Vlad Feedback

With the mage update I decided to share my opions of Vlad and what I think of him now and what I want out of this rework.

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What I think

If I were to describe Vlad's class as a champion I would call him an AP bruiser. He's a low range mage with low mobility and a lot of hp that is encouraged to fight in the thick of battle. He has low cooldowns on his skills that also heal him so it is clearly intended for him to spam his skills to output DPS as well as sustain him in fights. He has also historically one of the worst things to face during the laning phase when he's good.

The horrors of Vlad of old are long gone but his laning phase is still probably the worst part of him. More often than not, his lanes are decided by the matchup. He has a distinct advantage over poke lanes because poke lanes are battles of attrition and Vlad uses no mana and has high sustain. Conversley, his long early game cooldowns and low mobility make him extremely vulnerable to all-ins.

The problem of Vlad's matchups I think can be laid at the strange position his kit puts him in. Vlad's ability make him want to be a DPS mage durring team fights but during the laning phase and dueling, his kit plays like a really low range poke kit. He doesn't have a true combo where he thows out all his abilities at once to burst 70% of an enemies HP then clean them up. Instead he is suppose to cycle his Q & E over and over until the enemy is dead. But between uses of his abilities, he does nothing and in combination with his low range, makes it very easy for enemies to gap close and just auto him to death while he can't retaliate. This might be fine as far as balance goes but in terms of gameplay, he creates moments where either his enemy can't fight back, or he can't.

tl:dr: Vlad's laning phase is his biggest problem. His kit makes it so that either he or his enemy can't fight back.

What I want

First: and foremost I would like to Vlad to stay simple. People like to critisize him for his "point-and-click" playstyle and while it might take no decision making in its current form, I'd rather not see it become a "skill shots" or "micro-managey" or any other high finesse kit.

**Second: ** I'd like to remove the poke style of play he has now during the laning phase. I'd like to see one of his abilities change into a skill that deals persistent damage over a longer period of time (think rumble flames or fiddle drain). Something that requires longer combat time so that poke champions can run away without absolutely losing a trade and all-inners can't just walk all over Vlad

Third: and I think this goes without need of me saying but I would like him to stay a beefy and drain tanky.

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What I expect

Just some predictions I have about the rework

• Vlad's Passive will be replace: Right now its just a stats passive with no real gameplay and just exacerbates his win/lose matchup problem
• Troll pool will stay: ...Probably. Its a really cool defensive skill with unique uses but doesn't push the boundries of frustation too much (unlike troll pole)
• Q and E might change: At least one of these skills will have a significant change to add more interation and counterplay
• R might be changed or replaced: Vlad's ult is cool but nothing about it is special enough for it to remain if something better can be done in its stead