Vladimir Build Guide : How to Vladimir [Out-dated] Guide: Kneel Before Vlad

Introduction

- WELCOME -

...Hi I'm Yoke of Ordeal (formernn; SirEagleEye) TR server player, was once master division (season 7), now sitting 'round Plat 1 (due to inactivity), not playing ranked anymore, so solo queue adventure seems a bit utopic for now, and my Vlad win rate might not seem high -if u ever can find a Vlad ranked match in my match history after all this time-. But I was a Vlad main back in the day roughly with a 60-70% winrate. And tricks/builds might be out of place in this current meta since I just casually play normal matches.

OLD'n Vivacious (considering now that Vlads very well known amongst most high elo players) INTRODUCTION:

I'm here to post my experiences, combos and item building on Vladimir. If you are going to question my Vladimir skills, yes in my honest opinion I'm playing very well compared to other Vladimir's I have seen ^^. I'm here because Vladimir's limits are still not known after many years, Vladimir is not a blood-sucking bat thing, at least since Vladimir rework. He can potentially absorb over 1k HP. So someone really had to tell that he is now stronger than ever. That's why I'm here ladies and gentlemen. But please do not forget that Vladimir is no longer in meta so even if you play without any mistake, possible defeats are inevitable in some cases.

"With my guidance you will become a deadly instrument, striking terror into the hearts of mortals wherever you tread. Now, listen to my words and do as I instruct''

~Harkon

POWER OF THE REWORK

BEFORE REWORK:

AFTER REWORK:

Abbreviations, Terms and Things of course:

AA: Normal attacks done by champions, which usually happens physical form of damage.
AP: Ability power which increases magical damage done through items and abilities
AD: Attack damage increases physical damage done through skills and attacks
MR: Magic resistance to blocking enemy magical damage
AR: Armour to blocking enemy physical damage
CS: Creep score which mentions minion kills
CC: Crowd control, that prevents enemy movement or skills and such
NERF: Debilitation to certain champion, items and things, aka balance changes
Dirty Farm: Taking jungle during laning phase to achieve advantage against opponent
AI: Active items that can be used with the certain times and cooldowns

Green color usually means ability power (healing or damaging power) while azure means basically magical power and white-like blue represents usefulness, inspiration, red represents HP scalings or damage in this guide. Other colors such as orange are used for various things in this guide. Feel free to leave a comment if colors are wrong or doesn't match the feel or way too tiring to read.

For example, you achieve something similar to those stats [with Spellbinder Path; Rylai instead of Void after; 40 mins]:

+1000 AP +4000 HP +375-450 MS +0-20% CDR +15-40 Flat M. Pen. +40% Magic Pen + unique actives and passives and so on,
you should remember that AP does not mean pure damage, as runes, Vlad's kit and HP fueling spells also counting in too, add some percent of HP to actual damage, now it is better, isn't it?

However; those stats don't gonna show up actual effect on the game itself since Vlad is a diversity champion his abilities can be used in various styles in various situations, the effectivity of abilities is almost directly connected to your game-style, so achieving challenging movements could be a tip for getting better usage of spells, as the complexity of lunges keep going you will slowly advance yourself while analysing your enemies reactions to those movements, and really you shouldn't much squeeze such a versatile champion in a box, as his abilities are even meant to deal damage, almost every skill have few different usages both in lane phase or in-game, which automatically breeds a risk and reward system on the character.

Notes: Art pictures are not mine, you can find them in the Google images or Pinterest. Feel free to give your feedback opinions on new runes in the comment section, obvious that's somewhat it's hard to determine the most optimal choice, we can/shall wait upcoming Vlad/rune changes, because they must/will change Phase Rush, old Storm users like Taliyah, Vladimir is all aggrieved.

Music

Hi again, in this section I will try to share some pieces that I liked to suit your music tastes while reading my guide:

Music

Why should draft Vlad + Healing Over 4k (possibilities)

People fear from riot's actions about Vladimir, and don't usually find Vladimir really strong even he/she thinks Vlad is funny to play. But they are wrong Vlad is

REALLY STRONG

and capable of doing things that many mid-laners can't do.

As you solve mysteries and learn best possible mechanics for some situations, you enjoy the time you spent with playing Vlad instead of another champion like Syndra because its more complex than other mid-laners such as Viktor(do your basic combo and kill a few targets), while Syndra can actually kill with only her ultimate, then she becomes a little pacifist mid-laner while Vladimir won't lose his power even after his ultimate, actually his ultimate is only a little precious piece of the puzzle of destroying the enemy team.
So his potential grows as you learn your limits like a vampire getting stronger as he/she feeds upon the living creatures.

Vlad can make better use of and than any mid laner, which is a big plus for his match, you will benefit from your mobility better than other champions which will shine in every possible teamfight whenever you find a weakness in their positioning.

His almost non-ending combos and unpredictable combos combined with spells can shatter enemy team apart while making him a viable choice for the current meta, you will almost have an another card in your pocket to play with 45% cdr reduction, and being a regen-healing prodigy can reward you in any match-up if used well. Other mid-laners such as or can burst someone down instantly while can burst a whole team in instant. His variations in builds will make you adapt your enemy easily. So in 1v1 if played correctly basic opponents without sophisticated mechanics like almost has no chance of winning against your nuke damage and tankyness in math, your escaping tool can easily dodge killing ultimates like .
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(While caresses cricket's cheek with his bloody claws) Do you know how old I'am and how much time it did take to become such a monster?

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Even in season 7 Vlad has a specific place in mid-lane with his sustain kit. After some nerfs [E damage, E scaling damage, Q damage, Q overpowered damage, movespeed nerf, Rylai nerf, hextech protobelt damage nerfs] he is still a strong pick for soloQ and you don't require a jungler premade to dominate the whole map, while ganking other lanes make sure your lane is safe, work in synergy with your jungler gathering/giving scores for/to your team will make things easier at late game.

First Blood at Level 2

plays.tv/video5a9

This is a good explanation of what this build is focused on. With the help of and AP from , it's possible to do this trick, stay at high HP in lane, don't get poked too much and make him open for this combo by poking with constant aa + Q's then exterminate for the stacks. LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET.

Pros / Cons

SPACE

Pros

+ High Sustain
+ High AoE damage output
+ Only vampire in the game
+ Has great escaping tool
+ Can make full use of items

Vladimir is a great pick when it comes to sustain. His deadly aspect makes his enemies kneel before him, and can shatter even the hardest defense compositions because of his low cooldown on Transfusion and Tides of Blood at late-game. Even the strongest mid laners such as Syndra doesn't have such an ability that deals huge AoE damage with 2.75 secs cooldown, his chasing power is sometimes beyond the opponent's imagine the power that what makes him strong. Making unpredictable moves can easily separate the opponent team and that is really a huge advantage in solo Q destroying the communication and synergy of opponents is horrible in a good way...

Cons

- Very immobile without spells
- Item focused limits
- Long cooldowns at early-game
- Squishy at early-game
- Need high understanding of algorithm to get more use of certain skills for success, aka mastery

His weakness to auto attack based champions like Master Yi, Vayne, is fateful and nowadays almost everyone has some sort of hp percentage damage skill that's turning Vlad's passive against him that is desperate in many viewpoints, also lack of hard cc is making things harder so there are a few ways to win such a duel but not a real solution, solution 1 destroy him to pieces which is a little bit utopic since experienced players usually building firstly Maw of Malmortius then Quicksilver Sash against Vlad, teamwork is the key for Vlad, your mission is not only bursting someone down instantly but you can divert enemy team or even kill them alone while your team is taking care of Master Yi so, yeah it's not an utopic soliton but possible. Vladimir's power is more likely to shine in team fights, accept the fact that he is not the best dueler in the game and can be camped easily.

Champion Abilities

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Vladimir the Crimson Reaper

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In this section, I'll try to explain 's abilities and stats and possible tips for using abilities optimum. Because Vladimir's abilities not only dangerous to his enemies but also it can harm himself and he does use his blood as a source of power like mages using their mana as a source. Vladimir's source stack limit is 2 when it exceeds the blood limit his next Q become an empowered attack and count as a critical strike, 's unique passive 20% critical damage reduction also working on that strike too.

In addition, Vladimir doesn't benefit from any mana or mana regeneration like some other champions and building health point is another way of building damage on Vladimir since he uses his HP as source and building health points also increasing ability power too as distinct from other champions.
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Natural Stats:
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Health:

537 (+96 per level)

Attack Damage:

55 (+3 per level)

Attack Speed:

0.658 (+2% per level)

Movement Speed:

330

Health Regen:

7.008 (+0.6 per level)

Armor:

23 (+3.3 per level)

Magic Resist:

30 (+0.5 per level)

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Vladimir has a higher HP, AR scaling than some characters as you might've been already noticed, those little differences with his tanky build and passive; make him a battle mage, let's get into the very passive and other abilities makes him -that everlasting.
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Passive

Crimson Pact

Innate: Vladimir gains (2.5% bonus health) as bonus ability power and (140% AP) as bonus health. These bonuses do not stack with themselves.
Crimson Pact is a self-targeted buff, which automatically affects Vladimir.

