Game Plan

Vladimir in Mayhem wants time, health, and clean entry angles. You are not a front-to-back poke mage in the early lane, and you are not a true tank later. Play the first levels like a greedy short-range mage, then become the champion who punishes stacked enemies when they have already spent key crowd control. Your best fights usually start after your team has softened the wave or baited engage tools, not when you are the first body walking into five people.

Early Levels 1-6: Survive the lane, trade only when the return damage is controlled

  • Position: Stand just behind your main wave clearer or beside your ranged carry, not in front of them. You want enough space to step up for a short trade, then fall back before the enemy bruiser or hook champion can mark you as the easy engage. If the enemy has long-range poke, use minions and allied bodies as cover instead of drifting alone toward the side wall.
  • Trading and poke rhythm: Take short trades when the enemy steps up for a minion or wastes a poke spell on the wave. Go in, land your damage, then back out before they can stack multiple spells onto you. Do not chase one low-health target through the whole lane early; Vladimir can recover health over time, but he still loses hard if he gives the enemy a clean crowd-control chain.
  • Snowball use: Treat Snowball mostly as a threat, not a panic button. Throw it at enemies who have already used their main stop tool, or at a target standing near several teammates so your follow-up has real value. If you land Snowball on a full-health frontline while their backline is untouched, you usually do not take it unless your team is already moving with you.
  • Augment use: Early augments should support staying power, safer casting, or reliable access to fights. If you get an augment that rewards repeated spell use or extended combat, play around short cycles: step up, trade, reset behind your wave, then repeat. If you get a burst or engage-style augment, do not force it before level 6 unless the enemy has clearly overstepped.
  • Push or stall choice: If your team has stronger wave clear, help thin the wave but avoid spending all your health just to hit minions. A slow push is fine because it gives you room to threaten the enemy under their side of the lane. If your team is being outranged, stall near your side and let the enemy walk forward; Vladimir is much happier punishing overextension than face-tanking poke under their turret zone.
  • Ahead plan: If you gain early health or item advantage, hold the center brush area with your team and threaten short all-ins on anyone who walks past the wave. Do not dive alone just because you feel unkillable. Your lead matters most when it forces the enemy to back away from the wave and gives your team first move on the next fight.
  • Behind plan: If you are low, stop contesting every minion. Let the wave come in, farm what is safe, and save your defensive tools for actual engage instead of minor poke. Your recovery plan is simple: avoid dying before your first major fight timing, keep experience flowing, and punish the enemy when they group too tightly.
  • Next move: As level 6 approaches, start watching enemy crowd control more than enemy health bars. Your first real fight should happen after a hook, stun, displacement, or heavy poke spell misses. That is when you can step forward with much less risk.

