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Vladimir Build Guide by

Vladimir, Mid Carry (RANKED BUILD: POST NERF) IN DEPTH+

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546 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Incendiax

Vladimir Build Guide By Updated on

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Choose Champion Build:

PERSONAL STANDARD MID BUILD
Sustain and Regeneration
Magical Penetration
SPELLVAMP BITCH
Anti-Mage
READ THE BUILD NOTES

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Items

Early Money

Mobility Start

Ability Order

Vladimir Passive Ability

ANNOUNCEMENT

My computer's power supply fan died, leaving me without a computer for roughly a month. The repair was 129$ and I'm unemployed so the funds took a while to raise. I have returned, however, and will be updating the guide periodically due to League of Champions Who Do Literally Everything.

If you have any questions about the build, please inbox me them. I'd love to answer all of your questions, but I don't have the time to sift through pages and pages of random conversation & quoting, etc. I'll answer them ASAP if you inbox me them.

May 10th, 2013 VIDEO UPDATE! NEW

****A cleaner version of this guide has been released on LoLKing. Check it out!
Currently permabanned. New main: Irelia Earhart

YOU CAN ALSO START Boots +3 Health Potions IF YOU WANT MORE MOBILITY.
I like buying small items for early stats because they have such a great resell value.
***New FAQ section added!

Pre-Read notes Skippable

___

Guide Status:

UPDATED TO CURRENT PATCH (Tresh PBE)

Coding is currently semi-broken, so some of the icons are not there; but the skills still are. Sorry!
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Upvoted my guide? Tell me why you like it!
Downvoted my guide? Tell me what I can do to make it better.

First off, I'd like to say I'm available to speak to you about the guide, or casually talk to you and play with you at any time. Add me on Skype if you want to chat.

***NOTE: Please do not add me in game. I have filled up my friends list 10+ times, and it's rather troublesome to keep up with everyone. Please add me on Skype (ID: Incendiax) if you want to discuss Vladimir. From there we can play in game if you desire.[/h2]

**NOTE: The ONLY accounts I own and have access to are: Incendiax, Irelia Earhart, and Rage Me Dont. Anyone who says they are me, and are not on those accounts are imposters.

Summoner Name: Incendiax / Irelia Earhart
Skype Name: Incendiax

Scrapped the Dominion build.

Scrapped the 3v3 build. Buy WoTA and another Hextech revolver.

Enjoy!

Introduction

Greetings, welcome to my second, much more thought out Mobafire guide. This time, featuring:

Pre Script:
I've seen a lot of negative feedback on the forums about Vladimir post-nerf, and I'm here to clarify that he IS STILL VIABLE. Please read this build in full and take it into consideration. I've spent over 500 games perfecting this build to fit the current game meta, and to work around his weaknesses. Despite what people say, Vladimir is one of the hardest champions to be successful with before level 7. This is where a lot of people fail.

It should also be noted that if you are going to use this guide effectively, you should take middle, or a solo lane.

This build revolves around hard AP and building situationally depending on the other team. Please try the build before rating, and READ READ READ!!! I cover a multitude of expert strategies and outline step by step how to play Vladimir the way I do, and come out with an insanely positive score every game. Remain open minded, because this is NOT your typical Vladimir build that you see.

Pros:
>Great team fighter
>Super beefy if built so
>Great damage output
>Self-Sufficent, only has to go back for items
>Able to dodge 200+ spells with a well timed
>Able to dodge most forms of Crowd Control if played properly

Cons:
>Targeted with CC often
>Often played poorly by people who don't understand how to utilize him
>Referred to as "one of the easiest champions in the game" (haters!)
>Extremely volatile early game
>Countered in lane by a lot of champions
>An early death by a jungle gank almost always means you lose lane hard
>Absolutely no mobility
>No CC whatsoever

As always, remain open minded and have fun.

-Incendiax
(If you read the guide and use it, please comment on what you think of it.)

THIS GUIDE IS IN PROGRESS

Before we start the actual guide, I would just like to share this with you. This was a screenshot of a ranked game when this build was in use. This guide is dedicated to all of the people who are going to say this build will never amount to nothing. And all the people who read guides and downvote them without trying them, and all my Vladimir's in the struggle.

I would like to thank all my friends, and the MobaFire community for helping me make the voyage from 65%, all the way up to the top rated Vladimir guide. :) Thank you. It's been a treat guys. <3

Significant Patches

Here I will show you all of the patch notes that are significant for a 'Tournament Vladimir' player. These changes will be explained in detail with my own commentary. These changes are beneficial, and only further him more.
The patch will be DIRECTLY linked to the patch version for your convenience.

____________
9/15/2011
(v1.0.0.125 Patch)
Vladimir

Transfusion now counts as a single target ability for items such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter

__
Finally! The long awaited slow we've been waiting for. This furthers Vladimir substantially. He gets the full bonus of having 35% Slow on his Q. This means you can chase down people better, slow down enemies escaping for you team, and much more.

___________
9/2X/11
Ninja patch nerfed Vladimir's damage down to
__
-Magic Damage Per Half-Second: 20 / 33.75 / 47.5 / 61.25 / 75 (+3.75% of bonus health)-
__
This is completely unnecessary, he was fine as he was. They're trying to make his skill ceiling fall, so there isn't much of a difference between being extremely great at Vladimir, and just plain old mediocre.
___________
1/6/12
Vladimir got some love!
(Patch 1.0.052)

[*] Transfusion cooldown reduced to 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds from 12/10/8/6/4
[*] Crimson Pact ability power to health conversion reduced to 1.4 from 1.8
[*] Hemoplague no longer costs 15% of your current health and is now no cost to cast
[*] Tides of blood health cost ramp up reduced to 25% from 50%

Crimson Pact wasn't really hit that hard, but it reduces some of his tankyness late game. You lose 40 HP per 100 AP in comparison to pre-patch. Meaning if you have 600 AP late game, you only have 840 bonus HP from 1080. The 'nerf' is actually a buff under certain circumstances, but those are very rare.

the cooldown change is extremely helpful. This makes Vladimir more playable early game, putting his Qs at a 7~8 second cooldown.

is famous for getting you killed at the most inconvenient of times. With the rework, you lose 173 HP per cast at 4 stacks from 356 HP per cast at 4 stacks. This is VERY sexy and certainly brought him up to par with other AP casters.

