User blog comment:Ricoindigo/WORK IN PROGRESS : Mage update patch for Season 6/@comment-4996845-20160128053223/@comment-4996845-20160128215202

I thought of a taunt-ish mechanic on the ult - so that Vlad could issue move commands to the target instead of its owner. Figured that would overload the ult pretty heavily, though, so I scrapped that.

As a side note: the feeling of "parasite" was one of the things I wanted to avoid with these, actually, what with current Q dealing negligible damage, barely able to sting on each application, resupplying Vlad in the meantime. That's why I went for a bigger, more impactful Q.

Dunno how you'd make him less "parasitic", either. The idea of health-casting self-healer is pretty much a core concept for Vlad. I can't really imagine him without it, unappealing as it may be.