How to make a non-ADC work in the bot lane, and what kind of abilities they would need.

Lately I've been experimented with all of the champions in botlane, and I think what RIOT did with mordekaiser was the wrong direction. The champions I've had the most success with in a 2v2 lane weren't champions with synergistic kits between two people, and they weren't champions at all, they were abilities.

The abilities that have the most success in botlane are the ones that both allow you to cs, and make a threat and distance between yourself and the enemy ADC. Abilities that are AoE, low-mid cooldown, and are guaranteed to damage the enemies in the process if played correctly, or if the RNG works out.

These are the ABILITIES that have found success in botlane laning:

Fiddlesticks E, Dark Wind: This ability is the most successful bot lane ability. It allows you to clear a wave successfully while also more or less assuredly hitting one or both of the enemy laners. It is low mana cost, and not particularly harsh on cooldown. In a given wave you should be able to use it twice, and weave auto attacks on the minions in order to cs. Fiddlesticks is the quintessential bot lane caster, and I have successfully maintained an above 50% winrate with him, so I think he is reasonably balanced for botlane.

Vi's E, Excessive Force: This is the second best ability in botlane. This ability is a slightly higher cooldown than Fiddlesticks E, and if the cooldown were lowered, the cache brought up to 3, and damage lowered, Vi would be perfect for botlane. This ability works because you can walk up to minions as a melee champion and hit everything behind the minion, helping clear the wave, punish the two enemies who try to harass you when you walk up, and create a counterplay in remembering vi's cooldowns and avoiding the ability or waiting for it to be on cooldown. Vi is the quintessential melee champion for bot lane because of this ability. I have a kind of embarrassingly high winrate on Vi in the botlane but I think that's just because the rest of Vi's kit is also very strong, and she is incredibly oppressive to ADC's even when she isn't in their lane.

The following abilities work, but are a bit more difficult to make work in bot lane

Nasus E, Spirit Fire, and Morgana's W, Tormented Soil: This ability does not lower cooldown with rank, and unfortunately you have to aim it at the enemies and they can simply walk out of it, and sometimes you have to decide between clearing the wave and harassing the enemies instead of simply having an ability that functions as both.

Twisted Fate's Q, Wild Cards: As is the case with mid lane Twisted Fate, his Q is too easily dodged, so hoping for incidental damage from his Q after you cs with it is too dependant on your enemies being bad at dodging.

Brand E, Conflagration: This ability only works when Blaze is applied to a target. In theory you should Pillar of Flame the minion wave, and walk up to the wave and use E to spread it to nearby minions and champions, but it is too easily predicted and dependant on enemies walking into it to be the direction a bot lane caster should go.

Heimerdinger W, Hextech Micro-Rockets: This ability is too hard to aim properly to full effect. In theory this ability when maxed should be used to spread the rockets to hit a minion and any champions in the way, as opposed to all pointed at a location, but it takes too long to line up, and the range isn't long enough to hit ADCs.

Malzahar Malefic Visions: This ability is too random to be reliably damaging champions and minions on one cast. Viktor's Death Ray: Too reliant on aiming, and too high a cooldown. The AoE isn't large enough to reliably hit a champion and minion in one cast, as well as almost never hitting both champions.

Vel'Koz E Void Rift, Nocturne Q Duskbringer, Ekko Q Timewinder, Bard Q Cosmic Binding: As is the case with any line ability, you have to aim it in order to hit a champion and a minion on cast, so if you miss you not only lose out on damaging the enemy, you also lose any threat your champion had while the ability was off cooldown. If you have to aim the ability before you cast it the ability is not meant for botlane.

So in order for a champion to be successful in the bot lane it needs an ability like Fiddlesticks Dark Wind, or Vi's Excessive Force. Mordekaiser does not work in bot lane because cone abilities are not successful in harassing the enemy and farming at the same time. Usually the ability has to be done on one or the other.

With Vi and Fiddlesticks you are both able to reliably harass the enemy AND farm with a single ability cast. If RIOT is interested in making a champion that is specifically designed for a 2v2 lane without being an ADC, this is the type of ability that they need to create on a champion.

TLDR: Pool abilities, Cone abilities, Line abilities do not work in the bot lane. An ability has to be able to farm minions and harass enemies reliably on every cast if used properly. Vi's E and Fiddlestick's E are the closest thing in League right now to a champion that can compete against ADCs in the bot lane. If you would like to see my game stats with Vi and Fiddlesticks in the bot lane my account is Serker on NA