I'm Joel, a darius main on the EUNE ****hole whos currently P1 (d3 90 lp peak). I have been playing a lot of darius and managed to hit a staggering total of 57% across 1060 games (2 seasons of playing him). Darius allowed me climb from silver all the way up to diamond so I thought I'd share the way I play darius in hopes to help people out.

This champion is just amazing and if on the right hands its the kind of champion that cant lose any lanes no matter how bad they might look at first glance. I personally decided to pick him up because of how insane his teamfighting is and how easily you can climb with him given how hard he punishes mistakes as opposed to other champions. Get those 5 stacks and dunk them, nothing feels better.

Anyway, this guide will aim to teach you how to play darius really well. On the sections below I'll be featuring his items and when to pick them alongside with what to do in various stages of the game. Also, I won't be including what his abilities do because I find that totally unnecessary.

I want to make a quick note by saying that since I'm not a pro player or anything don't go hard on me if possible. This is also the first(and quite possibly the last) guide I have made so if you see any mistakes or things you feel like should be included please don't hesitate to let me know.

This section will be dedicated to itemization. When to take every item suited and how do they benefit darius. Ill start with the most important items first and will go through all the way down to the most useless ones.

Starting Items :

- Buy on poke/hard lanes where you lose trades. Tends to also be good if you are a new darius player since it provides some sustain if you dont take good trades. I'd sell this item if im 180 gold off any sterak components since 80 hp is kind of useless at that point.

- Buy if confident/good at darius. If you are picking this up you generally want to fight during the early levels to press an advantage towards a weaker lane opponent like cho gath kayle garen etc.. I would not sell it until I'm building towards the last item to benefit from the scaling omnivamp passive it offers.

- Buy 3 of these as your starting item in impossible lanes that rely on tons of poke like akali heim cassio which are pretty rare lanes but if you happen to encounter these kinds of lanes this is your best buy.You can sell them once you no longer need the extra hp regen or once you dont have any free slots to build any items.


Mythics & Legendaries :


- Pretty much your only good option ATM. It offers a lot of stats and is about 91% gold efficient which is rly nice to see. The main reason why its picked over goredrinker is because the attack speed is priceless on darius. You dont want too much but you cant live without having any. Pulling off combos feels so bad without attack speed so having extra attack speed is a really nice touch. Now if we look at item & mythic passives triforce still wins because it gives you ad the longer you fight thanks to its stacking passive, spellblade proc for extra damage which helps you a lot in the side lane for dueling and taking objectives (not that important but still a nice touch) and the mythic passive which gives you 3 ad 3 ms and 3 ability haste which is far more valuable than goredrinkers 5 ability haste per legendary. Always buy no matter what.

- I really don't need to explain why this item is the best choice for darius. From the stats it provides to the passive darius benefits from everything. As a teamfighting oriented champ a lot of the times you'll get bursted down/stun locked and thats where the shield comes in which grows bigger with more people hitting you before it procs. The healing is a nice touch although its pretty much the last reason why you are buying this item. Always buy this item no matter the game.

- Great into AD comps and is often times a rush item if both the enemy laner and the enemy jungler are AD based or if the enemy laner is an auto attack reliant champion like quinn, jax, fiora etc.. as not only do you benefit from the stats & passive but you also benefir from celerity which further amplifies the movement speed bonus from boots.

- I rarely rush mercs for the reason being that theres not that many instances where you'd fully benefit from the item. For example theres tanks that deal physical damage like poppy who have cc so buying mercs would only help you relieve CC but you wouldnt benefit from the MR and then theres instances like akali and kayle where you would benefit from MR but you would not benefit from the tenacity. So all in all I would probably take tier 1 boots in most cases and I would finish them after 15 mins if the enemy teamcomp has a lot of CC and quite possibly exchange plated steelcaps for mercs if the enemy teamcomp is not really autoattack reliant and has a lot of CC as you are making far more value out of tenacity instead of survivability.

Only to be rushed into tanks like malphite,maokai,ornn etc... who deal magic damage and have CC.

- Excellent item overall. Darius benefits from everything this item has to offer including stats and passive. This is pretty much an item I'll build 90% of the games. The mobility on this item is excellent as it provides great chase potential and sticking power thanks to the 5% ms buff and a faster buildup in the charges(which now scales with ad for extra dmg). This item is also amplified by our celerity rune which gives us extra movement speed. Always buy this item if enemy has 2 or more AD champions.

