Don't Feed Vladimir -- In-Depth Champion Information (League of Legends)

He's not what he used to be, but he's loads of fun in the right matchups. I chose to work on this champion specifically because you guys requested him so frequently, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how cool he could be. He's one of the few champions where I felt like a penta-kill was around the corner in every fight, and even though I didn't get one, he still had a huge impact on the team battles.

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Let's get into runes/masteries/etc. There's some options.

For Masteries, I went 9/0/21 with an emphasis on CDR and Ability Power, and avoiding the mana-related perks. CDR has a big impact on his abilities in fights and skirmishes since they're already at short cooldowns, so you really can squeeze more casts in during fights by having it.

For Runes, I went Insight magic pen reds always. For yellows, either health/level or flat armor (armor if you're likely to go against a physical player in lane is better). Blues are 9x ability power, or 8x CDR and 1x ability power (8x gets you ~5% so you'll still cap at 40% w/ items). Quints are either flat Ability Power or 6% spell vamp (totaling 9% spell vamp with masteries, making Tides of Blood spam viable right off the bat).

Summoner was almost always Teleport and Flash, though this had more to do with my preference for top lane than anything else (teleport gives dragon control and gank opportunities, a couple of which are shown in the video). If you're mid or bot, Ignite/Flash can be good. Summoner heal gets a big bonus from his stacked Tides buff, so you can very easily justify heal/flash as well.

In game, I almost always maxed Q first, E second, and W last, with one early point in W. Ultimate whenever you can, as always. Q is not only great for last hitting (whereas E is great for destroying creep waves quickly), but it comes down so much in cooldown with ranks that it gives amazing sustain.

Items: Boots and 3x health pots, or occasionally Doran's Shield if I was going against a strong physical harass in lane. Will of the Ancients was virtually always my first big purchase, and it's easy to build towards quickly. Lucidity for CDR I found better than Sorc shoes, but others disagree -- your call. Rabadon's or Rylai's are both fantastic next purchases, in either order. Zhonya's is a very solid pick too if you know you're going to be a high priority for the other team.

There you have it! I hope you guys enjoy Vladimir as much as I did.


SERIES UPDATE
Ziggs is next up! I have a lot of small things to get done in regards to my work here, so the delay on his release (i.e. that he's not out today) gives me a little time to get those done.

After Ziggs, I'm not sure who I'll move on to next. AD Carries are still proving themselves to be very popular on the series, so I may look at Sivir. We'll see, though!

As a side note, I despise Vladimir's original artwork. This marks the first video where I haven't used his default skin for anything, including the splash artwork.

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Don't Feed is a video series that covers champions in greater detail than the Champion Spotlight. This series is descriptive, not prescriptive, meaning that I aim to provide you with solid information without telling you which items, runes, or masteries are best (as these frequently change). With this information, you can better play against these champions, and you may be interested in learning to play them. Even after more than a thousand games, I am still learning new things about these champions by making these videos, and I'm sure the vast majority of LoL players can learn a lot from these.

My goal is to provide these videos for all champions in League of Legends.

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[DarkKuno]

The new mike+sound booth is definitely noticeable.

No more white noise in the background.

[zezimahunter1]

blood pool...doing periodic damage....i see what you did there

[Bujambi]

So my coworkers and I played our final game as a joke, by choosing champions we never played. We needed an AP so I took Vladimir. Not only did we win but from watching this prior I had a reasonable idea how to play him. I did stack more health (warmog's and visage) before spell vamp, and I maxed E first instead of Q but I still came out to the tune of 9/6/18. On top of 1v1'ing a Garen and winning. Great guide and an interesting champion.

[BillChelios]

@Twizin8or Q_Q indeed....

[Twizin8or]

@BillChelios HA! my wallet is empty!

...Q_Q

[evilracer117]

the first thing you said in opening.. just put him on dominion he is already facing 20% less healing...

[BillChelios]

HA! RIOT FIXED THE TRANFUSION THINGY WHEN U CAST BLOOD POOL PLUS THEY FIXED THE THINGY WITH THE HEAL THINGY THAT THiNGY THINGIES THINGS. i bet all the money in your wallet u can't read out loud what i wrote there *trollface*

[BillChelios]

@DarkKuno White noise? Am I soundblind if i can't see the colour of sounds?

[Vnicolas]

around 5:50, why didn't lee just shield himself, instead of using w on an ally unit? He just plain killed himself

[psycholian]

@mastajosh You can't use abilities while CC'd, which includes sanguine pool.

[hekkslayer]

cooldown reduction item like will of the ancients? WHAT??