Item Build

Starting Items

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Boots 3 pots is very standard. You will start this 9/10 games due to the movement speed boost you obtain which helps in dodging skillshots, and you may also dip in and out to trade with your opponent. The three health potions give you 450 effective health in healing throughout your time in lane. You will start cloth armor and 5 health potions if you are against an AD caster mid, such as Pantheon or Talon. These champions will give you a ton of trouble early in the game so it's best to try and survive and build early armor.

Core Items

Remember when Vlad could stack revolvers? It's still one of his major items. The spell vamp stacks with Tranfusion's life gain so you can sustain in lane a lot longer. When Vlad hits his level 7-9 stride, he'll be nearly unmovable in lane without some ganks. Your choice of tier2 boots will depend on the game. If you want to deal as much damage as possible, go for Sorcerer Shoes. If the enemy has a hard silence or crowd control (or is just freaking annoying like LeBlanc) then grab Mercury's Treads. If you're getting blue buff or any other situation that doesn't fit your bill above, grab Ionian Boots of Lucidity, CDR is a great stat on Vladimir. Haunting Guise gives you everything Vladimir would want, and builds into an amazing item later on. Finally, Deathcap is a fairly obvious item because it gives him insane amounts of AP, which in turn, gives him a large pool of health in return.

Endgame Items

Full items on Vladimir is one of the scariest things in the game. His ability to demolish teamfights is very scary. An item like Rylai's is EXTREMELY good on Vladimir for two reasons. One, it procs the 35% slow on Transfusion (it used to be 15% because of how spammable the spell was) and secondly, it gives health AND AP, so you get your passive benefit twice. Zhonya's Hourglass makes Vladimir pretty much unkillable. Imagine ulting an entire team, blowing your load, and then sitting in the middle of them while they focus you. Ding, Hourglass. Your cooldowns are up again and your ult just popped on them. Void Staff is required if the enemy team has too much MR and your damage is suffering because of it. Upgrading your Revolver into Will of the Ancients is to help your team out (and synergize with a 2nd AP top if they are also building WotA, such as Kennen)..

In most cases instead of Void Staff you will get Liandry's Torment, which synergizing with Rylai's and with your sanguine pool slow, will increase your damage by quite a lot.

Other Options

Spirit Visage is a decent item in lane against another AP. It compliments your natural healing with Transfusion (and if you bought Revolver/WotA, that too) while giving you health (meaning passive benefit!) and a bit of magic resist and CDR. Sunfire Cape is not a great item, but Vlad can take advantage of the giant health bonus it provides and the aura will be moderately useful in teamfights since Vlad likes to be in the fray. Armor is never a bad thing either. Abyssal Scepter is another great item  if the enemy doesn't have too much MR (while giving you your own MR) that helps you decimate teamfights, especially if you have Sorcerer Shoes. Guardian Angel is an amazing item because it is naturally a nuisance to kill Vladimir, but now you have to kill him twice. Not an item you always get, but Vlad can take advantage of this item fairly well. Finally, Quicksilver Sash is a situational item you can purchase against suppression. These include Malzahar, Warwick, Skarner and Urgot ultimates. Also, it's never bad to have if the enemy has some kind of heavy CC or silence that is pissing you off.