Vladimir Mid Lane Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Flash
Spell 2
Ghost
How to play
Stay healthy and keep farming Use your 1st ability to damage an enemy and heal yourself while farming safely toward your items.
Trade when your stronger heal is ready Watch the bar under your health: after two casts of your 1st ability, its next cast becomes stronger. Use that cast on the enemy champion, then back away.
Save your pool for a dangerous spell Use your ultimate before your main damage, then save your 2nd ability to become untargetable and dodge the enemy's reply.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
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Strengths
- Strong repeat healing through Transfusion (1st), empowered Crimson Rush, Sanguine Pool (2nd) damage, and Hemoplague's (Ult) delayed detonation.
- The pool dodges the one spell a fight hangs on, from point-and-click ultimates to skillshot crowd control.
- Elite scaling: once itemized he is durable area damage that heals through what should kill him.
Weaknesses
- A weak, abusable early game where short range and no escape make him easy prey for bullies and ganks.
- No hard crowd control of his own, so he sets up picks for others rather than landing them himself.
- Everything defensive rides on the pool; spend it on the wrong threat and he has nowhere to go.
Vladimir Mid Lane Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Vladimir Mid Lane, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Early ability power for stronger damage and healing. Vladimir has no mana, but cooldowns still limit his rotation and Sanguine Pool (2nd) spends current health, so his trading is not unrestricted by a resource bar.
BOOTS
Magic penetration keeps his drain hurting in a lane he wins by out-sustaining rather than out-bursting.
CORE BUILD
A gap closer for a short-range caster. The dash puts him in range of the carry, and the burst opens the drain fight.
Ramping bonus damage and Omnivamp during long fights, and the bonus health feeds straight back into ability power.
Multiplies his ability power, which is his damage and, through his Q (1st) healing, his sustain.
Cuts the magic resist teams stack against him late, so his ultimate-amplified rotation still burns through. Choose it over Cryptbloom when enemies are stacking magic resist and maximum personal damage matters more than ability haste and team healing.
Haste means more Q (1st) casts, and the move speed keeps him moving through fights without spending his pool to reposition.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
His rotation already does enough damage to trigger the mark on a squishy, and the move speed helps a mage with no dash.
The alternative to Void Staff. Less penetration, but the ability haste means more Q (1st) casts and the healing on takedown helps his team. Choose it when enemies have not built much magic resist, so trading Void Staff's extra damage for more ability haste and an area heal after takedowns is worthwhile.
Build this when enemies heal through Vladimir's ultimate-amplified rotation. Hemoplague (Ult) and his area damage apply Grievous Wounds to several targets while he sustains; Oblivion Orb provides the effect early.
Build this when the enemy has shields that keep absorbing his sustained damage.
Build this when the enemy has a binding or silence timed for when his pool is down, which is the pattern that kills him.
Take this over Rocketbelt when surviving matters more than reaching the carry, since only one item active can be equipped. Buy Seeker's Armguard early for the armor and ability power.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
His rotation is several quick hits, and the move speed is how a short-range caster disengages once his pool is spent.
PRIMARY
He spends health rather than mana, and his ultimate is what amplifies the rotation that follows it, so the ultimate is the part worth raising.
Ability haste means more Q (1st) casts, which is his damage and his sustain.
Move speed after a summoner spell helps him close the last steps into his short casting range.
SECONDARY
He spends fights at low health by design, since his own casts cost him some.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Last Stand against an all-in laner who can kill Vladimir before he reaches his scaling.
Take this over Last Stand into a low-threat lane where the enemy lacks a reliable all-in. It amplifies his abilities instead of rewarding a low-health fight.
Take this over Last Stand against teams that allow extended fights at his spell range. Shorter Transfusion (1st) and Sanguine Pool (2nd) cooldowns help Vladimir repeat his healing and damage while recovering his defensive escape sooner.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN SPELLS
Flash
Must take. Sanguine Pool (2nd) grants a short, decaying movement-speed burst but is primarily his untargetability window; Flash supplies the instant reposition it cannot.
Ghost
He has to be close to keep draining, and his pool is a dodge rather than an escape. This is what keeps him in range of a target while his healing carries the fight.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 23rd Ability
E - 32nd Ability
W
Vladimir Mid Lane Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Vladimir Mid Lane, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
Lux
Vladimir can sustain through Lux's poke and use Sanguine Pool (2nd) to avoid Light Binding (1st), but Lucent Singularity's (3rd) automatic detonation and slow plus Prismatic Barrier's (2nd) two passes still protect her after Q (1st) misses. Pool the decisive root, leave E's (3rd) area, and account for the shield before committing Hemoplague (Ult).
Veigar
Veigar's plan is cage into one-shot, and your pool dodges both halves of it, while your healing shrugs off the poke he farms stacks with. He out-scales most mids, but not you.
Brand
Brand's burst hits hard but it is limited, and your health bar refills, so once his rotation is spent you walk him down and he has no escape from it.
Twisted Fate
Twisted Fate threatens side lanes with Destiny (Ult), but his lane trade still depends on a visible Pick a Card (2nd) windup and he has no dash when Vladimir closes. Hold Sanguine Pool (2nd) for the Gold Card (2nd) projectile or jungle follow-up, then use the cooldown window to extend the trade; when he channels Destiny (Ult), shove immediately so every roam costs a wave and plates.
Vladimir Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
Morgana
Her binding and puddle bully the weak early game your whole plan depends on surviving, and a root timed for when your pool is down pins you for a trade you cannot escape.
Ryze
Ryze's targeted root and relentless poke chip you faster than your Q (1st) heals it back, and he scales right alongside you with a health pool and mana scaling that shrug off your burst.
Kassadin
His magic shield absorbs your burst, his silence shuts off the Q (1st) healing that keeps you alive in trades, and once his ultimate is online he out-scales even you.
Swain
Swain is the one battlemage who out-sustains you: his drain and ultimate refill health faster than your Q (1st), his root pins you for the combo, and he gets too tanky to burst late.
Vladimir Mid Lane Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Vladimir Mid Lane, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.