Azir vs Vladimir Counter Pick

Sanguine Pool sinks Vladimir into a pool of blood for two seconds, untargetable while it slows anyone standing in it and heals him off their proximity — which erases the value of a well-placed Emperor’s Divide or a stacked soldier volley. It’s the main reason Azir only wins 41.5% of their 345 games on patch 16.13.1, well above what most matchup samples reach.

• Transfusion — Vladimir’s basic poke, which gets a large damage and healing bonus once his resource bar, uniquely tied to his own health rather than mana, is full.
• Hemoplague — his ultimate, marking an area to take increased damage before detonating, rewarding him for forcing extended trades rather than short pokes.

His passive, Crimson Pact, converts bonus health into ability power and vice versa, so building tanky items doesn’t cost him damage the way it would most mages — a wrinkle that makes him hard to out-scale even when Azir wins the early exchanges. Both sit close on raw stats (600 health and 450 range for Vladimir against Azir’s 575 health and 525 range), so the deciding factor tends to be his sustain rather than any single burst window. Vladimir players who pool through Azir’s Q volleys rather than trading into them usually come out ahead of Azir.