Darius Build Guide by Glitcha

Introduction

So I was bored of this game and had deleted it afew times, that was until this last patch and riot released a champ who seemed to be designed just for me. Darius, or as I like to refer to him as God, Dishes out punishment left and right from very early and into late game. He is a bruiser who cannot be ignored nor should he be. Honestly from the first game I played with him I have not been defeated in top lane by any other champion, and quite often ganks from their jungle will lead to me killing one if not both before going down.
He is brutal, he is relentless and he is the God of Top lane.
(note: also viable in jungle and will release a jungle guide later)
Ps. I won't be telling you to buy wards and potions and where to put them as I think you always should

Darius - Pro's/Con's

Pros's: Tanky Heavy Damage Stack-able dot for great harass Pull for Interupt and ganks Great initiator True damage ult Great Ks'er (Kill Secure) :D

Con's Will be hated and focused Will hear "op champ" People run away from you If played stupidly will fail at Q harass

Darius has a great early game and by utilizing that advantage it is imperative to farm up and zone the enemy champ as best you can.
He has a great harass with is Q and if done at the right range will decimate the other champions. I find that to many Darius players use their pull and then the Q which is stupid as it cuts the dmg down 50%, better to use the skills in a Q-e-auto attack-w fashion as to maximize your dmg in the least amount of time. Although I'm sure alot of you do this already I still see people failing at it.

Masteries/ Runes

I'm not going to go through each of my Materies and Runes as i believe it is built according to a players play style.
I do however recommend the ones above as it lets you have a solid working base for building into late game :D The defense tree is great as it lets you stay in fights long enough to really deal some damage even if you're focused, you'll deal enough damage as it is without building the offence tree.

I like my runes as they are with all the attack damage reds/quints, you however may want to chance them to the increased move speed quints as they're always nice, I however am happy with the way they are the the increased movement speed gain from the defense tree.

Abilities

Decimate

This is your bread and butter skill, It is what you will use to harass and gain dominance early game and farm late game.
This skill and how a Darius uses it will set him apart from the Bad and Good player.
Make sure to always hit the opponent on the outside edge of the blade as it will deal increased damage. (note: Bonus damage does not affect minions)

Crippling Strike

This move is great at refreshing your attack timer. use it after one auto attack when pulling them in for a very quick two hits, the second one doing increased damage and building more stacks.

Apprehend

If a jungler can see you know how to use this ability they may just gank hang around your lane alot as it almost always nets a kill when they do gank. If you get the combo off before the jungler first hits them you'll see you already have done alot of damage (and added 3 stacks) and stopped them from reacting to the appearance of your junglar. That is how most ganks will go, however if you know they have flash save it till after they do flash, by using ghost it should be easy to catch up to them and net them back into the awaiting doom that follows.
Also if you're smart and love this move as much as I do you'll learn to ward their blue and pull it through the wall just before the smite and net the blue kill on the other-side of the trees. (be careful when you do this as good players will feed their blue to their mid so you will want to know where their mid is before hand)

Noxian Guillotine

The ultimate Ks'er in the game in my mind, this is the move where you proceed to look like a God and sentence out death on the opponents. This made all the more awesome by the fact that it deals true damage so ults like Alistar's and Olaf's wont even protect them. it is the move that makes people hate and love Darius at the same time.
(note: play nice with it as one fed player won't always net the entire game, try to feed your teammates kills by not always 'securing' them ;)
Also, hold off till you know you'll get the kill with it, you never know when you might need it again :D.

Items

The Core build of this guide is the Mercury's Treads, Frozen Mallet, Infinity Edge, Warmog's Armor and Atma's Impaler

This is the core build I recommend although builds should always be changed when needed to accommodate the enemy team.
People always rage at me for buying Infinity Edge in game, I beg you to try it out before passing it off. Your Crippling Strike can crit and so can your auto attacks, along with the straight damage I believe it is a crucial item for him. He does not attack quick enough to make use of the life steal from the The Bloodthirster and he doesn't need the armor pen from The Black Cleaver thanks to Apprehend. Bottom line is to try it out before calling out that it is a bad item for him. Not to mention with the increased crit chance given by Atma's Impaler you'll be dishing out enough crits to easily make use of the unique effect of Infinity Edge.
Mercury's Treads are more the tenacity. you will always get stunned to be kept off their carry... trust me... other boots are viable though like the Ninja Tabi, you choose

Summoner Spells

The two spells I recommend is and

Allows you to catch fleeing enemy's with Apprehend and land more basic attacks, it may not be as good as flash for getting over walls but overall a better spell on him.

This is one of the most useful summoner spells in the game, you can use it to escape ganks, or make them happen and reduce the damage of the enemy caries while you smash their face in. Also in a team fight you are right in the thick of things so being able to exhaust their carry will greatly increase your chances of winning the team fight.


Other Viable Choices
A good choice for some people, I use it on alot of other champs but with a longer cool down than Ghost, people with Ghost will stay on your *** more often than you can on theirs. Flash I believe is more for squishy champs while Ghost is more for champs who can take afew more hits.

use to finish off kills early game and counter champs like Dr. Mundo and Swain. also a great finisher with your dot early game. the problem for me is this spell dies off late game and besides with your Apprehend and Noxian Guillotine I doubt you'll have too much trouble finishing people off.

Summary

All in all i believe Darius is a powerful champion with great laning potential and late game dominance. he has been referred to as the Noxian Garen though I think he is far far far stronger. Good luck with him my friends and let me know about your inevitable success.
I will update this guide abit later with more information and make it more pretty for you all :D
Enjoy cleaving heads and faces. (sorry for the bad grammar/ spelling, I know I'm terribad)My brother playing ranked with him following my build: