I Enjoy playing a vlad as my main and have made this build out of elements on this site that i have found useful. M focus is on a late game teamfight aoe, this build isnt tanky, you are a mage, so do try to remember that. This is my first guide, so we'll see how it goes, if you have any disagreements or what not please leave something in the comment box rather than downvoting. Well I'm not very good at writing introductory paragraphs for school papers either so lets skip to the important stuff shall we?

Pros:
-Solid late game
-Scales up with items and levels very well
-Massive aoe damage for teamfights
-ult provides boost to teammates in teamfights
-hard to kill
-good tower diver
Cons:
-poor early game
-item dependant
-short range
-lack of cc

Ignite: overall a good spell for vlad, the extra damage helps finish off enemies that underestimate your burst at low levels, and is ice to have for high mr/hih healing enemies
Ghost: this + pool has saved me many times, and is useful for chasing
Flash: While this is not my skill of choice, some people like it to jump over stuff and surprise enemies
Clarity: no

I chose the defesive masteries for 3 reasons. First, if you want to get the most out of vlad later on, youre going to end up in close range to your enemies, and anything that will help keep you alive is useful (vlad is a popular focus target). Second, during the laning phase you are weak due to a general lack of offensive abilities, and the buffs here will help keep you alive. Third, There are alot of points in the utility tree that just arent something youll be able to use often that you end up having to take

Marks: You ae a caster---> you take magic pen marks to hit harder. There is no exception to this rule
Seals: I take hp/lvl seals over flat hp because by level 5 they are more effective than the flat hp.
Glyphs: AP/level for more hp and raw damage, cdr is nice for healing but unless you are firing all spells on cd it doesnt make much of a difference
Quints: Flat HP for better survival early game, also makes you look scarier to your laning enemy (admit it, if you see a big hp bar on your enemy it makes them look more powerful)

Trans: Max this early and often, its all you have early on to protect yourself and kill your enemy, keep it up to date
Sanguine Pool: Get it at lvl 2 if you exect a gank, level 4 if you dont. This is why people qq about vlad, it deals damage, slows, and lets you rofl as the ashe arrow, nunu ult and lux beam al whiff over you. COmbine with Ghost and a buch for ultimate escape potential

The first four items listed are my core build, [Meijai's Soulstealer] , [Rylize Crystal Scepter] , [Rabadon's Deathcap] and [*Sorcerer's Shoes].

Sorc Shoes: Some people prefer ionian boots for the faster healing but most of the time if I am going to get a kill in my lane, it is because of hemoplague and ignite eating a bunch of their HP. When you decide to try to finish off the enemy, you only get a couple spells so you want to make them count. However if te enemy youre laning against has you on the ropes and you need the healing the boots can be swapped out

Meijais: I usually opt to get a meijais because vlads high survivability allows him to keep stacks pretty easily even in tough situations, you only need to hold 5 to make the item worthwhile in terms of AP.
Note:If you are uncertain about your survival rate, grab a hextech pistol or haunting guise instead so you dont waste time with an item that wont work out. That being said, if you have it, and mid/early late game isnt going great, dont sell it, in teamfights there is almost no way you wont get enough stacks to pay for it.
Rylize: really doesnt need an explanation, it adds a needed ranged slow and more useful stats

Rabadons's: MOAR AP, Its good for you.

I also have the [*Abyssal Scepter] in there because in most games end up taking it for the extra defenses AP, and MAgic Pen, although if the team is really AD heavy or youre getting focused you may want to go with the [*Zhonya's Hourglass] (or both)

The last item depends on the enemy team
-you can get another defensive AP item ([*] abyssal/[*] hourglass) if you are getting hurt by enemy AOE attacks or have to contend with mild focuing during fights
-if the enemy has alot of MR a void staff is very helpful (you may end up getting this earlier if need be)
-If you need a bit more oomph in killing things and pushing towersa lichbane is expensive but provides alot of nice benefits, massive damage on autoattacks, more AP, movement speed (something this build lacks), and more MR
-If the enemy team really has it out for you, a GA is a useful item to keep your stacks up and allow you to come back and actually contribute to a fight

I did not take:
Hextech Pistol-an interesting weapon, but doesnt become anything else later. for its cost you could get an amplifying tome and a blasting rod and still have money left over, you miss a small amount of healing but hit much harder and are that much closer to your rylize. The healing is nice, but vlads heals are more along the lines of advanced regeneration between fights, they save you only very rarely in a fight itself. That said if you dont think the meijais will work out (ie, cant keep more than 5 stacks) take this instead

Spirit Visage: im not a fan, the hextech gives you better healing than this one, and thats the main draw. The cdr is okay but not really worth getting this over the pistol. However you may opt for it if strong casters like LB (may she rot in hell) annie or the like are giving you a hard time

