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Darius Build Guide by Sandor Clegane98

Top CHALLENGERS HATE HIM, ONE MAN DISCOVERS THE SECRET TO SOLOQ

Top CHALLENGERS HATE HIM, ONE MAN DISCOVERS THE SECRET TO SOLOQ

Updated on December 6, 2021
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Sandor Clegane98 Build Guide By Sandor Clegane98 342 11 3,018,033 Views 63 Comments
342 11 3,018,033 Views 63 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Sandor Clegane98 Darius Build Guide By Sandor Clegane98 Updated on December 6, 2021
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Runes: EXAMPLE 1

1 2 3
Precision
Conqueror
Triumph
Legend: Tenacity
Last Stand

Resolve
Unflinching
Second Wind
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2
THE GOLD STANDARD
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ghost

Ghost

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

CHALLENGERS HATE HIM, ONE MAN DISCOVERS THE SECRET TO SOLOQ

By Sandor Clegane98
WELCOME
I AM DOING AN UNRANKED TO GRANDMASTER BEFORE NEW SEASON STARTS ON TWITCH; https://www.twitch.tv/papadyrone1








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***IMPORTANT*** This guide has been created with the intention of providing the viewing audience with an entertaining yet still informative content in relation to the said champion and all of the memes / pictures of bodybuilding supplements are included purely for comedic value and is in no way intended advertise any company or person for any sort value whatsoever and any jokes or memes that some might find offensive or innappropriate please let me know and I'll adjust the guide,thanks and I hope you enjoy ***IMPORTANT***


BEFORE WE START I'D LIKE TO SAY A FEW THINGS

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Thank you and I'm sorry

It is only recently that I realised just how much support I'd have gotten on this guide that was featured here over the years and after finally finding out my old login credentials I hopped over to my profile and checked my inbox and all the PM's I got from the community asking for an update for the D man and wondering where'd I go, and seeing the old guide with so much success I felt a deep sadness inside, the peepoSad kinda of sadness y'know? The kind of PepeSad you post on tyler1's echo chamber chat in conjuction with the other PepeSad's whenever something...sad happens yeah?



Well the truth is...



I quit the game in season 8 after all of my accounts got banned, SHAME ON ME YES, '' YOU ARE THE 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000001 % of the most TOXIC players in the playerbase BLABLALBLALBALBLABLABL '' and moved on with my life, doing productive ERRRR life things yea? Well actually I just started playing WoW again,



I played it right around mid summer of this year and grew bored of it, well burned out if you will, my friend group stopped playing and the content became too repetitive, mind you I was playing the classic version and then the TBC version which is basically a replica of the old version of the game waaaaay back in the dinosaur ages... I mean 2004-2007.


But yeah, I was feeling empty on the inside and decided to hop back on League, and boy oh boy I was hooked, AGAIN.

AND THAT IS WHEN I GREW A PAIR AND DECIDED TO FINALLY INVEST SOME FREE TIME INTO REWRITING AND UPDATING THE GUIDE ITSELF


TLDR I wanted to give back to the mobafire community for the support it gave me during the s6-s8 years and ofc the D man community specifically, everyone knows that DARIUS players are the true gigachads of season 11, after all we are basically an off meta pick in a season where bursty flashy champions dominate the game and old champs like darius are left the dust to cry themselves to sleep...


AND STARTING TODAY MY FRIENDS, THAT IS A STIGMA THAT I AM LOOKING TO BREAK AND TO PROVE THAT YOU CAN CLIMB WITH PAPA DYRONE ALL THE WAY TO TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN

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But before I did that... I had to prove myself again by first climbing the soloq ladder yet again.


SO WHY TRUST THIS GUIDE,WHY TRUST ME AND WHO AM I?



Sit back, grab some food and relax kiddos, because we are heading back all the way to season 5, I started my journey near the end of season 5, y'know back things were simple and champions releases had kits like this:



AND LESS LIKE THIS MIND YOU




Get my point ya'll? Well anyway being the newbie I was, on the proposition of my little brother who was way more experienced than I was at the time I started on toplane and well... Liked it.

You know how the say toplane is an island?


Well I have no friends irl and I'm not a teamplayer and I have shoesize IQ so naturally it was a fitting role for me right? RIGHT? Well actually YES.
You see I got good at it, when s6 rolled around I started ranked and got DRUMROOOOOOOL; SILVER 4, but hey we were off to a good start, soon enough I got gold, soon enough I got platinum, soon enough...

Yes you guessed it, diamond... AAAAAND SOOOOOON ENOUGH... MASTER!



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SOON ENOUGH even challenger.



BRONZE 4 PLAYER: OH WOW A CHALLENGER PLAYER!?=!?=!!??!1111



Well yes and no... you see...


