Do you like Dunking? Do you like being a tank that can deal 1000+ True Damage to your foes? Do you like being called a 'brain dead' champion as you go 1v2 and 1v3 against your enemies all while scoring Pentadunks on the opposing team? Then this guide is for you. My name is Yoshikage Kira, and I'm here how to show you how I crawled out of bronze and made it to silver. This guide goes in-depth into his abilities to explain their full utility to maximize his potential. If Darius is so 'brain dead' or such an 'easy' champ', then that means someone who knows his full potential can destroy an enemy team.

Though Darius is a strong champion we have to know his limits so we can find ways to work around them. Darius is a strong champion in a bubble, however when you look at the big picture his kit has several flaws.

Pros

+ High physical damage + Has a pull and 90% Slow + Ultimate deals high amounts of true damage + Natural healing with his Q + Natural armor penetration on his E + High AD Steroid on his passive

Darius is a solid top lane pick against anyone you can bully. I started to main him because he countered Nasus in a way that prevented Siphoning Strike by bullying the big dog out of farm. At the same time he had the capability of fighting outnumbered during ganks with a massive heal on his Decimate on top of the high damage scaling. Built properly, Darius is a threat to anyone on the rift.

Cons

- Susceptible to Poke - No escapes - AD Steroid takes setup - Prone to being Kited - Ultimate damage relies on Hemorrhage - Heal relies on hitting with the blade

The biggest weakness with Darius is his immobility. A good Vayne or Jayce will play keep away with you all day and there's little you can do about it. If you can't land five hits on a target, you can't activate your Noxian Might either. He also has no escapes, so if you're ganked and can't get out your only real choice is to try to fight which typically won't go well without Noxian Guillotine. While the dunk is quite powerful, it also relies heavily on being able to land enough stacks of Hemorrhage to work. Also, if Darius misses Apprehend or it is on cooldown he is very easily poked down to little to no health.

Hemorrhage is what makes Darius Darius. Every ability except his E will add a stack of bleed, and this ability makes sure that people don't like trading with Darius. However, what makes this ability truly great is the Noxian Might. With 5 stacks of bleed you're getting 30-200 AD. Once you have 5 stacks you become a true threat to just about anyone who isn't a tank.




His W is Crippling Strike. It empowers your next Auto to deal more damage and massively slow the enemy. I like to grab this first, as the AA Cancel allows you to quickly get two stacks of bleed on a target and practically guarantee the third, letting you trade with your laner early. Plus if it kills, it lowers the cooldown and refunds its mana, letting you farm easily by last hitting with it.

Mixing this with a sheen passive lets you get massive damage on your next Auto. A trick I like to do when I get ganked is to W the jungler and spin as I run away, usually letting you get an easy heal on them. Plus with grasp of the undying, the AA wil also give you more health if it's proc'd. Despite all of this, I typically like to actually max it last as all it will do is lower the CD, which it inherently already does if you kill with it and CDR will already lower it. However, having an AA Cancel up faster is a fair enough excuse to max it second.




Decimate is one of the keys to Darius' kit. The thing you have to remember though is that in order to get the most out of it, you have to hit the enemy with the blade. That's how you get your heal, and that's how you get massive damage.

Despite me getting it second, I prefer to max this out first. It increases the AD scaling and damage while also lowering the cooldown. You get more damage and your heal comes up faster. Win-win. If you're low on health, focus on poking the enemy with it to get the heal, however be weary that they might engage on you while you're winding up so you can't get the heal. If you're good with flash, charging up the spin and flashing to a weak target can secure you a kill.

One of my favorite things to do is weaken the enemy top laner to low health and bait the gank. Cripple the Jungler when they come in and with them slowed you can get the jungler AND the top laner (if they choose to engage) caught in Decimates reach, healing you for 24% of your missing health and dealing a lot of damage to the enemy. This is the ability that can turn a 1v2 or even a 1v3 on its head. If you're at a disadvantage and can't run away, focus on spinning for heals and trying to out last your opponent. Let the bleed damage and heals do their work. If you can get 5 stacks odds are you suddenly become stronger than most champions in raw AD, but do not let that whistle fool you.Use this to keep you alive until you can secure a kill. AND REMEMBER, the more enemies you hit with the blade, the more heal you get. Sometimes getting 36% of your missing health back is better than securing that kill on the low ADC.