! Now you don't get ******** whenever you decide to use your ultimate. This has proven to be a wonderful change; I've survived many encounters as a result of the rework. +1 to Riot for doing this, now if only they'd work on ...

Overall, the changes have been required for a very long time. Vladimir is difficult to balance due to his kit, and is arguable still underpowered. Vladimir's role as a mage is NOT [burst] damage. It's utility, sustainability, and sustained damage.

_______
2/13/2012 (v1.0.0.154)

>Crimson Pact will now correctly work with all sources of bonus Health (% health runes, Juggernaut mastery)
>Hemoplague damage amplification reduced to 12% from 14%
>Tides of Blood healing bonus adjusted to 4/5/6/7/8% per rank from 8% at all ranks
--

First, the fix made it so % runes aren't entirely useless.
Second, the nerf barely touched his damage. You only lose roughly 100~300 teamwide damage with the 2% reduction on the ultimate.
wasn't even nerfed to be technical. Your early game [mainly 1~9] doesn't utilize your E, as it will kill you quickly and doesn't help much in terms of regeneration. All that the nerf did was remove some of the early regeneration Vladimir could acquire from casting and using a health potion.

Overall, nothing was lost. All that the 'nerfs' were was so metasheep stop playing Vladimir. Carry on, my friends.

Summoner Spells

, My favorite spell on CDR Vladimir. Helps you pull off your combo uninterrupted for maximum devastation on the enemy.

is a great spell on any caster, especially Vladimir. Your ultimate amplifies your damage by 12%, and ignite is a DoT true damage spell, so there's no going wrong when taking this spell. At level 18, Ignite does 410 true damage. With the 12% damage amplification from your ultimate, you deal a total of ~459 TRUE DAMAGE.

is a personal preference. I personally love this spell to death, and bring it on any character that isn't a support. This permits you to do so many things that any other spell doesn't. You can go and purchase items in the store, and suffer only around a 12second lane presence loss before you're back with your items and full health. Additionally, it's an extremely viable ganking tool. You can pick up at least five extra kills per game through the usage of teleport.

is a time-tested spell that everyone loves and I see far too often. You can initiate fights with it, chase down people, and even escape with it. Since you have your W, you essentially have two flashes. Except it isn't at all.

, Since the rework on Heal, it's actually a pretty viable spell. And because of your , the healing on it is increased by 32%; making it BAT**** OP ON VLADIMIR. Your allies will love you for this. At level 18 and four stacks on with the Improved Heal mastery from the Defense tree, you heal yourself for 762 and your allies for 382. With a , you heal yourself for 840 and your allies for 420. You are a walking Soraka with this setup. It's ******ed how good it is.

, much like flash, has dozens of utility usages. Chasing, escaping, getting to a destination. Since the buffs, Ghost is extremely viable for chasing. Take it if you want; just remember you have no "escape" with ghost.

Other possible options:

isn't exactly the best option, but it is possible to manage to bring it. If the rest of your team refuses to bring it, you could bring it if you know how to use it.

Don't Bring:

lol

, RIP. You will be missed.

, self explanatory.

, RIP. You will be missed.

, You aren't a support champion. Unless you seriously know what you're doing, or you're competing against a team that likes to gank mid lane, avoid this spell.

, could be an option for troll Vladimir mid. Build ***loads of SpellVamp and boom; you now have a 800HP heal on a 70s cooldown.

Runes

Let's do some basic math here first, to settle any disputes about my rune preference.
Starting with HP quints gives you +76 HP at spawn. Now, let's factor this with Vladimir's passive. For every 40 Health, he gains 1 AP. So this gives us 1 AP, due to the fact that we're shy of 4 HP. Now, if we do this with the Ability Power quints and Glyphs, then we can get 24 AP coming right out of spawn with no items. So, Vladimir's passive grants 1.8 bonus health per 1 AP he has. Queue the calculator. This totals up to a whopping 43.2 extra health, and 24 extra AP. Which means you can survive longer in lane from your , and deal more damage in opposition to a HP Quint Vladimir.

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.

GLYPHS:

This is where the debate really comes in. You can take Cooldown Reduction to make your early pre-9 game stronger, but you penalize yourself with a loss of 9 AP. Additionally, this increases your base Vitality (health) due to your passive. Because of this, you start with an extra 16 Health. This may not seem like a good investment, but this gets that extra bit of damage and that extra SpellVamp (from Transfusion) to keep you alive in those tight 200hp v 100hp scenarios.
Or

wrote:

Potency gives .99 each throughout all levels
Force gives .17 a level, and at level 6 1.02 (Which surpasses Potency at this point). Additionally at level 18, they reward you with 25.5AP.

Around level 6 you should have some vamp on your hands, or maybe boots depending on the root[sic] you took, but that's about when you really start pushing in the kills with your ult. So, considering if one plays aggressively or not between 1-6, Force might be a better choice for some.

QUINTESSENCES:

Vladimir is naturally slow, and these runes help resolve that issue. Taking these will assist you in negating the stopping power of most AP champions in mid, such as Morgana, Kassadin, Cassiopeia and Kennen. If they can't hit you with skillshots, then they're useless.

These runes are extremely viable when stacked with the SpellVamp mastery in the Utility Tree. This boots you up to an amazing 9% SpellVamp at Level 1. Taking the AP Quintessences gives you a marginal increase in health, and about 9 damage on your , but the sustain you can acquire from these is just too good to pass up on. Try em out!

