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If he takes a damage keystone you can run him down early. If he has phase rush just farm it out in lane (easier said than done, but possible nonetheless) and outscale him in a sidelane 1v1 later on.
Vayne
There's a reason most Darius mains ban Vayne. She pokes you early denying cs, has great disengage in her kit and also outscales you hard. Only way to kill her is to cheese all-in her levels 1-3. Either ban her or dodge when you see her.
Mordekaiser
Stay high health, Q if he Qs. If he tries to Q poke you early, trade back and try to get some stacks. You should win all-ins as long as you don't get poked down beforehand, however bear in mind that if the game drags out long enough he will outscale you.
Fiora
W and Q her when she tries to Q poke (ghost and run her down if she misses her W provided she's far away enough from her tower). Don't start trades/farm with Q cause that'll give her a perfect window to Q into you and dodge it. As long as you keep the lane on your side and focus on counterattacks you should win. When you wanna dunk her, E right before R so she can't parry it.
Ornn
Pretty high damage for a tank, but if you keep the lane on your side and W him mid dash you should be able to run him down easily. When he uses his W fall back a bit for the brittle debuff to dissapear, otherwise he'll bonk you with a 12% max hp auto. After 6 save your pull to make him miss his ultimate reactivation.
Renekton
You're stronger before 6 so take advantage of that and look to extend trades. A lot of renektons e in, do their combo, and e out. Spam your E while you're stunned to pull him back during his dash (get some tenacity if the stun lasts too long and he just dashes out while you're still stunned). At level 6 he becomes stronger than you because of his constant fury gain. You outscale him hard in a 1v1 from level 11 onwards. The person to engage first into a 1v1 to the death will usually lose.
Garen
You're one of the best counters to Garen. When you see him charging at you with Q, press W, but dont land it until his Q goes off. Run him down right after that (provided you're not low hp and there's enough space to chase him down).
Akali
Don't let her land the autoattack after she hits Q on you. if you start the fight with your Q aim it slightly behind her as Akali's Q will dash her backwards a short distance, placing her right in your Q blade range. When she uses W shroud, back away so she has to step out of it. If she chases you - continue the fight, if she stays inside - leave her as you will lose hard if you fight inside her shroud.
Aatrox
if he tries to poke early, pull him in so he misses his first 2 Qs , try to juke his 3rd q with ghost and kill him. Basically don't get poked down and you win all-ins. Buy grevious wounds after level 6.
Irelia
Zone her from CS early. If you don't let her get full passive stacks you will win every all-in. Rush ninja tabis.
Vladimir
You have pretty high kill pressure on him early but he does outscale you later. if you catch him out and try to all-in him with ghost, save your Q until he uses his pool. Consider buying executioners early.
Quinn
Play safe until 6 (especially if she has ignite). Rush tabis and get bramble vest if she builds lifesteal. When you do eventually decide to all-in her, ghost and run behind her so she can't knock you away.
Teemo
if he goes TP, dont let him poke you and fight back. If he has ignite, play safe and farm up. Start with 3 rejuv beads cause doran's shield was nerfed vs dot (damage over time) users.
Malphite
If he's E max tank malphite - this is one of the easiest matchups in the game. Rush Cleaver and zone him/kill him.
If he's Q max AP malphite - get some magic resist early so you don't get poked down.
Illaoi
You can bully and zone her before level 6. Even if she hits E before 6 you can still fight her and try to all-in. After 6 if she ults you, back off and wait it out.
Yasuo
Try to extend trades when he tries to q poke. Cancel his tornado with your E and you should win most all-ins, if you see that he has a chance of killing you, run to river so he can't chase you using the minion wave.
Ryze
If Ryze doesn't walk up into melee range this lane will be very rough. If he does however disrespect and go into melee you can 1v1 him rather easily, otherwise just farm up and get too tanky for him to burst you. Save your E to cancel his ult after 6.
