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Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Ability Order
Crimson Pact (PASSIVE)
Vladimir Passive Ability
Introduction

Hello Mobafire peoples!
I've been playing Vladimir for quite a while now, and decided to make a guide for how I play him. He's seen some better days with where he stands in terms of power, but if played smart, he can still be a very fun AP Mid (or top.)
This is my first guide on Mobafire, so feel free to leave any feedback, I'll definitely take it into consideration.
UPDATED 1/22/12
Due to Feedback, as well as some Vlad changes I have significantly redone a large portion of the guide. I'd like to hear some feedback on my new builds and would appreciate people actually trying them before they vote on the guide.
![]() Pros: +Fun AP +Can do a lot of damage in team fights +People underestimate you, especially with your ult on a delay +Manaless, no need to worry about running low mid fight. +Great sustain. (One of the best) +Decent amount of health and tankiness, especially late game. +Pretty easy to get CS, especially once you can spam ![]() +Great escape with ![]() |
SPACE |
![]() Cons: -Not the highest damage out of AP Mids -Not much CC (Your ![]() -Unless very fed, usually can't completely nuke anyone -Almost all your spells damage you - ![]() |
Runes




Greater Mark of Insight:
I choose to use



Greater Seal of Fortitude:
I use



Greater Glyph of Focus:



Greater Quintessence of Potency:
The early game AP Boost on



I'd also like to point out that pretty much any combination of Mpen, CD reduction, and health runes will work well on Vlad, these just seem optimal for my playstyle.
Offensive Tree:
Here we take pretty much everything related to AP in the Offensive tree with 1 point in
Summoner's Wrath
and 3 in
Mental Force
, to get the buff duration bonus in Utility, and maxing
Sorcery. We put a point in
Arcane Knowledge
for that sweet Magic Penetration, and 3 in
Havoc
for some extra damage. We then max
Blast
which scales pretty nicely, especially with our next mastery
Archmage
. We finish off the Offensive tree with
Executioner
for that extra little bit of damage to seal the deal on our level 6 kill.
Utility Tree:
Not much going on here, just a little bit more utility. 1 point in
Summoner's Insight
, then maxing
Good Hands
and
Swiftness
and putting one point in
Runic Affinity
for the increased buff duration.
Here we take pretty much everything related to AP in the Offensive tree with 1 point in








Utility Tree:
Not much going on here, just a little bit more utility. 1 point in









ALTERNATIVES:





FOREWORD:
Keep in mind that these are the items I choose to build. They are not necessarily the best items to build, nor will they work for everyone. These are simply the items that fit my playstyle with Vlad.
I start my build with 1




The next time we go back should be after your lvl 6 skill kill (More details on this later) where, with pretty good cs, you can pick up your


If you didn't get the kill, but still had decent CS you can probably still pick up your

Next we finish our











If your building this


I pick up



ALTERNATIVES:
If the team is more AP damage based you may not want to take




Here are my explanations for why I choose not to build certain ways.
Why not pick up
Ionian Boots of Lucidity? These are definitely viable. No argument there, they in theory could be better, the extra CD reduction is very nice on Vlad, personally however I prefer a ton of spell pen in my builds. (Too many nightmares of tanks stacking huge MR against me.)
Why not pick up
Warmog's Armor? It does give Vlad a large amount of health, but I use this build as a pure AP damage dealer. With this full build you'll still be at around 4.5k health without getting a Warmog's. Any more health is just asking for a Madred's to cut you down. Plus the money we would have spent on a Warmog's goes towards more AP in this build.
Why not pick up

Why not pick up

A brief rundown of my take on Vladimir's skills.
Crimson Pact: Your passive. This used to truly be the defining mechanism of Vlad, but the ratio's have been nerfed pretty hard. Either way, it grants bonus HP for AP, and bonus AP for HP (they don't stack on themselves). Keep in mind that this ratio strongly favors AP->HP, so don't worry about stacking a ton of Health, just focus on AP, the health will come.
Transfusion: Vlad's bread and butter. His early game damage, his sustain, and his most damaging single target spell. This spell does a decent chunk of damage, returns about 1/3 of it to you, and is free. Max it first.
Sanguine Pool: Vlad's escape, slow, AOE damage, and AOE regen. It breaks projectiles and makes you untargetable for the duration. Has a decently long cooldown, and costs 20% of your current HP. If you are starting a fight you almost always DON'T want to intiate with this, as it will cost 20% of your max HP. You also DON'T want to use this to farm minion waves, unless you are about to go B, or for sure know the enemy team can't get to you for 20 seconds. Your enemies hate this spell, you will love it.
Tides of Blood: An AOE damaging attack. Costs more of your health to use if used in succession, but also does more damage (Good to stack up before going in for an initiation). Not much use early game, a bit extra damage in your fights, but it really starts to shine later on. With some spell vamp its almost always free/gives you health. With a lot of stacks, this spell HURTS late game. Plus it can hit every single champion and minion within 620.
Hemoplague. Your ultimate. You throw down a pool of blood about the size of your
Sanguine Pool that puts a DoT on those that are hit. This DoT increases the damage they take by 14% for 5 seconds. After 5 seconds it deals 150-350 magic damage (based on skill level) +70% of your ability power. UPDATE: This spell no longer costs 15% of your health to use! Increases your effective HP in team fights significantly. This is a great Ult to use at the start of team fights, and can completely turn a close fight into a one sided fight. The thing that makes me love this spell is its delayed damage. Very often, you will find people misjudging how much damage they are taking because of this ult. SO MANY TIMES, my enemies have run away with a sliver of health thinking that they are safe, only to be killed by the delayed damage. This combined with Ignite is a true level 6 killer.






This is just a fun little technique I like to do with Vlad.
I almost always try to hit 6 before my enemy does in lane. Before hitting 6 I harass a little bit, but not too much to get them worried. They usually are around 50-70% health when I hit 6. Right before I hit 6 I start to spam my
Tides of Blood to get the stacks up. I also position myself in about the middle of the minion wave, but off to the side so the minions don't block me.
Upon reaching 6 I get
Hemoplague and make my move. Throw down the
Hemoplague cast your
Transfusion first then
Tides of Blood followed by
Ignite. Get on top of them and use
Sanguine Pool if necessary, to slow them down and also do damage. By this point they will either be, A) Dead, B) Running under their tower with a sliver of health, or C) About 25% HP. If A or B is the case you are set, as in situation B, your ultimate and ignite will finish them off. If you are in situation C, then you are still in a pretty good spot because your
Transfusion is just coming off cooldown for the finishing blow. That is why it is important to cast
Transfusion FIRST.
This works about 80% of the time for me, unless the enemy is very tanky or has massive sustain. Occasionally if they are very bursty you might die in the process but you will get the kill afterward due to
Ignite/
Hemoplague which benefits you because you get more money from killing someone who has a kill.
I almost always try to hit 6 before my enemy does in lane. Before hitting 6 I harass a little bit, but not too much to get them worried. They usually are around 50-70% health when I hit 6. Right before I hit 6 I start to spam my

Upon reaching 6 I get








This works about 80% of the time for me, unless the enemy is very tanky or has massive sustain. Occasionally if they are very bursty you might die in the process but you will get the kill afterward due to



With this guide hopefully you'll be pwnin the noobs and carrying the Rally Revive jungle Soraka on your team. In the words of the great

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