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Darius General Guide by IV Ragnarok

AD Offtank Darius , the Devastating Duelist

AD Offtank Darius , the Devastating Duelist

Updated on November 7, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author IV Ragnarok Build Guide By IV Ragnarok 1,961 Views 0 Comments
1,961 Views 0 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author IV Ragnarok Darius Build Guide By IV Ragnarok Updated on November 7, 2012
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Introduction

Dear Summoners ,

Greetings.
I'm IV Ragnarok, a Gold rated player in EUNE server.
This is my first guide,so please cut me some slack. :P

Darius is one of the most fun to play champs, and one of the strongest at least in my opinion.

Many players call him overpowered,other say he is countered too easily at the top lane, some even call him useless.

Thats not the case at all.

On the top lane,if he is properly handled,he can dominate pretty much any champion, with very few exceptions.

On the following guide im going to describe the "properly handling" part,which will make you laugh when u hear stuff like "teemo counters darius".
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Pros / Cons

Pros

~ Darius is a great dueler , that leaves almost no option for the lane enemy to retaliate successfully.If he does that,he is dead.
~ Great harassing abilities.
~ An AoE grab ability
~ Built-in Percentage Armor Pen.
~ True damage ultimate, with AD scaling,that Refreshes on kill.

Cons

~ Being strong 1v1 dueler,does not mean that he is a god. Enemy Jungler can really destroy your lane phase if he is smart enough to camp your lane.
~ Absolutely no escape abilities.
~ No natural defenses.
~ No real CC.
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Runes

Regarding runes , since Darius has 100% AD ratios, i suggest :

~ 9x Flat AD Marks
~ 9x Flat Armor Seals
~ 9x Magic Resist per lvl Glyphs (better than flat ones after lvl 6-7)
~ 3x Flat AD Quints

A common question would be " why not armor penetration marks ? "
The answer lies within Darius' E ( grab ). It provides with PERCENTAGE armor penetration as a passive effect,which does not go well with flat armor penetration effects.

At the moment, the armor penetration is being calculated with flat armor penentration being first, then the percentage is being calculated afterwards.Therefore mixing the two types or ArPen is not really a wise choice.

Also,as Darius,you need all the AD you can possibly get,before itemization, and these runes do the trick for an early burst, enough to make u dominate the lane.
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Masteries

There are not many things to be said regarding the masteries.

Run the standard 21/9/0 setup.

All i can point out is that its preferable not to pick the flat armor penetration masteries at all , since it can mess up with your percentage armor pen provided by your E( see Runes chapter ).Instead get the 3% lifesteal which can boost your blow trading furthermore.
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Summoner Spells

Flash and Ignite. Anything else on Darius is not really effective.

At least not for the top lane.
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Skill Sequence

Regarding your skill leveling sequence:

~ Ultimate should be leveled up each time you are able to ( 6/11/16).
~ You should always maximize your Q first.
~ Second in sequence maximize E.
~ Then W.

This will give u the early burst (Q) that you need + the early armor penetration that u lack from runes (E).
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Items

Darius is a natural offensive champ , with enough damage by default.
The itemization your will have to make in order to succeed in late game,must be focused around defenses.
Even then,u will still have great damage output,able to kill off the enemy carry asap,
without dying in the process.

~ Items with armor / MR , will help u alot not to get nuked down and be able to deliver your deadly blows.
~ Also get as much HP as possible , and finish it up with an Atma's Impaler for the AD boost based on your max HP.
~ Calculate the enemy team damage type, and counter it. Focus the Armor / MR items you buy based on the percentage of the enemy damage type.
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Lane Phase

While in lane phase , your primary goal is to harass the enemy champion while maintaining your minion farm. By doing that you will end up zoning the lane enemy away from his CS. That's what you want. Making them afraid of you,means they will lose a lot of CS.
The best way to do that, is to anticipate his last hitting actions at during level 1-3, and pull one or two auto attacks on him while is is attempting to last hit, then hide in lane brush to get rid of the minion aggro.After that the bleed effect will do the rest.You can of course use ur Q too, which i also recommend,but try not to overdo it,because ur lane will get pushed a lot, and u could get easily ganked.

When u manage to drop him under 50% , start auto attacking. If he starts to flee , pull him back with E, use W , then Q on the outer ring of the skill ,Ignite and keep auto attacking. He will probably flash away in the process , so dont hesitate to flash right behind him and end his misery.

As you will probably have realized so far,Darius excels on 1v1. So your worst enemy is the enemy Jungler.

WARDS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND DURING LANE PHASE.

Buy them like candies, they are the only thing that can protect you from ganks , which is your only real weak point.

When you hit level 6 , and have your double Doran Blades and your level 2 Boots, push your lane as much as possible, then do a gank on the mid lane. After the gank either head up to your lane again , which will probably have been pushed back by the enemy top, or recall and buy , depending on the gank outcome and your remaining HP/MP.
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Mid Game

Your mid-game should find you farming at your lane.

As Darius u need your defensive items before you can unleash hell in a teamfight. Enemies tend to focus you down Darius 1st, since he poses a great threat to anyone he sets his mind to kill. Therefore u have to endure the burst they will lay on you. If u have ur defensive items , yet u die in a teamfight ,that alone , creates enough time for your AP / AD carries to do their job.This usually turns out to be an Ace for your team. Fair trade.

So , unless you are getting Super fed by the enemy top, farming on your lane is the key to your successful late game.
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End Game

In the End game , which is almost 100% teamfighting , your goal is to shut down enemy AP or AD carry.

Or Both :D

This requires some positioning , considering that you dont have any gap closer.
If a teamfight occurs , that finds you off position ( far away from the enemy carries), do not hesitate to use your Flash on them and start nuking them down.
This action will get all the attention on you , which is exactly the reason you are doing it.

~ Enemies are expected to nuke / CC you , in a desperate attempt to save their carry , giving your team enough "breathing" time to react and focus.

~ If they do NOT focus you down , then their carry will die by your axe in a matter of seconds.After a few more seconds the 2nd enemy carry will also fall to your axe. After that consider the fight won.

Either way its a win-win situation.
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Closing Thoughts

This is pretty much it.

Darius is a simple to play champion, but still needs decent handling in order to succeed later on in the game.

Please,feel free to ask me anything.

Let the blood of your enemies stain the battlefield.
I wish you luck in the Fields of Justice , Summoners.

IV Ragnarok.
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League of Legends Build Guide Author IV Ragnarok
IV Ragnarok Darius Guide
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Darius , the Devastating Duelist

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