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Vladimir Build Guide by

Vladimir - thoughts of a Vladimir main 6.4 (outdated)

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Vladimir Build Guide By Updated on

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Choose Champion Build:

Standard 6.4 runes next pages
runes 1 - AD matchups 20%CDR
runes 2 - AP matchups 10%CDR
runes 3 - Standard 20%CDR
runes 4 - No Luc' or SV 30%CDR
6.4 Tenacity build (recommende
6.3 Swiftness madness
Facultative items
Snowballing build
You have no CDR runes

Spells:

Teleport

Flash

Items

Sustain & vs skill-shots / melee

Safe start vs AA & single target

vs AD AoE burst

Greedy start, risky

Early game

Boots choice

Openning #1

Openning #2

Openning #3

Openning #4

Standard Build

Vs AP heavy Build

Vs low mobility - Rylai rush Build

Vs Squishy - Magic pen. burst build

Strength of the Ages build 6.4

Don't forget. _ Also, find build explanation below

Early game core

Mid game optional, choose one

Advanced core

Utility or luxury, choose one

Ability Order

Vladimir Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Darius

Extreme

Darius (1) openning #1. This lane is really risky, you need to have some good reaction time to dodge his E.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction to this guide

This guide is simply written to put a Vladimir's main own thoughts "on paper", for better visualization. Then if it could become a hub of knowledge accessible to anyone, so be it.

Almost forgot ; Hi, am Roman le russe, a Platinum player on EUW. I started playing Vladimir since my first days on League, back in season 3. Also, I'm french-russian, sorry for possible writing mistakes in English. Note, this is my first guide which I write directly from my mind flow, it may look like a draft until the completion.

Under construction, started 13/12/2015.

14/12/2015 update, builds separated into multiple pages.
23/12/2015 update, added anchors. Now my summoner name is Maître Vladimir (23/12/2015 rename).
23/12/2015 : let's see what the "PUBLISH" button does. (and send the link to a contact)
04/01/2015 : update, added (a lot of) content, started the formatting.
16/01/2016 : update, content added.
22/01/2016 : now I'm Silver II (placement matches)
01/03/2016 : build quick update, 6.3 Swiftness and 6.4 Tenacity added into the build part.
Was busy and now played some matches before updating the guide. Now I'm Gold 1 100LP and currently ranked as fluctuating "XXX best Vladimir world" (lolskill), (loading scoot).
09/03/2016 : Oops, forgot to delete my not edited at all notes in the item section. Quickly moved it in a spoiler for the moment. Sorry guys. Still busy with rankeds, in Plat III now.
Some matchups updated.

Things to do :
Continue the guide.
Add colors, formatting effects.
Correct typos and misspellings.
Tweak informations about matchups etc.

You can already explore the build and Vs. Champions part above.

Any feedback is welcome. :^)

Introduction

In a world of endless buffs, nerfs and meta changes

one man

stand still and finds the way to reach his great destiny...

even without valorized itemisation.

Some say he gives cancer
others say he is handsome
but everyone says

THE

HEMOMANCER

ooooh-yeah !

Versus anchors

Champion list by difficulty :
1 - Malphite Singed
2 - Ahri Corki Jayce Maokai Sion Varus Zac
3 - Gangplank Garen Katarina Kennen Kog'Maw Lissandra Morgana Nasus Nidalee Poppy Syndra Talon Twisted Fate Vel'Koz Yasuo
4 - Aatrox Ekko Gnar Mordekaiser Shyvana Zed
5 - Akali Azir Diana Ezreal Fizz Heimerdinger Illaoi Karthus LeBlanc Orianna Rengar Shen Teemo Vladimir Volibear Ziggs Zyra
6 - Galio Karma Kassadin Lux Tahm Kench Trundle Xerath
7 - Anivia Annie Cassiopeia Cho'Gath Dr. Mundo Hecarim Quinn Kayle Lulu Nunu Ryze Veigar Viktor
8 - Brand Jarvan IV Olaf Pantheon Tryndamere Riven Rumble Yorick
9 - Darius Fiddlesticks Jax Irelia Malzahar Renekton Wukong
10 - Fiora Swain Xin Zhao

Now Ctrl+F THREATS TO VLADIMIR WITH THIS BUILD
and find details about your opponent.