Riven
Your E will cancel her 3rd Q if you time it well. If you succeed at pulling her out of it all-in immediately as she will never win a 1v1 without her Q up, especially before 6. The key to winning vs riven is to stay high health and look for all-in windows. I prefer going cleaver in this matchup because it makes you much tankier allowing you to survive her burst and run her down with ghost.
Kled
The only matchup where it's better to short trade rather than all-in as Darius. Whittle him down with your Q but don't let him get his full W on you, use E if you have to for disengage. If you didn't fall behind early you should outscale in a 1v1.
Yorick
You're stronger than Yorick pre-6 by quite a bit so abuse that by keeping the wave on your side of the lane and zone him from minions, threaten to kill if he walks up. If you already have a few stacks on him and he traps you in his W - flash out of it, W him and chase him down with ghost (it's faster than using auto>W). if Yorick is far away enough from his tower ghost should be enough to catch up to him even if he has flash up. After level 6 he's stronger than you, especially if you didn't put him behind. Yorick's Maiden and Ghouls are his main source of damage so take care of them first before engaging on Yorick.
Jax
Start Q level 1 because his E will dodge your W. When trading, wait for him to use E and jump then pull him and walk back a little to dodge the stun, since he can't reactivate his E during your pull. Get ninja tabis into black cleaver and you should be stronger mid game. Keep in mind that he will outscale you if the game goes late enough.
Camille
Matchup slightly in your favour. You're much stronger in an all-in before she gets triforce, however a decent Camille will avoid extending trades early and just use her E to dash away turning early game into a farm lane. Q whenever she casts her W since the range of both abilities is the same. Your E can only cancel her 2nd dash and it's quite tricky if you don't have practice.
Shen
His Q early on has a deceptively high amount of damage so be mindful of that and play safe levels 1 and 2. Level 3 onwards you should be every all-in hard if you didn't get behind. Save your E for when he tries to run as extended trades are your forte.
Gangplank
Grasp GP can actually outdamage you levels 1 and 2 with his passive resets so be careful. Level 3 and onwards you should be able to kill him in every all-in provided you're not lower HP and very behind (Ghost and start the fight with auto>W to bait his orange and then pull him back in after he uses it) .
Kayle
Pre-6 this is one of the easiest matchups in the entire game. Zone her from CS and threaten all-ins with ghost. After 6 if she gets into your lethal R dunk range, pull and use your R right away so she wouldn't be able to ult during the cc .
Tryndamere
Rush tabis into phage to kite out his lethal tempo proc easily. Beware of his fury meter. You usually have enough damage to kill him in a 1v1 to the death if you're both full HP before 6 . After level 6 make sure to ult him early (as soon as you have 5 stacks) since the E into ult trick will not work here (Tryndamere can activate his ult during any cc) . If you have to match him in a sidelane get tabis cleaver and randuins.
Nasus
Standart Q max Nasus is very easy to beat. Zone him from the wave early and look to all in him. As soon as he uses his W on you use W and E to keep him in melee range and you will win all fights before 6 100%. After 6 his dps will increase significantly but if you denied him Q stacks early on winning should still be easy.
If Nasus maxes his E and shoves waves, just farm it out and stay out of his R range to remain high health, you'll outscale him hard since he's not gonna get as many stacks with E max.
Dr. Mundo
Stand behind your minions to not get poked down by his Q cleavers spam. If he goes up to you in melee distance before 6 simply all-in him and kill him, you have much higher damage. Build cleaver into tabis and visage. If you didn't get behind you should always win all-ins against him. Executioners will prove very useful after level 6.
Pantheon
Stay out of melee range early on as his Q poke will be twice as deadly because of the 50% shorter cooldown on short Q. You should win hard after 6 if you didn't fall behind. If he's in dunk range and didn't use his E Pull him and spam your R.
Singed
Most singed players will try to push the wave early so feel free to Q poke him with the very tip of your blade (if you get too close he will simply flip you making you miss the Q). If you hit the first Q and he still goes in to fling you, W him right before the E connects so he's slowed and you can pull him back into you right after. You're much stronger than him before 6 so abuse that, but NEVER CHASE SINGED!