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.

Masteries

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION. 5/10/13**

With the change of masteries in Season Three, your options haven't changed much. However, there are quite a few masteries that are often overlooked for Vladimir. Stacking into the Offense tree, you get a multitude of beneficial masteries. The main focus of this tree being the and masteries. Vladimir has one of the worst base attack damages in the league, and paired with short range it creates a bit of an issue when last hitting early game. By taking these two masteries, you're increasing your damage to minions by seven (7). This is massive considering he doesn't even get 51 AD at level one. This allows you to focus more on harassment with your .

Spells

Passive: : Every 40 points of bonus health gives Vladimir 1 ability power and every 1 point of ability power gives Vladimir 1.4 bonus health (does not stack with itself).
This essentially IS Vladimir. It's what makes him excel at simultaneously being a mage, and a tank. Maximizing this passive is a must, so building HP is very viable.

Q: : Vladimir drains the lifeforce of his target, dealing magic damage and healing himself. (600 Range)
This is your main skill, and how you use it determines if you are good, or bad, with Vladimir.

Transfusion received a recent nerf, which affected the damage late-game, and hurt his late game with a Cooldown nerf.

W: : Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood for 1.5 seconds, becoming untargetable and slowing enemies above him by 40% for 1 second, and deals magic damage over the duration plus heals himself for 12.5% of that amount. (~300 radius)
This is your main escape, initiation, and deflection spell. The more health you have, the more damage it does. Be careful when using this spell, because it does cost 20% of your current health to cast. Much like your Transfusion, this spell separates the good Vladimir players from the terrible ones.

E: : Vladimir unleashes a torrent of blood dealing magic damage to nearby enemies.
Each cast gives him an Empowered stack (max 4), increasing his healing and regeneration by 4/5/6/7/8% per stack for 10 seconds. Additionally, his next tides of Blood deals 25% more damage and costs 25% more health per stack.
This is a great damage spell that increases the regeneration effects on your Transfusion. A Q at four stacks of Tides of Blood will restore the health lost, but also return more. However, be careful when using this spell. You can open yourself up to attacks with it if you use it at the wrong time. This spell also hits stealthed targets, and hits people over the Fog of War. Well timed casts of this can result in a kill.

R: : Vladimir infects the target area with a virulent plague which increases the damage nearby enemies take from all sources by 12% for 5 seconds. After these 5 seconds, infected enemies take magic damage.
Hemoplague is what makes Vladimir such a viable team fighter. Well placed Hemoplague's can hit all 5 targets, which gives EVERYONE on your team increased damage by 12% on all of their spells and attacks. This spell is extremely game-changing if used properly.

Items

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION, 5/10/13**

Since the latest revamp on item starts, you are only permitted to get a maximum of five potions at any given time. This really hurt Vladimir's lane. He is no longer the god of mid with his nine s and two Sight Wards.

POTENTIAL STARTING ITEMS;

x3
~~
Sight Wardx5
~~
Sight Wardx6
I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW THAT THE BUSH IS GONE.
But really, don't buy this.

Click here for information about

CORE SKIRMISH ITEMS

Counter Purchases

Vladimir is one of the beefiest mages in the game, and is a royal pain in the *** to take down. But that's only because of two mechanics that he utilizes.

High HP from his passive.
High DPM output/regen from his skill kit.

Your massive health pool won't help you late game though, as people will focus you and tear through you. Quite a few good purchases prevent you from being demolished.

Magic Resistance

A great alternative to if you want to take the tanky route instead of damage. The passive stacks with your causing your HP/5 and heal to skyrocket. A wonderful purchase vs burst casters such as and , or if they're AP heavy.

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; , , , , and the list goes on. This is a great purchase if you have trouble with staying alive, even with your . 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 on somebody, you can easily get back up to 1,000+ health)

Fantastic item if they have a lot of channel-burst spells, such as Nunu's ultimate , or Galio's . Gives you a nice HP bonus, a fat stack of MR, and the life saving passive of a Spellshield every 45 seconds.

RIP

A good situational purchase that gives you some soft-CC with its active. With a nice chunk of MR, GP/5 on the Kage's Lucky Pick, AP and Movement Speed to boot- this item is pretty cool.

An item that is primarily used to deal damage; yet I mainly utilize it as a counter-purchase. Not only does it add to your late game damage, but it gives you a nice chunk of mobility and damage. Overall, a very sexy item as a last purchase; granted that the opposing team has an AP heavy team, or they're a bit tankier than your team. It's a great item for pubstomping if you're snowballing ahead of everyone on the enemy team and you want to take down squishies. Nothing I'd suggest for serious play on a regular basis though.

Armor

This item is kinda ****py Season Three, but it still has its purposes in a 5 AD team composition. Most carries buy , so this item is a waste of 2k.

One of my personal favorites in terms of armor items. I buy it on nearly every single one of my heroes if I find that the other team is AD heavy. The statistical bonuses out-weigh Thornmail in every way (Cooldown reduction!), and its passive makes it even more threatening than anything else. People will rage hard on you for buying this, solely because of how crippling it is to them. Have a bad initiate and you need to get out? No problem! Just use the active so your team can get away safely. The uses of this item are infinite.