It is true that I was challenger, my biggest peak was 450LP, but I didn't manage to replicate that sucess ever again, that season which was season 6 I ended on 200lp ish masters I believe, and since then cruised around masters, when I came back to the game again a few months ago I wanted to replicate that sucess but not only that, I wanted to do it on a server that was known for it's reputation as one of the most toxic and difficult to climb servers, no not you koreans;

EUW



Why did I choose EUW? Is it to torture myself dealing with people suffering with dunning kruger syndrome or was it for a greater purpose? The latter.


You see, eune is often memed by the EUW community for being an easier server to climb and how its often 500 lp difference aka if you're d4 on eune u're equivalent to p4 on EUW, catch my drift? Well I wanted to prove myself that I could replicate my EUNE sucess and the first goal I did coming back into league was getting Master's on EUW, and mind you,


It was tough.



The game changed and the meta changed, no longer could I abuse the old keystone courage of the colossus to steamroll my name to 450lp challenger, it was time to actually get good at the game, crazy I know. I did my promos on a new acc I leveled and named I SKIP LEG DAY , NOW MIND YOU, I DONT SKIP LEG DAY, it was only made like that to provoke people around me for the lols, I SWEAR.


LIGHT WEIGHT BABY, but uhhh yeah I have something to admit, I was stuck.

Platinum 4 for weeks, can you believe it, me a challenger player, I was ready to gouge my eyes but then I
had an epiphany, yes me a donkey who doesn't know any better, the idea was that first, swallowing my ego was a must, because I was ashamed to admit it but I had to relearn how to play the game, it was only after I took a step back and reevaluated what I was doing and started step by step playing towards my old habits is how I managed to climb again, and guess what?

Fast forwards 2 months and this happened



So yeah, I proved to myself that I still got it, and on a server notorious for its difficult solo q nature, and I will still aspire to climb higher into the ranks of grandmaster and chally, but as the season ends soon, that is an endeavour that I will have to hop on next season. So yeah.


Darius in the current meta


PROS

+ MR OLYMPIA LEVEL PHYSIQUE AND STRENGTH
+ COMMANDER OF A FIERCE NOXIAN ARMY WHICH MEANS HE GETS ALL THE WOMEN
+ THE ORIGINATOR OF THE GUILLOTINE (Not you french people)
+ DEALS MASSIVE DAMAGE WITH HIS PASSIVE
+ DECENT SUSTAIN THROUGH Q
+ ULTIMATE DEALS FLAT TRUE DAMAGE
+ SOME SAY THE TRUE GIGACHAD (probably has noxus tattoed in his abdominals)

On a serious note, the man himself is simple to understand, deals the damage you expect only from a late game adc but has the tankiness of an off-tank, kinda sick, and rightfully so, the man's power stems from the stacking of his passive Hemorrhage which gives him an insane amount of ad that you use to cut through the enemy with nothing but BRUTE FORCE BABY, theres just something special in being able to 1v5 you know? Itemization is pretty straightforward with lots of room for adaptability depending on the enemy comp, add to the fact he is moron proof, errrr I mean he relatively easy to pick up, or at the very least isnt a high skill ceiling champion. The guy does really well into team comps with low mobility and teams with tanks that allow you to stack your passive long enough to allow you to pop off.
CONS

- GETTING ALL THE WOMEN MEANS FIERCE HATRED FROM THE DEMACIAN MALE POPULATION
- YOU ACTUALLY GET FLAMED FOR PLAYING HIM MUCH LESS MAINING
- REQUIRES DECENT MATCHUP KNOWLEDGE IN ORDER TO SNOWBALL
- RANGED CHAMPS COULD GIVE YOU ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION
- LOW MOBILITY >>>> CANT STACK PASSIVE AGAINST HIGH MOBI CHAMPS

Did I mention the guy is low mobility? Yeah you'll hear that alot anywhere you go, because well... It's true, in a meta of gapcloses and CC, darius offers none, well his E does actually act sort of like a 1 second stun during the animation phase and the W 1 sec slow but apart from that the guy literally has no means of staying on top of anyone that has high mobility / high dash / disengage abilities, you kinda just have to use your mouse to always click over the yonder where the enemy is moving to make sure you have a chance of staying close to them and finishing them off when your E W is on cd, the guy also just simply does terrible into team comps with no tanks / off tanks, this is due to the fact that in order to actively get your passive up by means of using your R to finish someone off or by stacking, you need to stay on top of someone long enough for it actually work



THE GOLD STANDARD

CONQUEROR


I am actually not going to include other runes such as the Phase Rush and Grasp of the Undying just to name a few specifically for one reason; inefficiency, when we are talking ranked soloq we want efficiency and above all else consistency, and when we add up all the major rune keystones up against one another Conqueror ends up on top all time even in it's nerfed state, that is because tankiness and mobility is something that we will naturally attain from item building but for the sole laning phase and the ability to snowball Conqueror is the #1 keystone that's going to allow us to best play the D man to his full potential.

