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Recommended Items
Runes: Most Taken Runes
1
2
3
Precision
Resolve
+10% Attack Speed
+8 Magic Resist
+6 Armor
Spells:
1
2
Almost Always
Flash
Ghost
Items
Ability Order Ability Order
Hemorrhage (PASSIVE)
Darius Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Of picks you'll see the most, Wu is by far the worst. Start Doran's Shield and try to safely farm without taking too much damage. Get a Q in when he jumps on you if possible, or try to predict and hit him and his clone with Q for double healing.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Champion Build Guide
Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to my


Now, as a disclaimer: I am writing this guide assuming you know NOTHING of


Now, onto the guide.
Why Darius?
PROS
![]() + Huge lane bully + Strong 1v2 potential all game + Easy Pentakills + Moderate skillcap to master + Can easily splitpush OR teamfight + High damage output all game long ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
CONS
![]() - Very low mobility - Easily ganked by the enemy - Falls off lategame - Difficult into Range and CC - Squishier than other similar champs - High banrate in low elo ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Abilities
Darius' Abilities and YOU

Passive -
Hemorrhage
"Darius aims his attacks strategically, causing his target to bleed for 12 (+1 per champion level) (+0.3 per bonus attack damage) physical damage over 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to five times.
Reaching 5 stacks or killing an enemy champion with





-Getting
Noxian Might is your biggest goal as Darius. The AD boost you get at 5 stacks can completely turn around a 1v1 or 1v2 from losing to winning. Once you have 5 stacks on any target, you apply the full 5 stacks on all other targets and keep the massive AD buff during the duration. Maintaining
Noxian Might through a teamfight is essential to crushing the enemy team, instead of being rolled over.



Q -
Decimate
Range: 425Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5
Cost: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50
"After a 0.75 second delay, Darius swings his axe in a wide circle. Enemies struck by the blade take 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4 per attack damage) physical damage and receive a stack of 

Darius also heals himself for 15% of his missing Health for each enemy champion hit by Decimate's blade, up to a maximum of 45%."
-
Decimate is what gives Darius a massive amount of 1v1 or 1v2 pressure. The heal it gives is pretty large, scaling off of Health, and increases per each enemy hit, up to 3 champions. This is probably what will take the longest to get used to. It’s a very unique skillshot that definitely needs to be played with to use it perfectly. Try not to spam it in lane, as it will make you run Out Of Mana pretty quickly.


W -
Crippling Strike
Range: 200Cooldown: 7 / 6.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5
Cost: 30
"Darius's next attack severs a crucial artery, dealing 150 / 155 / 160 / 165 / 170% of his total attack damage as physical damage and slowing his target by 90% for 1 second.
If the target dies, the mana cost of

-A massive part of any Darius combo.
Crippling Strike is not only an empowered auto with increased range, it is also an Auto Attack reset. This means, timed after an Auto Attack, pressing W will perform another Auto Attack, giving you 2 stacks of
Hemorrhage at once! Another great part of this ability is for farming minions. Using
Crippling Strike to last hit a minion will reduce it’s Cooldown by half and refund all used mana. If you struggle farming minions while laning, it is important you utilize this tool!




E -
Apprehend
Range: 550Cooldown: 24 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 12
Cost: 70 / 60 / 50 / 40 / 30
"Passive: Darius hones his axe, granting him 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% armor penetration.
Active: Darius sweeps up his enemies with his axe's hook, pulling them to him while briefly granting vision in the area around the pull. Enemies pulled by Apprehend are slowed by 40% for 1 second."
-Apprehend is very important part of your kit. You never want to fight without it. You can use it to stick to someone you’re destroying, or to peel away from a gank by grabbing the jungler and enemy laner when they might CC you or deal a good amount of damage. You can use
Apprehend to cancel jumps and dashes, such as
Riven's third Q,
Broken Wings, on you, denying the damage AND the knockup. It's also good for initiating a teamfight by using
Flash +
Apprehend.