Mischiveous Mid Lanes & Other Opponents

5/10/13 UPDATE:
If you're not confident you can win the lane, farm farm farm farm. You out-scale most mids lategame with your R's utility. CDR Vladimir destroys.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

She knock you around if you aren't careful. Make sure you take Movement Speed quintessences if possible, as they help you chase her down and dodge her skillshot oriented kit. Start with and constantly move to avoid her Q. Push onto her early with s and she'll be an easy fight. Don't let her get ahead, keep her pushed with Q, dodge her taunt and you'll be victorious.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard

Counterbuilding to neutralize burst: ->

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 sustain and , but you should still exercise caution. If she towerdives you, punish her by dropping your ->->->-> 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 ->-> 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.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy-Medium // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard

One of the easier to combat foes, granted you purchase and 3 s as your opening items. Constantly remain mobile, and harass her with your 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 much of a threat. Regardless, be careful.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy-Medium // Difficulty post-6: Hard-Very Hard

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 . 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 with no contest.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

has the capability to dominate you without before you can say '****.' Like Ahri, take Movement Speed quintessences to avoid his + combination. His itemization helps you win this lane, as he'll most likely purchase a or open with the generic Faery Charm + pots, which extremely limits his mobility. Use on him as much as possible, avoid Pillar, and you'll be fine. You can use 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.

Difficulty: Very Hard

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 ; if you can Sanguine Pool before then, you'll avoid most of her burst.

Difficulty pre-6: Medium-Hard // Difficulty post-6: Hard-Very Hard

Diana's ability to push an entire wave with her 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 . 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 ->->-> 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 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 ->->-> combo. IF YOU DO NOT AVOID HER E's, YOU WILL LOSE THIS LANE.

Difficulty: HARD

Her % damage will destroy you, and her ability to become untargetable is ridiculous as it can dodge your damage. Overall, just weave (haha, spider puns) so you don't get hit by her 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 together on you. It can chunk you down for massive amounts of % damage.

Difficulty: Medium

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 -> on her and run away. A 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.

Difficulty: **** Your Life

This matchup sucks. Avoid it.

Difficulty: Impossible

There is no hope. Leave the game.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

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 s 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 , 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 . If you get those, then you can break free of his ultimate before the damage activates and use 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 on you and have their jungler gank you. Using 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.

Difficulty:Medium-Hard

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 s and poke him with . Keep in mind he almost always try to do a -> 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 , try to hit him with a -> 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 and dodge it, completely neutralizing 50% of his burst.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Has potential to dump anal rockets right down your mouth. Kill his turrets with , 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 's worst nightmare. You cannot effectively AoE farm without using your , which significantly lowers your HP pre-7.

Difficulty: Easy

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 , and poke him with whenever you won't lose too much health from it. His ultimate, , can be dodged with . 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.

Difficulty: Hard-Very Hard

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.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium-Hard

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 right before, or during [not sure if it breaks the blade channel], her . A would be a good idea, accompanied by a few ganks.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

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 first wins. Stay behind minions, poke him with your 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 with your , 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.

Difficulty: Hard-Very Hard

His Void Spikes slow will decimate you, along with his . His slow+gap closer combo leaves you unable to do much at all aside from farm. Survive the lane, get ganks, outfarm him. Play smart and he won't get fed.

Difficulty pre-6: Medium-Hard // Difficulty post-6: Hard-Very Hard

Counterbuilding to neutralize burst: ->

extremely bursty and will shoot you down starting at level two if you are not careful. I have played multiple games against her with great results. As usual, buy and three s with three and this lane will be yours. Abusing your high mobility, you can dodge most of her or attempts to proc the silence+bonus damage on her Q. Bite into her with your as much as possible, but don't overdo it; try to maintain 3/4 HP in this lane. Taking as a summoner spell will also help counter her especially hard. Kill her before level 6 for an easy win, but if you cannot do that, get a gank. She doesn't get too out of control until level nine. The key to winning this is a fast tower push, as LeBlanc's game lies within the laning phase.

Difficulty:Medium-Hard

Ridiculously annoying. Her hitbox is a little broken, and the amount of pure anti-gank she has in her kit will make you rage. She'll shield, slow, and snare her way out of every single gank you coordinate; so don't be too angry if she sneaks away at least a few times a game. Weave & her at early levels to gain an advantage, and dodge her Finales Funkeln with your for a moderately easy victory. She may try to push the lane hard with her to deny you last hits, and you can counter this by stacking up your , but be cautious in how you do this; it will often place you at under 50% HP unless you're over level seven// have a . If you let her get fed, then she will decimate you with her passive. Be careful if she gets a kill from a side lane/ sloppy jungle gank.

Difficulty pre-6: Medium // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard

Quite a problem, as he has an entire kit based off of DoTs and a % health AoE. and help at early ranks, but won't do much later. Whittle down his sustain items if he has any, and if not then be very aggressive before level six. If you can get your before six, then you're golden.
<<<<<
If he wants to use , he needs to pick whether to use it on you or to farm minions for mana. Keep this in mind when you're poking/fighting him.
>>>>>
A is a must have if he is in your game, as you will most likely get 'd every single fight (Keep in mind that if you QSS is ult, you'll still take the full damage if you don't go outside the tether range). Avoid his and stay away from low HP minions afflicted with . If he tags you with his E, it's a gamble to use ; as it will only help him further most of the time. Be careful with your pool, push the advantage early and you should have his tower down before he snowballs. Don't let him get fed off of side lanes, even if it's just assists. Wards are your friend with Malzahar.
IN TESTING: Rush a . As soon as he uses , activate it. This will remove as well, effectively making him do 0 damage to you. However, you gimp yourself on damage with this. If he doesn't have many health items, then use this method. If your jungler is nearby and he has HP items [or not], then you can easily secure a kill on him. The QSS method for Malzahar makes him no threat at all, allowing you to push his tower early; which makes up for the gold you lost from rushing QSS. Effectiveness: A+

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Capitalizes on passive/scared gameplay. You need to be aggressive, but not reckless, if you hope to win this lane. As with LeBlanc, take as much movement speed as you can get to counter his limited casting range on his spells. His kit forces him to push the lane if he wants to harass, so use this to your advantage. him as soon as you get into lane, and continue this. Quick movements and sustain are what makes you an excellent counter to Mordekaiser. Try to get him outside of a minion wave if you want to go for a kill, unless you are confident you can kill him with the possibility of his shield coming up. Level six is where the problem lies with his burst rotation, so try to get your for that extra bit of Magic Resist. Rush a after your and for a safe victory.

