Vladimir is a quite tanky, high sustain AP carry. Patch history + Show Spoiler +
v1.0.0.120 - 2011-06-22
Transfusion Cooldown adjusted to 12/10/8/6/4 from 12/10/8/6/3 Damage adjusted to 90/125/160/195/230 from 70/115/160/205/250
v1.0.0.118b - 2011-05-24
Transfusion heal reduced to 15/25/35/45/55 from 17.5/28.75/40/51.25/62.5
v1.0.0.111 - 2011-02-16
Crimson Pact Bonus ability power gained reduced to 1 ability power per 40 bonus health from 25 health Sanguine Pool no longer grants a speed bonus on use Fixed a bug where Turrets would sometimes idle while Vladimir was pooled Fixed a bug where Sanguine Pool would occasionally not properly draw aggro upon exiting his pool
v1.0.0.110 - 2011-02-01
Sanguine Pool Slow percentage reduced to 40% from 50% Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 1.5 seconds Tides of Blood health cost reduced to 30/40/50/60/70 from 30/45/60/75/90 Fixed a bug where Vladimir would lose health when leveling in some instances
v1.0.0.106 - 2010-12-01
Fixed a bug where Tides of Blood was not providing Vladimir with enough increased regeneration and healing Fixed a bug where Tides of Blood did not deal full damage if you had 4 stacks before casting Hemoplague Cooldown increased to 150/135/120 seconds from 120 Damage amplification effect changed to 14% at all ranks from 10/14/18% Base damage reduced to 150/250/350 from 200/300/400 Ability power ratio reduced to 0.7 from 0.75
v1.0.0.105 - 2010-11-15
Transfusion will now heal Vladimir even if the target is spell immune Hemoplague will no longer damage enemies if it is dispelled
V1.0.0.102 - 2010-10-04
Sanguine Pool Duration reduced to 2 seconds from 2.5 Slow duration increased to 1.5 seconds from 1 second Damage per second changed to 20/33.75/47.5/61.25/75 retaining the same overall damage Fixed a bug where Sanguine Pool wasn't dealing enough damage
v1.0.0.101 - 2010-09-21
Fixed a bug where Transfusion was not restoring enough health from Spell Vamp (not how much the spell heals normally) Fixed a bug where Transfusion's tooltip showed it restoring less health than it did Crimson Pact (passive) no longer heals Vladimir when his Ability Power increases
v1.0.0.100 - 2010-09-08
Tweaked volume level of skill sounds
v1.0.0.99 - 2010-08-24
Transfusion cast range reduced to 600 from 650 Tides of Blood buff duration increased to 10 from 8 Tides of Blood cast range increased to 620 from 570
v1.0.0.98 - 2010-08-10
Crimson Pact (passive) tooltip now displays stat bonuses Sanguine Pool cooldown increased to 26/23/20/17/14 from 25/22/19/16/13 Tides of Blood health cost reduced to 30/45/60/75/90 from 40/55/70/85/100 Tides of Blood is now blocked by spell shield.
Passive:Gives you very high hitpoint values while still building pure AP. However, you will lack resistances so you're really not a tank but you can tank 1-2 people pretty well if you consider your high HP and your absurd selfheal.
Q:Your main spell, use it to lasthit/harass in laning phase and just spam it in fights. Very bad at level 1 but becomes really great at level 5.
W:Mainly used as an escape spell. Keep in mind DoTs and non-target AoEs still hit you while in your pool. Also it costs a quite high percentage of your life so use it carefully. You pretty much only want to use it offensively for the slow if youre chasing someone and you're safe yourself. Even if you use it defensive don't just pool at everything that comes near you. Your pool has quite a high cooldown and if you wasted it for something not worth pooling, you are often fucked. Only use if you really have to.
E:Your main farming tool, use it lasthit tricky minions in laning phase, if you can and use it to farm/push when needed. It stacks even if it hits nobody, so you can always stack up to 4 stacks before a fight begins.
R:Your AoE ult. Use it early so your team benefits from the damage amplifier. Use it in laning phase to finish someone off during ganks or fights. You should save it for teamfights later on, as you NEED it for teamfights.
Summoner Spells Flash + Heal
Flash is a must, it's still really good, especially to avoid ganks and stuff like that. Heal is really fucking strong since the summoners changes, it heals for STUPID amounts on Vlad. I've also seen some people go Heal/Ignite which seems like an all out laning setup.
Masteries 21/9/0 seems really strong, especially when you run Heal. But I've also seen people run 21/0/9 or even 21 in defense.
Runes: Reds: mpen Yellows: flat armor/mr OR hp/level OR ap/level Blues: flat magicresist OR flat cdr Quints: flat ap OR spellvamp OR movementspeed
Magic penetration in reds is obvious for casters. In yellows you can either take flat armor/mr to help your laning or hp/level or ap/level which is better in mid/lategame. In blues you can either take flat mr if you need the mr to survive your lane or flat CDR. In quints there's multiple options but I've mostly seen flat ap or spellvamp. Movementspeed is really good later on but lacks laning power.
Skill Order QWQEQR, R > Q > E > W Obviously Q is your bread and butter, max it first. E is good farm and decent AoE damage, so max it next. W is a nice one point wonder. You can take W at level 1 for a level 1 teamfights/gank.
Items Valuable items for Vlad Will Of The Ancients CDR boots Deathcap Rylais Zhonyas Voidstaff
In depth item guide You pretty much always want to start with boots and 3 potion, it's the best opening for surviving those early levels as the mobility from boots is much needed. Your first item will always be a Will Of The Ancients for the sustain. Deathcap is obviously a core item so you will get it as soon as possible. In terms of boots you want CDR unless the enemy team has like 10 stuns for some reason. Shove those level2 boots in when you have 700g to spare and nothing else to buy, the 15% CDR aren't that big of a deal in earlygame but you'll want it in midgame. After Deathcap, Rylais or Zhonyas are the options. You generally go for Rylais first unless the enemy team has a lot of AD or you need the active really bad. Go for the one you haven't bought yet after. Force Of Nature is a situational item. If the enemy team has a lot of AP you can get it get it rather early. Otherwise if you need more magicresist lategame you can always get FoN over Zhonyas-
Note: If you have trouble surviving in mid/lategame buying a negatron/chainmail (depending on the enemy team, of course) is always a really good way to instantly raise your effective HP immensly. You can always delay the FoN/Zhonyas until later.
Spirit Visage can be a cheap and effective item in some cases where need some cheap early defense. Laning These days people seem to prefer to run Vlad top where he can dominate a lot of meeles. Run an agressive setup an shove those Qs in their face. Mid seems harder since a lot of common APs can dominate Vlad early.
Farming Vlad is a rather passive carry, not like someone like Annie. Farming is your top priority and you should pretty much only enter teamfights with your ult up, which you should generally start using carefully from level 11 on or so. Vlad in a teamfight without his ult is pretty much useless. Farming waves with QE is really fast and you'll never run out of HP past level 9 so keep your eyes open for farming opportunuties around the map.
Teamfights There are pretty much only two important things. One, get your ult off on as many people as possible and rather early, so your team benifit from the damage amplifier. Two, DONT GET BURSTED FOR GODS SAKE. As Vlad you win games by surviving the initial burst, being unkillable and cleaning everything up at a reasonable rate. Of course you have your pool and flash for screwups, but those cant always save you from a bad position and it's always good to have them saved up.
I agree with everything here pretty much, (though Vlad doesn't exactly have many build options) but it's worth noting that you can just pick up a Kindlegem after boots instead of finishing SV just to cap CDR if you need to get Deathcap faster. The extra heal is nice, but you don't want to put off damage for very long if you are a little behind.
