Nami is kinda better right now IMO, because of her ability to lock up targets on a low CD, engage/disengage teamfights with her wave, & heal & harass with one spell.
Lulu is also strong but I find her an iffy support, she is really mana hungry if you wanna go hard core harass, and her AA range is short making harassing with her Pix enhanced AAs kinda dangerous. Glitterlance can be really painful to deal with especially when paired with E to drastically increase the accuracy & NO one else is as good as Lulu at getting someone out of a really sticky situation since she can R them to knock up everyone around them while giving them bonus HP, polymorph any assassins that go for you carry, slow down bruisers making kiting easier, shield people etc...
But to do all this her slow value isn't the longest or highest, her CDs are not the best and she is crazy mana hungry (like Morellos & Mikeals and you'll still be a bit mana starved).
Nami is able to do similar things but in different ways, she has a heal & harass spell with her W which you can cast on your ADC and bounce to the enemy for negating some of the enemy harass and dealing some of your own, bubble to make the plays, E to give your ADC a slow or to harass yourself, and R to peel with a long HUGE knock up and slow combo on a fairly low CD. The ult also gives any team mates that get hit a speed boost along with all of Nami's spells (bubble included) though despite this I find her passive somewhat weak. If you're judicious with how you harass (E AAs are cheaper than W harass), and your ADC doesn't eat too much poke Nami's mana isn't too bad, definitely better than Lulu since her only really expensive spell is her W and R.
Both are good and have situations where they shine, but for better all around I'd go Nami.
Zyra works well too but requires some micro managing, since if you don't AA the enemy AS SOON AS you spawn a plant it can mess up your ADC's CS. Shes good for harass and her root, slow and knock up are good for lane control along with the harass from Q and thorn spitters. Warning its tough not to steal kills with her though
Vel works really well as a harass support but besides a slow and a knock up he doesn't have the best peel or CC, so make sure you have a CC heavy team comp if you go him
Lissandra is kinda good but her Qs push waves hard and she falls off without the damage
Viktor doesn't have good CC and is really mana hungry without items. He works great mid though (one of my fav mid laners)
Syndra can do well in the bot lane but it is similar to a Nidalee support, you'll need to take most of the kills to be relevant late
Heimer is again a risky pick since his zoning is scary effective but his turrets can rob the ADC of SOO much CS
Brand is as the article says, good zoning and HIGH damage with a stun, but squishy and will fall off hard since he needs to build damage to continue to burn people to death later, otherwise he's just a good hand warmer
Sejuanni supp is something I've seen a couple times but not often, she has good CC to do stuff in lane but pre-6 its risky for her to engage and shes easy to harass, especially vs a support like Lulu.
Azir is also a valid pick too, as he has scary harass with his soldiers, his E knock up can be used to help secure kills, and with it he can also get in position to use R to shove targets under tower or take them out from under their own. His W is good for taking towers, and he has a great way to peel the back line and keep people out of it with his R. Just get a Sightstone, and an early gold generation item for lane to sell later on for more damage (I recommend Spellthief because you get gold for harassing and it adds some AP to help make that harass hurt more) , and you can transition well into mid-late game, just build full damage like a normal Azir and take a Sightstone instead of GA if you need it
Overall the type of support you pick should be largely based off three factors
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Team synergy: pick something that works well with team picks or fills a hole in your team comp
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Lane strategy: Don't pick someone like Brand support with a Kalista as you don't have any follow up once she throws u in closer, and think of what you're against and what works well against it. Tank supports generally hate harass supports, harass supports hate sustain supports and sustain supports hate all in supports. Leona counters Blitz, Lulu/Nami/Karma/Sona counter Leona (provided you dodge her E & R), Thresh can be countered easy if you dodge his stuff. Thresh also is good vs supports like Braum since he can use his spells to help keep Braum from applying his passive to a large number of targets.
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Skill & Comfort: Being able to play a champion well will work wonders, even if your kit doesn't directly counter theirs, or only conditionally knowing how to play a champion effectively will work miracles. For example my main two supports are Sona & Karma, sure they are not the best and sure they are easy to pick off if they can get locked up but I've used them enough to know how best to harass with them and how to use their unique advantages to give me an edge vs certain champions. Either of those champions will die vs a competent blitz & ADC combo, but at the same time, if I'm good with my speed boosts I can dodge most hooks, and dish out enough harass on them to force them both under tower more often than not, Plus it doesn't hurt that usually by level 9 or so I can chunk the ADC for 1/3 of their HP or more with a single spell combo :3. Comparatively I don't like playing bulkier supports like Braum, I find it difficult to manage his shield and passive stacks to the best of their ability and often over commit to engagements dying in the process since I overestimate my bulk.
