Vladimir Build Guide : Vladimir - Top :: League of Legends Strategy Builds

Introduction

Hey I am EU ***uu a solo top player and I just started writing some guides about how I play my champions and be a helping hand for beginners and explain some of my decisons in terms of items/masteries/runes ...

So basically is a late game or team fighting champion with a pretty good laning phase aswell.
The reason he's good in teamfights is his abiltiy to go ahead and deal tons of damage with his + and keeps himself alive with a good use of + to be able to get a second and third skill combo off and clean up team fights.
His laning phase is good since he has crazy sustain that doesn't push lanes and can escape ganks better than most of the top laners and is even able to AFK farm in a lane you'll probably lose.

Pros / Cons

So here are some of 's strengths and weaknesses:

Strenghts:

-High sustain
-Ranged advantage against bruiser
-Can dodge dangerous spells with
-No mana costs
-Teamfightmonster/Clean-Up Abilities
-Survivability with without building real defense items

Weaknesses:

-Weak early game/Needs ranks in his
-Low range for an AP-Ranged can get abused by some top laner e.g. ,...
-No real CC
-Relies on his for many of his aggresive plays

Summoner Spells

For summoner spells I use 4 different ones dependant on situation:

I love this spell on and think it's a lot better than because you can chase down enemies easier, go aggresive without getting punished and escape thinks with + which is more effective to escape than a singel .
Since you don't have real burst damage combos there is no need to surprisingly on an enemy and get your spells down on him.
The only real advantage of is actually pretty big (what doesn't equal 's advantages) since you can over walls and follow up enemies that usually also have it.

Is a spell to get get higher kill potential on enemies and take some pressure of dominating bruiser early game.
Provides nice late game and aswell a more scary early game.

Can replace in a hard lane where you think you'll have a hard time surviving.
Is really good early game but falls off late game after all those nerfs and is just to get out of laning phase fine.

Usually not your job to pick this up but if anyone else minds then you should get this and have even more late game power since there is no spell nearly as good as late game.

Runes

For Runes I use pretty common ones that can be changed in some match-up's or if u prefer an more defensive/aggresive playstyle:
I try to get a nice mix of early game power to counter my lane opponent and still having some scaling into late game where is most powerful.

:
I think this is the best choice for pretty much every match-up since there are no good defensive and even offensice AP choices.
They make your harass a bit more hurting and increases your overall damage against squishies aswell this way.

:
This is the best choice if u face an offensive and dominating early-game bruiser like , or to handle with their insane physical damage and prevent them to just zone you out.
If you play against an easy match-up or an AP you should get Greater Seal of Vitality to get some more late game power since there are no better choices besides the armor ones.

:
If you play against a bruiser there is no way to get better Glyphs in this slot since there are just no good alternatives AD's. But for losing this early help you get a really nice AP late game going up to 24 at Level 18.
You can get if facing an AP or to reduce the damage by a bit and get an easier early game over an better late game.

Honestly you can put here like 4-5 different choices but for me this additional AP is just the best way to help trading in laning-harass and get some more sustain with .
Alterativly you can get:
against Kiter or just for more safety.
for more sustain late game.
Greater Quintessence of Vigor for more consistant sustain early game.
for more survivability/hard lane.

Masteries

For masteries I obviously try to get some more AP damage for both early and late game and some additional survivabilty for his weak early game.

Offense:

improve both your summoner spells so incredibly cost effective for only one point.
is good early game but honestly not worth 3 points though it's needed to step down the tree :(. You can also get Brutal Force if you auto attack a lot since it's more effective for 3 points.
is a good choice for every part of the game and helps getting more s off for sustain.
really good for only one mastery one point and doesn't fall off like most of the masteries.
meh is okay but not an incredible damage boost more like a filler.
more late game power and a lot better scaling than
since you build really heavy AP with + this mastery is sooo effective and gives you like 20 AP when you completed this items and like 35 with your end item build.
is pretty damn good since your will most likly deal the damage when the enemy is below 40% after you used your skill combo.

Defense:

is a good early game mastery that will help you against bruiser.
is more a filler than a really effective mastery on a ranged champion but helps if you go agressive on enemies. Get instead if you use .
again more late game power and additional defense to alle his extra HP he gets from .
is really wort it for one point and helps your weak early game but is kinda ****ty later :(

Items

So now to the part where I explain my item choices in different situations, but first just a short overview of the possible builds:

Start:

+ 4x

Core:

Against AD/Bruiser in lane:

Against AP in lane:

Teamfight-Goals:

Against Heavy AD:

Against Heavy AP:

Sight Ward

Late-Game/Completed Builds:

Against Heavy AD:

Against Heavy AP:

Double AP Composition:

/

Item explaination:

+ 4
This is for obvious reasons pretty standard since you get movement speed what provides offensive AND defensive power and also get some sustain.
Wait until ~ 1:37 for a fourth Potion.

