League of Legends XXXIII: Game of Mundo

[ex cathedra]

Since Abyssal became popular again, I could see some AP carries with builds like Guise, Abyssal, Sorcs with Mpen reds and masteries in lieu of buying a Void Staff. Depends on the game, of course.

It doesn't scale as well as Sorcs/Treads + Void Staff + GA/QSS/etc, though. Sorc Shoes + 2x Doran's/Revolver + Abyssal is super strong at the moment, though, especially considering the amount of double AP hanging around.

Oh boy, it's Vlad freeweek! I hope to try him out this weekend, so what exactly do I build?

Boots/Dshield start into Revolver sounds about right, followed by Rylais, Hat, and a finished WotA, in some order? As for skills, starting Transfuse seems to be expected, with a skill order something like QEWQER? Poke with Q, eat creeps with E, open teamfights with R, and dodge ganks while giggling fiendishly with W?

CDR seems to be very useful, but it's always a bit awkward itemizing for it when you don't use mana. I guess blue pot + boots + masteries should get me enough, yes?

Start boots+3. No exceptions.
Building 2x Doran's Shield afterwards is actually a decent strategy against heavy AD lanes. Spirit Visage is an amazing source of CDR and MR against AP lanes or junglers, and it's especially absurd if you run Heal/Ghost rather than Ignite/Ghost

. I would probably go QWQE simply because getting ganked at level 2 is a nightmare and Vlad generally doesn't have the health retention to utilize E at level 2, especially considering that it does almost no damage and what little damage it does put out just pushes the lane much earlier than Vlad is prepared for.

By the time you're seriously teamfighting you need an Hourglass. No exceptions. It's more important to finish Hourglass than Rylai's in like 90% of situations. Go Sorc Boots > Revolver > Abyssal against double AP comps and CDR boots against AD-heavy or Bruiser-heavy (stacking flat Pen isn't as effective against enemies with 52.5 base MR, MR/level runes, and strong MR itemization options like Wit's End, Merc Treads, and Hexdrinker. Plan for Void Staff. You'll need it.