Hello Everyone and welcome as you ve read in the title i m not a high elo player, i ve made this guide for any new vladimir players that want to pick him up.
Disclaimer: This guide is based on my opinion and my experience on the rift therefore if you do not agree with some parts it s completley ok.Share your opinion in the comment section.
I picked up vladimir in s8 and have been playing him eversince and i think my journey might help others enjoy this champion just as i do.

Why choose to play vladimir?
Do you want to heal all their damage with one R? Do you want to tilt your enemy laner by succing your hp back up making all his work useless?
Vladimir is a fun champion to play as the satisfaction you get from solo carrying your team is massive.

PROS
+No mana/energy system to keep track off
+Easy kit to understand and utilize
+Great sustain(you can heal off jgle camps ikr?)
+One of the best teamfight scaling champs
+Great outplay/dodge potential with Pool
+Multirole use(TOP/Mid/even adc if you dare)
CONS
-High cooldowns abilities early game
-Item dependent( no items, no scale)
-Immobile mage(can be kited)
-Weak against heavy cc
-Hard to get back in the game if behind
-Takes time to Master

Ok these are some pros and cons ,i m sure you can find more but i listed some important ones.

In this chapter we will talk about what vladimir's abilities are and how they work.
Then we ll focus on Combos,summonner,build and so on.

NOTES:Vladimir is a champion that needs XP and most importantly Farm, learn to farm properly and don t take any bad skirmish that could set you really behind.
After laning phase drop into sidelane and farm gold and xp.

Passive

Every 40 points of bonus Health gives Vladimir 1 Ability Power and every 1 point of Ability Power gives Vladimir 1.6 bonus Health (does not stack with itself).

Vladimir passive is simple but very effective since more AP=HP and more HP=AP(AP=ability power HP=Health points).
The passive doesn t stack with itself meaning any HP or AP you get from passive won t be taken into account again.




Transfusion

Range: 600 Cooldown: 9 / 7.9 / 6.8 / 5.7 / 4.6 Vladimir drains the life force of his target, dealing 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+60% of ability power) magic damage and healing himself for 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+35% of ability power). The healing is 35% effective vs minions. After casting Transfusion twice, Vladimir gains Crimson Rush for 2.5 seconds once Transfusion comes off cooldown. While under the effects of Crimson Rush, Vladimir gains a short burst of speed and his next Transfusion deals 85% more damage and heals for 30-200 (at levels 1-18) (+4% missing Health per 100 ability power).

This is the main ability in the kit that you are gonna use since it helps you sustain and do dmg.
Q has higher range than your autos so any champion that is out of auto range use Q to reach them.
As you can see Vladimir Q has and empowered version called Crimson Rush that decays over 2,5 seconds, to slow the decay you can use E or W before Q so your empowered Q will last longer.





Sanguine Pool

Range: 300 Cooldown: 28 / 25 / 22 / 19 / 16 Cost: 20 Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood for 2 seconds, becoming untargetable and gaining 37.5% bonus movement speed which decays rapidly over 1 second. Enemies above him are slowed by 40% and take 20 / 33.75 / 47.5 / 61.25 / 75 (+2.5% of bonus health) magic damage every half second, while Vladimir heals himself for 15% of the damage done.

So as you ve read you become untargetable with a short movement speed buff,pool will cost hp when you use it.
This ability is really important to understand as it s you main escape in lane/ganks besides flash.
Pool can be used offensively as well to do dmg.
There are certain abilites that vladimir can t get out of with pool(Camille R,Yorick W,etc).
Note:You can cancel Q animation with W if you do it properly(Q+W).


Tides of Blood

Range: 600 Cooldown: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 / 5 Vladimir charges up a reservoir of blood, paying 2.5% - 8% of his maximum health (based on charge duration) over 1 second to increase Tides of Blood's damage. Vladimir is slowed after the initial 1 second if he continues to charge. On release (or after 1.5 seconds), Vladimir unleashes a nova of blood missiles, dealing between 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+35% of ability power) (+2.5% of max health) and 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+80% of ability power) (+6% of max health) magic damage (based on charge duration) to the first enemy hit in a large area around him. If charged for at least 1 second, enemies hit by Tides of Blood are also slowed by 40% for 0.5 seconds.

