Vladimir Build Guide by FallenLegion

The Introduction to the Hemodancer

A master of the latter part of the game, his ability to progress in vitality, utilization, damage, and the length of his survivability are the things that make him so unique, especially with an ability such as Sanguine Pool on a possible 45% cooldown down to 7.7 seconds.

Why Is Vladimir, Crimson Reaper Awesome?

• Has built in sustain and welcomes spell vamp with open arms

• Can endure for a long duration due to his skill set

• Great with other AoE champions greatly stacking together because of his ult

• Has great escape due to his pool

• Has short cooldowns with decent skill ratios(Meaning longer fights are a benefactor)

Changes to consider in Season 6

• Reaching max cooldown is less of a priority than it was in previous seasons due to the effectiveness is of Vlad is more centered around being more tank effective and prolonged fights

• Lucidity Boots are less optimal due to the point prior, hence Sorcerer shoes becoming the new standard, while also opening options to Merc shoes, without hindering too much damage potential later in the game.

• Tides of Blood can be blocked, requiring different positioning for farming and eqeuting giving more play arounds for enemy champtions, and protecting backline carries by standing infront of them.

• Spell vamp is no longer in the game, although 6 percent from Quints is possible and another 2% from masteries, yet the Flat Ability power and Movement Speed Quints take priority with their usefulness.

• Spirit Visage is a much better buy earlier on then Abyssal Scepter, although that doesn't stop you from an Abyssal Scepter against a very high magic team.

Reds(Marks):

There is one option, and it is self explanatory. But then again why not have fun and take hybrid and auto them to death.

(Magic penetration): 7.8 magic penetration is quite quite a big damage boost with Vladimir's average ratios at around 0.60 of your AP, the 7.8 magic pen would be equivalent to having 12.3 Ap. Are you going for some weird early game cheese strategy? Then be my guest and take hybrid runes for the auto-attack bonus.

Yellows(Seals):

There are a lot of options which usually inquire with health or armor for seal choices. These are the best choices in my opinion:

(Health per level): Most common option, Health per level are very useful as it goes hand in hand with Vladimir's passive and it gives you extra health with which you cant go wrong.
(Flat Armour): Most top laners do AD damage, and either way you can't go wrong with armor which helps against most junglers and ad carries which will focus you in teamfights, and overall it provides greater tankiness with the lower hp you get. Also helps against monsters like dragon and double golems, as well as reduced damaged from towers.

Blues(Glyph):

Most commonly used for Magic resist or Ability power, but since it's Vlad let's put Cooldown as well in there.

(Flat Ability power): Gives you extra power in laning phase, still being able to scrub the enemy's face against the floor even at your lowest damaging point in the game.
(Flat Magic Resist): They make you more tanky, so if you know before hand your going to be against heavy AP, you might as well take them if you expect to have a hard time. If you go Mid lane as Vladimir, flat magic resist could help a lot against early game high damage champions that will try to push you out.
(Scalling Cooldown reduction: Overall Gives you as much cooldown as boots of lucidity, which provides a strategical advantage, giving you the option to take any boots that you see fit, whether they be Mercury treads, Tabi's boots or Sorcerers.

The Big 3(Quints):

The choice between flat AP and movement speed is a common choice for many Vladimir players and is purely based on preference, with some other popular ones being flat Health and Spell Vamp. Other non-standard quints like flat armor could be considerable depending on the situation, especially with prior knowledge of your opposing opponent.

(Flat Ability power): 15 AP at starting level, helps quite a lot, converting into an extra 21 health, with pure extra 9 damage on q, giving you an overall competitive edge in damage as well as laning phase.
(Movement speed): 4.5% is practically the difference between boots of swiftness at 397 movement speed in comparison to the 380 with normal level 2 boots. Overall this gives you more movement inside teamfights as well as catching the right moment of potential in lane.
(Spell Vamp): With Will of the ancients constatly changing, I'm going to say that the 6% spell vamp question of being worth it or not is a never ending debate. Overall this is a choice for laning, I think its help is minimal from my experience. But don't let me from stopping you.

