Darius Build Guide by Milend

Introduction

Greetings all of you Dunk-Master fans, I am Saint0fwar, and today I'm going to be teaching you how to play (or how I like to play) Darius, the Hand of Noxus.

NOTE: Fortunately for most of you readers who hate boring side notes and just want the main course, this guide is mostly basic, but for those who want full in-depth...ness, then I probably don't have everything you could ask for, but I do have everything you *Should* need.

Pros / Cons

Pros

Very easy to play
Deals lots of damage without having to build many items
Very tanky
Ult does true damage
Looks badass
Very lane dominant
Few counters
Capitalizes on enemy mistakes easily

Cons

Usually focused
No forms of escape
Countered by most CC
Doesn't offer too much in teamfights
Susceptible to becoming greedy
Woad King Darius sucks and so many people use it >.>

Spells

Decimate Is your primary Damage output, next to your ultimate. I cannot stress enough that you MAX THIS FIRST. I see so many people maxing their Crippling Strike and it aggrivates me very much. Decimate is a great minion clearing ability as well as harass booster. Make sure to max this first.
Crippling Strike is the next ability you max out. Although it does quite a bit of damage, PLEASE DO NOT MAX THIS FIRST. As I just said, Decimate is better to max first.
Apprehend is your gap closer/initiation ability. The 5% armor penetration per rank isn't worth the damage of your other abilites so max this LAST.
Noxian Guillotine And now, for what you've all been waiting for, the one and only (exluding Jarvan IV, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Aatrox, Pantheon, and maybe a few more...) DUNK. Don't you just love this ability? Other than the fact that it looks awesome, at max rank it deals around 350 True Damage. That is, without your passive. Your passive ( Hemorrhage) causes your target to bleed over a few seconds, stacking five times. With 5 stacks, your maxed out ulti can do ONE THOUSAND TRUE DAMAGE. Sounds rediculous, right? That's what everyone I've played against said. ;)

Skill Sequence

As I mentioned, I max Decimate first for the harass and wave-clear.
I max Crippling Strike second for the damage output/slow.
I max Apprehend last because, well, what else am I supposed to do? (plus it gives Ar. Pen, so why not?)
I put a point in Noxian Guillotine whenever I can because I'd be the worst Darius NA if I didn't.*Note* Some people may think maxing Crippling Strike first may be situational, but I really don't think it is. 99.9% of the time, your Decimate does more damage (until Late-Game) anyway. We want to max it first for early damage. That's why *I think* It's make sense to max Crippling Strike second.

Summoner Spells

I take Ignite as my first summoner spell. It works extremely well for killing speedy opponents at low health with DoTs, added with your passive. Many other spells could be used in place of ignite, but it's what I prefer and suggest.

Flash, in my opinion, is a must have. Can be used to escape a close gank, or come in just close enough for your Apprehend. Best summoner spell for Darius, in my opinion.

Ghost is a Summoner that's based on personal preference. If you're bad at using Flash, you want MS added with Flash, or you just don't like Flash, this could be another option. I used this when I was really bad at using Flash. Not a bad choice, honestly, but in my opinion, Flash is better.

If you prefer to be all across the map instead of running, need a quick escape, engage, or just like pretty colors and sudden dis-appearence, this is another choice. I have never used this on Darius, because I never needed to, but not too bad of a choice.

I've considered using this over Ignite, and I have yet to try it, but I personally think this *Could* be better than Ignite. I mean, Darius' passive Hemorrhage is basically a built in " Ignite", so why not? It could possibly save your, or someone else's life in Teamfights. A good choice, I think, but I still prefer Ignite.

Same thing for Heal, just not as useful in my opinion.

Although Darius may have a mana problem, it's definately not worth wasting a summoner for this. Too many better choices than Clarity.

I can see why some people might want it, since Darius is bad at handling CC, ( Tenacity helps) but again, too many better choices in my opinion.

Okay, seriously? You should never need this. If you die, you can wait. I'm pretty sure that instant revival isn't worth a summoner spell, especially since (if you played him right) you should've killed a few people before you died. The bonus health? Not worth it. I wouldn't recommend this unless they have 5 Karthus'. (Since he's permabanned in All for One, that basically means never.)