- Excellent on darius. It gives a lot of armor and hp which darius heavily benefits from. The passive is also great if the enemy team has a lot of auto attack reliant champions(the opposite of DD). The grievous passive is also good and can be proc'd with E. I always choose this over Chempunk Chainsword because like I mentioned above darius benefits from health with armor/mr and not just hp with damage.

- Good item but really situational. Stats are excellent similar to Thornmail but you can only pick this item if the enemy team has 2 or more crit based champions in order to actually utilize this item.

- Now this item is pretty underrated on darius. It gives us plenty of mobility, hp and MR yet I don't see it built too often on darius because most people value Spirit Visage over this item and I can agree to some extent since spirit gives us more HP CDR and increased healing however I believe this item wins the comparison because darius values extra mobility and resistances more than extra hp and healing. So all-in all this item is DEFINITELY my go-to if the enemy team has at least 2 magic damage dealers.

- This item tends to be great in most situations however it's not really that powerful as you might think. In order for me to pick this up there's some conditions to be met to fully benefit from this item. For first and foremost this item tends to be good into AP Bruisers like Mord, Swain, Rumble etc... who tend to deal magic damage over time instead of burst damage which is where the extra healing actually makes the difference. Secondly I'd generally want to get this if I have an enchanter in my team that heals so I can get increased healing from them (like soraka, yuumi etc...). Honestly, I'd much rather pick Force of Nature up instead of this in most situations but if the enemy team has 3+ AP champs id get both of these items. Still a decent purchase but I still believe you are getting more value out of Force of Nature instead of this item.

TL;DR :
Force of Nature -> Burst AP Champs(against mages and assassins)
Spirit Visage -> AP Bruisers or if they have at least 3+ AP champs in order to grab both. Bonus reason to grab it would be if your team has healing/shielding enchanters to fully benefit from the passive.

- Amazing buy. Great on darius almost every game. This item is really good because if the enemy team is hard to itemize you can just grab this and not worry about a thing since it gives both mr and armor. Not to mention how you are pumped with even more mr and armor once you start fighting in teamfights thanks to its passive. This item also gives a nice touch of ability haste which is not a lot but still appreciated. The active is also great on darius because it lets you stay in fights longer thanks to the massive shield it provides. Overall an excellent buy however I almost always buy this item the last because I believe darius needs items like DMP and Force of nature before grabbing this item. If you buy this item before you get HP its going to be really pointless since this item gives only mr and armor which means that if you dont have any hp you wont benefit from this item at all so I suggest stacking some HP first and grabbing this item as your 5th choice.

- Really situational item. I'd buy only if enemy has AD burst like ezreal/fed assassins in order to fully benefit from the mitigation on the passive.In terms of raw stats it does give us plenty of ad armor and ability haste which is great. The healing passive is totally useless on darius because this champion wants mobility and bulkiness not extra damage and healing. So like I said overall, rare buy, however if enemy goes full ad or has at least 3 ad champs id probably consider it though you are probably going to get more out of other items that provide more armor/hp if they dont have burst.


- Situational buy. Offers excellent stats however you wouldn't really want to grab this unless the enemy team has 2 tanks. The recent update on this item gave it movement speed per stack which is really good on darius however like I said I wouldn't consider getting this item unless enemy team has 2 or more tanks.

- Situational buy. This item is not as bad as people portray it to be. Sure you don't need the mana by the time you build this item but the rest of the stats are extremely priceless. It gives us a whopping 80 armor which is extremely valuable into certain team compositions, damage reduction and attack speed reduction. I'd generally want to build this if the enemy team has at least 3 champions that rely on attack speed for example : nocturne, tryndamere, yone, yasuo, almost any adc etc... You can argue with the fact that Randuin's Omen could be better into these champions however no one really stops you from building both. The only downside would be the conflicting passives which do not stack (damage reduction passive) however if you build both of these you are getting a **** ton of armor, hp, siginificant damage reduction and crit reduction which are amazing stats into teamcomps like the ones I mentioned.

- I don't have an actual opinion on this item however I don't see why this wouldn't be a good item on darius. If you are already ahead and the enemy team has a single carry say, ashe. I'd definitely want to grab this to get the extra damage reduction alongside with the rest of the items im building against her. She also gains tenacity reduction which makes your slows stronger. In terms of raw stats we are getting about 650 hp and 20 ability haste which is not that bad honestly. Do not pick this item if you are behind. I'll update this once I get an actual opinion on this item so don't take my words for granted here.

