Hi. Aezriael here. This is my first guide (all comments/questions/criticisms are much appreciated) and i have decided to do Darius, the Hand of Noxus. I recently started playing Darius and understand now why people complain that he is OP. In this guide i will be going over the basics of what i have found to be successful in playing Darius in top lane.

9 x Greater Mark of Strength
9 x Greater Seal of Resilience
9 x Greater Glyph of Shielding
3 x Greater Quintessence of Strength

So my rune selection is pretty standard. The marks and quints are essential for Darius especially early game. I chose Greater Seal of Resilience because i like to have some sort of extra defense early game as most of the heroes that solo top are bruisers. Personal preference on Greater Glyph of Shielding, you can go flat magic resist with Greater Glyph of Warding if you want. Either or work for me (didn't feel like spending the extra IP for them =P)

Not going to explain too much in this section. I chose 21/9/0. Some of the other builds i have seen and tried with Darius go 9/21/0, building him more tanky, i feel i don't have the damage early game to be as effective in top lane as i want to be. With the items i purchase throughout the game, Darius gets to about 4.2k HP and 250+ damage end game, which is pretty nasty if you ask me.

For items on Darius, i like to start with Boots of Speed and 3 x Health Potions. I can't stress enough how important it is in top lane to buy sight ward sight wards or vision wards (stealth jungler) every time i recall back to base, i make sure to purchase 1 ward for top bush. 75g is an easy price to pay to save your *** from getting ganked. From here i focus on last hitting creeps and harassing with Decimate whenever the enemy champ gets in close to last hit. From here on i start building Phage and upgrading my Boots of Speed to Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi depending on the enemy's hero comp.

Level 6 is where Darius gets really fun as you can start trying to murk your enemy. if you have been warding top lane like i said earlier, you shouldn't fear a gank as you can see it coming. if you have been farming/harassing well, you should have a good advantage over your opponent. harassing with Decimate leading into your Apprehend and Crippling Strike auto-attack + another Decimate, your opponent should be almost dead. Finish with an Ignite + Noxian Guillotine....rinse....repeat till you snowball into the rest of the game.

By now you should be level 11+ and have Mercury's Treads and Frozen Mallet. Depending on how well you have done up to now, you might have some parts or completed Warmog's Armor. From here depending on the enemy's team comp, i would either go Atma's Impaler or Maw of Malmortius for damage. If you are getting focused by their AD carry, Thornmail is an obvious choice. If you are getting nuked by their AP heroes Force of Nature is the way to go imo.

With this setup, you are pretty beefy and should be able to tank the world. Should you tank the world? Probably not. Still, you are very durable and with a good team comp and competent players, their is no reason you should ever die in a team fight. Using your Decimate at max range and Crippling Strike whenever they are up is a no brainer. Noxian Guillotine whenever you see a champ low will more times than not lead to at least a triple kill.

In conclusion, Darius is probably one of the most fun champs you can play just for the sheer fact of his Noxian Guillotine skill.

Playing smart > Skill

Always, ALWAYS utilize sight ward Sight Wards and Vision Wards as they do win games.