Rushing WotA is for when you are getting poor farm and need something to boost your damage. Since you are obviously getting a Revolver first, it's only 900 to finish it. It will give 40 ap and more healing which can help turn around a poor early game.
I run flat CDR blues plus the masteries, so that once I pick up CDR boots and gem, I'll have 39.65~% CDR. I feel like Vlad costs a lot to build and I don't like blue pots draining my funds, though that's obviously just my preference.
Good job OP, now maybe we can brainstorm a way to not auto-lose a solo to Caitlyn.
I think rushing WotA is a pretty good option, unless you have the gold to just go back and buy a NLR right away (even then, sometimes finishing WotA + CDR boots might be a better use of the 1600). The 900 gold for a WotA after revolver is comparable to the 860 gold for a Blasting Wand, and it is the exact same AP + amazing aura/increased spell vamp.
I also try to avoid buildling SV as much as possible. I feel like it just slows your damage down so much, and kinda drops off as an item as the game progresses. Just get early WotA for the healing if you need it, and build a negatron or something if you're really having trouble with AP burst, and you can make that into an abyssal or FoN or QSS later. CDR is nice, but you can get that with CDR boots.
Personally with all the ccs thrown around I one time grabbed cleanse and have since stayed the course. Against all the popular gankers and random solo lanes it's saved me from certain doom. This I found has allowed me to play way more aggressive against commonplace Annie.
Qss hits too late into the game to impact the early game where vlad is the weakest and fitting it into your build mid game is a hassle in terms of utility. This is mainly a playstyle I like to employ against the really heavy cc teams I run across nowadays who shut someone down and then nuke the hell out of you.
On July 23 2011 15:42 rwrzr wrote: Where is the warning to not pool everywhere.
W determines whether you are vladimir or badimir
It's under skills but I'll guess i'll go a bit more indepth.
@ the topic of spirit visage, it's quite cheap and it doesn't fall of lategame (10% CDR and 20% healing always good) unless it's really deep lategame and you can afford to sell it for more space to buy another high-tier item.
I guess if you want a fast WotA you can skip it because otherwise you'll delay your deathcap too much, I think ill test that route.
I had switched from the haunting guise / sorc shoes build over to revolver/sv/cdr boots and it was working well.
honestly now with q I feel MUCH weaker when I play vlad. at this point I feel like going boots x3 pots, spending my extra early game money on a few blue pots and just getting NLR as soon as I can given the pots and wards.
small nerfs add up. I think with q it's not so much the lost qs in a fight but the way the timing feels, especially with the reduced damage on the tail end.
I have trouble laning against a lot of champs, especially ones that have some innate healing ability and out harass me. Do I just have to play really really passive against those champs?
On July 24 2011 01:20 ATeddyBear wrote: I have trouble laning against a lot of champs, especially ones that have some innate healing ability and out harass me. Do I just have to play really really passive against those champs?
On July 23 2011 08:22 TieN.nS) wrote: Don't really see a point in cleanse when you have pool. If you really need a cleanse late game then a QSS will do the job better.
Yep. If you need cleanse when you have pool + flash, you're doing something wrong (positioning, lack of wards, etc.)
i dont like SV on vlad. u get 20% more healing from q (from the heal part wich is about half(?) of its damage). rushing WotA is really nice, u'll get 20% spell vamp wich is 20% more health out of 100% q damage, plus u can spam e and with 3-4 creeps around you, you actually gain health even with 4 stacks. You dont feel so much pain after pool cause you actually get hp while using it, even if you are runing you are probably hiting and slowing some1. And it adds a real nice heal to your ultimate after it blows up on 4 targets. + teambuff. if someone on ur team is gona get WotA, get hextech revolver. that much more spell vamp is god on vlad. Cdr boots, WotA, Rylais, Rabadon are core. Warmogs, Voidstaf, zonia, Abys scepter, Hextech, are good options for last spots depending your and your enemies comp.
I don't think anyone will debate that Heal is mandatory now. What do you guys think in terms of masteries? 9/21/0, 0/19/11 and 9/10/11 all seem viable to me, depending on the circumstances. (going for the spellvamp in utility with the hybrid builds, ofc)
// Moonbear informed me that Chauster and Salce both run very offensive setups (21/0/9, mpen, hp/level, ap/level, AP quints). I'll have to do some testing, personally I'm still in the midset of speccing as defensive as possible.
On December 06 2011 07:23 -Kato- wrote: I think 21/9/0 with HP in defense? What are you getting in utility worth 9 points?
Heal is in the defense tree, so I'd go with this, picking up MR from t1.
New cleanse might be nice instead of ... flash so you can cleanse ignite? Maybe? I dunno, I dont think pool is the same type of "get out of jail free" that flash is, so I'd stick with flash/heal.
I haven't played him in a looooong time, maybe I'll try him now with the new masteries.
Interestingly, later game flat resists get REALLY good on him (chainmail, negatron -> whatever you want that builds out of them), because they stretch your naturally huge HP + healing effects much farther. Don't really like stacking flat HP items that aren't already something I'd buy (AKA warmogs is bad, but Rylais is fine.)
Played a number of games testing out different permutations of (move quints or ap quints) + (boots or tome) + (21/x/x or x/21/x), checking out builds of pros when I'd see them streaming. I managed to catch quite a few high level streamers playing vlad (jiji chauser regi trm salce + a few others ) and tried to compare them against eachother's builds and the play styles.
You can't really do something like move quints/21 def/boot cuz if ur q hits like a wet noodle early game u will just get zoned out of cs/exp no matter how fast u move.
The build I eventually settled on that I've been enjoying using and feels very strong: mpen red - hp/lvl yellow - flat cdr blue - flat ap quint, 21/9/0, heal/ignite, boot+3 -> revolver -> wota/ionian/rylai/cap
I have been running 21/9/0 getting flat MR and vet scars in defense and using flat hp quints mpen reds hp/lvl seals and flat mr glyphs with some success. Normally opening boots and three, but occasionally tome.
On December 07 2011 02:50 STS17 wrote: I have been running 21/9/0 getting flat MR and vet scars in defense and using flat hp quints mpen reds hp/lvl seals and flat mr glyphs with some success. Normally opening boots and three, but occasionally tome.
I disagree with your choice of hp quints for a few reasons
1) ap quint is more gold value in ur quint slot tome 20 ap =435g 05 ap =108.75g
ruby 180 hp = 475g 026 hp = 68.611111g
2) vlad passive is literally 20x (twenty times!) better for AP than HP, so you get more than a quints worth of hps out of it 1ap = 1.8hp vs 40hp = 1ap
15ap quints (~330g) + 27 hps passive (~70g) = 400g of stats or 78hp quints (~210g) + 1.975 ap passive (~40g) = 250g of stats
2.5) you already get tons of bonus health with hp/lvl yellows and vet scars, which works out to ~18 bonus hp per level (but better than that actually since 30 of it is up front)
3. Vlads' early game is pathetic and if ur opponents can laugh at ur horrible early Q dmg then imo it doesn't matter if u move faster or can take 1x more auto attack before getting zoned or dying
I would strongly recommend you switch to AP quints and see what you think. I believe you'll find you're much more of a threat early game. The bonus AP severely impacts the damage of your q from levels 1-4 when you attempt to trade harass. I personally use flat cdr blues for just under 10% cdr at level 1, but If you still use the flat mr blues you'll still be just as tanky anyway, not to mention ap quints slightly increase healing from Q. Also, it enables you to always open boot 3 instead of feeling like you need tome for early oomph, and/or needing move quints to dodge early skillshots (when you don't open boots)
On December 07 2011 02:50 STS17 wrote: I have been running 21/9/0 getting flat MR and vet scars in defense and using flat hp quints mpen reds hp/lvl seals and flat mr glyphs with some success. Normally opening boots and three, but occasionally tome.
