Hello and welcome to my Darius guide. This is the first guide that I'm writing. In this guide, I will be talking a bit about how I play Darius, different things I do while playing him, and how I build him. As I said before, this is my first guide, so if you may be so kindly as to leave a bit of feedback to help me in my next guide. Thank you.

Also, this, I feel, goes extremely well with Darius:
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This is my usual AD page that I use for most of my carries and a few of my bruisers. I choose this page to capitalize on early game damage and harass on the enemy top lane. The only problem with this page is that against a tank like Shen you won't be doing much more than farming.


This is the page I use more for tanks that I jungle with like Skarner, Udyr, Sejuani or Shen. This page focuses more on mobility and late game damage than it does on early game. This page works marvelously if you want to be an initiator on your team. Especially considering how low his movement speed is, using the movement speed quints here are very helpful.

9/21/0

Recommended

Exhaust and Ghost are my preferred summoner spell duo. It gives Darius a lot of options offensively and defensively.

Exhaust is one of my favorite summoner spells. It can be used offensively or defensively. Offensively, it can be used to catch up to anyone trying to run away from you. Defensively, it can be used to slow somebody who's just speeding toward you like a bullet train. And with Summoner's Wrath , it also lowers armor and magic resist to make it easier to get that kill.

Ghost is a beautiful skill meant solely to move faster. It can be used to rush first into battle, or get away from a large group of people.

Other Spells

Smite. Used to jungle. Darius is a great jungler. I may add a section about jungling later.

Teleport is one of the greatest utility spells in the game. Allows you to teleport to any wards, turrets, or minions. Great for ganking or securing a lane from utter downfall.

Flash. Once one of the best summoner spells in the game. Till they nerfed it. Through the floor. Still a good summoner spell for getting out of sticky situations or to get closer for a better initiation. I personally don't take it, but it will be useful for getting in or out.

Ignite. Great for securing kills that your team would have otherwise not gotten. Most commonly taken on carries, so you usually don't have to take it. While I usually wouldn't touch this on someone like Darius, if nobody on your team has it, take it. It may just save your team's life against a scary carry.

Not my choices:

Clarity. You're not a cast heavy champion. Even then, you shouldn't need this. Don't take this.

Heal. Extremely useful spell. I will not lie. But Darius is tanky to the point where a heal wouldn't change much. But Darius lanes by himself which gets rid of most of its usefulness.

Promote. You have no use for this. And giving your enemy extra gold doesn't benefit you one bit.

Cleanse. You already have Mercury's Treads majority of the time for CC reduction. Cleanse is best for easily cc'd carries like Kog'Maw or Tryndamere in my opinion.

Revive. Unless your entire team is trolling for fun (I do.), avoid it. Doesn't benefit your team much and the cooldown is much too long to truly be useful.

AD Off-Tank

This is the item loadout I end up using in solo top as Darius. You start the build by getting a Philosopher's Stone and a Heart of Gold to have the steady gold income you need to actually build these expensive items.

But why this build? When end game reaches and you've built completely according to this guide, you should have well over 200 AD, well over 200 Armor, well over 200 Magic resist and a decent movement speed increase from Force of Nature. The build works extremely well on Darius and pretty much synergizes with his role as an initiator and cleanup.

As with most other champions, there is always room for situational change as the need occurs.

Boots

Build the boots that you need to based on the enemy team. Build Mercury's Treads for a team with either a lot of AP or a team with a lot of Crowd Control abilities. Build Ninja Tabi for laning phase against a very aggressive AD carry like Master Yi or Tryndamere, or for an extremely AD heavy team. Boots of Speed are always an option when it comes to a team of a lot of movement speed buffs to help you catch those slippery carries before they leave your sight.

Core

Frozen Mallet and Maw of Malmortius are extremely important to Darius and give him Health and Magic Resist. You should build them in this exact order, however. You want to build both Phage and Hexdrinker first to get early damage and a bit of Magic Resist and Health. You'll notice at that time that you have absolutely no Armor. That's when you build Chain Vest. At this point you can build what you feel like you need more of. If you want the Magic Resist more than the Health, then build Maw before FM. IF vice versa, build FM before Maw. Round off with Atma's Impaler and you've completed your core build.

Situational 5th & 6th items

Frozen Heart is a great item. With the second highest armor rating in the game, an aura that slows attack speed, and 500 mana, it's a great item for Darius. It's a good item to slow the attack speed of a carry. The armor allows you to tank more of the carries shots for the team and the mana allows you to spam your skills a bit more. Especially Noxian Guillotine as you don't want to run out of mana right when you're about to cast it.

Randuin's Omen is one of my favorite items for tanks. Gives you a generous amount of armor and health. A small cdr. A passive slow and an active slow. And it builds from your heart of gold. I do prefer this item all around if the game is going in a pretty balanced direction.

Thornmail. That AD carry is fed and you're entire team is dying, including yourself. Don't hesitate. Get this as soon as that starts to happen. Shutting down or slowing down the AD carry is more important than continuing with your build at this point. Tank for your team, and, if they're dying just as often, recommend that they build it as well. It's important for a comeback at that point.

Banshee's Veil. The enemy AP has a lot of burst AOE damage and is fed. Get this to prevent that first AOE from doing too much damage. The 50 Magic Resist is important here and the item also gives you health and armor. A great well-rounded item meant to be used more on carries but it works well on you and allows you to tank more. Unless that AP carry is fed, you should consider sticking with your Force of Nature as it gives you more Magic Resistance.

Which brings me to Force of Nature. You have a lot of health from your other items and all you need now is some HP regen. Best HP regen item in the game. PLUS it gives you the highest amount of magic resistance. A great item and one of my preferred items for Darius.

Warmog's Armor. Now I generally try to avoid this item unless my team is absolutely pub-stomping the enemy team. Because if they are, extra armor and magic resistance become a bit less important in comparison to just getting health. Getting more health means more damage for your Atma's Impaler and you get more health regen. A great item but as I said, I generally try to avoid it.

So, that's all I have for now with this Darius guide. If you have any suggestions, please comment on this. This is my first guide and I would like some feedback on it. Thanks for actually reading.

Published 6/20/12

[6/22/2012] Added Summoner Spells Section.

Coming soon:
*Laning With Darius
*How to properly use Darius' ult
*Teamfight Role
*Expanding the item section for other builds