Hello, my name is Kaimedar, a player of leagues for over 2 years. I have seen a lot, and played a lot of games over the years. I won't preach and say I am the best, because I am not. I am a skilled player, but I have only recently started playing hardcore ranked games, a lot. I am currently only silver but I expect to hit at least gold or higher by the end of the season. This is also my first guide of many. If you havent noticed by the build, I LOVE to break the META of leagues, this makes my gameplays unique, but also can cause a lot of controversy when I team up in ranked. I have gotten a lot of "you can't use that champion for that position" but in the end I crush my lane. An example of this is the day I used my favorite champion, Ziggs, for every position, didn't lose a single tower or match for all 5 games.

So I hope you enjoy the guide, and don't be shy about giving me critizism, I want feedback!

This is a great rune for Darius to start off with. It gives him that extra boost for thae early game harassments in the top lane. a good tradeoff rune would be greater mark of armor penetration

Armor is a key esential for the early lane going. I don't think its as needed near the end game, with all the critial life steal you get and how much punishment Darius can dish out so fast, its not needed. We all know he is not the best group fighter anyway. He is great for single/double kills solo, but not good for big team fights.

Same applies for magic resistance, great for early game. Now you may need to beef up some if most of the hard hitters you are fighting are AP based, but if your dealing with more tanks and jungle gankers, its not needed.

Now the reason I picked the scaling and not the straight out damage is that the extra 14 damage you get for the late game can be a game changer. I tested out this one and a normal attack damage, and i noticed a big improvment with the scaling damage. It game me that little extra boost i needed to help out near the end.

The Controversial Item Build

If anyone is going to question this guide, THIS will be the reason why. My item selection for Darius is...unique and way out of the norm for Leagues play.

This is one of the first items I rush to build. Now most people would rush more tanky items like Giant's Belt or The Brutalizer, but I LOVE this item in an early lane push. The movment speed it gives will allow you to hold off a few levels from buying boots. The 20% Crit adds a little boost while farming, not to mention the added 100 magic damage static charge it releases. The 40% attack speed boost also helps. This is a good fast farming item, and can also make your aggresive top laner get pushed back a little for all the harassment your gonna cause.

Its all about the CDR for this one. I can't express how nice this is to get your Decimate and Crippling Strike like every 4 seconds. you can burst out some serious damage with this, also the Furor can help you chase down those pesky runaways who try to flee from your Noxian Guillotine

This is a no brainer for a bruiser like Darius. 75 attack damage is a big boost. This can give you that extra advantage to your lane with the fact it has a large AOE radius. Great for farming and team fights. The 15 health regen is not a huge boost, but it always helps out. 12 Life Steal adds up when you add it to your 20% Crit your getting from the early pushed Statikk Shiv. the one reason I really like this item...THE ACTIVE! not enough people use their actives effectively, or sometimes at all. Its all about the Actives for fights. 100% of your attack damage instantly around you decaying twards the edges can put a damper on someone's day real quick, especially when I found out, it Crits with your crit build.

Need I say more? 30 Attack damage, 10% Cool Down Reduction, 15% Critical strike chanse. All that makes this item perfect for Darius. You now have 25% CDR and 35% Crit, now you hit faster, more, and harder. It also provides you with 20% Armor penetration. Also...ACTIVE! 20% movement speed and 40% attack speed just adds to the chase of the runaways, or to rush into a lane to save a life of someone on your team, or to haul *** out of a bad team fight.

This item is essential to get through those pesky tanks in the top lane. Not only do you get an extra 40 Attack Damage, but it gives you 35% Armor Penetration, which puts you just under the 40% max. Now you may say "well you got 20% from Youmuu's Ghostblade so it should be 40%", Yes I know that, but for some reason the game only registers 39%.

Now, I left the last item up to how the game is going. If it's going bad, get Randuin's Omen for the extra beef-up or Frozen Mallet. If its going well, I usually get Bloodthirster, sometimes if i got lots of extra gold, which is rare, I get Infinity Edge because you can't go wrong with 55% Crit. This build is also so perfected, with a full build you can solo baron nashor without really trying.

These are always up to the player, but this is what I use.

Flash is always a good spell to take. not only is it a gap closer, but its also an escape tool. since Darius does not have any abilities for defense, this is essential to keep yourself alive in a bad situation.

