Vladimir/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.
 * While the damage from will be blocked if the target has a spell shield such as, it will still heal Vladimir for the full amount.
 * 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.
 * When using .you won't be healed until the particle returns to you.
 * However, because spell vamp works off damage, spell vamp heal will happen on cast.
 * 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), , , , ,.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * If activates  and passes through . He won't be slowed/or recieve the speed buff.
 * Using at the right moment can dodge projectiles like, , , , , , ,  and
 * does not cancel, , or ; it also will not prevent the stun from , this includes even when you have pooled THEN touched the barrier. 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. 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 , 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's recall.

Build usage

 * In general, can be built as a tanky caster due to  by building HP and AP items. Unlike other heroes, it is better to stack AP and entirely forget about armor and magic resist. This is because AP adds HP anyway and HP works for all damage taken.
 * and is the most important item 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 due to his passive. The spell vamp reduces the cost of 3 of his abilities because they use health to cast and this gives health per damage dealt by the casts. Health=Mana on Vlad, making this item your best first choice.
 * is another great item for Vlad. It has ap+hp so the passive hits it twice, giving him even more ap+hp. The magic penetration also means more spell damage, which means more spell vamp.
 * 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.
 * is one of the most popular items on spell casters. On Vlad, AP adds HP, making this even better. Grab this after grabbing the previous 3 items. The +30% mod on top of the 70ap, 25ap, 80ap, and 140ap will be really high, and all of it adds HP as well on Vlad.
 * If the game isn't over by the time you get those 4 items, then this can be used as a 6th slot filler to boost the Transfusion heal greatly along with boosting the spell vamp. While it doesn't have AP, HP still adds AP on Vlad.
 * When going into with any aura items, such as, Vladimir will cancel their auras. Try to avoid being in pool form when  secondary damage applies; otherwise you will get NO health back from the spell vamp component of  which is a great loss.

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.
 * 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 uses  he still takes damage from DoT spells such as ,,, and.

Champion spotlight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiUgrEWRx6M