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Darius Build Guide by Zaloufi

Top [12.16] How to Darius in S12 | EASY INTRODUCTION TO THE KING OF TOPLANE

Top [12.16] How to Darius in S12 | EASY INTRODUCTION TO THE KING OF TOPLANE

Updated on September 4, 2022
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Zaloufi Build Guide By Zaloufi 15 1 25,658 Views 5 Comments
15 1 25,658 Views 5 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Zaloufi Darius Build Guide By Zaloufi Updated on September 4, 2022
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Runes: CLASSIC CONQUEROR / RESOLVE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Precision
Conqueror
Triumph
Legend: Tenacity
Last Stand

Resolve
Bone Plating
Unflinching
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2 3 4
CLASSIC SPELLS
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ghost

Ghost

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None


PLEASE READ THIS !

I'm going to skip the 'presentation' part because I'm nobody, I don't even have a good rank on LoL (I'm trying to reach platinum...) and I'm just doing this for fun and share my knowledge. Maybe one day if I reach the Challenger I would do this part but for the moment I will leave it empty.
PROS

+ Has a lot of damage
+ Has great tankiness / survivability
+ Can solo win teamfights
+ Can punish a mistake quickly and easily with his E
+ Can turn the situation to his advantage with his Q
+ Is never out of the game / can pop off with just a teamfight
+ Able to easily snowball a game
+ Is invincible in laning phase against almost every matchup
+ Free
+ Good skins
CONS

- Is very easy to kite (thank God they added the stridebreaker)
- Is easily manageable by crowd control
- Is much less powerful after 40 minutes
- Is vulnerable if he misses an ability
- Works less and less well when climbing elo / is very predictable
- Is very bad at peeling
- Is boring for some people (i'll explain it)
The runes that are circled are the ones you can take for real games, other ones are either really bad or pur trolling. Moreover, if you see the tree have between 1 - 3 then it's probably a secondary tree.




PRECISION
Conqueror is always good but sometimes not easy to stack. It gives healing which is very useful for bruiser in general and a ton of AD which is the best stat for Darius. When you don't need that bonus AD, Lethal Tempo is another option. The bonus AS makes you stack faster or keep your bleed stacks up with the bonus range. I'll recommend conqueror most of the time but lethal tempo is a very good keystone anyway. Then, if you just need to survive the lane, Fleet Footwork can be sometimes the solution if you think your laning opponent is better and you just want to play it safe.
The thing that decides if you take Triumph or Presence of Mind is your gameplay. Triumph is often the best option but if you have mana you can Q, and if you can Q you can heal, that's why Presence of Mind can be a good rune for players that either greed really hard or just love to harass and trade in lane.
Basically Legend: Alacrity if there's not a lot of CC or if it's knock up otherwise i'll recommend Legend: Tenacity because Darius is really easy to kite and even more without Ghost or Flash.
Last Stand is always the better option because you're a bruiser so Cut Down is completely useless since you stack HP and you'll be often low HP and playing with your Q CD to get back up mid HP / full HP so it synergize well. Coup de Grace isn't bad but Last Stand just better if you look at the %.



RESOLVE
Grasp of the Undying WAS a good keystone but nowadays it's honestly useless, the trading in lane are kinda bad, stacking HP is useless as well in the current meta so wouldn't recommend taking it. Aftershock can rarely be taken into heavy damage matchup like Riven since it provides a lot of tankiness after a cancel grab for example, but most of the time Conqueror is better. Guardian if you're playing support versus hard poke champions and need to stay be your ADC side.
Resolve is a really good secondary tree. For the first line, Demolish is the only rune I would recommend, pretty good to take first turret with Darius early pressure and splitpushing but since splitpushing is kinda bad ATM Demolish isn't the best best neither the worst rune overall. Font of Life and Shield Bash are just useless runes.
All three runes are good. Conditioning is more a scaling rune while Darius can be very dominant in laning phase so it can delay a bit your snowball. Bone Plating is great against all-in kit and Second Wind into poke comp. Both runes are really good on Darius since it help him be more powerful and allow mistakes in early game.
Same with Overgrowth, it's a scaling rune so often taken with Conditioning. Unflinching might be the best rune in all the Resolve tree for bruisers. Revitalize can helps early trades with the Q healing and maybe buff the sterak's shield but that's all, not very good overall.



