Initial Thoughts about New Vlad.
Gargles seductively Yissssssss...
Oh, I'm so happy.
I don't want to sound like someone with their nose up Riot's rear, but honestly, they've done well. The Mage updates as a whole seem really, really good; especially Malzahar and Vel'Koz, in my mind at least.
But I'm here to talk about Vlad. While my impressions will be limited to just what there is on the Mid-Season Magic page, I'll try to explore as much as I can.
Passive is the same, cute little dance from the most stylish blood mage on the Rift.
The Q change, whilst a three-stack passive by another name, is good. It encourages the relentless attack playstyle that the low-cd Transfusion would facilitate, and rewards Vlad players for sticking out the fight rather than poking and hiding. I like this, a lot.
Pool is the same infuriating untargetability, naturally.
Now; Tides of Blood, the biggest change. I'm not sure what to think about the E other than that I definitely like it more than the old Tides of Blood; purely based on the visual alone - I'm a sucker for visuals. It looks similar to the old one in a sense, but cuts more flesh for more power - which I like. I really need to know the numbers on this one to properly judge (such as cd - whether it's still spammable - base damage and ratios, and whether he needs to be stationary to cast it or not). The AoE looks bigger though, and the slow is very much appreciated. The more I see of this new kit, the more he looks like he'll have a reason to be picked - which was after all, part of the drive of these updates.
Ult is mostly the same but with a twist, you heal off the pop. There are two reasons I like this, the first being that with the removal of WotA, it's nice to get a bit of healing somewhere else in his kit to compensate (though I wasnt asking for it, I'll lovingly accept it), and the second being it rewards hitting as many people as possible.
I like these changes, overwhelmingly so. Riot's done really well.
I'll probably update these opinions once stats hit surrender@20.
