Vladimir is unplayable garbage

Hallbuster·Jul 15, 2017·1 votes·5,176 views

It took me 200 games to realize this, and for me to admit he is not a "hard - carry" champion. Even a team with moderate cc is enough to shut him down and make him completely useless after I do get him fed. I tried both damage and tank builds and realized that no matter how you build him, he will suck! Either I'm down in a matter of seconds or I feel like I'm doing less damage than everyone on my team. Until Riot buffs him, I cannot make him my one trick any longer because I can't climb anywhere with him.

25 Comments

CalabokJul 15, 20173 votes

maybe it's YOU that's garbage eh?

WitchQueen AnnieJul 16, 20173 votes

Dude he is completely BUSTED man. He is absolutely broken (at Silver levels of play) at all stages of the game.

I have to consciously decide NOT to play just Vladimir 24/7 because I feel that doing so will deteriorate my skills as a player because of how much stuff I can get away with and pull off with him.

All other mages have to work three times as hard as him in terms of careful positioning (or they get instantly blown up) in team fights at all stages of the game. His Blood Pool, combined with aggressive side step dances in battle, lets him get away with SO MUCH in Bronze and Silver its beyond broken.

There's literally no reason to work so hard to aim Ahri Charms, Viktor lasers, or Zed super fancy double/triple Shuriken combos when you can just pick Vlad, Ghost into the team, press R, and then spam Qs and Es and kill everything with almost no fail in Silver.

Like the amount of work and risk you have to put into immobile Mages and ADCs to MAYBE match his late game damage.... its really unbalanced in terms of the pay off.

Now it is true, I've played with Gold and higher and have gotten wrecked as Vlad (the enemy would lock you down with CC, their positioning would be too damn good) and you can feed. But I don't feel like the Vladimir pick cost me those games. If anything, it would have been WAY WORSE if I picked anyone else.

Yes hard CC shuts him down but the thing is... it shuts EVERYONE down. All carry champs in this game are bad against CC heavy comps. In fact, if you Pre Make a team, spam CC. Its the EASIEST way to win games. CC screws Vlad over sometimes but it screws everyone else even harder. At least you've got a Blood Pool and a Zhonyas to dodge/outplay some of it.

The more CC... the more likely you'll win (I think this is a good rule).

However, in Silver and Bronze they never consciously draft this. You always, 2/3 of the time get these absolutely TRASH team comps with low to no CC and even when they have it, they don't have the positioning skills of Gold or higher to actually shut down a Vladimir.

You can definitely get away with spamming Vladimir until much higher elo. However, I do recommend playing some riskier champs to keep your other skills intact. He just gets away with SO MUCH.

The other day a Blitz randomly grabs me from a bush. We throw game right? No. I hit R, hit Pool, my team engages... we ace them. That is some NONSENSE right there.

HallbusterJul 16, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Vlad Maine ,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZJ6KEAs3,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2017-07-16T02:55:25.424+0000)

Dude he is completely BUSTED man. He is absolutely broken (at Silver levels of play) at all stages of the game.

I have to consciously decide NOT to play just Vladimir 24/7 because I feel that doing so will deteriorate my skills as a player because of how much stuff I can get away with and pull off with him.

All other mages have to work three times as hard as him in terms of careful positioning (or they get instantly blown up) in team fights at all stages of the game. His Blood Pool, combined with aggressive side step dances in battle, lets him get away with SO MUCH in Bronze and Silver its beyond broken.

There's literally no reason to work so hard to aim Ahri Charms, Viktor lasers, or Zed super fancy double/triple Shuriken combos when you can just pick Vlad, Ghost into the team, press R, and then spam Qs and Es and kill everything with almost no fail in Silver.

Like the amount of work and risk you have to put into immobile Mages and ADCs to MAYBE match his late game damage.... its really unbalanced in terms of the pay off.

Now it is true, I've played with Gold and higher and have gotten wrecked as Vlad (the enemy would lock you down with CC, their positioning would be too damn good) and you can feed. But I don't feel like the Vladimir pick cost me those games. If anything, it would have been WAY WORSE if I picked anyone else.

Yes hard CC shuts him down but the thing is... it shuts EVERYONE down. All carry champs in this game are bad against CC heavy comps. In fact, if you Pre Make a team, spam CC. Its the EASIEST way to win games. CC screws Vlad over sometimes but it screws everyone else even harder. At least you've got a Blood Pool and a Zhonyas to dodge/outplay some of it.