Good for slowing Enemies if they're AA reliant (Except for Master Yi) but Ignite usually works better.

I wouldn't reccomend this unless you're jungling, and I hope you aren't. Darius is meant for Top. I wouldn't use Smite.

Masteries

I tend to take 9/21/0 because although we do deal lots of damage, and we're not the main tank, we still need to be able to survive fights, and you don't need to overload with lots of damage to be able to deal lots of damage.
21/9 is also a good choice, but I personally find 9/21 to be the best.

Runes

I take 5 Flat AD Runes for Early Game, and 4 Ar. Pen runes to add to the lethality of Darius' E passive to ignore chunks of enemies' armor. I don't take all of one or the other because you'll need both in 99% of cases. (Also Viable: Scaling AD)*Note* Some people may prefer all AD or all Ar. Pen. I prefer both, but it's optional for your preference.

I take 9 Armor Seals because that's what you'll need more than anything else for seals: Armor. Because most of the time you'll deal with AD Champions (I.E Fiora or Zed)
(Also Viable: Health {Not recommended}, Scaling armor, Health regen {Unnecessary}, MR, {We'll get these for Glyphs, so no need})

I take 9 Scaling MR Glyphs because usually you'll deal with AD champs, so you wont need MR until Mid-Late game, and since scaling adds up to more total, it'd make more sense to buy these. (Also Viable: Armor {Bought in seals, no need}, Health, Health regen {both unnecessary}, Flat MR {Only get these if you're going against an AP top laner, or if you can't live with scaling because you'll get bursted by AP early, which shouldn't ever happen.})

I take 3 Scaling AD Quintessences because we already have our Flat AD Marks, so scaling would bring us more AD late game (pretty much everything except AP and Gold is Viable here, but I suggest you get scaling AD.)

Items

I get these because even if they don't deal magic damage, its passive, Tenacity is VERY important on Darius, because of his prone-ness to CC.


I take Sunfire Cape because A. It has HP, and B. It deals AoE damage. Although it isn't much, picture this situation:
If you and an enemy are fighting for 5 seconds, and he escapes with 300 HP. Your ignite is on cooldown. Your Hemorrhage should deal around 80-250, but if you had had Sunfire Cape, you possibly could've killed him with the damage before he killed you.

I take ravenous Hydra for several reasons.

High AD
HP Regen (Wait, what? O.o)
Lifesteal (not too important, but it can help)
AoE passive (great minion clear/splitpushing)
AoE Active (decent damage)

It's an item that people overlook most of the time, but in most cases, it's worth it.

I get Frozen Mallet for the HP, the AD, and the slow. All of which are effective when chasing opponents, catching out enemies, or just dealing/taking some damage in teamfights.

I take The Black Cleaver because of the HP, the AD, the CDR (which is actually really good on Darius so he can spam Q or get his E up faster), the 10 Ar. Pen. and because of the passive. If a target has 100 Armor, The Black Cleaver would reduce that to 75. If you take your 4 Runes, equaling 5 Armor pen, that makes it 70. Adding on to the Item bonus, that reduces it to 60. Using your Apprehend passive, taking away 35% of 60 makes it 39. That's not a lot compared to 100 Armor.

I take Guardian Angel becuase of the Armor and MR it brings, as well as the second life it can give you. It can change teamgfights if used correctly.
*Note* It's not all that much a "necessity" as it is a personal preference. I prefer it for the MR and Armor, as well as the revive. You don't always have to get this, but I recommend this.

Most people would ask "Why didn't you get a Trinity Force, noob?" The answer is simple: It's not as effective as you think it is. Sure, it gives a little HP and Mana. Sure, it gives A little crit and MS on hit. Sure, it gives a little of everything. But Darius doesn't NEED everything. Most people get it just for the sheen proc. I see that as a big No no. There are several more items that can help Darius more than Trinity Force.

Summary

This is how I tend to play Darius. Although it might be different from many other playstyles, I consider this the best and it works for me. If you want to try something else, go for it, but I feel like this is the best choice when playing Darius.