Hello all Darius players, this is my first build that I have created on mobafire. I wanted to make a build for Darius because while I was testing him on bots, I tried various items, builds, and other strategies to see what his strenths and weaknesses are. So I made this build to try to make up for his faults. I've tried PvP with this build and I always went positive, didn't always win, but went positive.

Darius excels at one on one close encounters and dealing large amounts of damage instantly. I felt that he always fell behind other champs while they were excaping and if you missed with apprehend then they would get away. I also feel that he doesn't stack the Hemorrhage fast enough so I also added more attack speed so that your Darius can stack it fastr allowing for more damage and a quick kill from Noxian Guillotine. I'll cover the pros/cons, runes, masteries, items, skills and sequences, and summoners spells. I may add more helpful tips and theories on Darius but only if it's of any note. I didn't include the lore for Darius because it's the game.

I do hope that you use and like this guide. It works for me, I hope it will work for you.

Pros

Great early damage
Damage over time passive
Stacks Hemorrhage quickly
Able to catch champs even after apprehend misses. Except Master Yi, he's too fast
Not as squishy as people think
Great one on one champ
Apprehend through walls (steal blue buff)
Overall cheap build

Cons

Targeted first mostly
Starts slow
No escape mechanisms
Suffers from " Darius Syndrome" (steal all kills with Noxian Guillotine leaving your team with less gold)
Very mana hungry
Relies on items (who doesn't?)

Recommended Runes

Greater Mark of Attack DamageX9: Offers amazing attack at early game
Greater Seal of ArmorX9: Adds great armor early game, very useful for other champions so even if you're done with Darius they can still be used.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic ResistX9: Great magic resistance as you level up. Ability power really isn't a big problem early game. Many Champions use these as well.
Greater Quintessence of Attack DamageX3: Adds even more damage on top of Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Other Marks

Greater Mark of DesolationX9: Add armor penatration on top of Apprehend skill and masteries listed below. Since Apprehend already gives armor penatration I don't really use these.
Greater Mark of Attack SpeedX9: Adds 1.7% attack speed for each rune. If you have IP to burn this is probably the best choice especially if you keep the Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage

Other Seals

Greater Seal of Attack SpeedX9: If you use defensive masteries and different marks that aren't alacrity, this is your best bet if going for attack speed. The difference between the marks and seals of alacrity are huge.
Greater Seal of ReplenishmentX9: These are if you need a little extra mana throughout the match/game.

Other Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown ReductionX9: If cooldowns are a huge problem, which I don't think they are, these are probably the best solution. No other Glyphs really come to mind when playing Darius

Other Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Movement SpeedX3: This give the best movement speed Darius can get early game. Boots may not even be required as a first purchase. Late game these will stack well with Berserker's Greaves and Phantom Dancer
Greater Quintessence of Attack SpeedX3: Its a decent boost to attack speed, not as much as all the marks of alacrity added up but still good.

For masteries I took 21-9-0

I actually started with the defensive tree putting 2 points into both Resistance and Hardiness to make Darius sturdy early game. I then put 4 points into Durability then one last poiint into Veteran's Scars for a health boost throughout the game.

Now the offensive tree, I started with a point in Summoner's Wrath so Ghost would give an extra speed boost, Exhaust would reduce enemy defenses, and Ignite would boost my attack damaage and ability power while it was on cooldown. I then put 3 points into Brute Force to increase attack damage by a tiny amount.

Afterwards, I put 4 points into Alacrity which led to Weapon Expertise . Alacrity gives a miniscule attack speed but it was needed so I could get the armor penatration from Weapon Experitse. 10% is very good early game.

I then turned my attention to Deadliness and Lethality . Deadliness increased the amount of attack damage recieved from leveling up. Lethality I picked because there really wasn't any other mastery I wanted around that time. The 10% extra critical damage does help when I do get a critical. Vampirism was next and it's probably one of the more useful masteries. It gives a flat 3% life steal (assuming it has 3 points in it), thats a Doran's Blade with out the health and damage.

