Dark Waters Vladimir

First time queuing with Dark Waters Vladimir, the loading screen hit and I just stopped for a second. Drowned pirate take on a blood mage – honestly didnt think that concept worked until I actually saw the skin in action. But it does. Vladimir draining the life out of an enemy backline while looking like a Bilgewater curse casualty fits his kit better than the original red robe look. Been running this as my main Vladimir skin since season 8 and haven’t touched the base once.

What actually changes with Dark Waters Vladimir

Full model overhaul. The red and burgundy palette is gone – replaced with deep ocean blues and waterlogged fabric. Seaweed detail visible even in chaotic teamfights. Vladimir looks like something that has spent a century on the ocean floor, which is a genuinely different read than the default. The silhouette change matters when you’re one of those champions who get ignored in the backline until the ult goes off.

VFX updated across Q, W, E, and R. The Q ground drain becomes a dark water pull instead of blood – reads cleanly during lane prio and dive situations, visual feedback is clear for both sides. W turns the dodge pool into a murky underwater puddle. Could be overthinking it, but the W VFX is actually my favorite change in the whole skin – it looks genuinely unsettling in a good way. The E particles follow the same cursed ocean current theme. The ult spread across the Rift gets the full Curse of the Drowned treatment: dark water radiating out and communicating the AoE zone well during engage and disengage.

Recall is where the skin earns its keep. Vladimir disappears into cursed Bilgewater waters in a sequence that sells the whole undead pirate fantasy hard. (random aside: found this recall in a clip on Reddit at 2 AM last Tuesday and bought the skin within five minutes.) Base voice lines stay, no new VO – standard for a 1350 Epic.

The Bilgewater: Curse of the Drowned skinline and release details

Dark Waters Vladimir dropped May 31, 2018. The Bilgewater: Curse of the Drowned event in season 8 was one of Riot’s more cohesive thematic pushes – nautical horror, cursed undead pirates, the whole concept executed across multiple skins. Vladimir was one of the better fits in that batch, his drain mechanic mapping cleanly onto the cursed water theme.

Rudy Siswanto and Kelly Aleshire delivered on the splash. Vladimir half-submerged in dark cursed water, a ghostly ship looming in the backdrop, the composition sells the Curse of the Drowned narrative without overexplaining it. Strong splash piece.

Five chromas total. Obsidian flips the palette nearly black – my go-to for ranked because it reads clean against the Rift without pulling focus. Tanzanite goes purple and honestly hits the mage identity harder than the base blue does. Pearl is there if you want the lighter ghostly version, it’s serviceable, but Obsidian and Tanzanite are the real reasons to spend on chromas here. Emerald and Sandstone round out the five for anyone collecting the full set.

Is Dark Waters Vladimir worth 1350 RP?

Real verdict: yes, specifically for Vladimir mains. The full VFX rework across every ability and a recall that actually earns screen time justify the Epic price. Kinda feels like this was one of the better-executed skins from the Bilgewater: Curse of the Drowned set – Vladimir’s drain mechanics map onto cursed water thematically better than most skinline fits you’ll find at this tier.

Compared to Nightbringer Vladimir, Dark Waters has tighter thematic coherence even if Nightbringer hits harder on pure visual spectacle. First choice for Vladimir mains who play into the darker nautical fantasy. Spamming Vladimir in Diamond solo queue since 2018 with this skin locked in genuinely feels different than running base – the VFX change how the abilities read during a teamfight, and that matters over a few hundred games.

Still in the shop. 1350 RP, fair price for what you get.