Vladimir Scaling: Grade S
Yes. Vladimir is one of the strongest late-game champions in the game. Grade S, Best late, in The Scaling Codex.
Reviewed for League of Legends Season 16 (2026).
Verdict. Incredibly strong late game. Can delete entire teams while being invincible under his pool and moving freely with his combo, while also healing his entire HP bar.
Why Vladimir gets an S
He fights from inside the enemy team and skips the part where that should kill him. Sanguine Pool makes him untargetable through the seconds they planned to spend removing him, and Transfusion keeps refilling the health bar they thought they were emptying.
Hemoplague spreads the damage. It amplifies all damage on everyone it covers and heals him for each infected champion, so his largest offensive cooldown is also his largest defensive one, applied to several enemies at once.
The pool is one cooldown, and everything depends on it
Spent early on poke or on a scare, he is a short-range mage standing in the middle of five armed enemies with nothing left. The pool has to answer their real commitment.
Hemoplague works the same way. It is worth much more on the group than on one target.
Spend the pool on their burst window, not on the first thing that scares you.
Common questions about Vladimir scaling
Does Vladimir scale well into the late game?
Yes. Vladimir is one of the strongest late-game champions in the game. Grade S, Best late, in The Scaling Codex.
What holds Vladimir back?
Spent early on poke or on a scare, he is a short-range mage standing in the middle of five armed enemies with nothing left. The pool has to answer their real commitment.
What is the late-game rule for Vladimir?
Spend the pool on their burst window, not on the first thing that scares you.
How this grade was judged
The grade weighs range, target access, sustained and burst damage, crowd control, mobility, durability, healing and shielding, resets, cooldown structure, objective and formation control, split pressure, and how well the champion survives a long fight. Builds and forms that scale differently are graded separately. This is Vambient's gameplay evaluation of coordinated late-game fights, not a win-rate calculation. Full methodology.
Related champions
- Why Ambessa is also Grade S
- Why Aphelios is also Grade S
- Why Aurelion Sol is also Grade S
- Why Azir is also Grade S
- See the full Grade S tier
The grade measures one thing: how much a champion can influence a coordinated late-game objective fight once both teams reach full builds. It does not measure early strength, snowballing, or win rate. A weak late-game champion still wins by ending the game first, which is what the rest of the library teaches. How the grades are decided.