My username is "Genji Lone" I am currently in Platinum IV with 81 league points. I main Darius and played him ever since he was released. 95% of the time in ranked, I will choose darius, regardless of team comp. I have around 350 ranked games with Darius, with 2 pentakills total.



p.s. This is my first guide.

Darius is an AD champion that deals tons of damage, while being very tanky. He beats most melee top champions but loses to most ranged top champions.
Darius is a noob stomper champion. He is considered OP in lower elo. His weaknesses are cc, kiting, ranged, and poke. Darius has a great early/mid game and can beat most tops. His late game is terrible, however. All he can do late game is flash grab, and ks his team with his dunk (most of the time his dunk will fail late game).
-Darius is the lord of ksing
It is very hard to counter Darius' damage. He deals magic, physical, and true damage. Additionally, he has passive percentage armor penetration. The best way to counter his damage, however, is with health.
My usual combo with Darius is lead with Q, autoattack, W, keep smacking them and Q/W, use Q so that it does 50% more damage from outer ring. When they get out of range, grab, and when they are low enough, DUNK

For runes I choose flat AD marks, flat AD quints, flat armor seals, and magic resist per level glyphs. The reason why I choose magic resist per level glyphs and not flat magic resist glyphs is because mages usually have low magic damage early game. You can replace the flat AD quints with flat movespeed quints.

For Masteries I choose 9/21/0. you might wonder why I don't go 21/9/0 That is because tanky is usually better than damage. Also the executioner mastery does not work with his true damage. You can switch between the armor and magic resist perk in the defence mastery page, depending on your lane.

For items, I start with cloth/5, flask/wards/pots, 9 pots 2 wards, or boots 4. Most of the time, I'll be starting with 9 pots 2 wards. I then buy 2 dorans for a great early game, phage, boots, hexdrinker, giants belt, then - frozen mallet, maw of mortalisis, last whisper, merc treads, GA, warmogs. Other items you can get late game are - randuins, thornmail, frozen heart, sunfire cape, runic bulwark, trinity force or black cleaver (get a brutalizer early game if you are getting BC
I usually get ninja tabi in lane, and sell it late game for a mercury treads.
Early/Mid Game:
Doran's Blade
Ruby Crystal
Long Sword
Boots
Null-Magic Mantle
Phage
Hexdrinker
Giant's Belt
Chain Vest
The Brutalizer

Late Game:
Guardian Angel
Frozen Mallet
Maw of Malmortius
Last Whisper
Mercury's Treads
Randuin's Omen

Other Choices:
Warmog's Armor
Runic Bulwark
Frozen Heart
Black Cleaver
Trinity Force
Sunfire Aegis
Ninja Tabi

For spells, I start with Q > W > E > Q > Q > R > Q > W > Q > W > W > R > W > W > E > E > R > E > E
Basically Maxing Q, one on E early game, and maxing W second. Level up your ult whenever possible.

