Darius is a great solo top, Even if you have a bumpy start, you can still get many many kills right after the end of the lane phase, This is where Darius is at his strongest. He has a bad EARLY EARLY game [Pre-6] but it is made up near mid-game [7-15 ish].

Getting flat AD Marks/Quints allow him to get an aggressive start [As long as you have flat armor/flat Magic resist to stay alive while you're dealing Darius' damage.]

If you don't want an aggressive start, and want better help later in the game, get 6 Armor Pen and 3 flat Ad marks. And change all quints to Armor pen. Keep the Armor and Magic resist, you will most likely still need those early game.

Darius' masteries aren't that lenient, having 21/9/0 allows for an aggressive start, nothing in the masteries [that I know of] Will really help him late game.

I start with Boots of Speed [Replace with Cloth Armor if laning against Garen/Yorick] my first buy is normally Phage. I then grab Giants Belt, Which allows me to buy Frozen Mallet next back.

Spirit Visage can be replaced with Warmogs if there is no AP on the enemy team.

Play safe, most people who play ranked will know that Darius does much better with Farm than without. Don't get too aggressive w/out any wards, Any good jungler will know they have to help top when the enemy is a solo top Darius.

PROS

• Great mid/late game
• Good nuke [ulti]
• Doesn't need farm
• Can be Bruiser or Tank
  CONS
• Bad early game
• Nuke requires 5 stacks of passive
• Not that good at laning
• Can only really solo top

Darius doesn't really NEED farm, but it helps him BIG TIME early game. Having a good farm allows you to get Forzen mallet early, which is always a plus for any Darius player, Darius can get his Mobility Boots early on if you farm too, If you can get Mobility Boots before you end the laning phase, You're doing great.

Darius does AMAZING with a team at his back, Allowing him to get the last hit with his ulti can be the difference between losing and winning that fight. As a Darius in a team fight, wait until the enemies health is low, then ulti, Be quick, If you can't get all the stacks of a passive on a player doesn't really matter, as long as your team takes em down enough for you to get the kill.

Darius is a tank/bruiser Allowing him to 1v1 most champions, Before initiating always think of what COULD happen, not what will. For example if I were about to 1v1 Xin Zhao I would think, 'I counter Xin, There is a ward in river, and no enemy jungler lies there. He is not pushed to his turret, I would have a generous amount of time to kill him. I have more health AND more damage, he already exhausted his flash, I can kill him.'

Try to not initiate With Darius' E, Instead let them come to you, Time your W right after an auto-attack and when they start running away E, and when they start running away again Q > Ulti.

REMEMBER; IT IS BETTER TO GET YOUR ULTI OFF WWITHOUT GETTING A KILL THAN TO NOT GET IT OFF WITHOUT GETTING A KILL.