Difficulty: Medium

Only a threat if you play passively and allow her to become one. If you pick up Boots+3 Health Potions as your start and constantly harass with , she won't be able to hit her stuns, which will cause her to dump her mana. Because of this, she either has to go back; which gives you time to push her tower, or permits you to get a kill on her because she's defenseless. Dodge her Q, You win.
If you want to take a more passive approach, you can just farm with and . This will result in a very stagnant lane that just sits in the middle with very little combat.
A good technique to counter this **** is to look at your Debuff bar when she uses , and then use when her ultimate is just about to trigger. This allows you to negate most of the stun.

Difficulty: Easy

Lets you do basically anything you want in lane. The only trick to this is baiting her and ing it. With 50% of her damage and utility gone, she's a free kill. Laugh at her pathetic attempts at killing you. Make sure you calculate the damage from your Hemoplauge/+/ if she ranks up or places it on herself; as this can save her life by as little as three HP. It's enraging, don't let it happen to you.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Like Annie, has short cooldowns. However, he only has to build Mana, and most of the mana items also have resistances with them. Extremely difficult to lane against, but it is possible. Just farm as much as possible and avoid engaging. If you need to kill him, make sure you receive help from a jungler. Hard CC helps.

Difficulty pre-6: Medium // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard

Lanes can go either way to be completely honest. It's a matter of skill early on, as he can do a fairly decent job of countering you due to his DoT . LIKE ALWAYS, and are the prerequisites for victory. > If he takes to start, keep using on him and dodging/breaking the tether on / . Eventually he'll get low enough for you to finish him off with a four-stacked ++ combo. > If he begins with + 3s, then it's a whole different story. Once he hits level 6 it becomes a bit more tedious with . Again, ganks are your friend. Once you get the gold advantage over him, or level seven/nine, the lane is yours by a long shot.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy-Medium // Difficulty post-6: Medium-Hard

She's rather volatile and heavily dependent on the player's skill, so it's hard to put an accurate tag on her difficulty. Her has a considerably long windup time, so you can easily dodge that. should be used sparingly, as she can stun you with a sphere from . If she stuns you, this gives her the perfect opportunity to blast you with a six sphere uncontested.

Difficulty Hard

Talon is typically sent mid to hard counter APs, so you may have a bit of a rough time laning against him. Play smart and doge his for an overall easy lane. Your sustain will keep you alive in this lane, so make sure you get off those s and keep an HP level over 50%. Poke him with your E+Q combos and he should fall rather quickly. Watch out for the silence on his Cutthroat, as this can stop you from escaping with . If you play sloppy and let him get a kill on you, the lane will be hard.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Pathetically easy mid for you to face. He has no sustained damage at all, but the fact that he's pretty fast may be a bit obnoxious sometimes. Just play like you normally would, poke him with whenever possible and the lane is won. Level six is obnoxious with his mushrooms, avoid them and it should be fine.

Difficulty pre-6: Medium // Difficulty post-6: Hard-Very Hard

AP is a really strong counter-healing mid laner with high burst, so this spells out trouble for you. Since she has no sustain, and will most likely purchase +3s, you can burn through those; however it will be very risky due to her + combo that she can do often. Try to poke her as much as possible with s, but don't get too aggressive. She can escape very easily with her jump and set you up for a gank with . If you're under 400 HP in lane and she has her ult, just go back (unless you have your combo up too and you think you can take her.) An early will help cut down some of her burst. I haven't played against an AP Tristana in a while, but it's always a pain in the ***. TIP: Try to avoid standing near your minions, as her E's passive will hurt your badly. Try to make her choose between getting last hits and hitting you, but make sure you're maximizing your last hitting potential too.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy-Medium // Difficulty post-6: Hard

Will wreck you if you don't have your timing down PERFECTLY. Getting an early is often a good idea, and you can upgrade it to viably. If you build mostly HP and Magic Resist, you can come out on top with no problem. Make him choose between fighting back with his and last hitting. Dodging his Primordial Blast will guarantee you success in this lane, but watch out of stuns; as you can still be stunned in your pool by it. If you must, you can charge into the wall of it while in your pool to negate situational damage.

Difficulty pre-6: Easy-Medium // Difficulty post-6: Hard

Amazing control over the lane with his overall skill kit, but can easily be forced back after his combo is dumped (due to having optimal damage output through quick spell casting.) This can be deterred using , but will often cost you your life if you do not time it perfectly. Pokes with Transfusion are always welcome, but remember he has his [[Power Transfer shield. At level six, it's extremely difficult to dedicate to 1v1's with him due to his 's .5s silence. It's very short, but deadly as it can deny you the opportunity to use your W.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Rather annoying, as he has the longest range for a caster in the game. Like most of the Mischievous Mid Lanes, he can be countered unbelievably hard with and Three . If you want more of an edge with extra Magic Resist+Movement Speed, take 9-21-0 masteries as suggested in the Team One- Build Four. His can be dodged very easily by simply walking around a lot, as it takes .5s~ before it casts. His Locus of Power is a great opportunity for you to push into him with + , as he's completely immobilized for a second or two. Mage Chains' stun proc can be dodged with a , but make sure that he doesn't have waiting for you. If you play without confidence when he has Mage Chains on you, he will capitalize on your passive playstyle and destroy you. Overall, the key to winning this lane is movement, confidence and knowing when to use your pool.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

ಠ_ಠ Be extremely careful, as he will throw bombs all over the place. If he knows what he's doing, he will punish you HARD for using by placing right where you come out of your pool. His ultimate, however, is laughably easy to dodge. Either get a lot of ganks, or roam off to the side lanes to get kills; otherwise this lane will either result in you losing & feeding, or a stalemate.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Isn't really much of a threat AT ALL. You can slap her around at level one with your Q and it hits her extremely hard. She has no natural sustain, so you can force her to blow through her s rather quickly. Keep moving, DON'T WALK NEAR HER PLANTS, and you'll be fine. Try to avoid getting caught in her snare by moving in unpredictable patterns around your creeps. If you get hit by her snare, don't dump your pool unless it's necessary; as most likely she'll have her jungler come gank DIRECTLY after she snares you. Make sure you if you see her passive in-flight coming towards you. It's a bit difficult to time due to the high missile speed, but it's possible.

