I argue that Vlad is one of the hardest scaling mages due to the sheer utility of spell vamp and a damage team modifier on his ult.
My friend says that ignite and a team focusing him would end him quickly. He doesn't scale that much and 12% won't save his team if they are behind or are smartly engaged on.
Who is right?
Nesmith4 votesHe's right. Sorry, but every champion is designed with counter-play in mind, and your friends hit the bulls eye with his ideals.
MohawkBird2 votesA Vlad can just pool and Zhonya's and come right back for the full spellvamp effects.
Sir Yamazuki2 votesHe's right. Sorry, but every champion is designed with counter-play in mind, and your friends hit the bulls eye with his ideals.
The situation assumes that Vlad is some Bronze 5 playing against Challengers. Of equal skill, Vlad would be winning. If your idea of "counter play" is hoping the person playing a champion has poor positioning, or plays with their eyes closed, there's a problem.
The Whamboozler3 votesNeither of you is right. How well any champ performs in a fight is highly situational and based on player skill. I have seen fed Vlad players 1v4 and carry failing teams. I've also seen vlad go in too early eat a stun and die before he could press W. You can't say "well if both sides play it right" because that isn't possible. If vlad plays it right, he dodges the bulk of the CC with his pool/hourglass and he lands a good, clean ult. If the enemy plays it right they don't let him, either via ambushing him or by baiting his pool with poke or the like. Both sides can't play the matchup perfectly and barring one side or the other being extremely ahead victory always goes to the team that plays the matchup best.
KONO RUBICK DA1 votesthen his support braum just bought a michael.
AyRe CoNteMpT2 voteshe definitely is a hyper-scaling champion and his presence, if fed or lategame, can make a normally beatable team almost unkillable because later on, his damage is absurd and he is almost unkillable. if you focus him with ignite and your entire team, you will lose 100% because that is exactly what he wants.
vlads main weakness is in the earlygame and laning phase and the fact that he doesnt hyperscale in 1on1 scenarios, so you can still splitpush and out duel him with many champions.
he is a very strong and scary teamfighter past 3-4 items and he doesnt stop scaling. many even hyperscaling champs fall off after 4-5ish items because there are no more "optimal" items for them to buy, but vlad doesnt. he has plenty of optimal items he can choose from. as i said, his weakness is in the earlygame and laning phase and strong champions can make sure he never gets anything ever because he is in fact so weak against some champions that he cannot even lane properly.
so yes, you are right and your friend should not play rankeds.
Martyrofsand1 votesDepends. A good Vlad can be very difficult to focus with both Zhonyas and pool which can result in wasted damage/CC that simply doesn't connect. Sure if you land that CC and focus Vlad he is very much dead and no a 12% damage buff isn't gonna make a team that is behind suddenly fight up to par but it can give a team that is even the edge they need to win and a team that is ahead a somewhat oppressive advantage.
His team fight strength has always been his ability to bait and dodge enemy burst/CC while dealing strong AoE sustained damage. He scales well but he is not a hyper scaler like a Cassio and Ryze are.
Meep Man1 votesIT ENTIRELY DEPENDS ON IF VLADIMIR IS ABLE TO POOL AND ULT BEFORE GETTING HIT WITH CROWD CONTROL!
If he is hit with crowd control, he is screwed. If not, the entire enemy team most likely is just around sitting around waiting for him to get back up while he and his team damages them. Vladimir isn't the most high scaling Mage (that would be 
) but he can certainly turn the tides in a battle due to his ultimate.
Grashnim1 votesYour friend is right. Granted, maybe this Vlad has hourglass and is smart, using it when ignite is on and then power housing his way back. The game is designed for counter play, which is not the same as foreplay.
EffectFX1 votesYour friend is wrong. Spell vamp utility doesn't really make vlad scale any harder then normal.