The more CC... the more likely you'll win (I think this is a good rule).

However, in Silver and Bronze they never consciously draft this. You always, 2/3 of the time get these absolutely TRASH team comps with low to no CC and even when they have it, they don't have the positioning skills of Gold or higher to actually shut down a Vladimir.

You can definitely get away with spamming Vladimir until much higher elo. However, I do recommend playing some riskier champs to keep your other skills intact. He just gets away with SO MUCH.

The other day a Blitz randomly grabs me from a bush. We throw game right? No. I hit R, hit Pool, my team engages... we ace them. That is some NONSENSE right there.

This is well put, hmmmmm. Maybe I'll continue giving him another go, Anivia is too hard for me to play effectively. I'll also work on positioning and maybe consider buying Mercury treads.

WitchQueen AnnieJul 16, 20171 votes

{quoted}

This is well put, hmmmmm. Maybe I'll continue giving him another go, Anivia is too hard for me to play effectively. I'll also work on positioning and maybe consider buying Mercury treads.

I mean, I feel the main downside to Vladimir is that he's definitely NOT the champion to pick if you want to improve at the game as a whole.

For instance, I spammed Vlad for a whole year a while back before branching out to some other champions with more vulnerabilities (ex Lux, Viktor, Zed etc) and I've realised that because Vladimir's kit lets you get away with so much (you don't have to aim any hard skill shots, you have no mana costs, you can position aggressively and just Pool, you can heal back) it created a lot of bad habits for me.

In a way, I do encourage you to practice Annivia and other champs as well because they WILL force you to improve positioning and other skills.

Recently I enjoy playing a lot of champs that still have tons of damage but force me to be really careful with positioning (ex Viktor, Ashe, Ziggs, Jhin etc). They are a lot weaker and more situational picks but spamming them really improves side-stepping, positional awareness, and other skills.

Like the main problem with Vlad is that you can play Vladimir, and side-step only 1/3 as well (and sometimes not at all) as you might on say, an Ashe or a Viktor and still have pretty impressive results. Nevertheless, it is actually the side-stepping that's going to make the high quality plays. Ironically sidestepping is actually just as important on a Vlad as it is on other champs, but its just less obvious because his kit allows you get away with less optimal plays.

For instance, a Vladimir that gets in the middle of the fight (knowing he can Pool to dodge abilities) but who side-steps around and only pools at the last minute is far more effective than a Vladimir that just walks in and presses Pool as soon as an ability is fired at him. But you'd still get OKAY results at some levels of play with a less mechanical approach.

Annivia is definitely VERY GOOD as well. I actually encourage you to play other champs too. Because it was actually only after playing tons of other champs, learning some new skills that are less obvious to Vladimir, and then coming back and applying them to Vlad that I started seeing massive gains in Ranked.

After playing hundreds of Vladimir games, pretty much any other champion is going to seem ridiculously hard to get used to. But Annivia is definitely one of the better immobile mages.

This Is Your DadJul 15, 20171 votes

I used to like him as a safe sustain mage but now I'd rather play a tank with warmog's

EndlessSorcererJul 15, 20171 votes

Funnily enough, that's how he was played shortly after his rework.

Vladimir item 3742 item 3065 item 3083

This Is Your DadJul 15, 20171 votes

I like me some cc though. I think Garen is the only "tanky" non cc champ I like.

HallbusterJul 15, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Funnily enough, that's how he was played shortly after his rework.

I made a thread like this awhile ago but realized I was wrong:

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/wWb8o1VK-why-vladimir-mains-should-always-build-health-instead-of-ap

EndlessSorcererJul 15, 20171 votes

I'm referring to immediately after his rework.

His health ratios and base values were significantly higher than they currently are.

This was shortly after the mid-season 6 mage update.

ReySolomonJul 15, 20171 votes

have you seen PaiN Rakin Vladimir? he's challenger and so good with him, the CC really brings him down but i am still happily climbing with him. :)

HallbusterJul 15, 20171 votes

{quoted}

have you seen PaiN Rakin Vladimir? he's challenger and so good with him, the CC really brings him down but i am still happily climbing with him. :)

Then he's a purely situational champion, the only time I have done well is when the enemy team doesn't have enough burst or cc to cancel me. In that case, he can't be a one trick.