Hemorrhage

Darius' basic attacks and damaging abilities cause enemies to bleed for 12 / 15 / 18 / 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 / 33 / 36 (+ 30% Bonus AD) magic damage over 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
Darius gains 5% movement speed for each bleeding enemy champion.
This spell does magic damage, try to keep bleed stacks on your opponent in lane as much as possible. It does more damage than you think.
Decimate
ACTIVE: Darius deals physical damage to all nearby enemies in a circle around him.
RADIUS OF SHAFT: 270
SHAFT PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 70% Bonus AD)
Champions in the outer half of the ability are struck by the blade, taking 50% additional damage.
This spell does ALOT of damage. The 50% damage from outer shaft only works on champions. Use this spell to harass champions in lane. It has a very long range.
Crippling Strike
ACTIVE: Darius' next basic attack deals additional damage and slows the target's movement and attack speed for 2 seconds.
Crippling Strike's base cooldown is reduced by 1 second for each stack of Hemorrhage on the target.
This spell is very good for dueling. You can spam it, and its cooldown is reduced by 1 for every bleed stack on the enemy. It reduces attack speed as well as movement speed. Try to autoattack once before using this spell for a double attack. Try not to use it in lane to farm minions.
Apprehend
PASSIVE: Darius gains armor penetration.
ACTIVE: Darius pulls in all enemies in front of him.
This spell is very good. It's an aoe grab. The grab range is farther than it shows. Try to save your grab when the target is too far to reach. The passive armor penetration is really good for late game.
Noxian Guillotine
ACTIVE: Darius leaps to target enemy champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing true damage.
TRUE DAMAGE: 160 / 250 / 340 (+ 75% Bonus AD)
For each stack of Hemorrhage on the target, Noxian Guillotine deals an additional 20% damage.
The cooldown is refreshed if Noxian Guillotine kills the target.
This spell is what makes Darius the dunkmaster. It does tons of true damage and refreshes on kill. It does very little damage with no bleed stacks, however. Try to always spin before using this spell for a guarenteed kill. This spell also applies a bleed stack.
Remember that true damage cannot be reduced in any way. (ex. if you use this spell while exhausted, it will still do its full damage)
All of Darius' spells scale with AD.

During lane as Darius, try to farm minions as much as you can. Constantly buy wards since Darius' is very vulnerable to ganks. Place the wards in the tri bush or at the edge of the hill in top lane (near that brush and baron pit). Harass your enemy as much as you can with Q. Keep those bleed stacks constant. Try to Q > autoattack > W > autoattack. Autoattack, Q, W, as much as you can. When your opponent is low enough, flash, autoattack, QW, dunk, or ignite. Remember to use potions in duels. Only use your grab when you need to (when they are low hp, or when you are ganking). Bleed + ignite does scary damage. If you are fed enough, depending on the enemy jungler, you can double kill your enemies when the jungler comes to gank you.

For summoner Spells, I choose flash and ignite, Flash is great for Darius since you can flash dunk or flash grab. Ghost is an alright choice, great for escaping ganks. You can also choose teleport over ignite. Ignite will help you win lane, but teleport will help you gank other lanes for even more kills. Exhaust is kinda not needed since your W slows attackspeed and movespeed, you'll also win most duels anyways.

Flash
Ignite
Teleport
Ghost
Exhaust
Smite if you're jungling.

Lower elo, Darius will be picked a lot and banned a lot. Lower elo do not know how to counter Darius and think that he's OP. High elo, Darius will never be banned, and if you first pick him, be ready to get countered. Not a lot of people will choose Darius in higher elo since he barely contributes anything to his team late game.

Pros
-Wins most lanes against melee champions
-Great for kills
-Tons of damage
-Very tanky

Cons
-Zero sustain
-Zero mobility
-Easily ganked
-Very bad late game
-Considered an easy champion
-Very bad in teamfights
-Very good kser

Jungling Darius is alright, but he has zero mobility for ganks. When I jungle with Darius, I eat up a lot of potions. His ganks are alright with grab + cripple. He is a great counter-ganker. If he gets caught in the jungle, he is dead. Note that Darius' 50% more damage from the outside shaft with his Q only works on CHAMPIONS.

In lane, Darius is an OK farmer. He can spin through the minions. He has VERY GOOD attack animation (good for farming).
Smite

Here are the champions you will face at top:
Shen - He's too tanky, and he can sometimes outdamage you. His ult is really annoying.

Nidalee - Before level 6, she's alright. Her spears, heal, leap, and burst is really annoying. When she gets to level 6, she will leap away every time you grab her. Her traps are annoying to step on. Your armor and magic resist are reduced by a percentage, and you are revealed for around 10 seconds.

Kennen - He has a great escape ability and lots of ranged harass. His stun is good against Darius.

Kayle - Darius can easily beat her pre level 6. A good Kayle will kite you, cancel your ult, and heal herself for speed and sustain. Her slow is really annoying.

Elise - Probably the worst lane for a Darius. She can easily harass you with her percent hp damage. She has lots of ranged burst and a good escape. Once you grab her, she will either rappel away, or stun you and burst you down.

