Ok, we've gone through the setup, now into the actual game.
1st of all you want to have you're items bought and moving up to lane as soon as possible (or to defend/leash buffs for your jungler, as he's very useful to vlad).

The early CS'ing as Vladimir sucks and there's no real way around it, "Butcher" does help somewhat here but it'll still take some practise before you're hitting every minion. You also want to only last hit pre-level 3 as you will want Crimson Pool before pushing up.

Once you get level 3 you should have all your abilities or at least Q and E. Now you can start to push up the wave using E. You do need to be careful with using E too much as it does deal significant damage to you early game and without too much in the ways of healing aside from health pots and a very minuscule amount from Q. There's no shame in letting the stacks drop.

As soon as you get the chance (gauging off of your opponents actions) you want to get your stealth ward in the river as soon as possible. What i mean by "Gauge off your opponents actions" if he's still trying to trade if not all in with you when you have him/her on the back-foot it means 1 of 2 things: A. He's got a deathwish or B. The jungler is standing in the river brush. It will take some trial and error to be able to get the hang of reading your opponent, my advice is to put yourself in their shoes, if u were them and u had a jungler sitting tight in that river brush would u want to all in and kill that Vlad?
PS: use deep wards (Near barron pit) for junglers like Rammus and Hecarim.

Other than that just keep you're E stacks up as long as its safe and harass the **** out of you're enemy until he's just got nothing. This has won me lane 9/10 times.
Bare in mind practice is the best thing to get good at a champ, this guide is just to point you in the right direction. If you find another way that works for you then by all means stick with and perfect it.

Pros:
Good sustain in lane
Moderate in team fights
OP passive making you a tank who can 2 shot people.
Good team fight with R, E, Q, W combo's
2 forms of invulnerability with Zhonya's
Hard to tower dive against

Cons:
Panicking can cause the wasting of Crimson Pool
Extended all in (post bloodpool) will kill you
Very item dependant
CS'ing early is hard

The mid and late game are very nice to Vlad as he has his pick of what he wants to do, he can roam, split push or do lane swaps to help lanes that need their tower taken.

Be very careful when roaming and always be communicative with your team members (this goes for all champions not just Vlad. Syncing his ulti EQ combo and his crimson pool along with an ally peppering the opponent, tower dives can be executed with great success.

When split pushing use ur E to rip through waves, but make sure you have at least 1 ward and your ghost to be able to back your escape, noone likes to get caught with their pants down. NEVER OVERSTAY YOUR WELCOME and always keep an eye on the map.

I've not added too much into this guide 'cos i want you guys to experiment with your own style of play/masteries/runes and whatnot with Vladimir. Also the way i play may not work the same for you.

Hope you liked the guide guys. Lemme know if there's any other champs you need/want guides on and I'll drop in my 2 cents.

This has been Hexxpert's 1st guide, good luck in the rift. =)

Instead of buying the spirit of the spectral wraith buy a will of the ancients.