Benjamin Franklin's answer sheet to question

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

Questions:

1. Why R-EQ in your skill combos when EQ-R-AA/W-EQ is more effective than R-EQ due to the post-cast delay on R?
2. What do you think of corrupting potion start as a way to bully the enemy laner and counter all-ins?
3. Sorcerers or Ionian boots
4. Do you still consider Zhonya's a core after its massive price hike, considering that Rylai's can be used as an alternative tank item, or is that not tanky enough?
5. Is there a reason why you still prefer teleport over ignite despite the teleport nerf? Do you feel Vlad's gank/split-pushing potential is strong enough, don't feel that Vlad is capable of laning well enough to utilize ignite, or etc.
6. Spirit Visage vs Abyssal Scepter

1. Cause you can cast E+Q combo twice in the span of you're ult's bonus damage duration.
1(b) Most important rule for Vladimir's skills is the moment when you press w, don't worry about getting the damage from W on them, but have a mentality to find a way to survive the 2 seconds after you come out of the pool. Basically on of three ways:
A - Trying entering a bush so that they focus of you is gone.
B- If in lane, positioning behind minions to avoid and blockable skillshots.
C- The enemy can AA and/or CC you faster then you can cast E or Q when coming out of pool, so flash or zhonays before you apear above ground if you're planning on doing so.

2. I would probably get this over amplyfying tome at level 1. For mid lane is a viable replacement if you don't want to start with boots. Sometimes having full health won't save you, when you have no resistance so in top lane I would still recommend cloth armor and doran's shield if you want to survive.

3. In laning phase, and while you're not that tanky to have bigger fights, Sorc shoes seem in many ways better early. Although Ionian are better are just better, espicially since there is not many ways to get to the 40% cap without getting them, and secondly. So basically what I'm saying is late game you can sell the Sorc shoes for Ionian.
Meeting the 40% cap is great with the Deathfire Torth(Season 6 mastery) and/or if you have rylais.

4. Zhonya's is always going to be a core on Vlad by the end of the game(Unless the enemy team literally have 4 mages, and negligible ad carry). The thing practically all the mage items became costlier, so in relation its rank of importance among other items has stayed about the same.
4(b). Rylais gives you health, which is great early game, but resistances are more important, when you will lose 20% of your health upon pressing W.

5. So seems the meta, is that top laners can take what they like for most games, and since Vlad doesn't have the grreatest gank potetial as it is with teleport, you might as well take ingite or ghost, although I would most of the time opt to take ghost. But then again, the free homeguards makes ganks with teleport after 20 minutes seem like a guaranteed kill for your team if used right.

6. Hardest question for me to give an answer to. Things to think about are:
A - Spirit Visage seems more of a luxury(450 gold difference) than a necessity. Longer teamfights.
B - Do you have little AP, which means little bonus health, but a lot of investment into armor without rylais. You would probably want some health to make that armor investment worth it, and can't decide between these options, then get Spirit Visage
C - You're team has a dedicated tank and you're not in a lot of danger, but the enemy team is mainly Magic oriented, I would recommend Abyssal.

Pros and Cons

• Great sustain

• Secondary tank in a regular team composition

• Amazing teamfight potential(meaning that having teleport off cooldown while split pushing top is highly recommended)

• 3 out of 4 Abilities are AoE

• Has a superior amount of health in comparison to other mages, even without any health items

• Range- Ranged auto-attacks and abilities which helps in laning, especially against melee champs

• Has an escape/invulnerability skill in his toolkit

• Doesn't have the best burst damage

• Has little built-in cc

• Depends on w being off cooldown to escape at tight situations

• Has a weak early game

• Not the best 1v1 champion(especially melee champions that out-rade you in the open)

Skill usage in teamfights

I have broken up my points into bullet points to be easier for the eye to read:
- Starting the fight with proper positioning is key.
- Using summoners like flash or ghost may seem like a waste just to start a teamfight, but if it provides you and your team with the proper initiate that your team can jump on and maybe make the turning point of the game, risk and reward.
- As mentioned earlier, a key moment is using Tides of Blood and then Transfusion. getting that extra percentage healing from e as well the cooldown on e being longer by half a second, coming off cooldown at the same time as Transfusion again.

Skill combo #1: All in Vladimir initiate

• This is a very aggressive initiate, involving using Ghost or Flash into their team putting you isolated a distance in front of your team. As the enemy team's response will be immediate to focus you, mashing their skill sets.

• Using your ultimate, in most cases you won't even have the chance to q or e without being cc'd or massively hurt, and you will have to use your pool wasting their skills on you as well as giving your team the perfect timing, slowing them with your sanguine pool from underneath. Meanwhile your team gets the perfect chance to apply damage combined with your ult on most of their team, creating the perfect initiate.

