Hi! I am Noodles912! In this guide, I will show you how to become a master at Vladimir. Before we start, I want to inform you that the way I learned vladimir was watching Youtube replays. This champion requires tons of practice until you are an unstoppable machine. If you want to take a youtube approach, check out "Challenger Replays" and "DomisumReplay". They upload high Elo games from all regions and in matchups.

Vlad is a hyper scaling assassin like mage. He does a great job at outputting consistent damage the later the game goes. Picking Vlad often forces your opponents to close the game out before you hit late game and melt them all. Unlike assassins, if Vlad falls behind early on, it is easier to recover the gap compared to other champs.
Also, in a good matchup, its usually a free ticket to late game. In an even matchup, both often hit the late game, and a bad matchup is a living nightmare.

Pros: High Sustain, high damage, safe kit, hyper scaling, average skill ceiling, satisfying Health stat, no need of mana/energy/ammo.

Cons: Super weak early, weak mobility, one sided damage output, uses health to combat.

Vlad usually runs 2 rune pages, but I primarily use Phase Rush.
Phase rush
Nimbus Cloak
Transcendence
Gathering Storm
Magical Footwear
Cosmic Insight

You can run electrocute though:
taste of blood
eyeball collection
hunter rune of your choice
nimbus cloak
transcendence

4 Simple combos:

1. Flash-R-E-W-Q (ingite in W if you take it)

Your main teamfight combo, as it maximized burst on the enemy backline due to your surprise flash.

2. E-Flash-R-Q-W

Also a suprise combo, but usually meant to kill 1 person, as using E before R when entering a clump of champions is a bad idea.

3. AA+Q+AA

Fast way to proc phase rush vs ranged champions

4. E(tap)+AA+Q or E+Q+W

Fast way to proc phase rush vs melee champions. Use E hold if you are trying to proc electrocute instead.

This is when you are at your weakest. Try to survive by spamming Qs. Whenever you have an empowered Q, try to trade. Don't over focus on kills, as you main goal is the get as much cs as possible. Since vlad does not have mana, trying to pressure your opponent to keep them in lane as long as possible is a good strategy, but make sure you have good map awareness, or you are begging to get ganked. Try getting 10cs per min, and avoid dying. The more gold you accumulate, the faster you can start to 1v9. Try looking for an all-in at level 6 if you have ignite and flash.

Now you start to become a real champion, but you are still somewhat weak. Continue to maximize income by clearing side waves and taking your jungler's camp (its ok because you are vlad). Split push as much as possible to get solo XP and tower pressure. If you take tp like me, you can join a dragon or herald/baron fight more than halfway across the map. You can start to 1v1 some champions, but always put guaranteed income first. If you group assess, if you can survive after going in, as once you go in, there may be no escape.

YAY! Its time to 1v9. Continue what you were doing in the mid game, but look to group more often. Attacking your enemies from behind usually gets a better ult, or at least hitting the enemy backline with it. If you took zhonyas, your teamfighting is even better as you have 2 pools basically. Split push when you have no R or flash. Make sure that you are killing minions, even if you are level 18 full build. You will prevent 20+ minion sized waves from crushing your towers. If you have tp like me, you can use tp and have the ghost effect as well.

You usually play teamfights like 1/2 leona and 1/2 assassin. Maximizing the number of targets hit by your ult, while making sure the enemy backline gets hit too. With flash, you almost guarantee that you hit the enemy comps with a disgusting surprise. The moment you ult, use E+W for massive AoE burst on the backline. Remember that your ult amplifies all damage targets hit take, so you make your whole team's life easier. If you feel like you will be hit with chain cc, or you are super low on HP, use hourglass to stay untargetable longer, and you will get a large amount of HP from your R back.