Vladimir is pretty much amazing. His Q is a crazy nuke, his ult can turn team fights, he has a fantastic built in escape mechanism also making him a great tower diver. In short, he's amazing. This build focuses on building a large amount of AP while also giving him some survivability.

Magic Penetration, standard for casters
Greater Seal of VitalityHealth/Level, gives more health and AP thanks to his passive
Magic Resist/Level, gives more survivability against casters like Veigar and Ryze
Flat AP, stronger early game

Viable Runes

Greater Seal of Defense Armor/Level, more survivability
Flat AP, an even stronger early game

Standard for AP Casters, but having no Mana means Vlad can have bonuses Mana users don't get. 9/21/0 is also viable for those who have issues staying alive.

Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions is my favorite starting combo because I like to be able to get in and out to hit a Transfusion. Next, I grab a Hextech Revolver and Sorcerer's Shoes so my Transfusion gives me even more health Tides of Blood can even start giving health. Next, Mejai's Soulstealer because your ability to escape death rather easily makes it easier to keep the stacks up. And that 15% cooldown reduction at 20 stacks is just gravy. Now get the Rabadon's Deathcap for a huge AP boost and then finish off Will of the Ancients. Now time for the Abyssal Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass for even more AP, survivability and great passives. This build will pretty much get you through every game.

Viable Items

replacing - This isn't a bad choice. However, the added Attack Damage and Lifesteal really isn't that useful for Vlad. The only useful part would be the active, but it cost a whole 1500 more gold.

replacing - If you're having the ****tiest time staying alive, take this for more survivability as well as an awesome passive, which may be just enough for your teammates to try and save you or for you to pool away.

- I used to have this in my build, but there's a few reasons why I don't take this anymore. One, Vlad has a slowing ability. Two, you'd have to get rid of something like or or and I'm not willing to do that because the first two give much needed Armor and Magic Resist as well as better passives and the last gives gobs of AP. So, no Rylai's for me.

- Every point of bonus AP you get with Runes, Items and Masteries gives you bonus Health and vice versa. So, buying AP gives you more Health.

- Your bread and butter. Easily one of the best abilities in the entire game. Sacrificing no health, Vlad does immediate damage and then heals himself for a quarter of it. You want to max this as soon as possible because at its fifth level, it has about a two second cooldown, does crazy damage and is great for laning. This is what makes you one of the best at soloing. Spam this ability on minions to heal you, harass enemies with it. It's lovely. Also, it does immediate damage, making it fantastic for last hits to earn gold.

- This is what makes Vlad hard and easy to kill at the same time. If you get ganked, simply drop into your pool and float away unscathed (excepting the health cost of the spell). However, more often than that, you'll be using it to slow down fleeing enemies. The cooldown on this ability is rather lengthy, and without the pool, you're rather susceptible to getting murdered.

- Your farming spell. This hits every enemy in its range with blood. So, walk into a crowd of minions, activate it and watch your gold grow. Also, using it gives it an added affect with up to four stacks, making it more powerful while also costing more health to cast.

- Every enemy affected takes increased damage and then they get hit again for good measure. This makes you deadly when ganking and in teamfights. When ganking, warn your teammates to go all out against them the second you cast. Hit as many as you can, and just go for it. This spell makes taking out tanks simple and squishies even easier. In teamfights, try to hit as many as you can again and focus the weaker enemies. In a lot of team fights, you will be focused as well. So always try to get your Hemoplague out there to help your team even if you die.

So, your basic sequence should be something like this:



This is more than enough to drop a lot of enemies, especially early game. However, early early game (i.e. before Transfusion is Level 4 or 5) just focus on hitting a Transfusion on the Champions when you can, but mainly last hitting minions and keeping your health up (which isn't hard given you also have 3 Health Potions).

A pretty obvious and good choice in my opinion. Ghost for escaping and chasing. Ignite for last hitting, especially early game, or for stopping Champions like Mundo and Soraka from healing themselves to safety.

Viable Spells

This isn't a bad choice for some nifty escapes, but it doesn't synchronize with your Sanguine Pool as well as Ghost.
Not a bad choice for pretty much any champion.
Meh. You could. I just prefer ignite.

All the others aren't good choices at all.

Vladimir can really be a game changer when played well. And vampires are pretty much badass. Not to mention his dance. So try him out. Dominate. He's crazy fun. Please vote, comment, critique etc, but not before first trying out the build, would you kindly.