Rengar
Don't get cheesed by his empowered Q levels 1 and 2. Level 3 onwards you take over as the big threat in this lane. If he jumps at you/trades with you without full ferocity and ignite, simply auto W and keep hitting him until he uses his W cleanse and hook him back in right after. If you didn't get cheesed early he has no way of winning vs you.
Olaf
Olaf is famous for his level 1 and 2 all-in rundown potential with his Q axe spam. Play at a safe distance very early on, let him push so he wouldn't have enough distance in lane to run you down. Once you reach level 3 you've outscaled him so long as he didn't cheese you and you can start playing aggresively. Get tabis and an item to reduce his healing and you're good.
Volibear
One of the few champions that can 1v1 you during most of the game if he has his passive. Play safe early. Save your W and E to disengage from him if he flips you. Once his passive is on cooldown you can win. *OUTDADED* (VOLI REWORKED)
Poppy
You're a good counter to tanks, Poppy is no exception. Before level 6 you can turn most of her trades into favourable all-ins. Stay away from walls and save your E and W for when she uses her W to gain movement speed. After level 6 hold your E to cancel her R so she can't knock you back to fountain. Cleaver is also helpful here as she gets very tanky later on.
Heimerdinger
Very rough for most immoblie melees including Darius. I'd buy 3x Rejuv Beads as you can keep one and buy adaptive helm later. You do have a chance to all-in him before 6 by dodging/flashing his grenade and running him down with ghost . If the grenade hit you just back off as he will surely outdamage you.
Maokai
One of the easiest tanks to deal with, just stay away from bushes and he'll never outdamage you as long as you can stick to him. Save your CC for after he uses his Q knockback and pull him back in. He can use his W to dodge your Q although in a 1v1 he should still not have enough damage to kill you. He has great gank setup though so be very wary of jungle ganks.
Gnar
Usually you won't have a chance to kill him. But if you stay high health and avoid poke he won't have enough damage to kill you either. Your only chance at a kill is if Gnar missteps and gets into your pull range while far away from his tower. You can can cancel his E jump if you react fast enough.
Rumble
Easy to play against if you manage to stay high health. Stay behind the wave so he's forced to push if he wants to poke and you'll also be safe from his E. Get Spectre's cowl if you're struggling to not get poked.
Jayce
Currently Jayce is extremely weak in the meta so this lane is much easier than it should be. Normally however you'd have to play very safe, rush tabis and wait to get level 6.
Urgot
Beware of his passive procs early on. If you find yourself fighting to the death with Urgot, try to stay in the proced passive area to not take free damage. If he misses his Q go ahead and fight him as his W will not autotarget you. Tabis and bramble vest are very effective in this matchup.
Nocturne
Rush ninja tabi and beware of all-ins if he has ignite. When he uses his E on you, use W to break his spellshield and pull him with E right before the fear starts.
Cho'Gath
Tank cho'gath is a minor threat. AP cho'gath is a bit harder to face early on. Rush Cleaver vs tank Cho, Magic resist vs AP.
Regardless of his build, try to look for an opportunity to all-in (for example right after he misses his Q). Do not waste your time poking/short trading as his passive will just heal him back up again and he'll win the sustain battle.
Cassiopeia
Try to conserve health as much as you can and all-in with ghost. After level 6 try to orbwalk behind her when all-ining to make it harder for her to land the ult stun. Adaptive helm is a must (usually right after cleaver/triforce).
Sion
You can cancel his Q with your E pretty much everytime. If he's rushing armor, get cleaver and don't let him farm. After level 6 try to run behind him when fighting so he can't ult away.
Sylas
Avoid his Q poke to stay high health and you should win all-ins and kill him as long as you have ghost. His all-in damage isn't high and he also only steals your 0 stack ultimate.
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