Vladimir Build Guide by Incendiax

MARKS:

With Magic Penetration marks, this adds penetration (lol), which essentially means more damage. Don't get too happy about all this penetration though, otherwise you're going to start ruining (IMO) Vladimir, and completely miss out on what he is truly capable of doing: combo'ing down high priority targets without retaliation.

SEALS:

I take a variation of two different sets of 9 seals to give me a universal advantage, depending on the team I'm facing.
Armor Seals- If the team has a few AD champions, but not too many. MR Seals aren't good to counter AP teams.
Health Seals- If you want a really strong progressive game, permitting you to harass a bit more.

So, let's recap briefly.
This starts you with the following statistical bonuses at level 1.For all of you who can't properly think out things due to your single-minded thought process and belief that this is a "OFFTANK 8K HP METAGAME", please close the guide. This is not one of those generic builds. Your negative feedback is not appreciated if you aren't even willing to try the guide.

Carrying on,
We start with:
>9 Magic Penetration, giving us a bit of an extra punch to their magic resistance.
>9 HP per level, massing to a total of 175 HP at level 18.
>1.53 AP per level, massing to a total of 28 AP at level 18.
>6% SpellVamp, giving us a boost in sustainability throughout the entire game.
OR
>4.5% Movement Speed, granting you the ability to be extremely mobile.

Magic Resistance

Magic Resist got nerfed to hell in a handbasket in Season Three. Warmog's is the new MR.

This item effectively gives you a nice amount of MR, along with cancelling any Crowd-Control effects on you. Literally, ANY SPELL OR DEBUFF in the game can be removed; Ignite, Hemoplague, Nether Grasp, Infinite Duress, and the list goes on. This is a great purchase if you have trouble with staying alive, even with your Sanguine Pool. If they have a lot of CC or casters on their team, this should purchased after your core three items.

Normally, I don't suggest this because it's not really a viable item on Vladimir in comparison to other purchases you could be making, but it's great if your team is having trouble in teamfights. It gives you a great Magic Resistance bonus, along with a chunk of Armor; and its game changing passive which revives you to 750 HP. (Note: If you respawn and drop a Transfusion on somebody, you can easily get back up to 1,000+ health)

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Difficulty pre-6: Easy // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard
Famous for dominating mid lane once she hits level six, It's your job to harass her with Q and kill her before then so you have a lead on her. Maintain last hits while harassing, otherwise you'll gimp yourself on that. She's a fairly easy opponent to beat pre-6 due to your Transfusion sustain and Sanguine Pool, but you should still exercise caution. If she towerdives you, punish her by dropping your Hemoplague-> Ignite-> Tides of Blood-> Transfusion-> Sanguine Pool combo on her. This will guarantee a kill on her if she's 65% or lower when she dives you. If you're not too use if you'll have enough time to do the full rotation of spells, an Ignite-> Transfusion-> Sanguine Pool works well. Be careful when using your Q right before your W though, because the healing functions as a return projectile. If you W before it returns to you, you will not be healed from it. Stacking HP or building some MR is a good way to counter Akali in lane.

One of the easier to combat foes, granted you purchase Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions as your opening items. Constantly remain mobile, and harass her with your Transfusion when you can and the lane will be yours; if not, you're in for one of the worst lanes of your life. Beat her down before she's level 6, and she won't be a threat at all. She pretty much just gives you snow by the shovelfuls to make snowballs with.

As one of the most lenient casters in the game, her kit gives you a large margin to make mistakes as her. Molten Shield will cause her to live by ridiculously low amounts of HP, her short cooldowns and stun will wreck you early game, and will make it extremely difficult to win later. If she has her stun procced and she uses her Q on you, but no other spells afterwards, the stun will not be applied and she will be able to stun you with Q as soon as you come out of your Sanguine Pool. Again, unless he sucks or you REALLY know what you're doing, swap lanes or get ganks as much as possible. Once you get the leg up on her, you win.

has the capability to dominate you without before you can say '****.' Like Ahri, take Movement Speed quintessences to avoid his Pillar of Flame+ Sear combination. His itemization helps you win this lane, as he'll most likely purchase a Doran's Ring, which extremely limits his sustainability. Use Transfusion on him as much as possible, avoid Pillar, and you'll be fine. You can use Sanguine Pool to completely negate his ultimate if its coming to you. Do this in lane, and team fights- as you will save your team many deaths.

