English is not my native language, im always thankful for improvement suggestions regarding grammar and spelling. This build is considered off meta and i would never claim at any point, that vladimir support is a good or viable pick. You may get flamed if not even banned, so use it at your own risk. Official thoughts on this topic:

Greetings, i'm Vladimir Support, a diamond Vladimir support OTP on EUW. Sometimes i have to play our favorite hemomancer in ADC position or midlane due to my secondary role, but i try to solely play Vladimir as support . You may ask why on earth would you do this to yourself and you are absolutely right, there are little to no rational reasons to play this build. But then again i have to give you a few counterquestions: Is it fun to walk the same worn-out tracks of hundreds of thousands of players? Is it fun to see the same champs and playstyles over and over again? Is it fun to be known for abusing
S tier champs every patch? Is it fun to ruthlessly aspire elo gain, hence nonchalance vanished a long time ago into oblivion?
If you answer these questions in the affirmative, this build sadly isn't suited for your needs. In that case i suggest
to press ctrl + w and never look back, we should studiously avoid false expectations. This build is not a fast ticket to "high elo", it's more of a idealistic concept, rejecting the nauseating and mundane state of this amazing game. It's a crusade for diversity and freedom, trying to rejuvenate and rekindle the forgotten cinder called fun.

Now, break free from your chains and join the revolt today!

Yours sincerely,

Vladimir Support

Pro → Fun to play

Cons → Early game health pool isnt the greatest → Lack of mobility → Extremely high cooldowns with full ap build → Has no hard crowd control, close to no peel for your adc → Hidden passive: the pick tilts your whole team in champ select → Wrong usage of E will **** up your wave control and lasthit farm → Wrong usage of Q will **** up your wave control and lasthit farm → Not as easy to play as it might appears at first glance → A lot of adcs aren't used to this pick and will play insecurely → All deaths of your allies, even if they died 10 times in a solo lane 1v1 scenario, are obviously your fault → Own team might ban vlad in champ select beacause they are afraid of your performance → No sustained dmg after your combo → Hidden passive: get stigmatized before you even left the fountain → Coinflip every game → Expensive items → You might get banned → Seriously, dont play this Z tier trash

SUMMONER SPELLS - - FLASH: Overall essential spell in every matchup. Flash enables target access for surprise combos and allows us to dodge threatening key abilities. Hop over walls and dash heroically into Ace in the Hole to save your ADC, the capabilities are endless. IGNITE: Why Ignite over Exhaust ? Well, with this build we want to accumulate as much early dmg as we possibly can. In addition this spell procs Electrocute and allows us more flexibility regarding skill point distribution.

DOMINATION

My keystone of choice is Electrocute for various reasons. This build evolves around early game damage maximization and snowball potential. Summon Aery offers marginal dmg and poor scaling, Arcane Comet is way too unreliable due to no hard CC. Phase Rush offers no dmg at all and Dark Harvest is too inconsistent. Electrocute is also essential for our cheesy burst combos.

Wait a minute, you said this this build evolves around early game damage maximization, why do you prefer Taste of Blood over Cheap Shot?! Dear overly attentive reader, we are in urgent need of the sustain from Taste of Blood. To get in our Transfusion we need to get close and personal. We basically always take minion aggro along with dmg from the enemy support. In addition we are still a piece of paper during the early stages, Vladimir is a late game champ after all.

Eyeball Collection ensures that we actually do pop off when we get ahead in the early game. Zombie Ward on the other hand, does close to nothing until Oracle Lens. Ghost Poro is also a very viable choice here. In difficult matchups it is way easier to get consistent stacks with this rune. If you really cant get in close enough for your poke, substitute Eyeball Collection with Ghost Poro and Scorch with Gathering Storm to stay relevant.

Ravenous Hunter provides healing for the damage dealt by our abilities, up to 12.5% for 5 unique takedowns. With this full AP build we get nauseating amounts of healing.

SORCERY

The hunt for early game damage maximization continues. Absolute Focus offers us a decent dmg boost with nice scaling throughout the game while we are above 70% HP. As Vladimir we can easily recover from bad trades and maintain the AP bonus from this rune. Transcendence is a considerable choice, but bare in mind that it wont contribute anything towards early game dominance.

