but Alistair is a top pick in the top lane meta" or "top Blitz carried me to Platinum" do remember that not all supports are actually designed to be supports, but originally some where other things (Ali was a top laner, Blitz was the same...)

However, there is a case for champions with weak laning phases but some skills that make them great in bot fights to go bot lane to provide support. The best example for this is Blitzcrank. He (it?) was designed to be top laner. However he has mediocre damage compared with similar built champions (as AP, AD and mana tank). However, in bot lane, he suddenly is a fairly tanky champion with a skill that severely punishes squishy campions by getting them way out of position in a danger zone. Think about Blitz top grabbing for example Garen. What's gonna happen? Garen will gladly accept the gapcloser, damage Blitz and run away to recover his health. However, everyone has seen what happens when Blitz grabs your squishy support/ad carry into a minion wave with Draven happily sitting beside him. Dudes go boom. And then, you realize that Blitz with just a FH is desproporcionately tanky for how little gold has been invested in his items. Does he deal crazy crazy damage? Nope. Is he still really useful? Indeed. Would he be better off as AP DFG+ZH+RD+Void? Maybe, but he certainly will have issues getting those, while just being good at grabs makes getting that sighstone+targon's+FH way easier.

TLDR: Some champions are supports, and can't solo lane as effectively as proper solo laners since their scaling with gold and levels isn't as noticeable. Some solo laners have found a place in bot lane since they have skills (normally designed for singling out a certain target, but also good zone+poor farming kits) that make them really effective in early 2v2 fights. While these champions do scale with items better than supports do, they still can make do with cheaper builds and still be highly efficient in fights.

Disclaimer: Lulu is, and never was anything other than, a utility mage. Even after the heavy nerfs, Lulu is still a top pick in top lane and a good pick in mid lane (against most melee assassins she is just straight up a hard counter). Riot really didn't make her kit like any other support mage's kit in terms of how much damage and scaling she gets from AP.