Hi I'm Brinsop (or Cryptchaos) and this is my first guide on mobafire covering Darius the Hand of Noxus. I will try and cover everything you need to know about this champ to win every game (we hope)!!!

Please dont downvote my guide based on item choices or runes etc. until you have read the relevent section concerning those choices. Everything I choose has a reason and will not work for everybody, remember, everybody's play style is different!!



Darius the hand of Noxus, is a melee fighter brusier who is great fun to play and can shut down whole enemy teams with his ult if he utilises good teamwork and positioning.


Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

There is no greater symbol of Noxian might than Darius, the nation's most feared and battle-hardened warrior. Orphaned at a young age, Darius had to fight to keep himself and his younger brother alive. By the time he joined the military, he had already developed the strength and discipline of a veteran soldier. The first true test of Darius's resolve occurred in a crucial battle against Demacia, where the Noxian forces were exhausted and outnumbered. Darius's captain called for his troops to retreat, but Darius refused to accept such an act of cowardice. Breaking formation, Darius strode towards the captain and decapitated him with one sweep of his gigantic axe. Both terrified and inspired, the soldiers followed Darius into battle and fought with incredible strength and fervor. After a long and grueling battle, they ultimately emerged victorious.

Seizing momentum from this victory, Darius led his now fiercely loyal troops in a devastating campaign against Demacia. After proving his power on the battlefield, Darius turned his gaze homeward. He saw a Noxus riddled with weakness, where greedy, complacent nobles drained the nation's strength. Seeking to restore his country to greatness, Darius took it upon himself to reshape the Noxian leadership. He identified weak figureheads and violently removed them from their positions of power. Many in Noxus saw Darius's cull as an attempt to seize power, but he had a different plan for the throne. He had been watching the rise of Jericho Swain with keen interest. In Swain, Darius saw a leader with the mind and determination to bring Noxus to glory. Now allied with the Master Tactician, Darius works to unite the nation behind his vision of true Noxian strength.

"A united Noxus could control the world - and would deserve to." - Darius

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Awsome damage output + Quite tanky/good sustain + Ult come off cooldown if you make kill!!! + One of only champs who can pull multiple members of enemy team + Can get very good movement with his passive + Awsome fun to play!! :)

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Cons - Quite kiteable - If he cant get in range he is useless - hard not to killsteal your teammates (takes practice) - No escape mechanism - can be easily counterpicked (GP + exhaust) - No seriously though, he's awsome

I go for a 21/9/0 setus to maximise damage output as well as getting some tanky masteries to increase lane sustain early game. If you need to be the main tank on your team (which is not ideal) you might consider going for a 9/21/0 setup.

• greater quintessence of Desolation: Combined with greater mark of Desolation these damage penatration runes really help with your early game damage output, especially as you're probably going top lane, which means you will be going against mroe tanky champs.
  
• greater mark of Desolation: "See above"
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: The magic resist which increases per level can massivly take off the edge of any burst ap carry's damage output. 24.3 extra magic resist at level 18 really makes a difference!
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: These runes are essential for jungling and can really help take the edge of miion aggro and auto attack pokes in the laning phase.

Flash: as Darius you have no escape or decent gap closing ability making this spell essential as an important part of your arsenal, use it to position for an Apprehend or to hop over a wall to escape death. You could also think about using it to initiate a teamfight or reposition during a fight; being the most versatile and powerful summoner spell in the game, it has thousands of uses!!

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Ghost: Darius is one of the most kiteable champs in the game, making this spell essential for catching up with that Corki or Ashe. When paired with Flash it has massive escape potential and should be an important factor in deciding your summoner spells.

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Ignite: For finishing off running enemies and picking up first blood, this spell is unbeatable. However, late game its uses kind of wear out so you may think of chjoosing something else if you're predicting a long game.

Other viable spells:

Heal: Great for saving yourself in crutch situations, consider taking this if you are new to Darius

Exhaust: A bit overkill when paried with Crippling Strike and the movement bonus from Hemmorhage but viable if they have a lot of AD.

Teleport: If you're solo top and feel that you are going to get harassed a lot, consider taking this spell to get back in lane without losing out on XP.

Cleanse: If they have a lot of CC on their team, this spell could be very usefull for running away and in teamfights.

Don't advise:

Revive: Another option is not to die!!

Surge: Kind of useless on most champs.

Clarity: Not really nessecary; if you're having that many mana problems, stop harassing and auto attack more.

Promote: I can't really see a use for this on Darius

Clairvoyance: This should be on your support.

