ABILITY SEQUENCE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

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Q

E

W

Q

Q

R

Q

E

Q

E

R

E

E

W

W

R

W

W

All footage shown in these GIFs belong to SkinSpotlights, for other ability demonstrations, skin spotlights and lots more find them on Youtube here SkinSpotlights' channel

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Poking In Lane

The greatest thing about Vladimir for beginners is that he has barely any combos to learn, simple poking methods in lane then an all in combo is all that you need to do, otherwise it's just using what ability that isn't on cooldown. Save your W Sanguine Pool in case the enemy retaliates before attempting to all-in someone

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Charge E --> Release --> Empowered Q --> Reset

--> -->

Q --> Q --> EMPOWERED Q --> Try and pressure your enemy with your empowered Q as much as possible

If you decide to take Flash, there is a very useful surprise burst combo that Vladimir can utilise!

All In Combo

--> --> --> --> -->

Charge E --> Flash --> R --> Release E --> Empowered Q (Preferably) --> Sanguine Pool (To dodge damage from the enemy) --> Ultimate Procs (Plus Ignite if possible)

This is the best all-in combo for Vladimir hand's down and it is a must learn if you want to pull off this champion. The problem with Vladimir is that he lacks mobility. This means Flash is 90% of the time necessary in order to surprise the enemy and land your E, Tides of Blood along with your Ultimate, Hemoplague.

This combo isn't too hard to perform I would recommend practicing the start of the combo which is holding and charging your E, Tides of Blood then using Flash and letting go of E. It's a bit awkward when trying it for the first time, but it's only a small but important step to get over.

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Summon Aery

Electrocute

Phase Rush

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Runes That I Take On Vladimir

Throughout this season I've experimented many rune pages and so far these 3 rune pages are my optimal choices as of present, these runes are focused in being the best way to maximise Vladimir's potential. The first being my favourite rune as of now Summon Aery, then second being the burst damage of Electrocute and another for my previous but a favourite still to many Vladimir players Phase Rush.

Starting off with, my preference for Vladimir going down the Sorcery Tree.

Summon Aery Rune Page

Second in line, my preference for Vladimir going down the Domination Tree.

Electrocute Rune Page

Finally, my old favourite going down the Sorcery Tree.

Phase Rush Rune Page

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Essentials

No Flash?

Flash: Essential for any champion in the game and it is important to consider on Vladimir. Vladimir can use flash to escape and engage with a surprise combo making, which is why it is one of the best summoner spells in the game. However Ghost provides a lot more benefits mid to late game, which is where Vlad strives. 99% of games aren't won early game when you play Vladimir, which is why Ghost is the more effective summoner spell. Sanguine Pool and Ghost also provides a relatively safe escape from most ganks. Whilst Flash will always be brilliant, Vlad needs the movement speed to succeed.

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These are the core, first three & essential items for the rune page heavily-centered around Summon Aery and Electrocute. The build consists of Hextech Rocketbelt, Cosmic Drive and Zhonya's Hourglass as they provide mobility, plenty of "Ability Haste" to reduce high cooldowns as well as high damage and Magic Penetration for Vladimir. Night Harvester is also similar to Hextech Rocketbelt but aim's to increase burst output. Either of these two Mythic Items are viable depending on your playstyle and goal as Vladimir.

Mythic Items

OR

So which Mythic Item is better? It depends on your playstyle. To push quickly, roam for you team and to chase down champions more effectively. Your preffered choice is Hextech Rocketbelt. If you are looking to burst teams quickly, scale hard and sacrifice the better wave clear and movement speed potential. Then Night Harvester is for you. Whichever you prefer, both Mythic Items provide similar outputs but in different methods.

Cosmic Drive: is a brilliant item and it's designed for champions like Vlad. High AP, Health and plenty of haste. To top it off, a few seconds of movement speed and increased haste. Vladimir's major weaknesses as we know are movement speed and high ability cooldowns. This item covers every strength and weakness of Vlad's kit. It's a must have.

