I am Bellarix, and i play mid. In particular, i play Vlad. And I'm not going to call Salce out on his guide, but i disagree with him saying you shouldnt be in front. In many situations i've seen, Vlad will be the one in the front, he usually has the most sustain, can poke, high health, escapes, zhonya's and more. and if all CDs are blown on you (not just ults) and you ult them all, E,and be a meat shield for your ad carry you did your job perfectly. This In some situations this is not true, such as if you have a team that doesn't have a high damage output without you and they usually will have it.

''That which runs through you will run you through.''
-- Vladimir
Ah.. Vladimir, the one and only god among AP carries, You see, Vlad does not care what you are, you do not counter Vlad, you do not beat a good Vlad in mid lane without help, even Irelia can't do with it.

Let us begin. Vlad is an AP carry that is the among weakest in early game and among the strongest early game, if not THE strongest. He will run into your team 1v5 and will walk away from it at times, think of it as a Singed but with ranged nukes and treat it as such late game, you do NOT under nearly any circumstance want to fight him late game without help.

Pros Sustains very well +very good passive +very hard to gank +is not hard countered by anything in mid +Very very strong late game.

Cons - You revolve around your passive bonuses for the best stats. -Very weak early game -If you get too far behind you will have big trouble if you cant farm your way back,you will not be able to escape most situations if they are allowed to control you.

Flash Ignite

Ghost Heal

Flash Heal

Flash Cleanse

These are the currently best and more or less only real options for his summoners

The masteries i use are the best for abusing his AP and health bonuses from his passive, crimson reaper There is not much else to say about it other than this is flat out the best standard route for Vlad, and in certain situations changes can or will be made.

There are many doubts about the best runes for Vlad.. and to be clear, spell vamp is BAD for him compared to what you could have.

This will give you early MR, Magic Pen, and AP. It will also give you health, along with bonus HP and AP from your passive.

Keep your E up at 4 stacks constantly, if youre low level i suggest 3 stacks max if youre hurting yourself too much only use 2 stacks. At level 1 and 2 you are free to harass anyone, after that you must not fight anything unnecessary until 9.

There is no REAL sequence to using his abilities other than starting with R or Q, rather than making use of how long the cooldowns are. If your ult is up, rush in on them, Ult, Q > E etc.

NEVER USE W OFFENSIVELY unless your enemy is katarina for example, and you both have around 100 HP. its just a horrible, horrible idea.

When getting items you want to abuse your passive crimson reaper and go for items like Rylai's Crystal Scepter which gives 500 health and 80 AP and a great passive effect.

Your passive crimson reaper gives Every 40 points of bonus health gives Vladimir 1 ability power and every 1 point of ability power gives Vladimir 1.4 bonus health (does not stack with itself).

So let's do the math. Rylai's gives 500 health, 80 AP. your passive gives 1.4 bonus health per AP and 40 health gives 1 AP.
80x1.4 = 112 health bonus and 500/40 = 12.5 bonus AP
Add this all up and you get a total of 612 health and 92.5 AP from Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Hextech Revolver is used to out sustain anyone that tries to do anything to you as well as deal damage back to them.
Spirit Visage is used to give magic resist, CDR, and healing bonuses.
Zhonya's Hourglass is used to have a second invuln, high AP and good armor bonuses.

SITUATIONAL ITEMS!

Quicksilver Sash This is a must have item against a team with Malzahar Malz will beat you in every case before you get this item, the best thing to do is get Hextech, Negatron, QSS, then rush rylais - Qss is generally not needed against skarner because if they go for you and you die in the ult, both of you are doing something terribly wrong. You shouldnt be the one getting ulted by skarner in any situation, and if you die because of it it's either your own stupidity (getting caught alone in a bad bad spot) or youre doing something very wrong.

Force of Nature against heavy AP teams (3+) or 2+ AP carries.

Void Staff Only get this if more than 1 person is stacking MR, or if they all have over 160 MR

Anything else can usually be outweighed in the game due to his passive.

Alphabetical order, if not listed you shouldnt have any problems. 1-4 = Easy/Farm lane. 5-7 = Medium, may have trobule 8-10 = hard, you will in situations be pushed around, and need to make it into late game.

Anivia: Difficulty - 3-10 It all depends on how good the anivia is with skillshots, and etc.

Brand: 3-10 : same as anivia, but you will conquer him late game.

Cassiopeia 5-10 : She can be difficult to deal with, but after a while its just no problem anymore, QSS may be useful if you arent good at avoiding ult Stoning.

Cho'Gath 2-10He wont be easy to kill, but neither will you, just outfarm him or get good ganks.

Darius 7-8 one of the few things i see as a threat in mid against Vlad other than swain, if he knows exactly what hes doing. (doesnt play like dyrus and builds IE, goes for sustain)

Diana 4-10 Learn to dodge her Q, shut her down, and you will win.

Evelynn She isnt hard to deal with in lane, but in ganking lanes she is. Pink ward the middle of the mid lane and call SS if she isnt visible (pink ward it after pushing hard) and hope your team doesnt be stupid.

Fiddlesticks 1-10 he can be tough, but in most cases he simply cannot do as much as you can, especially if he gets no blue.

Fizz 7-10 One of the hardest matchups, but can be dealt with if you play and build correctly, do not extend too much, and if you see him hit 6, back the **** off and let him push a while, tell teammates to expect him to gank, and not to do stupid things or bad trades.

Galio 5-10 You will not kill him if he is smart, and he will not kill you. Farm harder and you will be fine, the worry is late game if he gets an ult on your team.

Gragas 4-7 CD reliant, all AP, no auto attack at range, very high burst. avoid his Q and dont let him position to ult you into his Q.

Karthus 5-10 Farm lane, push push push, clear his wraiths if safe, and clear yours if unsafe, gank after pushing if available, best to go with your jungler.

Katarina 5-10 the whole game you will be equal or ahead of her, if your team has CC or you shut her down you will have no issues

Kog'Maw 3-10 He will outrange you after 6 and will have high damage, your only hope is to be tanky enough and he runs out of mana (he will run out in a straight up fight in many cases) due to his ult cost.

LeBlanc 5-8 Early game champ, hard to deal with early, is bad at farming. you will crush her late game if you dont feed her.

Lux 4-8 Dont let her hit Q.

Malzahar 4-7 ignore him early game, do anything you want, until he hits 4-5. Rush hextech then QSS or in some cases you will lose.

Mordekaiser 5-10 Q him every time he comes to E you, or minions. do not let him harass you more than you do to him, build MR.

Orianna 4-10 abuse the fact she has low HP, you have a stronger early game.

Ryze 2-4 You will do more damage than him first few levels, abuse that and force him out very early and stay ahead.

Swain 9-10 Perhaps the worst thing to fight against, avoid playing against him if possible. If faced against Swain, do not rush AP, build tankier. Hextech, Rylais,FoN, Mercs,

Twisted Fate 1-5 easy to deal with, but gets out of control due to his ult.

Veigar If he gets a good stun and youre alone.. high chances are you will die if played wrong in ANY way.

Xerath 7-9 high range, high magic pen, high damage. Ignore building MR and go straight for HP and AP stacking.

Ziggs 4-5 Push, gank, farm.

If you want to know how to ward and such, go somewhere else, this is not a guide to teach you how to mid, it is a guide to teach you about Vladimir mid.

This will teach you most things about Vlad, the rest you need to learn yourself. Leave any comments, suggestions, feedback for me that you will.

Credits for help on some coding for guides go to JhoiJhoi