I disagree with your choice of hp quints for a few reasons
1) ap quint is more gold value in ur quint slot tome 20 ap =435g 05 ap =108.75g
ruby 180 hp = 475g 026 hp = 68.611111g
2) vlad passive is literally 20x (twenty times!) better for AP than HP, so you get more than a quints worth of hps out of it 1ap = 1.8hp vs 40hp = 1ap
15ap quints (~330g) + 27 hps passive (~70g) = 400g of stats or 78hp quints (~210g) + 1.975 ap passive (~40g) = 250g of stats
2.5) you already get tons of bonus health with hp/lvl yellows and vet scars, which works out to ~18 bonus hp per level (but better than that actually since 30 of it is up front)
3. Vlads' early game is pathetic and if ur opponents can laugh at ur horrible early Q dmg then imo it doesn't matter if u move faster or can take 1x more auto attack before getting zoned or dying
I would strongly recommend you switch to AP quints and see what you think. I believe you'll find you're much more of a threat early game. The bonus AP severely impacts the damage of your q from levels 1-4 when you attempt to trade harass. I personally use flat cdr blues for just under 10% cdr at level 1, but If you still use the flat mr blues you'll still be just as tanky anyway, not to mention ap quints slightly increase healing from Q. Also, it enables you to always open boot 3 instead of feeling like you need tome for early oomph, and/or needing move quints to dodge early skillshots (when you don't open boots)
I care much less about the gold value of the quints and much more about having a higher health total to not die horribly during your extremely weak first few levels.
I don't see the point of you point 3. If you can take one more auto attack then that's a very large increase in the chance you get away alive instead of dieing and feeding their mid 300 gold.
I've used both, and I'm more comfortable with the hp quints in most situations. I don't believe either choice is strictly better or worse than the other however.
I like MS quints on Vlad. As far as flat AP vs flat HP, it's just up to whether you are a strong/confident enough laner to not need the flat HP to survive in lane. If you are, obviously flat HP is a waste.
I was wondering what do you guys think of him after all these nerfs??
I recently just picked him up again for the first time after the nerf...and damn he is different I feel really weak with him now and his early game is terribad. I feel like he got neutered pretty hard.
I feel like I contribute only when either I am farmed or fed considering he just isnt a stellar caster. The only thing he is good for is his ult which is meh
I just picked him up and I actually really enjoy playing him.
I have been going boots 3pots into WotA->sorcs then either Rylais or DC. After those it depends, I like abyssal for MR, I went Warmogs once IDK if that was a stupid idea but I had 5K health and it was sweet.
Chauster and Salce say he's fine now, so he is probably pretty playable. I think we don't see him in competitve because he is still very comp specific.
what are the specific team comps he is good on? from playing him the past 2 days he just feels really good overall. he is weak like 1to 5 but with cdr boots and higher Q levels he can trade so well and top himself off. he has crazy pushing power with 4 stacks of E which also does crazy aoe damage in team fights. he gets a crazy HP pool from just AP items and once he gets wota dc and rylais he is so strong. maybe i am just playing vs people who arent used to playing against him but i have only owned him for 3 days myself.
can someone explain to me his drawbacks? i understand his early game problems but he just feels so strong late that its worth it
Vlad mid lane has two problems: 1) If you look at most other good mid-lane champions, they all bring something more to the table than Vlad. His lack of any good CC is especially problematic. 2) Vlad has no roaming potential, which means the pressure on other lanes is reduced compared to a champion like Karthus, Leblanc, Kassadin, etc.
Vlad top lane is doable, though he has to compete with a potential Kennen top lane, who has a pretty solid CC that can get a good stun off for potential top lane gank pressure. That being said, if Vlad can get a good ultimate off during team fights, then he becomes much more valuable than Kennen, so it's a toss up really.
I think the choice of whether to run Vlad top lane depends on who you want to run as your jungler for the most part.
I know he has no hard CC but his slow is pretty significant and long lasting while also dealing damage which can allow the jungler to get into position to damage or get their own CC off.
I have mostly played him top but it seems he has decent roaming potential. He can 2 shot minions waves at 4 stack E with a Q on the cannon minions and I have gone to gank mid after this. If your mid has a hard CC to go with your slow they should die.
He also seems to have insane AoE burst between E and R while sustaining himself like crazy. W also heals you while making the fight easier for your team and Q is just a big nuke.
Maybe its just my 1300~ elo opponents are unsure as to how to fight against him but he just feels very good.
And having double or even triple WotA later is so strong.
All I ever hear is how bad he is, I just think he is very underrated.
In the patch notes it said that vlad's speed boost after using pool got removed, but I still get a speed boost, and that speed boost helped me get a kill yesterday, and today i even checked my ms so i know i got a boost for sure.
so is this supposed to happen, or did riot not actually remove the speed boost?
and rune / masteries ideas?
for runes i do red: mpen yellow: hp per level blues / quints: flat ap
the mpen becaue mpen is awesome the hp per level because i'm not sure what else, i could use armor but i figured hp per level worked pretty well and salce runs it so why not
the blues are personal preference mostly, i know it's usually ap per level used since they even out really quickly but i feel like vlads weakest point being early game means that if i get stomped too hard early then the ap per level won't matter as much since i won't be doing much damage anyway, but with flat ap (so around 30 ap at lvl 1) i can go into lane and Q the other guy for a 4th of his hp that makes my crap early game much stronger
and mid game i just use vlad's naturally awesome laning to continue farming / harassing and all that
quints i still like flat ap for the reasons above
i used move speed before but there's a lot of people (ryze esp) that when i go up against them mid, ms doesn't help me i walk up to Q, he Qs me anyway because i think their spells have the same range so it just makes the trade better
masteries i got 21/9/0
and i get 2% crit chance because i'm not sure if i like the tiny 1% damage boost anywhere near as much
in 9 def i go 3 in mr, 1 in armor, 4 in hp(i think this is what it is, whatever is in 2nd tier), last one in +30 hp
Was watching voyboy stream last night and he basically said something to the effect of vlad being the most annoying and one of the strongest top laners atm, and that spellvamp quints help him out alot.
I've played Vlad mid a few times today, and I feel that he's still very vulnerable to champions with poke. Even starting boots I had trouble laning against Xerath, Orianna and Cassio. The only way I was able to outlane them was to have them blow their mana early on so I could farm my health back up with Q. Top might be more suited to Vlad.
On February 02 2012 23:14 Hakker wrote: Was watching voyboy stream last night and he basically said something to the effect of vlad being the most annoying and one of the strongest top laners atm, and that spellvamp quints help him out alot.
Thanks. By the way I've updated the OP. I haven't exactly played Vlad top a ton not so shure on the laning part but it seems pretty easy against melees.
On February 02 2012 23:29 Doctorbeat wrote: I've played Vlad mid a few times today, and I feel that he's still very vulnerable to champions with poke. Even starting boots I had trouble laning against Xerath, Orianna and Cassio. The only way I was able to outlane them was to have them blow their mana early on so I could farm my health back up with Q. Top might be more suited to Vlad.
The solution is to come to lane with 70 MR through runes. You do retarded damage with tides later on anyways and no one can do anything to yiu when you're 7 and have revolver.