Summoner spells

Your main spell :

Flash is a must have, it bring too much utility, can be used offensively as well as defensively.

Your second spell (choose one) :

If your lane is easy, this summoner spell will translate the best into the late game. To choose if you don't need the spells below.

If your lane is even and/or you have some kill potential, pick this to get kills in lane. Vlad don't need it like a burst champion would, a champion which's success is decided on the ability to kill his target using one single combination of spells (LeBlanc as example).

If your lane is hard and you may be bullied out of lane early on, choose Teleport in order to keep on XP. It's also a useful spell when facing split pushers or when you want to split push. Overall, it gives you opportunities if you are aware. But note that Vlad cannot use in order to gank, as effectively as other champions do, because he lacks of a gap closer or CC (the enemy team can disengage during the Teleport's windup).

Extreme choices :

Situational. When you are going into a hard lane. When you expect to be dived, 100 to 0 under your tower.

Highly situational, only take if you know what you are doing. You expect the game to be played on a single CC.

Spells you don't want to use :

Even if synergyse with the self healing buff of and eventually with 's passive, it gives only raw stats instead of utility (the short speed boost is not enough). Also, 3 Qs alone give more health, starting from level 9, even without spell vamp. On top of that, note how little the 's benefits are regard to your large health pool and your native self regeneration. Add to this the eventual Grievous Wounds debuff.

Spoiler: Click to view

Gives only raw HP for a short duration. A poor choice for the same reason as Heal.
( is better)

Useless spells on Vlad :

Do not take in lane, you have no benefit of it. doesn't even count as a spell (spell vamp is not triggered).

Runes

After the CDR nerf of the Lucidity boots and masteries, in order to be able to attain max CDR (without blue buff and suboptimal items), we need to use CDR runes, at least 10%.

Vladimir is a champion which highly profit from cooldown reduction.
His only limitation are his cooldowns (being a mana-less champion).
In a long duration fight, an added percentage of CDR is basically an added percentage of damage, which means at the same time sustain-durability though Q's healing and spell vamp as well as utility-durability though W.
Take note that each aditional percentage of CDR is worth more than the previous.
Being able to reach 45% CDR is awesome.
Sadly, there is a drawback : you move slower due to your recurrent cast-times and you are an easier target for skill-shots.

add maths here

Masteries

Summary : + 45% CDR.

Spoiler: Click to view

is the way to go since Vlad don't benefit from .
allow to reach 45% CDR and that means his pool is now on a 7.7 seconds cooldown so his rotation R-E-Q-Z-E-Q-Zhonya-E-Q-Z(again)-E-Q is easier to pull off in a team fight, with such a high CDR.

Why over :
When Vladimir is dominating his lane, he enjoys the possibility to poke his opponent under tower, punishing him for every CS taken alternately with and , every two seconds. The problem with is it's 2-4 second DoT, which forces the tower to preemptively target you if you comes into it's range for your poke rotation.

in construction

Spells

General Transfusion (Q), Tides of Blood (E).

Q () and E () have both 0.25 second cast time. In other words :
- On one hand, your is canceled if the target moves out of vision during the cast-time. You would prefer to use your (if possible) when you want to damage a champion entering a bush.
- On the other hand, you can E- Flash your opponent ! It shortens the cast time of after your flash and becomes useful in order to let less time to react to your opponent.

have a 600 units range and a 610 units range.
If the targed walks out of 's range during the cast time, the ability's range will extend proportionally and will hit, but if the targed walks out of 's range during it's cast time,
will not hit it.
That being said, if you want to apply damage to an on-the-edge-of-your-range fleeing targed, you need to use your Q because E would not hit in that case.

Note that even if have a cast time,
at the end of it the damage is instantaneous.

Spoiler: Click to view

is a flash burner.

Spoiler: Click to view

Freezing lane with stacks :
When you have some points into your Q and don't want to push the lane, you can keep your stacks by E-ing out of range of the creep wave then simply compensate the cost with the 's regen.