• Hemorrhagesize=30 Hemorrhage: All your attacks couse your target to bleed over time, stacking up to five times. Pretty self explanatory, the more attacks you do, the more they bleed, the more they take damage over time. The damage often useful to stop enemies getting away on low health but its main object is to power your ulti (see below). The movement speed increase is very useful for chasing people, just Apprehend then Crippling Strike for a 10% movement speed boost and a 40% slow of enemy champion by rank five, giving you a 50% lead on the enemy champion to auto attack stacks of Hemorrhage to your heart's desire!
  
• Decimate (Q): Darius swings his axe in a circle, enemies struck by the blade take more damage than those struck by the shaft. Accurate use of this ability is crucial to your main damage output; it is important you get used to staying the right distance away from enemies to ensure they are being hit by the blade rather than the shaft, using this ability after your Crippling Strike and with Boots of Swiftness will help you stay at the right distance away from the enemy, it could be useful to practise getting this distance right on bots before you utilze Darius in a real game. See the below picture for a clearer idea of how to position to get the most damage out of your Decimate.

The blue area is where the shaft will hit, doing the least damage
The red area is where the blade will hit, doing the most damage

• Crippling strike (W): Darius's next attack severs a crucial artery. As the target bleeds out, their movement and attack speeds are slowed. Crippling Strike's cooldown is lower the more bloodied its target. This is you in built exhaust-utility-escape-chase-teamfight-saving skill that has about a million different uses. Its prime use, however, is to slow running enemies so you can keep your Decimate in range. It can also be used to run away, prevent enemies from reaching wounded allies, stopping people getting into position in teamfights and slowing the attack speeds of the enemy ad carry to massively lower their damage output. Correct targeting with this spell in a teamfight can give your team the upper hand. Because of this, it is useful to work out where you are going to use it a few seconds before the fight is initiated. For example, if the enemey team consisted of: Shen, Veigar, Tryndamere, Soraka and Ashe; your order of targeting would look like this:
  
  Tryndamere> Ashe> Shen> Veigar> Soraka
  
  Focusing ad champs Tryndamere and Ashe first (prioritising Tryndamere because the movement speed decrease allows members of your team to get our of his short melee range) then targeting Shen to hinder his positioning which, if done right, can mess up your whole teams' formation with Shadow Dash and ignoring Soraka and Veigar who are long range champs that would simply ignore the movement and attack speed slow.
  
• Apprehend (E): (passive) Darius gains increased armor penetration, this is a massive buff to your late game damage and allows Darius to keep sustained damage all through the game. This passive really sets him apart from other melee fighter bruisers (eg. Jax) who lose the edge on their damage output lategame unless they have decent feed.
  (active)Darius hones his axe, granting him passive armor penetration. When activated, Darius sweeps up his enemies with his axe's hook and pulls them to him. This is your main initianting spell which can get you into range of a enemy champ in a duel or initiate a teamfight. It should be your opening attack in most circumstances because is puts all enemies hit in range of your Decimate. Running in from the side of a teamfight, or at least running to one side and pulling enemies across the line of fire is very useful if you can do it without being focused and killed. It displaces their tank completely allowing your carrys to wade in and finish their more squishy champs.
  
• Noxian Guillotine (R):Darius leaps to an enemy champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing true damage. This damage is increased for each stack of Hemorrhage on the target. If Noxian Guillotine is a killing blow, its cooldown is refreshed. This ability is ridiculous, at level 16, with five stacs of Hemorrhage you can deal 680 true damage + 1.5 of your attack damage!!! When positioned right in a teamfight you have the ability to half the health of their ap carry, pick up the kill and ulti again! Take note that the cooldown is still refreshed if you manage to kill the enemy within 0.5 seconds on firing your ulti - this means that following up with an auto attack or Crippling Strike is a very good idea. Take note of your Hemorrhage stacks on the enemy before using this ability, it is crucial to your damage output.

When trying to max your damage output, it is useful to remember some standard skill combos thet will make the most of your abilities:
HOWS IT GOIN?

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Combo one: Max damage

1. Start with your Apprehend to pull enemy close.

2. Do an auto attack to proc another stack of Hemorrhage

3. Press Crippling Strike and Auto Attack right after previous attack to reset attack cooldown

4. Auto attack again to take Hemorrhage stacks up to four

5. Decimate once they are slowed, making sure to hit with blade.

6. Noxian Guillotine once you have five stacks of Hemorrhage for max damage.

Summory: Apprehend--Auto attack-- Crippling Strike--Auto Attack-- Auto attack-- Decimate-- Noxian Guillotine
GOING GOOD?

