Remember when Vlad was actually a hypercarry?

WoonStruck·Mar 5, 2017·4 votes·1,507 views

He had a terrible early-mid game, lacking pretty much any form of utility outside of his R's damage amp, but made up for it by hyperscaling.

Why is it that now he has a terrible early-mid still, but is barely better than some of the more supposedly 'mediocre' scalers, and has a worse late game than many champions?

He lacks early-mid pressure unless he's absurdly far ahead, and has basically no utility. He's worth nothing if he's not ahead.

I find it really strange that a champion with 160% - 211% AP burst on a 3 second CD isn't strong late game.

Obviously the answer isn't buffing his Q/E.

#Maybe its time to look at buffing his W.

Buffing the base, ratio, CD, or changing the heal (yes it has a heal if you didn't know) to pre-mitigation damage might help him out just enough in teamfights to bump up his late game potential without making his early-mid drastically stronger.

15 Comments

Nanuk PihoqahiakMar 5, 20173 votes

I'd love to see him reverted to how he was. Using the travel time of old E to harass under tower while walking away + timing it to land with Q for surprise burst was deceptive and fun to manage. He just needed upgraded visuals and maybe the cast time on his E removed. The latter might be too much, but I fail to see how Riot figured old Vladimir was too toxic to play against when he had one of the worst early games out of any champion.

For anyone that wasn't aware, his old Q had a 10 second cooldown at rank 1. Lmao.

WoonStruckMar 5, 20173 votes

Most people don't realize CDs are a thing you can punish.

Any champ with mobility could all-in after he Qs and get a huge lead in lane.

Pretty much 'toxic' because people are noobs. And yet they'll be okay with Darius doing the same thing because 'melee', when both have effectively the same ranges and Darius is far stronger...lol

EedatMar 5, 20173 votes

I used to play Vlad a lot and he never really was a "hypercarry". He was good in mid and late, but not really outstandingly powerful in the late game

WoonStruckMar 5, 20173 votes

You used to be able to R->EQ to 1 shot ADCs if they couldn't lifesteal before the rework.

If that didn't kill them, W EQ, Zhonya's EQ, W EQ. The entire team would be dead if they didn't gtfo or manage to CC you.

"Never really a hypercarry" my ass. Most people just didn't know how to play him. Most people tried to kite and draintank, when the real way to play him was full Rambo.

ZephyrDrakeMar 5, 20173 votes

{quoted}

You used to be able to R->EQ to 1 shot ADCs if they couldn't lifesteal before the rework.

If that didn't kill them, W EQ, Zhonya's EQ, W EQ. The entire team would be dead if they didn't gtfo or manage to CC you.

"Never really a hypercarry" my ass. Most people just didn't know how to play him. Most people tried to kite and draintank, when the real way to play him was full Rambo.

oh yeah i remember when that happened... oh wait! that NEVER happened!

Sorry but Vlad was never a hypercarry so yeah, your ass needs to be looked at! "most people didn't know how to play him" sorry but you were playing him wrong! Vlad was a kite, drain mage. That is his essence, that is what he is. Sorry you cannot go and play him in your fantasy little land. "go full rambo" what are you? a bronze 5 player? that's the only place where that tactic would ever work

WoonStruckMar 5, 20171 votes

Not really. Even high MMR Vlads played him like that.

You flank like Eve, ghost, land a solid ult, and enjoy your 6.5 seconds of invulnerability, tossing out EQs in between.

The reason he had a perpetually low winrate on average is because of how people like you thought he should be played lol...playing like that was literally just emulating as an inferior ADC.

Building SV in every game even after its CDR got nerfed...smh

Glass cannon still got around 4k HP which is exactly why they played that way. 800 AP 4000 HP was statistically superior to any SV build and let you play the above style to high success and reliability.

EedatMar 5, 20173 votes

No you couldnt lol. I used to play Vlad a lot before his rework

WoonStruckMar 5, 20171 votes

What amazing evidence you have against me.

Pretty sad you never felt the joy of simply R-EQing an IBG Ezreal, only to watch him shift away and die to the E pellet->R pop.

You must have been building him like a fool. Tanky and no Abyssal/deathcap.

CalabokMar 5, 20173 votes

you mean when he was really OP?

sure

WoonStruckMar 5, 20171 votes

Name a time he was legitimately OP before his rework.

In any given period there were much stronger picks for any meta, even double-wota.

Release? No. He had absurd HP costs on his W and even his R. He was laughably weak then too.

His most significant nerfs were to items that were OP, not him. Outside of that his largest nerf was to E base damage since it allowed him to farm very effectively in 2v1 lanes, which Riot wanted to discourage; was more of a meta issue than a 'Vlad is OP' issue.

MortekaiserMar 5, 20172 votes

right now on vlad SV is a trap item unless the enemy has a LOT of magic damage

otherwise abyssal is just fine when it comes to MR

WoonStruckMar 5, 20171 votes

This, right here.

You'd end up grabbing the SV in place of Zhonya's or protobelt (if that's your thing) in cases like these.

The only other time SV is a decent option is vs an AP lane Abyssal would not let you farm in; that is to say any lane where you can't get enough AP to sustain decently, thus have to rely on the base healing multiplier that SV has. However, often enough you can play through these lanes simply by being cautious.

Mira Arya EntheMar 5, 20171 votes

Meanwhile SV is purchased a lot on him in high tier Korean play...

RalanrMar 6, 20171 votes

Those wacky Koreans. Making the meta every day.

ktorywygrywaMar 6, 20172 votes

exactly lol when vlad came out I got to diamond 2 in 3 months nothing but insta killing adc, tele double tower drag every game. gwad I miss the old vald rip deathfires grasp [zombie-nunu-bummed]