This rune is crucial to our early game presence as it's really effective when trying to win dominance over the lane. Scorch applies on auto attacks, item actives and every ability we cast. This rune is also able to trigger Taste of Blood. Against some matchups your poke is unreliable and you cant get in close enough to apply Scorch consistently, therefore you should swap it out for Gathering Storm in certain scenarios.

Additional damage and some health for our resource pool. Insecure non Chadimirs take Shield instead of health.

PASSIVE ABILITY

CRIMSON PACT (Passive): Simple and effective, for each 40 HP we gain 1 AP. Vice versa 1 AP gains 1.4 HP. With this full AP build we gain a huge amount of HP throughout the game, which makes us quite bulky.

Q

TRANSFUSION (Q): Our bread and butter ability. Offers solid damage and allows us to recover from trades. After casting Transfusion twice, vlad gains Crimson Rush for 2.5 seconds and 10% bonus movement speed for 0.5 seconds. Under the influence of Crimson Rush our next cast of Transfusion deals 85% increased damage and heals for an additional 30 - 200 (based on level) (+ 5% (+ 4% per 100 AP) missing health). The healing effectiveness is reduced to 35% against minions. Casting abilities like Sanguine Pool and Tides of Blood or even item actives like Zhonya's Hourglass will "pause" the Crimson Rush bar.

W

SANGUINE POOL (W): Treat this ability as your most sacred and precious possession. With a whopping cooldown of 28 seconds and -20% of your current health, this ability has to be used very wisely, especially with this low CD build. Sanguine Pool allows us dodge threatening key abilities and offers great outplay potential. It also comes with a 40% slow on enemies standing within its range, our only soft CC besides Tides of Blood. You are able to cast item actives during your pool, for example Hextech Rocketbelt, Spellbinder or Zhonya's Hourglass. I don't recommend you to cast the latter during your pool. Sanguine Pool won't disrupt your Tides of Blood casting animation, but keep in mind that you are not able to cast your other abilites during pool. Therefore you have to cast Tides of Blood BEFORE you sink into the bloody puddle.

E

TIDES OF BLOOD (E): Offers nice AoE damage and can be easily applied to the enemy backline, due to the already mentioned interaction with Sanguine Pool. Keep in mind that the projectiles won't pierce through minions or champs. If charged for at least 1 second, enemies hit by Tides of Blood are also slowed by 40% for 0.5 seconds. Try to use this ability sparsely, the dmg to hostile minions can ruin your wave control, particularly on botlane. Use it when you are certain to land it, for Electrocute procs or ganks / engages. Your major poke ability should be Transfusion.

R

HEMOPLAGUE (R): Vladimir infects all enemies in the target area with a virulent plague, increasing the damage they take from all sources by 10% for 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, infected enemies take 150 / 250 / 350 (+70% of ability power) magic damage, while Vladimir is healed for the same amount (healing is increased by 50% for each additional champion hit beyond the first). Try to apply Hemoplague to as many enemies as possible, at the very least to the backline. Be aware of its interaction with Zhonya's Hourglass and Spellbinder.

Before we get into detail the general distribution should be as follows: R > Q > E> W. You may wonder why i take W second and why i put 2 points into Q. For the latter subject just take a look at the section beyond this one. The majority of Vlad players take Q > E > W at lvl 3. You can still do that if you want to. In my humble opinion, W second comes in very handy for vladimir support. Many botlane duos are looking for a nice engage at Level 2. Against Thresh and Lucian or equally oppressive lvl 2 laners, Sanguine Pool second will secure your early game. In addition many junglers like to lvl 2 gank your lane, because... well you are vlad support. Just give W second a try, i know its not very common, but i think it is especially good on botlane. You are still able to proc Electrocute with Flash -> Q -> W -> Ignite for all in situations. Other than that max your Q to boost our poke damage and E second for AoE in teamfights, R whenever possible. This distribution is my personal preference, try out different setups and find your own playstyle!

QWQ: Why do i prefer 2 points into Transfusion before i get Tides of Blood? Our Q offers extremely reliable damage, compared to our E. It also improves our overall recovery from trades or early ganks. It is quite cheesy to take 2 points into Q and 1 into W, you can catch lots of enemies off guard and still proc Electrocute with Ignite. Give it a try!

