How to fix Vladimir
Riot, we all know that 
is one of those champions you had high hopes for, but then realized was nearly impossible to balance because of the nature of their kit. His passive makes him a late game terror, Q values must be exceedingly low to provide lane opponents the chance to breathe because of its strength in his kit, E feels extremely useless until it is used as a part of a damage combo, and W... ok, W is ok, I guess.
So, the question remains: how do we make this champion balance-able, more fun to play against, and more interesting in one go? Well, we need to address the issues one by one and see how we can fix it.
1. Transfusion (Q) has extremely low counterplay and is prone to being spammed in lane. This becomes problematic to balance because a no resource, targeted damage spell that returns health with a relatively low cooldown is extremely powerful, and giving it higher values on either its damage or heal would be extremely detrimental to the gameplay experience against him.
We all know this is 's bread and butter move. Press Q, deal damage, get health back. Simple, right? But not so simple to balance. How do we fix this issue? Well, there are several ways.
-Make the healing values scale with his bonus HP, and reduce the base values. That way, will be easier to shut down in lane given you use the right strategies and hit him hard enough. This also scales better into the limited range of his Q, making it an ideal strategy to let the wave push towards Vladimir early so that he will lose farm and his god-like late game will be stalled.
-Give reduced armor and MR when the Q healing blood particles are still moving towards him. It makes sense if you think about it. drains your blood, and lets down his guard to receive it with open arms, with pleasure. I know it's a small period of time to strike, but it could just work. If Vladimir is running and he tries to kite you with Q, use your gap closer and knock him on the head for spamming it in a time like that. Additionally, it makes Vlad more prone to being kited, as an 
, for example, can just throw an orb backwards and deal more damage if he Q's her. This also makes his dueling take a hit. If Vlad Q's you, it's time to strike. He might heal back some damage, but with the right champion and items you will prevail.
-Make 's worst nightmare CC and limited range. Say you're playing against a Maokai top lane because... reasons. You try to trade with 
, so naturally you Q. While the Q particles are still traveling back, uses Arcane Smash (Q) and knocks backwards and reverses his direction. The blood particles will stop traveling to , and he gets no heal. Similarly, if uses Q and moves outside a set range of where the particles will travel from his target to him, it will also cut short. Now, I know this sounds like a huge annoyance for players to deal with. All those "wth Riot ruined Vlad" exclamations will be plenty. So, as a compensation, the blood particles will fall on the ground in a puddle for a few seconds, and if walks near it (similar to 
's soul mechanics), the blood will travel to him, granting him a portion of the original heal. This one may be a long shot, but Riot has a history of making things work.
2. Tides of Blood (E) feels so dull and unwanted in his kit. The percent damage and healing values are boring to work with, and in general is more useful as a trading tool than a healing/damage amplifier.
Here we are again. 's second bread and butter move. In almost every lane trade, you see him pop a quick E before a Q. Yay for 8% amplified damage and healing. But I don't blame Riot. Make those values higher and 's Q will hit like a truck even before his late game shenanigans. That begs the question, however. How do you make this ability fun, useful, and easier to play against, as well as easier to balance? I have a few ideas for that.
_-Similar to 
's passive, make Tides of Blood (E) mark enemies hit by it. Each time Vladimir auto attacks or E's again on the same target(s), this applies a stack of Deep Wounds. Deep Wounds enhances Vladimir's Q damage on the target by a certain percentage each stack. Maximum 4 stacks. So, does this mean attack speed will become a thing? Maybe. It's about time we stopped with the "One build, One lyfe" mindset where one specific set of items is all that is viable on the Crimson Reaper. 
, especially with the new changes rolling out on PBE, would be a viable pick on Vlad. This would also synchronize very well with Hemoplague (R, as he can do his usual cast, E everyone, keep trying to apply more stacks like you're 
, and Q the target that you want to kill. Hemoplague will amplify your Q damage, and so will Deep Wounds. "But Mell, you're insane! Vlad can destroy my entire team and provide no counterplay!" Well, that could be true if you're dealing with a fed Vlad who has flash, and his ultimate up. Who comes up from an unwarded area. Late game. The circumstances are too rare for that, and if you don't have vision of that guy, someone on your team has been skipping out on the ward chores. Of course, the counterplay to his engage is mobility, spell shields, and oranges. If you have one of those, you should be k. Additionally, the values won't hurt too much in lane unless you're a top lane 
trying to beat the crap out of with just auto attacks. The circumstances will be rare, and very hard to align a perfect 4-stack Tides of Blood (E). But one thing it does do is make 
a viable boot enchantment on him. With Rylai's, he's going to be both tanky and damaging. Which I will address soon. _
-Give a little buff to E. What I had in mind was something similar to the following.
"Whenever executes a unit with Tides of Blood (E), he gains health equal to 2% of the unit's maximum health."
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Dude, what the fun, if Vlad kills a tank he gets like a million health, and he can heal from an entire minion wave in one shot. Duuuuude, not cool." However, on the contrary, it will be cool because it gives Riot a reason to give compensation nerfs to his E damage values if they're too high. Also, the old passive/new passive can be taken down a percentage point or two if his wave clear gets a little too... rewarding. Also, have you tried to clear an entire minion wave in one E proc? I've never done it, it takes at least 2 tries. And it always beats uses W on the wave.
3. 's Crimson Pact (Passive) is extremely oppressive. All he has to do is build damage and he becomes a monstrously tanky mage. Which is his whole schtick. However, it proves impossible to keep him off your carries because he takes a while to take down, and he can slither past your team with W.
I know how it feels to be a support trying to peel for an ADC against a full build . It's not fun. I am not here to tell Riot how to gut his passive and make it useless. That's right, and I am not here to suggest any changes, just address the issue. becomes very tanky later on, and building damage on him is ideal, because that 140% bonus AP into HP and 2.5% bonus HP into AP makes him a powerhouse. Late game, he can flash-E-Q your carry dead. You can tell your carries to build some bulk like 
, 
, or 
. However, lots of times ADCs are not willing to sacrifice their pushing power because some Dracula-looking ~~vampire ~~ hemomancer can two shot-them. The best way to deal with a late game is to force his Sanguine Pool (W) early on with CC. hooks and 
Event Horizon (E) work very well, since they have clear delays and give time to react with a pool. That way, he loses his only disengage and you can blow him up. Another good way to save your carries from his ultimate damage and amplification is recommending them to buy a 
or a 
. For AD champions, turns into 
.
Additionally, the new AP item changes rolling out make him either weaker or stronger, depending on which changes go out. The reduced AP will hurt him, but the amplified 
passive helps him. Overall, Riot will make their own adjustments, and we'll have to see how these changes affect the Crimson reaper.
**Thank you for taking your time to read this. If you didn't feel like reading the Great Wall of China text, here's a Tl,dr of each.
**
1: Q is too stronk.
-Reduced armor and MR when Q particles are still traveling toward .
-Give Q particles limited range from target to . If range is outside, or gets a dose of hard CC, the particles will make a puddle like 's blobs. can pick them up for reduced healing.
2: E is boring.
-Give it a stack system that detonates with Q. Stacks start with E, AAs and E procs add more stacks. Max 4 stacks.
-When E kills something that isn't a jungle creep, give 2% of its max HP in healing.
3: has counterplay. It comes in the form of building items and good positioning. and work well.
AP item changes might hurt or help him. Whatever.
Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think!
If you're from Riot, please look this over, it's really important and I know that you guys have had trouble balancing this guy. Just tell me what you think, steal my ideas, whatever, I want to help you help yourselves, because I love your game and your entire company's staff, especially Phreak. Say hi to Phreak for me.
.