Darius is the latest addition to the league and in my opinion the best since Graves, He is a really fun champion to play and he is well worth the IP or RP, I like to build tanky with a bit of damage and I'll explain my build and masteries and all that stuff in the guide.

Pros Good Damage Hard to kill Easy Farming Awesome Laugh Easy to learn Cons Not so strong early game Hard to master Constant ganks from jungler Needs items Usually causes 20 min surrenders

Greater Mark of Attack Damage
I recommend flat damage marks over armor pen, because of the passive on Apprehend and the Youmuu's Ghostblade any extra armor pen is just overkill.



Greater Seal of Armor
I recommend these mainly for sustain, as you'll be solotopping, you'll most likely be against another tanky dps, which means these are a good choice and they'll help late game also.



Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
I recommend these for late game tankyness, due to most ap carries going mid, they are usually farmed and hit like trucks, so some magic res always help.



Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage
Same as the marks.

Defense
I like to spec, 21 points into defense for improved sustain in lane due to Darius' poor lane sustain, also the cd/r is nice for harrasing, I take all the health and hp regen specs. and the cd/r spec and Juggernaut because it's possibly the best mastery spec in-game.

Utility
I like to take Summoner's Insight for improved Flash due to your lack of escape and the increased mana, move speed and buff duration is very helpful when it comes to sustaining yourself and for starting fights.

Do I even need to say anything, Flash is the best summoner spell, now I don't take it on everybody, sometimes I would swap for Ghost or Exhaust if I'm jungling, every-time else I take flash


Now this spell is personal preference, I like Ignite because it works well with Noxian Guillotine for kills, now you can take what you like but I would recommend not taking any of the following.

I like to build tanky dps, because it is the way he is meant to be played. He was designed to be tanky, why do you think he has no escape mechanism, he sacrifices sustain for damage, now I'll explain my item choices



Mercury's Treads I recommend Merc. Treads because you need the tenacity and the magic res. also helps, Merc. treads are the best tenacity item by far, don't believe me, just look at the other ones.



Frozen Mallet I recommend Frozen Mallet because it's a very good item, the health, damage and the slow that stacks with Crippling Strike is just too good. Although some people may argue that Trinity Force is better for Darius, Frozen Mallet works better with the build.




Randuin's Omen I recommend Randuin's because it's a great tank item and an initiator item, Use Apprehend then Randuin's and that's a very good start. DON'T FORGET TO ACTIVATE I cannot stress this enough, Activating items can change the tide of a team fight, especially Randuin's.




Youmuu's Ghostblade I recommend this item for the CD/R, Armor pen, Damage, Crit. chance and the free Highlander activation, It may not be the best item for Darius but it can be used to escape, and you need an escape.



Maw of Malmortius I recommend this item for the damage, magic res and one the best item passives in-game, this is such a strong item, the shield can win you a fight and your opponent may not expect the increase in damage if you're low hp.



Atma's Impaler I recommend this item for the Damage and armor, because of Frozen Mallet you'll get a decent amount of damage, but if you want to get Trinity Force I would swap this item out for a Guardian Angel.

I'll split this into three parts, Early, mid and late game,

Early Game
You'll most likely be solo top, so you mainly want to harass with Decimate due to its short cooldown, low mana cost and high damage, Try to last hit as much as you can, prioritize last hitting over harassing, always let your jungler make the first move in the gank, unless you're otherwise instructed, also when he comes to gank don't make it obvious he's there, play like normal and wait for his initiation, also WARD constantly and also remember if you fail your lane due to lack of ganks and your are getting constantly ganked that is not the jungler's fault, stop pushing.


Mid Game
Mid game would be as the laning phase begins to end, the first turrets gone in 2-3 lanes and people start roaming, you should mainly try to get the first turret in all three lanes for enemy jungle control, take dragon when it's up and try to get baron whenever it's up, it's a gamechanger people.


Late Game
This is team fight after team fight if you get the ace push until they're back up even if you're low because no one is going to kill you, other than minions and turrets. Your job in a team fight is to keep people off the ad carry, let them auto attack, they do the most damage, try to last hit champs with Noxian Guillotineso it refreshes the cooldown and you can use it again. Try to burst down there squishies, then let your ad carry do their thing.

Hemorrhage This is your passive ability, it applies 12 / 15 / 18 / 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 / 33 / 36 (+0.4 per bonus attack damage) magic damage over 5 seconds which can stack up to five times, this skill increases damage at lvls 1/3/5/7/9/11/13/15/18 You also gain a 5% movement speed buff for each stack you have on enemies.


Decimate This is Darius' best ability imo. It's an aoe of range 425 around Darius, It does 150% damage if you hit them with the blade of your axe. It deals 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+0.7 per bonus attack damage) if you hit them with the shaft of your axe, or 105 / 157.5 / 210 / 262.5 / 315 (+1.05 per bonus attack damage if you hit them with the blade of your axe.


Crippling Strike This is an amazing skill because at lvl 5 it does 200% of your ad, it is great for 1v1s as alot of people won't expect the damage. It deals 120 / 140 / 160 / 180 / 200% of your ad, and slows for 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% the cooldown is also lowered for every stack of Hemorrhage you have on the target,


Apprehend This is your only form of hard cc, which is a slight pullback with a quite short range of 550, The pullback in combo with Crippling Strike can secure many a kill, The best part about this skill is the passive armor penetration of 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% Also the cooldown is shortened per lvl,
24/21/18/15/12


Noxian Guillotine The ulti, more commenly known as "OMFG STUPID OP ULTI, RIOT NERF THIS S*IT PLOX" Is the reason Darius is considered OP, It deals 160 / 250 / 340 (+0.75 per bonus attack damage) TRUE DAMAGE and it's cooldown is refreshed on kill, It also gets 20% increase in damage for each stack of Hemorrhage, which comes out as 320 / 500 / 680 (+1.5 per bonus attack damage) at five stacks of Hemorrhage

I would max Decimate as it's your main damage source, Take Noxian Guillotine whenever it is up, I max Crippling Strike after because it can help so much with ganks and the extra damage and slow is very good. Apprehend I max this last because the armor pen would not be too good mid game because most champs wouldn't have much armor, but late game every champ should have a good amount of armor.

In closingR>Q>W>E

Here are some games which I have played, using this build. More to be added,
if you want to share your results, PM me a screen and I'll add it to the guide


My Results

Penta Game

So that's it, that's how I play Darius, remember to vote up if you liked it or down if you didn't. If you have any questions or if I left something out, leave a comment.

Also remember to laugh, it's so good, it may even rival Singed's