The other runes in the precision tree and in the resolve tree/sorcery tree is something that's up for mixing up depending on the matchup and that's what we'll get into;


TRIUMPH


Staring off after Conqueror we have Triumph Overheal and Presence of Mind , but I only included Triumph because again for consistency reasons it is the best rune to take out of the three due to darius' nature of wanting to stay alive during TF's as much as possible and takedowns will allow him to regain some of the lost health through Triumph , the other runes in this lineup do not serve the big man's purpose and playstyle enough to warrant consideration.


THELEGEND27

ALACRITY
TENACITY

The first debate here are these 2 bad boys, personally I always take Legend: Alacrity for one reason, attack speed, you see I like it alot, and I know the dyrone community likes attack speed aswell hence all the Trinity Force users but I actually value it alot more since I am a Goredrinker enjoyer, and I found through experience and just my overall preference that taking Legend: Tenacity isn't usually needed when you're already equipped with Mercury's Treads and Unflinching but again it for you the readers it boils down to this;


Is the teamcomp CC heavy or not?


If the answer is yes then Legend: Tenacity is more than welcome in your arsenal but if the answer is no then Legend: Alacrity is the better option as it will give a better dps output at no additional expense.

COUP DE FRANCE
LAST STAND

The final debate is the Coup de Grace and Last Stand lineup, Cut Down is not included because it's intended for glass cannon champs, but aaaaanyway, this is a personal preference but my advice would be Last Stand because in teamfights you're the superstar, errr you're the number 1 target for the enemy team to take down because you're right up in their face trying to decimate them all 1by1 so it feels only natural to take this rune over Coup de Grace, Coup de Grace is actually good for laning phase more so if you feel like you could snowball better then by all means be my guest.


THE SECONDARY STANDARD


BUT PAPA, WHAT DO WE TAKE AS SECOND TREE THEN?

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It boils down to this;



If you took resolve


UNFLINCHING


Regardless of the lineup I personally believe Unflinching provides unmatched value to the point it's irreplacable with any other rune found in the resolve tree, if you took resolve for the sole reason of dealing with a cc heavy enemy team then you can't go wrong here, the value is exponentially increased the lower your hp goes during fights.


BONE PLATING
DEMOLISH
SECOND WIND

The second lineup you will be debating is actually gonna be 3 situational runes all with their own distinct utility that I found useful, starting off with Second Wind this is the GO-TO rune you take against any poke heavy lane that's not about all ins. The Bone Plating is a different story, poke champions can easily proc it and make it useless thus it is used against melee champs that you are gonna basically all in, whilst the Demolish rune is something you take if you're confident you are gonna win your lane and allows you to snowball faster by yoinking the first blood tower faster.I find myself using Demolish alot.


If you took Sorcery

Then I commend you, because you got BALLS


Sorcery is the big boy club, even if the team has multiple cc champs i'll still find myself yoinking this tree especially when ragequeing

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BUT PAPA, WHAT MAKES IT A BIG BOY TREE?


ENTER NIMBUS CLOAK




DUDE IT'S LIKE A PREWORKOUT BUT WITH NO JITTERS AND YOU'RE LITERALLY BUZZING,JHAJAHAJHASJASHASDJH... -forgotten namesake


Aaaaaand whoever said that was right, Nimbus Cloak allows us to pop a summoner spell with a twist of speed that the enemy laner / team usually doesnt expect, a trump card if you will, a hidden trick up your sleeve, imagine an enemy darius starts running at you at 600 movespeed all of a sudden after just popping Ghost ???

Yeah...
    Outplay potential > amazing
    Escape potential > amazing
    PENTAKILL potential > amazing
    Taste of enemy LP after game > amazing

SUPPLEMENT WITH CELERITY



Pretty straightforward Celerity allows us to supplement Nimbus Cloak in order to provide us even more move speed, essentially making it better than it already is, with some extra passive move speed to have at all times which on champs like dyrone is always a welcome thing because did I mention darius is a low mobility champion?

Last in line the Adaptive and Attack Speed keys are 100% always picked with the last exception of the Shield or Tenacity and Slow Resist rune which you take based on your matchup.