After Vampirism I picked up Sunder for even more armor penatration putting the total just from masteries at 16%. And at last I put my final point into Executioner , which works well if you use Noxian Guillotine correctly. By the time you have the 5 stacks of Hemorrhage the target should be close to or below 40% health ready to be finished off.

My starting items consist of boots of speed and 3 health potions. A good start for any champion. Darius doesn't have the speed to keep up or get away from champs so the boots are probably needed.

Early Game

Berserker's Greaves: This contributes to the attack speed and movement speed of darius. Allows him to stack hemorrage faster while keeping up with his opponent.
Doran's Blade: Adds small amount of health, attack damage, and life steal, will help with encounters at early game but will become obsolete as the game progresses.
Zeal: Adds a little extra to darius overall movement and attack speed, making him fomiddable early game. Building the Zeal will (if you're following this build) put you over 400 movement which tends to be above average for most champs.
Vampiric Scepter: By this time you're probably out of health potions and need other means of restoring health, the doran's blade isn't really cutting it so this will. Plus, you'll use this later to build the Bloodthirster.
B.F sword: The earlier you get this the better, this sword builds into some of the best items in the game. Adds a solid attack boost while giving you the choice of what to build later with it.

Mid-game

Giant's Belt: like the B.F sword, the giants belt builds into some really great items while giving a great HP boost. This is the first item that makes you remotely tanky but later it will be used to an even greater extent.
Phantom Dancer: This is a champion favorite with a great movement, critical chance, and attack speed bonus. When darius get his hands on this it spells doom for the opposition. hemorrage will stack faster and champs will not get away unless they use ghost or flash.
Bloodthirster: Now that you have considerable attack and movement speed, it's time to finish the bloodthirster. You already have the components so there isn't much reason to delay it any further. This will give you a reason to kill minions (creeps is you perfer) to gain extra attack damage and life steal. Capping at 100 attack damage, and 20% life steal.
Frozen Mallet: This is probably one of darius best items. Each hit will slow the target by 40%, keeping them near darius. Now that darius has the permanant upperhand when it comes to speed, he'll be unstoppable at one on one combat.

Late Game

Warmog's Armor: I buy this just because I feel darius is always targeted in team fights. I never know why but whenever I play him I'm always the target. A maxed out warmog's armor gives over 1200 health and about 40 health regen ever 5 seconds. This will keep darius healthy and able to participate in all team fights.
Atma's Impaler: This beast will add to Darius's awesome attack power. With the extra help from the Warmog's Aromr and Frozen Mallet this will add a massive amount of attack damage.

Other Items

Infinity Edge: Powerful, adds criticals, whats not to like about it? It doesn't have life steal. For this build I feel life steal is a must for early and mid game encounters. The infinity edge does give a huge percent to criticals but it's still not enough to entice me into buying it.
Hextech Gunblade: Definitely a favorite when playing darius but it's so hard to chose what to get rid of when I've already completed my recommended build. The Hextech Gunblade will give a huge life steal and spell vamp bonus. (spell vamp is nice cause hemorrage is magic damage. Team fights you'll be very hard to kill) Then it's active slows the opponent when you're already behind and ghost is on cooldown.
Last Whisper: I found this item to become useless if you use the greater marks of desolation, and max out apprehend. Those almost give as much armor penatration as the last whisper when added together. I wouldn't substitute anything for the last whisper, maybe the manamune if I constantly had blue buff.

Hemorrhage This is Darius's passive, it cause the target to bleed dealing magic damage over time. It stacks up to 5 times. The damage increases every few levels. This stacks well with Ignite especially if the opponent has health potions.

Decimate [Q] Taken at levels 1,4,5,7,9: This skill has Darius swing his axe, dealing more damage to those farther away from him. Decimate adds a Hemorrage stack to each person or minion it touches. I tend to use this skill to initiate or to attack the enemy as I'm running away because you don't lose movement speed while using this ability.