R -
Noxian Guillotine
Range: 460Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80
Cost: 100 / 0
"Darius leaps to an enemy Champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing 100 / 200 / 300 (+0.75 per bonus attack damage) true damage. This damage increases by 20% for each stack of

If

-The reward for all your other abilities. Play well with the rest of your kit, and bring it all home with a fatty ultimate in their skulls. It’s good to get the last hit with this, especially in fights with multiple enemies, however make sure you do not save this only to last hit with it. Using it early to get the max damage once you have
Noxian Might is just as good. Another use is as a small gap closer. Ulting to someone then hitting them with
Crippling Strike to keep on them can help secure the kill. You can also use
Noxian Guillotine earlier in the fight, at 4 stacks, in order to get
Noxian Might off earlier in the fight. Getting 5 stacks is sometimes more important than getting your maximum damage off on your Ultimate. Another use is to use
Noxian Guillotine on an enemy so low you don't need to stack off them at all, and in doing so, getting
Noxian Might.






Now that we know a little bit about

Combos and Cancels
Auto Attack Reset with
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- ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Example Full Combo![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Flashy Plays and Engages
-












-






-





- One thing to keep in mind with this tactic, as well as
Flash
Crippling Strike as detailed above, is that you need to Buffer whichever ability you're casting. What that means is that you need to press the ability you plan on casting on the enemy BEFORE you
Flash. This causes the ability to automatically cast as soon as you're in range of the enemy.