Additional Information:

This is what makes Vladimir relative a tanky/strong champion, building AP means additional HP while opposite also adds stats as well, this makes Vlad also tend to get ability power items or HP items instead of damage and mere MR and AR, allows him to make a good/excellent use of AP/HP mix items, this makes somewhat Vlad have an edgewise HP ratio on all skills in additionally, for example having Rabadon as the last item with a high amount of AP will end up like 50-250+ bonus HP due to passive, now envisage it with items that offer both stats at the same time. A strong passive for such a mid-laner, coherent with the rest of his kit in general.

Q

Transfusion

Cost: Nothing Range: 600 COOLDOWN: 9/8/7/6/5
Magic Damage: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 60% AP)
Heal: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+ 35% AP)
Active: Vladimir drains the lifeforce of the target enemy, dealing magic damage and healing himself.
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Vladimir steals life from the target enemy. When Vladimir's resource is full, Transfusion will benefit from massively increased damage and healing for a brief time.

Each cast of Transfusion generates a stack of Bloodthirst over its cooldown, which is displayed in his secondary resource bar. At 2 stacks, Vladimir gains Crimson Rush named buff for 2.5 seconds which is renewable by using other skills and 10% bonus movement speed for a brief 0.5 seconds that might help to reach a target.

Crimson Rush: Transfusion deals 85% increased damage and heals for an additional 30 - 200 (based on level) (+ 5% (+ 4% per 100 AP) missing health), reduced to 35% against minions.

This is Vladimir's main sustain skill and its empowered use has enormous damages on targets, we are maxing it first so we can get faster empowered s with having lower cooldown on normal skill itself, you can use this skill both for last hitting minions or to poke your opponent in lane, to maximize effectivity of poking in some certain conditions- you might want to use an AA right before landing your Q to deal nearly 2x poking damage in early game but be careful as it might draw minion aggro which can end with your HP getting lowered as well as your enemy. Those AA supports makes early poke much stronger and that will 'course prevent the enemy laner from taking minion scores with ease, you can especially abuse this advantage against melee opponents since you'll rely on their weaknesses but not on your power which makes things even easier, this is a great advantage even for a passivist support like and makes 1v1 much more winnable, but care for a ranged opponent's retaliate, even so you can heal thou.

Try to land empowered to enemy champion whenever possible because it's dealing really high damage at the early game compared to other skills and can deal almost 1.5k damage at the late game an on-aim skill which means something like sure death on weak targets, but don't forget to dodge incoming skill-shots while trying to land Q [chasing enemy], when your blood bar shines you can use your empowered Transfusion in next few secs. Be careful and do not forget to use empowered Q even while escaping because healing cannot be ignored for the most of the times, to make a good use of this skill; ability power is needed since the stronger form of this skill has a 111% AP ratio, I guess, and to land skill properly or to cut/get rid of cooldown problem; at least a minimum level of kiting or mobility can come handy such as early [boots of speed] or a rune, mobility allows Vladimir to use his kit at more ease because the enemy will be usually in a hurry of dodging this skills, which also prevents triggering the healing effect and is dangerous for Vladimir since he can be easily kited sometimes, the positioning matters on playing Vlad who has a relatively weak early-. But using it well also might be bonus as well.

W

Sanguine Pool

RANGE: 150 COST: 20% Current Health COOLDOWN: 28 / 25 / 22 / 19 / 16
? Magic Damage Per Half-Second: 20 / 33.75 / 47.5 / 61.25 / 75 (+ 2.5% bonus health) ?

Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood, becoming un-targetable for 2 seconds and siphons life from the enemies while also slowing them.

Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood for 2 seconds, gaining a brief haste that helps with mobility and becoming untargetable while slowing enemies above him by 40%.Vladimir deals 80/135/190/245/300 (+15% of bonus Health) magic damage over the duration and heals himself for 15% of that amount. Sanguine Pool can be cast while charging Tides of Blood which means while dodging something also dealing damage is possible, especially when we consider both skills combined damage its a great advantage in some situations.
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Additional Information:

It's main escaping-dodging tool Vladimir and makes him un-targetable like Playful/Trickster and allows him to charge his even while in the blood pool, while in Vlad can still use his spells like and which is an awesome utility for Vlad, sinking into the pool of blood won't stop Vampire from dealing damage, you can execute low HP' targets if you are out of spells with W + Hextech combo like I did in the gameplay video.

You will usually not like to use it as much as possible since it uses pretty a perceivable amount of HP, dodging some skills that equivalent more than the cost of the skill itself is the classical logic for ability usage. So in order to make HP worth, a combination such as; you're about to die in next AA but Q is on a 2-4 second CD, you might want to land an AA right before you go into the pool and right before the enemy hit reaches, then Q possibly comes and you retake your lost HP or even kill the opponent basically.
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There is an example of a trollish sanguine pool, with that blessing, he can easily dodge and ignore many champions and can kill most of them due to being un-targetable while dealing thousands of damage in the blood pool.
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E

Tides of Blood

RANGE: 600 COST: %8 MAXIMUM HEALTH COOLDOWN: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 / 5
First Cast: Vladimir charges for up to 1.5 seconds, slowing himself by 20% over the last 0.5 seconds. If Vladimir finishes charging or is nterrupted the casting, he automatically initiates the second cast.

Second Cast: Vladimir unleashes a nova of blood bolts, each of which collides with the first enemy they hit, dealing them magic damage that is increased the longer Tides of Blood was charged, up to the first second.

? Minimum Magic Damage: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 2.5% maximum health) (+ 35% AP) ?

Slow: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
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Additional Information:

It is Vlad's main Area of Effect damage and can be used in harmony with while being un-targetable, plus you can deal like 1k damage in the blood pool at mid-game with the combination of these two skills. Its a projectile skill which creates 15 projectiles in a ring, so in order to destroy minion wave properly, you have to re-position yourself while stacking .

It's dealing around 700-1.5k damage at the late game, in early- to amplify your combo damage you will usually want to stack it to full damage (at least 1 seconds charge for maximum damage) then release the E which will slow the hit enemies, and they shall be open for next pokes such as an additional AA + Q but you should avoid any extra damages in such situations as E already uses your HP around 50-100 so using in a scenario where enemy doesn't have much but to breast all the damage, and so on you can easily handle the lane domination with controlling both yourself and your enemy's capabilities, do not venture for additional dangers if you're unsure about whats gonna happen, don't be prodigal on HP unless you're planning to use your sustain after a harsh duel as it can be dangerous to use your HP for very little results. Also, notice that E helps greatly with early farming so you might want to use it since Vladimir has a relatively weak AS/AD for last hits.

When you are about escaping if you do not plan to fully ''escape'' make sure you don't use your HP needlessly by spamming this without even hitting anyone. Basically, you enter the pool [by pressing W ofc :>] while holding-stacking your E. Now you know the combo isn't it, the rest of the vast combinations are up to you.

R

Hemoplague

RANGE: 625 / (radius of skill 150) COOLDOWN: 150 / 135 / 120
Active: Vladimir infects all enemies in the target area with a virulent plague, increasing the damage they take from all sources by 10% for 4 seconds, after which all infected enemies take magic damage.

Vladimir is healed per champion damaged by the detonation, but the heal is reduced to 50% after the first.

? Minimum Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 35% AP) ?

? Minimum Heal: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 70% AP) ?
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Hemoplague amplifies itself for an actual 168 / 280 / 392 (+ 78.4% AP) damage because of its unique debuff.

? Maximum Heal: 450 / 750 / 1050 (+ 210% AP) ?

Hemoplague is Vladimir's ultimate spell and it is an AoE damage, debuff spell that's healing you in return for per infected enemy champion, also it affects also minions too. Healing from minions would be cool thou but riot probably thinks that would be OP, whatever lets Vladimir burst his enemies up if used in a proper combo, it's a unique debuff that increases the damage taken from all sources (excluding true damage what evah), and can be combined with ally damage sources, after 4 seconds automatically detonating and damaging the enemy/ies while healing you in return. That 4 sec. delay can be solved with the help of and , if they're both used in a row, should give enough time for ultimate to trigger healing effect, thusly it does not have a damage help except ''10% damage increase for 4 seconds'' so you cannot usually use it as a finishing move like of for certain situations.
Sometimes in team fights a few enemies with low on HP that basically does not have any salvation or mana-HP to save themselves, so whenever they try to leave team fight, by simply ''walking'' you can exterminate them by landing R swiftly then continue the actual team fight like nothing happened LUL.