The best boots in laning phase you could possibly get since they make your more spammable ---> more sustain and harass
I think these boots at more damage at all because 's damage is more sustained and not really bursty.

I think against a heavy AP or CC team this boots are the better choice because you have pretty low range for an AP-Caster and you will stand in between of all the enemies after using so you are in danger of stuns/silences/slows/taunts.

Only ever get this boots if you play without and try to support your actual AP-Carry with and
For itself this boots are not as good for damage as Ionian Boots of Lucicity since you have susatained damage and not burst damage.

Like I mentioned before is kind of weak early game especially against dominating bruiser that want to zone you out.
This item counters a lot of this aggresion and gives you additional more passive sustaion.

You should get this item asap to equal the health cost for and get some more lane sustain but don't upgrade it too early since it's not that cost effective

This item is so damn strong on because it adds tons of damage and gives you insane survivability if you combine this item with and .
This basically allows you to get 2 more spells off before dying because you can + and then use to use this spells right after again.

Actually this item seems kinda bad because you there is only AP on and no kind of utility BUT you got enough survivability to make all this AP work and get tons of HP with .
Ultimative damage boost.
You can delay this item if you want more utility/survivability like or first but I don't recommend this because you'll lose too much team fight power.

You got tons of damage and want increase it to shred even tanks? Get this item and yeah RIP enemies.
If you need to kill squishies really bad maybe delay this for one item and get something like Rylai's Crytsal Scpeter first to chase and kite them.

This item supports your actual AP-Carry and gives you MR if you play against an enemy AP on top lane.
Provides good stats for its costs but is more to burst down squishies than doing sustained AoE damage so just a situational pick.

This item gives you survivability,kite-potetial and uses really well so actually a good item but I don't like rushing it because you just get too little damage.
If you got your big damage items you should build this and chase everyone and slow whole teams down to follow up with your insane damage combos.
Sometimes allows you to get 2-3 more spells off before enemies could escape and kill them instead.

Not cost effective anymore but still very good late game with your really high damage and helps you surviving longer and keeps your health up if you poke at an important objective.

The enemy team wants to kill you really bad? Get this and escape everything and get some more MR to not get bursted down.
ONLY get this for team fights/late game.

Optional:

You are fed and you need to survive to carry your team? Then you should get this instead of or . Also adds some resistances that are powerful with your high HP pool from .

If your jungler mind building this against an fed AD you can get this , pool into enemy team and slow him down this way. Not a bad item for but meeh damage is more useful so avoid getting it if possible.
Replace if you want to get this item.

Is okay early/mid if you want to dominate at this stage in combination with and to cut through enemy resistance.
If you are fed early and need to carry other lanes/roam this is decent but even than I would build more those teamfighting items.

Kage's Lucky Pick/
I don't like it but if you get denied in farm get this and build up for late game.

Really good item in lane against heavy magic damage harass but falls off late game and delays your real damage items.
Can be built in match-ups like , or .

Extra:

The mid game dominating build:

Is a decent item build if you are fed and want to dominate your enemies/or go for quick kills on squishy carries but falls off late game and since this is where shines I don't like building it.

Skills

A nice passive that helps you to scale better into lategame and builds up a lot of your survivability later.
With a full build you can get like 1000 extra HP.

Your bread and butter in your laning phase. Use it to harass enemies, sustain yourself or get last hitts under tower.
The range on this spell is not that high but against bruiser that doesn't matter that much when you know how to position behind your creeps.
You have to spam it in lane since you it doesn't cost anything :)

Is a one point wonder that gives you so much safty and allows you to escape pretty much every gank and dodge spells.
The correct use has to be practiced since you should be able deny auto attacks with it and also stuns etc.
If you overextended and get ganked combine it with and just run away.
While being in pool DoT's like or can still damage you!

Is a really hard late game AoE damage skill that does incredible damage if you keep it full stacked (4) and pushes lanes really quick.
If you can get this on 2-3 enemies with on you can just zone them out of a team fight if you use your defense skills and correctly because there is so mich damage pressure on them.
I think in lane you shouldn't use this skill too much since you will just push the lane and waste some unneeded HP cause the damage with no stacks is not woth that much.

This ult is amazingly strong late game since you get 12% more damage on all your skills and you use on afflicted targets and can just put down some pressure on the enemy carries.
Always use it at a start of a fight and not as a finishing skill because you really want the bonus % damage.
If an enemy is going for a tower dive you can use this and take a lot of his aggresion but watch out it doesn't deal as much damage as a ususal ultimate at level 6 but it scales pretty well into late game.