Nearly impossible to lane against in middle. Her sustained damage will shred every part of your existence. Low cooldowns and a stun spell death for you. Again, avoid this lane. Tip: If you listen, Cassiopeia lets out a gasp .65 seconds before she casts Petrifying Gaze; if you can Sanguine Pool before then, you'll avoid most of her burst.

Diana's ability to push an entire wave with her Crescent Strike and AA proc presents quite a problem, as Vladimir doesn't handle pushers too well pre-9. Additionally, her funky skillshot angles and double dash will be extremely tedious to deal with. The best way to do well in this lane is to dodge her Q's and time your Sanguine Pool. If you don't get the timing down perfectly, you will get combo'd back into Diana's grasp. Try to watch out for her Crescent Strike-> Lunar Rush-> Moonfall-> Lunar Rush combo, it's deadly. Make sure you don't have a stack of Moonlight applied to you when you W, otherwise she'll just dash to you and Moonfall you back into her for a kill. Her shield provides her with soft-sustain, so you need to be timely with harassing her. Always be mindful of her playstyle patterns. For example; if Diana is normally passive throughout the lane and you see her approaching you, then you can assume her jungler is in the bush and she's getting ready for a Crescent Strike-> Lunar Rush-> Moonfall-> Lunar Rush combo. IF YOU DO NOT AVOID HER E's, YOU WILL LOSE THIS LANE.

She doesn't seem too threatening, but her ability to become untargetable is rather tricky. On paper, it seems she's able to dodge your Hemoplague if she uses her airtime spell. Overall, just weave (haha, spider puns) so you don't get hit by her Cocoon and locked down; otherwise she could do some heavy damage to you once in spider form. She doesn't have much burst/harass as long as you keep moving. Additionally, her sustain requires her to get within your range, making this an easy lane for you. Her spider form ranges are quirky, so be careful with how close you let her get to you. Five spiderlings attacking you at once can really start to hurt after a while. Exercise caution, as she does have the ability to gimp you if she chains her Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite together on you. It can chunk you down for massive amounts of % damage.

This lane really breaks down into who can sustain more. The possibility of forcing her out of lane due to mana exhaustion is no longer possible due to her passive, so you have to do this with HP instead. Try to farm at 90%+ efficiency, but make sure you harass in between last hits. Due to the stealth rework, you can easily see when she's going to attempt to hit you with her skills. When you see her closing in, drop a quick Tides of Blood -> Transfusion on her and run away. A Vision Ward in the middle of the lane is a very useful thing here, as it will show you what lane she's going to try to gank, if she attempts to. Match her aggression if she chooses to play like that, but I cannot stress this enough; FARM FARM FARM. You should be aiming for 110~130 CS by 15 minutes.

Isn't as scary as everyone makes him out to be. He's limited by the mana system, while you are not. Push him around at level one with your Transfusion, then play carefully. Try to use your spell rotation on Fiddle AFTER you see him Drain a minion. This will limit the damage he can do to you- but don't be afraid to fight him when he has his combo up. Due to your lack of an interruption spell, this will be a challenging lane. Passive gameplay with Fiddlesticks will show him that he has the advantage, and he will press this as hard as he can. Don't kill yourself with Tides of Blood, get a gank and the lane is yours.

There is no hope. Leave the game.