This spell is a little bit different from other mid-laners and doesn't directly deal damage in some conditions. So you can use its unique effect to boost your all-in damage on the focus target by simply infecting them with R, do not forget to sandwich it in a
quickie proper combo. I'm not sure but it might be increasing damage by stacking with other damage multipliers from runes as well. So it may be and also in a total 10-20% damage boost instead of mere 10%. By the way, in some escape scenes, you can infect the enemy while running in order to get enormous of healings (example; 1.7k healing; 4 infected champ) also if you have Rylai, the damage will also slow them. It's a utility spell that what completes Vladimir's kit and can be used both as a sustain/healing spell or an AoE damage or just as a damage amplifier; 10% damage boost for your entire team :)

Runes Reforged

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With there are several different ways to invest our points through rune trees. We may take our first 4 points into Sorcery as the start in order to get sustain, utility while leading our damage potential still. Utilising , , and . Sorry Jhoijhoi for abusing your bona fide guide about BBcode but there were only a few paths that I could take to close my poor coding skills at MOBA fire, I just wanted to make my guide more interesting sorry :'( Wutevah, don't forget that there are plenty of combinations- so In this section we shall be more focusing on viability than going straight that is da best, because meta is still taking shape;

Precision: Attack Speed +18%, Inspiration-> +20%
Domination: Adaptive 11 AD/18 AP, Inspiration-> 13 AD/22 AP
Sorcery: Adaptive 12 AD/20 AP, Inspiration-> 13 AD/22 AP
Resolve: +HP 130 HP, Inspiration -> +145 HP
Inspiration: Grants bonus 20% potion and elixir duration -> amplifies secondary tree's given stat by a little amount.

This means you can utilize Sorcery by even playing an AD champion because given AD/AP bonus is adaptive or even you can take HP recovery rune from ADC tree. Which directly leads us to ''new runes are flexible'' idea, feels like there is no certainty yet nevertheless we're trying to determine most positive; performance well-accepted pages.

Also x(sorcery or other ones?)+Precision combination is a possible more aggressively choice for runes as it allows you to deal almost 5-15% more extra damage because of Last Stand and things, with these your enemies won't be able to get away with 1hp much often like other champions since Vlad is a vampire, undead hunter of the eerie castle under bluish dark night, however, mere damage doesn't mean it increases your healing or AP always(?), just increases the damage' and it's debatable, that's why we should follow the compensating lack-requirements of the champion first of all;

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Primary Path

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: It's our keystone for Vladimir, helps with bursting and ensuring kills, it's somehow weird to skip MS burst on Vladimir, yet this one is quite important because that burst scales with us as well, and in late game it deals around 300-600 damage, and is vital for Vladimir's possibilities, you will not be able to execute high-level moves always without getting the priary target out of your way, also not every keystone suits Vlad like a glove, this ability triggers with 3 diff. attacks R-E-Q combo counts for that luckily. So that's our keystone choice from with the idea of ''good of bad'', we may change it in near future possibly.

Even some original users of mostly seem like gave up on . So don't worry that much because we need MS one way or another, and we can get MS through items and spells, or should/can be other high priority keystones alternatives.
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taste of

Cheap Shot has an acceptable weird interaction with Vladimir's kit, CC exclusive true-damage, can work through even only E however, blood rune gives Vladimir his early domination with added sustain, makes your next AA or damaging skill heal you, which combines with Q's and retakes around 60-100 HP at early game with the help of rune, this rune has a slight CD time as well, like Scorch, but it's useful and may heal around 300-700 if used actively in lane around 10 mins. Since Vlad likes to survive early in order to scale well to late-game, this helps with that, rune's impact might fall behind a bit in late game but it does its's job at the early game by securing scores. Also, other options are not that great, so this is almost a no-brainer if you don't mind True damage from other option.

This rune is another backbone for Vladimir, perc champion and ward score grants you adaptive AP/AD, up to maximum of 20 scores, when the threshold is reached, gives additional AP again and works in harmony with and Mejai's stack mechanic, every kill lets you snowball harder and gives you better sustain through higher AP, compensates some low-AP utility item's weaknesses too.

A scaling rune, grants life-vamp like effect for your damaging abilities, increased by per unique champion take-downs, up to maximum of 12.5-20% healing at 5 stacks, now this is a juicy addon to your sustain, an alternative to other three runes in this branch, we're taking this since Vlad likes to heal/retake loss HP, especially with high AP the healing becomes more delicate, this provides you added sustain through your HP costing abilities, AoE abilities are less effective when using this rune because healing is reduced to 1/3 but still can work because you can aim mutiple targets at the same time, a minion wave or 3-5 champs, which can heal you quite effective throughout the game.

Absolute Focus is a double-edged sword like rune, you loss the effect when you stay under a certain amount of HP but when the above of the threshold, you're granted with bonus AP, no need for CDR, MS to trigger AP, pure AP, even 5-10 AP can deal about 50-150 damage in early game at total, AP is practically more effective than 100% for Vladimir's E, because of his passive interaction, and in early game it allows us to one-shot and win the lane, at late game it becomes stronger with Rabadon etc.

The last rune choice, it's our go-to go rune as it provides scaling AP, gathering storm, like Vlad's gathering blood storm with his E. Gets stronger as the game lasts, it kicks in at min 10 first when the team duels really begins to clash often, Absolute Focus gives us opportunity to take Gathering because of AP at early, while this one guarantees late game and allows out-scale most of the easy mid-laners even though you fall behind. At the late game (around 40) it might provide more than 100 AP, AP at min 20 is acceptable as well, ensure our late game sovereignty and AP combined with AF, which also affects our sustain through abilities too.

This page is our usually ''go to' go'' page, meet the must-have need essentials of Vladimir like burst, *additional MS if predator and celerity*, and AP, for additional further explanations you may expand the spoiler list.

But we've said 'go to' go' because of we're taking some needs on one page, so as long as we find our CDR from here; an + (which's something we'll mention right below?) like combination is all possible, since we'll have our MS through + and Phase Rush is being not irreplaceable at this rate. This is a well-toned all around be like build, goes acceptably in general.

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Secondary Path

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		future's

''Outwit mere mortals.'' ~ Path of Inspiration

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This build allows to skip out with new magical boots, and increases his CDR build's viability by having 15% normal CDR in the pocket at level of 10, it's our secondary 'go to' go' set-up because:

45% total CDR on abilities; additional CDR on ultimate; Q 5 sec.: 2.75 sec.,
Two active/triggeable speed buffs; Flash 300 sec.: 180 sec.,
Classical speed from runes that is needed; +10 additional MS boots
Economical advantages; attainable tier 1 boots, future market for 1 return full item
Starting with Ignite dominancy, then switching Ignite to Ghost/Teleport/Cleanse becomes possible with this set-up, a great diversity, as faster spells/items can somewhat compensate MS problem, more flashy plays also becomes available more often with those CDR stats.

Summoner Shards

+ => +

You will usually want to take something like this page if you're not a fan of the first page, makes some battles more credible with over the limit CDR stat, only those rare heroes perhaps could use that stat near as good as Vladimir;

the difference between this and other build is so you can still reach 45% CDR cap like in his old glory days, with the help of . So it's more of a preference matter, new style or still exceeding overflowing CDR build?

Notes: Personally, I'm currently using primary pathway that utilizes extended high MS and AP, unlocks many gates, stacking spell-heal, AP, scaling AP, and burst damage, you know having to give up on classical Intelligence build is something displeasing, but other set-up offers slow-resist which especially works like a charm against some teams. LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET.

All Viable Runes Dissescting/Explanations

Notes: Phase Rush looks a little useless since it requires few hits to trigger effect, we may not be able to always if even so incalarily; 15% movement speed burst is somewhat too far to reach old effective MS burst, so since is there's no certain an example for optimal pages, in this chaos, an updating guide plan'' is already readied, for future runes, we will want to look for some criterias as usefulness, effectives and important question ''Does that really help with Vlad's needs'' because this feels too weak in the name of mobility to be serious, even damage runes at least provides a substantial early damage.

Summoner Spells

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ESSENTIALS

This spell is useful on all roles yet, especially essential for Vladimir as it allows us to make our magic, a day without flash would be a day wasted for Vladimir, also there is no a real logical reason to not pick , dodging skill-shots, blocking things and baiting, all those things can be done by Flash. It teleports you to cursor's direction in a short distance, its some sort of transition spell and ignores stun areas etc., helps to carry a spell effect to further distances/areas, see abilities section for flash examples on Vlad.

Your only way to pass through walls like Ezreal's Arcane Shift.
Your combo is based on flash.
It can be both aggressive and defensive which provides utility.

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CRUCIAL MUST HAVES

Ghost was one of the strongest choices in 'Mid'' aka 'Viktor'' meta, yet it was still viable for Vlad In the past, now its somewhere near essential level on Vladimir, granting you a chasing power that cannot be undone by easy flashes, 10 secs of burst of speed which make life easier for you, combos, things, things become easier, the problem is ;loss of old Spellbook impacts Ghost idea, new Spellbook does not allow you to change Ignite to Ghost for every time you change, and Ignite is buffed, Ignite allows you to fill the damage for first blood score but then taking Ghost back again with your isn't impossible anymore because of runes rework, Ghost can be useful if you are confident with your laning/want to dance in enemy lines.

With ghost even after cheap flashes you will be more likely to be able to chase enemies.
Burst of speed can be combined with your passive + Sanguine Pool to gain speed.
Basically its provides huge kite potential, kiting is the keystone of playing Vladimir.