ReySolomonJul 15, 20171 votes

item 3111 is pretty good but if you aren't happy with him then mind aswel find another champion.

ApocalypsicJul 15, 20171 votes

The only reason I think Vlad is unplayable hot Garbage right now is because he's a sustain based AoE champ and bramble vest exists so he has literally no choice but to fuck himself if that item is in play.

FuhrerRicoJul 15, 20173 votes

He may be weak, but it's not because of bramble lol all he has to do is not auto or wait a sec for grievous wounds to dissipate

ApocalypsicJul 15, 20172 votes

Ah true. Forgot it's autos only.

Hexs FortuneJul 15, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Heavenly Blade,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZJ6KEAs3,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2017-07-15T03:02:45.954+0000)

The only reason I think Vlad is unplayable hot Garbage right now is because he's a sustain based AoE champ and bramble vest exists so he has literally no choice but to fuck himself if that item is in play.

It's only activated by auto attacks

Posted this right as you posted above me haha

ApocalypsicJul 15, 20172 votes

Tell you what though, terrified to play Aatrox this patch.....

PartybringerJul 15, 20172 votes

Who?

SejeoJul 15, 20172 votes

Who?

ApocalypsicJul 15, 20171 votes

You know, that new champion Aatrox.

I know he's not so well known yet but give him some time, he'll catch on.

Rockm SockmJul 15, 20171 votes

The grievous wounds applies to any damage done for Bramble vest

VladCuzBadJul 15, 20171 votes

Coming from a vlad main (also one trick) I was stuck silver until i started to ONLY vlad in ranked. I was able to go from silver to plat in this season. (Plat V tho so uh im still g1 skill) Honestly silver was so fun cuz i basically 1v5'ed

SohleksJul 16, 20171 votes

He's good to pick into "free lanes" where he eventually starts pressuring as well as scaling. Not so good as an insta lock one trick champ. It's the only way his bologne kit is balanced atm. By being completely imbalanced and an offense to fairness

WitchQueen AnnieJul 16, 20171 votes

{quoted}

He's good to pick into "free lanes" where he eventually starts pressuring as well as scaling. Not so good as an insta lock one trick champ. It's the only way his bologne kit is balanced atm

I feel he can definitely be instal-locked into any game. The pick is honestly not going to cost you any games you wouldn't otherwise have lost.

You are guaranteed a super safe laning phase, you are guaranteed a TON of late game spammable AOE blast. If your team is too bad or your enemy is too good and or picked too much CC (and know how to use it), you might lose but its not something all that preventable with another pick.

MAYBE you could have picked something with more early game kill pressure, but you're giving up a huge late game AOE nuke in exchange.

If they lock in an Assassin (and go roam and snowball) and TONS and TONS of CC and you lose the game in 20 mins... its honestly not something you could easily have prevented with just another champion pick alone. If anything the Vladimir pick was still a reasonable choice and probably plays a role in preventing the assassin from snowballing in your lane (your team may flame you for letting him roam but that's something to be prevented by team work and play style, less so the champ pick) .

WitchQueen AnnieJul 16, 20171 votes

To put it another way. Imagine that we are training on how to fight in a Matrix like world.

Vladimir is Neo, every other champion is like a Morpheus or a Trinity etc.

Now if you're Neo, you have a LOT of potential and a lot of combat prowess. You have the absolute potential to push yourself to become a god. However, you have something the other characters don't. Whenever guns are fired at you, you can simply raise your hands, use some of your energy, and stop the bullets.

As such, you have little incentive to every really drill down and learn how the bullets are fired, how to predict shots, how to dodge the bullets. Why dodge when you can simply stop the bullets with your mind and still get Okayish results?

You don't see the games where you dodged the bullets, killed all the goons, and only saved your energy to stop the bullets when you absolutely needed to and achieved better results (more kills) because you feel the existing results are acceptable (I killed one or two, I stopped some bullets with my mind).

...

But if you go and train as Morpheus, Trinity etc for a long time and then come back to Neo. Suddenly, you'll start to feel that he's even more powerful. Because you've picked up additional battle senses that can be applied to really abuse Neo's additional safety net.