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If he's bad the matchup shouldn't be too much of a problem but a good aatrox can be tricky to face. Abusing ghost and e to dodge your q's is the key to winning. Take bramble.
Akali
May be problematic at level 6 but is relatively weak before (don't hesitate to all-in). Hitting the q in her shroud is risky, keeping his e to ensure it hits is recommended.
Camille
Her early trades can be problematic but the matchup is simple. On a cancel of her e with your e she is dead. Grabbing her during her w is good to outrade her. She has better scaling, you lose late game 1v1 in most cases.
Cho'Gath
If you don't eat all his q's the matchup is free. Use him to stack your passive in late game.
Dr. Mundo
free lane
Fiora
We assume that the fiora is good. E in her parry is fatal for us but it rarely happens. Otherwise the objective is to be unpredictable. Do not q for nothing otherwise she will dash in and outtrade. R at 4 stacks is recommended to surprise her if she still has w. DON'T FIGHT HER IN LATE GAME.
Gangplank
Complicated matchup. always w+aa his barrels to destroy them. Take doran shield + second wind to sustain his poke. He's easy to rundown if he makes a mispositionning but he will bully you quite hard.
Garen
He can't do s*** before level 6 if he doesn't dodge your q. Many Garen players play ignite so level 6 all-in can be complicated if not handled well. Engage him only if you already have 2-3 stacks on him before he even started his all-in.
Gnar
Less complicated than people think. His range in the early levels is low so a good e is easy to find. Don't try risky e's because without your grab he can do whatever he wants. If you can cancel his jump with the e it's free win.
Gragas
Gragas is a cancer even for Darius. This champ is too safe. However on a bad e he is killable. His level 6 r makes him quite safe as he can disengage whenever he wants. Taking anti-poke stuff is recommended.
Gwen
Darius is one of Gwen's best counters. There's not much she can do early, if before her level 6 she moves up all-in her (if she plays ignite do it smartly). At level 6 you have to play a bit smarter, don't underestimate her all-in.
Illaoi
Without her ult she doesn't win the 1v1 and without her e she can't ult (she can but it doesn't do shit). The goal is to engage her on a failed e on her part. Before level 6 she is killable even if she hits. If at level 6 she hits her e DO NOT FIGHT HER.Bramble vest recommended.
Irelia
The matchup is better for Darius but she should not be underestimated. Irelia has the ability to kill darius on a mistake or by playing well in creeps. In early she is quite dependent on her e to fight. At level 6 her all-in equals yours so don't fight her in creeps without dodging an ability. Don't hesitate to f her ult if the fight is tight.
Jax
Trading against jax is hard and he hard outscale. If he engages with the q+e then grab him to put him out of the stun range and q him right after. In early it is possible to tank his e with bone plating and rundown him right after.
Jayce
Jayce is very hard to play. However if he is played well Darius can do absolutely nothing. The only opening is if he uses his e-hammer for nothing, otherwise good luck.
Kayle
Don't let her play before 6. Don't hesitate to dive her if the opportunity arises. At level 6 it becomes hard to stop her from farming, just punish her for positioning errors. She has a much better late game.
Kled
A well-played kled is difficult for Darius to handle as he has such a good all-in but can easily outplay with his anti-heal and his e which does not allow us to kite. However he gets outscaled, don't play agro and wait for opportunities. Don't ult until he gets dismounted.
Malphite
Doran shield to hold his poke (his only counterplay) . He can't play early. His spells cost too much mana and he is much weaker than Darius. If he uses e for nothing then he is easy to engage. After a few items he becomes unkillable.
Maokai
He doesn't win the 1v1 in early and trade back costs him too much mana. He can't do anything normally. Beware because he can set up ganks very well.
Mordekaiser
This matchup is even but Darius must have experience or he will just get outstated in Morde ult. It is FUNDAMENTAL to play ghost, otherwise you can't kite him in his r or dodge his spells and it is autolose. This is also important for the pre-6 rundown. In his r you should not try to 1v1 him but kite him with e,q and w. Mordekaiser will always win the 1v1 in his r all game but a good Darius can tempo .
Nasus
He CANNOT play early. He is very easy to kill for any positioning error. However, if he gets a lead in early, it will be impossible to 1v1 him all game.