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Ignite is basically like another spell can be used to burst enemies in your magic arsenal. It's true damage cannot be reduced by defs, and healing reduction effects let you kill high life steal feed adcs, can be used against targets that can have continuous shields like with to guarantee your kill pressure, Ignite can be picked on any champion and it is awesome when you are out of spells or when you have to kill your target, only logical alternative to , helps with asserting your dominance, at 18 level, can deal more than +500 damage.

Execute powah while escaping due to damage over time effect
Healing reduction that works greatly against Swain, Lissandra, Ekko, etc.
Did I mentioned healing reduction?

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HANDY SPELLS TO HAVE

Teleport grants global presence power somewhat like 's , a champion that is not super-o-mobile champion like Vladimir that cannot move through dimensions, can use this spell to wander/gank/backdoor as a top lane, but in mid I recommend you to take or , its really good to have as a top lane, ganking bot may not cost a tower or two with , allows you to trotly gank lanes and back again easily, plus it is needed when it comes to global quests such as , .

Global presence, backdoor potential.
Ensures global quests like tower, drakes and things security
Maybe trolling? And ofc that Zac blob saving trick.

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DON'T TRY THIS AT HOMES

Vlad is a sustain monster, summoner spells had to be chosen in some critics like lack of things on a specific champion. Vladimir does not basically have the lack of sustain since he has the strongest form of it in the actual game that can be used in battles. Picking it is meaningless, you can mostly absorb (drink) hundreds of blood to cling life, yet you may sometimes experience things such as 'WHY I'M SO SLOW'' or ''IF ONLY I HAD ONE MORE DAMAGING RANGED SPELL'' or '' IF ONLY I COULD BUY ANY HEALING REDUCTION ITEMS'', when it comes to spell selection Vladimir has plenty of things to choose from, heal is indeed unnecessary when Vlad can potentially absorb over 2k, healing for 135 points is not something 'serious''.

No.
Kibishii, iie!!
Cotto MATTEé!!!
Nein!

We don't have to waste time on this thing, but to explain it to new players, Vladimir has already 'stronk'' dodge, escape skill and barrier picked against assassin's and assassins basically cannot one shot Vladimir if actually played with 's actual gameplay style okay? Too much thou... .

No.
Kibishii, iie!!
Cotto MATTEé!!!
Nein!

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But however, you may take interesting combinations such as + or + or + when you catch the self-confident that is required for the current situation, I don't know many possibilities that require unnecessary risks like that, but I personally prefer + most of times to become a mobile vampire instead of cumbersome clunky vampire that trying to reach preys with zombie-like speed while stacking , disgusting isn't it?
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Lane: Itemization - Starting Items

Laning with Vladimir is some like Vayne's laning phase, be careful for early and accept your high cooldown skills, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to punish enemies for doing mistakes, you can still do such things and even with critical faults you can recover your loss of HP easily by being defensive, in defensive form, Vlad shouldn't use his blood costing abilities that much and shall abide his to retake his once lost HP by changing HP balance between him and his opponent. By this strategy, you will easily catch a fallen back early-lane.

Boots of Speed

Doran's Shield

The Dark Seal

Notes: Both Doran's Shield and Dark Seal becomes even more reliable with regen/consumable strengthening runes, to ensure your viability, so make sure the best build that synergies with your game style and build logical to maximize on-aim effectivity which causes diversity.

Lane: Itemization - Core Items

In lane section Vladimir have superior sustain compared to any possible champion, firstly you should no take free damage from enemy laner while farming this should be your first priority to master in lane section. After being able to farm while not getting poked you should start to practice your poke combos in lane while not missing most of possible farms. Items will identify your game style as . In any possible match-up your itemization strategy should work with counter-item logic. If you face an ability power carry you can build some magic resistance while stacking ap to outdamage easily any ap champion by sustain advantage because Vladimir making full use of almost any item in his kit and benefit from every possible statistic offered by his core items.

This core build is working against squishy and MS based teams. The reason we build this item as core item is to get juicy stats and the active skill that replaces . This item almost provides 3x-5x AP of what Reverie gives, and active speed is about 2.5x of Reverie at max stacks. The high early AP and MS allows us to catch targets and deal serious damage. Since we won't be going for there's no need to rush Reverie, this item's stack mechanic works neatly with classical build and while active gives you MS also it provides AP as well, for every stack you get more AP, so activating it right before one-shotting a target shall be helpful in terms of damage since Vlad has high ratios on his E and Q. At late game team-fights this item just will be charged way too fast compared to classical laning phase if enemy has long-ranged champins, hence you'll turn your enemy's power against them by absorbing MS and AP from their skills. You can build this as core item instead of or perhaps build it as 2nd item if you face many mobile champions in a match, building both will make you a threatening mid-laner at early-mid game because of MS-CDR-AP and actives. This shall be a immaculate combination with stacked , 20% bonus MS compensates loss of and with , we get our hands on around 200-470 AP at early game easily with just two AP items.

The best possible core item for Vladimir since it does provide really a huge statistic boost with a cheap price. This item has everything a Vlad needs, extra mobility, endurance (which is some extra damage due to your passive), more damage and burst potential. I did not welcome this item when it firstly released and used for Vlad but by testing it in many many many games, now I really appreciate the power provided by this item. Probably best possible core item for Vladimir is mechanic mini rocket belt.

Zhonya as core item is really unuseful on Vladimir as first item, because it does not really generate that much damage, in the other hand have an unique active so you will have extra damaging ability and you can combine this extra skill with your combos to deal enormous damages, while Hextech giving you something like 300+ HP and 60+ AP due to your passive so it increases your survival ability while boosting your damage through both hp and ap. You cannot make full use of Zhonya's active at early game but if you feel alike that you need really Zhonya's active you can still build it as core item. While it is not that awesome at early game, it's increasing your power drastically at late games with its unique active and some juicy supplement statistics. Still, a viable item if ganked a lot at laning phase.

Reverie was/is Vladimir's new core, its nerfed to 8% -> 5% MS and became more expensive. Now, some players were building it but the AP and HP stats are just too miserable if it wasn't for the extra CDR, even for stat CDR build the 40 AP is way too low for an AP item, now with nerfs Active will be no more around 30 seconds with wombo, this build just takes too much thing, care and sacrifice from other things like damage- it WAS a possible build when it had its edge with almost 10% MS and some stats for just like 2100 gold was logical, an early spike, later combined with Hextech for further CDR, but it now gives almost half MS of what Spellbinder gives innately other than active, and literally takes 1 item slot, even most of the suppors are not building, who supposed to build it, isn't it? Why would a mid-laner Vlad take it when it's mortified. Before the nerf, it could perhaps be acceptable as a main item because AP loss was negligible with the help of AP runes but it just takes many things too for a speed buff active. Like you even miss out 's healing reduction because you have to build Void and Rabadon too, hence this rush is obsolete, especially when there are enemies that you should build various items against them, sitting at +300 AP with fix 4 items is not very sagacious. Because Vlad should be able to take one-few carry out- even if they have MR or at least leave them helpless in teamfights. Thats why we've better items to build, like if having 40 sec. CD speed buff will do any good against MR stacking monstrous teams, and they'll build it when you start to snowball I guess? Not being able to build Void isn't either good because of item slot limit.

Vladimir's poor chasing ability without right build is making him a prey more than a predator, Rylai does not provide the best possible power spike at the early game. Rylai is Vladimir's signature item-power after combined with good items and can mostly end mobility problems while giving you some HP and AP, you know that its not giving any cdr nor burst damage when firstly builded. So its not useful to build it firstly, without cooldown-reduction Vladimir's damage potential is not that much great and you will not able to slow enemies repeatedly without low cooldown, after nerfs to Rylai its still one of best items for Vladimir and a power spike item for mid game with low price, and usually at early game Hextech's mobility will be more effective than 1 second of slow from Rylai. Also probably building it in the late game will be not effective like it was as effective as in mid game, and stats may be seem low but Vladimir using both HP and AP to boost his damage so its more than +75 AP and will make you more tankier.

Notes: Since some of these items are reworked and revamped, I may change some of them, and write better explanations about 'why'', still you may prefer Spirit Visage instead of Abyssal Mask but both of their damage is basically nerfed, both through AP and HP points, so firstly tending to build normal core items like Hextech and Spellbinder would be healthier choice mostly, but to be sure about lane safety its possible to go with other possibilities for better dueling potential.

Items

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In this section I'm going to tell you item priority, and why we are
building ''X'' item as 3nd item etc. Every champion has his/her own skill set so every champion get a different better use of items. I'm going to tell you ''Why Vlad using (x) item better than other mages/champs''.

IMPORTANT

Also note that every 500 extra health points will add 12.5 ability power to your stats and your E scales with extra health point with an amount of nearly 8% HP. At total even without an ap-stat item, you will able to get something like +50 damage from an item with nothing but only 500 HP stat. A recalculation is possible if you wish so but those numbers are approximate values. A special recalculation for a projected single build can help with deciding optimal item choices, I guess.

