Welcome one and all to my Vladimir guide. This is my first guide so please bear with me and don't be to harsh. My whole point is to show that Vladimir still has potential on the battelfield even after his nerf. I would love to get feedback so let me know what you thought of the guide.

If you read anything read this: Vladimir needs farming to be of use, focus on getting last hits on minions. Early game you are squishy, do not take risks. Also remember your abilities cost health so don't go and kill yourself. These are important factors to remember while playing Vladimir.

I put a good amount of time into this guide so please reconsider down voting it before testing it out. Additionally, thank you very much for taking the time to read my guide. If you decide to down vote my guide then please leave a comment letting me know why so I can improve.

Bragging area:

If you have any pictures, videos, and so on of you using my guide in game or a match history picture please feel free to send them to me in a private message and I will post them here.

These are a few pictures of games I've played as Vladimir. They are in order of newest to oldest.






Terms:

Just incase you're a beginner to League of Legends here are a few terms to know. These are common terms you see in game. I thought I would make a list of them to have a more user friendly guide.

• AP - Ability power
• AD - Attack damage
• CC - Crowd control
• MIA - Missing in action
• Jungle - Area in between the 3 paths
• Elo - Refers to rank
• MR - Magic resistance/Mana regeneration
• MP - Magic penetration
• CDR - Cooldown reduction
• Farming - Gaining gold from minions
• CS - Creep score
• Creep - Another term for minion
• Squishy - Unable to take high amounts of damage
• Fed - Having many more kills than any other player
• Gank - A surprise attack

Pros + Fantastic late game with around 3-4k health. + Insane life steal, able to enter the jungle and return with almost full health during late game. + Can escape just about anything. + And he just looks awesome xD

Cons - Very squishy early game with long cooldowns. - Needs lots of farming to be of use. - Useless if someone on the opposing team becomes fed. - Difficult to get used to.

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Useful for... trickling progress... haha... (I couldn't resist).
• Greater Seal of Vitality: Health per level adds extra survavbility.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: AP per level for extra damage.
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: AP for more attacking power.

NOTE: An important point to remember when playing Vladimir is most of your abilities cost health. If you are not watching your health you may end up killing yourself.

• : Your passive will turn your health into AP and vice versa. This actually makes you quite tanky since you will end up with a lot of bonus health from this passive (The bonus health and AP you gain from this does not appear on the cheat sheet above). I would also like to mention it has a poor scaling with health as opposed to AP, thanks to mastajdog for pointing this out. In other words, you gain more health from AP than AP from health.
  
  
• [Q]: This is your main ability and your best friend once the cooldown lowers. You will gain a lot of life back from using this ability while doing significant damage to enemies. Late game you can head into the jungle with low health and come back out with almost full health by using this.
  
  
• [W]: One of the best escape tools in the game, you can dodge just about anything anyone throws at you with this. DO NOT use it for attacking unless you are way ahead of the game because of the very long cooldown (26 seconds at level 1).
  
  
• [E]: Another main ability, use it in succession with Transfusion. I cast Tides of Blood first then I follow up with Transfusion. Tides of Blood will stack up to 4 times and the more stacks it has the more damage you will do with Transfusion. For 1v1 fights you want to keep your stacks at 4 by alternating between Tides of Blood and Transfusion. Throwing in Hemoplague at the beginning of the fight will help significantly.
  
  
• [R]: A fantastic team fighting ultimate since it gives 14% increased damage for 5 seconds on any enemy it is placed on. Plus after the 5 seconds it does initial damage to the infected target(s). Which means if placed at the right time in the right spot this could mean a lot of multi kills and kill securing. Hemoplague can break teams apart and could possibly be the winning factor to teamfights. Not only that but the animation and sound is just intimidating.

Transfusion needs to be maxed first since it's your main ability. Tides of Blood comes next since it goes hand in hand with Transfusion. Sanguine Pool is last since level 1 is sufficient enough to escape enemies.

My recommendation is to pick up these items in the order you need them. If the enemy team starts building magic resistance, start building magic penetration. If you're getting destroyed in team fights from the start, build items that make you more tanky. The order that the build is in right now is for a "perfect" game. So feel free to jump around and buy the items in any order you need.

• + x3: Always start with boots and 3 potions, this also goes for just about any other AP champion. Don't recall until you have 1200 gold for your Hextech Revolver. Unless you're getting heavily harassed and you need to go back to heal.
  
  
• or : In most cases you will take Ionian Boots of Lucidity. However, if the enemy team is building a lot of magic resist then take Sorcerer's Shoes. If they have heavy CC then take Mercury's Treads.
  
  
• : This is your core item and it really emphasizes Vladimir's abilities. I mean he's a vampire... Spell vamp... Never mind....
  
  
• : All casters should get this.
  
  
• : At this point most good teams will be building magic resist so counter them with this item.
  
  
• : The slow really helps out with chasing enemies down. The health and AP provide extra damage and survivability.
  
  
• : A nice item to finish off with for some armor plus AP and a handy active.

• Spirit Visage: If you're getting hammered early game then pick this one up, it's cheap and it helps with surviving. Replace it with something better during late game.
  
• Abyssal Mask: If you need magic resist plus some magic penetration then get this item.
  
• Guardian Angel: A very good defensive item against AP and AD champions. This is for the very long games where you will lose if you end up dying.
  
• Quicksilver Sash: Provides extra magic resist and works like Cleanse allowing you to escape death many times.

• When team fights break out stay close enough to use Transfusion and Tides of Blood.
  
• Do not get right in the middle of the fight.
  
• Try to use Hemoplague as early in the fight as you can. You want to wait for the moment when you can hit their entire team with it.
  
• You rely heavily on your team in order to do well.
  
• Transfusion is your main damage output and Tides of Blood will increase it.
  
• Sanguine Pool will help you escape in rough situations.

Vladimir still has much potential on the battlefield even with his nerf. I hope this guide will convince you to start playing Vladimir again and greatly enjoy him.

Remember that Vladimir is not an easy champion to play and that he takes a few games to get used to.

Please test my guide and play a few games before deciding to down vote it, positive feedback would be great and thank you so much for reading my first guide.

Also, thanks to JhoiJhoi! Her epic guide can be found here!


The skies will rain red.

October 18, 2011 - Guide posted.
October 18, 2011 - Added changelog xD
October 18, 2011 - Added descriptions to items to consider in the Items chapter.
October 20, 2011 - Added spells to consider in the Summoner Spells chapter.
October 20, 2011 - Minor changes to the Skill Sequence chapter.
Octover 20, 2011 - Added to the Team Work chapter.
October 20, 2011 - Minor changes to the Items chapter.
October 20, 2011 - Added terms to the Introduction chapter.
October 20, 2011 - Major changes to Item Purchases.
October 30, 2011 - Changed the Skill Sequence.
October 30, 2011 - Changed the Item Purchases.
October 30, 2011 - Changed the Rune Build.
November 1, 2011 - Added pictures to the Introduction chapter.
November 13, 2011 - Changed Summoner Spells and Masteries.
November 16, 2011 - Updated for new Summoner Spells and Masteries.
November 16, 2011 - Added a durability build.
November 22, 2011 - Changed item build.
December 5, 2011 - Changes to the item build.
January 5, 2012 - Changed the item build once again.
January 17, 2012 - Redid almost everything in the guide.
January 18, 2012 - Got rid of Spirit Visage since so many people seemed to dislike it.
January 19, 2012 - Added more situational items.