Hello MOBAfire! This is my first guide on the website, and i decided to do it on Vlad, since I happen to play him a lot and have fun playing with him. Vlad is a caster who uses health to cast his spells, and can be dangerous throughout the whole game in team fights and in 1v1, if played correctly.

For runes, I have given Vladmir magic pen. marks, ap per lvl seals, health per lvl glyphs and cooldown reduction quints. This takes advantage of Vlad's passive as well as his low cooldown skills that are free/cost health, boosting his overall survivability as well as his killing power.

For masteries, I went with the standard 9-21-0, getting a boost in ap, magic pen, cooldown reduction, and overall defense.

For summoner spells, I usually go withGhost andIgnite, since Ghost is generally one of the best summoner spells, getting you in and out of places whenever you please, and ignite synchronizes with your ulti and is just good for doing damage overall when you need that killing power.

Other good summoner spells:
Flash: Like a substitute for ghost, but i still prefer ghost.
Teleport: If you want to get to places around the map faster.
Cleanse: If you are against a heavy cc team and are worried they might cc you to death.
Exhaust: Good in 1v1 or chasing someone, but not the most useful.

Bad summoner spells:
Heal: You have a free heal.
Clarity: Um, no mana?
Fortify: Let a tank get it.
Clairvoyance: Unless you are a huge pro who can properly use this, then I would strongly suggest against it.
Rally: Just no.
Revive: What's the point of this build if you are going to die?
Smite: You're not jungling in this build.

It is always best to start off using your Q/E in a battle, holding off on your W until you get extremely low or you are sure you will get the kill. It is best to save your R for 2 or more people to use on, but it can be used in a 1v1 fight. Skill order for teamfight is basically the same, except that you should use your R and use W for escaping/cc enemy team.

1) 1 v 1(preference)or
2) Teamfightor(For escaping/slow)

For my skill order, I tend to max out Qfirst, always getting a point in my ultiwhenever possible and balancing my Wand E. Q, your FREE bread-and-butter skill, should be maxed out first so that you can start nuking and killing off the enemy team easier. For W and E, you can choose whichever order you want, depending on your preference.

For items, I tend to get bootsand a health potfirst because i want to have that movement speed advantage over my enemy (usually I mid, so i can move faster than my opponent in mid).

Once I have enough gold, I would go back and either buy a mejai's soulstealeror a hextech revolver. It is your decision which of the two you pick, or you can pick them both, although i prefer the hextech revolver for its spell vamp/ap over the snowball item mejai's.

Afterwards, you can go finish the boots you have, either getting a sorcerer's shoesfor the magic pen. or ionian boots of lucidityfor the cdr. I usually go with the ionian boots, since i have enough magic pen in my build already and the cdr is nice with my low cd skills.

Eventually, I buy a Spirit Visage. This item is fantastic on Vlad, giving him cdr, increased healing for his skills, health and magic res. The health goes well with his passive and its not a bad thing to have magic res.

Rylai's and Rabadon's Deathcap are shortly afterwards.
Rylai'sis great, giving Vlad health and AP, which are the two things that basically make up Vlad. This takes advantage of his passive as well, giving him bonus health and AP. Also, there is a slow with Rylai's, so Vlad's spells will gain a slow with them :).
For Rabadon'sthe huge amount of AP only increases Vlad's killing power/survivability, which is awesome.

Now, for your sixth item, you can either get an Abyssal Scepter, Will of the Ancients, or Void Staff.
The Abyssal Scepterwill give you more AP and magic res., as well as an aura that lowers the magic res of your enemies. This lets you and your team get more damage out on your magic spells on the enemy team.
WotAis a fantastic item on Vlad, giving him AP as well as an aura giving teammates AP and increased spellvamp, and any spellvamp is good on Vlad.
Finally, Void Staffis there for the AP and magic pen, if you are against those high magic res enemies.

Some quick tips for Vlad:

1) Vlad is one of the best tower divers in the game. His W, Sanguine pool, removes all of the turret aggro while using the skill near a turret. When you see an opponent low, go ahead and tower dive, using your Q/E/R before diving and then popping W. When you come back up, your opponent should be low, so then just use another Q/E thats cooldown should be refreshed and walk out of there with a kill!

2)Q is your bread and butter skill. It is also a FREE SKILL. Use it as much as possible. You can use it to regain health, last hit minions, or get free damage on enemies, as you can heal back the damage they shoot at you.

3) Your ulti, Hemoplague, makes it so that enemies take 14% more damage for 5 seconds if they are hit. This is great in teamfights, where your whole team will be able to do a lot more damage to the enemy team. This gets the kills much faster and easier.

4) Your W,Sanguine pool, costs 20% of your health to use. NEVER engage with it. You will be dead before you know it if focused. The best times to use it are when you know that you are 1v1,2v1 with against an enemy and you are safe from any ganks, or if you are getting focused and are almost dead. In teamfights, when the enemy is focusing you and you are near death, you can pop a pool before you die, using 20% of your current health while getting 2 seconds of invulnerability.

5) Your E, Tides of Blood, becomes a great AoE spell as you level it. It targets everyone who is close to you, and with its low cd and stacks that increase its damage/healing, it will do incredible amounts of damage before you know it.

Remember, this is my first build, so criticize all you want! I know I have much room for improvement, and anything you guys see can help me greatly! Just explain why you -1 if you happen to, and I will see if I can change my build for the better!