I go by Dugu, I've been maining Vlad since Season 6, playing League since season 1.
591 Ranked Games with Vlad in Season 6.
1605 Ranked Games with Vlad in Season 7.
450+ Ranked Games with Vlad in Season 8
350+ Ranked Games with Vlad in Season 9.
1000+ Ranked Games with Vlad in Season 10.

Resulting in a total of 3000+ RANKED Vlad games in the last 4 seasons. Across my accounts, I currently have a total of over 3,000,000 mastery points.

I like Vladimir's "Battle Mage" playstyle. From being able to be in the center of a team fight, to literal 1v2's, 1v3's, 4's and 5's. His Sanguine Pool ability is my favorite outplay tool, simple yet game-changing.

If you want to see my gameplay in action, I stream very often on Twitch, and upload highlights to my youtube channel.

Follow Today Here -> https://www.twitch.tv/dugu/

When it comes to playing Vladimir, you must first understand that his early game IS his weakest point, meaning that the longer that the game goes on, the stronger he becomes. Thanks to his late game scaling, you can go even with enemies yet destroy them if the game has reached the mid/late stage.

Early Game /Lane Phase / Levels 1-10

To increase your chances of carrying, make sure you really get all the experience you can during these early levels, if you roam, make sure to roam at a good time, and not when you will miss a lot of minions. The longer it takes you to get to level 10, the longer it will take for Vladimir to come online.

You can choose to play passively or aggressively depending on your enemies playstyle. I tend to play more on the passive side up until level 10 to ensure I don't fall behind. Rushing Fiendish Codex and Kindlegem will give you a nice chunk of HP, Ability Power + 20% Cooldown Reduction, which allows you to use your crimson rush Q Spell to keep you nice and healthy.

Once you hit level 10, be sure to check the current state of your power spikes.
Q Spell should be maxed out by now.
Boots from should be coming up soon, if not already.
Building towards 2nd item should have started, look to complete it.
Gathering storm first bonus @ 10 min mark.

Levels 11-18 (Mid to Late Game)

Congrats, you've made it to level 11, have 1 item + boots and are ready to make people hate you for existing.

If you have been playing passively up until now, try trading a bit and see how that goes. If the trade is even, then you can heal back up through Q spells, and then go for another trade, repeating this process until your enemy must back or die due to their lack of HP.

As the game transitions to mid-game, you can choose to be more of a team fighter or a split pusher. Vlad is not the best split pusher by any means, but he can, depending on the enemy champions, take on 2-3 easily, with the right mechanics. The better choice will always depend on the state of the game, but don't dread over trying to make the best choice, just make up your mind fast, and go for it. Vladimir will prevail.

At this point just keep objectives in mind, remember to go for them after team fights/kills and the victories and LP will start rolling in.

Vlad is an excellent teamfighter, in most scenarios, as long as his flash is up, he is able to take out the enemy backline with 1 rotation of spells. A good demonstration of this is in almost every clip of Vladimir teamfight plays that exists. You simply wait for your transfusion ( Q spell ) to charge up, and just before it gets empowered,(the bar going red) you are going to want to charge your E (Tides of blood), flash near your target, use your ultimate, release the E, use your Q, and watch as the enemy disappears within 1 frame.

Practice this combo in practice tool in order to not mess it up. You can master this combo really fast if you spend just a little time in practice tool. It's definitely worth it.