**Adding More Soon!**

Skill Usage/ Playing Style

I play an extremely situational Vladimir, playing Aggressive only if my team can support me. Moving on,

Before level 7, Vladimir can easily be shut down by just about anyone. This is where it matters how you play. Focusing on last hitting is essential. Attempt to harass the enemy with a few Q's when you're level 1. Take last hits with your Auto Attacks, and heal off of the minions if necessary. Level 2, you get your . This is your primary last hitting tool, but it needs to be managed carefully. You can commit suicide if you're not careful about using this spell appropriately.
Alternate between harassing the enemy champion and last hitting minions. Take great care in the fact that whoever you are against, whether it be solo top or middle, they are fully aware that your Q has an extremely long cooldown pre-7. Exercise great caution when using Q, and use it only when you know its safe. Cast followed by and then fall back a bit, because you are vulnerable.
Level 4, you can be a bit more 'ballsy' because you have your escape, . Once again, this is a very lengthy cooldown (27s approx at rank 1) and should only be used to escape ganks, turret fire, and to negate ultimates; which is covered in the section below.

A good order for your skills in a 1-1 scenario is:
-> -> -> -> -> -> ->

At any level, is a great tool of survival. If you get low HP during a teamfight, it's often a good idea to leave temporarily and heal in the jungle using . You can easily leave a fight at 5% health and return with 50%. Timing when to leave so you survive is key. If you leave at the wrong moment, you can single handedly cost your team the game.
Another usage for your Q ability is to kite enemy champions if you are low HP. This is extremely risky though, and should only be attempted if you understand what you're doing. This opens you up to attacks and advancements by pursuers because you're stopping your movement for a brief period of time to restore health. However, you can often come out on top with much more HP than you started with if this is done properly.

Sanguine Pool

This spell is the reason that Tryndamere rages endlessly. allows you to become an untargettable ******* for two seconds, slows enemy units by 40% for 1 second, and also gives you a 10~25% Speed Boost for .5seconds, regardless of what people may say. The spell deals damage based of 15% of your Bonus Health. With this build, you can do around ~~700 damage with your Sanguine Pool, and Spell Vamp around 400 of that back.

When to pool:

You are 183 HP, and you see an Enchanted Crystal Arrow heading straight towards your ***.
When a wild LeBlanc/Fiddlesticks appear! And they decide to be douchebags and jump over walls...

When NOT to pool:

To farm a minion wave when your opponent is currently in lane.
To harass.
If the spell that you will come in contact with you will do less than 20%. Know your math.

A well timed Sanguine Pool can deflect/dodge the following skills:

-> / /
-> /
-> / / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / / /

(WARNING: Ult will reset if you pool while he is casting it)

-> / / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / (1) / (Both Q's, 1W, both E's)
-> / /
-> / / /
-> /
-> / /

(WARNING: Pooling after the initial jump will cause Fiora to cease damage and appear with you at the end of your pool)

-> / / /
-> / /
-> / (Doesn't remove slow effect)
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / CH-1 Concussion Grenade
-> / /
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / ( With Leap Strike )
-> / / (Q1+2 / W1 / E2)
-> /
-> / / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / /
-> // / /
-> Sigil of Silence / /
-> / /
-> / / /

(Knockback/slow)

-> / / Finales Funkeln
-> / /
-> / /
-> Arcane Smash / / /
->
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / / (Hard to dodge W&R)
-> / / [passover+impact damage]
-> / / /
-> / / (Only prevents damage, not the dive)
-> /
-> /
-> / / /
-> / / /
-> /
-> / Puncturing Taunt /
-> / / / (Hard to dodge R)
-> Savagery / Empowered Savagery / Bola Strike / Empowered Bola Strike
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / / (Doesn't remove Poison Trail)
-> /
-> / Richochet
-> / /
-> / /
->
-> / / /
-> / / [[Scatter the Weak /
-> / /
-> /
-> /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / / (Only removes slow from W)
-> /
-> / / (If applied)
-> / Expunge /
-> 's DoT / 's Stun / 's AoE
-> /
-> / /

(Cleanses off tendrils if you pool before they spread to you)

-> / / (Only dodges 3rd hit bolts)
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / / /
-> / / /
-> / /
-> /
-> / / /
-> / Mage Chains /
-> / /
-> / /
-> / / /
-> / / /
-> /
-> Queen of Thorns // Deadly Bloom / / /

**This is constantly being updated. If you don't see a skill here, check back in a day or two!**

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith and You!

The upgrade is only 800G, and from that upgrade you get:

50 Ability Power
10% Cooldown Reduction <---
20% SpellVamp
25% Increased Damage to Monsters

In comparison to Will of the Ancients, which costs 1,350 to upgrade, rewarding you with:

80 Ability Power (50 in pool)
20% Spellvamp

Now, paired with your + masteries, this yields you with 29% Cooldown Reduction. Get an or and you have 40% CDR. This allows you to execute your R->E->Q->W->E->Q->Zhonya's->E->Q->(GA optional)->E->Q->W->E->Q combo with maximum efficiency. Overall, the is a better purchase, being more efficient than WoTA, statwise, by ~7%. In-game gold wise, you save 550g. 550G+ 10% cooldown reduction is MASSIVE. Additionally, you can clear minions+kill dragon+baron ridiculously fast with your E+Q rotation.