Sanguine Pool (W) in general :

is a self targeted speed boost and AoE slow.

- Your gives you a little movement speed boost, so your pool can be used as a gap closer when chasing an enemy. Or, if you are next to your target, can also be used to slow the fleeing target when your Q and E are on CD, in order to let yourself more time before he reach a safe zone or to help a running-behind ally to catch up.
Use it this way only if it brings no risk. If the enemy team is visible far away on the map or dead, and the champion you are chasing cannot turn on you and kill you when your pool is on cooldown.
Keep in mind has a long cooldown and is not to be used lightly.

can help to break chains thanks to the movement speed you gain over your opponent.

Spoiler: Click to view

can easily trigger the 's proc.

You are as hard to hit with skill-shots at the end of as you are normally moving, unlike at the end of active which makes you vulnerable to well timed skill-shots.

If you are hardly focused, using and before using both or any of your offensive abilities can save life. It's not worth instantly dying in order to throw one single into the whole enemy team.
You need to see lethal effects coming at you before it actually happens and prevent them.
An example : dodging a combo with Zhonya instead of using Tides of Blood.

Hemoplague (R) in general :

Your ultimate, is your only long range ability. You can use it in order to "snipe" a fleeing enemy (make sure he has no self healing / shields / immunity).

Rotations :

E cost you health, Q gives health back. So, ideally, you want to cast E before Q. E->Q will be your bread-and-butter rotation.
Also, casting E (which less than 4 stacks of :Empowered) before Q, you will benefit from the stack buff on your Q healing.

Under tower poke :

Let's say you want to poke your melee opponent when he is under his tower.
He is dash dancing between near his tower and your minions which are close to the edge of the tower's range.
- He is last hitting next to you : you can easily E-Q-AA him.
- He is near to his tower : This generally let you the window to use only one skill (due to your cast times) before the tower shoots you back.
E when he is far and you have to go deeper. Q+AA when you are on the edge of the tower's range and can just abuse the tower's slow attack speed.
**

in construction

Pool interactions

have a little delay before Vlad's untargetability takes effect. Activating the pool at the moment of receiving a lethal amount of damage may result in a death with the pool going on it's full cooldown. An example.

Things you cannot dodge with :

- 's will deal damage in your pool.
Even if the wiki says "The damage is calculated after Master Yi becomes targetable, meaning that bonus AD from auras will be factored.", meaning there is no damage value when Vlad enters his pool, as I may understand.

- 's will deal damage in your pool. You have to pool the .

Things you can dodge with Sanguine Pool :

- ' ,

- ' .

in construction

[Draft] Early-game

Spoiler: Click to view

Last hitting - the first wave :

Note : last-hitting is easier from shorter distance. The hit delay becomes shorter so your timing becomes more accurate. If you are facing a difficult last-hitting situation or are new to Vlad, last-hitting from a point blank range may help a lot.

Preparing minions for better last hitting. (no early trade situation)

When you come to lane lvl 1, in order to last hit all the melee minions you need to prepare them (unless you are hard pushing starting by them anyway, which you are not supposed to do since you want to keep your lane equilibrium).

We need to make the minion life bars crenellated in a stair effect. In other words, each minion have to have a different health amount in order to die successively each after another but not at the same time, and we setup them as such.

Spoiler: Click to view

Using one auto-attack to lower one of the 3 creeps will allow to last hit all of them later, using two successive autos and Transfusion.

Using three auto-attacks to lower two of the 3 creeps will allow to last hit all of them later, using three successive autos.

The same pattern as before but pushing the lane (to compensate your opponent push for example) and applied to both types the wave minions.

Lane equilibrium (push, freeze)

Due to your sustain, you can easily freeze your lane next to your tower, tanking a wave until yours arrive. Just keep using Q anytime it comes off cooldown.

Trades

In lane, in the early stages, due to your long CDs, you need to avoid extended trades.
Restrict yourself to periodically poke your opponent and proc 's passive when available.

