Vladimir/Strategy

==Strategy==

Skill Usage

 * Build up to level 5 for an ability that replaces auto-attacking, with the added bonus of a heal. Remember that the base healing component is a flat amount modified by additional ability power, even if you do not damage your target (i.e. shielded or using a damage reducing/negating Ultimate), you will still be healed by the ability.
 * Level 5 generates enough healing to allow  to stay at 4 Empower stacks without losing health. With endgame items and some spell vamp, Empower stacks will actually help  heal faster.
 * Having at least 1 rank of can help you survive for much longer, as it resets minion, neutral creep and turret aggro. A skilled player can use it to turret dive or to dodge an enemy champion's ability. Keep in mind, with lag compensation, turret fire may still cause damage while pooled if activated while the projectile is traveling, so do not get too reliant on it for a quick save.
 * is excellent if you need to wait for cooldowns to come up and don't have . Try this combo:, (since the 14% increased damage will benefit both the initial 50 True damage as well at the DoT component), , , , ,.
 * During you are untargetable to enemy champions and to your allied champions.
 * When an allied uses her  during your, you will not be healed.
 * When an allied uses her  during your, you will not be healed.
 * Using at the right moment can dodge projectiles like, , , , , , ,  and
 * does not cancel, , or ; it also will not prevent the stun from . It will not prevent generally any leash spell.
 * can be cast without having any enemy targets nearby. This can allow you to keep the buff constantly active or build stacks to prepare for an attack. It can also increase the effectiveness of a if used prior to activating it;  can also be used to check for stealthed equipment, such as . Additionally, using it when a stealthed enemy is nearby will allow you to detect them, they will not destealth, but you will be able to see the missiles flying into their direction.
 * Gaining stacks of prior to a gank can result in some devastatingly high nuking ability of even multiple enemies. For the same reason,  damage output rises exponentially after about 10 seconds during team fights as his stacks increase very quickly, which can result in massive AoE damage when combined with.
 * causes targets to take bonus damage, so it is advised to use it at the beginning of team fights to have the enemies receive bonus damage. Mid to late game, will negate both the increased damage debuff and the 5 second delayed damage component, make sure to spend as many of the opposing team's charges prior to activating.
 * When using, be wary of champions who can counter the delayed damage such as with ,  with ,  with , and  with . It is often a good idea to see if you can get in one last  to try and damage the shield, or if you have  to slow them.
 * Casting will not cancel an enemy blue pill.

Build Usage

 * Start with an item that provides both Ability Power and Health to utilize more effectively. This is offered by, but the mana regeneration is wasted on Vlad.
 * In general, Vlad can be built as a tanky caster due to by building HP and AP items.
 * is a great item for most casters, but will get even more from it due to his passive: it will grant 644 HP and 92.5AP instead of 500 HP and 80 AP. Keep in mind, however, that  will only reduce movement speed by 15% even though it is a single target ability.
 * can be used on to boost the heal dramatically, as it stacks with  effect.
 * and are very effective on  since it will increase the amount healed with  as well as adding a healing component to the rest of his abilities and increasing his maximum health. For the spell vamp statistic,  is still considered a single-target ability.

Countering

 * To zone him out of experience range you can use or  when he has a high amount of stacks on  as it is almost always a sign he is trying to restore his health with.
 * Some champion abilities can reduce health regeneration. is one example
 * Early game, stay just out of range of his . If he uses it on a minion run forward to harass before his cools down.
 * Try to harass into using his  early in a fight so he takes more damage from it and cannot use it to escape focus fire.
 * Even if Vladimir uses he still takes damage from DoT spells such as ,,, and.
 * Even if Vladimir uses he will still take damage from an enemy  spell.