IMPORTANT

Spellbinder:

+10% MS, +120 AP, UNIQUE ACTIVE

After recent changes to Vlad's style, this item become Vladimir's rush item with its high AP and MS, which allows him to position himself with ease. The active offers Vlad an engaging tool which compensates loss of and edgewise the unsealed spellbook, now 120 is quite high for an early item, in laning phase the speed bonus lets you to land your Q more neatly and opens plays windows, helps with chasing/escaping, healing through high AP and MS also helps Vlad with dealing high CD'es at early game. Kite is one of the most important things of Vlad and this item basically gives this power because without Spellbinder + Mejai combination you'll have your MS around 400 or even 380s which is way too sluggish to make games individually, for example, a mutant Rakan can easily catch ya' with such miserable mobility, but this rush lets you skip , hence Celerity becomes less meaningfull because you'll already have MS than Celerity + Reverie build and you get yourself a superb useful item, that allows you to take for further AP, can be stacked easily at late game for active usage, make sure you stack it enough before usnig, a classical rush. Now one item providing +100-300 AP was already too good to pass on for Reverie, isn't it?

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ITEMS

ABYSSAL MASK:

+10% CDR, +350 HP, +55 MR, +350 MANA UNIQUE PASSIVE

After recent changes to Abyssal, the item still has got its magic resistance but not in priority anymore, instead it has more health to before- but regen also got removed as well, so in addition, it now has 300 mana stat. which causes item to lost its usability on Vladimir, still strong enough to buy since HP got increased and unique passive procs very well in low range mages like Vlad, in a full mage team, you may but it to support your team while edging your resistances against magic, as it was possible on other mana items, you may still buy it in various situations if needed, since it has pretty decent increase in terms of damage, still can be built as 2.nd magic resistance item, while it is not the best possibility yet still has its edges for Vlad, especially in a mage team.

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ITEMS

HEXTECH PROTOBELT-01:

+10% CDR, +300 HP, +60 AP, UNIQUE ACTIVE

This item is probably created for Vladimir and is our core item. It gives you the additional damaging ability, should we even talk about the mobility provided by this item, helps with dodging-chasing. It has a small but effective difference between Rylai, it has additional CDR stat, which is crucial at early stages of the game, and actively adds another card to your finishing combo against opponents, which can do nearly 500 damage in short range- which is a ridiculous thing for ADC's. An extra ability comes with additional mobility, sometimes can save your life to dodge skill shots. Delicious item. Umm. And also a little note, Rylai's slow effect work on Hextech rockets, it may be useful sometimes as a utility tool. After many nerf this item is still really useful on Vladimir as the main item since the price is pretty cheap yet effects are solid at early because Vlad benefits from both HP and AP at the same time.

ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS:

+10% CDR, +70 AP, +45 AR, UNIQUE ACTIVE

This item is a life saver at early-late games, also adding a new mechanic to your skill set too, so in team fights, you will able to buy time with activating Zhonya + 1-2 W, also some nice CDR and ability power with a noticeable-worth considering def boost against physical damages. So you will be nearly immortal with well-positioned R and Q skills will get your hp bumped up. Basically, use R and combine with Zhonya's active to gather hp while being invulnerable to damage and CC, a strong card to play against most assassins even if it's not for Def, it can be used aggressively as well because it basically gives an assurance for dangerous acts. Stasis is one of strongest actives in the actual game and gives your team a solid time while making things more complex in some situations for the enemy team. Invulnerability is a strong card to have, especially when all spots are on you, can also buy/gain time for your team as well, while helps you with surviving.

SPIRIT VISAGE:

+10% CDR, +450 HP, +55 MR, +100% BASE HP REGEN, UNIQUE PASSIVE

Firstly, this item has awesome stats like CDR that lets you spam Q more often. Also, more health points to increase our survivability through heals and increase our E's damage. A tank item increasing E's spell damage like 30-70 while adding a much stronger passive than in terms of healing, now that must be been really scary for mage opponents as it increases our magical def., fueling healings while edges your damage slightly. A Vlad player with 2k healing on Q will increase it to nearly 3k+ with this item, also our signature lovely visage is a mid-game item and can be picked as 3-4. item most of times, and perhaps 1-2. item preferably against ap carries to prevent their magic and to increase your support's redemption heals, however, if the situation is not favorable for Visage, you may pass on that as provided AP by other items may be much more valuable in some cases, but still guaranteeing our duel-potential vs mages is something worth considering, helps even against some AD's as well in some cases with an added survivability..

RABADON'S DEATHCAP:

+120 AP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

Rabadons unique passive makes this item [Infinity Edge] for mages. Still, need any words to explain? Ok. Ty... Gives a total damage boost at late game like +500 damage on E, and in some games players taking it at the very early stages of the match, however unless it's that you should be building that after having needed specialities like magic pen.,cooldown reduction and AP, since passive works on total AP, you should have high amounts of ability power to make the item worth 3.8k gold, alone its not useful because it's a stacking item, and pretty expensive for early-mid games, other than that you should first fulfill your needs like mobility and survivability then start making magic happen, since Vlad is not like some traditional mids- taking it always as 3. item can't be the optimum path for Vlad for always.

LUDEN'S ECHO:

+20% CDR, +90 AP, +600 MANA UNIQUE PASSIVE

Can be useful against squishy targets, fills that last tick of damage with it's passive, this item's main logic is usually about AP-CDR relation when you already have the things that you need, only need CDR or you feel so, this becomes an exceptional alternative for Vlad as it provides really high CDR and an acceptable amount of AP or so it WAS, since recent changes to mana made this item less desirable but hey, the feel of maximum CDR and extra burst on squishies is still useful- a situational item, I haven't tried it on Vlad yet after the last change/s.

BANSHEE'S VEIL:

+10% CDR, +75 AP, +60MR, UNIQUE PASSIVE

Against Ahri or Leblanc, your magic resistance may be not enough after they pick , this item will provide a huge def. boost against them so possibly it was really useful when it comes to one important spell like Blitz's , however I was personally building this as a high tier defensive item, yet still dealing serious no mean something damage, because of change of damage balance between two teams, it's now providing AP instead of HP which I don't like much since mere AP provided by this item is not that much, while health stat was always useful because of passive and really was a harmonic stats-passive relation. Banshee's Veil shrieking aura can prevent incoming spell's effects, and puff that strong charm disappeared like nothing, so they will too, can be taken at early stages like 2-5. Our artefact item to mitigate an important part of enemy magic damage easily provides a worth considering damage alongside the def.

RANDUIN'S OMEN:

+60 AR, +400 HP, UNIQUE DEF. PASSIVE, UNIQUE ACTIVE

It is not used as much as Thornmail on Vlad for def or damage, but if opponent team's AD carries focus Vlad, you can give a try to this item since resistances are huge and mostly picked by for heavy bulks, fastest way to being endured and tanky against critical damages is probably Randuin, that cutting off total 20% critical damage from every strike which stacks, and let you still walk safely, which makes that 350 HP nearly +800 HP because of damage block. Now that 20% is really made difference when they have much critical strike based champs in one team, however being aggressive as Vlad is a must in most cases, being forced to build def is not mostly will end well beware, don't let enemy team shape your build, in addition, its passive applies to Karthus critical damage from as well, which can give a good global defense against certain enemies.

THORNMAIL:

+80 AR, +250 HP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

Vlad has unique sustain with his kit, reflecting extra damage on AA's will probably block some part of life-steal of ADC's, you have a huge amount of damage even with defensive items, combined with Thornmail's damage, as you take normal attack damage from enemy their HP will get damaged as well with every single attack, and useful against sustain built opponents or just sustain running opponents. You don't even have to attack to kill them. Only use your sustain spells well combined then ADC should be dead. Really nice item...
aka. Dravenbane* :D

LIANDRY'S TORMENT:

+80 AP, +300 HP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

This item provides the very magic penetration that Vladimir wanted, so their magical barriers won't be able to hold your damage at bay easily as before, 15 makes difference while it is not only thing offered by this item, 80 AP is now really well for an item with penetration and 300 HP that makes Vladimir even stronger since he also uses HP to fuel his spells, however, it does not provide any form of cooldown reduction which is a negative side of mask, and another one that is health based passive damage on spells won't make full use of item at early games, since they won't be directly going to build HP items, it will work best for magic penetration and health damage at mid-late game against tanks as it will melt them away, that can be built as 3-6. item for better use and you may take 1500 gold mask for penetration at early and finish it later, but it's possibly a great magic battery when you are about to build or need extra magic penetration alongside with , and really doing well in terms of damage due to activeness of stats on Vladimir.

This should be built after Ionian Boots + / + Hextech Protobelt combo usually, you may take an early mask for additional penetration but that would be an obstacle in your path to main items, since early HP, AP and CDR are too important for Vladimir, you may delay it until the necessary signature starting of Ionian Build is done.