Apprehend has two parts to it. Passively, it gives you armor penetration. Actively, it's a short range grab that stuns the enemy for 1 second during its animation. I typically like to max this second as the lower cooldown and armor pen is more useful to me than the lower CD on Crippling Strike, however if you're not dealing with anybody particularly tanky you can max W second and I wouldn't blame you.

Apprehend is a great ability to force an enemy into fighting you or stopping someone from running away. Typically I prefer to use it for the latter, however early in the game using it as an initiator typically will allow you to win trades. HOWEVER, using your W to initiate if you can typically has more rewards. The slow is better and then you can save apprehend for when they're running away or to interrupt one of their abilities.

Something a lot of people I think overlook is that Apprehend makes it so the target is considered Airborne for 1 second. It can buy you that precious last second till your Q is up to heal, or temporarily stop the enemy from attacking you and interrupt other peoples abilities. This can interrupt a combo if you can time it just right, say you activate it in response to a Yasuo using the third attack of Steel Tempest, thus leaving you both Airborne at the same time. He can't ult because he's also airborne, so he loses a lot of damage and armor penetration. You can also use it to pull a Warwick off your ADC, saving your ADC and losing Warwick a lot of healing while also putting his Infinite Duress on cooldown. Overall this ability has a lot of utility to it if you can figure out the proper timing depending on who you're up against.





Ah the Dunk. This is the reason I play Darius. Hemmorhage makes Darius Darius, Noxian Guillotine is what makes Darius the Dunkmaster. Dealing a minimum 100-300 true damage, the trick to using this properly is to remember these key points:

• If you kill someone with it, you can use it again at no cost. At rank 3, it has no cooldown if you kill with it and no mana cost.
  
• It deals true damage, no amount of damage reduction stops true damage.
  
• Once activated, nothing can stop it except Darius' death.

Despite it getting that sweet reset is what you typically want to do, a random dunk can actually turn the tide of a battle. Do not be afraid to dunk early if it means you can possibly survive a fight. However, what you always want to try to do is dunk AFTER getting 5 stacks off of someone not only for the bonus damage from the ability itself, but for that AD Damage boost. More stacks, more damage. 5 stacks, even more damage.

Something you can do if you can survive enough is get 5 stacks off whatever front line the enemy has, then quickly Decimate the ADC (and anyone else who you can hit with the blade) to get 5 stacks on them (thanks to Noxian Might adding 5 stacks to anyone you hit when you have 5 stacks on someone else) then dunk them. If it's rank 3, odds are you'll kill the ADC right then and there. If you can memorize the true damage you deal and watch an enemy's actual health (as in, look at the numbers) you'd be surprised how early you can dunk for a kill. I find with this build you top off at around 1000-1300 true damage, typically the majority of an ADC's max health and a fairly huge chunk on tanks too. Plus assassins typically aren't hard to get low enough to dunk if you can survive their initial burst damage.




Overall Darius' kit makes him looking for the chance to get those five stacks and dunk on someone. Given the right set up he can force you to sit there and either fight him or slowly crawl away and pray he doesn't kill you by the time you get back under the turret. Typically what I like to do is save my grab and slow for when the enemy is about to run away. Either bait your opponent to initiate or punish them for getting within melee range of him. Grab them when they try to run away and get those 5 stacks before dunking on the enemy when they run.

If someone tries to gank you, keep running around and focus on getting your heals up with grasp of the undying and healing 24-36% of your missing health with your Q. (MORE if you have a spirit visage) Your slow makes kiting champions surprisingly easy if they don't have a means to lock you down. Once you get your Noxian Might, odds are the damage of your Q and bleed have stacked up and you can dunk someone and turn the tide. Darius may be 'Brain Dead', but with proper skills a Brain Dead champion can do a hell of a lot.