Been playing Vlad top recently and been struggling against a few champs. Was outfarming a Talon but then he got a kill on me through me being bad and snowballed, then today I went top against a Wukong and got FB on him through jungle help but he still zoned me really badly and ended up winning the lane easily.
Is Vlad just not that good vs some bruisers? I figured he'd be good vs Garen and I took him against one and beat him, but I went boots3 and he went dorans blade so he couldn't catch me, but if he went boots I think I'd get zoned at level 2 onwards. I hear people say he is good vs bruisers but I've been losing to them of late, am I just bad (I am NOT running armor runes BTW, is this a necessity vs bruisers) or does Vlad lose to most bruisers? I've also been taking Vlad mid and only losing to Cass/Kass and anyone with a big poke.
On February 06 2012 12:21 schmutttt wrote: Been playing Vlad top recently and been struggling against a few champs. Was outfarming a Talon but then he got a kill on me through me being bad and snowballed, then today I went top against a Wukong and got FB on him through jungle help but he still zoned me really badly and ended up winning the lane easily.
Is Vlad just not that good vs some bruisers? I figured he'd be good vs Garen and I took him against one and beat him, but I went boots3 and he went dorans blade so he couldn't catch me, but if he went boots I think I'd get zoned at level 2 onwards. I hear people say he is good vs bruisers but I've been losing to them of late, am I just bad (I am NOT running armor runes BTW, is this a necessity vs bruisers) or does Vlad lose to most bruisers? I've also been taking Vlad mid and only losing to Cass/Kass and anyone with a big poke.
Thanks in advance .
bruisers with a gap closer can be a problem for vlad, yes irelia and wukong especially can give him a lot of trouble and of course, as with any lane, a lee that lands skillshots will demolish
hmm I must say I never really liked CDR blues on Vlad (I don't even have them because so few champs need them and they're so god damn expensive) but since the common build these days seems to be 21 in offense and no SV, there is no other way to reach near 40% CDR so they seem like the best option for blues. Of course when you lane vs. a lot of AP champs you need MR blues no matter what because they'll just twoshot you otherwise.
On April 25 2012 05:25 wei2coolman wrote: What are people's opinion of 9/21/0 vlad over 21/9/0 vlad?
Also how does vlad deal w/ olaf? I was reading dyrus's guide on vlad, he said to stack 2 doran's shield, is there any other way to do it?
I use 9/21/0 per Chauster's recommendation. It's mostly to negate your weak early laning and do more bullying in return. Most Vlads go 21/9/0 because a farmed Vlad late game is just scary as fuck. Just look at Dyrus. Just expect to get harassed more pre level 9.
No comments vs Olaf, I haven't played vs Olaf much.
chauster and dyrus go 9/21/0 salce does 21/9/0. i almost always get tabi or merc on vlad. sometimes i get cdr though. sorc can be good if you see multiple people at 30 mr. vlad rapes olaf really hard because olaf shouldn't be able to get close enough to do damage and you get free harass on him.
Honestly, I think 21-defense is actually stronger when you're the dominant one in lane and 21-offense is stronger when you're playing from an even or defensive position, if only as a general rule.
Salce does well with 21-offense because he has a really good grasp of when to go all-in with Vlad against enemy AP mids, and so it works nicely for him.
Sooo after several normal stomp I decided to try vlad in ranked (I'm around 1400). I called top but eventually someone instalocked LS so I went mid against Annie. Due to my little to nothing knowledge of this champ I didnt know how to play the match up. I ended up giving fb because of a good gank, later on got killed a second time in 1v1got flash bear stun burst out. Teammates started to flame me so I decided to not die again andfarmed a lot. We won the game because LS completly crushed top and I had huge farm... Vlad late game is ridiculously strong ! My build was cdr boots, wota,spirit visage, deathcap, void staff and rylai, do you have any advice ? And what to do against Annie ? Thanks for the answer !
Your build is good, though I would advise that you consider hourglass for some situations, as having the active on top of your pool gives you an absurd amount of survivability while you are in the middle of the enemy team, which equals into more time to spam tides.
I don't think you can do much against annie, except play passive. You scale much better than her, so if you manage to keep up, and at the same time annie doesn't gank your team too much, you should be ok. Try and trade with her right after she has used her q to farm. I usually don't pick vlad mid, prefer him top, as i think his pokey playstile works in that lane much better.
edit: abyssal vs. a team with large amounts of magic dmg is very good too, especially if you rush it
My experience is that annie is really dangerous for vlad because the pool doesn't eat her stun. So you really have no gank resistance unlike vs most champions.
I know it's been mentioned a few times in this thread already, but I want to reiterate that E does a ton of damage in team fights. Most importantly it's a ton of *base* damage. As a result of this I realized that Dyrus's tournament build for vlad (sorc/wota/hourglass (real late deathcap)) makes a lot more sense than I realized at first.
Sorcs are better than CDR for trading in lane. E doesn't like AP as much as CDR or mpen since it has a ton of base damage relative to its scaling. E/Q have a significant cast times so CDR is annoying for chasing/positioning Chain vest is nice for top lane after wota. and Zhonya's active is OP for standing in middle of their team so you can push E again and wreck faces.
I'm just a newbie but since E is half of your damage even against just one target it seems really important to me.
I would also rate Sorcs better than CD boots. Mpen = more damage = more heal with Q. So CD boots don't really improve your sustain by much, if at all vs Sorcs.
On June 22 2012 05:03 Ghost-z wrote: I would also rate Sorcs better than CD boots. Mpen = more damage = more heal with Q. So CD boots don't really improve your sustain by much, if at all vs Sorcs.
Forgetting about Vladimir's ultimate for a second (which I think would weigh towards CDR because of the fact that is often not up when you would want it to be), CDR boots will be better any time they allow you to get off additional spells in a fight, which is pretty often. If you're getting off the same numbers of spells either way, MPen is obviously better.
Then of course there's the added utility from a reduced Pool cooldown, and the fact that you can't easily itemize CDR for Vlad but you can always get Void Staff... seems to weigh in the CDR boots' favor.
With enough CDR you can do a pretty powerful combo of RQE W QE Hourglass QE (wait 1-2 seconds) W QE, during which it's pretty damn impossible to kill you.
On June 22 2012 05:03 Ghost-z wrote: I would also rate Sorcs better than CD boots. Mpen = more damage = more heal with Q. So CD boots don't really improve your sustain by much, if at all vs Sorcs.
except cdr is also more damage.....
And more health returned, considering the healing part of Q is independent of the damage done.
I'm not a vlad player but on the LoL forums the public has been complaining about the delay between skills after you use your ultimate, anyone else acknowledging this issue?
I did not realize that Vlads Q was a flat heal. I always thought it was a % of damage dealt. In that case CD boots would be better in most situations except burst damage teamfights (kennen vlad combo comes to mind). In any prolonged fight CD boots should pull ahead easy over sorcs.
On June 22 2012 05:24 RogerX wrote: Nice timing for this to be bumped.
I'm not a vlad player but on the LoL forums the public has been complaining about the delay between skills after you use your ultimate, anyone else acknowledging this issue?
I'm pretty sure I've noticed it, but it DEFINITELY shouldn't be buffed to have a faster animation. Vlad is far too strong right now the way things are and that would be a pretty significant buff.
On June 22 2012 08:37 Ghost-z wrote: I did not realize that Vlads Q was a flat heal. I always thought it was a % of damage dealt. In that case CD boots would be better in most situations except burst damage teamfights (kennen vlad combo comes to mind). In any prolonged fight CD boots should pull ahead easy over sorcs.
In fact, if you Q a Sivir, say, under her spellshield, you will do no damage whatsoever to her, yet still get healed.
