So the question has been posed who am I? to respond simply I'm a gold 5 at 1550 elo. I'm not some monster player who shows up on LCS or the spectate live boards; but merely an inspired player who wishes to help people improve guides and learn champions. I picked up Vladimir fairly recently and fell head over heels for his play style of a top AP caster.Due to the fact that I play mid and top most he felt like a suitable champion. But enough about me babbling on lets get on to learning about this amazing champion.

Who and what is Vladimir? Vladimir is an AP Bruiser Mage. He is a strong top and mid lane champ who can sustain against most enemies in lane making him a very hard opponent to force a recall against. Vlad is very tanky due to his passive and his close range on his spells promote being in a fight for long periods of time. This combination of statistics on him make him a strong champion to pick up for new players and fun for more experienced players; making him a fun champion with a moderate level of difficulty to learn.

Pros High sustain Great late game Moderate difficulty Great on any map (3v3's, 5v5's, ARAM's) No mana Can dodge a lot of spells

Con's Weak early game Spells cost health Team oriented One escape mechanic Not very helpful with ganks Season 3 items can shred him IE: Liandry's torment Hard to carry with

I will discuss each of these Pro's and Con's in the guide as I go along.

So with all champions there are summoner spells to choose from obviously. But the real question is why choose a certain spell? For Vladimir, he is very versatile and can choose a few different summoner spells allowing for different playstyles of him.

Flash is a bread and butter spell on most champions with the exception of Singed, Hecarim at times and the most feared champion with ghost in the game (not really) AD Heimerdinger. Don't mess with him he will chase you down and pentakill your entire team. (not really) Flash is a good choice on Vladimir due to his lack of gap closers and escape mechanics besides his Sanguine Pool. This is a very strong choice for him.



Ghost is another viable spell on Vladimir for an escape mechanic. I believe Vladimir's movements speed doesn't reach above 395 with tier two boots and alacrity that aren't mobility based such as Mobility Boots or Boots of Swiftness. So this makes it a strong choice against enemies.And you movement speed wont be affected in your pool. So if you decide to ghost pool they will see a red puddle for only a second before your under turret.



Ignite is solid choice and should be taken as your second summoner spell 80% of the time due to your lack of kill securing potential. This is a great spell on almost every character in the game. I can see only a few reasons to take other summoner spells.

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I don't usually run Heal on Vladimir due to his high sustain. I think this option would be viable against Riven, Rengar and maybe Teemo. This does reduce your chance at securing kills but if you know for a fact that a lane isn't going to be easy this is a viable spell. This allows for great baits which can help if you are setting up a gank.




Similar to Heal, Barrier is another spell great for baiting an opponent. It's really a player's preference to choose heal over barrier. This is situational and should only be taken if you feel that laning phase will be a bother.



This is another great spell for Vladimir. In my opinion this spell can be chosen quite a bit actually. This spell is great if you feel that you will have to recall often. So going against hard intiating champions who deal AD damage IE: Riven, Wukong, Darius. This will allow you to get back to lane and not miss out on the vital early game creep score neccesary for vlad. I highly recommend running this spell when against champions like Shen, Twisted Fate or another champion with a semi/full global ultimate. This can also be used to help gank bot or mid lane if you push your lane.



Use this Vs. Tryndamere. I haven't had to use this a lot. But it will save you from time to time.

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Vladimir doesn't have mana so it's pointless.


Try not to die and you won't need this spell.



This covers which summoner spells are good for certain occasions and which ones you should never take. I feel these spells are best suited to vlad's strengths and weaknesses.

I have seen Vladimir's masteries be varied in two distinct patterns 21/0/9 and 9/21/0. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. I will discuss both patterns by showing when and why to use them.

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This is what I run on Vladimir usually due to his nature of being a mid and top laner he can be run in a few different ways. So I'm going to show you what options are viable.




I believe that this is the best for Vladimir as he is an ability power mage who needs some form of early damage. Due to his lower damage output early game this is the best solution for him. I feel there isn't any real substitute for theses.

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This is a great rune to run on Vladimir against most champions in top lane. I run this 80% of the time due to the amount of damage from Attack Damage based champions in top lane. I suggest running this against Riven, Xin Zhao, Fiora.


This is another great rune on Vladimir that can be used in top and mid lane. This is another great rune if you feel that armor runes are unnecessary. This is a great option if you decide to go mid lane.

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This is good due to Vladimir's lack of damage early game. This is one of the best options for Vladimir as his early game damage is terrible. This will allow him to deal damage before you get a Hextech Revolver.