*Max 8 stacks, stacks last 8 seconds. I'm using an old image.*

Fervor of Battle is the perfect mastery if you're looking to bully the hell out of your laner. Every auto attack will give you more damage, on top of the damage you receive from Noxian Might when you land five auto attacks. This mastery is my favorite to take, and one of the easiest ways to get first blood.

What I build first depends on what I'm up against. Typically if you're against someone who has high AD like Kled or Xin Zhao, you might want to grab a Dead Man's Plate as the bonus armor and health compliment him well, as well as the passive bolstering his movement speed. If you're up against someone who likes to build crit like Yasuo or Gangplank Randuin's Omen is your best friend. Finally, if you're up against someone who does mainly AP like Cho'Gath or Maokai, Spirit Visage is your best friend. Magic Resist and more healing, what's not to love? Typically I'll build two of these three items depending on the enemy composition, usually one first then another after I've built my Trinity Force. If I'm still not tanky enough after I've built my Hydra, I'll typically buy a Sunfire Aegis or Maw of Malmortius

Black Cleaver is perhaps the true core item with Darius. Never go without it. Your Hemorrhage stacks the passive armor reduction and triggers the movement speed. Two auto attacks will activate the full 24% armor reduction on any target after a few seconds thanks to your bleed, mixed with your Apprehends already 25% armor reduction, most of your damage will go through fully. If the Armor reduction triggers its maximum reduction, your Decimate will.... well, decimate any target, even tanks. Add in Noxian Might if you've got five stacks and you have the perfect mixture to fight anyone. Despite me singing praises for the Cleaver, I typically build it second. I find in lane and mid game I want to be tankier, so I typically will build whatever tank item I want based on the opponent I'm against then build the black cleaver. But if the enemy team is behind enough building it first isn't a bad idea.

Trinity Force is typically something I build after I grab my cleaver. If you need the tankiness, building a secondary tank item is still a solid idea. However I find myself wanting the attack speed and spellblade the Trinity Force gives me. The extra health and mana is really helpful, and everything it gives is helpful in some way to Darius. The Rage passive is wasted as you already have it with Black Cleaver, but I feel that everything it gives more than makes up for the wasted passive. A spellblade empowered Crippling Strike deals massive damage, and there's nothing like watching an ADC's health bar go down when you hit them with it.

Titanic Hydra I would typically build towards the late game. The items active is an auto attack reset. Combined with your Crippling Strike and you have essentially two free stacks of Hemorrhage really close together, or three if you can land another auto before starting the chain. The stats and passive also really bolster Darius, considering everything I build on him grants Health. Overall, a really good choice.

As Darius your job is to bully the enemy top lane, and dunk people who try to fight you. Your biggest downfall is your low mobility and lack of escapes, however you can cripple an enemy to make it harder for them to escape. You don't typically want to push the lane ahead as a smart opponent will just farm under the turret. Let the lane remain Neutral in terms of pressure and bully your opponent out of farm. If they're low enough, keep them on you and try to kill. If the jungler comes in, back off and focus on landing your Q heals so you can escape. Once you get your dunk, the capability of winning a 1v2 or even a 1v3 opens up. However, remember that your Dunk at rank 1 only deals around 350~ ish damage maximum at first rank. That's still a lot, but sometimes I find myself hurting for the rank 3 1000+ damage Noxian Guillotine gets later in the game.

If you're up against an assassin such as Yasuo or Pantheon, typically what you wish to do is abuse the fact you are a tank and out last them in a fight, forcing them to stick to you. Offensively, you want to slow them down with your Crippling Strike first and wait for them to burn their escape ability and run up and Apprehend them when they are still slowed. Auto attack and move towards where they'll run, typically towards their turret. Auto Attack, move forward, Auto attack, move forward. Learn the rhythm of your attack speed, using your W when you can. Typically by the time they escape their health is really low and you can Dunk them to kill them or the bleed will end them if they don't heal somehow. now, if this happens the jungler might come in from behind if you're low enough. If you can't run away or the jungler is low, try to quickly get a W off the jungler if you have Grasp of the Undying or hit them with Decimate's blade. This can give you a heal as well as put five stacks of Hemorrhage on their jungler. If you deal enough damage you can sometimes kill them too as punishment for entering your court. Even if you're low on health, Noxian Guillotine still deals massive true damage to a target in one move.