Team Fighting & Your role in it

Your ultimate, is a marvelous thing that your team will love you for once you know how to use it. If it is placed properly in a team fight, you can hit all five of the enemy champions, which creates a massive opening for your team to wipe them out. When afflicted by Hemoplague, enemy champions take 12% bonus damage from all enemy sources. This includes auto attacks, summoner spells, skills, and item activations such as and . Make sure you notify your team when you are going to use your ultimate, because even if all of your team is at 50% health and the opposing team is full, you can easily burst them down if your team focuses properly.
Your W, , has a great utility purpose. It gives a 40% slow for 1 second to all enemy units in the area when used. However, its main purpose is to wait out your cooldowns so you can dump more E+Q combos on them. This can be used to soak up some extra health, slow down a single or group of enemies for your team, or just to do some extra damage. The purpose of it is endless.
***The slow on Sanguine Pool is refreshed if the enemy stays on it. This has been confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What quintessences should I use? Ability Power, Movement Speed and Spell Vamp give me a lot of options.

A: The choice is rather situational, with Movement Speed generally being the best option. struggles with mobility and this resolves that issue handily. By utilizing the Utility mastery tree along with Movement Speed quintessences, you can approach 390 movement speed with just easily. This added maneuverability makes it difficult for skillshot based champions (ex; , , ) to do significant damage in lane. Additionally, you can get in and dump a quick on them and get out before they have time to react.

Q: Why don't you get a ? It synergizes well with his passive!

A: I dislike on Vladimir because it doesn't fit in with the "Zhonya's Vladimir" playstyle I use most of the time, but it's a good choice if you're not basing your entire gameplay on the abuse of the invulnerability mechanics.

People tend to have tunnelvision on the fact that it gives you HP+AP which compliments your passive and some warmly welcomed soft-CC; but it's actually not that good in practice. With a massive cost of 2,900g, it's very difficult to place it early in a build. 612HP+92.5AP is really attractive, but Vladimir makes better use of AP compared to HP because it's so much more efficient due to his passive. Compared it to a , which is only 400g more expensive, rewarding you with 156AP. 63AP more than . Compared to an early , it gives you 28 AP, 50 armor, and the keystone of Zhonya's Vladimir: THE GOLDEN VICTORY POSE. This sets you up for some amazing towerdives, ganks, anti-gank, and basically everything. Got a problem? Zhonya's is the answer.

Now you may be asking "What if I immediately follow up on the with a ?" This is also a good option but when you break it down to sheer numbers it becomes empirically clear that skipping the early is far more beneficial. Let's take a look at some other two-core builds.

-> gives you 292 AP and 1,021 HP with the passives factored in, accompanied by the soft-CC. This gives you great RAW survivability unto itself, but it's poor in practice with the Zhonya's Vladimir.

-> rewards you with 325AP, 455 HP, 50 armor and the coup de grace invulnerability which is immeasurably better. Chaining your invulnerabilities together allows you to get two more E+Q combos off, which totals to 891 more single target damage when you have the base 325AP from those two items. On the AoE side, it does 2,000+++ more damage- all of this for only 360g more than the -> combo. This two-core build makes you far more valuable in teamfights compared to -> build.

Conclusion

is not a champion for everyone, and contrary to popular belief, is not one of the easiest champions in the league. Vladimir has an extremely strong role on a team, and has a load of benefits to bring to any team; even after his recent 'nerfs'. Please try the build before posting feedback on it, and provide me with positive/negative feedback as you see fit. I have spent over 30 hours playing Vladimir and an equal amount of time perfecting this build, and I'm open to changes in the build if you provide rational explanation.
Thank you for reading, please comment.

-Incendiax / Irelia Earthart

SIX MILLION views, thank you everyone!
Credits:
-AllCooperAgain for the Magic Resistance formulas
-EggsnSteak for the suggestion on changing to 9-0-21 masteries from 10-0-20
^-- WOW. This makes me realize how far this guide has come.

