Talk:Vladimir/@comment-144.132.32.2-20120329073508/@comment-77.249.233.124-20120329133533

Personally I think vlad has plenty of counters, ignite being the easiest. DFG or Madreds also eats him alive. And besides those there are also champions who can make his life absolute hell.

For me personally, I simply can't stand up to Viktor with vlad, I tried various things and I just can't win that lane. He seems just as tanky as vlad after a few levels, once he gets his laser out you're just a dead man. As for other champs, anyone who out ranges him can deal with him. Sure he can heal back harass to some extend, but early game his heals really can't keep him in lane if you harass enough. Champs like Cassio and LeBlanc are especially well equipped to handle most mids champs including vlad.

In teamfights, sure he can pool, but once he pools he loses a lot of damage output and once he comes out he's a sitting duck. So the best thing to do is to focus him so he pools, and then once he comes out finish him off. The 12% extra dmg is strong, but it's pretty much his team that has to take advantage of that. Also you can deal with those AoE's very much the same as with any AoE mage, just keep some distance between each other so he can't nuke all of you at once.

Finally, any AD carry and most tanky dps champs can eat him alive in 1v1 situations. I'd almost say, get someone like Cait to face him and he can barely do anything. She out ranges him by a mile, she can use AAs all day long to harass him, and in a 1v1 situation Cait's AA dmg wins from his spells any day of the week. Or get someone like Ashe, kiting him all day long slowing him to a crawl even his pool can't save him from. Trust me, 90% of AD champs can kick vlad's butt 1v1, be it through sheer strength or through range and kiting.

I agree he can be strong, but against the right champs he can't do anything in lane and to say he has no hard counters simply isn't true. He has more counters than Kassadin or any of the other OP mid/perma-ban champs.