-





Runes
Runes are the biggest discussion point for
Darius in the current patch. I'll detail my thoughts on all the runes and explain why why mine are THE PREMIER runes for
Darius. I think it's important to preface this with the fact that you should always be guzzling Hotdog Wawa™ in order to be getting the proper gameplay.
My preferred rune set, shown above, is made with the emphasis of Survivability.
Darius doesn't necessarily have a problem surviving, but is more powerful the longer he lives. Your main goal is to achieve
Noxian Might, and the longer you live, the more likely you achieve this goal. These runes give
Darius just the beef he needs to win any 1v1. Now lets breakdown the whole page:
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-
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-
![]() ![]() ![]() -Sometimes, though, the enemy may have no hard CC in their team comp, and barely any soft CC, such as slows. In this case, you may find it more beneficial to run ![]() |
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- Why
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![]() ![]() ![]() -Some situations may call for less fighting and more passive play. For these situations we take ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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- I know what you're thinking, "Why not adaptive force?" Well, 9 adaptive turned into AD is 5.4 AD. My reasoning for going double armor or MR, depending on the matchup, is that when you 5 stack
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My old preferred rune set, shown above, was made with the emphasis of Movement Speed (MS).
Darius has a lower base MS than most other champions he encounters in the top lane, typically by about 5, as well as being much more immobile. Due to this fact, it's important to get as much MS as possible to make up for the lack of any mobility out of his kit. These runes give +10 MS out of the
Magical Footwear, and
Time Warp Tonic with
Corrupting Potion gives another 2% while
Corrupting Potion is active.
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- This is probably one of the most controversial parts of my build. The reason we're able to go
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This page is similar to the above page, but for instances where more damage from
Conqueror is unnecessary, or the enemy DPS is way too high. Cases I take this can be
Gnar,
Illaoi,
Jayce,
Kennen,
Lucian Top,
Neeko Top,
Quinn, and
Teemo.
Summoner Spells
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Items
BOY OH BOY DO I LOVE ITEMS
There are many
Darius builds. The biggest thing for building
Darius is learning to adapt. If you buy the same thing every game no matter what, you’re going to lose many winnable games. ADAPT AND OVERCOME! If you built
Plated Steelcaps VS a
Maokai,
Elise,
Syndra,
Varus,
Leona teamcomp, you deserve to lose. Here we are going to breakdown what to consider when you are looking at what to buy, as well as core items and some fun off builds.
Core
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OR
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Other Mythics
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Boots
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Armor
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Magic Resistance
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Dual Resistances
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Health
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Attack Damage
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Other Items (aka troll items)
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Laning
~~~ Currently in the Works ~~~
Starting Items
The very first thing you have to do in any game is determine your starting item. Evaluate the enemy top laner and the jungler to determine this. I tend to go the following items:
Doran's Shield: If you are VS a good amount of poke, it will keep you very healthy through the laning phase in order to focus on CSing. Also my go to when see the enemy running
Ignite toplane.
Doran's Blade: A strong starting item VS melee’s, both tanks or fighters. I like this for when I’ll be dueling a lot, usually VS Renekton or Riven, and as long as they do NOT have
Ignite.
Not As Good Starting Items
Corrupting Potion: When going my old preferred rune set,
Corrupting Potion is a must. As stated above in Runes, early laning is made a bit easier with both an increase in MS to 347 while active, as well as keeping your health and mana topped off. It is important to utilize this when fighting as it also gives a bit extra burn damage.
- 3
Rejuvenation Beads or 2
Rejuvenation Beads and
Refillable Potion:
Darius has the highest level one base health regen, and one of the highest scaling health regens in the game. This means
Rejuvenation Bead gives you higher gold value than for other champs, and can be better than
Doran's Shield if you plan on playing VERY safe in lane. I like going with
Refillable Potion as well for the synergy with my
Time Warp Tonic, with the option to upgrade to
Corrupting Potion on my first back.
Boots + 4
Health Potions: Nice starting items as of VS poke/mobile champs (
Jayce/
Pantheon/
Kennen/Etc.) You get quite a bit of sustain in
Health Potions, but the
Boots are mostly helpful for trading their poke with your
Decimate and healing with it, allowing you to mitigate their poke as well as deal extra damage to them. This also helps you to run from an early jungle gank. If you tend to have problems landing
Decimate, it may be better to avoid this start until you’re comfortable with
Decimate. This start is also IMPOSSIBLE with my old rune set, due to
Magical Footwear, so keep that in mind.
Level 1:
Darius' level 1 has many possibilities. My primary tactic is to start
Decimate and wait for the first three minions to be low enough to one shot with a single use of
Decimate, trying to also hit the enemy laner when he tries to CS (short for Creep Score, a term used to describe last hitting minions for gold). You could also hard shove the wave with
Decimate in order to deny the enemy CS by getting it to tower quickly, which is not the best way to do it as having a larger allied minion wave early gives you a massive amount of power if they decide to 1v1 you. I like to simply secure lane priority with the ability to get level 2 first by bullying the enemy laner away without killing all the minions as fast as possible. If you want to fast shove first wave, once the minions get into lane, hit all the minions with
