Quick Guide
Starting Items

Boots Enchantments

Core Builds

Offensive Items

Defensive Items

Situational Items

Synergies and Counters
Vladimir is good against:
Vladimir gets countered by:
Vladimir synergises with:

Summoner Spells

Runes
Basic lane setup for when you don't need magic resist early on. The movement speed quints allow you to get in range for Transfusion and get out right before the enemy has a chance of retaliation. The Greater Seal of Vitality could be replaced by the Greater Seal of Armor but that's it.

Basically the same setup but here we choose to go for magic resist in the glyphs. You might not always need it against mages but against mages who are strong in the early-game; they are a must-have. Examples of these are Brand and Swain.

Masteries 
21/9/0
This mastery setup allows for full-damage. It scales really well into late-game and makes you significantly more dangerous in the early levels. I usually don't use this in the top lane since it also makes you more vulnerable and we can't really use that against those nasty bruisers.
 
9/21/0
In top lane, we mostly use the defence tree instead of the offence. There are a couple masteries which are very important in this tree:
Initiator
,
Durability
/
Veteran's Scars
and
Enlightenment
. These masteries provide Vladimir a much better early-game and scale extremely well into late-game.

What's your opinion?If you have any suggestions, questions or simply good scores to post. You can do that here:

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LoreThere is a temple hidden in the mountains between Noxus and the Tempest Flats, where the secrets of an ancient and terrifying sorcery are kept. The area surrounding the temple is littered with the exsanguinated corpses of those who have mistakenly wandered too close. These served only to pique the curiosity of Vladimir, when – in his youth – he trekked through these mountains during his flight from Noxus. A day earlier, the teenaged Vladimir had brutally murdered two boys his age, for no better reason than to enjoy the intoxicating scarlet bloom that surged forth. He realized immediately that he would never be able to suppress his murderous desires, and if he remained in Noxus, his foul deeds were sure to catch up with him. Without hesitation, he abandoned the city-state, and journeyed south.
The trail of bodies led him to a crumbling stone temple. Inside he found an aging monk who appraised him with eyes of pure crimson. Vladimir surprised the monk by returning the wicked gaze with zeal. Recognizing the boy’s sinister craving, the monk taught Vladimir how to manipulate and control the fluid of life, often practicing on passing travelers. When it came time for Vladimir to learn the final lesson, the monk warned that failure would result in death. Vladimir did not fail, but success bore a grisly surprise. During the ritual, every drop of the monk’s blood was drawn from his body and fused with Vladimir’s, imbuing him with his master's magical essence, and that of every hemomancer before him. Left alone and suddenly without purpose, Vladimir resolved to return to Noxus, demanding enrollment in the League to prove the supremacy of his craft. When the Noxian High Command observed the gruesome fates which befell the palace guards, they elected to avail themselves of Vladimir's unsavory talents.
"That which runs through you will run you through."
- Vladimir

Vladimir's Abilities
Crimson Pact
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(Innate): Every 40 points of bonus health grants Vladimir 1 ability power and every 1 point of ability power grants Vladimir 1.4 bonus health. These bonuses do not stack with themselves.
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Transfusion
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(Active): Vladimir drains the lifeforce of his target, dealing magic damage and healing himself.
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 Transfusion Details
Cost: No cost
Cooldown: 10 / 8.5 / 7 / 5.5 / 4 seconds
Magic Damage: 90 / 125 / 160 / 195 / 230 (+0.6 per ability power)
Health Regained: 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 (+0.25 per ability power)
Range: 600
Sanguine Pool
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(Active): Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood becoming untargetable for 2 seconds and slowing enemies above him by 40% for 1 second. Additionally, he deals magic damage every half second to them and heals himself for 12.5% of the damage done.
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 Sanguine Pool Details
Cost: 20% of current health
Cooldown: 26 / 23 / 20 / 17 / 14 seconds
Magic Damage Per Half-Second: 20 / 33.75 / 47.5 / 61.25 / 75 (+3.75% of bonus health)
Maximum Magic Damage: 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+15% of bonus health)
Radius of AoE: 300
Tides of Blood
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(Active): Vladimir unleashes a torrent of blood dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies.
Each cast of Tides of Blood gives him an Empowered stack, which increases his healing and regeneration and causing his next Tides of Blood to deal 25% more base damage but cost 25% more health. This lasts for 10 seconds, and stacks up to four times.
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 Tides of Blood Details
Cost: 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 health
Cooldown: 4.5 seconds
Additional Healing and Regeneration %: 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
Magic Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+0.45 per ability power)
Maximum Cost: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 health
Maximum Magic Damage: 120 / 180 / 240 / 300 / 360 (+0.45 per ability power)
Radius of AoE: 620
Hemoplague
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(Active): Vladimir infects all enemies in the target area with a virulent plague which increases the damage they take from all sources by 12% for 5 seconds. After these 5 seconds, infected enemies take magic damage.
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 Hemoplague Details
Cost: No Cost
Cooldown: 150 / 135 / 120 seconds
Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (+0.7 per ability power)
Range to center of AoE: 700
Radius of AoE: 350

Skilling Order
1
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Q
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2
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W
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3
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Q
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4
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E
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5
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Q
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6
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E
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7
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Q
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8
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E
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9
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Q
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10
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R
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11
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E
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12
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E
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13
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W
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14
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W
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15
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W
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16
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W
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17
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R
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18
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R
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A skill sequence which requires some explanation -- Vladimir's ultimate is very hard to utilize in lane; because it rarely occurs that you will actually be able to burst someone down in lane. The best-case scenario you will have, is that you will be able to use Q, W and two times a fully empowered E. This is not only hard to get off, but it's also very dangerous to Vladimir himself as Tides of Blood and Sanguine Pool will drain his low health pool rather quickly. Taking additional points in E increases Vladimir's harassment, laning power and farming capabilities. Keep in mind that if a teamfight is approaching before level 10, that you should skill up his R (this tends to happen more often when Vladimir is laning mid).

