Hello, this is my first build but i have been maining Vlad for a long time. I'm taking this build from games where i have gone 32/2 with Vlad, but also 3/11. In every situation you will have those games where you just suck. this isn't a magic build that allows u to become god. It is however, a great build for all situations.

People that don't grasp LoL fully miss understand that one build isn't going to work for them every game. Tanking for instance, when fighting an AD heavy team, your best bet is to Grab a Thorn mail as soon as you can. Not sticking with your regular "Rush the warmogs!" tactics.

This build is one that i have found a happy medium with and works well in nearly every situation as long as you don't feed. it is best used for Middle laneing or even better, Soloing top.

HOW TO PLAY???

Starting game you WILL BE SQUISHY. even with transfusion your going to want to play behind your creep line and keep that health up with regular Transfusion pops on the creeps and As much as possible, the enemy champion for harassment. (DO NOT SACRIFICE HEALTH FOR HARASSMENT) this is important that when trying to gain health by Transfusion, you don't jump into enemy ability range. A basic attack is fine, but try and use Transfusion immediately after they use an ability.

after you get Spirit visage you should start playing a heavier aggressiveness. Once you get Tide of Blood, you can also start pushing a little more by periodically running out, in between creep lines (caster and melee) and popping it while throwing a basic attack to last hit a creep, and casting Transfusion at the same time on another creep to get a total of about 2 or 3+ creep kills with that combo early game. this strategy is VERY gold efficient and will help you get that little edge vs the other mid lane.

Once you've gotten your First warmogs it's time to play Hard. this is when you Blow off your spells (except your Hemoplauge) and kill as many creeps quickly as you can. You only have cool downs to worry about and not mana, so getting blue (If no one else needs it badly) will greatly help you. this will Stack your warmogs fast and also Push your lane harder than your opponent is used to.

BLOOD POOL, FLASH, GHOST... THESE ARE YOUR ESCAPE ABILITIES. DO NOT COUNT ON TRANSFUSION TO SAVE YOU!!!! Transfusion WILL save you, but if you rely on it, you WILL get screwed.

Blood Pool can be used EXCELLENTLY in team fights by catching that runner, Saving YOUR runner, or doing a very nice AOE damage. how ever, If you see your team is OBVIOUSLY going to lose, be sure you have some form of escape, whether it be Blood, Flash, or Ghost.

ITEM REPLACEMENT

End Game with full stacks on warmogs, you will be sitting at 6k Health with a nice 300-400+ AP

If the game does reach the point where you want more damage, a replacement of Spirit Visage with LichBane gives +80 AP, and it gives your basic attacks the amount of your AP. Very helpful with pushing, and team/solo fights. (this replaces Spirit Visage because you still get the Magic Resist from LichBane)

If you are a die hard and refuse to put anything with mana on Vlad, You can always replace it with a Will of the Ancients, this gives the team spell vamp for some survivability, and the same AP as Rylai's.

If you're not satisfied with your AP at all you can simply Get another Rabadon's Death Cap

The 4th option, and one that i find myself fighting not to do, is replace a Warmogs with any of these instead of the Rylai's. This is a nice switch if your tank is doing his job very well, but keep in mind, even with the amount of health you have,your not a tank, you have no Mag Res or Armor. so you Will get focused.


RUNES
RED - Mag Pen
BLUE - Cool down Reduction
YELLOW - Health Regen
QUINTS - Move Speed

Vlad's passive is a lot more beneficial than people think. many people view the 40 points of bonus health to 1 point of AP, and 1 point of AP to 1.4 bonus health as something trivial because the numbers don't look big enough to them.

The fact of the matter is, Vlad may be the only AP NUKE, that can still be tanky.

Here's the Pros/Cons of Hybrid AP/Health

Pros
Very hard to kill.
With this much health, You are alive long enough to go through 2-3 cool down cycles per team fight.
Health Regen from Warmogs and Runes keeps you up and running
Health stacked gives more AP along with survivability
Blood Pool is now a Semi Spammable Nuke, as well as an escape technique
VERY useful for saving allies

Cons
Your Nuke aspect is no longer a 2-3 cast kill
Requires a much more active and controlled style of play