Haunting Guise: Same reason as hextech pistol

Early Game:
I off taking boots, some pots and a solo lane, mid is optimal but top works well too. This time is CRITICAL. If you fall behind here it will ruin your entire game. Once you reach yor lane, other than the usual babble about lasthitting and watching for ganks, there are 3 things to need to know:

1. You are teh weaksauce; vlad has a very weak attacking potential early game compared to nearly any other ranged champ. Trans is on a 8 second or more cd until lvl 7, with low damage and short range, spamming your e will kill you very quickly, and if you use pool the enemy jungle WILL gank you, and you will die. Do not get into prolonged fights unless you have a bunch of minions beating the tar out of your enemy

2. Harass: this is where the boots come in handy, mounting hit and run attacks whenever trans is up on your laning foe will weaken him/her/it, possibly leading to a kill. I also cant stress enough how important it is that you throw an autoattack on them as they leave, this quite often mkes the difference on who backs/dis first. More importantly this protects YOU. By making yourself look like more of a threat you lower the probability of someone fighting back and taking advantage of your long cooldowns (for whatever reason people back off when you hit them, not sure why). Your early game operates on this fear principle, if you dont give them a reason to think they can outfight you, they wont try (even if they would succeed)

3. People understimate your burst-90% of your earlygame kills will be due to this. After harassing an enemy for a while you will notice theyre at 400 something hp and are still chilling in the lane. Raise your hand if you would do this with an LB in your lane. Yeah, thought so (i think it has something to do with never taking more than 100something hp every 8 seconds). At this point (and lvl 6+) its time to strike. Once they enter the range on trans (the shortest of all your spells) hit them with everything youve got. At this point they will notice just how low they really are and start to run. Smile to yourself as they leave your LoS, then count backwards from 5, congrats, your first kill! (Feel free to dive in order to pull his off if you have minions nearby, your pool will drop tower agro, although you still will take a hit)

HOWEVER you may have noticed all this depends on the enemy NOT coming for your head as you attempt to harass (***** LB). IF this happens simply stay back and farm, and whack em with trans if they get too uppity and try to zone you, when they counter they will get minion agro, take some dmg, and back off a bit, allowing you to continue getting exp

Mid Game:
Now things get interesting. Mid game starts for vlad at level 9, when you get the shininess that is rank 5 trans. You can and will wreck most other champs in the game at this point. If you plan on taking a soulstealer, get it now and gank like a mofo, it is critical you hve a successful middle game, as it can make the lategame a breeze if you manage to get some fedness. Strategy in lane is the same as before, but now you can crush almost anyone but LB (who i DESPISE) in a shootout due to the short cd on trans. However you want KILLS, so try to avoid scaring enemies out of your lane if you dont have a way of finishing them (ie. hemo+ignite or ghost+q spam). Gank wherever possible to get even more money and stacks. Teamfights will be starting here, use a combination of empowered tides, pool and hemo to aoe the enemy team down quickly. Wait for your allies to engage bfore you go into the fight, but dont be afraid to miz it up wit the enemy and fight at short range, this is where you re at yur most effective with your point blank range aoes. As vlad there is no such thing as ks, unless youre taking it from a yi or trynd there is no champ that scales as well as a vlad with a soulstealer per kill (yes i know im a wad for saying that but to be honest, it works).

Late Game:
The teamfighting fom the middle game becomes more important, which coincidentally, happens right as you start getting your most powerful aoe abilities. The idea behind combat is the same, attempt to aoe the enemy team down after your allies have picked up agro, my usual rotation is hemo-tides (hopefully empowered)-trans-pool-tides. I throw in the trans there because you want to hold off using pool right off the bat in case circumstances (nunus ult, their kog finds you, etc) dictate you need to hide. Try to avoid doing anything suicidal though unless if will clinch the fight for your team and minimize deaths, your stacks are important. If you get low, run around the outskirts of the fight, popping in and out to use trans and throw a tides in. In any 1v1 fight, attempt to kite the enemy with your q+rylize but try to avoid fighting alone, as the benefit you had from trans earlier becomes less important as the focus of your spells shifts to aoe damage and teamfights

General notes:
-Vlad is good at escaping ganks, but dont get cocky, pool wont always be enough to save you
-You should always continue to work on your build whenever possible, although try to make sure you have enough money to buy the next peiceof your build when you head back (kind of obvious but, whatever).
-do not let your large hp pool fool you into thinking your invincible, most of that will evaporate just from using your spells
-watch your stacks on tides of blood, if they get too high on low levels you will kill yourself attempting to attack.
-LB should die a painful death

And thats it I guess, leave any comments below on how to improve this guide, feedback is always useful. May the field run red with the blood of your enemies! (sorry, couldnt resist)