- Really situational buy. I almost never get GA on darius because I believe the other items are far more useful. The stats this item provides are total trash for darius and if you lose the passive it becomes even worse to keep instead of selling so all in all I wouldn't consider getting this unless the enemy has 3+ ad champs or unless I am turbo fed (something like 12/0). This honestly depends on the game but you'll almost never want to build this IMO.

- This is honestly the worst item you can pick on darius out of all in the list I provided. You are getting minimal amounts of hp, ability haste(the only good thing) and AD. The only scenario where this item could be picked over thornmail would be if the enemy has vlad or sylas. I legit cant think of a single other scenario where id want to buy this. Almost never buy, thornmail 10000% better.

I'll be splitting this into multiple sections so you can scroll to whichever you need without having to read all of this information.

Starting with early game or aka laning phase.

As darius you are ridiculously strong during this stage of the game so therefore it's pretty obvious you want to be playing as aggressively as possible into most lanes in order to gain a lead. Your playstyle will vary depending on lane however I believe most darius matchups are not difficult can be easily played out.

Most matchups/Easy ones :

Once the game starts you want to run towards your top side jungle and if its possible try to ask your jungle to go leashless because we can look for a brush chase(typical when playing darius) or we can look for a wave pull if our jungler is starting bot side in order for them to have an easy gank. Generally you will want to sit right there if you are playing blue side :
The reason for this being is that if the enemy top laner is leashing their jungler in the top side they'll most likely walk towards you which is where you level w and wait for them to come close. Once they are about to enter the bush you instantly start autoattacking and w. They will probably not die but they will lose around 80% of their health or use flash which already puts you at a massive advantage. If this is the case then try to execute a cheater recall by slowpushing first 2 waves and crashing 3rd. Once you are back the wave will be pushing towards you and since the enemy is at low hp they cannot crash the wave which means you get a free permafreeze and this should autowin you the lane as darius.

Here's a video on how to execute a cheater recall :

Play Video
However if your lane opponent is smart they will not take that kind of path and instead take a longer but safer route to lane in which case you have to play the lane out accordingly. Try to not let your opponent farm for free because as darius you have massive kill pressure so every time they walk up for cs never let that go unpunished. Always look for opportunities to punish your opponent hard if they ever try to do anything in lane. Cheater recalls can be executed in easy lanes and that can singlehandedly win you the lane because its a really unfair strategy especially on a champion like darius who will most likely have priority in most lanes. Even if you can't make a cheater recall work its totally fine because you still are ridiculously strong. If the wave is in the middle of the lane thats when you should be looking to fight especially if your lane opponent is a weak/immobile champion like kayle for example. Good kayle players will give up cs however the average kayle player will most likely mess up and try to walk up for a cannon which is where you pop ghost and run them down. This isn't the case with kayle but with almost every matchup. You have to understand how strong darius is in lane and abuse the **** out of it while you can. Once you successfully manage to grab a kill always look to set up a freeze. Freezing as darius is rather unfair simply for the fact that you lose absolutely nothing out of it and if your lane opponent ever walks up to get a last hit you just run them down. You can always keep the freeze going if you are ahead even if that means you have to tank the wave for a little because if your opponent tries to crash it they are making a huge mistake which you should not let go unpunished, it will break your freeze but you are getting a kill which is essentially the whole point behind freezing.

Even/skill matchups :

There's gonna be lanes like renekton/riven where you cannot really execute a cheater recall or force a freeze as easily. If you notice your lane opponent is good and it looks like you aren't interracting a lot with each other try to build slowpushes and roam towards mid lane. Riven, for example, is the kind of champion that has a lot of mobility and low cooldowns so you cant really catch her(speaking about good riven players) so in lanes like these you should be looking to build up some waves, crash them and roam.

Hard lanes/ranged matchups :

People portray ranged matchups as extremely difficult however they arent really that bad especially vayne. Sure she might be annoying with all that mobility and zoning but she doesnt match your damage in any way so always look for ways to get on top of her. Most vayne players will push the wave for no reason and blow q on wave so if you notice they are in an uncomfortable position you can just pop ghost and kill them. Never greed for minions. Is the cannon worth 50% of your hp? If you manage to keep your HP up high when she crashes the wave you can just pop ghost and kill her. Its that simple. She might try to zone you with E but thats not really gonna cut it to stop you from running towards her with ghost so shes pretty much dead unless she has flash. So basically for the ranged matchups the key would be to give up minions and look for the right times to all in. ADC champions tend to be weaker early game and thats pretty much the only advantage you have over them. Rush plated steelcaps and wait for the right moment to kill them.

