Talk:Vladimir/@comment-1920550-20150108062523/@comment-15244341-20150113151705

Vlad has the shittiest laning phase top lane that you can think of. He's not even "pre-6 weak" like some champions. He's pre-9 weak. That owes to the insane cooldown on transfusion at low levels. However, Ryze has neglegible cooldown on his own Q. This means that good Ryzes will harass with Q the enemy laner and last hit with autos, go back when they have tear and just TP top and continue harassing for free and farming for late game like it's nothing (not anymore, thanks to Doran's Shield and Q nerfs, but whatever).

Vlad's edge over Ryze is AoE damage. Going on a teamfight with R-E-Q-W-E-Q-Zhonya's-E-Q and hitting a good amount of bad guys means a crap ton of damage and a pretty healthy Vlad at the end of that. Then you spellvamp the bits of damage of what's left of the enemy team and clean up. Or they kite your ult. This can't be stressed enough: you need Rylai's for the single target slow. That said, Vlad is pretty hard to play not because he is mechanically demanding, but because his laning phase is just so, so awful. A shut down Vlad is pretty useless.

Play him if you like him. TBH he is probably comparable to Ryze late game if your team lacks in magic damage (something like Jungle Jarvan and mid Zed). Even better with enough CC on your bot lane. Also, he has some kickass skins.