• Coming out of pool, use e and q on whoever you feel is the target that provides great danger to your team

• Use zhonas if you feel you are taking too much damage with pool being on cooldown

• After zhonays, your pool should be up shortly, and hopefully will you will still be alive after using q and e some more, having that pool to utilize as you wish

Skill combo #2: Poke method, into teamfight

Have you been in that position where the two teams just sit a distance away from each other, waiting for that perfect timing to go in? Well this is the scenario I'm talking :

• Poking at max range on your Q is essential to have your E at max stacks without loosing too much health, being to enter that fight with as much damage as possible

• The fight might begin with one of the tanks just rushing past everyone from either of the two teams or by simply by someone getting caught too close with some sort of cc. This may not be the key movement when to use ult

• Get the better positioning before using ultimate, and even if it means to wait 2-3 seconds while you wait on cooldowns, wait until the majority of their team is clumped up enough to get that perfect ultimate complementary with the rest of your team's abilities

• From this point onward just rely on your decisions skills using q and e, while preventing huge damage with the use of pool, and/or zhonyas if it has been purchased.

Skill combo #3: Fighting a 1 v 1

• Not going to talk too much about it, it will be self -explanatory:

• Use Hemoplague, as this amplifies all your damage afterwards

• Use e then q, as well as ignite if you have it

• If you can block majority of the damage or cc with pool then go ahead, and resort your q and e until afterwards.

• Your pool, having a multi-purpose usefulness, besides blocking damage, but to slow and apply damage to target if they are trying to get away keeping them close to you

• Chase and keep damaging them with the low cooldowns on Q and E

• Use Flash or ghost for that last E->Q combo if he/she is almost dead, if it seems reasonable for current the situation.

Skill combo #4: Fighting a 1 v 2

Those times early game when your winning the lane and you think you can 1v2 a weak composition, most common seen when the opposing jungler comes to gank or see an opportunity and decide to take it. The best of scenario of this situation is when you have either a lead whether it be in health, damage, better skill set and/or you are just a lot more fed.

• Make sure you are near full health, being sturdy enough to take at least a decent amount of their best burst

• Make sure to get that ult properly onto both of them

• Use e, and q on the champ with the lowest health

• If you have ignite, use it on the either the target that's lowest or if you know they are low enough to die from your ult, ignite the other guy

• Using W as soon as you use your main skills, can prevent the oncoming damage if you see it travelling or you are expecting it, in cases such as Annie Tibbers ability would be expected to land on you as soon as she has clear intention of your engage, in combination with stun passive.

Summoner Spells

Extra comments

- E hits invisble units and hidden targets(including when people are in bushes). By the words of "gyaoo", "Use this so you don't have to facecheck and potentially get juked".

- A big part of rune difference in Vlad players are the seals, armor seals are a good pick, if you want to risk it, get the health per level investing into late game

- Playing Vladimir in mid is a lot more harder due to the champions that will be laning against you, because they often specialize in burst damage or/and consistent damage that is harder to lane against(Getting w at level 2 is often recommended) ex: Xerath, Zed, Lissadra

- One thing a lot of players tend to forget is to use the active on their items, I can't stress enough how many times I've seen people with hourglass die because they didn't press the button(This goes the same for Quicksilver Sash and using health pots early in the fight to gain a health advantage)

Thank you gyaoo and Kase009 for these extra notes.

Starting items

Vs single target - Provides with great early tankiness having an easier time, with health also giving you 2.5 extra AP, which isist much but still something. The main reason behind getting this is the great reduction from auto attackers as well as the armor going perfectly with this, being an excellent choice against a lot of tops that come into range to auto-attack you, not as useful against ad casters where you should refer to cloth armor instead.

Vs. AD SpellCasters or other None single target champions - Unlike doran's shield, this gives more armor and greater sustain due to number of health pots. Its more useful then doran's shield against ad casters since the doran's passive doesn't protect from casting ad spells and this gives you an alternative for that event.

Risky Business

Early damage - With 28 health and a more damage and sustain from Transfusion making it one of the most popular picks as first item.

Dodging SkillShots

Early Mobility - Great in mid lane or any lane where dodging would be the main factor to winning lane, with lane opponents like Xerath and Ahri this is quite a keen choice offering more than enough health pots, especially if you don't want to take teleport.

• Sorcerer's Shoes - With Vlad's ratios at 60% of AP on Q, and 45% on E, Sorcerers shoes do work in lane, being one of the best choice, reducing their magic resist giving that damage from your abilities shine through.

• Mercury's Treads - A nice choice for mid lane. Especially if you are having a very heavy time against someone like swain or a burst mage that you can't quite pool away from. The main reason is be able survive fights and being focused in teamfights having protection against a heavy cc team.

• Ninja Tabi - With hard hitting auto attack champions besides the ADC, like Xin Zhao. Master Yi. Jax. these boots offer great protection against champs like ADC and other ad carries that will wield you down, offering a slight edge of survivability. This is not a standard pick for boots but could be utilized by Vladimir.