Decimate and start to AA (Auto Attack) the caster minions. Spread out the damage evenly, and once
Decimate comes off Cool Down, you should be able to clear the whole wave. This may, however, cause the minions to be pushed near his turret, instead of under it. If this happens, you will be very vulnerable to ganks and should try and get a ward out ASAP. The only time I would even try this anymore is if the enemy laner isn't showing up to lane immediately, as it is too risky otherwise.
- Another tactic you can do is start
Crippling Strike and sit in the lane bush closest to the enemy turret. When they come up to CS, ambush them and Auto Attack (AA) ->
Crippling Strike -> Walk towards their escape -> AA -> AA. The biggest thing to remember is to move towards their escape between each auto, this gives you more time to AA and to either get the kill or blow the enemies
Flash. Sometimes the enemy may know you’re planning on doing this, and will ward the bush. If they do, you can AA the ward twice and
Crippling Strike reset to kill it and get that $$$ and xp. #WORTH When starting
Crippling Strike you can also attempt to kill the enemy laner when they go to CS as you begin lane normally. Try to be closer to their turret than them, and when they walk past you to last hit, STRIKE!
- As you begin laning, remember that your
Crippling Strike is a massive tool for CSing. It gets a full mana refund as well as ½ of it’s CD upon killing a unit. Utilize this often to maximize your CS. It isn’t a bad idea to get used to this in the practice tool, either. You don’t want to look like an idiot by blowing
Crippling Strike on a minion and not getting the kill!
Level 2-5
Darius' level 2 and 3 is a massive powerspike, and if you manage to get it before your opponent, then you can easily get a kill out of it. If you started
Crippling Strike, getting
Apprehend level 2 will give you so much CC that it's hard for anyone to escape you. When starting
Decimate, Getting
Crippling Strike level 2 is USUALLY what you want to do, especially when lane is slow with farming. Knowing WHEN you get level 2 is very important. In a solo lane, level 2 is acquired during the second minion wave with the first minion killed (melee OR ranged)
- At level 3, your kit lets you 1v1 almost anyone. Make sure you aren't constantly using
Decimate on the wave or to poke as you'll be more and more vulnerable the less mana you have. One
Decimate per a wave is enough to keep you from going Out Of Mana (OOM). Also, be sure you're utilizing the free damage from
Crippling Strike to last hit. Level 3 is acquired during the third minion wave after the second melee minion in the wave is killed
- Around this point, you will start to be looked at for ganks. Try to plant a ward in River or Tri Bush around 2:30-3:00 as this is when MOST Junglers tend to start trying to gank. Remember that if you do get ganked and aren't in a position to 2v1 (ie. you don't already have or are close to 5 stacks of
Hemorrhage), that you utilize the disengagement combo discussed earlier in the guide. Scuttle spawns in the River at 3:30, so if your Jungler is topside around then, be ready to rotate to the River to help them fight the enemy. A scuttle fight can completely swing the momentum of the game for either side.
- Level 6 comes with the cannon minion wave that arrives top at about 5:45, assuming you were there for all minion waves and haven't lost XP from roams or gained XP from kills, assists, jungle minions, or even wards kills.
Mid/Late Game
~~~ Currently in the Works ~~~
Look up a proper guide for macro or similar information, and take this with a grain of salt
Play the map, look for objectives, know where the enemy is. Avoid auto piloting, something I still tend to do, by afk pushing. There is a VERY general rule I follow for whether or not I can split. There are "4" states of the game (there are way more, but I'm over simplifying here) as far as how your team is doing. Ally team ahead, ally team SUPER ahead, ally team behind, ally team SUPER behind.
HERE IS HOW TO PLAY ACCORDINGLY (Not 100% true at any time):
Ally team ahead: here, your team is winning the map. They are able to 4v4 no problem, and may even be able to 4v5 if the enemy screws up. You are safe to split here. You aren't too needed, and you're able to draw enough pressure alone to keep it 4v4, or make it 4v3 if you are big enough. Don't play too aggressive though, back off when you can't see key members of the enemy team. Don't over chase or take too big a risk. You're already winning, just let them get desperate.
Your team is SUPER ahead: the game is yours here. Don't waste time, and get your *** grouped. You need to end the game quick, and you can. Don't tower dive 5v5 or anything stupid, but pressure hard and whittle away turrets, or if you get a catch or two, dive and demolish. The only time you want to split here is if the enemy has massive wave clear (ie.



Ally team is behind: your team needs you. The second your team is in a fight with fewer numbers, they lose. Focus on picking and taking random advantages, such as stealing enemy jungle camps. Make sure side lanes are snowballing by manipulating the minion waves in your favor. When they send people to deal with them, you have a chance to 5v4 or get picks. Picking here can be done by warding between the lane your team is in and the snowballing lane, and standing in wait for the enemy, just not too far from your team. Here (being a bit behind, not just picking) you need to make sure you're buying control wards like you're a support. Denying and gaining vision is super important in order to turn the game around.
Ally team is SUPER behind: you don't have much to go on here, a 5v5 is a lost cause and splitting can throw the whole game if you're too far up. Sadly, splitting is probably still your best bet. Push safe, stay back, wait for a mistake. One of the biggest things you can hope for is having a high dps carry start getting fed. It this case, you can buy Knights Vow and stick to them like *** on a rag. This whole situation depends on the enemy ****ing up, which they always do, even in masters.
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