QWE: I recommend this more ''mellow'' skill distribution for vlad support beginners. Particularly when you transitioned from a mid vlad playstyle to support, you are used to have all your skills at Level 3. The extra slow from Tides of Blood can be useful. Keep in mind, that it is very easy to steal farm or **** up your ADCs wave control with this ability.

I do prefer Spellthief's Edge as my starting item for vladimir support. Relic Shield lacks offensive stats for a bit of sustain, which we can substitute easily with Taste of Blood and Transfusion. Ancient Coin seems intriguing with its MS and CD, despite the unuseful mana coins. But then again this build evolves around maximizing early pressure and snowball potential. You could fiddle around with Ancient Coin, it just doesn't fit my playstyle and is, in my humble opinion, way too passive for this build. Nonetheless it is more reliable to stack, you dont have to trade in order to get gold with it.

SORCERER'S SHOES

VS

IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY

The extra penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes fits really well into our full AP build. Its one of our first noticeable power spikes and gives us enough MS to get in that juicy empowered Transfusion. These boots, paired with Morellonomicon allow us to bypass Void Staff in a lot of games.

I prefer Sorcerer's Shoes over Ionian Boots of Lucidity for its damage output and the fact, that early game as vlad support is very crucial. We try to mantain momentum and aggression in lane to maximize our snowball potential. If you ever have to buy both Void Staff and Morellonomicon, swap out Sorcerer's Shoes for Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

Often overlooked, but insanely good with this build. Spellbinder gives us raw damage and target access. Each spell that is used around you (including your own) adds a stack. At the maximum of 100 stacks you gain 80 AP and a large amount of movement speed for 4 seconds. Some things to note about this amazing item: To maximize its potential, always slightly tap your Tides of Blood when leaving base to gain some free stacks. It wont cost us that much health. In addition the active effect only lasts 4 seconds like already mentioned. It is important to know, that the damage dealing portion of Hemoplague ticks in at 4 seconds. So activating Spellbinder BEFORE your ultimate will NOT empower the damage and healing of Hemoplague. Therefore you should (whenever you can) activate this item just AFTER your ult. In addition Spellbinder will NOT interrupt your Tides of Blood channeling.

Devastating item both for your enemies and your purse. Despite our low eco as a support player, Rabadon's Deathcap is still a must buy nearly every game. Horrendous amount of AP with one of the best power spikes in the game. Indispensable for every full AP build in general.

VOID STAFF

VS

MORELLONOMICON

Against heavy MR stacking teams Void Staff is your penetration item of choice. It is a tad cheaper than Morellonomicon and doesn't require you to buy HP at all. On the other hand side, you are giving up on the Grievous Wounds passive. There are certain games where you need to buy both Void Staff and Morellonomicon. In those cases sell your Sorcerer's Shoes to avoid overpenetration and get some helpful CD from Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

In the majority of your games, the magic penetration you gain from Morellonomicon and Sorcerer's Shoes will be enough. In addition the Grievous Wounds are especially useful as a support player. Must have for champions like Soraka, Nami, Yuumi or Toplaners like Darius or Nasus, you name it. Downside is the investment into HP and its marginally higher cost compared to Void Staff.

It's time to demystify this unholy grail. Feared equally by your teammates and the enemy team, Mejai's Soulstealer has an undoubtful psychological effect. If you are playing well and got a decent lead, dont be afraid to buy this item. Mejai's Soulstealer will teach you how to play conservatively when you need to and aggressively when required. This build is the effigy of a coinflip anyway, why wouldn't you just go full force at this point.

Good situational item, can be used equally for engaging and disengaging. The slow potency increases with traveled distance. Sometimes you can just use it to scout out major objectives like dragon or nash. Imagine this scenario: You successfully killed the enemy botlane and now you are helping to push the wave under the enemy tower to deny farm. BEFORE you go back, cast Twin Shadows to hit the already respawned enemy botlane during their little stroll back to lane. That way you will deny even more farm, enforce your lead and inflict true mental damage. In spite of all its usefulness, i still prefer Spellbinder over Twin Shadows. It offers me enough target access, plus an insane damage increase. But as always, test it out for yourself.