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Combo two: Max harass

1. Start with Apprehend to pull enemy close

2. Auto attack before Crippling Strike

3. Lead into Crippling Strike plus an auto attack, making sure to press W quickly after previous auto attack to reset attack cooldown.

4. Decimate if you have enough mana.

Summory: Apprehend-Auto attack- Crippling srike-Auto Attack- Decimate
I LIKE SPACCEE

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Combo three: Small harass

1. Auto attack

2. Crippling Strike then auto attack

3. Decimate

4. Auto attack

Summary: Auto attack -- Crippling Strike -- Auto attack -- Decimate -- Auto attack

Start with a point in Decimate for early game harras/first blood. Then take a point in Crippling Strike completing your "Small harass" combo (see above). Take a pont in Apprehend, completing your "max harass" combo. Level up Decimate, taking Crippling Strike whenever you have to and Noxian Guillotine whenever you can.

• : Really helps to avoid being kited by players like Ashe and Teemo (the mushrooms slow), however, if there is very little CC on their team - consider investing in other boots.
  
• : Very good mid game damage that will help you get kills/assists in lane when your jungle comes to gank.
  
• : The slow combined with Crippling Strike allows you to chase down enemies more easily, the CC in a teamfight is very useful as well.
  
• : The extra slow combined with Crippling Strike and Frozen Mallet can completely shut people down in teamfights, remember to proc the active every time you go into a confrontation as the cooldown is very low (one min)
  
• : The exra attack speed can help you get more stacks of Hemorrhage very quickly - the movement speed is valuable as well.
  
• : One of the most powerful items in the game, the shield can save your life as it has mine on many occasions... think about buying something else if they have no AP carry
  

• : Passive on this can really help late game to avoid the massive respawn timer, the resists are very valuable as well.
  
• : Great if you need to be more tanky as well as dealing more damage to everyone, the passive helps you pick up all the assists as well.
  
• : Very viable if you need to perform a mnore tanky role, dont get this if your damage output is still very low, as people will ignore you.
  
• Atma's Implaler: Very good once you have got Warmog's Armor this can sidnificantly increase you damage output.

Early game (in the top lane) is really all about who you are up against:

If you are going against a melee carry/off tank (eg.

Garen, Fiora) try to harass them away from the CS using the combos listed above.
If you are going against a ranged carry (eg. Teemo, Gangplank) it will be a lot harder to get CS; let them push to your turret then Decimate the minions to pick up as many CS as possible.


Generaly, laning as Darius is quite easy if you dont let yourself get harassed to much, if you are new to Darius it may be worth picking up Teleport to get back in lane.

When ganking, hide in the brush next to the lane untill the lane has been pushed to a point when you can easily lead in with Apprehend. Once they have been pulled Crippling Strike then auto attack. If you have red, the slow should be enough to pick up the kill. Try to let the carry in lane take the kill is possible, if not; finish with your ult.

Jungle Darius is very easy, just follow the route shown and you should level up fine. Refer to the ganking section for information on ganking and the warding section for information on warding.

It is the job of everybody on your team to ward the map, not only does it warn you when a gank is coming, it can also tell you when baron, dragon or a buff is being taken, giving your team the oppurtunity to steal. I have played many games where the balance has been overturned by a stolen dragon or baron - it only needs one well placed ward...

Below is a picture of all the important warding spots on the map for you and your team to take control of:

Green are wards used to protect your jungle
Red are wards used to prevent ganks
Yellow are wards used to counter-jungle
Blue are wards used to protect and steal dragon/baron

Baron should be warded from approximately twenty minuits on, dragon should be warded as soon as enemy jungle hits lvl 5. Wards used to protect ganks should be up during the early game/laning phase, especially when you are pushing close to the enemy tower, they can also be used to get the upper hand at the start of a teamfight in the mid/late game. Yellow and green should be taken care of mostly by the jungler, however, if you are pushing a lane hard it could be useful to ward the enemy jungle for the easy steal of a buff.

If someone is feeding or being unhelpful, dont rage at them or threaten to report them, this will acheive nothing. Your teammates are much more likely to cooperate if you are nice and offer helpful constructive criticism. If you have not played the champ they are playing and/or dont have a lot of experience at the game it may be best not to comment at all. From my experience, games that are going badly are turned around much more often when teams collaborate and work together than when they start blaming each other for deaths or lost turrets. If someone starts raging at you, do not retaliate, it usually causes arguments that take over the game and prevent you from winning which is, of course, the ultimate goal, not to win some verbal spouting contest against someone you will never meet.

Thank you for reading my guide, if you feel it nessecary to downvote, please leave a comment explaining why

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.