Counters most AP mids pretty hard due to his high MR, but Vladimir has no difficulty with him at all. Due to his Q sustain and non-burst oriented kit, you can easily keep up with him in lane and score a few kills. Keep watch for when he Bulwarks and don't auto attack him in it, otherwise he'll be healing ridiculous amounts. Move around a bit so he can't hit you with Resolute Smite, otherwise he'll start bursting you down. Using the 9-21-0 mastery setup helps vs Galio due to the CC reduction, and buying a CC reduction item in lane helps, namely Mercury's Treads. If you get those, then you can break free of his ultimate before the damage activates and use Sanguine Pool to avoid its burst damage. Watch out for ganks, and keep an eye on how Galio plays throughout the lane. If you see him starting to walk towards you after he's played passively most of the lane, that's an indicator that he's going to use Idol of Durand on you and have their jungler gank you. Using Sanguine Pool when this happens would be a good idea, but be careful; he could just be baiting your pool. If you use your W and he doesn't ult, make sure you keep your distance until it's back off cooldoown. Overall a pretty easy lane.

Becoming more popular due to tournament play (sigh), but he isn't that much of a threat to you. His barrels move very slowly, but do have a LARGE radius of explosion. Stay away from his Barrel Rolls and poke him with Transfusion. Keep in mind he almost always try to do a Body Slam -> Barrel Roll combo on you if you get within range, and it'll be hard to dodge once he slows you with his E. Move around a lot in this lane and try to stay away from your minions to force him to choose between using Q to take last hits or harass you. If you see him channeling his Drunken Rage, try to hit him with a Tides of Blood -> Transfusion combo. This is a bit risky though, as he can decide to cancel the channel to E+Q you. Once he's six, avoid staying withing 300~ range of him. If you're far enough enough away and you LISTEN CAREFULLY, you can hear him grunt/see him throw his Explosive Cask and dodge it, completely neutralizing 50% of his burst.

Has potential to dump anal rockets right down your mouth. Kill his turrets with Transfusion, it rewards you with great amounts of gold. Steer clear of his turrets once he's level six, and try to stay behind three minions at all times. His main source of DPS is his rockets, and they target the three closest hostile units. Negating most of his damage is easy, you just need to be very cautious. Due to the nature of his kit, he enjoys pushing, which is Vladimir's worst nightmare. You cannot effectively AoE farm without using your Tides of Blood, which significantly lowers your HP pre-7.

A double-edged sword, and he's famous for it. Kill him, he'll most likely kill you after. Stay inside your minions to avoid the 2x damage from Lay Waste, and poke him with Transfusion whenever you won't lose too much health from it. His ultimate, Requiem, can be dodged with Sanguine Pool. Count to two as soon as you see him channeling and push W. This negates the damage from his ultimate, and allows you to bait his Champion Farming tool. Movement Speed quintessences do well here, as do Spellvamp. Take your pick.
His early game range and silence will shut you down. There's no way to counter him as Vladimir, as he trumps you at every turn. Unless he sucks, you're going to lose. Swap lanes if possible.

A bit quirky since the rework, as her reduced healing & regeneration effect got moved to her ultimate. I'm not sure if this makes her easier to fight or harder to fight, as I haven't seen too many Kataraina's vs Vladimir since the rework. Not too many Katarina's are skilled enough to beat you, but if they are you're in for a bit of a challenge. The only real trick to negating most of her DPS is to use Sanguine Pool right before, or during [not sure if it breaks the blade channel], her Death Lotus. A Quicksilver Sash would be a good idea, accompanied by a few ganks.

is a decent opponent for Vladimir. You're both the same mage archetype (Tanky AP) which gives you room to either win or lose, as you are both phenomenal snowballers. This lane is dictated by the first kill. Whoever gets their Hextech Revolver first wins. Stay behind minions, poke him with your Transfusion and make him pay for trying to stun you. He has a small health pool, so play aggressively (not stupidly) and you can come out with decent stats. Make sure to dodge his Slicing Maelstrom with your Sanguine Pool, but be mindful that it instantly applies one stack, so if you have one or two already on you then you'll most likely be stunned when coming out of pool.