As for the hard matchups like wukong theres not really much to say. Just play it passively, try to keep the lane even and ask for jungle ganks. If they get a kill from you before that happens then its just best to play weakside and ask your jungler not to gank you because at that point your opponent might get a double kill which makes the game unplayable for you.

Getting ganked :

I actually wanted to make a small section addressing this part of the lane. You need to understand how strong darius is and how he can turn ganks into double kills. Most people start panicking and running away as they see the enemy jungler approach but you shouldn't be panicking at all. If you are already fighting your lane opponent as the jungler is approaching keep going and proc your passive. Try to finish your lane opponent off if they were already losing the trade and if they flash away immediately turn on the enemy jungler especially if they are playing something thats particularly weak earlier on like yi nida etc.. If you have Q on cooldown and you have low hp its best to flash away to reposition yourself. Most players will keep chasing you and while your passive is still up try to position yourself so you can get a good Q heal. That will FOR SURE turn the tables and will get you a double kill. Honestly this kind of comes down to limit testing, experience and confidence with darius. My goal with this was to show you that you should be taking fights with darius even if it looks like you wont win them.

Mid game (15+ mins) :

We are now entering the stage of the game where darius truly shines. Once you take the first tower on top you should immediately shove the next upcoming wave(if you are safe to do so) and reset into a bot lane/mid lane roam. Never let your lead go to waste(assuming you have one), always impact lanes with the lead you have by making your teammates stronger or yourself even stronger. Now that we have come to this stage of the game we should almost always be looking to participate in drake fights because generally these are the kinds of fights that seal the outcome of the game. You can't do much about the first drake because you can't just leave your lane as is and participate on the first drake fight around 5-7 minutes but you can try and participate after the 2nd drake and onwards. If you miss these fights no matter how strong you are you will indefinitely lose so always look to join your team in fights and try not to sidelane if you dont have to. Darius is the kind of champion that excels at 5v5 thanks to his passive and R resetting mechanic which means you kind of want to look to fight all the time. If there's no important objectives on the map and it looks like your teammates wont fight anytime soon you can just sit in a sidelane and farm or freeze on tier 2 if you dont have top tower and the wave is pushing towards you. Never give your lane opponent free CS no matter what. We want to make their game as painful as possible in order to win. However if you end up pushing the wave thats not really a bad thing. If you don't see anyone on the map and your wave is crashed to their inner tower(tier 2) you should always look to take the enemy junglers top side camps which is also known as dirty farming. This is so good because not only are you getting free gold and xp for yourself but most importantly you are denying the enemy jungler the gold and xp you are taking yourself. You could also sit in the bushes near the blue/red buff and wait for unsuspecting players to come nearby to kill them.

If you notice the enemy carry can grow into a problem always try to push your advantage against them even further during the mid lane. Try to catch them farming by popping ghost and running them down. This makes sure they don't become a problem by late game (assuming the game goes on that long).

Playing from behind :
Just because darius is such a strong champion that won't always mean you'll come ahead. Often times youll end up being behind but thats just fine. When you are behind you should be looking to farm up and be even in exp. At some point you'll catch up in exp and be able to join a fight. Darius can be behind but hes pretty much never out of the game. 1 good fight can make you a monster to deal with no matter how behind you previously were.

Teamfighting mechanics :
Generally as darius you should be looking to stack your passive on the enemy frontline or immobile champions, flash into the back line with the q flash tactic and then finishing them off with R if they dont have enough hp to survive it or by hitting them with W first into R. Always ping your ghost and ask your team to wait for its cooldown first (if its at 30 or so seconds). Because if you don't you'll be extremely immobile and easy to kill. Even if you don't have flash its still fine as you should always be looking to stack passive on frontline and then with your passive and conqueror fully proc'd aim for the backline.Try to get R resets and not messing those up because if you do it could singlehandedly lose you fights so be on the watch for enemy cooldowns and abilities that can deny you R reset such as kayle r shen r soraka r etc...

Late game (35+ mins) : Theres not much to say for this stage of the game because this is where darius becomes useless and deals no damage. If you start noticing that your damage output drops considerably I'd consider playing for your carries by peeling them with your E and W. Try not getting cocky if the enemy adc is level 18 because they can 1v1 you really easily if they are full build so try staying away from pretty much everyone and just stay with your team.


Thats pretty much it! Thank you for taking time to read my guide, I really hope I was helpful with this guide and if you liked it I'd massively appreciate it if you would upvote and post a comment reviewing it by telling me what I should do to improve this guide If I made any mistakes.