• Ionian Boots of Lucidity - Being a decent choice in top where you are stranded on that island and you can spam that q against the more tankier champions. Provides w faster when you are relieing on it to be off cooldown as well as q and e which are already on a low enough cooldown.

• Boots of Swiftness - Effectively giving you the same movement speed as 3 Quints of movement speed. Giving you the greater mobility throughout the game dishing out damage while having mobility advantage for better positioning. Having a passive of slow effects being less effective, with slows being the best counter when going into pool, this helps out against that problem.

Lane Ward placement/Trinkets

Knowing effective ward placement is key to moving up the ranking ladder and overall being a good teammate, with this said here's an image that someone clever has made for effective and usual ward placement:

• The yellow ward is you standard go to when lanning, later in the game when talk of baron might be aproaching, consider switching into farsight blue ward, or sweeping lens if the team doesn't have enough.

• The Farsight blue orbs are greatly useful for checking enemy presence in brushes, being a great buy on rnaged champions like Nidalee and Xerath due to their long range spells that are able to be cast outside of their regular vision range.

Lane Opponents

Renekton - Medium
Careful of his hard engages with his two dashes, but even then punish him with the range on your Transfusion. especially at later levels near level 9 with Tides of Blood and Transfusion on a short cooldown, you can just follow him after he does his aggressive combo, giving you a chance to use e and q approximately twice on him. Early game, punish him for trying applying damage with his combo having no escape or damage after Slice and Dice Ruthless Predator Cull the Meek. you may pool preventing him from doing any damage to you. Renekton's Cull the Meek does a fair bit of damage to minions around you, pushing the minions your way, giving you control of the minions and ability to poke from under tower. Overall controlling the lane on your side as he will push the lane with his Cull the Meek is his ultimate demise and your savior.

Nasus - Medium
He is not the best lane opponent for Vlad, but you have one of the best chances to wreck him early game preventing him from becoming a walking monster. I would start with ability tome and just poke him every time Transfusion is off cooldown, as he will try to get his Siphoning Strike stacked as much as possible and having to cs with his melee range. Getting boots can help chase him, as Nasus has the one of the highest base movement speed. If he turns furt of the sands on, your best bet is to wait it out and not fight him unless he is very low. Also while slowed by his Wither using Sanguine Pool is less useful as you cant escape the danger as the slow continues to effect you in the pool and making your only escape go to waste.

Teemo - Medium
Managing to stand your ground against the fury guy, with poke from Transfusion and low cooldowns will be your answer mid game. While you are getting to there, you should be using Transfusion every time it comes off cooldown, and making sure to grab a couple of health pots into lane as Temmo does have the chase potential with significant movement speed from Move Quick. and overall more damage with basic attacks dealing magic damage with Toxic Shot. Oh and for god sake don't go into the bushes! If you need to fight and chase a teemo with knowledge of the general placement of his Noxious Trap you may consider using Sanguine Pool to go over the area to not trigger the slow and damage.

Lee Sin - Medium
Stay behind minions, as he will constantly try to snipe you like a Nidalee spear with Sonic Wave. having no mana to restrain him. His every step to kill a single minion is your chance to apply pressure and weaken him, eventually driving him down in cs numbers. If he manages to jumps to you with Resonating Strike. he follow it up with Tempest and Cripple slowing you, giving him time to put free auto attacks on you, try your best to follow behind him back to the minions as he will have to retreat applying at least one Transfusion cast, revamping the lost health and overall getting retribution for his engage.

The Famous Lee sin combo with Sonic Wave on you followed by Dragon Strike and sliding to the kicked target with Resonating Strike. the so called "Insec play".
1. Firstly, if you see him trying to pull of the Insec play with either the ward or flash kicking you closer to his side of the map, try to use Sanguine Pool if you see the aggressive mindset coming at you.
2. Secondly, using Sanguine Pool after he kicks you, is just as effective, wasting the potential what his Dragon's Rage could have done, and the damage of Resonating Strike being wasted as he doesn't get the chance to get into range to apply Tempest after you come out of Sanguine Pool with the slow effect being active on lee sin who is slowed on top of you, providing with a gap of distance between you and him.

Riven - Medium
*Due to recent nerfs at the start of season 4, riven's early damage has been greatly reduced and is a compatible match for Vlad
Gives Vlad a hard time, and every time you're too far away from tower with her extreme distance closer of Valor and Broken Wings can be too much for Vlad to handle and using Sanguine Pool every time she engages is just too heavy in the early game with 20% of health being reduced and without much health gained from Transfusion. Beware of practically anything especially if she has a Elixir of Fortitude at level 1. Farming with her and being even 20 minions will still put you on par when you reach level 9 if she bought that elixir as most Riven's would do against a Vlad in top lane.

