Vladimir Counters: Who Beats Vladimir

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Vladimir counters are mid laners who kill him before his sustain adds up, or who stop him casting long enough that it can’t. He’s a 450-range mage who drains Health with Transfusion, vanishes into Sanguine Pool for 2 seconds, pays Health to charge Tides of Blood, and heals off every champion Hemoplague hits, so burst, silence and Grievous Wounds beat him.

The five below come from his patch 26.21 ability text held up against theirs. Win-rate tables stayed closed.

Why is Vladimir hard to counter?

• Crimson Pact (passive): every 30 points of bonus Health gives him 1 Ability Power, and every 1 point of Ability Power gives him 1.6 bonus Health.
• Transfusion (Q): steals life from the target enemy; with his resource full, it deals massively increased damage and healing for a brief time. Cooldown 9/7.9/6.8/5.7/4.6 seconds.
• Sanguine Pool (W): he sinks into a pool of blood, untargetable for 2 seconds; enemies on the pool are slowed and he siphons life from them. Cooldown 28/25/22/19/16.
• Tides of Blood (E): he pays his own Health to charge a reservoir that, when released, damages the area around him and can be blocked by enemy units. Cooldown 13/11/9/7/5.
• Hemoplague (R): an area infection that makes enemies take increased damage, then after a few seconds deals magic damage and heals him for each champion hit. Cooldown 120.

Vladimir is a maths problem that gets worse the longer you leave it. Crimson Pact turns Health into Ability Power and Ability Power into Health, so every item he buys counts twice. Transfusion heals on a cooldown that falls to 4.6 seconds by rank 5, Sanguine Pool makes him untargetable for 2 seconds whenever the trade goes wrong, and Hemoplague heals him once per champion caught in it, which in a team fight is a lot of champions. What does he lack? Crowd control, mobility beyond the pool, and any way to stop a silence. He also has no Mana, and Tides of Blood costs him Health to charge, so a Vladimir who spams is a Vladimir who bleeds, honestly, and the picks below make him bleed faster than he drinks.

Which champions are the best Vladimir counters?

Kassadin

Void Stone (passive) makes Kassadin take reduced magic damage, and every point of damage Vladimir deals is magic. Null Sphere (Q) deals damage, interrupts channels and wraps Kassadin in a shield that absorbs magic damage, which is Transfusion’s healing paid for by a spell that didn’t land (his favourite kind of trade). Force Pulse (E) charges from spells cast nearby, and Vladimir casts constantly, so the cone slow is up whenever Kassadin wants it. Riftwalk (R) teleports him onto a 450-range mage who has no way to stop a teleport. The catch is the first few levels, before Riftwalk; Kassadin’s 150 range means he eats Transfusion poke until he can answer it.

Fizz

Playful / Trickster (E) makes Fizz untargetable while he sits on his spear, and an untargetable Fizz is a Fizz that Hemoplague doesn’t infect and Transfusion can’t target. Urchin Strike (Q) dashes through the target, Seastone Trident (W) bleeds enemies over several seconds, and Chum the Waters (R) attaches a fish that slows and then knocks up. Nimble Fighter (passive) takes a flat amount off every source of damage, which turns Tides of Blood ticks into something closer to a tickle. Funny enough, Sanguine Pool is the only answer Vladimir has to Fizz’s burst, and it’s on a 28 second cooldown at rank 1 (a long time to wait for the second fish).

Lissandra

Frozen Tomb (R) cast on herself makes Lissandra untargetable and invulnerable while she heals, which is the cleanest possible answer to a Hemoplague that’s about to pop, and cast on Vladimir it stuns him solid, pool or no pool, if it lands before he sinks. Ring of Frost (W) roots nearby enemies, Ice Shard (Q) slows and passes through the target, and Glacial Path (E) is a claw she can teleport to, which keeps her at 550 range against his 450. Iceborn Subjugation (passive) turns dead champions into slowing thralls that shatter. In practice the matchup is about timing the tomb against the plague, and she has the better timer.

Malzahar

Call of the Void (Q) fires projectiles that silence enemy champions, and a silenced Vladimir cannot enter Sanguine Pool or cast Hemoplague. That alone decides most trades. Malefic Visions (E) is damage over time that his other spells refresh, which pressures a champion whose sustain is tied to landing Transfusion, and Void Swarm (W) sends Voidlings after affected units. Nether Grasp (R) suppresses a champion over a zone of damaging energy, and suppression doesn’t care that the target would like to be a pool right now. Void Shift (passive) hands Malzahar massive damage reduction and immunity to crowd control whenever he hasn’t recently taken damage, which blunts the opening Transfusion well below what Vladimir expects.

