I am gonna clear up this Vladimir top misunderstandings
The strength of Vlad lies in midlane and not toplane
Seriously, everytime Vlad gets complained, there has to be that one guy that says something about Vlad top and everyone starts to agree with them. Guess what? Toplane is a depressing lane for Vladimir. If you don't think so, then congrats! You either:
- Didn't actually play Vlad and just jump into bandwagon
- Good at Vlad
- Played against toplaners that has never played against a Vlad
This "bandwagon" is due to the fact that ranged champions beat melee, but this is not the case for Vlad. The reason why ranged tops are cancer is not because of poke but because of CC and mobility. Kennen has rush that makes him ungankable and uncatchable. Karma, Neeko, and Vayne has CC that makes it so you cant get closer. Vlad only has phase rush. No, his pool isnt enough because Vlad cant do long fights like Darius so if you keep fighting him, he will be forced to use pool and from there on, you just kill him if you can. It doesn't have to be long fight. Short traders like Riven and Renek absolutely bullies Vlad.
Vlad top is a sad lane. You can't do anything against Kled, Riven, Renekton and any other oppressive laners. I mean it literally. You can't do anything at all, if you try to get closer they will just mow you down. People try to counter this with "but you have pool!!! And sustain!!!". People who say that don't play Vlad at all. But when they do, its only once and probably against someone who doesn't know how to play
People even think that Vlad beats Nasus like.... what the hell? Sure if the Nasus is asleep then you can beat him. Vlad seriously cannot beat Nasus. I have absolutely zero idea why people think he wins against Nasus. I say this as someone who plays a lot of Vlad mid who also tried toplane. I will never ever go back to that lane. Every single proper toplaner demolishes him. Some exceptions are Yasuo and Jax but they are skill matchups and not free lanes
You guys need to quit watching pro play. Pro play doesn't mean anything. In fact, I have seen more complaints ever since pro play started playing him top. It's fine if you don't want to stop watching them but don't confuse them with soloQ
The strength of Vlad lies in midlane. This is where he thrives. Champions that can abuse him from a long distance like Malz and Ori give Vlad a hard time but as long as Vlad doesn't feed, he will scale.
Speaking of scaling, people in low elo don't know how to end games. It is VERY INEVITABLE that Vlad becomes a monster at like 40 minutes in. Like Kayle and Kassadin but more frustrating. Whenever Vlad exists, you have to end games fast.
Now , I am gonna talk about his sustain which everyone hates. In toplane, Vlad sustain is really really bad. If he ever tries to heal with Q, all you need to do is run him down. Literally (I'm not even joking, he literally can't do anything). In toplane, you need to assert dominance in lane.
Vlad survives midlane because the kits of midlane champions can't run him down like toplaners. The closest to making Vlad cry is playing Malzahar and spamming space aids, or Orianna poke. Of course theres also Kassadin which I haven't played against yet but I saw many Vlad players complain about him. If Vlad can't heal from minions, he will heal from Raptors.
Don't believe me? Play Vlad against any juggernauts like Garen or Darius. For true despair, play against someone that knows how to play Riven, Renekton, and Kled. For boredom, play someone like Nasus or tanks like Ornn because Vlad cant kill you and it becomes a minion farming fest
Though playing a toplaner champion in mid will give Vlad a hard time, it may not counter him at all because of how short the lane is and the raptors which he can use for healing
Tldr; toplane is a sad lane for Vladimir because toplaners can run you down unless it's against Jax or Yasuo (skill matchups) or stupid shit like Vayne top and Teemo (too squishy) or something dumber like Karma top (cant run down Vlad)
