Random post about Vladimir

I just wanna clarify that I played Vlad before the rework, so I'm not a metaslave that just pickd him up cuz he was strong. (Even thouht he was very strong)

Vlad, Vlad, Vlad, oh Vlad what a problem champion we have here. Do I think vlad is an unbeatble monster who can 1 v 5 no prob? No. But do i think he is frustrating to play against, and has a problomatic kit? Kinda.

Like i said, I played vlad before the rework. Altough not that much. I was in silver back then, and had a hard time dealing with his weak early game, and he was just, how do you say it, shitty. I mean, his e might as well been a suicide bomb, his ulti didn't heal him, and a bunch of other small things that added up. However, the rework revitilized my love for the champ, and now he is my main man.

The main problem with Vlad is that Riot doesn't want him to be the only thing he can actually be. A drain tank. Riot wants him to be a bursty mage with some tanky elements. But, I do not belive that you can mix burst dmg on low cooldowns, with sustain and decent tankyness, even if its held back by a relativly weak early game.

But lets take a step back, and actually see why his kit is so problomatic.

His passive is that he gains hp by building ap, and ap by building hp. However, this doesn't stack, so the bonus hp he gains from this does not give him bonus ap, and the other way around. This sounds really strong, but it's nothing special. Late game, full build you will have around 200-300 bonus hp, and 50-70 bonus ap depending on your build. And this is decent, but its not THAT much. It's about 1500 gold worth of free stats.

His q is pretty straiht foward, but early game this is the ability both you and your opponent have to play around. You deal a "meh" amount of dmg to target enemy, and heal for almost nothing. However, you gain a stack whenever you use it. WHen you have 2 stacks and your q comes off cd, you gain something called "crimson rush", where you gain a small boost in movement speed for just a sec, and your next q will deal double dmg, heal you for a bonus flat amount, as well as a % of your missing hp. However, this bonus healing is halfed vs minions. Moreover, this buff only lasts for 2 seconds.

Ok, this is how this ability goes. Your first two q's are kinda shitty and dont do much, but your third q will chunk the fuck out off ppl and heal you for almost as much. In lane, you go aggressive whenever this is about to come up, but play like a bitch for a moment when you don't have it. SAme for your opponent, but in reverse. You play aggressive on vlad when he doesn't have his crimson rush, and you back when he has it.

His W is a very powerful escape ability. WHen you use it, he becomes a pool of blood. you become untargetable for 2 seconds, altough you can still move, deal a small amount of dmg to enemies above him, heal for a small amount of that small amount of dmg done, and well as slow those over him. This is his main escapse spell, but it has an extremly long cd at lower ranks. 24 seconds cooldown rank 1, but it goes down all the way to just 10 seconds at rank 5.

This ability is only useful if you can time it right. You don't use if nothing is flying your way, unless you're buying time for your ulti or waiting for cooldowns. Other than that, only use it to dodge abilities. Everything from s W to s R can be dodged by this. So save it for that. If you missuse it, and use it either to soon, or to late, you will be punished.

His e is pretty shitty early game, but late game it can be pretty insane. Early game it's unreliable to do it being heavily telegraphed and taking up a pretty big chunk of your hp. And the cooldown nerfs to it didn't help. But late game, you can be pumping out close to a 1000 dmg to squishies every 3 seconds with this ability. IN AOE.

It is balanced by it having a short ranged, and its charge time, meaning that those who can keep their distance and/or cc vlad will shut this ability down. Therefor, long ranged champions like and can do very well against vlad, both in the early and late game. To combat this, vlad is almost required to build , to keep ppl in range of it easier.

Finaly, Vlads ulti. And this is a pretty good ulti, I gotta say. It isn't god tier, but it is certaintly powerful. You mark every1 instantly in an AOE. Marked enemies take 10% increased dmg for 4 seconds, and then the marks pop, dealing dmg to each enemy marked, as well as healing vlad for a pretty good amount. If it is used on only one person, its pretty mediocre, but if you get to use it on several people at once, it can be so strong. The 10% increased dmg is nice, but nothing special. If you deal 500 dmg, the dmg will only be increased by 50. Not that much, but it can add up in the long run, or when doing wombo combos.

The big part is the pop. Once again, it is heavily telegraphed, but it is hard to defend against a 600 dmg nuke on everyone. Yes, you may be able to shield your adc, but then what about your mid laner, or support? Moreover, the heal when landed on more than 3 ppl can be very high. Almost 1000 heal late game for just 3 ppl, and upwards of 1500 for 5 people.

Use it at begining of fights to increase the burst, and try to use as few of your defensive resources as possible before the ulti pops. What i mean by that is, if you manage to survive just at about 1000 hp when the ulti pops, not only will you get more heal out of it, but since you got lower, you were able to tank more from the enemy team. As for counterplay, try to cc chain and burst vlad BEFORE the ulti pops. Either you focus him down before he gets healed for half his life, or you don't focus him. Aternativly, spread out to prevent him from landing his e and r in AOE, minimizing his dmg.

The problem with vlad is that he can't be allowed to be good at anything, to be honest. If he was good early game, he would make it even more frustrating and toxic than it already is, so he can't be an early game snowballer. If they make him a full drain tank, they have to lower his dmg by alot, and buff his healing. However, this would make it extremly difficult to play agaisnt him in solo q, since you would have to focus just hte right amount of dmg and cc to take him down. If you make him a pure burst mage, then he loses his identity. All burst mages have somethin to offer. has insane waveclear, has flash stun, has zone control. But if they tone down Vlads sustain and just make him a burst champion, then what would he offer over anyone else? No, they need to keep the healing part of his kit intact, otherwise he will lose his identity, and purpose.

Right now, Vlad is a sudo-drain tank, with sudo-burst and is sudo-tanky. And I can not see how that would change.

Idk, those were my 2 cents on the matter. I'd really like to hear what you guys have to say.