Akali

Twilight Shroud (W) drops smoke that makes Akali invisible and unselectable by enemy spells and attacks, and Transfusion is a targeted spell. No target, no drain, no heal. Five Point Strike (Q) throws kunai that slow, Shuriken Flip (E) marks and then dashes to the mark, and Perfect Execution (R) leaps, then dashes again and executes. Assassin’s Mark (passive) gives her empowered attacks with bonus range for leaving the ring her spell damage creates. Thing is, she has 125 range and has to close 450 to work, and Tides of Blood is an area around him that she has to stand inside, so the shroud buys the approach and the burst has to finish before the pool comes up.

How do you play the lane against Vladimir?

• Trade when Transfusion is down. It’s a 9 second cooldown at rank 1 and his only reliable damage early, so the window after he casts it is yours.
• Don’t stand on the pool. Sanguine Pool slows enemies on it and siphons life from them, so stepping off costs you nothing and standing on it feeds him.
• Save the silence or the stun for the pool. He has to cast it; a silenced or stunned Vladimir takes the burst he meant to dodge.
• Punish Tides of Blood. Charging it costs him Health, so a Vladimir who charges and misses has paid for nothing.
• Spread out when Hemoplague lands. It heals him for each champion hit, so five infected champions is a full heal and two is a scratch.

Which items counter Vladimir?

Grievous Wounds first, before anything that says Magic Resist. Oblivion Orb applies 40% Wounds for 3 seconds whenever you deal magic damage to a champion and costs 800 gold, which is the cheapest way to turn Transfusion into half a heal, and it builds into Morellonomicon, 75 Ability Power, 350 Health and 15 Ability Haste with the same Wounds. For attackers the equivalent is Executioner’s Calling, 800 gold and 15 Attack Damage, on the way to Mortal Reminder or Chempunk Chainsword. After the Wounds, Magic Resist with Health: Force of Nature’s Steadfast grants 70 Magic Resist and 6% bonus Move Speed after 8 instances of magic damage from champions, and Vladimir supplies those 8 faster than most mages alive (he casts for a living). Kaenic Rookern’s Magebane shield is less useful here, since it needs 15 seconds without magic damage and a Vladimir in lane never gives you 15 seconds of anything. Banshee’s Veil carries a Spell Shield that eats one Transfusion or one Hemoplague application outright. All of them, with build paths, are in our item database; Rabadon’s Deathcap is the page to read if you’d rather out-scale him than out-heal him.

When is Vladimir at his weakest?

Before level six and after Sanguine Pool. Early, Transfusion is on a 9 second cooldown and Tides of Blood costs him Health he can’t yet afford, so a mid laner who trades hard in the first levels is trading against a champion whose sustain hasn’t started. Then there’s the pool. At rank 1 it comes back every 28 seconds, and for the other 26 of those he is a 450-range mage with no mobility, no crowd control and no shield.

How do you know the pool is down? You watched him use it (everyone always does). Vladimir players pool reflexively the moment a trade turns, and the 2 seconds he spends untargetable are 2 seconds you spend walking to where he’ll come up. To be fair, a Vladimir who holds the pool is far harder to kill than one who panics with it, so count on the panic but plan for the patience.

Mid lane still a mystery? Our guide to LoL roles covers it. The Vladimir skins page has his cosmetics, and the Vladimir ARAM guide covers the mode where his healing is cut. Long story short, the best Vladimir counters all do the same thing in different ways: they make sure he spends more Health than he drinks.

FAQ

Who counters Vladimir the most?

Mid laners with burst, silence or untargetability: Kassadin, Fizz, Lissandra, Malzahar and Akali.

Does Grievous Wounds counter Vladimir?

Yes. Transfusion and Hemoplague both heal him, and 40% Wounds from Oblivion Orb, Morellonomicon or Executioner’s Calling cuts that healing for 3 seconds after you damage him.

Can you stop Sanguine Pool?

Only before he casts it. A silence, such as Malzahar’s Call of the Void, or a stun stops him entering the pool; once he’s in it, he’s untargetable for 2 seconds.

Does Vladimir use Mana?

No. Tides of Blood costs his own Health to charge, and Transfusion gains massively increased damage and healing when his resource is full, so he manages a resource bar rather than Mana.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. Each pick comes from Vladimir’s patch 26.21 ability text compared with the other champion’s kit; no statistics were used.