Can we talk about this?: Vladimir

OK, so ive been playing for 2 years now, and i cant say i know enough to judge if something is unfair or is just annoying beyond belief. But i can almost say with 100% certainty that Vlad has probably always been on the top of everyone's most hated list for almost the moment he was released. The fact is his kit is overflowing with sustain. But i dont want to annoy anyone with a long s3-4 rant on why this champ needs to be removed, ill just skip to the facts, consisting of damage scales and heals. ;p

Passive: Crimson Pact

Vladimir gains (2.5% bonus health) bonus ability power and (140% AP) bonus health. These bonuses do not stack with themselves.

now, this is a big reason people cant stand Vlad, but you really cant tell how annoying it is until you read into it. Basically, Vlad gets stronger and stronger based of his bonus HP and his Bonus AP ( just a simple passive nothing going on here.)

Q: Transfusion

ACTIVE: Vladimir drains the lifeforce of the target enemy, dealing magic damage and healing himself. MAGIC DAMAGE: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 60% AP) HEAL: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+ 35% AP) Each cast of Transfusion generates a stack of Bloodthirst over its cooldown, which is displayed in his secondary resource bar. At 2 stacks, Vladimir gains Crimson Rush for 2.5 seconds and 10% bonus movement speed for 0.5 seconds.

Well, usually it takes a bit to get to the single most annoying ability in the kit but here we are, So this ability is THE single reason no one can stand Vlad, no matter how hard it gets nerfed, it will always be one of the single most powerful abilities in the entire game because of well this....

CRIMSON RUSH: Transfusion deals 85% increased damage and heals for an additional 30 - 200 (based on level) (+ 5% (+ 4% per 100 AP) missing health), reduced to 35% against minions.

After using his q 2 times, he is granted an empowered q for a short period that does 85% more damage than the original 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 60% AP) magic damage.

Not only does that mean that he can sustain even harder, but it means he can poke nearly 2x as hard as normal. Now this wouldn't be so bad if he had a mana pool. But he doesn't, he uses HP for his abilities with infinite sustain, meaning he basically never has to leave lane if he so chooses.

But enough with this masterpiece, now with the rest of his kit.

W: Sanguine Pool

ACTIVE: Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood, gaining 37.5% bonus movement speed which decays exponentially over 1 second and becoming untargetable for 2 seconds. Enemies who stand upon the pool are slowed by 40% and dealt magic damage every half second, while Vladimir heals himself for 15% of the damage dealt. 「 MAGIC DAMAGE PER HALF-SECOND: 20 / 33.75 / 47.5 / 61.25 / 75 (+ 2.5% bonus health) 」

Now reading this it sounds VERY powerful correct? well to be honest this abilities cost of 20% of current HP is most likely the only reason Vladimir's entire kit doesn't just overwhelm top tier players.( and yes i know thats a bold statement but hear me out) ok, so a vast majority of champions have some form of untargetability, but this is most likely the weakest ability with that mechanic. it allows him to become untargetable for 2 seconds and drains the HP of units above him for a small amount. But if used as a neglectfully, it can lead to you basically draining your health bar without you even realizing what happened. Which is good! it prevents him from having an ability that allows him to dodge skill shots and abilities without even really thinking about repercussions. So this ability is definitely a step in the right direction. GOODWORK!

E: Tides of Blood

FIRST CAST: Vladimir charges for up to 1.5 seconds, slowing himself by 20% over the last 0.5 seconds. If Vladimir finishes charging or is interrupted, he automatically initiates the second cast. SECOND CAST: Vladimir unleashes a nova of blood bolts, each of which collide with the first enemy they hit, dealing them magic damage that is increased the longer Tides of Blood was charged, up to the first second. 「 MINIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 2.5% maximum health) (+ 35% AP) 」 If Tides of Blood was charged for at least 1 second, affected enemies are also slowed for 0.5 seconds. SLOW: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% Enemies can intercept multiple bolts, but can only be damaged once. Minions can each absorb up to 5 bolts, and damage nearby unaffected minions if hit.

Well isn't that a mouthful?

Its alright ill sum this one up really quick

Annoying and potently two powerful, but can be played around because it can be blocked and has a good HP cost.

Now then for the ultimate

R: Hemoplague

ACTIVE: Vladimir infects all enemies in the target area with a virulent plague, increasing the damage they take from all sources by 10% for 4 seconds, after which all infected enemies take magic damage. MAGIC DAMAGE: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 70% AP) Vladimir is healed per champion damaged by the detonation, but the heal is reduced to 50% after the first. 「 MINIMUM HEAL: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 70% AP) 」

Now this ability like the Q feels way to overloaded, just the healing aspect at least; with a minimal heal of 150 +70% AP this allows him basically charge in blindly press r,e,w and then just nuke the entire enemy team with a huge heal bonus attached. Which will heal him back to full if landed on at least 3-4 people and doing around 900 damage alone by late game.

So what do i think should be done to help deal with Vladimir, well the 1st thing that comes to mind is to add more items revolving around denying healing like executioners calling. But the primary thing i can see being done to fix him would be to rework his q passive to prevent him from just becoming an unstoppable lane bully with insane lane sustain and intense burst, My primary focus would be to greatly reduce his burst capabilities while also allowing people to build around healing oriented champions like Vladimir and swain.

Well, if you have made it this far thank you for reading <3 [slayer-jinx-catface]