Now this is great for the early and late game. In early game, when you get your opponent in a corner, you can Exhaust them after you tear off about half their life, this makes it almost impossible to escape your furry, but it also lowers their armor and magic resistance by 10, making them a very easy kill for your high damage abilities.

Optional Spells

While this is a great Spell to keep you alive, I would rather flash away than risk still getting killed through a barrier.

Great for getting away or a gap closer, but with your Ionian Boots of Lucidity you really don't need it. its great for getting somewhere in a hurry, but that can also be your death. Just like great for getting you there FAST it can also cause you to die, FASTER! not worth it

....NO! If you pick one of these for Darius, either it's for "your prefrence" or your a NOOB.

While its good to have a heal, just buy a Health Potion

Nice spell to have, its good to combine with your Hemorrhage, but its not my first choice.

I put this under "personal choice" I can't bash this spell for any champion. its nice when the occasion calls for it.

Unless your jungling Darius, its not needed.

Darius abilities are pretty much all offensive, so you must take great care when chosing his abilities. he may be able to produce a massive ammount of damage, but you can also run his mana dry quickly making him useless.

Your Passive is an amazing tool in your fights. Your enemy will bleed(stacked up to 5 times) for 12 / 15 / 18 / 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 / 33 / 36 Magic Damage over 5 seconds. For every bleeding champion Darius gains 5% movement speed. So in a team fight, you can use your Decimate and bleed 5 champions gaining 25% movement speed. When you get a stack of 5 and the enemy champion's life is low enough, you can Noxian Guillotine them for the kill.

This is your Q Ability, it should always be picked first. It allows you to put out a lot of damage in the begining, but DON'T SPAM IT! you will burn mana FAST using this ability too much rendering you useless.

This is your W Ability. This is your CC to slow down your opponent. Its crucial to use this ability when in a total fight. This ability can also be very useful wne paired with Frozen Mallet

This is your E Ability"The Gap Closer". Use this ability wisely, if your confident you can catch your opponent then don't use it, it will be a waste of mana. Pair this ability with Flash to really catch someone off guard for an easy kill. You can also use it wne counter jungling at the begining of the game, you can easily pull a jungle buff through the wall for your team to kill. Also works on pulling champions through walls or into turrets.

R Ability "Ultimate" This is by far the most deadly Ult out of all the top laners. When you get your 5 stacks of Hemorrhage you can produce an amazing ammount of damage. If you can time it right and kill the Champion with it, congragulations, you can USE IT AGAIN for the next 20 seconds to kill another one, and another one. By far the easiest Penta-Kill I have ever gotten.

PROS:

- massive damage from early-mid game
- high multi-kill potential
- pretty tanky
- very high damaging ult + passive
- decent cc
- strong aa

CONS:

- low mobility; bad at escaping
- often focused in teamfight because his very high damage output
- loses effective tankyness and damage in late game
- low durability in early game (mana runs out very fast)

CLOSE COMBAT DESTROYER

Teamwork is Essential for Darius

even though Darius can hold his own in a lane, working with your team is essential to keep you alive during team fights and keeping you from getting ganked. To stay alive during the team fights, try to enter after someone has started the fight. You may be classified as "The Tank" but no one likes Darius...NO ONE! he has high impact damage and a fast multi-kill potential, so your gonna get targeted frst. Best thing to do is wait till they are focused on someone else, jump in, do your damage and get out of the circle. The enemy is either going to focous someone else or follow you. Chasing you down should make a perfect oprotunity for your team to gank them, and there will be no hurt in turning around now that all your abilities are off cooldown and bashing their face into the ground with a slam dunk.

Now your team also has to keep you informed of where the enemy has run off to after they left their lane, mostlikely going to team up to gank you out of top lane. Its important to stay alive and not let them feed on your corpse too many times, otherwise your now rendered a useless feeder in the top lane and getting the items you need, even as strong as Darius is, will be very difficult.

So this is the end of my Guide for Darius build. One of the easiest Champs to get a Penta-kill with. Please leave your feedback. Also to all the grammar police out there, I apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes, I have dyslexia from a car accident, typing is a pain but I did my best. Also reminder this is my FIRST Guide, it may not be perfect, but I did my homework. Enjoy it, and enjoy dunking on enemy Champions!