Vladimir's visual effects don't have to be overly bloody to be effective and terrifying.

Tl; dr: Vlad has always been a beloved champ but the ban on blood and gore in some countries leads to him being unpopular with Riot's content department. I believe his visuals and effects could be less bloody and more in-character.

Not counting defectors, Vlad is currently the most played Noxian champion. (in plat+, according to lolalytics and champion.gg).

https://image.ibb.co/eEW5e5/Screenshot_2017_08_21_19_16_30_kindlephoto_1071598.jpg

This is despite the fact that he is the most visually outdated Noxian and one of the ones who have not had a skin for the longest time (Cass was promised a skin this year, so anytime now).

He's more popular than Darius, Draven, Kata and a lot others and not without reason. He is hella fun, has surprisingly deep gameplay, is nostalgia incarnate to the point of people playing him just to go back to their childhood. The sexy evil mage/the vampire trope have been a staple of fan fantasies as much as the foxgirl/catgirl one. Vlad isn't even at peak popularity: He was consistently at 10+% pick rate right before the Rylai nerfs.

For many other champions (Darius, Draven for example) even less fan love and popularity than that translates to a torrent of skins and content (most notably Darius being given hextech skins, videos and a stunning comic in such a short interval).

I'm not going to blame the infamous Riot favouritism meme, or the profiteering one: it's clearly not profiteering to not give content to a large portion of the playerbase.

I know some countries ban blood and gore, which bars Vlad from a truly gruesome VGU (and he could use a new passive right now, his current one combined with the unviability of the HP build is just a bunch of stats). This in turn bars him from new skins, since Riot themselves have said he won't animate properly if a new skin model has proper proportions (e.g. no massive hands).

And this is an understandable problem, but if we look into his kit and how it ties to the concept of blood magic, does he really need to paint everything red? Or can he employ a more subtle and sinister methods of destroying his opponents?

https://image.ibb.co/hrYbK5/Vladimir_Splash_2_kindlephoto_4614801.jpg

Here's some suggested changes to the animations of his kit that make it more in-character:

• Q has no business making a draining sound since its not even the blood that heals you. Its not even a real drain since it's not a projectile (they removed that with the mage update). It's a blood sacrifice: seize control of the enemy's bloodstream and pay with their life to restore yours. There should be laughter on a Crimson Rush Q, and a rending, ripping sound as you rip wounds on your enemy (internally or externally), and for clarity an occult sign connecting you to them.

• W can be a Crimson mist rather than a pool and it makes more sense with untargetability since you can sorta hit water but you can't hit air (Emperor Caligula once made his armies stab the sea, it makes fantasy sense, ok)

• E is funny, but can work the same way as Q. Harm yourself to harm others, and since your blood is far more valuable to whatever demonic entity you worship, the suffering you cause is greatly amplified. I support the idea of (blockable) occult symbols travelling to each opponent and impact being marked by an unpleasant sound like in Q, where their blood vessels dissolve and they suffer the consequences.

• R is essentially HIV in the form of a curse, so a demonic rune circle flashing beneath the enemy's feet is less offensive than Vlad spilling his blood orb on the ground near them.

Obviously, additional bleeding and bloodletting effects could be added with the appropriate settings. In some regions the blood orb may have to go, but hopefully it will take the outdated character design, VO and animations with it. So that we can see what a fearsome Noxian battlemage who revels in the suffering of others is truly like.