Olaf
The 2 best early duelists of the toplane. The one who fights the best wins ^^
Ornn
It can be surprising how much damage Ornn can do. He can legitimately 1v1 Darius at level 6 if he hits his r. That's why you have to keep your e to prevent him from r2. You should not play on trades but all-ins because his trades are op. It's worth trying to bait ornn's dash by putting yourself close to a wall.
Pantheon
If he plays ignite, he has a better early than Darius. It is recommended to rush armor. In an all-in you have to be careful about 2 things. Don't r in his shield and don't let him w in your q. Otherwise it's fine.
Poppy
Without big misplay this matchup should be 100% for darius. Her w is useless and her gameplay forces her to be exposed to your all-in all the time without being able to counter it. Cancelling her e is very hard but it's a free kill.
Quinn
The only counterplay is to cancel her e with your grab. In this case she is killable but otherwise if her positioning is not disgusting she will always win the lane. Requesting a gank is recommended.
Renekton
Fun matchup. The trick is to cancel his 2nd dash (which he'll use for disengage) and rundown him on that. A good renek will stun you before dashing out so you can't do it. In this case you'll have to use the ghost to catch him or outrade him before he stuns. The best player wins.
Rengar
Aftershock recommended. The rengar must be good to win this lane. However, don't underestimate his damage, without his bushes he can't do anything. Rush armor and outstat him.
Riven
Riven mains will challenge this mark but from experience Riven does have the advantage (Adrian confirms). A good trick to do is to try to cancel her 3rd q with the grab and all-in on it. Always q after the grab as it's the only way to hit her.
Rumble
Rumble has no disengage so on a good all-in he is dead. Don't let him poke. Without q he has no damage. Don't stay in his r.
Sett
The matchup is slightly sett favoured but it is negligible. He will outrade by grabbing during the q or ulting in your q. However without w he never wins. HE WINS THE LVL 1 DONT TRY TO CHEESE HIM.
Shen
A good shen can be quite complicated to manage in terms of trades. However bait his w = free win. He will keep his e for disengage but you can try to cancel it.
Singed
Darius Hard Counters this champion. It's good to w him while he's flipping you so with the slow we can grab him after.
Sion
Darius is one of the best counters of Sion. Just e him during his q and it's win. When you all-in you want to get behind him so he doesn't r out.
Sylas
He has a worse all-in, stealing our r is useless and he is mana costly. He can't play.
Teemo
cancer matchup. He gets ran down easily but if he plays ignite he can win by playing around his shrooms. Look for his positioning error. Sweeper is good.
Trundle
Trundle has a MUCH better 1v1 at level 6. Before that the matchup is even. Baiting his r is recommended.
Tryndamere
Darius is an excellent answer to Tryndamere. Before level 6 the all-in is for Darius (if he doesn't crit 4x lol) and at level 6 it's very easy to kite him with the ghost, w and e.
Urgot
It's easy to poke him with q. Don't turn around him when you fight. He has a better late game.
Volibear
The matchup is Darius favoured but Volibear has better damage in the early game. Without his e he can't outrade. Poking him with q's works well.
Wukong
Both champs have good early but Wukong has a trading pattern that is strong against Darius. Don't let him dash in the q, exploit his clone for heal as well. You lose lvl 6 all-in.
Yorick
Yorick is strong against darius when played well. His w allows him to disengage an all-in or kite Darius to prevent him from getting 5 stacks. Under ghost his skillshots are easy to dodge and we can try to kill him.
Yasuo
Always proc his shield with q before engaging him (don't do it in a risky position to avoid a go-in). At level 6 Darius wins by a wide margin.
Darius is a simple champion to learn, but a complex one to master because he requires, like all duelists, a perfect knowledge of matchups and snowballing. We are here to win our lane and 1v3 until the late game.
The objective will be to get a lead in lane thanks to our Ghost and our power in duel. Then to either pressure the sidelanes to let your team breathe, or group if the opponent's compo is playable for Darius.
Early game
Darius' early game is very strong but contrary to popular belief it is not his strongest timing. The objective is to farm and be oppressive in lane. Look for a mistake from the enemy to kill him with the Ghost. Obviously if the enemy champion is weak in lane, the mistake is not necessary. Proper gameplay around Darius' stacks and his Apprehend makes ALL lanes winnable.