EDIT: what is this Vlad bug exactly? Is it a buff or a nerf?
On June 22 2012 05:14 Alzadar wrote: Forgetting about Vladimir's ultimate for a second (which I think would weigh towards CDR because of the fact that is often not up when you would want it to be), CDR boots will be better any time they allow you to get off additional spells in a fight, which is pretty often. If you're getting off the same numbers of spells either way, MPen is obviously better.
Then of course there's the added utility from a reduced Pool cooldown, and the fact that you can't easily itemize CDR for Vlad but you can always get Void Staff... seems to weigh in the CDR boots' favor.
With enough CDR you can do a pretty powerful combo of RQE W QE Hourglass QE (wait 1-2 seconds) W QE, during which it's pretty damn impossible to kill you.
Pretty much this. I main as Vlad, and while I'm only a noob level 22, the shortened CD on W has saved me countless times. The above described combo is simply lethal in team fights. I'd always get CDR over anything else.
My build is boots -> hextech -> sorc/merc/ionian[if they have a lot of poke] -> Kage and I'm stuck at this point before I used to build wota but i don't think it's completely worth it anymore, 1300 for 40ap and 8 more life steal or, go for giant belt? Going giant belt will get me another 10 ap becaues of passive or going for the wota i get 58 hp i dont feel like its worth it.
Any suggestions? I mean I'll get it eventually and if im already killing them then going for my blasting wand/amp tome for rylais.
On July 28 2012 19:34 D u o wrote: My build is boots -> hextech -> sorc/merc/ionian[if they have a lot of poke] -> Kage and I'm stuck at this point before I used to build wota but i don't think it's completely worth it anymore, 1300 for 40ap and 8 more life steal or, go for giant belt? Going giant belt will get me another 10 ap becaues of passive or going for the wota i get 58 hp i dont feel like its worth it.
Any suggestions? I mean I'll get it eventually and if im already killing them then going for my blasting wand/amp tome for rylais.
after the revolver i like to build either a rilays in which case i get the belt 1st or an abyssal in which case i get the cloack 1st, it depends on laning opponent and situation, if really really ahead i get an NLR but that's really rare..
So I want to play Vlad during the remaining free week (I did one game, badly) to see if he's a potential future purchase for me. Can someone give me a breakdown of good/bad matchups for him? The one game I played I picked vs Xin and got my face pushed in, though that could have been because I was using a shit rune setup. He did a looot of damage at low levels, though. Now I've got an MPen red, HP/18 yellow, AP blue, AP Quint page, 21/0/9, and will be running him Flash/Ignite. Seem ok?
Sorry to ask basic questions, I couldn't really find any guides out there that didn't seem troll-y or pretty out of date.
If you can survive until 7/9 while farm reasonably well, it's generally a good matchup. Xin is quite bursty early on and should destroy Vlad until after laning phase. (Last time I played Xin vs Vlad 2 weeks ago, I won with AP runes, meh)
You want to run flat armor seals and/or flat mr glyphs depending on the matchup. Flash is fine for mid, but Ghost is better on top.
On September 15 2012 01:34 Requizen wrote: So I want to play Vlad during the remaining free week (I did one game, badly) to see if he's a potential future purchase for me. Can someone give me a breakdown of good/bad matchups for him? The one game I played I picked vs Xin and got my face pushed in, though that could have been because I was using a shit rune setup. He did a looot of damage at low levels, though. Now I've got an MPen red, HP/18 yellow, AP blue, AP Quint page, 21/0/9, and will be running him Flash/Ignite. Seem ok?
Sorry to ask basic questions, I couldn't really find any guides out there that didn't seem troll-y or pretty out of date.
I have similar questions. I've played Vlad a lot, and won/even lanes vs. WW, Jax, Kennen, and others, but I got bullied by a Miss Fortune (who honestly was a better player/more experienced with the champ, and more jungle support) and Yorik (same) any protips?
Vladimir does pretty bad against champions that gapclose well, like Irelia. He also has some difficulty against champions that sustain better than him (typically mana-based sustain), like Nidalee/Kayle/AP WW/Irelia (yet again)/Swain.
On September 15 2012 02:35 Yiruru wrote: If you can survive until 7/9 while farm reasonably well, it's generally a good matchup. Xin is quite bursty early on and should destroy Vlad until after laning phase. (Last time I played Xin vs Vlad 2 weeks ago, I won with AP runes, meh)
You want to run flat armor seals and/or flat mr glyphs depending on the matchup. Flash is fine for mid, but Ghost is better on top.
On September 15 2012 02:48 Sufficiency wrote: Vladimir does pretty bad against champions that gapclose well, like Irelia. He also has some difficulty against champions that sustain better than him (typically mana-based sustain), like Nidalee/Kayle/AP WW/Irelia (yet again)/Swain.
That was the feeling that I got, you're not that strong in a duel until items/levels. Seems to be effective vs melee with no/poor gap closers. I spent most of my time trying to farm with autos/Q and then pool when he charged, seemed to be about all I could do :\
Next two questions: if I decide to add him to my top roster, what matchups is he very strong against and should be picked into? And what's the reasoning behind Ghost top over Flash?
Lane's longer and ghost pool can save you from a lot of things. You're going to need more sustained dmg vs typical bruisers that flash doesn't really do for you. Ghost can be abusive vs melees. You can be cool and go ghost flash.
I usually don't play casters, but when I do, I regularly pick Vladimir because he is pretty basic and can pull of crazy plays if you are experienced to some extent. In addition, he's a time bomb: he will be a beast lategame and is a terror to lane against from lvl 9 onwards (unless he got shat on really really hard early game).
For any questions including lane matchup analysis, core items and runes / masteries, I will always recommend CLG.na Chauster's basic Vladimir guide. Nothing new for oldschool Vladimir players, but it helped me tremendously when I was 're-learning' Vladimir after he got nerfed into nothingness and then buffed back to be what he is today.
On September 15 2012 02:48 Sufficiency wrote: Vladimir does pretty bad against champions that gapclose well, like Irelia. He also has some difficulty against champions that sustain better than him (typically mana-based sustain), like Nidalee/Kayle/AP WW/Irelia (yet again)/Swain.
Every single game where I laned against a Nidalee was a very easy win. Her heal is only really substantial if she is going AP, and even then the mana costs for the Nidalee heal is really high. You can easily sustain through her AA harass during laning because she won't be able to come into range much of the time in the first place, and when she does your EQ-disengage will leave you winning trades. You shouldn't be getting hit by spears either during laning. IDK, my experiences are Vlad >>>>> Nidalee. One of the easiest matchups for him.
WW is good against Vlad but his ult factors in heavily. Irelia doesn't beat Vlad because of her sustain (which isn't even that great after her sustain nerf) but because she can engage on him incredibly easily and outdamage him by a great deal while also making it difficult or costly for Vlad to disengage. Irelia is good against Vlad for similar reasons as to why Riven, Jarvan, and Xin can be good against Vlad. It's just that Irelia's engage is much more "ensured" while generally being safer. I also don't think Swain beats Vlad because of his sustain. For me it mostly revolves around the fact that in a drawn out fight Swain >>> Vlad, and how you're basically dead if Swain lands a W on you post 6. Swain is similar to Ryze in that regard. Ryze >>> Swain, and it has nothing to do with his sustain. It has to do with the fact that roots and stuns fuck Vlad hard.
tldr; Vlad sucks against people that can engage on wail on him and can prevent or make it difficult for Vlad to disengage. I don't think sustain has much to do with success against Vlad in lane at all, it's more about sustained damage that Vlad can't sustain against.