THE SUMMONERS


IGNITE
FLASH
GHOST
TELEPORT


Ah yes, the twin pillars that hold Darius together in the current epilepsy warning meta with flashes dashes gap closers and you name it... I am not going to talk about Teleport or Ignite as I'm a firm believer that they do not bring the value thats needed to consistently climb soloq, and as such I'm excluding them, Flash first and foremost is a must have as it is the teleport behind enemy lines and insert omae wa mou shindeiru line before tearing up the backline, it is considered the only tool darius has to shred the enemy carry, Ghost on the other hand is a much more flexible and lower CD summoner that allows the D man to stick to any enemy he wants to cut down and simultaneously get resets if he manages a takedown, which exactly what we want, since Darius thrives off speed... not the drug.


KICKING THINGS OFF WITH FOOTWEAR AKA THE NEW AIR JORDAN LINE



NIKE MERCURIAL
NIKE AIRMAX
NIKE AIR RUNNERS



Boots are an essential piece to full build (DUH) but theres a very special value specific to the d man when you rush early finished boots on him, depending on the matchup it can make things substantially easier for you rather than just rushing a mythic like the average league enjoyer, now when I said speed is important I mean't it, you see it gives you the ability to stick to an opponent long enough to stack your passive and see the demise of your laner, a privilege denied to you whenever your summoners are on CD, and this is something that I would recommend to just about any new or old Darius player to focus on, because it gives you an added safety feature aka being less prone to ganks not just the ability to kill and that is something not to take for granted.


AIRMAX 200

Kicking the footwear off with the AIRMAX 200 aka the ninja tabi aka the plated steelcaps ( i liked the old name better...) these boots are possibly one of the best possible early game cheeses you could do against a melee / AD poke laner, the passive which negates 12% damage from attacks is phenomal in negating damage and allowing you sustain long enough to outtrade your laner, the fact you finished boots early not only gives you the movement speed previously mentioned for both survivability aka avoiding ganks but also for offensive capabilities aka sticking to whoever you're running down, anytime you feel like you're struggling in trades against any melee laner you CANNOT go wrong with rushing these bad boys, so don't be afraid to do so, the d man will thank you.


NIKE MERCURIAL

The opposite of AIRMAX 200 we have the mercurials for retaining a sense of control during crowd control aka not getting bamboozled by 3 second long Morgana Q's aka actually being able to kill Kennen in the laning phase when he stuns you but you were smart and rushed Mercury's Treads and managed to outsustain her long enough to dunk her, see a pattern? The idea here is that by rushing mercs we are practically maxing out our tenacity when coupled with Unflinching and Legend: Tenacity and crowd control will be so short on you that you'll feel practically invincible at times, so for your own sake, when you find yourself struggling against heavy cc champs mostly AP based such as Kennen, Ryze, Cassiopeia etc. rushing this is not a bad option at all, and with the earlier chart that was mentioned, you build these bad boys when the enemy team packs a substantial amount of CC.


THE NIKE AIR RUNNERS

The nike air runners is a special type of snowflake if you will, usually reserved for gigachads, for good reason, this is something you build when you're absolutely confident in your ability to actually play the game without the added tankiness of Plated Steelcaps or the tenacity given by Mercury's Treads, and that confidence lads, comes with experience, no1 can give you experience but yourself, so get to work, I very rarely myself build these unless I'm usually ragesplitting sidelanes and want to stay mobile long enough to avoid potential buschwack flanks / ganks in the mid/late game.


THE GYM NEWBIE STARTER PACK


So uhhh, you just walked into the supplement store and told the guy at the desk you just wanna get bigger and more toned, and the guy goes on a long rant explaining what different products you should take at what time and you get so lost you start questioning your own existence? Let's keep it simple




THE TWIN PILLARS THAT HOLD IT ALL TOGETHER



Ah yes, you probably seen these 2 items quite alot on alot of champs I assume, well theres a good reason, you see...

We're meta slaves

And it's only natural in order to climb by minmaxing what the current state offers the most to your ability to climb, and in this case, Goredrinker and Sterak's Gage is where it's at folks.

But what about Trinity Force or Stridebreaker

Well I'll be honest, I'm not a fan, really. I supplement with the attack speed rune + Legend: Alacrity for all the attack speed I need, the rest starts to get redundant, because timmy, we want SUSTAIN, what good is all the power in the world if you'll get killed before you get to use it? And the new Goredrinker changes that gave it omnivamp in place of ad is actually a decent thing for the D man, you see theres a pattern to just how strong you can get before you just get destroyed in a second, and these 2 items give you the sustain you need to get through a teamfight with actual kills aaaaand your head is still intact, IN SEASON 11 !!! Crazy I know !!! It isn't to say Trinity Force or Stridebreaker are bad items on Darius actually they do have niche uses for when you're giga ahead and can afford to sacrifice some tankiness, the one other debate I'd like to introduce is;


THE ANTI WIZARD CHEESER



I don't see alot of Darius players build this, and while there is a good reason, I'd like give you this opportunity to change your mind, when the enemy has 4 AP dealers, and remember I said 4, then first item rush should be Hexdrinker > Goredrinker > Maw of Malmortius , this is the only time it will ever make sense to build Maw of Malmortius over Sterak's Gage, you gonna fight cheese with cheese, right?