Alright, your E is your main damage and wave clear.
Vladimir E costs hp so does your W so never start any of these abilities first.
Your E has a charge time and it slows you if you keep charging so remember that , it also provides you with a slow if you charge it for more than 1 second.
Note: If you charge E and Q in the same time it ends your E charge.



Hemoplague

Range: 700 Cooldown: 120 Vladimir infects the target area with a virulent plague. Affected enemies take 10% increased damage for 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, infected enemies take 150 / 250 / 350 (+70% of ability power) magic damage, while Vladimir is healed for the same amount (healing is increased by 50% for each additional champion hit beyond the first).

So any enemy vladimir infects with R takes increased 10% DMG , this is one of the reasons vladimir is so good at teamfighting lategame.
Vladimir R heals for the damage dealt by R and the healing is increased 50% per champion hit,imagine a 4 man or 5 man R it will heal you for insane amounts.
Vladimir R has good range and using some pay2win skins sometimes it becomes really hard to observe in teamfights(Nightbringer,Dark Water).
Vladimir R can be casted while channeling E for example( chargeE+R+Q+W for example).

I won t be showing you the combos in a video since i m sure you can find one online and this guide is already long enough.
Back a few patches ago practicing combos and stuff you could only do in game but since riot added a practice tool now you guys should have no problem learning these combos.
There isn t a certain combo since vladimir kit is versatile.
I have all abilities on smart-cast but there are some people who use normal cast for E since you can end it by using q on target.(find what works for you)

Trading in lane:
AA+AA+Q
AA+Q+shortE

Animation Cancel
Q+W(masks Q animation)
E+Q(when releasing E and using Q can cancel the Q animation,not that useful since it s hard to reproduce always)
Q+R(If you Q+R vladimir will do the R animation first so it cancels your Q animation,practice needed)



Main COMBOS:
Note:Using Q on a minion to get a stack then when you all in Q the champion and by the time you are out of pool you will have empowered Q up.
E+(flash optional)+R+Q+W (this combo works only against melee champs with no escapes)
E+Flash+R+Q(you need empowered Q , use flash to reach enemy with more range than you,keep W to escape from undertower if you dive or dodge their damage)

Late game teamfights:
If youre against a heavy cc team you better have fast fingers.
Flash+R+E+W
E+Flash+R+W(it s a bit slower but works if you catch them out)

This are my builds and if you do not agree it s completley fine everyone is free to run anything they like.


Setup-1 Electrocute
The new patch hit and Ravenous hunter was removed and replaced with treasure hunter(LIDER?), you can either go ultimate hunter or cdr.

Electrocute is a really strong rune on vladimir as it provides you with the damage vladimir lacks.
I do not recommend this setup into tanky teamcomps since electrocute won t do much for you.
Electrocute early BONKS, ok in some matchups electrocute provides you enough damage to kill your target(matchups like Yasuo,sylas,katarina,veigar) if you play it right you will be able to cheese a kill level 3 with ignite.
Secondary runes:
-Taste of blood bcuz it's really good for trading and helps you sustain
-Ghost poro is good ,since one provides you with vision and damage.
-RIP ravenous hunter
Secondary tree:
-Nimbus for that short bust to escape ganks or finish off enemies
-Transcendence for cooldown reduction
Bonus runes:
-damage
-more damage ofc
-helth

In comps where they are squishy but hard to reach run Flash + Ghost since ghost now has increased duration on kills allowing you to ZOOM INTO ETERNITY.




Setup 2 -Predator
Works in the same way as electrocute as it provides you with gap closing and damage but i prefer electrocute over this unless you can perma roam bot and yoink free kills.



Setup 3 - Scaling into infinty
Ok this is my most preffered setup since when i started playing vladimir this was the best setup, but of course riot ruined everything with the cdr changes and item changes add to that the Phase rush nerfs and this setup takes time until it kicks in.
Still for toplane and hard matchups is one of the best options even now, it provides you with engage and disengage and cdr to help you sustain + free stuff ofc.
Main rune:
Nimbus for movement speed
Transcedence for cdr since you want low cooldowns to spam abilities
Gathering storm since you are gonna focus on scaling this rune grants you free damage as the game goes longer
Secondary rune:
Cosmic insight for item and summoner cdr(protobelt cooldown and having ghost up most teamfights is massive)
Magical Footwear for free boots at 12 mins you can switch this for other runes ofc.