Jax - His counter strike is what makes him hard to lane against. If you grab him, he'll counter strike you and beat you in any 1v1 duel. He can easily leap away to escape you.

Yorick - He can easily out sustain you, and out damage you. He's pretty tanky and his ghouls are annoying.

Singed - A good singed will poison you constantly and out damage you. His slow and fling are TERRIFYING. He can easily set up for a gank.

Xin Zhao - He can easily heal and outsustain you in lane. His E basically teleports himself onto you, so your Q won't deal 50% more damage. He can knock you up (or back) and easily set up ganks.

Darius - Fun lane. Both players have no escapes, and is pure melee. Building health and armor in this lane is good. You don't really need damage, and ganks are very dependable. You can easily snowball after a kill or gank. Try to always dunk first, even if it doesn't kill the other Darius. Gank other lanes so that you helped your team more than their Darius has.

Olaf - Pretty easy lane. Olaf can all in you at level 2 though. His true damage is really annoying and his slows are constant. Your ult counters his ult.

Teemo - This lane depends on the teemo player. Some teemo players are really bad, others are really good. Stepping on a teemo shroom is a nightmare when he's there. His blind doesn't do much against you.

Cho'Gath - This lane is pretty hard for Darius. Cho'Gath's cc is really strong for ganks and Cho'Gath can easily out sustain Darius with his passive. Your true damage beats his though.

Garen - This lane is based on skill. Whoever is smart usually wins or whoever can get the first kill usually wins. Garen's ultimate is strong against a Darius that builds health.

Jarvan - This lane is easy for Darius. He can easily beat Jarvan in duals. Jarvan can easily set up ganks with his knock up and ulti though. Additionally, Darius is the better dunkmaster.

Lee Sin - This lane is really easy for Darius. He can easily beat Lee Sin in duals. Lee sin has alot of mobility compared to Darius' zero mobility however.

Irelia - Medium lane for Darius. It is a fair duel between them two. Whoever gets the first kill can usually snowball and dominate the lane. Irelia's stun is pretty annoying.

Jayce - Pretty balanced lane for Darius. He can beat Jayce in most duels. When you grab a Jayce, he'll knock you away and run. Jayce has much more mobility and utility than Darius.

Renekton - Pretty medium lane for Darius. Darius and Renekton are very similar champions. Duals are usually turned out to be a tie. Don't let Renekton rickroll you with his ultimate. His stun and 2 dashes are really frustrating.

Riven - Easy lane for Darius. Riven is a total melee champion. She only does physical damage too. Darius can easily beat Riven in duals. His spin is very strong against riven. His grab is really strong as well.

Nasus - Easy lane for Darius. He can beat Nasus in duals. Get a mercury treads early to counter his wither. Don't let him rickroll you with his ultimate. Don't let him farm up his Q.

Rumble - Medium lane for Darius. He can do alot of damage to you, and his shield counters your bleed. Careful for his slow.

Gangplank - Easy lane. You can beat him in most duals. His oranges are really annoying since they remove your slow.

Tryndamere - Easy lane. Just build armor and you can beat him in duals. Wait for his ult to be over before dunking, or dunk when he's low and ignite him. His mocking shout counters you though.

Rengar - Easy lane, you beat him in duels. His invis can cancel your ult though. (just use it again right after)

Vladimir - Easy lane, you can grab him and out damage him. His pool got nothing on your dunk.

Pantheon - Easy lane, you can out damage him and beat him in duels. Harass him with Q. Build armor and potions.

Volibear - Easy lane. You beat him in most duals. He can easily set up ganks though. Your bleed + ignite beats his passive. Harass him with Q alot. He's very tanky.

Wukong - Easiest lane ever. Darius counters wukong the hardest. You beat him in ALL duels. You can tell if he went invis or not, just see if he's bleeding when he stops. Try not to dunk his clone

If Darius is losing his lane, the best you can do is farm up and buy lots of potions. Try to gank other lanes. When I'm losing lane, I usually stack health.