This situational item fits well into vlad's kit. Zhonya's Hourglass allows us to dodge threatening key abilities when Sanguine Pool is on cooldown. I consider this item as our only defensive option in this build because of its interaction with Sanguine Pool and Hemoplague. In lategame scenarios with full build, some Mejai's Soulstealer stacks and a whole lot of bounty, you flash into the enemy team and unload your combo. As a result, the whole mob seeks for vengeance and will focus you down. We are still very squishy, despite the amount of HP we accumulated. In urgent need of those juicy Hemoplague heals we need to bypass 4 seconds until they proc. Sanguine Pool will give us 2 seconds, Zhonya's Hourglass additional 2.5 seconds of unvulnerability. With the amount of AP in this build we are basically full health when we leave stasis and can keep on succing them dry. In addition you will loose the tower aggro and transfer it to another ally / minion in its range. Furthermore pressing Zhonya's Hourglass will pause your red bar of empowered Transfusion. Don't build this item early on in the game, it will slow down our momentum and hinder the snowball potential.

Now this is a tricky one. Core item in close to every vlad build out there, insanely good stats, amazing active ability that can be used during Sanguine Pool, missiles proc Frostfang stacks, Scorch and Taste of Blood. What is this blasphemy, you may ask, why is this item not listed in the build at all? Hear me out my dearest reader and hover that mouse away from the downvote button. Hextech Rocketbelt may fit in every build BUT this one. I dont like the fact that i have to invest into HP instead of AP. Early game is the most crucial part as vlad sup, so i just try to accumulate as much raw power as possible. We are always low on eco and our items are expensive. I tried Hextech Rocketbelt first item, but i feel the lack of dmg, it just takes too much time to build in general and is negatively affecting our snowball potential. But then again, thankfully im not your dad, you do you. Try it out by yourself, you may get better results as my modest appearance.

The ultimate portrayal of a noob trap, just dont.

TO-DO:

-Friendly Reminder
-About myself
-Scuffed Flowchart
-Pro - Cons
-Summoner Spells
-Runes
-Abilities & Skill Order
-Itemization
-How To Play Vladimir Support
-11 totally out of place book recommendations
-11 totally out of place pieces of the romantic era
-Special Thanks


- specific sections for early, mid and late
- tips on how to execute flash and elec combos correctly
- how to heal up in lane without taking farm
- how to play when behind
- gradually get rid of the lorem ipsum fillers
- revision
- check discussion thread -> maybe create faq if there are common questions

WIP

A list of 11 books i highly recommend (difficulty level refers to the german version of the books, translations may differ):

Prose:

1. Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis ( - )
2. Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters to a Young Poet ( + )
3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust, Part One ( = )
4. Fernando Pessoa: The Book of Disquiet ( - )

Philosophy:

5. Seneca: On the Shortness of Life ( = )
6. Marcus Aurelius: Meditations ( + )
7. Arthur Schopenhauer: Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life ( - )
8. Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None ( - )

Psychology:

9. Gustave le Bon: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind ( + )
10. Siegmund Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents ( - )
11. Carl Gustav Jung: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious ( - )

( + ) These books are relatively easy to understand, start with those if you are not a bookworm.

( = ) Mediocre difficulty, should be doable if you already made good experiences with the ( + ) books.

( - ) Abstract theories that are relatively difficult to grasp and / or leave lots of room for interpretations.

A small subjective selection of the romantic era:

1. Frédéric Chopin - Waltz No. 2 in B minor, Op. 69

2. Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor Op. posth.

3. Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne No. 2 in B major Op. 9

4. Frédéric Chopin - Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66

5. Frédéric Chopin - Waltz No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42

6. Frédéric Chopin - 12 Études, Op. 10: No. 4 in C sharp minor "Torrent"

7. Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90: Prelude

8. Richard Wagner - Lohengrin, WWV 75: Prelude to Act I

9. Claude Debussy - Suite bergamasque: III. Clair de lune

10. Franz Liszt - Liebesträume, S541/R211: No.3: Nocturne in A flat major

11. Robert Schumann - Symphony No.3 in E flat, Op. 97 - "Rhenish": 2. Scherzo

Special thanks to Jhoijhoi for her amazing Making a Guide article, as well as the The Crimson Circle.