Setup 4 - haha perma poke
This rune allows you to poke the **** out of immobile low range matchups and win lane really hard add to that ghost and ignite and it becomes unplayable for them.
This setup is really matchup and comp dependent since it doesn t scale that good and you can go Ghost+ Ignite in some heavy cc comps.
Main tree:
Nimbus for MORE ZOOMING
Transcendence for cdr
Scorch for more poke or you can swith for Gathering storm but this is a Poke setup.
Secondary:
Magical foorwear for free boots ,toplane this rune is really good unless you want to go boots first.
Future Market (controversy?) ok if you farm properly and back with future market your buying power can make the difference in killing your laner or not.(can switch if you don t like this rune).


Summoner spells
Summoners can be teamcomp dependent for example in games where they have heavy cc you can t run GHOST+Ignite so you should run Flash and ghost.
If they have no CC the you can also run Flash+ignite or Ghost+Ignite.
For toplane the main options will be Flash+teleport or Flash+ghost(haha fk you tryndamere).

I m not gonna make this chapter long since the guide is already long and you might be bored.
If you are not experienced with vlad i suggest you don t purchase mejai since you will die more often and will not be efficient so skip it.
For starting items dark seal is great but in tougher matchups i prefer Doran ring since it gives you 20health and also heals you.

The best item for Vladimir right now is protobelt. Provides you with an active for gap closing that does damage and can be used in W(pool) as well, the stats are perfect for vlad and the passive gives you magic pen.

Boots
For boots your main choice would be Sorcerer's since it allows you to do more damage but if you want low cdr on your summoners CDR boots are an option.
But you will feel the difference in damage without sorcerer's.

Other Items
Void staff ofc since it makes you laugh at tanks and makes them cry in chat.
Instead of going mejai Horizon is a really good option.
If they are shields heavy and have a lot of hp just go shadowflame(or if you want to make yone/yasuo players cringe).
Rabadon's is just more damage how can you say not to that?.
Cosmic drive if you go scaling is really good(zooming around them with ghost).

Defensive items:
Zhonya in heavy ad teams and when you are the main engage(really good against zed and other assasins).
Banshee's when they have a lot of CC and AP damage.
Morello if they have a lot of healing and they are tanky so you can t oneshot them.
Spirit Visage if they have lots of AP and you just want to laugh at them while healing health bars(laughing in HELTH).


Note: As i said this is personal opinion build what you think works for you.

Laning Phase
Usually you want to keep the wave in the middle and just farm as everything , if they are pushing match their push.
If you play against champions with wave clear you are just gonna get pushed in so you have to cs undertower.
Backing after crashing a wave is the best recall usually, but you can also setup a freeze if you kill the enemy while they wave is pushing into you.

If you are not a midlaner or you are a beginner at the game lookup on youtube midlane wave management since when it s explained visual it s easier to understand.

Adapting to vladimir , in hard matchup you don t want to push you want it to stagnate so you can farm and avoid ganks.
Don t use pool for waveclear unless you have vision on your enemy laner and know he backed.

Do not take any bad skirmishes where for example the wave is pushing and you will lose an entire WAVE to move for a bad fight that you end up losing setting you really behind.

If you are ahead make a slow push and crash it under his tower then just dive and kill him he won t be able to play the game.

MIDGAME
You can take fights midgame if you are ahead but if the enemy team is ahead just drop into sideline and far up XP and GOLD.If you win sidelane don t group unless it s for an objective or defending base, when you re fed enough join and just blow them up.

LATEGAME
If you played properly you should be really strong at this point but remember you are not invincible.
Make sure to utilize ultimate properly ,meaning you want to hit at least 2 or more enemies.(refer to teamfight combos).
If you have no engage you might need to become the engage in this case defensive items are a must ,zhonya will allow you to engage and keep you alive for your team to join.
In case you are way ahead just blow them up.

Note:I can t tell you exactly how to play or what you should do as every game has different scenarios and comps so you will have to play and experience this yourself.

I m sorry for the length of the guide.
This is my first guide and i wanted to include as much information as possible but there are areas that still are left untoched or places where i repeat stuff.
As disclaimed this is not a guide for high elo players.

Without any more blabbering, i hope you guys will enjoy playing vladimir and unleashing destruction on the rift.

With all the love and respect i sign out.