There have been alot of negative comments on the previous nurf patches on Vladimir. This guide is to show that he is still a viable champion and can carry your team. There is no perfect build to Vladimir as every game you will have a different build depending on what enemy you have, but this build. Vladimir is very sustainable in lane, but is hard to be successful before level 7.
This build is build around AP and NOT hp (will be explained) and for it to be more successful you should take the mid lane. I hope you vote this guide up, if not please read through all of it and consider. Thankyou and enjoy.

Pros:
>Good team fighter
>Has a big HP pool, without having HP items
>Has good damage late game
>Self-Sustainable, hardly has to go back to base
>Able to dodge most forms of Crowd Control if played properly
>Very hard to kill as he can dodge most forms of Crowd control and has life steal.

Cons:
>Targeted in team fights as he is squishy
>Often played poorly by people who don't understand how to utilize him
>Referred to as "one of the easiest champions in the game""
>Referred to as ''over powered'' as he can spam Q
>Hard to play before level 7

Just incase you get confused the items I have listed above is just what I am ''likelly'' to build in most games.

Starting Items
I always recommend to get amplifying-tome + health potion as starting items as it gives you 20 ap which gives extra healing on Q and also gives extra AP as your passive gives 1.8hp per 1AP.

But another couple of decent starting items are boots-of-speed + health potion x3. It is good as you have high speed and wont die as easily and can grab last hits easily.

Core items
Boots of lucidity
Hextech revolver
Rylais crystal-scepter
Rabadons Deathcap

You get Ionian boots of lucidity as the cool down reduction is vital for Vladimir to spam his Q, as in the previous patch his cool downs had gotten nurfed.

The Hextech Revolver is vital for Vladimir for when he spams his Q, it helps him to be more sustainable in lane as he heals more when spamming Q.

The Rylais cyrstal scepter is a great item to grab at the start as the HP from it helps alot and can save your life. Also the AP stacks with more HP and the passive from the item can save lives and gain kills as it can slow enemies.

Rabadons deathcap is a standard item for any caster. The AP given from it increases your damage output massively and it stacks well with your passive (gives you extra hp).

When you complete your core items, you will want to build some tanky items, since you are going to be aimed alot in team fights. 3 Tanks item I normally take on vladimir is either Abyssal-scepter, Zhonyas hourglass or Quicksilver sash.

Quicksilver sash is an amazing item as it is cheap, has a good old cleanse and great magic resist. Abyssal scepter is another great tanky item for Vladimir as it gives great magic resist and also gives you a little more damage output as it gives magic penitration. Another great tanky item for nearly all casters is the Zhonyas hourglass this item is one of my favourite as it gives alot of AP and defense also when your have spammed all your skilled you can turn this on, wait for your cooldowns and then spam your skills again.

People may be wondering why get 9/0/21?

By taking the Utility section in masteries you will get Cooldown reduction which is vital for Vladimir as he needs to spam his Q in order to stay in lane and to help in team fights. You will also gain...
>10% Reduced time dead, meaning you'll probably save roughly 90~140seconds of downtime per game.
>5% Increased EXP, which keeps you on-par with other casters in mid, in opposition to being Level 5 while they're 6, it makes you very disadvantaged.
>20% Increased Buff Duration. Why not? Even more CDR on Vladimir. GG
>2% Movement Speed increase is essential to Vladimir, as he is naturally slow.
>10% Cooldowns? More Transfusions, more damage.
>15% Reduced Summoner Spell cooldown! More ignites, more teleports! More splitpushing!
>3% SpellVamp! This is marvelous for the entirety of the game, and it helps more than you know. It synergizes perfectly with all of your skills.

Why not 21-0-9?
As this is the standard mastery for any caster it is not has helpful as 9-0-21 because yes, you may gain a little more damage output. But if you were to go 9-0-21 you would have even more damage output as you can spam your skills much more often.

I take Ghost and Flash as they are extremely helpful when running away and chasing enemies. These 2 spells can help you win your game so many times as you prevent your enemies from becoming fed and escaping from their death.

How do I escape?
The best escape method is not to Flash out then Ghost, or Ghost then Flash.
The best method to escape is to ghost and then use sanguine pool.
I can't stress this enough because even I, who I think is pretty much the best vlad player in game panicks sometimes and forget to use my amazing escape combo.

You get the speed of ghost and speed bonus from sanguine pool plus invincibility for 3 seconds, and if theyre still on you, you can flash away for extra distance.

DO NOT BUILD WARMOGS OR SPIRIT VISAGE

As you have probably seen in many Vladimir item builds, they build Spirit Visage or Warmogs. I have tried this many times, and it is NOT as successful as building AP.

Yes the Spirit Visage may give you some extra cooldown reduction, but trust me it is not worth it. And for magic resist you already have Quicksilver Sash which is great. And tell me do you really need that little extra amount of hp? No.

For Warmogs, after the nerf on Warmogs the item has become even worse. And trust me for the amount of money this item cost it is NOT worth it and takes up space (For my build).
You need the magic pen, maybe QSS + Zhonya Ring for better survibility.
You just don't have room for this which only beneficial point is to let you become like a Tank. I like to play Vlad as being a mage, hit and out, burst and out and surviving at end and putting out a high damage output.