Hello Everyone!

I'm Qusteka a long time league of legends player. I've been playing from closed US Beta until 2014 pretty much nonstop for an average of 6-10 hours a day. After 3 Years of absence I've gotten back to league on a casual basis. One of the first things I've noticed once i started playing again was how they changed Vladimir (and the new map, and jungle and pretty much everything else...). The Vladimir change to me was very discouraging and after looking at some of his statistics i noticed that he doesn't seem to perform very well for a lot of people. Therefore I sat myself down and tried to think about what is so hard about him and how to make his weaknesses have a lesser impact on people trying him out as well as capitalize on his strengths as much as possible.

Without further ado, let me get to the actual guide!

The Runes are relatively standard Ability Power Carry Runes. The 10% Cooldown Reduction through Glyphs opens up an item slot allowing us to focus on Damage in the later part of the game.

For Marks i don't see much alternatives to Magic Penetration.

Seals are often very situational in this case however you can virtually alwas go for scaling health as it synergizes with our passive.

Quints are a category of their own and highly versatile, despite people almost always using them for damage. You could go for Movespeed or get 10% cd from the start of the game and replace some marks. You could even cut an entire cooldown item that way if you desired bringing you down to two. Which is a very strong option. Just keep an open mind and experiment!

I won't be going into detail for obvious choices but will explain some of the non-standard ones.

Cunning Tree:

Bandit 1/1: This build is meant to be played very aggressively from the start of the game.
This will inevitably cause us to lose farm because you can't attack two things at once. This
talent is hardly a proper substitute but it feels more rewarding to attack the enemy that way and the alternatives aren't essential for this build. Feel free to use a different one here as it doesn't really matter

Intelligence 5/5: Gives us 10% cooldown to start the game with and increses our cap by 5%
very helpful for an aggressive build.

Thunderlord's Decree 1/1: Free unconditional damage.

---

Resolve:

Siegemaster 1/1: I find it incredibly useful early game. Makes you so much harder to dive particularly since we're not really taking any defensive stats (armor/magic resist) through runes or items early on. If you don't like it feel free to switch. Your W often will suffice to keep you alive when the enemy dives you.

Perseverance 1/1: This build is all about regenerating hp, while harrassing the enemy as much as possible. Free regen is very useful here. Feel free to switch if you don't like it.

Ancient coin:

Yes, we don't have mana. But we have health and scale incredibly well with cooldown. If you are still reading this guide. I suppose you're lacking mechanics and I also suppose you're still trying hard to get better. This item will help you play aggressive while not losing out too much on farm. Vladimir tends to be pushed under the tower early game and has a hard time last hitting there. This will give you a bit of money and hp for every last hit you miss. On top of that you can just blast your enemies face with Q's on cooldown which is also supported by another 11% Cooldown Reduction through runes, masteries and this item. It may not seem like a lot but it definetly shows.

Nomad's Medallion:
You can skip this item if you want I like to get one early because over the course of the game it will definetly get cheaper allowing you to sell it off later for either a small profit or at least having served it's purpose in netting you safety in aggression early on.
Gold items used to be big in helping champions snowball through farm advantage. Since that is no longer an option this is the only item that can be used as an early third Cooldown item without too many drawbacks. In a good game you will have often 40% CDR at level 9 which is where Vlad starts to really shine.

Boots:
Get them first if you have to dodge a lot of skillshots or your enemy got them early
otherwise postpone them for as long as you can afford. Upgrade at 40% CDR.

Kindlegem:
Standard early game item for Vlad. Can be postponed for Fiendish Codex.

Fiendish Codex:
Standard early game item for Vlad.

Once you have the 3 CDR Items it's time for decision making!

If you're top lane you should probably go for zhonyas first.
If you're winning your lane you should probably go for Proto-Belt first.
If you're mid lane you should choose between the belt, spirit visage and abyssal.

Once you build upgraded 2 out of 3 CDR items you can safely sell of the medallion as soon
as your gold + sold medallion = CDR item of choice.

The main reason to buy and hold on two the medallion is to not have to buy CDR boots (because personally i hate them) Since small CDR items don't stack with themselves there is very limited options here. Now however you transformed two of your items and have a slot free for one more kindlegem or fiendish codex.

Abyssal Scepter is something you can consider buying against heavy hitting melee AP champions like Fizz for example. Just make sure not to overdo it on the Cooldown.

Warmog's: If your game seems to go pretty badly and you find yourself buying all the hp you can afford, going down the Warmog's path CAN be an option it might stabilize the game for you, or not... Either way this is more of a desperation move.

Once you build 3 10% CDR items you should usually invest in a Void Staff. Most of the time will get more damage per value out of it than from grabbing a deathcap. With this build being cost efficient is pretty important.

Last but not Least you will want to grab a deathcap making you a true AP powerhouse.

Not much to say here really.

Either you go for an early W or you don't. It's up to you! Delaying it is alwas risky and might cost you an early flash.

I'm not a fan of this strategy but you can postpone level 2 of your ultimate until lvl 15 because the difference between level 1 and 2 is not that significant that way you'll have lvl 3 ult but can make the most out of your basic skills early in the game.

For your summoner spells the standard choices are
Flash + Ignite for heavy regen champions or midlane.

Flash + Teleport for safety and omnipresence.

Ghost + Ignite if you think you can outplay your opponents without flash.

This guide is aimed at ranked, just be sure not to pick Vlad when obvious counter picks are still on the board.

Fiddlesticks + Swain will wreck you for example.

Pros:
-Very Safe in terms of income and early harrass.
-Abuses the strongest part of Vlad --> CDR Scaling.
-Early items are cheap and easy to get.

Cons:
-Wastes one stat on your first item
-Very static build
-Health based with 0 early game armor/magic resist

Spam your Q on whatever you must to keep your health high in the following order:

Enemy Hero-->Last hit on cannon minion-->Last hit on melee minion-->Last hit on ranged minion-->any minion-->jungle minions(ward them with trinket, best done in mid, ask your jungler for permission).

Vlad is an AOE AP Carry, he relies on his team to be strong. This build aims at making you strong on your own as well but you will still shine the most when working with others. Therefore try to stick to teamfighting and getting some good initiation in your team (examples include but aren't limited to: Nautilus, Leona, Fiddlesticks, Amumu, Rammus, The Cow etc.)

As you might've noticed when playing Vlad in the past:
He is very bad at farming early on. His Projectile Animation is incredibly slow, his Q is on high cooldown his W and E help your enemy kill you. There problems are strongly alleviated with this build. Giving you free money, and hp if you miss a last hit and giving you lower cooldown on your Q so you can use it to farm and harrass more often. You should be able to stabilize your lane and eventually dominate your opponent giving you all the farm you need. What you miss out on early can easily be caught up with by level 9 through strong cooldown and damage.

This build is very farming friendly but never forget that it's intended to allow you to play aggressive so don't just lean back and take hits! Trade like a boss and heal back to full!

That's it for now will add more later if I get more responses to the guide.