ENEMY AKALI WHEN HE LOSES THE ALL-IN POST 6 BECAUSE YOU BUILT Hexdrinker



OR REALLY ANY MAGE, BECAUSE WE FIGHT CHEESE WITH CHEESE HERE,HELL YEAH


SPEAKING OF CHEESE, STORYTIME.


Have I ever told you the story of the doubby rubby?



One of my all time favorite safe backs when you have 950g to spare is the doubby roubby so to speak, in it's essence I have basked for as long as I can remember, you see theres something special about elongating your hp bar by an extra 1/3 on your first back that it makes all ins waaaaay easier, darius does not need damage, he wants sustain lads, SUSTAIN, and this path allows you to do exactly that, if the circumstances didn't allow you to back with 950g+ then don't fret and build accordingly to what you can afford, but I put extra emphasis on Refillable Potion as it acts like 250 extra hp and actually in the long run costs 90g after you sell it, now do you HAVE to pull the doubby roubby? No, but if you're unsure about the matchup and feel like you're struggling, this will always be a safe bet, even when ahead.

Ait ait pops we get it, but what after we finished the Goredrinker Sterak's Gage combo, what then?


ENTER THE WORLD OF BIG BRAIN TIME


This is the time where situational awareness is tested

It's not a one size fits all kinda box, but there are a few items that you generally can't go wrong with either way and those are the ones we will include;



THE 1v9'ER


You really can't go wrong with this guy, it gives you all the tools you need to survive JUST long enough either to peel your buddies or be the star of the show and get a pentakill, now proccing the active is something that you should usually reserve for after your Sterak's Gage Maw of Malmortius gets procced because if you end proccing both shields at once it will become too big for the enemy to cut down through that short duration and you'll actually end up being less tanky than intended, so just save it as a trump card when things get nasty. The resistances are self explanitory, I personally take this item whenever I'm against a balanced damage team.


DANCE WITH THE DEVIL


Found myself yoinking this bad boy against a 4+ AD enemy champion composition, the combination of AD, armor, CDR and another Triumph in your arsenal is already very enticing, but the real kicker is in the passive, tldr; it negates the burst you'd receive from an otherwise burst heavy ad composition (think assassins), if you find yourself in a situation where you don't need to build Dead Man's Plate but instead just need an added layer of tankiness when up against a heavy ad team, you can't go wrong with this guy.


The '' we need anti heal and your support still hasn't bought Oblivion Orb ''


Between this and Thornmail? I'll be honest, I almost never build Thornmail unless I am craving tankiness, the reason is the enemy actually has to attack you first in order for you to apply grievous wounds, a problem otherwise solved when you build a little bit on the offensive side, which where this guy comes in, if you're dealing against a composition that has 2+ champions that heal alot, Yuumi and Kayn, Aatrox and Soraka etc. then it makes sense to rush items like this, in another case where the enemy comp only has 1 heavy healer where unless I'm laning against him, i'll skip this item.


HOUSE STARK


I'll be honest, I haven't really built this item long enough to give a sizeable reason on why you should build this, but first impressions? Not bad, not bad at all.
The passive actually reminds of the courage of the colossus abuse era (season 7?) where any slow or immobilization effect you'd do on an enemy champion would grant you a %shield based on your max health or smth like that, well this guy does exactly that but based on:

1: %mana
2: if more than one enemy champ is present.

If you're torn on what to build after your mythic + Sterak's Gage combo, you can decide to rush this guy for the added layer of tankiness it provides, oh and you also get more mana which is cool I guess?


THE STICKER


Primarily intended to give you mobility for more map pressure, this bad boy on it's own stats doesn't provide too much, but the passive makes up for it granting you up to 40 extra movespeed that dissipates on your first AA, but quickly gets replenished as you continue moving, super good item for games where you end up chasing people alot and just want to make sure you stick to them, whether or not your summoners are up, unless the team has absolutely no AD damage dealers / low ad, you should include this guy in your arsenal.


THE '' YEAH I'M THE CARRY ''


I like this one alot, similar to Dead Man's Plate the stats alone are subpar at best but the active which basically ressurects you with some health and mana is the real deal here, irrespective of the team comp, if you suspect the game is about to close and can't afford dying, especially in the late game, then this is the item for you.