I have seen a lot of different suggestions on how to build Vlad's masteries (as far as top lane is concerned). Some people say 21-9-0, some people say 9-21-0, and Reapered does 9-0-21. I have tried all of them but I frankly can't make up my mind on this. Does anyone know if any sets of the masteries above is superior, say, in certain match ups?
On October 22 2012 09:48 Sufficiency wrote: Question:
I have seen a lot of different suggestions on how to build Vlad's masteries (as far as top lane is concerned). Some people say 21-9-0, some people say 9-21-0, and Reapered does 9-0-21. I have tried all of them but I frankly can't make up my mind on this. Does anyone know if any sets of the masteries above is superior, say, in certain match ups?
I recommend going 9/21/0 for top lane against gap closers/heavy hitters as it gives you a ton of extra defensive stats and the extra movespeed as well. I would also use movement speed quints, armor yellows, magic resist or scaling ap blues and magic pen reds for top lane. Basically this build with movement quints will make your life much easier vs any champs with gap closers due to the extra defense stats and the extra movespeed for escaping. If the enemy jungler/top laner realizes you have no extra movespeed aside from your base/boots you can bet that you will get camped since its an ez gank regardless of your pool/ghost or flash. Also, picking up an early dorans shield might be a good idea vs a xin zhao/irelia. If you are facing another ap champ up top you will probably just want to use a mid lane rune set up provided below.
For mid lane, It is best to go 21/9/0, specing in magic resist and the extra health from the defensive tree. For runes in mid lane you can use spellvamp quints(they allow you to spam tides of blood more frequently) or movement quints or flat ap quints, health per level yellows, and either Magic resist or scaling ap blues along with magic pen reds for mid lane. Against an easier mid lane I would just run Movement quints or spellvamp quints with scaling ap yellows/blues with mpen reds.
I've tried 9/0/21 before on vlad for the extra movespeed, spellvamp and cdr but i feel its pretty weak for him since you aren't any top end damage/defensive stats. If i were to run 9/0/21 it would be in mid lane against one of the easier matchups to where i can easily farm and I would take the movespeed, spellvamp, extra gold/1 point in wealth to start with an extra potion for added sustain and the cdr to start at 10%. I would also probably use spellvamp quints( to start off with 9% including masteries for extra sustain/tides of blood spamming to farm better)with flat cdr blues(that would give me almost 16% starting cdr), health per level yellows and magic pen reds. I would also probably make my item build something like hextech/cdr boots/rylais/deathcap then finish the wota or go directly into voidstaff and then finish the wota since u've already got 21% spellvamp due to hextech/runes/masteries. You can also toss in a zhonya's sooner or later depending on how the laning phase went/enemy team comp. The mass cdr/rylais allows you to kite for days. This would be my version of 9/0/21 for vlad. Here is a direct link to a near identical version of the 9/0/21 vlad that Reapered uses: http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=33441-thebreakdancer-vladimir-build-guide
As you can see, most of these runepage/mastery setups are entirely based on the situation. I tend to use varied set ups for what i'm facing. Basically there is no one for all runepage and i recommend having 2-3 different ones setup for vlad for each scenario.
If you are relatively knew to vlad it's not a bad idea to go 9/21/0 with a defensive runesetup(with MS quints) regardless of which lane you are in till you get the hang of how to play vlad since he is a little weak early game. Just remember that anytime you use 9/21/0 on him you are cutting off some of his top end damage because you won't be getting the havok, ap/lvl, 5% more ap and executioner's bonus from specing deep into the offensive tree.
Also, in general, Vlad's kill potential is rather low till level 9. At level 9, Transfusion is maxed and you should probably have your hextech revolver/tier 2 boots which will allow you to bully the enemy in lane and possibly score a kill without assistance from your jungler. Hope this helped.
On January 02 2013 07:40 GhandiEAGLE wrote: Haunting guise is a fun, fast pickup, but I haven't turned it into Liandry's very much yet. I think he didn't get changed too hardcore, playstyle-wise
He gets the bonus 10% damage or whatever from Liandrys since pool slows them doesnt he? Seems like it'd be pretty decent on him imo.
On January 02 2013 08:13 Zabad wrote: So should I get haunting guise before hextech usually? Sorry I am a new vlad and all the guides out seem to be out of date
personally no
You want that hextech so you can spam your E with minimal dmg. I would only go haunting guise first if I was troll-raping my lane for w.e stupid reason. The amount of dmg you do is nice... but it isn't usually justified.
On January 02 2013 07:40 GhandiEAGLE wrote: Haunting guise is a fun, fast pickup, but I haven't turned it into Liandry's very much yet. I think he didn't get changed too hardcore, playstyle-wise
He gets the bonus 10% damage or whatever from Liandrys since pool slows them doesnt he? Seems like it'd be pretty decent on him imo.
Ehhhhh you shouldn't be using your pool for any offensive actions. It does sync well but if you are using your pool cd during teamfights for no particular reason (not using it to dodge stuns/skills shots) but only for dps then something wrong is going on (your team is annihilating the opposing team).
Liandry's seems pretty solid on Vlad, especially since you want to try and get as much damage as possible right after you lay down your ult which is ideally going to be right after the intiation and it does % max hp. Sounds good to me in theory.
With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
So you can stack damage and get health whereas other top laners stack health and get no damage from it. This seems like a pretty big advantage to me
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
So you can stack damage and get health whereas other top laners stack health and get no damage from it. This seems like a pretty big advantage to me
Basically, no need to ever stack health while his passive works better the other way
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
So you can stack damage and get health whereas other top laners stack health and get no damage from it. This seems like a pretty big advantage to me
Basically, no need to ever stack health while his passive works better the other way
From just a Rylai's and Liandry's you would get like 900 hp and 200 AP which is pretty great considering those are items you want on Vlad anyway
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
So you can stack damage and get health whereas other top laners stack health and get no damage from it. This seems like a pretty big advantage to me
Basically, no need to ever stack health while his passive works better the other way
From just a Rylai's and Liandry's you would get like 900 hp and 200 AP which is pretty great considering those are items you want on Vlad anyway
Rylai's is good because of the kiting potential and decent AP, not because the HP part of it magically gives you more AP (it gives like 5).
Except in the case where you are instantly 1shot and can't get a second round of spells off, you will always do more damage putting your gold into AP than HP. In this sense Vlad is a lot like Swain: you want enough base HP to not die immediately and then AP translated directly into more survivability due to healing mechanics/champ design/killing the other guy faster = dying slower.
What are people's thoughts on revolver? I feel that it isn't as core anymore due to top lane going from sustain fest to slugfest. You can more HP back from skipping the early revolver and just getting HP pots
On January 09 2013 13:39 MattBarry wrote: With the stack health flavor of the month going on right now at top lane I'm shocked not to see Vlad get way more play. His passive would really shine in the current meta
The Health -> AP part of his passive is kinda trash is why, its not even remotely close to how good the AP->Health part of it is
Still, if you're going to buy sunfire and warmogs on someone like Katarina, you might as well do it on someone who actually gets damage from it like Vlad.
Alternatively you can stack AP anyway and be the late game monster Vlad always is. The current meta really favors a resurgence of Vlad.
You spend liek 2600 on warmogs for a whole 25 ap, you could spend 400 gold on an amp tomb, get the same amount of ap, and it'll turn into other useful stuff(rylais dfg etc)
id never get sunfire/warmogs on vlad ever the benefits of just building ap are too great in comparison to building health
So you can stack damage and get health whereas other top laners stack health and get no damage from it. This seems like a pretty big advantage to me
Basically, no need to ever stack health while his passive works better the other way
From just a Rylai's and Liandry's you would get like 900 hp and 200 AP which is pretty great considering those are items you want on Vlad anyway
Rylai's is good because of the kiting potential and decent AP, not because the HP part of it magically gives you more AP (it gives like 5).