SORCERY
Same as the Resolve tree, Sorcery tree is OKAY as a secondary tree so the keystones are not the most important part. Phase Rush can be used anyway to chase your opponent but is kinda bad since the Stridebreaker. Taking Arcane Comet is a crime so you shouldn't take it. As for Summon Aery, it's bad, we all know it. But I find very fun ,in laning phase at least, because it's like Teemo poison but with Darius bleed so it does some damage. HRHR → High Risk High Reward
What makes Sorcery a good secondary tree is the MS boost runes. For the first line we have Nimbus Cloak which synergize very well with Ghost and Flash. It's clutch in many situations so it's clearly the best rune of the three. Nullifying Orb can be taken into magic damage matchup such as Cassiopeia or Teemo but most of the time Hexdrinker is way better. Manaflow Band is okay for the mana but clearly the worst.
Celerity is the best runes because it works with Nimbus Cloak and Ghost otherwise it's not that great. Transcendence is okay thanks to the AH but really negligible since your item path give enough AH. Absolute Focus is maybe the worst rune on Darius since you'll never be high HP long enough to actually make it works.
Last line is the worst, every runes are meh. Scorch is really fun if you want to play Daeryus ( Darius with Summon Aery) but that's all. Waterwalking helps you to roam and works with Celerity but since Darius doesn't roam that much it's pretty bad. Gathering Storm is the "best" rune since it gives AD. It's a scaling rune too but this rune alone doesn't justify taking Sorcery.



DOMINATION
Electrocute and Hail of Blades are fun / troll keystones you take when you play crit / lethal build in URF. Dark Harvest is insanely bad, never ever take it even when trolling. Predator is the only keystone in the Domination tree that can have an impact when playing jungle, it helps to gank and catch up with the enemies. The thing is if you want to use it toplane you'll have to either start with Boots which is kinda bad or do a "cheater recall" which delay the snowball because you have no damage without AD.
I'll warn you, domination is a very bad tree for Darius. Almost every single runes don't work or are really bad. If you're an URF enjoyer and you have to take Hail of Blades I recommend taking Cheap Shot, damage are ridiculous but it still does damage. Taste of Blood is not that great considering your Q healing. Sudden Impact works only if you Flash and gives no damage.
Who ward anyway, we're in toplane so it doesn't matter (jk). For real both Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro are useless unless you perma invade with pink. Eyeball Collection gives AD more easily so it's a bit useful but not that much, if you have to take one rune, take this one.
Again, this tree's useless so I'll just tell which one is better. Imo Ingenious Hunter is the best since it reduces the CD of your sheen, stride, gore... Relentless Hunter is the second best for the MS. Treasure Hunter and Ultimate Hunter are both kinda useless but Treasure Hunter is okay for the snowball.



INSPIRATION
New Glacial Augment is super strong, it can be used in toplane and in support. The slow allows you to chase the enemies, run away, peel your ADC and allies. I recommend not taking it toplane because we already have Stridebreaker and W's slow. Unsealed Spellbook can be used I guess, but most of the times it'll be useless. First Strike can also be used in melee matchup because with Apprehend you have the first damage. Anyway I'll recommend not using Unsealed Spellbook or First Strike.
TBH this is just fun runes, Perfect Timing into Zhonya's Hourglass, Hextech Flashtraption to cheese in the bushes and Magical Footwear for the MS bonus.
Every runes are kinda bad but not the worst, they're just either too much or not enough to be useful.
Future's Market can be useful to buy powerspike sooner and snowball harder. Minion Dematerializer is very useful if you play a certain build more tanky and you don't have enough damage to correctly push the waves. And then Biscuit Delivery is great for poor mana management or just greedy players like Presence of Mind that love to camp in the bushes without recalling.
Time Warp Tonic was great before the nerf and the Corrupting Potion nerf, now it's kinda meh. Approach Velocity works well with your W so you can chase without Ghost or Stridebreaker. Finally, Cosmic Insight can be super useful since Darius is really dependent on his Ghost and Flash.
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[12.16] How to Darius in S12 | EASY INTRODUCTION TO THE KING OF TOPLANE

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