THE '' I HATE WIZARDS ''


Now I really like this one, against a heavy magic dealing team this guy provides you with a solid flat MR stat stick and some health / move speed to boot but the real kicker is as you take damage that MR stat stick exponentially grows up to a cap along with the movement speed, a very highly recommended item against 3+ AP champs on the enemy team.


THE '' I HATE WIZARDS BUT HAVE A YUUMI ON MY TEAM ''



Spirit visage used to be the to-go MR item for tanks and juggernauts, but times have changed unfortunately, Force of Nature does everything that Spirit Visage does but better, the heal gain from Spirit Visage gets easily negated when the enemy team builds grievous wounds, but the one time it actually makes sense over Force of Nature is when you have a Yuumi on your team and you're usually the carry thus it can actually be a solid boost to your tankiness, couple it with Revitalize and you're actually starting to become a real healer.


THE KNIGHT


A former glory of it's past self, Randuin's Omen used be my go to 2nd item pick after Black Cleaver in the earlier seasons but that unfortunately changed as it go gutted to a low hp high armor damage mitigation item, but frankly it still has solid uses for a team of 2+ autoattack based champions, the more the merrier, so be my guest, oh and it's cheap.


THE WARMONGER


Started building this recently as a third option when I'm torn between items, it got a solid buff a while back which means only after 1100 extra hp did the passive started to proc, although on its own it might not be THE best choice during all ins (though the 800 hp is pretty nice) it's amazing for when you're poked down and instead of having to recall you simply heal it back after a couple of seconds of downtime,it does actually kinda make you imposing to the enemy team with that huge chunk of hp it provides, but what are you a tank rip off or a gigachad?


THE POISON IVY



This is one of those items you build for the sole reason of negative the healing of whoever bothers you the most on the enemy team, if the healing actually gets really obnoxious in the early game, a Bramble Vest rush is no slouch.


FINISH THE BUILD OFF WITH A PROTEIN SHAKE

GOLD STANDARD WHEY
HYDROWHEY



There is one special item I left out for just a few paragraphes later because I believe it deserves a category on it's own




When you finally get to stack your passive in season 11 meta



Ability analysis in order

Hemorrhage


One of the most iconic passives,a pretty strong one too,your enemies suffer bleed damage over 5 seconds that you can stack up to 5x times,every autoattack or an ability from ur kit applies one stack,the bleeds scale off your bonus ad,and when you reach max stats the bleeds get so heavy depending on how much ad you have that they can sometimes secure kills with ease,atop of that,when you bang 5 stacks you recieve bonus ad depending on your level, The most efficient way to stack this passive is to combo your abilities with AA in between them,for example aa and then Decimate,aa and then Crippling Strike,this way you max out your damage output,you can also think of this passive as a second ignite,excluding true damage and being a bit stronger if its on a squishy target,sometimes you might even see people cry in chat cuz they literally bled to death xd.So when you get to the point where you do actually have full stacks,be sure to keep it up as much as possible by continuously autoattacking whatever you see in sight regardless of whether or not if it is your primary target to kill,this way you ensure you'll be dunking the way The Bulls always intended you to.


Your '' bread and butter '' as everyone likes to call it,as you know,this is what you max 1st,its your primary poking,trading,sustain and farming tool,it does quite a decent amount of damage even without a stacked passive,as mentioned,it provides 1 stack if if land the outer axe damage.

The problem with this ability is it's kinda of a two way ability,you can damage people either by the shaft or the outer axe,so basic positioning is important,another iconic effect is the heal you receieve if you land the outer axe,the heal is bigger the less health you have,in other words,12% of missing health per champ hit,up to 36% max.

During teamfights you are very obnoxious to deal with thanks to this healing,since you're a tank,a tank that has self instant sustain that increases with each champion hit,you're just way too good.The Chicago Bulls approve this.

Geek notes:
Decimate is a point-blank area of effect ability.
-Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
-Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 20% Slow icon slow for 1 second.But we don't exactly plan on building this....right?
Banshee's Veil Spell shields will block the ability.

Decimate - Q



Crippling Strike - W

Another starter type ability,you can essentially go lvl 1 Crippling Strike if you're looking for a lvl 1 cheese kill,essentially walk up to the enemy laner and start aa'ing and then as he starts turning around use your Crippling Strike on him to cripple his movement enough to kill him or force Flash,this is basically something you max last,reason is maxing this only reduces the CDR and nothing else useful really that would be more superior than maxing Apprehend or Decimate.

Anyways don't let this deceive you,this ability is your primary aa canceler and shouldn't be underestimated,look at this ability as an autoattack that does additional 40% dmg and applies a 1 second slow,anyways though,max last.