Except in the case where you are instantly 1shot and can't get a second round of spells off, you will always do more damage putting your gold into AP than HP. In this sense Vlad is a lot like Swain: you want enough base HP to not die immediately and then AP translated directly into more survivability due to healing mechanics/champ design/killing the other guy faster = dying slower.
What are people's thoughts on revolver? I feel that it isn't as core anymore due to top lane going from sustain fest to slugfest. You can more HP back from skipping the early revolver and just getting HP pots
Revolvers still really good on him, you get the flat heal from Q and the % heal from Revolver, WoTA is a good team buff and vlad def uses all the stats on it
When is it better to build tankier items first (eg rylais and zhonyas) and when is it better to go for more damage (deathcap)? It is just a top vs mid thing?
I've been liking Vlad as a midlaner lately, will probably take him top more often. Liandry's is good poke, but I generally hold off on it until I have a Rylai's for the slow/extra damage synergy. His core of Revolver/Boots/Guise -> Rylai/Liandry/whatever is just so smooth and good.
Still pretty tough against good divers, but I've found that doing things like go heavy into defensive tree and buying a DShield early on can help even his worst matchups, and late game Vlad is nothing to scoff at by any means.
I really think hextech into seekers armguards (or vice versa) would be so amazing in lane, especially if you're facing an AD. Getting Zhoyna's is always a great item for Vlad because with that and pool you just stay alive forever in team fights. Do your full combo, pool, do full combo, zhoynas, do full combo, pool, etc etc.
Will have to experiment with that build and maybe I'll give this Rylais/Liadry's build a try, I haven't played Vlad too much recently but with the kennen buff and seekers I was playing Kennen a bit more...and since vlad and kennen work so well together why not try out vlad again. :D
On February 09 2013 03:17 SidianTheBard wrote: I really think hextech into seekers armguards (or vice versa) would be so amazing in lane, especially if you're facing an AD. Getting Zhoyna's is always a great item for Vlad because with that and pool you just stay alive forever in team fights. Do your full combo, pool, do full combo, zhoynas, do full combo, pool, etc etc.
Will have to experiment with that build and maybe I'll give this Rylais/Liadry's build a try, I haven't played Vlad too much recently but with the kennen buff and seekers I was playing Kennen a bit more...and since vlad and kennen work so well together why not try out vlad again. :D
Seekers is probably a good choice in a heavy AD lane, I have just been defaulting to Guise because of the "double synergy" of a HP/AP item. However, I could definitely see Seeker's against a Xin/Panth/Riven type, especially if you start Cloth for the early game.
On January 02 2013 07:40 GhandiEAGLE wrote: Haunting guise is a fun, fast pickup, but I haven't turned it into Liandry's very much yet. I think he didn't get changed too hardcore, playstyle-wise
He gets the bonus 10% damage or whatever from Liandrys since pool slows them doesnt he? Seems like it'd be pretty decent on him imo.
Ehhhhh you shouldn't be using your pool for any offensive actions. It does sync well but if you are using your pool cd during teamfights for no particular reason (not using it to dodge stuns/skills shots) but only for dps then something wrong is going on (your team is annihilating the opposing team).
I dunno, if you ult 4 people then pool with a revolver, you will most likely heal up all of the damage you did to yourself, especially since pool boots healing rates. It also does a massive amount of damage. I have won 2v5s just doing that (albeit with an eve, and I was really fed)
On April 23 2013 04:47 Requizen wrote: So should I even get Revolver/WotA on Vlad anymore? I feel like Liandry's/Rylai/Zhonya are all just stronger options.
I still like revolver, dont have to turn it into WotA till way later, its still good in lane imo.
Some people have been experimenting with turning it into Wraith Spirit because it's cheap, and dat cooldown. I like it a lot IMO, but WotA has its uses in the right comps
On April 23 2013 12:34 GhandiEAGLE wrote: Some people have been experimenting with turning it into Wraith Spirit because it's cheap, and dat cooldown. I like it a lot IMO, but WotA has its uses in the right comps
That 10% CDR feels so godlike. It's also great if you're playing Vlad and get to farm jungle creeps cause you just melt them.
If you're mid lane Vlad it should definitely be worth it to it into spectral wraith since you can farm wraiths/wolves easier - from top lane it's all about preference imo and depends whether you feel like you need the extra vamp+CDR.
On April 26 2013 10:43 HREParabola wrote: What are peoples thoughts on getting both WotA and Wraith? Is it just too much money for not enough return?
I can't see that working in too many situations. Unless you are mid, running double ap with a magic damage jungler, and laning for 30 minutes it probably is too much of an investment for a stat that doesn't translate into very much real power.
just got vlad and have been playing him top a lot. I am still trying to get a feel for how to build him. I have been starting with boots and 4 pots unless I need a ward at lvl 1. I go revolver into hourglass my main problem is I would like to get some cdr on him but not sure where to get it. I am not a fan of Wraith Spirit. against an ap heavy team I have been grabing spirit visage but otherwise i am wondering if cdr boots viable on him or do u need magic pen boots? also is the mana stats make unholy grail make it a waste on vlad?
On July 03 2013 08:59 IamPryda wrote: just got vlad and have been playing him top a lot. I am still trying to get a feel for how to build him. I have been starting with boots and 4 pots unless I need a ward at lvl 1. I go revolver into hourglass my main problem is I would like to get some cdr on him but not sure where to get it. I am not a fan of Wraith Spirit. against an ap heavy team I have been grabing spirit visage but otherwise i am wondering if cdr boots viable on him or do u need magic pen boots? also is the mana stats make unholy grail make it a waste on vlad?
I'm no vlad expert but cdr boots are quite common on him. I think grail has too much mana to be worthwhile, if you wanted an AP/CDR item Morellos or DFG would be better choices, but I can't comment on whether these are actually good buys on Vladimir
Oftentimes, I find that lategame, combo pool combo zhonyas combo is usually enough, since those periods of invulnerability let you get it back. I also build Wraith Spirit (although I haven't played Vlad since Wraith nerf although I assume it's still good), and am curious as to why you're not a fan of it. It's a pretty cheap power spike for Vlad.
Spirit visage is pretty terrible on vlad. You need a revolver item to synergize with it and . Abyssal is much better since it gives MR and a LOT more damage.
Having a revolver item increases your pressure in lane by a massive margin since your E heals for a lot and you can shove relentlessly but I'm not personally too big of a fan of it since for ~250 more gold, a haunting guise makes you tankier against all-ins/ganks and gives a massive amount of damage. You can't shove the lane quite as hard but zoning the other laner is better IMO.
Can someone who is better at LoL than me explain why I should be getting spectral wraith and why I shouldn't be getting revolver/wota? Also why should I be getting liandry's over abyssal scepter?
On July 03 2013 16:49 Meapak_Ziphh wrote: Can someone who is better at LoL than me explain why I should be getting spectral wraith and why I shouldn't be getting revolver/wota? Also why should I be getting liandry's over abyssal scepter?
Wraith gives a large amount of spellvamp and some much needed CDR, WotA is usually better in the lategame, esp. paired with an appropriate mage, ryze/karth/kennen
Should you get liandry's? I reaaaaaally dont think so, I can't remember ever doing well with it except one game against a high-hp stacking team with a Graves.