HEXTECH GUNBLADE:

+40 AD, +80 AP, UNIQUE PASSIVE, UNIQUE ACTIVE

I have tried this item many times but it's not useful as it seems. Only Q is single targeted spell and others spell vamp effect will work 1/3 so you don't have to buy it since even only your Transfuison will provide huge sustain, can max your hp easily by hitting 5 champions, you may try it but in most cases, nothing but probably an item slot waste, being able to use its amazing active while channeling is seems somehow interesting for as it can surprise them, but AD stat will be mostly wasted and gives a tiny amount of AP with no HP stat in item*, some mids using both AD and AP, but Vlad using AP and HP for his spells, and Hextech Protobelt-01 already increases sustain because 300 HP meaning more Q healing, so not much different, Gunblade is expensive and not useful at all.
The answer is 'No''.

GUARDIAN ANGEL:

+40 AD, +30 AR, UNIQUE PASSIVE

If you want to become a ''Reaper'' buy it as the sixth item combined with other defensive items. I have tested it too. Really useful if you need both MR and armour.
But be sure that you still have some serious damage, because without damage your 2nd life won't really mean anything useful in the term of team fights if you are not the 1.st tank of your team, another way Zhonya and will be probably more than enough. But if you snowballed already and need a mix of Def. it will be useful for blocking the blocking way of snowballing. You cannot stop an avalanche! ~

Notes: After they turned this item to an ADC item, however, I still think that can be viable because of 50% max hp revival special effect, since that really makes difference and 2nd life chance is important as it can save many scores while snowballing, and pretty cheap to buy.

LOCKET OF THE IRON SOLARI:

+30 AR, +60 MR, UNIQUE ACTIVE

Tested it and yeah not the best item but in theory, it will be handy against AoE mages in unique situations where you need some protection over your team, your high HP will strengthen the shield. I really appreciate this item but got nerfed, it does not provide CDR and HP anymore. (After reworking of Solari it is not a viable choice anymore even theoretically its almost trash since it does not provide any damage stat (HP) for Vlad pure magic resist and armour meaning nothing for Vlad)

SUNFIRE CAPE:

+60 AR, +425 HP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

A viable choice since Vlad profit by health points for his E. That one has harming aura also a nice damage boost something like +50 to Vlad's . Go with this one in case you face a lane pusher. It's pretty useful because as you chase your opponent aura will also damage her/him noticeable. Also, it's combining well with your , however after the recent nerfs to both items and to Vlad, taking Sunfire because of tiny HP that provided by this item could be dangerous as scaling HP rates are reduced as well and yeah, he's not a primary tank, to push minion waves, read few magic books.

RYLAI'S CRYSTAL SCEPTER:

+75 AP, +300 HP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

Ladies and gentlemen Rylai is bread and butter of Vladimir since the first release of the hero and also almost is a must for every game cause it gives a huge boost to your damage while edges your mobility and sustains. 300 HP and 75 AP provided by this item value transform into nearly 400 HP and 80-90 AP due to your passive ability. So, in other words, it adds around 100-150 damage. With Rylai slow is combined with your AoE ability, and triggers stronger dot (2.) effect of Liandry with an added bonus slow to our E. It will make things such as chasing and escaping much and much easier! (After many nerfs to this item its still a viable choice and will increase your mobility indirectly due to its unique passive which is invaluable for Vlad), and its pretty cheap alongside with Ionian and Hextech, so with this build you will more likely to catch a mid-game advantage over other lanes easily since it's pretty economical pathway to mid-game.

Notes: After they nerfed this item hard, I still believe it is still valuable for Vladimir, extra AP and HP to fuel our abilities and slow to close the lack of gap closing skills is important, however, explanation is a bit out-dated, I may update it in future if my attitude against Rylai changes and improves, but that doesn't mean Rylai is not useful on Vladimir anymore, it's cheaper and can be picked at early now easier to access the chance to build other items faster while getting the slow passive, however nerfs was a frustration.

VOID STAFF:

+80 AP, UNIQUE PASSIVE

I wasn't building this item usually every game before because it wasn't ultra needed I guess. Classical Magic Pen. runes got removed. Yet new pre-season and buffs to this item make this an invaluable source of M.P. for Vladimir nowadays. It is our go to go against magic resistance tanks it is our one of few paths to deal damage through magic def, especially when you have no M.P. besides the Void (no Liandry' or Sorcerer builds), it becomes even more valuable for our build's damage viability. It's an option when you are the primary damage dealer in the team against MR stacking enemies or your team's AD's fall behind. Can be picked at both early game and or at late game, some enemies basically stacking MR over MR, you can build it at early to make their items less valuable, it's pretty cheap for its stats, other than that if they are not building MR its stats are not really filling for a valuable item slot and mostly wasted.

MEJAI'S SOULSTEALER:

+20 AP, +200 MP, UNIQUE PASSIVES

Mejai is an optional power-spike item for various builds, and could work as an alternative Luden that built up from a potential starting item which makes this item different, allows you to upgrade your starting item into a stronger form, gaining stacks will grant you more AP which is somewhat easy for Vlad, at 15 stacks will grant you 10% bonus movement speed- for a 1400 gold item having mana stat wasted is not that important at that rate as having potential +140 AP from mere one item creates an advantage indeed.

Getting killed lowers the Glory Stack's, and you can lose MS buff if you get below 15 stacks, this is something like a little version of Rabadon's Deathcap kills grant you additional AP per stack up to 25 stacks, and can be taken in matches that you/you'll basically snowballin' hard, it somehow replaces Luden + Cap in one item at very early of the game and can be usually taken after hextech protobelt.

ADAPTIVE HELM:

+10% CDR, +350 HP, +55 MR, +100% BASE HP REGEN, UNIQUE PASSIVE

This is our new resistance item, guys welcome him! I can see few situations that helm comes handy, when facing a magic focused teams that using frequently same skills, like , and such, as it blocks 10-30% of damage done by same spells I suppose, health stat, magic resistance, and regen can be useful in a situation like this, however if not so you could have wasted an item slot since its pretty situational offered stats can be wasted as well, it can be rewarding if you are sure about both teams.

BOOTS

Little note for boots; you might want to sell your shoes at very-late game when you have extra-gold to spend and have a fully stacked Mejai and a Spellbinder in your inventory, because those two items already help you to stay around health 400 MS, selling boots should not hurt much for last team fight if you know of what you're doing, if needed, you can possibly take another needed item like a delayed Zhonya or perhaps last item Visage, since you'll have anyways around 1k AP, taking an ex should be beneficial for the last ending team fight.

-OR-

Sorcerer's Shoes > MAGIC PENETRATION
This is our easiest path to direct magic penetration while getting completed our movement speed item, as it helps to shred enemy resistances, which many ADCs usually tend to have 30 starting MR, and they won't able to sacrifice things at early much, taking that 15 get off is something needed for a mage, also when a mage like Vladimir that relying on taking team down in secs., when all of your team relying on your damage, charging one that consuming 8% hp of yours mean thousands of AoE damage, and it makes really a difference in damage like 50 in late game, every single damage is important however;

Ionian Boots > COOLDOWN REDUCTIONS
These boots are our cooldown reduction battery at most games, which usually can be picked as first item return, that works great because of closing the lack of Spell CDR runes mostly, these are great options for faster-returning abilities and spell, your spells are always critical for a proper game, and having them faster can mean a line between lose and win, and having them at early-game will usually save or produce a few extra flashes throughout the game, and you can close the lack of sorcerer with , extra cooldown reduction is invaluable when used correctly with well-timed flashes and so on, you will probably hear ''srsly your ghost became active again?'' things much more often.

-OR-

Ninja Tabi > D. REDUCTION
This is the cheapest damage reduction that most players getting even for ADC role against that and such, blocking 10% of damage done by normal attacks like or classic AAs is really insane and gives an alike defense, it shines when it comes to blocking physical damage combined with unique damage reduction, and many Vlad players tend to build this item against ADs at early, however; I do not find this item as a lifesaver in many situations, it can be combined with Zhonya to harden your armour, however damage is still more precious to Vladimir and it can be fixed with life draining even with Spirit Visage and so, it can be a blow to your damage potential, and boots are your choices for edging your build, choose well, if not sure about what gonna happen, test it, if it fits your game style, then make it soul companion of yours as boots are really effective in shaping gamestyle of a role,
since meta is changing and Armor Pen. items got buffed as hell, that's a possible choice against an AD based composition to block their 10% damage from AA's and on-hits while also helping to negate some important portion of Lethality, which serves your survivability greatly.

You will mostly be able to catch the nearly same damage with with Ninja Tabis when will not build , so Ninja Tabis is a good choice in general against most of AD champions, however, you should analyse the situation, if damage output potential is more important for you-your team, taking Ninja can lower your damage unnecessarily in some situations.

Mercury's Treads > TENACITY
These boots are made against CC heavy compositions like supports that have a snare, stun, taunt solos and etc. We get this item against heavy CC and ability power composited teams. First, we pick this boots if they are really picked ap-based champs, this will help you to out damage any ap champion in 1v1 also can stop magic penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes, and some juicy tenacity will make things easier. It's really useful when it comes to magic resistance because of how ms is important, you are basically having your needed ms while maintaining a lot of resistance which, basically preventing enemy from dealing fatal magic damages to you, and reduces CC's by 25% amount that is impactful when built against a , but to remember it does not reduce knock-ups! It can be picked when the enemy team have at least 2 or more mages but usually having 3-4 is more profitable.