Mid game
This is the timing where Darius can actually hypercarry. If played correctly, Darius will ALWAYS be a problem in mid game and can 1v1 98% of champions. The Stridebreaker + Sterak's Gage spike is particularly OP
.
Late Game
In popular belief Darius does not scale well. He doesn't have much late game carry potential however he is still an excellent tank/engage and if he manages to stack his passive and engages a squishy with it he can still put out damage. It is recommended that he doesn't make it to this phase though, finishing the game during mid game is our priority.
Spell usage
This passive is the central element of Darius' kit. All his gameplay revolves around it. The goal will always be to reach 5 stacks and finish the target with the ult, then follow up with other targets (reaching 5 stacks means that the next target on which you apply an attack instantly receives all 5 stacks). With Darius we want to play on long trades and all-ins. In fight it will be important to stack on an isolated target or on the tank and then follow up with carries.
It is generally around this ability that the enemy will play to try to outplay or win trades. It is important to play well with the Apprehend and the Ghost to make sure you hit it. What you should definitely not do is randomly Decimate in lane against a mobile champion, it will dash in and outrade. Several combos and cancel animation exist that I will detail in the combo section.
A rather anecdotal skill. It allows to stack faster the passive and especially to kite many champions thanks to its slow. When we want to cheese in the bush level 1 it is preferable to start with the w.
This is the most difficult skill to use correctly. Apprehend has 3 main roles
1. the most obvious: gap close. When we want to engage 1v1, a ranged champ or engage a fight with a Flash + Apprehend. It is always better to engage without Apprehend if possible to keep it for other usage.
2.[/b]Allowing Decimate to hit. This is extremely important in some tight 1v1s where we want to ensure our spell hits. Be careful to Apprehend then instantly Decimate otherwise the enemy has time to Flash
3.[/b]The most difficult: canceling animations. It's not always easy but managing to cancel Riven's 3rd Broken Wings or Gnar's jump is often decisive in a duel. This is learned through experience.
Darius' r is what allows him to Carry teamfights and win duels after he has managed to put all 5 stacks on a target. We want to use r to finish a target that has 1 HP or when we have applied all 5 stacks on a person. Ideally to finish it but if the fight is going to be close it is recommended to ult only for damage. Sometimes it can be interesting to ult at 4 stacks when the target risks disengaging or against Fiora to be unpredictable.
Classic mistakes
1.Using your q to trade against a moving champion
It is not forbidden to use your q to poke the target sometimes, but it should not be done in conditions where the enemy can commit an all-in easily. A good Fiora/riven/ jax will easily dash inside the Decimate and engage an all-in which will often be favorable to him.
2. rush to get ahead.
Darius is indeed a champion with a strong lane, but that doesn't mean we have to kill the enemy 5x quickly. We can perfectly wait until the 1st item or until level 6-7 before playing aggressive depending on the matchup.
Often people don't want to use their ghost on an all-in thinking that it is not necessary. If you think like that I assure you that you will miss a LOT of kills. Of course there are exceptions but I strongly recommend not being hesitant about using the ghost.
4.play Ghost/tp
I see a lot of players playing like Camille or Katarina without Flash. It is strong on these champions where mobility and gap close are no problem for them. With Darius not having a flash is a flaw that is felt very strongly.
Animation cancels
R+Flash
You can flash during the r to cancel the end of the animation. Very situational but enemies often don't expect it, especially in teamfights.
W+Q Animation Cancel
By pressing q during the aa+w we can cancel the animation of the w. This allows us to optimize the speed at which we obtain the 5 stacks.
Flash + q
Quite simple but very important. q and during the release of the q Flash. This may sound easy but in reality it is quite complicated to execute perfectly because the range is not always obvious (I recommend practicing with the practice tool). And above all you have to flash as late as possible for the surprise effect.
Good to know.
e Auto-target
. When we Apprehend Darius' next aa is automatically on the champion. So if we use our Apprehend in a wave and we hit a champion and creeps no need to click at the risk of misslick, Darius will automatically attack the champion.
Stacking the passive on clones
Almost everyone know this but rarely think of doing it. Stacking your passive on a clone or last hit a clone with Noxian Guillotine allows you to have the instant passive. I think particularly of the passive of Leblanc which often offers a reset of Noxian Guillotine.
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