Welcome to my 4th guide here on Mobafire, this one is all about my favorite bruiser in the game at the moment the Hand of Noxus. Throughout his release he has been nerfed quite a bit, but is still strong enough for noobs to rage about, which counts for something right?

He may not be as strong as he was on his release, (which was brokenly OP), after his first set of nerfs to his and a few damage nerfs, he was brung down to a balanced state relavtively. Then... his ult got nerfed out of nowhere, No big deal. You may not be able to dunk nooblords as much, but its still a strong ult for ganking and 1v1. And if you downvote, Please say why so I can improve on this guide.

And now to answer the question, Why jungle with Darius? Simple, He does decently there and can be a quite unexpected pick since most people play him top lane. And due to Darius's kit he is rather easy to counter pick in lane. So if you see the enemy team pick a counter Darius, you can ask to swap with your jungler (if they are someone who can top lane also like
or

Pros Decent clear times with Insane damage output for ganking Easy to gank with Unexpected pick for jungling. (use this to bait a counter on the enemy team) Related to is spammable if it kills the target.

Cons No sustain Not insanely tanky like other bruisers Kited to oblivion and back Weak against hard CC

A strong passive in general, deals stacking damage over time to targets you attack. Most of Darius's abilities revolve around this for several reasons. Cooldown affected by how many stacks they have. And Damage increased by 20% for each stack, Double damage if they have 5. And it can be a reliable finishing blow if they barely get away.

Also grants bonus movement speed for every enemy champion affected by this, The bonus is very minimal, but you'd be surprised how that small boost can help.

This is Darius's main poke and damage tool. Remember, enemies hit on the outside ring take more damage, so don't fire it off immediately after , wait a second for them to start running first. Also applies one stack of to all enemies hit.

Darius's main CC tool. The damage on it is nice, but most of the time you will end up using it for the slow. Applies one stack of to the target, and has a very low cooldown if they already have 5 stacks.

This is what makes Darius a good ganker, If you can hook the enemy with this. They are basically dead if the lane isn't braindead. After grabbing immediately them, wait a second before firing off so they are hit by the outer ring.

This ult is something that EVERYONE hates when they are facing Darius, its basically him ending a fight his way. If they are low, and have stacks, Darius wins. Just don't take every single kill with this.

Only bad Darius players find the need to take 100% of the kills. Doing so will deprive the rest of your team of them, making sure your the only one dealing alot of damage, and in turn making your a huge focus target. Then once your down, everyone else will be since they don't have enough items to fight for themselves. This is called Darius syndrome. Don't do it.

More damage. Makes, well dealing damage easier. Which is what Darius is supposed to do.

Mandatory on most junglers so they can survive the first few clears in the jungle, and not get instantly nuked when ganking.

Same as the quints, more damage for. well everything. Can replace with Greater mark of armor penetration if absolutly needed.

These are for not being a free kill in teamfights. The magic resist from these will make you actually able to survive some damage from the enemy AP.
Helps with split pushing, or if you find yourself constantly having to gank different lanes really quickly.

Optional if the enemy team has alot of AD.

If the enemy team has alot of AP. This might help instead of the flat health masteries.

Only really useful if you have to recall in an emergency.

Summoner spells

A junglers do it all spell, allows for securing objectives, invading early game, and stealing dragon / baron. Darius is already a good counter jungler due to and his insane damage. This spell makes it even easier.

This spell is just broken. Can instantly teleport you over a wall for surprise ganks, or escape the enemy team. Can also be used to dunk someone with when they are just out of reach for the killing blow.

Other choices

Alows for some prety insane backdoors, or ganks. But the long cooldown is what prevents me from taking this most of the time.

A viable replacement for flash if you prefer the longer chases. But I prefer flash.

Core Items

Since Darius's biggest weakness is hard CC and being kited to death by ranged, These will help alot if the enemy team has alot of range. Can also swap for If they have alot of AD.

A really nice jungler item for AD bruisers, and damage dealers in general. Also helps with jungle clear times and the damage over time on this works nicely with .

More AoE damage, fire off the active right after Decimate= 20 for a large chunk of damage. The active effect does not apply .

A great defensive item, Since Darius does good damage without needing to build to much of it, He scales greatly with the extra defense.

The extra tankiness really helps on Darius. Plus it deals ok damage constantly to enemies nearby.

This makes escaping Darius near impossible, The slow is annoying if you can keep in range of the target and keep attacking them. Also has a bit of tankiness on it.

Combined with , This will make escaping Darius 100% futile. Also works nicely with the speed boost on .


Situational Items

If the support or main tank don't buy this for whatever reason. Someone needs to have it, so why not you?

You already have good armor penetration with . But if you see that passive ammount isn't enough, This can be a good buy.

Only get if the enemy team is INSANELY tanky and you end up doing minimal damage to them due to that.

If your falling behind and your team needs a front line tank more, This is a great substitute over the AD spirit item.

Darius is rather blue dependant on his first clear, So ask for a bit of damage on blue before minions spawn. If the team has the slightest bit of intelligence you won't even have to ask.

Once your level 3, its time to gank a lane. Keep an eye out if any lane needs a gank. Have the laners engage and occupy them, while you sneak in from behind and explode their faces with the true might of Noxus. Apprehend if they try to run.

Ganking paths (MID)
Direct Approach
Attack from behind


With mid lane, sometimes ganking from the river brushes won't be so easy. So occasionally you'll have to sneak into the lane from behind through the sides of the river closest to their tower. If ganking from behind, save for when they are just getting under their tower to get the last few hits and block their retreat.

If ganking from the river brushes, your probably going to have to to start the gank. Meaning your mid laner best be prepared to unload everything they got on the victim.


Ganking top and bottom lanes


I consider these lanes alot easier to gank with champions who have no gap closer like Darius. Since there is a larger space between the enemy and their tower.

If ganking from the river, your going to need to initiate the gank, since they can easily run away before you even get close. Unless they are overextended, and for Darius, that usually means free kill. (or a flash gets blown).

If ganking from the tri-brush or behind the enemies in general. You should save for when they are getting away, or after they blow flash.



Darius doesn't gank by being disruptive, he ganks by flat out murdering the target.

I hope this guide was of any help to those who were intrested in the odd pick of Darius jungling, which also alot of fun if you can get some good ganks in. If you send me some scores of your results with this, I will go ahead and post them in this guide.

Also if your intrested, I have a few other guides posted, One for Syndra, and Zilean. Links below.