Hi, this is my first guide on MobaFire. Darius has been a champion I have played for a very long time, I have a lot of experience on him so I think I will be able to help other people excel at playing him. I suck at intros so let's get into it.

At the moment, Darius is among the strongest top laners in the game. There really is no big secret to Darius you just need to know, a couple of things.


A. How to farm
B. How much damage you deal
C. How a lane with Darius works
D. Your role in a fight

There's no big explanation for my runes, pretty standard AD top laner runes. I don't take armor penetration over physical damage because:

A. Armor Pen runes have been nerfed
B. With Apprehend +Masteries+ Black Cleaver I have a colossal amount of Armor Pen already
C. Your Noxian Guillotine does true damage anyways

Crystalline Flask is a great item for the cost, provides a lot of sustain. A champion like Darius really lacks sustain, and an item like this is just perfect for him. With the movement speed upgrades to all champions, boots and 3 pots aren't the forced meta anymore; riot did a splendid job doing this btw

Black Cleaver is OP. Rush a Black Cleaver first for insane armor pen, CDR, 250 Health, and 55 attack damage. This item provides so many good all around stats that it practically works with almost every top lane AD champion. The rest of the items you build really aren't even needed for damage, that's why I build mainly defensive after I get cleaver.

Now, I used to have Guardian Angel before Sunfire Aegis, but with the armor pen meta (kinda), I realized it would be better to get the health and the little bit of the armor instead of a GA. High health pools are a decent counter to the armor pen meta.

The item order is situational too, don't build Sunfire Aegis over Guardian Angel if you're going against someone who does magic damage, like Vladimir or Rumble.

Guardian Angel is a very nice item as it provides both MR and Armor, items that provide, defense and offense, or items that give both resistances are very strong for bruisers like Darius.

I get a Mercurial Scimitar for extra damage and some more magic resist. BUT, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS ITEM, is that it allows Darius to become into a champion like Olaf or Irelia; what I mean is it really allows Darius to straight up dive carries without worrying about being cc'ed. The extra movement speed really turns darius more into Alistar charging right at you. Plus, Defense and Offense in one item is too much to pass up.

GET Blade of the Ruined King IT'S SO GOOD AGAINST THE HP STACKING META. The sustain is nice, price is reasonable, and it lets you lock up carries/chase people nicely. It's a great item, soon to rise in the NA scene. Koreans already get this item even on people like Shen.


Swap out Mercury's Treads for Ninja Tabi if you're having problems with AD's.


Now for the upgrades on boots, I'm not exactly sure what to build. If you want to get to lane quicker/ you are fighting a battle in your base, homegaurd is the way to go.

NEVER FORGET THAT ITEMS ARE ALWAYS SITUATIONAL

So, Darius is a straight up kill lane. If you can't get kills in lane, your not putting up your full potential. Darius doesnt really bring anything to a team, except damage, and your Apprehend. Once again, if you're not getting kills in lane, you're not gonna be a huge threat to their carries.

Don't get me wrong though, it's not very hard to win a lane as Darius in silver and gold elos. He's exceptionally well at winning lane, and if you can't do that, well Darius is kind of a wasted pick.

You MUST get kills in lane, and then help your team mates in fights by killing the enemy carries.

Darius deals a lot of damage with Noxian Guillotine, but you shouldn't always take kills with it. Don't starve your carries of gold, when you already have kills from your lane. A carry like Graves or Vayne will need the gold much more than you do.

You shouldn't never use your ult too. Use Noxian Guillotine on other targets too, if you're about to die, or want to force them out of the fight. For example it's OKAY to use your Noxian Guillotine on an Olaf or Diana that is diving your carry. It's a great way to force them out of the fight.

Difficult matchups include (in order of difficulty):

Jayce. His range and skill set makes him very hard to deal with. He's going to have 6 skills by level 6 most likely and, like you, he is probably gonna build a The Brutalizer to negate your armor. He deals a mix of magic and physical damage so its hard to build against him too. I say just sit back and wait until your jungler comes. Jayce is also a very strong top laner, but if you can get the early advantage and snowball with it, you should be fine.

Teemo. Teemo is a very strong ranged champion that can negate most of your damage, and harass you very well in lane. Now, most people in silver and gold elo/ normal games can't use Teemo well enough to shut down Darius. But, occasionally you will run into a Teemo that can put up a fight. So my advice is build some HP (maybe like a Phage) and take the harass until level 6. With HP you will be able to duel with Teemo and probably win. It's ok to miss those first couple of creeps, better than giving him a kill, or free harass. When level 6 comes, find a opening and use your full combo, or just ask for ganks from your jungler.

Irelia. Now personally, I have never lost to an Irelia as Darius, but I have beaten many Darius with Irelia. Her natural tankyness is quite difficult to duel against and her cc can be critical. You really have to know how much damage YOU can do, how much damage YOU can take, how much damage Irelia does and how much damage Irelia can take.

Vladimir. Vladimir can harass better than you Transfusion, push better than you Tides of Blood , and run away better than you Sanguine Pool. With the recent buff to Deathfire Grasp in the season 3 patch, Vladimir is once again very powerful top lane or mid lane. A Vladimir might rush Randuin's Omen against you, and it will negate most of your damage. If your opponent is good at Vladimir it will be tricky so I would really just recommend asking your jungler to gank. I play Vladimir alot as well so I thought I would add my insight on him, even though he's not as often seen top lane as like a Jayce or Jax

More to come:

Malphite

Jax



Kayle

I'm gonna leave it at this.


More to come.