Skill Sequence

I think this is pretty obvious but okay here we go :

1. more damage less CD on an ultimate is always fine.
2. is important for lane sustain and harass.
3. gets really good mid/late game so no need to max before Level 13.
4. is a one point wonder and more for utility than for damage so max just fpr less CD.

At the first few levls I try to get to keep my sustain up because in this stage you are kinda weak.
I grab not before Level 4 since I don't think it's useful in early game/lane phase and is just for some extra damage for incoming ganks.

Match-Ups

So now let's take a look against who does well and who/what counter him:

Winning:

So basically match-ups that wins are match-ups against low sustain-meele champions like ,, and .

I think he also does well against since he most likly cancel her Blade Walze with but I didn't play this match-up yet so I can't tell you:(.

Losing:

Champions is losing to champions that can kite and gap close champions like , and but has also problems against that has just too much early game damage for you too handle with and can even zone you out completly.
In General you also have trouble against heavy CC and healing reduciton like but this is not that significant with all your survivability skills/items and extra HP.

you should take a look at his fury and watch out to stay out of range of to survive early game.
You outscale him late game really hard but it's not that easy to get there succesfully.
Maybe even get for the first few levels.

this match-up is pretty hard just get some additonal armor and sustain items and avoid any fight with her early game.
Just sit at tower and last hit and try to get to mid-game without dying.
You also outscale her lategame.

ehm I don't think you have a chacne here besides AFK push at tower and maybe a fast to kite her after her .

just get some sustain and build and farm at your tower because you'll destroy him later.
He has just a pretty damn good laning phase and can deny your farm.

is hard because he will sustain even more than you and comes ahead pretty much every trade and also has 2 skills that go through your .
Your only advantage is that he uses a lot of mana and is slightly weaker late game.

Working well with:

So since has no real CC and your team usually lacks a tank when you are top jungler like , and that can get some kind of stun's on the targets you need to focus down.
Your favourite mid-lane team mates are and because they both have a strong kind of AoE CC for you to pull out your combo.

Early-Game

So at the start of the game you decide if you want to invade or just go for your own buffs.
If you want to go for your own buffs just go ahead and cover red or blue and backport at 1:25 to get a 4th .
If you invade you can get for damage if you already have good CC or get for the slow but usually you can't do much at Level 1 anyway.
Right after you go in lane and try to get some last-hits and levels without showing much aggresion beside your harass. Don't overextend in this phase because you are a lot weaker than most of the bruisers.
Try to get out od this phase asap and take as much farm as you can and help yourself with some sustain items and defense and delay your damage to mid game.

Mid-Game

By now you should have some kind of AP like or and just AFK push lane your lane until you see a chance to force a team fight or little squishies.
At this point you can really domiante your lane opponet and be confident at killing things.
If you expect a teamfight soon get 4 stacks of and keep it this way to get maximized damage.
I don't think you are that much of a help if you roam but you are incredibly powerful in teamfights so tell your team to force this and try to make your lane opponent losing things if you go for it (push creeps to his tower and so he has to decide to help team or lose tower/xp , in solo q they often go for the xp :D).

Late-Game

So at this point you are soo powerful that you should be able to win every teamfight if you already got to this point.
You still have hard times focusing down one target but the ability to deal high and sutained AoE damage on 3-4 targets at the same time is just insane.
At this stage it's really important to have vison like Sight Ward's and to not get picked out and get better positions.
You can push lanes really fast but don't go to deep into enemy base and don't leave your team before an obvious objetive fight.
Keep up since it is really cost effective and gives you more needed CDR.

Team-Fights

So this is where you feel being home and I show you how to get the most out of your skill kit in one fight.

So basically after your tank or the enemies initiated you try to get ahead ASAP to get your down on as many enemies as possible and follow up with a + and to use the 12% damage buff correctly.
Right after you try to zone out their important targets with a and consistent spam.
At the point you went to deep into enemies use and until your team follows up.
This 2 seconds of safety allow you to pretty much refresh your CD on and so you can use it before and right after you use your defense options.
If there is one really fed enemy that has to be killed use offensive to get the hard slow off and your team can follow up on him.

Note: Like I mentioned before keep 4 stack of up sustain yourself with minions/jungle-creeps.

Vladimir - Top

Vladimir - Top

Spells:

Ghost

Ignite

Ability Order

Crimson Pact (PASSIVE)

Transfusion (Q)

Sanguine Pool (W)

Tides of Blood (E)

Hemoplague (R)