Mid Levels 7-11: Look for layered fights, not random solo dives

  • Position: Play on the edge of vision and slightly off-center from your backline. If you stand directly in front, you eat every engage. If you stand too far back, you arrive late. The sweet spot is close enough to follow your tank or Snowball target, but angled enough that the enemy backline has to choose between hitting you and hitting your teammates.
  • Trading and poke rhythm: Your trades should now set up all-ins. Chip the nearest safe target, back out, then re-enter when the enemy team starts clumping around their damaged ally. Vladimir loves messy fights where people bunch together to protect someone. He hates clean fights where five enemies save all their crowd control for his first step forward.
  • Snowball use: Use Snowball to bypass the frontline only when the landing point is survivable. A good Snowball connects to a squishy target after their peel is down, or to a frontline target standing next to priority carries. A bad Snowball delivers you into silence, stun, knockup, or instant focus with no ally close enough to follow. If the enemy comp is full of point-and-click lockdown, you can still throw Snowball to force movement without taking it.
  • Augment use: Mid game is where your augment identity should shape your fights. With durability or sustain-focused augments, take longer brawls and keep re-entering after enemies waste burst. With burst-focused augments, hold your entry until your team has already started the fight, then commit onto grouped targets. With movement or reset-style augments, play wider angles and punish enemies who separate from their peel.
  • Push or stall choice: Push when your team has health advantage or enemy ultimates and engage tools are down. A pushed wave gives Vladimir more room to threaten flank-like angles and makes the enemy defend in a tight space. Stall when your team is low, missing key cooldowns, or stuck under poke. In those moments, clear safely and make the enemy walk into you instead of volunteering a fight in open lane.
  • Ahead plan: If ahead, do not spend your lead on a single flashy backline chase. Pressure the wave, hold forward space, and force the enemy to fight in a narrow area where your area damage and sustain matter. Your team should be able to hit whoever turns on you, so move with them and punish the first enemy who commits too deep.
  • Behind plan: If behind, stop looking for the miracle one-shot. Your job becomes delaying, farming, and joining only after the enemy has used their strongest engage. Let your frontline or poke champions start the exchange. Once enemy damage is partially spent, you can enter, drain attention, and buy time for your team to clean up.
  • Next move: Before the next fight, identify two things: the enemy spell that stops your entry, and the ally who can follow your engage. If the stop spell is used and your follow-up is nearby, go. If either condition is missing, keep posturing and force the enemy to waste more tools.

Late Levels 12+: Be patient, then take over the clumped fight

  • Position: Late game Vladimir should threaten from the second line or a side angle, never from a lazy straight line into five enemies. Stand close enough that your team can collapse when you go in, but far enough from the main wave that the enemy cannot hit you and your carries with the same engage. If your team has a tank, let them show first. If your team has no tank, you must bait spells with movement and defensive timing before fully committing.
  • Trading and poke rhythm: Stop taking meaningless poke trades if a death would lose the next push. Late fights are decided by one committed entry, not by proving you can touch the enemy frontline. Harass only when you can do it without losing your defensive escape or dropping too low to participate. When enemies group around a carry or choke point, that is your real opening.
  • Snowball use: Late Snowball is a fight-winning tool or a throw button. Use it after the enemy team has stepped too far forward, after a key peel spell misses, or when your team is already engaging and your arrival will layer damage onto multiple targets. Do not take a Snowball into the backline if your team is clearing minions, retreating, or unable to cross the lane. Ping or move first so they know you are about to commit.
  • Augment use: Late augment use should be planned before the fight starts. If your augments make you harder to kill, enter earlier and soak attention while your team follows. If your augments increase burst or reward hitting multiple enemies, wait until they stack together and commit all at once. If your augments help mobility, use them to dodge the first answer, not just to start the fight faster.
  • Push or stall choice: Push hard after a won fight or when enemies are forced to reset, because Vladimir is dangerous when defenders must stand close together under pressure. If your team cannot safely hit the structure, clear the wave and reset the lane instead of diving into fresh spawns. Stall when death timers are dangerous, your carries are low, or the enemy has stronger immediate engage; one bad late dive can erase every advantage.
  • Ahead plan: When ahead, make the enemy choose between giving up the wave and fighting in a cramped lane. Hold your major commit until they turn on your frontline or clump to clear. Once they spend their first control tools, enter decisively and force the fight to continue on your terms. If they scatter, take the structure pressure instead of chasing to the far side of the map.
  • Behind plan: When behind, play for the enemy mistake. Clear waves from safety, preserve health, and hide your commit until they overpush or split their formation. A late Vladimir can still swing a fight if the enemy stacks together and burns damage into the wrong target. If they keep perfect spacing, do not force; keep stalling until your team finds poke, a pick, or a missed engage.
  • Next move: After every late fight, decide fast. If two or more enemies are down and your team has health, push immediately. If the fight is won but your team is too low, take the wave, back off, and deny the enemy a return kill. If you died but forced major cooldowns and your team cleaned up, the next move is to group again and repeat the same delayed-entry pattern rather than trying a faster, riskier engage.