Geek notes:
-Crippling Strike is an on-hit effect.
-The triggering attack will apply other on-hit effects and can critically strike as normal.
-As with most on-hit physical damage, the bonus damage from Crippling Strike will apply life steal.
-Critical strikes will not interact with Crippling Strike's damage.
- Crippling Strike's damage will affect structures.
- Riposte will block the damage, slow, and Hemorrhage.
- Aegis Protection will block the damage but not the bleed slow or Hemorrhage.
- Crippling Strike cannot hit through Counter Strike, blinds, or Spirit's Refuge.
- Banshee's Veil Spell shields will block the slow.


So after a brief cast time,you pull everything (champions / creeps) into your melee range,essentially knocking them up for the duration allowing for some Yasuo synergy which is great,anyways after the pull is over they're slowed by 40% for 1 second,the passive on this ability is also one of the great things on Darius,you gain 5% armor penetration every level,up to a maximum of 25% armor penetration,now couple this with a Black Cleaver,how neat is that?

You can also use this ability over walls and structures to gain vision for 1 second on the other side lol... It also doesn't have any limit on how much people you can pull meaning you can legitemetely pull an entire enemy team into your melee range allowing your team to crush them all at once,it does however have very high cooldowns in the early levels so you have to be sure to save this ability only for when you need it meaning if someone is in your melee range don't just blatantly pull them for no reason,save that damn ability for when they'll try to escape.Definitely max second.

For geek notes, Banshee's Veil spell shields still block this ability and it's important to note this is a conic ability,sort of like a skillshot really.

Apprehend - E



Da-dunk - R


Heres your most iconic ability in the game, The M.J.'s slam dunk,first of all it acts as gap closer so you can use it outside of melee range,apart from that,the dmg is true damage meaning you can shred tanks / squishies / carries / whatever regardless of their tankiness,at lvl 3,assuming you have atleast 1 damage item finished it can deal up to 1k true dmg and more which is just absurd really.

Now to make sure you use the most of this ability,be sure to use it at 5 stacks of passive,basically this ult's dmg increases by 20% for each stack up to a maximum of 100%,it also does apply a stack of passive meaning you can even use this at 4 stacks and then apply the 5th stack with it if you're unable to melee the enemy laner anymore,chances are they could still potentially die from the bleed,so that's cool,the slam dunk also makes every creep flee in terror at the sight of those hairy armpits of yours,so yea.

Last awesome effect is,it allows resets if the enemy actually dies from this specific ability,the reset can be reactivated up until 20 seconds where it then goes on CD,up to the 3rd rank,this ability unlocks,essentially meaning it allows infinite usage of this ult for as long as the target actually dies from it,so no reset cooldown duration,awesome.




I think conan aka arnie was onto something with this speech, we should use this analogy in league aswell, sorta...

Let's talk about the game itself and what you actually do in it


Mentality
I believe this is a topic that does get mentioned but doesn't get thrown around nearly enough, but yet plays a big role and how you deal with games, in a nutshell though, making sure you are playing with the correct mindset every game is the key to climbing, if you're tilted from a losing spree or from IRL circumstances it's never a bad idea to take a small break ranging between a few mins / hours to days as it helps reset your mental focus, understanding that playing to win and not just playing for the sake of playing is a huge part of what makes a solo q climb possible, introducing elements into your life that help reduce the stress and put you in a positive state of mind is actually pretty huge, one of my rituals is to make sure I've showered and had a filling meal before binging on a playing spree, yours could be practically anything for as long as it puts in the correct state of mind, a good way to explain the effect ragequeuing has on you is like the gambling effect, when you lose a certain amount of currency of any kind, you're naturally inclined to get it fast asap, especially when you came in with the intention of actually winning more not losing, and the domino effect kicks in because u start losing even more than before, and this puts you in a state of autopilot and this lads is BAD and when it does happen you need a mental reset.

Playing to your strength

If I were to ask you what would the D man's number 1 powerspike be, how would you answer?

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If you answered with level 11 well then I commend you, but let's just take a step back and ask ourselves;

Why?

Well Timmy, let me explain, when you get level 6 your ultimate at maximum stacks of your Hemorrhage deals about 350ish true damage, but something magical happens when you ding 11 that wont happen ever again,

That damage doubles

And from this point on Darius becomes known in the community as the mid game monster, it is a damn shame not forcing just about any fight with atleast equal number of opposing parties, simply due to the fact that you win practically all of them. But first;


THE SPLITPUSHER AKA I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT MYSELF


My personal favorite, I believe anyone can appreciate how one person singlehandedly carries games and what other better way to do that than applying the soloq method of climbing that stood the test of time, this is how you show everyone else you're better than them, just like when you go to a commercial gym with 5 years of powerlifting experience, admit it, you're not there to workout, you're there to max out and watch people mirin' you lift, and just like in league, if you put your mind to it, you can pull off some incredible feats, but let's take a step back and actually ask ourselves, what is the goal of a game?