On July 03 2013 16:49 Meapak_Ziphh wrote: Can someone who is better at LoL than me explain why I should be getting spectral wraith and why I shouldn't be getting revolver/wota? Also why should I be getting liandry's over abyssal scepter?
WotA vs Wraith is 100% situational. Sometimes you need the Wraith CDR and the cheap midgame power spike, sometimes you want WotA to make that lategame Ryze on your team a beast. It totally varies.
Abyssal vs Liandry's, on the other hand? Get an abyssal, that item is so sick o.o Also Liandry's ain't so good with Vlad. EDIT: Damn it Dusty
Rylai/Liandrys is something I would do on Vlad vs a really tanky team, like Malphite mid, Rammus jungle, Shen top with Leona support or something. Otherwise I'd just go for mass AP and concentrate on burst.
On July 03 2013 20:44 Shikyo wrote: Rylai/Liandrys is something I would do on Vlad vs a really tanky team, like Malphite mid, Rammus jungle, Shen top with Leona support or something. Otherwise I'd just go for mass AP and concentrate on burst.
Playing Vlad you cant concentrate on burst, thanks to his low ratio damage (in comparison with other AP burst champ) but also his low cooldown he is a naturally sustain damage champ. Probably the best setup is a mix of AP/HP to let him stay in fight longer and take advantage of his dps.
My build for Vlad:
- Rylai (I never skip this item, it give some cc and give some kite potential vs melee champ) - Liandrys ( i get it 90% cause his sinergy with Rylai is awesome and double the damage of Liandrys passive, plus give both ap/hp for your passive) - Cooldown boots : Core item, prefer this over sorcerer cause i can take MagicPenetration from nice item like Liandry's,abyssal or void staff. Instead there arent a lot of good item with CD that fit with vlad so well.
why I should be getting spectral wraith and why I shouldn't be getting revolver/wota?
Spectral wraith builds out of a revolver though? o.o I feel like as vlad especially in top lane you need all the additional cheap power you can get your hands on due to your crappy early game. Most of the time you want to rush a revolver in lane and then for a mere 800 gold (cheaper if you started with rejuv bead!) you can slap on 10%cdr+spellvamp. Wota on the other hand is a lot more expensive and is generally picked up lategame to synergize with other ap casters and even then its use is highly questionable. I just don't think it's worth the loss of early/midgame power.
As for myself, am I the only one around with trouble laning against the likes of renekton/tryndamere/rengar without jungler help? They all have free sustain, gap closer, and more often than not they end up sustaining through the q/auto spam and just farm. Either way after a back or two unless I absolutely crushed them in lane I will get bullied because they just dash to my face and force pool or win trades. I run 9/21/0 ms quints, pen reds, flat armor yellows and flat mr blues. I'm really thinking of getting ap quints/cdr blues instead to help out but I'm not sure if that'll solve my problems. If nothing else works for me I guess I'll resort to just rushing rylai against them every game.
why I should be getting spectral wraith and why I shouldn't be getting revolver/wota?
Spectral wraith builds out of a revolver though? o.o I feel like as vlad especially in top lane you need all the additional cheap power you can get your hands on due to your crappy early game. Most of the time you want to rush a revolver in lane and then for a mere 800 gold (cheaper if you started with rejuv bead!) you can slap on 10%cdr+spellvamp. Wota on the other hand is a lot more expensive and is generally picked up lategame to synergize with other ap casters and even then its use is highly questionable. I just don't think it's worth the loss of early/midgame power.
As for myself, am I the only one around with trouble laning against the likes of renekton/tryndamere/rengar without jungler help? They all have free sustain, gap closer, and more often than not they end up sustaining through the q/auto spam and just farm. Either way after a back or two unless I absolutely crushed them in lane I will get bullied because they just dash to my face and force pool or win trades. I run 9/21/0 ms quints, pen reds, flat armor yellows and flat mr blues. I'm really thinking of getting ap quints/cdr blues instead to help out but I'm not sure if that'll solve my problems. If nothing else works for me I guess I'll resort to just rushing rylai against them every game.
Against high sustain champions you need to run AP quints to do anything to them in lane. You don't necessarily need the CDR blues though. You should be opening cloth+5 -> seekers and then a revolver. It's generally a good idea to grab a haunting guise as well for the mpen and slight increase in tankiness before finishing the hourglass.
Irelia used to be a strong pick against Vlad in S2 but that was a long time ago and things have changed a lot, so I don't know if it's still that way. Swain has always been strong against Vlad and Ryze as well. Melee champs that have strong engages and strong early games have been pretty good too, like Jarvan and Riven, if the Vlad isn't being careful enough.
So I've been playing a lot more Vlad in recent weeks, especially after watching FeniX do surprisingly well with him during the NA LCS playoffs. (pff, who would've thunk, amirite?) I find him much suited for Mid than Top because he can actually harass mages out of lane as opposed to tanks/Cinderhulks (good luck trying to push a Mao'Kai out of lane who did Raptors at level 1)
Runes Marks: MPen standard issue
Seals: HP/Level obv the best scaling Seals for Vlad but also the sudden drop in AD Mid Lanes solidifies this choice even more
Glyphs: CDR/Level I think majority of Vlads I research actually go AP/Level just for more damage but I view/play Vlad more as an attrition Mid Lane than burst. Hitting 40% CDR or close to early on is immensely helpful.
Quints: 2 Spell Vamp, 1 MS again, this is my personal preference and fits my attrition play style. Standard here would be Flat AP.
Masteries: 21 0 9 21 9 0 also works but I enjoy the MS at all phases of the game and I can do without the extra health. Not sure how wise this is tbh.
Is there any reason for me to ever go WotA early? Like either immediately before or after Luden's Echo. I'm already heavily invested in CDR/Spell Vamp already from Runes/Masteries but would it be worthwhile to spec in more AP if I go WotA?
NLR item build. Echo giving MS is one of the enjoyable changes for Vlad when Rito changed it from DFG to Echo. I can always chase up to someone with Echo + Boots. But is Echo a better power spike than Deathcap or is Deathcap too greedy as a first NLR item?
I've tried out Rylai's on Vlad, especially in games where it's very brawl-y, with a lot of tanks on both sides. I used to do Rylai's/Liandry's on Vlad in the past but it seems like an inferior build nowadays.
Late game/6 items, I tend to drop Ionian Boots back over for Sorc. If I keep Revolver and upgrade it into WotA, I can still hit max CDR with Blue Buff, so more MPen makes sense.
Anyways, I thought I bump this thread to see if anyone else is playing Vlad currently. Weak but pretty easy mode laning phase but his late game is pretty amazeballs due to scaling+Hemoplague.
I've actually picked Vladimir as my go to mid lane champion so I'm super appreciative of your write up.
As for someone who is very inexperienced in the ways of Vladimir, are there any mid lane match ups that you guys think I should avoid, or is Vladimir a pretty safe pick?
I'll post back here with more questions after I've played around with Vladimir a little more.
In regards to Mid Lane matchups, the most difficult lane I've played against was Azir. If you try to Q Azir, you'll get poked 2-3 times by a solider and that does more damage than you can heal off at any point pre-6. You're better off farming with Q and wave clearing with 4 stack E under turret. All in when the time is appropriate and W to dodge key spells.
Champions with long range poke (e.g. Ziggs, Lux) can be annoying if you aren't too good at strafing. But if you can manage to dodge spells like Bouncing Bomb and Lucent Singularity, then lane becomes incredibly easy with your point and click harass.
Oh, and Swain. Pray you never ever lane against Swain as Vlad.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OZcDf.jpg?8636)
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