Item BuildsHow you end with Vladimir isn't exactly important; it's how you start that's gonna determine your entire game. Since Vladimir's early-game is very weak and delicate, it's important that you execute it well. A good early-game paves the way for a great mid-game and that leads to a devastating late-game.
 Core Build Explanation
Hence I want to discuss two different core builds I use:
This is usually my core build against physical damage dealers. Important is, to see that the Hextech Revolver isn't getting any priority. This is, because we want to secure Vladimir's early-game as soon as possible by buying a lot of armour. With this amount of armour, enemies like Riven and Olaf become significantly less dangerous. Problem with the Ninja Tabi and the Chain Vest is that they don't provide any offensive powers; i.e. laning power. Hence, I upgrade my Chain Vest to a Glacial Shroud in order to gain a whopping 15% CDR which is all Vladimir will need for the laning phase. You can, whenever you want, upgrade it to Frozen Heart which will push Vladimir over 30% CDR late-game.
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When facing magic damage dealing enemies, this is usually a build you want to aim for. The reason we're going for sustainability first is that most, yet not all, mages have the ability to harass at long range. Also, the Hextech Revolver and the Ionian Boots of Lucidity grant some more damage in lane so we can actually put up a fight. Against very bursty enemies you might want to replace the Spirit Visage with an Abyssal Mask since the amount of magic resist provided by Spirit Visage is usually not enough to stop those powerful burst mages such as Malzahar and Fizz.
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If you're pretty new to League of Legends it might be hard to establish a full item build all by yourself, despite having a good core start. Here are some full item builds for late game. In the left column are some full builds which started from the 'versus AD' core build while the builds on the right started from the 'versus AP' core build.

Strategy and TacticsPlaying Vladimir in general requires practice and enough understanding of what he can and can't do. However, there are a few basic tactics every Vladimir player must master in order to perform well:
KitingKnowing how to kite effectively is very important. The movement speed from
Initiator
and the Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed help you with that. Getting boots early on and maybe aquire a Rylai's Crystal Scepter does the trick. These are, however, just the aspects which doesn't really involve the player's actions. Kiting effectively means use the brush to make them unable target you and, most importantly, use Sanguine Pool to dodge skills and get rid of slows. It's really hard for enemies to chase you when you have Sanguine Pool since that slows as well.
It's practically mandatory to smartcast Transfusion; as this allows you to use it immediately after Sanguine Pool/ Zhonya's Hourglass. I'd even recommend keybinding it just to Q instead of SHIFT+Q in order to be faster and to make your life easier. (Hey! I'm learning you how to play Vlad, I'm not a gym coach.)
High ScalingA pretty cool feature of Vladimir is that he scales so incredibly well. That basically leads us to the main rule of Vladimir: "As long as you can farm well, you're winning.". Also, as long as you don't get too much trouble in the early levels (i.e. 1 - 7), you'll probably win your lane.
Oh lord, I've seen so many Vladimir players throwing away their lanes because they use their E so freaking often. You should be careful when using it early on because it drains your own health which makes winning trades really hard. Also, you're basically hitting the minions with it as well which makes you push. A Vladimir who pushes early-game is in high risk of getting ganked as well get zoned which means: "you're gonna have a bad time."
This is not Twilight!You're Vladimir! A very strong and feared mage; not some sparkling vampire! Basically, what I'm trying to tell you is that you shouldn't play too passive. Playing too passive leaves you with no presence and leaves the enemies farmed. Here are a couple of tricks how to make sure your enemies won't treat you as a doormat:
- Don't use
Transfusion to last-hit early on. Use it on the enemy champions and use your standard attacks to last-hit instead.
- Once you hit higher levels, try to zone your enemies out.
- At low health, it's very easy to bait in people when you have
Sanguine Pool + Heal up.
- At high levels; get wards and push them to the tower. Deny cs and
Transfusion them even when they're under their tower.

CountersKnowing Vladimir's weaknesses is also an important part of playing him well. Vladimir's counters are basically chain-cc and high burst. However, he can overcome this weaknesses; for instance, it's possible to lane against a Malzahar yet it's really hard. Notable matchups in the top lane he's very weak against are Yorick and Akali. He should avoid laning against these or get early ganks. Yorick is basically way too sustained and has very strong harass. Akali becomes impossible to lane against after she gets her Shadow Dance. Also, she is manaless as well so Vlad doesn't have that advantage over her.
In mid lane, he can lane against most but has trouble with Ryze and Mordekaiser. His hardest counter, however, is definitely Viktor. He has no way of trading with him and Viktor can burst him down after level six. Lane Fiddlesticks can also give you some trouble but nothing that a gank can't fix.

EpilogueWell, that concludes my guide on Vladimir, The Crimson Reaper. I hope playing him will bring you as much joy as I have had so far. Vladimir is a lot harder to play than he initially seems, but with some practice you will already be able to perform well. Mastering him will take quite some time but he's most certainly worth to do so.
Happy Reaping,
GrandmistressD

 Special Thanks
Special ThanksThere are some people I want to thank as they helped me making this guide possible:
- Mowen - For proofreading the guide, doing grammar/spelling checks and creating the awesome dividers.
- jhoijhoi - For this awesome guide!
- Khazem - For testing some solo-top matchups; he's convinced now that
Riven doesn't beat Vladimir.
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