Zhonya's Hourglass: Has been an essential item for any AP champion for a long time now and that's because it has one of the best active abilities in the whole game, allowing you to be UNTARGETABLE for a few seconds. Very useful in many situations, especially when you are being focused in a teamfight, use it to lose attention and gain a few seconds off of the cooldowns of you abilities.

Rabadon's Deathcap: is essentially Infinity Edge for an AP champion, increases damage output heaps for any build. With his passive the more AP you build the more HP you gain too! This will benefit both aspects of Vlad significantly. So if you are going to be the late game carry this is a must have!

Void Staff: Magic penetration is insanely good on many AP champs, especially for Vlad. A passive that increases magic penetration plus some AP is a solid item to slot in towards the end of your build path if you wish.

Spirit Visage: Very good item, and it suits Vladimir's kit. So keep these in mind plus you gain increased healing on your abilities which is a great reason to build this item.

Morellonomicon: This item is the sustain/tank sustain destroyer. If there is a major threat who heals too much, get Oblivion Orb and look to complete this item. You can burst through their magic resist with extra magic penetration and you also inflict grievous wounds by hitting them with a form of magic damage. Very solid team-oriented item with an AOE kit like Vlad's.

Banshee's Veil: Against an Ahri, LeBlanc or especially hook champions like Blitzcrank or Thresh this item can be very beneficial so you don't have to waste Sanguine Pool or even die to their Crowd Control abilities. This item provides an incredible spell shield, some needed AP and magic resist to top it off.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: If you like to go a hybrid build of AP and tank items, I would buy this item as a last or second last item. Whilst I don't like tank Vladimir it still provides both health and ability power. There are two choices for Vlad in my eyes, you can make youyr enemies slower with items like Rylais, or you can build items to make Vlad faster and chace down enemies. I know that option B is what I'd pick.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: These boots provide an extra bit of ability haste. As well as on your summoner spells which can have benefits throughout the game.

Sorcerer's Shoes: These boots are so good for AP Mages allowing you to bypass more of the enemies magic resist (which trust me they'll buy against a Vladimir). With an additional burst of magic penetration Vladimir will have no trouble beating tanks, adcs or anyone on the rift.

Plated Steelcaps: Great selection against champions like Yasuo or Tryndamere champions whose kits revolve around auto attacks. Not only can it protect you from their AA's, it can also give you some much needed armour against them to help trade with them or reduce their damage output. It is better to be alive in a fight and do less damage than to do no damage at all.

Mercury's Treads: Never really build this on Vladimir, however if you are up against an Ahri or an Annie this can save your life providing extra Magic Resist and less duration on Annie's stun and Ahri's charms. Tenacity is what you are mainly looking for when building these boots. However with Sanguine Pool and the potential to dodge incoming attacks as well as stuns, I would trust yourself without these boots most the time.

Vladimir's hardest time and most people would agree is his early game. Like many mage champions, Vladimir has low AD or attack damage meaning that farming is a little tough when you are being pressured by another laner at the same time. If you want to make farming easier, go ahead and start off the game with a Doran's Ring as it provides a small amount of extra damage when you auto attack a minion. REMEMBER, farming is probably the most important part of the game and the early game is crucial for Vladimir to get ahead of the pack. So use everything you have to your advantage.

The biggest issue I find with Vladimir's early game is his lack of early game presence. If there is a fight in the river, you will lose most fights if the amount of allies and enemies is even. Vladimir's lack of early game damage is the major cause of this as well as his lack of Crowd Control. Additionally his benefit of using health instead of mana is a sin in the early game as you are dealing damage to yourself with a lack of items to compensate for your low health pool.

Early you want to use auto attacks and importantly Transfusion (Vladimir's Q) to poke enemies, whilst healing yourself. You can use it as a farming tool to help you achieve that extra CS. Once you get level 6 and gain your ultimate Hemoplague, look to make a play on you opponent if possible. Or if you can't, push the minion wave into their tower and look to help another lane. There is always something you can do around the map, vision, ganks etc.