If you're against someone Tankier like Garen or Cho'Gath, abuse the fact that your E gives you armor penetration and look at what they're building. If they build armor, grab Black Cleaver and shred it. Let your bleed stack its passives and focus on triggering your Noxian might either in a fight or when you can lock them down. You will have far more damage than them typically and kill them before they can whittle you down thanks to the health Cleaver gives you. However if they're building something similar that gives them damage build a respective item to counter it. I typically like Spirit Visage against AP and Dead Man's Plate against AD. Though if they're building Critical Strike for some reason a Randuin's Omen will typically put them in their place. Your Noxian Might will make up for the lost damage until you can grab your Black Cleaver.

Now say you're against a ranged champion like Teemo or god forbid you're laning against Jayce, what you want to focus on is engaging them outside of the towers range. Your Apprehend barely covers enough distance for most marskmans Basic Attack Range (Without a Rapid Firecannon of course) so you can pull them in if you can time it just right, however be aware it is very easy for them to run out of it. Once you have them grabbed W them and focus on keeping up with them as they run away. If they have an escape they'll still have to deal with your slow, so if you can close the distance you can typically get an auto attack or two in. If you can outrun them thanks to Cleaver or Dead Man's Plate, just follow them and back off if they reach their turret. Though if you can dive it (which Darius can once he builds a bit of tank) you can easily punish the person who took a marskman into a tanks domain.

Mid game is where Darius thrives. By this point you've gotten your Black Cleaver and hopefully have gotten a few kills on the enemy top or jungle. If you're going strong, keep the pressure on. If you can, don't be afraid to dive the enemy. Your sheer damage can kill them faster than a turret can kill you. If the Jungler still wants some of you, focus on whichever enemy you can consistently hit to get Noxian Might and Q whenever you can to get your health up. Keep chipping them away and healing until they meet their end: Dunk.

Try to focus on buying items that counter whoever on your team has had trouble against or who is fed. If it's a mage, grab that MR. ADC, buy that armor. You can't dunk someone if you can't take their hits. If the enemy team is heavily Basic Attack oriented, try running a Thornmail to slow them down. Especially if they have a Master Yi. Nothing will slow Yeet down more than him hitting himself every time he tries to kill you. He may be the OG, but you are the true dunkmaster.
Darius in the late game is arguably where he is at his weakest. His kit is very oriented on locking down and killing single targets, and in Team fights your job is to try to tank everything and create a hole for your team to carve through. I cannot stress enough how vital it is for you to get five stacks of Hemorrhage when a brawl breaks out. Once you can get Noxian Might, you can typically carve through anyone you can get your hands on. Focus on the defensive, save your Q for when the enemy will actually stay for you to get the heal, and E for if you can grab someone running away or pull someone off of your ADC. Get 5 stacks then try to kill as many as you can.

Remember, early and Mid game you may of been MVP but you still need a team. Until you can get your Noxian Might you are severly weakened in Team fights, especially if the opponents can lock you down and stop you from dunking them. Instead of going on the Offensive, play the reaction game and time your Apprehend to where you can either grab their ADC or pull someone off your squishies. Save Noxian Guillotine until you can execute someone, and make sure to time Decimate properly to where you can get the heals and not miss out on stacks of bleed. Due to the wind up you have a brief period of time where you can't Basic Attack, meaning you're missing out on bleed stacks. Late game is all about timing and knowing when to strike to maximize your damage.

Darius is by far not a perfect champion. A lot of people say he's brain dead, however if that is the case then someone who actually learns the ins and outs of the champion can turn him into a true Dunkmaster. By learning proper timing as to when to use your abilities and landing heals, as well as a build to let you dunk on every champion that comes your way, Darius can easily become the perfect asset to a team. I hope my guide has helped you, feel free to leave a comment. Being a Darius main, I will try to update this guide regularly as I figure out more tips and tricks and as items and champions come out. Thank you for reading.