Hey, this is DarkDyer, and this is my first guide posted on this site, and it'll be of Vladimir, The Crimson Reaper.

What I love about playing Vlad is his survivability when it comes to laning or after team fights. I'm still having a little trouble pulling off team fights smoothly, but everyone is trying to improve in this game, right?

First things first: Transfusion is your friend. With a little under 3 seconds cooldown when maxxed out, it is one of your most used spells. It's an amazing harasser, a great last-hitter (for minions and champions alike), and feeds you a little bit of health each time you use it, which makes you be able to lane for quite some time.

Second: Vladimir is a mage-tank. He gets a lot of health and a lot of spell damage. One major flaw is his lack of stuns. So don't bum rush into battle with a tank and a fighter and hope to survive. You'll be decimated. Poke at your enemies until it's time to unleash all you've got.

In the beginning of a match, you should be getting . This will start you off with a good chunk of health, some additional AP, and best of all, on your way towards your Rod of Ages.

Your Rod of Ages is your next target. As I read once before, if you have it within 15 minutes, you are doing well. Aim for having it before 20 minutes. I have been recently averaging at 17 minutes.

You'll start to notice you're getting a tad slow. So grab the basic to increase that speed. Your next item is much more important than any other form of speed, so just this basic speed for now.

The next time you're at your base, start working towards . This item is great at the beginning, even though that AP% increase really shines later game.

Hopefully while your at it, or when you get a chance, finish your .

This is your next core item. That slow is great for chasing, or for escaping. You'll also get a great chunk of AP and HP, both of which will increase the other. Try to get this within 30 minutes.

Now that the match has been running for a while, you'll know the opposing team's strategies well. The next two items are personal choice as to order: or . I usually go with the Hourglass first for the extra AP boost.

Hmm... I believe this place is for which spells to get when. But I'll replace it with a section on combat spells.

There are two different openings you can pull off.

1) {Safer} Hit them with and back off. If it looks like combat could be initiated deeper, throw in a quick and then back up.

2) Slam them with , dance back a bit, , and then repeat. Always keep moving back, leading them on.

When you feel they are weak/close enough to be taken down, pop in with and then throw your combo.

Retreat/slow with followed by a quick upon surfacing.

[Still learning team fights... will edit when I figure it out.]

In summary, Vladimir is a ton of fun to play. Has great solo-laning capability and survivability overall. Mostly easy to escape with Sanguine Pool, and able to dodge nasty projectiles that way as well.

I hope you have fun playing this build, end up being one bad Vlad, and win!

Thanks for reading!