Vladimir's first boot choice against high-slow time champs like Nasus, Miss Fortune etc. with Vlad can avoid slows 100% for a few seconds that's invaluable for chasing. You can pick this item instead of others, since slow abilities are really more effective on Vlad than any other champ, however you should remember that if you are able to deal enough damage to proc rune, you will automatically start to avoid 75%+ of slows on you, and that 25% is not that critical in some situations due to your Rylai and other things, however, if they have a slow compositional team it can be useful to mitigate their effect. However negating an important part or full of 's slow is noteworthy when you're rushing onto them.
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ELIXIRS

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Elixir of Iron is useful when you need tenacity against high CC team compositions. Its also increasing your damage due to your passive. 300 HP from elixir turns into bonus +12. That will add total 36+ bonus damage to your E while giving you some juicy tenacity. Maybe not strong as EoS but it's allowing you to leave stuns etc. 25% more easily. Buy it when you have some extra gold.

Elixir of Sorcery is a classic for every ap carry in the game. With Elixir of Sorcery, your E will damage +55 more magic damage due to your passive and also +25 True damage for your spells that's is useful to melt enemies easier. Buy it when you have some extra gold.
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WISHES

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If only these items were suitable for Vladimir in stats:

REDEMPTION

Redemption (AI): Redemption is one of items that I would want to build, however stats doesn't get together with Vlad's goals and desires. So sad story isn't it, better love story than Twilighy :DD

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Lane: Farming and Warding/Safety Line

FARMING

Farming is one of the most important things to do in lane since its only 1v1 you should not miss any minion because more minion scores you get, you can finish CDR items earlier, that is why we should give our required attention to farming, as we get scores finishing items will be less problem, and item difference, building or building before 's can win games. We can practice farming to get higher performances at soloQ.
Farming at the early game can get a little bit complex while doing it under the tower.

As a Vladimir, you have low auto attack [which buffed recently] damage and attack speed, so you will close your lack of AA damage at the early game with your timing. Getting creep scores at the middle of the lane is up to you, but while doing it under tower you have to learn and use some extra strategies to not to miss any creep score because it's really important [Auto attack damage buffed in 7.3 while his powered Q damage is lowered], especially with such low attack speed, we should add our spells as well to get some ''impossible'' minion scores, which somewhat compensates lack of AA-AS for a mage.

Getting normal minions are OK since tower needs to fire 3 shots to kill a normal minion. You can kill a minion before the 3rd shot even with such low auto attack damage since those 2 shots will leave normal minions half-dead. But caster minions is getting killed by only 2 shots which are a little bit more hard to achieve. You have to land 2 normal attacks before the tower gets the score. It may be a little bit hard due to your low attack speed. There is an easy way to solve this problem. You can land additional 1 AA before the tower's aggro is being drawn by caster minions, or you can use the weakest form of the to make things a little bit easier. You should use your skills in a great harmony to dance with enemy laner while not missing any creep score.

After a few CDR items your farming will be much easier. But at the early game, you don't have to poke your opponent with skills. Probably you will be able to poke only after minion waves. Because high CD on Q and E will not let you trade with your opponent easily while farming.
Especially focus farming at early game, please. Only a little practice will help you farming with Vladimir. The only good advice I can give about farming is slaying minions carefully until you finish a few core items (CDR items) then you can start poking as you wish, but I'm thinking about a farming video for Vladimir, so you will see things about farming more effortless.

Then when enemy laner or you decide to return base, you should be controlling your lane' s position according to minions waves, when he/she already B'ed, push lane fast as much as possible with and make sure that tower kills the minions so your opponent may lose many CS, if same things every going to happen to you- since you have your sustain, you may try to wait for enemy laner to return and continue to CS until that happens, or basically if your jungler accepts call him/her so your team won't lose gold balance and EXP.

You can also wait for an occasion to return to base if you think an item is needed/critical at the early game since your opponent won't be able to destroy the tower or even push lane fast but make sure you will not lose much CS compared to your opponent, or at least equalize minions so he/she may not get a free advantage from you while you were trying to gain a tiny/important advantage over him. I'm mostly pushing the lane in order to gank other lanes with ease so enemy mid lane can't catch, at least he/she should lose some minions as well. But when your gank succeeds the reward is more than few minions. And by ensuring your lane you get both your minions and kills/assists, which is far more enjoyable than mere assists. Since per 16 CS gold is equivalent to a kill score, however, a score is meaning that enemy will lose EXP, minion and lane control, which is more than mere 16 minions- makes difference nearly 2x. But I could suggest you professional players for learning lane control or at least last hitting while poking things plus don't draw too much minion aggro for while trying to deal 40 poke damage, minions can win the trade.

WARDING

Vision is one of the most important parts of a team-play around game LOL, as it allows you to control enemy movements, instant-baron and global quests become easier as your team has critical wards at right places. You are being a carry-tank for your team, but that doesn't/shouldn't mean you won't have any wards on the map mid laner should have around at least 10-35 wards per match, you should have wards at least if not your for team's sake, you should have some wards at important places for your lane and kill security, Trinket named a new category items introduced in season 4 as some of you already knew and as a mid-laner we better go to with in-general instead of other other choices like or .

: Generates/stores basically 60-120 (level based) sec. lasting stealth vision totems, up to a maximum of 2 stacks. Reveals a part of the invisible area, for example, dragon pit is not allowed to seeing by players normally/innately without ''discovering'' this area. The enemy can be there and takin' an elemental dragon while you're not seeing because of fog of war, and with right placed ''wards'' a counter-gang or stealing objectives such as becomes more possible.

We'll be sitting at mid-lane and taking exp/gold there for a long period of the game as a mid carry. Enemy team can possibly send some help to their mid-lane, those ''duo''s can be deadly, a hard CC battery or a healer which can possibly prevent you from taking a kill score and cause your very death, so to be aware of what is going in the fog of war, we should have right placed wards there to break away from unexpected s like threats.

I'll give a few examples of good ward places at mid lane, on both sides (Blue-Red) you should have warded at least one/few enemy brush line with an invisible totem, so you can play at those warded sides like a safety area, and maybe one visible [control ward] at your side on the map to control both teams more easily:
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This is where you should sight ward.

Green: These areas are important to catch easy kills and should be warded with Stealth Wards aka green trinket.
Pink: One of these areas should be warded whenever possible with Control Wards.

Spoiler: Click to view

As you can see, these places are usually where enemy jungler decides to come to gank you at mid, so having these places properly warded will usually reward you for your eruditely done movements, also makes 2v1 things more possible since being aware of HP bars of the enemy should help with the decision on going right 2v1 or if any possible.

There's a line at mid-lane something you can call ''safety-line'' right front of your tower between center of mid lane, to visualize what we're speaking;
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This picture represents ''safety-line'';

Dark Areas: These areas are the places that you won't want to stay in while playing safe, before returning to base or to avoid most ganks.
Light Areas: These areas are the places that you will want to stay in lane while farming, in defensive gameplay you can stay there.

X's are the places that you will usually want to avoid being there, before returning or in laning phase; that can make you get killed since there might be champions that are waiting for you to come closer for some skill shots like Death Sentence combined CC'es are dangerous if you aren't awake of the situation; scanned area represents cross-section that you will usually want to stay in while farming in safety, don't pass the trespasser line or let the enemy minions pass this line, you can stop lane somewhere scanned area or stand there in person instead of adjusting minions place.

But really lol you can watch Dopa's Twisted Fate to understand early and late safe farming/laning.

Lane: Trading and Poking Secrets

under cons...

I'm not sure how to tell this chapter with a poor enugrishu since a video is needed about poking and such, I may rethink if I'm going to fill this chapter with texts or videos or even a better readable idea, since I already used my ''credit'' of text character limit probably...

Radius Concept is Boring - Teamwork and Farming

You will not have much to do about teamworking. Play basically Vladimir and you are good at teamwork. Since you are a close ranged mage you have to tank while being a carry for your team. The best thing you can do for team-work will be destroying enemy ap-ad carry. Also, your ultimate skill will spread a plague that increases taken damage from enemies. Try to aim whole enemy team so your team will get a 10% bonus damage in team fights if you use your ult well. Also, it will heal you for per plagued enemy champion. Immortal vampire :3
Your will slow down the enemy on it while restoring some of the damage dealt you can use this skill as a baiting tool or slow movement speed reliant heroes to lower their efficiency in team fights. But be aware of your ult's healing time, you can miscalculate the zhonya and get killed without a proper combo. Always try to keep back your 3rd while tanking, cause its healing will be increased for every missing health.

eg. : At max hp q will probably heal you for 600+ points,
while at lowest hp, this healing will be probably over at least 1.8k and, I did get almost 2.5k healing without even a full build.

Hi again crickets, in this section I'll try to how to execute combos properly and hit all possible enemies with the power of 'Flash'.

As you can see, here our usual range of is not enough and we already channelling it, the only way to extend it is a proper use of or Hextech combo maybe.

But that doesn't mean that only way of extending the range of E, as you can see here I'm using the flash distance to close the gap.

