So recently I bought Vladimir and I absolutely love him. However, I'm still figuring out the 'best' way to build him.

I started out with 21/9/0 masteries, untill I saw AZUBU Reaperd play him with a 9/0/21 setup. I tried that setup and I love it. It gives you so much sustain in lane, and whenever I play another Vlad in normal I beat him most of the time. But I still don't know what runes to use on him. At the moment I take MP marks, health/lvl seals, AP/lvl glyphs and flat AP quints. At the moment I'm considering to buy spellvamp quints, but I don't know if they are worth it? The AP quints give me 15 AP and 21 HP at the start, but with the SP quints I start out with 9 SP (including masteries), and when I buy Hextech Revolver as my first item it gives me 21 SP early in the game which gives you the ability to stay in lane almost as long as you like.

When it comes to items I like to rush a Hextech, and build a Rylai's after (or a Deathcap if I'm really fed) which seems pretty standard. But the items I was wondering about the most are Spirit Visage, Deathfire Grasp and Haunting Guise. Spirit Visage is working out pretty well when I'm laning against another AP, but I get the feeling I lose out on alot of damage since it sets my item build back a bit. And with a Hextech Revolver, the health gain seems a bit over the top. DFG seems like a good item on Vlad, but it makes you quite squishy. With the CDR from DFG and my masteries I have 25%, which helps you spam you abilities. And the activate is always good, but since Vlad isn't about bursting I wonder if it is a good items for him. Haunting Guise can be good item, but when I build it along with a Hextech I go for a Deathcap right after, otherwise my damage drops way too much later in the game.

So, how do you like to play Vladimir? What items, runes and masteries do you use on him? I'd like to hear your opinions so I can try out new things and improve my Vlad play.

Hold on! Wait... what?

I play Vladimir with 9/21/0 masteries.
MPen marks, health/lvl or armour seals, flat mr glyphs, spellvamp or movement speed quints.
Summoner Spells: Flash/Ghost + Ignite

Reason:
Vladimir has a very short range and can be harassed and counter-harassed easier than other champions.
That's why I like to use the defensive tree for him. The additional tankyness allows for easier trades and safer farming.
The cooldown reduction is just the icing on the cake, because I feel it very hard to itemize cooldown reduction on Vladimir.
I'd really like to go for utility masteries too, but I'm not experienced enough with Vlad yet to make all the utility work. The extra tankyness from the defensive tree covers minor mistakes for me.

I build typical tanky caster items:

Boots -> Hextech Revolver -> Abyssal Sceptre/Zhonya's Hourglass

Sometimes I throw in an early Haunting Guise, depending on the game. Either before or after the Hextech Revolver.

Edit:
Damage reduction effectively increases your spellvamp, regeneration and heals, too.

I go 10/9/11 masteries, SR spells Ignite&flash
For extra health,bit ap+mage pen the 4ap helps alot with health from the offensive tree
Utilty i take that summoner spell upgrade,MS and spellvamp,10%less death time
I take Ap Quints+ glyps= more early health+damage thats 26 ap+4 from masteries 30ap
And mark+seal pure armour total 21
This is my solo top vlad this works well in mid and against Talon
1 time back get hextech revolver --> wota---->crystal scepter--->. Zhonya---->deathcap--->FON becouse ap gives tons of HP and Fon is based on HP i got. Like 100+ hp per 5
Remember vladimir is not a Pure Full Ap nuker his kinda tanky DPS
Rushing Deathcap early game makes him only weaker he doesny benefit early on
Dont get items such as Warmoggs,spirit visage,Dorans Ring,prospector ring(domi)
Never use E unless in trade never use Q on minion if you have 70% health bar
Cuz ur Q is high CD before lvl 4 always Get ionian boots(CD) gives ur Q 2.7CD on lvl 5
Always max Q1st at lvl 9 it should have like 2.7sec CD,E 2nd W last
Do not use W to kill creeps 20sec CD 20%health cost +escape toool
Play carefull till lvl 6-7 vladimir ability are High CD ,once you have Hextech Revolver
You can use E becouse hextech gives the health back ,
Never waste ult for " last hit" enemy it gives you 12%more damage and for your team
It also works on Ignite...
I main vladimir i have montage vids if you like 2see
Taking down your lane opponents is at 65% health bar!!!!!
Start R becouse the 12%extra damage than Q+E than ignite W onder him
Dont underestimate W it does a lot of damage with R
Once you get back in normal form E should be off CD hit E than q should be off CD
Hit Q than 99% precent they have less than 150-100 hp and keep auto attack and ur ult finish him off..never ever let the enemy go even if he has 90hp and ur ult does 150+ damage
Trust me they always survive (e.g) lee sin shield,soraka global heal, life steal on creeps
In TF never go in 1st with R than W ur pretty much Dead!!! NEVER DO THAT
Use ur ult if the attack have been started try to hit 3/5
12%bonus damage on a vayne that crits 800 lets see
10%= 80damage 2%= 16 damage total= 896.. instead off 800

depends on what lane you play him, on mid i always go 21/9/0 with mpen red hp/lv yellow ap/lv blue ap quints.

im in LOVE! with haunting guise, it makes him so strong early/midgame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doL46ug7V6g

My commentary regarding the Vladimir [Setup + Commentary] (From Midlane perspective.) Though 9/21 are okay masteries too. I just prefer this way. Check it out

Also if you liked, go see my other videos, too! http://www.youtube.com/user/Bumba13/videos

He most probably meant magic penetration.

well i assume u were playing against bunch of nabs.....VLAD is not strong early mid game.....he is just not...his dmgs are low.....unless u build full ap with some mp runes and items.....so ye he will make some dmgs but the fact that most players play him as an AP fighter top lane is this....because u have to sacrifice hp and tankiness for dmg....which there are alot of other good mages who can deal more dmgs than him....plus u will loose the benefits from ur passive if u go full ap...the best build from my opinion is mastery:9/21/0 or 9/0/21....runes should be MP because bunch of ap's from runes doesnt really help his dmg ....or HP runes on seals and quint....and build him a revolver rylais then its on ur own...to improve his dmgs or surviablty...

I play Vladimir as a Jungler

I used to play him like this, but I felt like my laning phase was too weak this way.
If I ever went back to this setup, I'd use at least flat MR glyphs (or flat armor seals, in case of an opponent with physical damage), like IceToboggan Hepo.
But maybe I just played to aggressively.

Can you add some more details of your playstyle?
How well can you trade hits with this setup during the laning phase?
Do you actively harass your opponent or do you just sit back, farm and counter-harass?