CHANGE LOG
>Added additional information to the 'Sanguine Pool' section. 7/11/11
>Changed mastery setup to 9-0-21 and cleaned up the grammar in the guide to be consistent with the changes. 7/12/11
>Created "Build Two" as an anti-AP-carry build. Still developing and refining the purchase order. 7/12/11
>Added colors because apparently 9 Year Olds use MobaFire and enjoy looking at coloring books. 7/15/11
>Removed 'Comment to Vote'. Expecting lots of troll voting. 7/16/11
>Added 'Will of the Ancients and You" section. 7/26/11
>Touched up some grammar to be consistent with the rest of the guide. 7/27/11
>3,500 VIEWS! :) Thank you everyone for giving the guide so many views. It means a lot to me that people find this helpful. 7/27/11
>Cleaned up some grammar in the guide, re-worked Build Two on the page.
>Moved around some images.
>Added information about Build Two to 'Items' to be consistent with the rest of the guide.
8/5/11
>Cleaned up grammar and added information to be consistent with the rest of the guide. 8/6/11
>Added "Build Three" and some information on it. 8/7/11
>Cleaned up grammar and added more information to be consistent with the rest of the guide. 8/8/11
> THREE DOWNVOTES IN ONE DAY? Damn trolls.
>Cleaned up the guide overall, removed/added some icons.
>Modified "Build Two", still producing results and tinkering with the build.
>Re-working "Build Three" 8/12/11
>Added Pentakill Screenshot #2, modified "Build Two"'s core. 8/14/11
> Finally got around to adding the dodgeable skill section. Thanks to Heluey for the first half of the champion skills!
>Changed and added some alternatives to the 'Seals' component of your Runes you can take. 8/22/11
>Added the "Counter-Purchases" section to make the guide more up-to-date. 8/26/11
>Updated the "Sanguine Pool" section. Added Talon's dodgeable skills to the list. 8/26/11
>Updated some grammar to be consistent with the guide. 9/5/11
>Added 'Riven's dodgeable skills to the list. Added the "Significant Patches" section to show updates that effect Vladimir. 9/16/11
>Fixed some grammar to be consistent with changes in the guide. (Fixed the 10-0-20 reference in the CDR vs MPen section) 9/17/11
>Added more depth to the "Masteries" chapter, and changed "Build Two"'s order & information based on user feedback. 9/22/11
>Added more information to the "CDR vs Spell Pen" section of the guide. 9/30/11
>Updated the dodgable skills for 'Xerath'. 10/6/11.
>Updated the dodgable skills for 'Graves'. -v
>>Additionally added a "Pre-Read" section. 10/20/11
>Updated the "Cooldown Reduction vs Spell Penetration" section. 10/29/11.
>Updated doddgable skills for 'Shyvana' 11/2/2011
>>Added a "3v3" build. Still ironing out the kinks in it. 11/4/11
>Updated the starting items in the proper section of the guide 11/7/2011
>>Added new Mid Lane champions
>Updated the "Runes", specifically the Seals. Added HP/level seals. 11/19/2011
>Updated the "Masteries" section. Added explanations. 11/20/2011
>Updated the math and some grammar in the "Spell Penetration vs Cooldown Reduction" section; now accurately the new mastery changes and proper reduction rates. >11/26/11
>Updated the "Sanguine Pool" section to more accurately reflect dodgable skills; added Volibear's skills.
>Added runes to the Champion HUD. 12/2/2011
>>Cleaned up the grammar in the guide to be more consistent with previous changes. 12/2/11
>Added "Heal" to the list of suggested Summoner Spells due to NA server player Soonz's reccomendation. 12/18/11
>Updated "Runes" selections to include the new SpellVamp Quintessences. 12/23/11
>Cleaned up the grammar in the guide to be more consistent with content changes. 12/25/11
>>Added Viktor's undodgable skills and updated the "Mischievous Mid Lane" section. 12/29/11
>Updated the 'Runes' section to properly reflect the rune changes. 1/8/2011
>Moved around the initial purchase order for Build One. 1/14/2011
>Reworked the initial purchase order of items. Changing grammar to be consistent with the updates in a few days. 1/18/2012
>Added a solid amount of champions to the "Mischievous Mid Lanes" section of the guide.
>>Added a sub-sub-section to the guide for replays & other data. 1/28/2012
>Added "Fizz"s undodgable skills to the "Sanguine Pool" section [CRITICAL OVERSIGHT] 1/29/2012
>Added "Zigg's" undodgable skills to the "Sanguine Pool" section.
>> Re-implemented the into 'Build One.' 2/3/2012
>Hyperlinked Vladimir's latest changes. 2/6/2012
>>Finally, an update! Added Fiora's dodgable skills and fixed some grammar inconsistencies. 3/2/12
>>Updated the 'Mischievous Mid Lanes' section with information about and .
>>>Added dodgable skills for and . 3/12/12
>Fixed a formula error in the Items 'Build Three' section.
>>Fixed a minor typographical error in the beginning of the "Items" section 3/19/12
>Updated the 'Mischievous Mid Lanes & Other Opponents' section with quite a few more champions. Updated some descriptions and minor fixes. 3/31/12
>Fixed a few typographical inconsistencies to accommodate patch changes. 4/23/12
>Updated the "Sanguine Pool" section for Varus' dodgable skills. 5/8/12
>Added new options for boots in the main build.
>>Cleaned up some text to make the guide more consistent.
>>>Added dodgable skills for 'Darius.' 5/30/12
>Cleaned up the text and grammar for some of the descriptions in the "Mischievous Mid Lanes" section. 6/25/12
>>Added dodgable skills for 'Draven.' 6/25/12
>Updated the numbers for some items and skill descriptions to remain consistent with recent patches.
>>Testing dodgable skills for 'Jayce' 7/21/12
>Added dodgable skills for 'Jayce' and 'Zyra' 7/23/12
>Updated "Mischievous Mid Lanes" section for 'Zyra.'
>>Cleaned up some grammar in the "Counter Purchases" section. 8/2/12
>Updated "Mischievous Mid Lanes" sections for 'Gragas' and 'Tristana.'
>> Did some work on 'Katarina''s section to make it more accurate. 8/2/12
>Updated "Mischievous Mid Lanes" sections for 'Akali,' 'Galio,' and 'Talon.' 8/4/12
>Updated the build order for Build #4 and added description/explanation in the 'Items' section.
>>Updated dodgable skills for 'Diana.' 8/14/12
>Updated dodgable skills for 'Rengar.' 8/30/12
>Updated and researching dodgable skills for 'Syndra' 9/15/12
>Updating the "Mischievous Mid Lanes" section to be more aesthetically pleasing, additionally updating the layout for the section. 9/27/12
>Updated the "Mischievous Mid Lanes" section to include 'Evelyn' and 'Elise.'
>>Updated the 'Sanguine Pool' section with updated skills for 'Evelyn' and newly released 'Elise.' 10/27/12
>Updated the guide to include 'Diana' in the 'Mischievous Mid Lanes' section. 11/1/12
>General item update and dodgable skill update for 'Vi' and 'Thresh.' 1/21/13
(Sorry for the slow update!)
>MASSIVE OVERHAUL INCOMING. Updated quite a few segments of the guide
>Added a new video update! 5/10/13
>Changed a bunch of small text to make it more consistent with nerfs/buffs/item changes.
>>Added "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" section! 6/7/13
>Updated "Items" section with Spirit Visage.
>>Updated some small text to make it more consistent with other changes.

UPDATES INCOMING:
Overall consistency cleanup to make the guide more comprehensive.