Because players often ignore their opponent's cooldowns, you can fake your spell availability. Position yourself offensively, similarly as if you want to Q again while it's still on some seconds CD, your opponent will fear the incoming poke, will keep his distances. You can zone him while playing this little mind game.

in construction

[Draft] Mid-game

Putting the 5th point into your Q- is signing your laning phase (lvl 9) power spike. You are still only good for poke and lane trades.
Putting the 5th point into your E- is signing your main (lvl 13) power spike. Now you are good to go into team fights and unleash your power with your high, low cooldown AoE damage. Level 5 stacked is what makes Vladimir a monster in team fights.

Now you need to keep 4 stacks of constantly because it's your strongest spell and you can now afford the cost.

in construction

[Draft] Late-game

E-, late game have "no cost" (covered by your massive health pool and regeneration).

in construction

[Draft] Items

Spoiler: Click to view

This section is absolute trash. (not edited at all, brute notes) Don't read them.

Spoiler: Click to view

General notes

If you are winning hard, you can build pure AP because the enemy team will have not enough damage to kill you anyway (large HP pool) and you will be able to snowball harder.

If you are your team's single front-line and the enemy team can peel from you, you should think about building defensively.

Reminder : Since you get 5% from masteries, you want to reach 45%.

Early game you need cost efficient items, cheap or built from cheap parts unless you need to rush an item like Rylai.
The first items should fill your needs in lane, be adapted to help you to face your opponents.

Like with any AP carry, we need ' active to help us in mid-game fights (drop aggro). Utility over damage. is good even vs AP teams.
**

When you feel the next team fight will be decisive, signing the snowball of one of both team or at least leading to a huge objective take, you can consider buying an elixir. It will pay for itself in objective value or overall team benefit. Though, to be able to recognize these situations, you need to visualize in the future, think further than "now".

will not help against Stormrider's Surge users. The same about champions with mobility (dashes / high movement speed boost).

**

Spoiler: Click to view

About the Hemoplague and Ignite

Spoiler: Click to view

Top or Mid

Vladimir top lane :
Pros :
- On one hand, top lane Vladimir counter a number of champions.
- Vladimir can abuse of melee champions.
Cons :
- On the other hand, some top matchups are nearly impossible for Vlad.

Why Vlad is a bad mid laner :
Pros :
- Safer laning phase.
Cons :
- Mid lane, he brings no burst damage, the burst damage the team usually need in mid-game.
- If Vlad is dominating, he can't deny farm a champion which has a third or twice more range over him on spells.

**
I think Vladimir is better top than mid.

Mid becomes a refuge for Vlad when top lane becomes too hard for him. (5.22 Tryndamere, Jax, Mundo) But it's an endured adaptation, not a chosen one.

[Draft] Matchups notes

*empty*, read notes on

"THREATS TO VLADIMIR WITH THIS BUILD"

[Draft] test

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Let's take a look closer to the opening :
We have a choice lvl 2

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Taking lvl 2 is the safe choice. If you are ganked lvl 2, lvl 3, you can escape it without using flash.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Can help you proc .

Poor openings :

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

lvl 1 Q and E (30 HP cost) vs lvl 2 Q + AA + 25 HP sustain

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Spamming E + AA (and cycling potions) to bully out your opponent...
gives you back the E's cost after 3 to 6 seconds depending

Sorry if you see the guide under development.

Have a nice day, guys and gals ! See you later. :^)
_sub S ^sup

Code:

[sub]code[/sub]

Error: Your guide was not saved. Error: Your guide contains blacklisted text.
Ok, that is some non-instinctive code tolerance. ^^

Outro

Anyway

You got this, you got this

you are the lord, the blood manipulation master

you are a legend and you look great.

Runes

Vladimir pros and cons

Pros :

No skill shots, his damage can not be avoided (movement dodged, juked, outplayed).
Has outplay potential with .
Hard to peel from, due to .
Has higher health pool, compared to most mages.

Cons :

No mobility.
Low range on spells and auto-attacks.
The constant spamming of abilities force Vladimir to stay static a big part of the time, making him

slow,
vulnerable to skill shots.¹

Spoiler: Click to view