Tryndamere - Medium
Tryndamere being a champion very dependent on farm as well being able to work on the principle of hard engage and high reward. Not pushing the lane and keeping close to the tower ensures he can't chase you down unless he dives. Using Sanguine Pool when he Undying Rage making you also invulnerable, prevents you from taking damage coming out of pool when his ult is near its end, using Hemoplague with Ignite is a nice touch during the last seconds of his ult making him heal for less with ignite and even if he uses Flash or Spinning Slash your after effect damage will secure the kill. Overall great lane control is the main counter to Tryndamere gaining free damage with Transfusion while being safe beside your tower, but even this may be hard since he's got a lot of sustain from Bloodlust .

Darius - Hard
Your Transfusion range is slightly larger being your best bet at catching free damage on him without getting pulled Apprehend or getting damaged by his slicer Decimate. Managing to predict Daruis moves is the only way to not die and keep farming in lane, saving Sanguine Pool in case he may flash into range to grab Apprehend and finish you with Noxian Guillotine and Ignite. Make a good job at keeping Darius in your lane as he will cause a lot havoc if he starts roaming in your jungle or around mid lane having great execution potential with his toolkit, and may damage your teams state in the game.

Rumble - Hard
Rumble has strong potential of chase if he lands at least one of the skill shot slows( Electro-Harpoon ) being followed up with his flaming gun( Flamespitter ) hurting you way too much to be able to do anything about it. Staying behind your minions will prevent him from being on your back, and make it hard for him to harm you until you out sustain his damage. Poke him with Transfusion as he will have to chase too far to try to pull off his combo without losing farm. Mainly try to be safe and wait till you get a Hextech Revolver to apply great trades and start pounding him. Getting early boots may be a great option to dodge and run away from his flame.

Pantheon - Hard
Pantheon has great poke and hard initiate with Spear Shot Aegis of Zeonia Heartseeker Strike making him quite a pain until late game when you are able to withstand his constant damage and being able to spell vamp and sustain enough health. Using Sanguine Pool at high health is useless, just try and cs as much as you can, while gaining health from Health Potion and Transfusion. As the main answer is just trying to take the game into late game, Vladimir being a better asset to the team fights in most of the team compositions out there. At level 6 you can start abusing your Hemoplague as extra power meanwhile his Grand Skyfall is useless in the 1v1 situation.

Basic wave clearing

Unless you've got a fully stacked mejias soul stealer with some 4 rabbadons you won't be one shoting minions with one q, so it's useful to know the different farming techniques that you can utilize as Vladimir.

Wave Clearing combos:

Using E twice around level 13 should kill the back minions as well as leave the front bashing minions at a reasonable low hp if not dead depending on how well you are doing.
Effectively:

Farming with one E and and using pool is the fastest method of clearing. Start Tides of blood before entering into Sanguine pool.
Effectively:

Gameplay style

Distributed into levels, describing the approximate gameplay you are in for:

1-6(Just survive): Taking W at level 3 after one point into E to get that upper hand of safety as early as possible. Try and poke as much as you can with Q. Avoid trading damage as your opponent will for the most part be able to punish you with more damage then you can apply this early.

6-9(Aggressive Expansion): Try and not use E too much if you're having problems with getting your health back to full. Your damage is decent enough but not at its full potential. With ult and ignite you may be strive to be more aggressive, and asking for help from the jungler to gank, can make for a good secure kill.

9-13(Action): The game can go anyway from here onward, with the amount of choices you have to act upon, being limited to your lane. If you're top, might as well farm another 100 minions, or do what you think is necessary at the situation. Mid has a bigger advantage to help with dragon and can successfully gank under towers with W, getting the turret aggro off of you when you can't take heavy subsequent damage.

13-18(War upon the field of justice): From here onward, it will just be the choice of the two teams how they want to play it out, having protective wars over dragons or rushing to the nexus. At this stage you will be depended on how both teams did prior and will have act accordingly.

• Lots of time and experience with the champion Vlad

• I was Platinium Season 4, Diamond Season 5.

• Have competed in multiple clans, 5v5 teams, as well occasional scrims

• Please leave comments, I will try to answer and modify any changes to this guide accordingly, especially with more on Season 5 changes.

Thank you for reading, and please up-vote and/or leave a comment if you liked the guide