Vladimir/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Level to level 5, as it is Vladimir's most constant single target damage ability, as well as his heal. Remember that the base healing component is a flat amount modified by additional ability power, so even if the target is not damaged (i.e. shielded, blocked by, or blocked by ), you will still be healed by the ability.
 * When using, you won't be healed until the particle returns to you.
 * Having at least 1 rank of can help you survive for much longer, as it resets aggro. A skilled player can use it to turret dive or to dodge abilities. However, it has a long cooldown and a short duration, so do not become too reliant on it for escapes.
 * It is wise to use to chase down an enemy or escaping from one. Using it as a damage skill could leave you extremely vulnerable if you can't kill the enemy.
 * is excellent during teamfights if you're waiting for cooldowns and don't have.
 * While Vladimir cannot use any abillities during, if is used before using , Vladimir will still receive the movement speed bonus making it a very viable escape maneuver. Conversely, if Vlad is slowed before going into pool, he will still be slowed during the pool.
 * During he becomes untargetable to both enemy and allied champions.
 * During, he will not be healed by an ally or.
 * During above, Vladimir can break Brand's combos while effectively draining life.
 * Using at the right moment can dodge projectiles like, , , , , , , ,  and  (and will also break the lock-on).
 * does not cancel leash spells such as, , or ; it also will not prevent the stun from , this includes even when you have pooled then touched the barrier.
 * 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. 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. This also works if an enemy is concealed in brush nearby.
 * Gaining stacks of prior to a gank can result in devastatingly high nuking ability upon multiple enemies. For the same reason, Vladimir's damage output rises dramatically 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 increase the overall damage your team can inflict upon your enemies. 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.
 * can take time to learn when to cast. The most important aspect of timing this ult is making sure you cast it when the enemy has committed to the fight. Often, if you lead with it, the enemy team will disengage and your ult will have had little to no impact.
 * can be used to finish off a target low on health. The range to the edge of the AoE is deceptively long; keep this in mind when deciding whether to pursue a target near death.
 * When using, be wary of champions who can counter the delayed damage, such as those with shields or heals. Do not depend on it to ensure your kill.
 * Casting will not deal any immediate damage, and therefore can be used to kill low health enemies under their turret.
 * Casting on  or  clones will not affect them, so it shows clearly which twin is real.

Build usage
's Passive, , allows him to be deceptively tanky while dealing high damage. By building large amounts of AP, Vladimir can bypass Health and focus on damage and durability.
 * is a core item on Vladimir due to the Spell Vamp component. Since  has such a low cool down at later ranks, Vladimir can sustain himself fairly well with just . It can be upgraded into  or ; the choice depends on the role Vladimir will play.
 * Since  provides bonus Health and AP, items like  and  provide both massive defensive bonuses and amazing offensive power on Vladimir. Together they provide 728 HP and 163 AP, slow components, and magic resistance reduction aura that benefits the team.
 * can be used instead of  when focusing on killing a target quickly and magic resistance is not necessary.
 * Both and  are good choices for Vladimir.
 * It's generally advised to get because Vladimir greatly benefits from CDR and has very limited options of CDR items as a manaless AP caster.
 * is one of the most popular items on Mages. However, because of, it also grants 210 health and the 30% bonus AP gained interacts with his passive, making it even more cost effective and powerful.
 * With the heal on his abilites ( at rank five) is as it follows:
 * : 101+0.37 AP (counts its own healing effect).133.32+0.48 AP with max stacks of E.
 * : 10.6+0.03 AP per unit hit, 21.6+0.03 AP at max stacks.
 * : 23.3+ 0.046 AP per unit hit. Hitting 5 enemies will result in a heal of 116+ 0.23 AP; but remember that this ability also affects minions and monsters, and due to the ability massive AoE it's more than easy to hit numerous targets.
 * can make Vladimir a very powerful assasin in combination with . Since the debuffs stack additively, the afflicted enemy will receive 32% increased magic damage. It is suggested, however, to wait at least 1 second after applying  because the magic damage delay lasts 5 seconds, whereas 's debuff only lasts 4 seconds.
 * is an extremely powerful item on Vlad, increasing all of the aforementioned healing by 20%, giving him 10 AP due to his passive and giving a lot of the prized CDR that Vlad needs.
 * While in Vladimir is not affected by any auras, including auras from items but will be affected by  if he is the carrier. While no ally or enemy aura will affect him, Vladimir can still take damage from DoT spells like  and, and due to the heavy cost of , using it to "escape" such spells can actually harm badly.
 * is best bought early game as it provides you with 15 magic penetration, 30 ability power, and 235 health thanks to his passive. This can be upgraded later into giving 57 ability power and 370 health instead of 50 ability power and 300 health.
 * is a great item for most casters, but will benefit even more from it due to his lack of CC and range as well as his passive: it will grant 612 health / 92.5 AP beyond the base 500 health / 80 AP. Additionally, the passive gives his spells constant slows.
 * is a good potential 5th or 6th item on a tanky build, as you will generally have a lot of health but lack resistances, and its passive will be affected by your stacks. With full stacks at max rank, you will gain 39.6% of your maximum health upon reviving instead of 30% (or 47.5% with full stacks plus ).
 * A powerful defensive item is, as it provides 168 bonus HP along with the 120 AP and 50 armor.

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. and  are a couple of examples.
 * Early game, stay just out of range of his . If he uses it on a minion run forward to harass before his cools down.
 * Vladimir lack any hard crowd control to interrupt channeled abilities, but watch out as his allows him to avoid  abilites that have effects while channeling  (like ) or he can time it to avoid channels that have an effect at the end  (like )
 * Vladimir is one of the most powerful champions at late game, as he becomes virtually unkillable, with overwhelming damage and can wreck past an AP mage's normal counters, fighters, if he is able to reach this point defeating him proves extremely difficult.
 * However his late game dominance has a cost, an awful laning phase, with having a long cooldown, low damage and healing until rank 3-4, step in to harrass right after he uses the skill to farm, his only counter-harrass will be  which doesn't deal much damage if not stacked and damages him
 * Vladimir lane weakness declines by the time he gets his as he will be able to heal every attack launched against him, if he is not able to farm properly this item will become delayed and he will remain weak for teamfights
 * Focusing Vladimir in a teamfight is not a very good idea - he is very tanky due to his passive, he can restore his health quickly and lose all focus with .
 * Trying to kill him takes a long time if he is properly positioned and can distract your team from other key enemy targets such as the ADC and assassins.
 * If you fail to kill Vladimir late game and he escapes he will be able to fully restore his health with minions and jungle monsters without going to back to base.
 * Do not underestimate  late game, especially if fully stacked. Average late game Vladimir can dish out from 450 - 540 damage, pre mitigation, from  to all surrounding enemies. With some cool down reduction, he can spam this spell continously and easily wreak havoc if left unchecked.
 * Try to harass Vladimir into using his early in a fight so he takes more damage from it and cannot use it to escape focus fire. Vladimir will use 20% of his current health whenever he uses, so if you force him to use it, you've effectively won the trade.
 * Even if Vladimir uses he still takes damage from DoT spells such as, , ,  and.
 * Remember that doesn't heal  until the particle returns to him, and because the animation is two-staged (impalement, then return), most single-target projectiles like, , and  will generally hit him before he's healed. This is useful to remember should you be uncertain about last-hitting him.
 * You can use to remove  (which is usually paired with ) if he uses it on you. So buying it against Vladimir is a good and rather cheap counter.
 * Due to his passive, he gains health as his spells grow more powerful, however this leaves him vulnerable to health percentage damage items and abilities (e.g and ).