The explosion of the enemy nexus



Every single action you do in game should be met with the question of :'' what am I doing right now that's going to help me close this game? ''


When you actually get into this kind of mindset, the game actually becomes a whole lot clearer, we call it the hashinshin mindset, after all hashinshin himself uses splitpush as a means to an end(of the nexus), just relentless side lane pressure, that's all it takes folks, you can easily peak high diamond this way and don't even have to group, it is only in the high elo ranks where the second playstyle we will cover comes in more handy, but for now

ENTER HULLBREAKER


Remember how I mentioned the dynamic duo?

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.
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WELL NOW IT BECOMES THE TRYNAMIC TRIO!!! Wait that's not right, trina... nonono, the trini, ah yes, LETS CALL IT THE HOLY TRINITY OF SPLITPUSHING!!11!11



Why I love this build, first off you will be taking Demolish, every time, the splitpush power it provides is way too undermined and we need to break that stigma! The holy trinity gives us everything;
-Tankiness: every item listed gives upwards of 400hp, which is what we want in the current meta

-Damage to structures: Demolish combined with Hullbreaker gives insane damage to towers which is our main goal of the splitpush playstyle

-Ability to fend off multiple heretics that claim to oppose you on your quest: Hullbreaker passive gives you resistance that scale with level combine that with the anti burst capabilites of Sterak's Gage and the sustain of the new Goredrinker and you're essentially becoming a raidboss at this point

-The amount of testosterone presence you exhume makes you impossible to deal with by just 1 man, thus it always takes over 2 people to take you out, which is also one of the main objectives you must fill out, sort of like a criteria, is that you need be able to 1v1 any1 on the enemy team, if you're behind in a specific game, then go for the second playstyle down below.
The main objective here is drawing pressure away from your teammates and onto you, you do not need to fight the enemy team, it all about making them sweaty by making a decision to deal with you or with your team, either way - You win.


For the sake of the guide's length I won't be spending too much time with wall of texts detailing the nitty little details of how you should actually splitpush, but the main consensus has been outlined, there is alot of youtube guides that explain much better than I ever will of how the splitpushing concept works, so I suggest if you decide to go for this route to take some time and check out the youtube videos.

PLAYSTYLE #2 AKA THE SAFE BET AKA THE TEAMPLAYER
This one actually starts getting more specific, when you leave the laning phase you should still opt to splitpush every once in a while but this time the main objective is grouping up with the team in order to take whatever main objective is up such as the drakes or the rift herald. A good way to execute this level of play is making sure you keep a decent CS score and getting level 11 as fast as possible with the next goal of getting Goredrinker and Sterak's Gage as fast as possible, as mentioned previously these 2 items are your teamfighting bread and butter items, you have to remember, we have to close the game out as fast as possible, if you introduce this que in games and every once in a while ask yourself '' what can I do thats gonna help me end this game as fast as possible '' you'll notice alot better results, your role in the teamfights can be specific to your win conditions:

Is your team ahead?

If yes, then peel them.

If not, then great, you are the superstar and you need to get rid of their carries through means of getting your passive stacked or procced via Noxian Guillotine as fast as possible



The basic combos


Darius does have some pretty nice good to know combos for starters,lets dive right in.

The lvl 1 cheeser


So start W and hide in the 3rd bush,wait for the enemy laner to walk in and start cs,walk up to him from behind and land 2-3 aa's,as he's starting to approach his turret,use your w and then just attempt to land any AA's you can,you'll surely make him flash at the very least


The pull combo


It is important to note that you have a small time period when you pull the enemy player to land an auto right before going w - q:
> AA > >


aa'ing combo



This combo revolves around bigger trades,its always important to aa as much as you can while animation canceling with w

AA > > > AA


The ult combo



this combo revolves around apprehend followed by an all in

> AA> > AA > > AA>



Important notes: at sticky situations dont hesitate to ult before finishing your passive,remember your ult also give one stack meaning if you ult while your target has 4 stacks you'll ding 5 stacks and watch your target bleed to death.




Thanks for checking out the 'guide', it means alot to me, again as a way of giving back I don't think I could've done any other better way but to update the layout and everything, all of the old memes got lost as they they were uploaded to virtual sites that got taken down, reduced to atoms if you will, but I I'll still try to improve every now and then, I believe it has so much more potential than this, however this is what it is for now lads, hope you enjoyed and good luck on the court, I mean rift.
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Sandor Clegane98
Sandor Clegane98 Darius Guide
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