Crippling Strike [W] Taken at levels 2,10,12,13,14: This skill gives Darius's next attack to deal 200% damage (When maxed), and slowing the target by different amounts depending on level. This skill also resets the hit counter so if it's timed right you can hit an opponent right after a basic attack dealing more damage instantly. Crippling Strike adds a Hemorrage if it hits, and it's cooldown is reduced depending on how many Hemorrage stack the target has.

Apprehend [E] Taken at levels 3,8,15,17,18: This skill drags the opponent towards Darius. This skill is to insure the opponent doesn't escape or so they can't hide under their turret. Apprehend can be used to kill oppenents as well, use the skill while near your own turret so it will attack them. If you want to be really mean then you can Apprehend the enemies into your nexus and kill them instantly. Apprehend is also able to go through walls so if you see a champ visible on the other side of the wall or they flash you may be able to capture and kill them. Apprehend is not stopped by minions it just draggs them along too. Most common use for Apprehend besides catching enemies is stealing blue buff. You can actually Apprehend the golem through the thinner tree lines.

Noxian Guillotine [R] Taken at levels 6,11,16: This is Darius's ultimate. This skill lets Darius deal true damage to one opponent at a somewhat close range. If the target is slain by Noxian Guillotine the cooldown is refreshed. This does not work on minions so you can't just spam the skill, nor does it work on clones and decoys such as Wukong's Warrior Trickster. This skill gains 20% extra damage for each Hemorrhage stack on the target. I've never tried this but a friend of mine has said you can Noxian Guillotine over/through the thinnest of walls and tree lines. If you try it and it works leave a comment and I'll update this guide.

Recommended Summoner Spells

Ghost: Allows Darius to keep up with his opponents and deal as much damage to them as possible before they get away. Mostly get the kill because Ghost adds so much speed.

Exhaust: This slows down the enemies so they can't getaway as easily. Will be able to stack multiple Hemorrhages before target gets away or dies.

Ignite: Works wonders with Hemorrhage. Most the time Hemorrhage can be canceled out by potions or Heal but Ignite reduces all healing effects by half.

Flash: Since Darius has no means of escaping conflicts Flash is almost a must. I never really use Flash but it wouldn't hurt to take it with you. Flash is also a means of initiating a fight if the opponent is out of range of Apprehend or Decimate

Viable Summoner Spells

Clarity: Darius is very mana hungry early game, it's very common that I find myself running low on mana while in battle for more than a few moments.

Heal: With Darius not able to escape, Heal will give him that extra boost to continue to fight or run and survive.

Teleport: Will get Darius in the fight quicker but it isn't really necessary. I rarely use this spell. Teleports best use is getting across map fast, or back to your lane.

Other Summoner Spells

I don't care for them at all.

Early game, Darius needs some help securing kills. If he's laning with someone that has any sort of stun or slow, you can guarantee that you'll win the lane. Most ranged mages work well with Darius at least one of two reasons. One, most mages have a stun or snare that renders the oppenent helpless and vulnerable. Two, Darius is pretty terrible at range, even though he has Apprehend, it's very predictable and he can still be hit from outside it's range. Fighting Caitlyn or Tristana could spell death for you. But if Darius has a Lux or Morgana with him, it's game over for the enemies. The snare will allow Darius to get close enough to attack ranged people before the snare wears off. Even after the snare wears off Darius should be well in range to use Apprehend for another barrage of blows to finish off the target.

When you acquire the Bloodthirster and Warmog's Armor, farming will be important for you. Both these items will help you last longer in battle and become a tanky killing machine. That's very rare to see in games. The Bloodthirster needs 40 stacks and if you die you lose half of your current stacks meaning, don't die or make great use of your skills and abilities. Warmog's Armor has many stacks. No real number cause champions and minions give different amounts of each boost. But the stacks are permanent. Not saying feel free to die but the pressure is just off.

This build is mostly to make up for Darius's weaknesses, and to increase his strengths. Please feel free to leave a comment or message me if you have questions about ths build. This is my first as I have said so go easy on it and me. If you think their is something I should add or get rid of tell me and I might consider it.