I, myself grab Heal/Exhast (FYI i grab 1 point in offensive for the exhast bonus, early game I feel it does alot more)
With a Faeire charm, 3 ward, 3 hp pot start

Harass with auto attacks, not just abilities. Lulu is a poke support, second only to Sona, imo. She's particularly great at shutting down Taric and Leona; they have no answer to her harass if she plays the brush well, allowing her to bully them out of lane or keep them low enough to discourage a fight. Additionally, her instant Whimsy can effectively prevent an initiation, or shut down their carry to negate the initiation.

At level 6, I think she's best played reactively, baiting the enemy with her ult (and maybe Summoner Heal) on the carry. Later in the game she's one of the strongest team fight supports.

I suggest not picking her against Sona. She will out poke and out sustain you. Good Sorakas can actually do the same, but most Soraka players are unbelievably bad and passive.

lulu is a crappy char

depending on how you play her, it's sona poke with no healing, or janna shielding with less useful team tools later on...

she wouldn't be so terrible if she had SOME advantage

While we are on the fact of discussing Lulu, How do you people address her slow Movement speed?

Since this is a Lulu thread, I must ask, what motivation is there to pick Lulu if Sona is open? Whenever I play ranked and Sona is open, but I want to try to justify a Lulu pick (just because she is fun), I can't seem to justify the pick. I am not hating on Lulu, but I just want to know.

When I pick Lulu, I tend to try to play her like Sona. Is that the wrong play style for Lulu?

Sona has 1.5 cc, Lulu has 3.

This is kinda weird for me, but I do own both Sona and Lulu, but I just can't seem to do well with Sona, ever. It seems like every time I play her, either I have a really bad game or my carry sucks. Whenever I go with Lulu, it usually works out very well and we end up winning. I don't know what it is...maybe I just feel better playing Lulu and it corresponds to a better performance on my part.

id say in solo queue generally you want to play a support more defensively unless your ad carry agrees/says to play more aggressively.

support/ad to play well REALLY needs communication. so id suggest getting a buddy to queue with and being on voice chat. you really need to coordinate your skills correctly and it can be hard to do with a random.

in solo queue just watch what your ad carry is doing, if you go in and harrass and they harrass too they are probably more aggressive/feel more comfortable with their character. if they seem to run away a lot and playing more defensively they are most likely NOT very comfortable with their character and you should play more defensively.

You do play her a bit like Sona; she's a strong poke support. Sona is superior in lane, and her ult is obviously a game changer. You're gonna have to get a feel for matchups on your own, I don't wanna try to explain everything, since there are things I can tell in champ select but can't explain. Basically, depending on the carries and junglers, you can pick Lulu instead of (or even against) Sona if you think the lane will be easy/passive enough for you not to need Sona's sustain, and if you think your carry is going to have a hard time in team fights.

Lulu is far superior to Sona in teamfights, aside from intiation, since she has 3 peels and a shield+steroid. You just need a lane matchup you can survive, though the only consistently troublesome ones imo are Soraka and Sona.

I take MS quints and 2 points in Swiftness. It's enough for me. I usually don't even take Flash. Heal/Exhaust ftw.

obviously someone has reading comprehension issues. janna has 3.