Hey everyone this is my first guide on moba fire! I am a current Pre-Season 5 Plat 1 top main(Previously Diamond 5 Top main in S4)! I play many top laners (almost all of them) but one of my favorite situational picks is Vladimir! Make sure to read the Notes abs next to each section to get the full run down and explanation of each section!

Before I get to ranting about Vlad and all his unique wonder its important to know what type of champion Vladimir is. Vladimir is a strong Ap top lane champion he is famously know for his Sanguine Pool (Aka Troll pool). Vladimir is a strong pick in low elo from Bronze to Gold and a very good Situational pick in High elo with a good team comp synergy. Unlike most top lane champions vlad is unique in the respect that he deals magic damage and can get quite beefy and in some cases tanky. His kit is a lane sustaining, medium burst damage, manaless, cool down based set of abilities I will go into detail of his kit later in this guide.

Pros
-High Sustain/Poke
-Easy to farm with
-Devastating Team Fight Ultimate
-Great kiting and baiting potential with pool and hourglass active.
-Can be beefy or tanky and still deal decent consistent damage
-When semi ahead can 1v1 and 2v1 easy, sometimes can 3v1+ if played right.
-Can hold turret and Survive turret dives with pool(Being dove or diving an enemy)

Cons
-Weak early game Pre-six
-short ranged for ranged champ
-No built in Hard CC
-Medium Slow movement speed
-Needs Great team synergy and team coordination
-Hard to manage E stacks and pool
-Damage is high but is not a high burst(Wont one shot enemies often)

Crimson Pact: This is such an under looked passive when it come to people playing vlad. The ratio of bonus health to Ap isnt the best but the Ap to Hp ration is amazing giving vlad high amounts of Ap as well as Hp which makes him deceptively beefy.

Transfusion: This is Vlads' main skill and is always maxed first. Transfusion's damage is instant as soon as its casted onto an enemy or minion. There are two parts to this skill first the instant damage and healing if you have spell vamp and secondly the blood returning to him healing him for a portion of his Ap. Note that if you use Saguine pool imediatly after casting transfusion you WILL NOT RECEIVE THE SECOND HEALING PORTION.

Sanguine Pool: Ahh the famous troll pool. This is one of vlads most annoying skills to to fight against. When used vlad sinks into a pool of blood gaining a decaying movement speed buff, slows, damages any one ontop of the pool, and heals himself for a small percentage. While in the pool state vlad cannot be hit with any abilities except veigars stun and cannot pass under Jarvans ultimate. Another thing to note is that any type of tethered ability such as Fiddle drain or Morgana ultimate will not be broken and continue to damage and CC vlad even when in the pool. Also any type of bleed, mark, or poison casted on vlad before he pools will still DAMAGE him. Also Ally abilities such as heals or buffs casted on you cannot be casted on you while in your pool for. Thanks to a recent update Heal, Ghost, flash can be used while in pool!

Tides Of Blood: This is vlads main farming and in mid to late game sustain skill. Tides of Blood will hit an infinite amount of targets in its cast range each cast cost a small amount of health but in return can be stacked up to 4 times massively increasing its damage and also increases his spell vamp and Hp regeneration. In addition each cast up to its fourth stack will cost more health and stops increasing at 4 stacks. Tides of Blood WILL hit any stealth-ed targets and will follow its target out of its range so it cannot be dodge by flashing away from it.

Hemoplauge: Vladamir's Ultimate, a very devastating ult when used correctly in team fights. Vlad infects all units in an area that is casted while afflicted by Hemoplauge enemy champions take 12% bonus damages from Vlad and his allies including ignite(Exception Ally Towers do not do bonus 12% damage). After 5 seconds the red circle on the afflicted units detonates dealing a fair amount of magic damage. Vlads ulti is a semi good in a 1v1 or 2v1 fight but to get the most out of it should be used in a team fight in a perfect situation the support or mid uses an AOE CC ability to lock down as many targets as possible vlad immediately ults as many enemy champions as he can hit and gets into the middle of the fight and spams Q and E while his team drops all their skills to burst them down with the damage buff from vlads ulti.

Look At comments above to see what match up you are having while playing vlad to see exact tactics. Vlads farming pre-6 is sub par, his autos take some getting used to damage wise and animation/Attack speed wise. When you get your revolver you should spam Tides of blood and stack it as much as you can and poke your enemy laner with Q to stay healthy and let him know who is boss. Farming is key, yes you hear alot vlads level 9 power spike is his greatest while this is true his late game scaling is very strong and a correctly and fully itemized vlad with a good team will absolutely destroy teams in team fights. In lane save you transfusion for poking and use your Tides Of Blood for large wave clear and poke if possible. When going all in for the kill make sure you are above 60% Hp roughly and your opponent bellow atleat 50% HP. Ult them when you have 4 stacks of E for maximum damage. After you ult them spam Q and E followed by ignite and autos in between spells. Pool if need be (If your diving to drop turret agro). Go back unless you know where their jungle is and that mid has not roamed top. Continue to farm with Q constantly and get back up to full HP keep up the pressure and ward and have map awareness(People love to camp a Vladimir especially when he is winning lane).

Finally What makes Vladimir a good addition to a team his his High HP and AP factor/sustain and damage/Damage amplification/ and kite potential. When teamfighting you should go in with 4 stacks on your E. Have you hard CC initiate like a leona ult or viegar stu, or j4 ult once the enemy team is grouped up you hit as any enemies you can with Hemoplauge and start spamming E in the middle of the team fight. Focus the squishy targets with your q and hourglass/ and or pool out while your team finishes them off. You should be able to sustain back up after the teamfight and keep on pushing onto victory!

In summary Vladimir the Crimson Reaper is a sustained damage mage in the top lane. He is considered an AP Off tank and is a strong situational pick. Even though he lacks CC his ability to starve teams out from under their turrets and simplify his teams damage significantly makes Vladimir a great pick as a utility/Damage/Sustain tank mage.

Thank you for reading my guide! If you have any questions or or comments feel free to comment bellow. If you would like one on one training or tips and tricks on vlad in the top lane feel free to contact me via email a Dragpl8t@gmail.com
-Paul