This is when you start feeling the difference in your gameplay. Your farming issues should have resolved by now and your damage output is climbing as well. You should have some ability haste along with some damage items making you a huge threat to any opponent.

Once you have achieved this power-spike you can likely 1vs1 most enemies if you have gained enough gold from last hitting them creeps without copping too much punishment. Along with a good or even EXP Advantage. Continue to play aggressive when you have vision of other enemy opponents. Make sure you pressure them with your Q's as you would throughout the early game.

Finally once you've pushed your way up look for a roam into a different lane to either feed yourself with a kill and pressure their lane's turret, or help your top or bot laner get ahead. It may be difficult closing onto them without having any sort of Crowd Control. However, I would also recommend having summoner spells such as Ghost or Flash built up just incase. Make sure to have full awareness of the playing field around you, trust me your other lanes will appreciate you for it.






Then congratulations if you have ticked a majority of these boxes then you will find the reason I've mained Vladimir for the past 3 years.

Vladimir is a lethal asset for your team late game. As Vlad you are able to produce INSANE amounts of AOE (Area of Effect) damage with your Hemoplague and Tides of Blood. With the sustain from Transfusion and Hemoplague, you also have the ability to go in to the middle of teamfights, reset, then repeat. You become very annoying and yet very threatening.

With ridiculous damage, increased healing and a massive amount of Ability Power with a set of abilities a child could use. You will take down ADC's or even high AD Top Laners such as Irelia, Darius and more with ease. You can take out almost anyone in a 1vs1 if you don't waste your cooldowns and perform the correct combos (stated in the previous 'How to combo' section).

In a teamfight or when you want to force a fight, try to have your Transfusion passive with at least 1 stack so you can activate Crimson Rush sooner in a teamfight. It can be the difference to taking out an ADC losing their high damage source or not dying sooner.

In teamfights you can be the engager and the damage output, if your teams prepared signal to go in with the all-in combo mentioned previously in the combo section. If they focus on you activate Sanguine Pool your W and keep using your Q and E to heal and produce significant damage. You can also add in a Zhonya's Hourglass to repeat a similar process like when using Sanguine Pool to dodge a majority of incoming attacks.

With Vladimir's kit, his late game sustain, his late game damage - the enemy is in deep trouble for allowing you to reach peak male dominance and you need to take full advantage of this if they let you play your game this long











I'm glad that my guide has been effecting a lot of people. Hope you enjoyed my guide on Vladimir, I hope it helps you get that little boost of knowledge for the champion I love playing. He's not hard but he is one that's hard to get used to!

Once again if you have any enquiries don't hesitate to ask and please give me your opinion on how i can improve! :)



Vladimir is a champion whose abilities are easy to understand for any player but only turly effective in the right hands. His playstyle is very unique, despite having a basic kit to understand. It can see many new player's (like myself 3 years ago) struggle to understand his early game and get past that stage efficiently. However if this stages is completed well the player is rewarded with a monster of a champion that can destroy enemy teams mid and late game.

Big thanks to jhoijhoi for helping me with the prepartation of this guide, you can check her out here jhoijhoi's profile
ALSO A MASSIVE THANKS TO Rock3tt being a huge inspiration into why I learnt Vladimir, he knows the game well better than me at the very least!

He is a very good teacher his videos are terrific content and enjoyable to watch. They certainly helped me get off the shelves when beginning this champion as well.
You can find the man's youtube channel here Rock3tt's Channel

Finally, a big thanks to Katasandra for assisting in the recreation/new tangent in this guide, their coding and presentation skills is unparamount and it is what allowed for this guide to take a better look (that I hope you guys enjoyed!). Please check their beautiful Lissandra guide here: Katasandra's Lissandra Guide!