How to win lane as Gragas against Vladimir · 48.38% win rate over 525 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Vladimir | Full-AP Vlad pools your Body Slam and Cask, drain-tanks the combo with Transfusion, and bursts your HP pool — he hard out-scales you. |
| Level 2 | Gragas | Q+W and a drunk-auto plus Happy Hour out-sustains his single Tides of Blood charge before he has E stacks online. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | His Tides of Blood poke and your clunky Level-3 cooldowns trade roughly even — neither side can commit cleanly yet. |
| Levels 4-5 | Vladimir | He charges Tides of Blood and pokes from outside Body Slam range, refunding it with Transfusion while you wait on cooldowns. |
| Level 6 | Gragas | Body Slam stun into drunk-auto, fermented Barrel Roll, and Explosive Cask off his tower is a genuine kill before Sanguine Pool resets. |
| First item | Even / skill | Your Riftmaker/Rocketbelt burst is real, but Transfusion's heal scales and Rylai's looms, so the all-in race evens out. |
| Two+ items | Vladimir | Late-game full-AP Vlad pools your CC, drain-tanks the combo, and bursts your health pool — he out-scales you decisively. |
Vlad opens weak — Sanguine Pool isn't online until later and charged Tides of Blood (E) is his only real poke, while Transfusion (Q) is on a cooldown early. At Level 2 take Q+W, drink with Drunken Rage for the empowered auto, and force a short sustain trade: Happy Hour plus the drunk-auto heals back what one E charge chips. Don't sit in a standing poke war, though — every Transfusion refunds his health, so a cooldown-trading match favours him. Bait, concede that Levels 1 and 3 lean his way, and aim for your real windows at 2 and 6.
The full Gragas vs Vladimir report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Vladimir vs Gragas guide →
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