Weird Picks #89: Unsealed Spellbook Support Vladimir

The first time I saw Vladimir support in a game I thought the guy was trolling. The second time it popped up I became a little more curious, and by the third it was research time. I still haven't found where it originated from, but considering the 0.02% pick rate it seems unlikely to catch on too soon.

However, his most popular rune setups do sport an above-40% win rate, which indicates the pick is potentially viable, even if it's not optimal. How does it work? Check out the details below!

Archive post, January 2018. The rune reasoning below belongs to a system the game retired. Talk of reaching max cooldown reduction sooner, and of losing stats to overcapping once you're full build, only makes sense while cooldowns are a capped percentage. Riot replaced that stat with ability haste in the 2021 preseason, and haste doesn't cap the way the old one did, so there's nothing left to overcap. The build's real question, whether a Vladimir support can get away with it, is the part to read for.

Weird Pick #89

Unsealed Spellbook Support Vladimir

January 2018

Introduction

How to Play

Abilities: Q, E, W then prioritize R > Q > E > W
Summoner Spells: Flash + Ignite
Starting Items: World Atlas + Health Potions
Core Items: Hextech Rocketbelt
Zaz'Zak's Realmspike
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Zhonya's Hourglass
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Rabadon's Deathcap

Rune Setup

Unsealed Spellbook Support Vladimir rune page

Inspiration Tree

Unsealed Spellbook is the standard Vladimir keystone, and works just as well on support Vladimir as well. The reduced summoner spell cooldown stacks well with Ionian Boots of Lucidity and allows him to maximize his engagement potential.
Perfect Timing will be the one rune you absolutely must get as it provides a free 300 gold that you'll eventually use to build your Zhonya's with.
Magical Footwear generally works better than Future's Market in this scenario as you'll want to sync up your backs with your marksman. Having this rune gives you a larger potential powerspike and also allows you to get your tier 2 boots for cheaper.
Cosmic Insight is the only rune that makes sense on this tier.

Sorcery Tree

Transcendence makes sense as it will allow you to reach max CDR sooner without losing stats from overcapping once you reach full build.
Nullifying Orb is obviously going to be more situational, but if you're up against an offensive magic-based bot lane, it could prove to be extremely valuable.
Scorch and The Ultimate Hat are two other potentially useful runes from the Sorcery tree as well.

Some players choose to go Domination or Precision, but obviously, this isn't a well-studied field, so go with whatever feels best to you.

Why It Works

Good Lane Poke Trades

Vladimir's ability to trade poke in lane is extremely good, and by continuously Q'ing enemy laners he becomes quite a nuisance. He also doesn't use mana, which means he can sustain in lane indefinitely and is really only prone to backing when his marksman needs to or he's dead.

Damage Boosting Ultimate

Hemoplague (R) provides a valuable 10% damage boost from all sources for 4 seconds, which can make or break a team fight. By stacking Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Unsealed Spellbook, Vladimir can flash + Protobelt his way to victory.

Obnoxious and Hard to Kill

The core strength of Vladimir is mostly how absolutely impossible it is to kill him. Since he's playing as a support in this scenario, he no longer becomes a prime target. However, he still retains his Zhonya's and Sanguine Pool abilities. This results in a difficult low-priority champion that does unignorable amounts of damage.

Potential Pitfalls

Extremely Low Peel/Ally Sustain

As a classical support, Vladimir provides very little in the way of a heal/shield/CC type ability outside of a slow. This results in a low quality "support" type champion, and really does make it into a snowballing kill-lane for bot.

Conclusions

Vladimir support is likely one of those fads that will come and go, but never really catch on too hard. I may end up eating my words, but I have a tough time seseing it become truly viral considering his lack of qualities you'd expect in a classic support.

Suggested Tier: Tier 3