Vladimir is one of the strongest AP carries and hes very good at counter initiating. He is one of the strongest AP carries in the game.

Pros

+ Huge HP Pool.
+ Highly Spammable Skills.
+ Highly Damaging Skills.
+ One of the best harassers.
+ Can turn the tides of battles.
+ Transfusion is great for last hits.
+ Sanguine Pool is a "Get out of jail *FREE*" card.
+ Tides of Blood is possibly THE best farming ability.
+ Hemoplague can finish running enemies who are low on health.
+ Will of the Ancients makes all abilities return a large amount of health.
+ One of the coolest looking champions.

Cons

- Sanguine Pool and Hemoplague cost a percentage of current health.
- Tides of Blood has a very high health cost if abused.
- Vladimir does not become effective until level 9.
- Highly team dependent champion.

Starting withand

Core:This is the best possible early game item on vlad because of his super strong lane sustainability. You almost always want to go this item.
These boots are the absolute best boots on vlad, with these boots and spirit visage, you'll have 40% cdr with runes and masteries.

Another Core Item:This is absolutely the best ap carry item, no need to explain ;)

This item is really strong when they have a heavy magic team. You want to go spirit visage if you were laning against strong burst damage champions like; annie,leblanc, basically any heavy burst damage team. If they have a strong burst damage carry and a strong ganking jungle, I recommend getting spirit visage right off the bat to avoid being bursted down. With the health from spirit visage, you should beable to get away.
If you're lacking Health, and you want to be moar tanky and do sustain damage. You want to go this item. I usually go this item after deathcap, however if you're dying and feel like you need the survive, i would go this after the hextech and before the D cap.


If you're scared to get focused down by a heavy magic team:
If you're confident that you can avoid focus, this is probably the best build on vlad:

Malzahar counters vlad, if you were to play against a malzahar, buy this item

The Build will be like this:

For Runes, I go with Magic Penetration Marks. The Magic Pen really helps because with Vladimir's build, you won't get void staff until your 4th or 5th item.

For seals, I go with Health per level because vlad is very strong in long sustain fights. You do not want to get bursted down. Your goal is to absorb as much damage and deal as much damage as possible without dying. With the health, you get ability power and become really tanky as well.


For Glyphs, I go with Cooldown per level because with my item build, I usually get up to 40% CDR. 40% cdr makes vlad really strong and helps vlad deal very strong consistent damage.


For Quintessence, I go with Health quints to help my early game and to survive from burst damage.

Explanation:


Ignite/ Ghost helps with your lane dominance much more. The threat in lane with your ignite and ultimate is huge. Ghost/ flash is also good against strong roamers like alistar, nunu, and taric. However summoner spells are just preference, I recommend playing with summoner spells that you're comfortable with. However if you're playing against a heal composition, i would recommend ignite for sure.

As long as you play well, there shouldnt be much difference between ghost/flash and ghost ignite. People prefer playing safe with flash and farming. I prefer dominating my lane and trying to kill them. On the other hand, playing aggressive makes ganking you much easier.

Passive: Crimson Pact

Every 25 points of bonus health gives Vladimir 1 ability power and every 1 point of ability power gives Vladimir 1.8 bonus health (does not stack with itself).

Cost: N/A.
Cooldown: N/A.

Q: Transfusion

Vladimir drains life from his target.Vladimir drains the lifeforce of his target, dealing 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.6) magic damage and healing himself for a quarter of the damage dealt.

Cost: None.
Cooldown: 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 / 3 seconds.
Magic Damage: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+0.6 per ability power).
Range: 600.

W: Sanguine Pool

Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood becoming untargetable for 2 seconds. Additionally, enemies on the pool are slowed by 50% and Vladimir siphons life from them.

Vladmir deals 80/135/190/245/300 (+ (15% of bonus Health)) magic damage over the duration and heals himself for 12.5% of that amount.


Cost: 20% of current Health.
Cooldown: 26 / 23 / 20 / 17 / 14 seconds.
Magic Damage: 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+15% of bonus Health).

E: Tides of Blood

Vladimir unleashes a torrent of blood, damaging surrounding enemies. Additionally, multiple Tides of Blood in a short period of time cause them to cost additional health and deal additional damage, and increases his healing and regeneration by 8%.
Vladimir unleashes a torrent of blood, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.45) magic damage to nearby enemies.

Each cast gives him an Empowered stack (max 4), increasing his healing and regeneration by 8% each. Additionally, Tides of Blood deals 25% more damage and costs 50% more Health per stack.

Cost: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 Health.
Cooldown: 4.5 seconds.
Magic Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+0.45 per ability power).
Area of Effect: 620.


R: Hemoplague

Vladimir infects an area with a virulent plague. Affected enemies take increased damage for the duration. Hemoplague deals additional magic damage after a few seconds to infected enemies.
Vladimir infects the target area with a virulent plague, causing 14% increased damage for 5 seconds.

After 5 seconds, infected enemies take 150/250/350 (+0.7) magic damage.

Cost: 15% of current Health.
Cooldown: 150 / 135 / 120 seconds.
Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350.
Range: 700.
Effect: Attacks against afflicted units deal 14% more damage.

Skill Order with vlad is very simple. You always want to maxfirst. This is vlad's bread and butter skill, which contributes to his lane dominance.

For,you want to max this spell last becausedoes much more damage. Pool is to escape and avoid burst damage. You can also use this spell offensively to slow opponents.


After maxing transfusion, you want to maxbecause this spell helps you push and clear waves. When your opponents heals, your goal is to push the creeps to their tower to make them lose exp, while damaging their tower.

For your ultimate, always level it up when you can ex; 6,11,16.

At level one, if you were to team fight, you want to get. Many people underestimate vladimir's strength at level 1. In my opinion he is the strongest level one ap caster. If you were to fight at level one, get sanguine pool first. Your goal is to rush in and pool the 5 enemies to slow them and damage them. After your pool, make sure you run away and escape focus damage. Laning may be hard, until you reach level 2. You can also level up pool at level one to avoid early ganks and roamers ex; alistar, taric, nunu.

Early game is the hardest phase for vladimir. Your objective is to farm as much as possible and to play safe. Vladimir starts to pick up from level 5 and becomes insanely strong at level 9. Once you reach level 9, you can overextend and deny your opponent as long as you have proper warding. Try to always avoid harassment and just farm. If you want to harass your opponent at early levels, try to only trade 1 attack for 1 and heal up with transfusion. Do not trade multiple attacks with your opponent, otherwise they'll be able to zone you from experience and farm. Trading 1 attack for 1 helps vladimir because he can heal up with transfusion and begin more 1 to 1 attacks. Only try to do this, when your hp is sustainable because you can always get ganked.

Always choose your match-ups wisely. You want to lane against their weakest lvl 1 solo lane and trade lanes if you're unable to deal with the match-ups. Your goal is to reach 9 without dying and to get every cs.

Try to avoid laning againstandtop lane. Vlad should beable to lane against every champion mid lane. He may have a hard time against tristana mid if she has ignite.

As soon as you reach level 9 withand, you can begin denying your opponent and harassing them. Make sure to ward your lane properly and then you'll be able to completely dominate at level 9 until laning phase is over.

As the game progresses, you should be the highest on the CS charts. During the whole game, your objective is to farm and to help with team fights. Vladimir is only good in team fights late game, do not attempt to try to push.

Make sure to always avoid burst damage! Position yourself behind tanks and ult as many as you can without being focused down, while absorbing some damage . You want to pull your ultimate early off the fight because thats when all the spells are going off. If you're unable to reach their carries, try to focus their tanks with transfusion and spam tides of blood to aoe everyone near you.