And, you are ready to execute your combo, you can release the E after using Flash like here, but that's a boring combo, isn't it?

When your red bar shines, you can use your E+ Flash and W to catch a boost to your movement speed which will make chasing easier since passive + W grants short-termed movement speed increase.

Now after learning Flash thingy, I will mention about focusing someone, targeting, and a real ''Combo'' for team fights, which is far far more enjoyable than boring combos!

/league-of-legends/ability/tides-of-blood-287

Unique Skills | Combos | Positioning

UNIQUE SKILLS

As a Vladimir, you have to know your Q's passive. Every 3rd Q will do almost 2x damage and will heal you percent missing heal with ap scale. With like 500Ap you will get something like 20% missing health healing. That's how we will survive and win 2v1 fights. While doing 2v1 your first goal must be kiting them. Kite and run while spamming E and Q since with high cdr your 3rd Q will be ready every 5.0-7,5+ secs. That means 1k+ healing for every 10 secs so you don't need to be afraid of enemy jungler the only problem is your mobility. Try to don't get caught by them while kiting and easy fight.

COMBOS

Ideal combo in lane shall be something like that :

> because costs hp and transfusion getting stronger for percent missing health.

In team fights, you can try this one to destroy one enemy carry with 's help.

>3rd or 2nd>>+>>

Also this long combo is fitting long teamfights :

>>>>>>>to be continued... :D

Using R while stacking E strategy to increase your E damage:

And an escaping combo for complicated situations: +

Also this combo is really useful for chaotic teamfights : >+

And this is my example video for a proper combo; Use your Q before W and enter while stacking E. After learning this very basic combo of Vladimir you can discover your own advanced combos.

And the hardest combo you can achieve as a Vlad, also probably most strong for short team fights : 2nd>+++>>, the main point of this combo is you will be using + + in only 1sec so don't forget to hold and max E, since releasing E at earlier stages something not we want, more you stack the more damage you deal. Its really sometimes complex to do but your opponents probably will not be able to predict your E + R, because 95% or even more of Vlad players use R before combo, with this deadly combo your enemies cannot respond your combo, also yes, you can use and while stacking , but using while stacking will disturb skill and release it instantly. So be careful when you have to choice between E and Q. Remember that your flash is the most reliable combo and escape tool that you could get and cooldown reduction stats may be useful for more flashes and ghosts.

POSITIONING

In terms of positioning as Vlad, in league, most mage carries tending to stand in back lines in team fights, or combo and go passive mod again, however; Vladimir is actually represented an intimidating role in mid, his AoE damage alongside with high sustain and wasting time of enemy carries is usually judged as scary as a 5 team power, his both ability to tank while dealing damage letting him to do things more freely compared to other mid-laners, being that unlimited also gives an opportunity to him to act in particular roles.

If your team is well-oriented you will usually want to focus on enemy carries, in meaning time waiting for enemy skills for leaving them out of mobility is what usually when Vladimir's damage values, if you should avoid getting killed in random at team fights, that meaning probably many overfeed assassins, bruisers like , and so, or because of feed ADCS alongside with a strong CC support like and , so these things meaning you should avoid getting caged by them, or perhaps freeze the game so their effectivity will fall in general usually.

In such compositions, if your team doing well in bot and other roles, wait for their act so you may be able to follow enemy mistakes, and join the fight at the right moment to usually destroy a carry in secs with a 'flashy'' entrance, this, basically will lead you to a victory.

In a rewarding team you can basically role model a support, remove the obstacles that in front of your team like enemy strong carries that your team struggling with, if your affectivity is low, however, you should have ALWAYS serious damage to act freely, if your a solo you can/should gank mid lane even at level of 3! If timing is real, this will be ultra rewarding for team play as it will lighten the burden on the shoulders of the mid and jungle mostly, returning to your lane and control your opponent with lane control is nothing hard to come by as Vladimir, if it is not for a vital mistake, even with 1-2 level difference you may stop the lane pressure on yourself as Vlad after the ganking bot-mid-solo until the recall, so tension in your lane will basically increase, which will automatically lead you to two paths, control the lane; control the game or lose your lane with ganks and blame your teammates, you shouldn't hand over that advantage of yours to enemy after winning the other lanes basically which can fairly happen in most games, and having at least 1 ward is important for covering your lane pressure, and it will also lead you to another path; waste enemy jungler's time and kill them if possible or give scores to enemy jungler while losing your lane and you should have enough experience to make a decision between these dangerous choices as they are important for the most of the game that will affect both teams.

To return positioning things, as I said if your damage does not have a snowballing effect, like scores are 6v6 and you are doing +20-50% damage with your E on their carries, then you should wait your initiator to start a team fight like , then act instantly to help their focus on carries like when Lee is going to kick their you can place the on him to basically increase damage output to delete him instantly in order to reduce the chance of enemy support from saving him, as Vladimir, if your team is still strong yet losing team fights- you may attack in an unexpected time to deal damage to shocked enemies, they will/should focus you meanwhile your teammates like and getting rid of them, even if not for your teammates that feeding, you may basically turn the tide of game with an unexpected entrance as mentioned as before in the guide, only if you are sure that you can alone take off at least 1-2 scores, so with your team's support it can become more rewarding for your team as well, and I'm underlining that part again, before initiating in such a situation you should be sure of yourself to at least can ice 1 or few enemies in order to increase the chance of being successful in that attempt, so your team would not blame with ''OMG LOOK AT THAT VLAD HE' STILL ATTACKING AFTER WE'RE 15 SCORES BEHIND'' like words.

You should watch this if you just don't have any idea about what the hell you are doing with Vladimir.

Also you can watch some of professional Vladimir players to get more information about actual gameplay at mid lane at the every phase of the game. Not only playing but watching and analysing some players will help your performance to get better than ever.

Also that you can send me your match scores with my build to inspire other players too, I
will try to list them to make people see how my build is effective!

I have greatly utilized from jhoijhoi's guide to making a guide THANKS jhoijhoi!

You should be able to do better with reading my guide, do not forget to advance yourself while playing Vlad, don't play just pressing to the keys, try your tactics and advance them too, then choose the best one that suits roleplay in team and feel free to ask things about Vlady at comment section.

THANKS FOR READING MY GUIDE !

Update History

Further Plans:

~ More clearness and naturally used; nice to read language combined with supportive visuals, degrading grammar and meaning mistakes.
~ Better explanations for items and counters; more detailed in-path focused explanations.
~ A few vampire game recommendations maybe for those who not already played them.
~ More useful and plain guide, synergies between sections.
~ Perhaps a full gameplay video for one match, detailed in-game gameplay.
~ A Unique readable guide for Vladimir, and much more simple explanations to enjoy reading, I feel a-like I prepared to build more tending to help to build instead of a real guide, personally, in future plans, I want to redesign guide for more detailed actual gameplay instead of -before-game section, we can gather more lane and late game tactics for the guide in future and of course readability in the first place I suppose.

Build firstly released: 14-16 June 2016
Adding:
-Little retouches and more information at item section 19 June 2016,
-Big changes to build since meta and items is incalculable changing 23 October 2016,
-Little retouches and more information at mastery section 1-14 December 2016,
-Added a few videos 1-14 December 2016,
-Added more details about Vladimir and a few laning tips with a combo video 1-14 December 2016, updated the guide in March 2017 and added things' more.
-Fixed a few grammar mistakes,
-New opinions on some items and new things (big update of tank reworks 7.9-7.10),
-Still, nerfs incoming and changes happening 1 June 2017,
-New rune changes November 2017, updated again in December 2017.
-Mage item/rune changes June 2018, updated some of the out-dated values, info.

How to Vladimir [Out-dated] Guide: Kneel Before Vlad

How to Vladimir [Out-dated] Guide: Kneel Before Vlad

Recommended Items

Runes:

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Crimson Pact (PASSIVE)

Transfusion (Q)

Sanguine Pool (W)

Tides of Blood (E)

Hemoplague (R)

Threats & Synergies

Ahri

Annie

Cassiopeia

Diana

Azir

Irelia

Viktor

LeBlanc

Malphite

Pantheon

Rengar

Swain

Zed

Fizz

Renekton

Darius

Kennen

Sion

Fiora

Gangplank

Kled

Lissandra

Mordekaiser

Tryndamere

Ekko

Rumble

Wukong

Riven

Garen

Master Yi

Twisted Fate

Ryze

Akali

Corki

Jarvan IV

Nocturne

Zoe

Anivia

Pyke

Syndra

Introduction

- WELCOME -

"With my guidance you will become a deadly instrument, striking terror into the hearts of mortals wherever you tread. Now, listen to my words and do as I instruct''

POWER OF THE REWORK

BEFORE REWORK:

AFTER REWORK:

Music

Why should draft Vlad + Healing Over 4k (possibilities)

REALLY STRONG

First Blood at Level 2

Pros / Cons

Champion Abilities

Vladimir the Crimson Reaper

Passive

Crimson Pact

Q

Transfusion

W

Sanguine Pool

E

Tides of Blood

R

Hemoplague

Runes Reforged

Primary Path