Vlad's F2P and...

I tried him. i built things with ap and hp while also building from the recommended tabs. i read up on his abilities in game and i have to say that honestly im a bit confused as to why he's built the way he is. he's got 1 ability that is free. he's got abilities that costs max % hp. abilities that cost current % hp. his mana bar is replaced with a 2 tick passive for his Q. it's just confusing why they would punish you for building HP on a champion that at a glance needs it as a basic part of his kit. then i realized that maybe vlad isnt supposed to build hp. if you dont build hp on vladimir your spells become practically free. you can build cooldown reduction by getting zhonya abyssal and visage then you just buy pure ap from that point forward. the passive is more generous the more hp you have but at that point you wont have enough ability power to be able to heal and will be relying solely on warmogs passive to heal yourself. depending on the pregame build that might work for some players.

if you absolutely feel you must make vladimir have 4k hp then my advice is to build these 6 items and run a strength of the ages build with magic penetration runes. hopefully after your 3d seige unit you'll have the advantage over your lane enemy and will be able to mow them down. just be careful using your E because it will drain your life a lot.