This is great vs a strong magic damage champions. If you feel that are you going to be wrecked by someone then this is a viable option. I would take this against Elise, Mordekaiser, if up against a good Singed player then maybe.

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So lets discuss the different forms of starts for Vladimir. Because he has at least 3 general starts that for different situations are superior over one another in different situations.


This is what I start on Vladimir 70% of the time due to the amount of attack damage based champions in top lane. Use this start against champions in the Nightmare lane and Hell lane section. And if you have to build a Ninja Tabi then you already have on component to it.


This start is mainly for farm lanes and can keep you in lane for very long periods of time. The ward is also a nice addition to this start in case you start pushing the lane and fear a gank might come. This is beneficial if you want to run a Spirit of the Spectral Wraith on Vladimir.



This is a very risky start and I rarely run this. It can be beneficial though as it allows you to rush a Hextech Revolver faster. But the drawback is you have a lot less sustain. Try to only use this vs an easy lane.

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Vladimir is actually very lucky as most boots are viable one him. We will discuss which boots are good for each situation.

In this section I will cover items that work well on Vladimir if the situation is correct.

Ability Power items that can replace Zhonya's:


Rylai's Crystal Scepter:

80 ability power
500 health
30% slow passive

Why is this item viable? If your up against a 4 AP team armor will be the least of your concern as health will allow you to stay in the fight longer and it allows for the wombo combo of the Liandry's Torment and slow combination. This will put your health up to 3k but you will have a lot less Ability power.

This is the Nightmare lane section. This is where the champions that make you want to sit beneath turret and cry for jungler to camp your lane are placed. But we shall not give in to this attitude and will find a way to beat/manage to survive.


Riven is by far one of the worst champs for Vladimir to have to deal with. She has tons of gap closers and has crowd control. Most rivens can kill you as early as level 2 if they are good. So to deal with her here are a few options that help to fight against her.




Despite that he isn't listed as a counter he is insanely difficult for vladimir due to Rengar's almost infinite gap closing possibility,early damage,sustain, and crowd control. I know how annoying Rengar can be as a champion. He actually has potential to beat Singed so that is saying something.





Elise is a difficult champion to go against as her skills counter Vladimir. Her early burst damage and strong %health spells make it painful for Vladimir But, she lacks an ultimate move so there is a possibility to beat her at lvl 6.






This is for champions that are hard to beat and can kill you but it's not impossible to win the lane against.


Despite the lack of people who play him, he is insanely strong early game and is very difficult to kill. This match up depends on how you do from levels 1-4.





This lane is a complete and utter nuisance and will leave you hugged at turret crying for jungler ganks. He outranges you and his poison will slowly whittle you down. This is a lane that vladimir wants to avoid.





Darius the king of annoyance and pain. He is difficult to fight against due to his haste/slow/and pull.

Unlike Riven, Irelia is possible to kill and win lane against. There is very little room for error against her due to her sustain, gap closer, and Crowd control. I really don't recommend playing vladimir against her if possible.




This lane is a very high skill cap lane that borders on hell lane. Lee Sin's damage early is strong and he is extremely mobile making ganks beyond frustrating. You probably won't have a single successful gank so its best to tell your jungler to camp mid and bot lane.





This little guy can be troublesome if you don't play the lane correctly. But he isn't very hard to beat in lane if you can win the trades.

This is for the champions you are on an even play field on or can't kill. I define farm lane with the match up of Singed Vs. Nasus. Despite how aggressive a good Singed player can be, he still can't kill Nasus due to his sustain and Nasus doesn't have the ability to kill singed early game.



So due to my main top lane champion being Singed I'm obligated to hate Jayce. You can't really kill Jayce as he outranges you and he will NEVER engage unless he knows he can beat you. This is by far the most boring lane to play you can be really aggressive in this lane and zone him out as your burst is very scary. If you want to see my rant on how I hate Jayce I have placed the spoiler below.





You won't be able to kill this guy. Don't try to as you will get nowhere. Best thing to do is farm and harass him to try and deny creep.

This lane is actually very easy and I love playing against zed's as Vladimir. Despite what most people think about zed's massive amount of damage and gap closer Vladimir can still win lane and beat him.






People might argue with me on this but, I feel Renekton has very few chances to kill Vladimir and it's even possible to kill Renekton before level 6 when he is relatively strong in lane. You should never lose lane to him unless he gets jungler help or outplays you majorly.


















Yes the so called "broken champ" is possible to beat and kill. His sustain and poke is great but learning to play against him is easy.

The End

Just needed to get this guide out or I never would publish it. On to working on a Trundle guide.