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Darius is great into tank junglers and Amumu is a perfect example of a jungler who can do nothing against him. All you have to do is path in a way where you are wherever he is, whether it is fighting over a crab or a counter gank, as whenever both of you are invovled, you will win.
Camille
Camille doesn't have nearly enough damage in order to stop you from stacking up your passive. A Camille that stands and fights you is a dead Camille. The only trick you need to know is to cancel her hookshot with your E. What you do is you use your E as soon as you see her hookshot go out. Not too early but DEFINITELY not too late. This way, you should pull her out of her dash and get a free kill. She scales decently well but lategame shouldn't happen in this meta
Dr. Mundo
Mundo is a tank jungler with a lot of damage who can be somewhat problematic if he gets fed. Once he does, there will come a point where he is actually too tanky to kill. I know it sounds difficult for a Darius not to be able to kill a tank but a fed Mundo is a great example. Before he gets fed, hes p much free food though.
Ekko
Ekko is never a threat unless he is 5+ kills ahead. And even then, Sterak's Gage should give you time to stack up on him and kill him. His difficulty comes in the form of him being VERY slippery and difficult to catch. Basically, if you are there, he cannot stand and fight so contest things against him.
Elise
Elise cannot quite beat you herself but she is very powerful when working with other champions. She is also very slippery and very good at diving. Overall, you should be looking to dodge her cocoon and to try to predict where she will land where she repells. It is also good to be sure not to AA her small spiderlings as that has happened to me a few times.
Evelynn
Evelynn is very weak in 1v1s. She cannot oneshot you quickly enough at all and she doesn't have any method to escape without using her R early which is her main killing tool. Her charm has very little counterplay but what you do is dodge her skillshot and kite away from her, with you pulling her towards the end of the charm. The stun from your pull should be long enough to have it no longer be active, giving you time to kill her. She can be a bit harder to track due to her passive so you'll need to have a bit more game knowledge.
Fiddlesticks
Fiddle isn't really too much of a threat himself. He is one of the few junglers who is just a free kill waiting to be collected upon invades. If you do catch him off guard hes as good as dead. But his ultimate makes him very tough to deal with in teamfights and ganks if he pulls if off properly. Not to mention how his no counterplay fear and silence make if difficult for you to operate.
Gragas
Gragas can be disruptive in teamfights and difficult to deal with due to how much cc he has. But if he goes Tank, he is free food and if he goes AP, you oneshot him. He might be more influential in certain situations than you but you should be able to put him behind you as he is really weak vs you.
Graves
Graves is one of the more problematic junglers to deal with due to how slippery he potentially can be. He isn't the best kiter due to his lower range but if he outplays your pull with his dash, then you pretty much can't do anything against him unless you have Ghost. He scales up very well but he can't really oneshot you if you tank up. Getting to him is the difficult part. He can also outplay your ultimate with his smokescreen. His clear is better and he is more mobile around the map. You must force him into a corner and kill him at some point. He is also difficult to kill during invades as he stacks his E armor up.
Hecarim
Hecarim is very easy to beat in a 1v1 fight. But if he gets fed, he does get to a point where he just murders you AND your team at once. He is also far better in teamfights and can very easily engage fights when you are not with your team. He sucks early vs you though so you can still beat him down.
Ivern
Ivern is quite annoying to deal with in some cases. If you don't have your buffs warded, he can very easily just walk up to them and steal them with smite. If he lands his root on you, he can also freely get away. The good news is that he pretty much has zero combat ability, even with Daisy. Dispose of him.
Jarvan IV
J4 is much more mobile and can get a lot done quickly. Though he himself will probably never beat you, he will devastate your team if he gets a lead. He is especially good at ganking botlane. You should make sure you get fed alongside him so that he does not get out of control. You can cancel his dash with your E.
Jax
An odd jungle pick but a difficult one to deal with. The length of toplane is an advantage when dealing with Jax as you get room to kite him. But this isn't the case in the jungle. Not to mention you will be missing Flash or Ghost. You need to use your E to avoid his counter strike. Use your slows to kite him as best as you can. he can and will eventually outscale you so keep beating him down until it is too late for him to win the game.
Karthus
Karthus is free food. He does not stand a chance 1v1. Ghost makes him a free kill every time. There is the threat of him becoming fed but there is not much he can do to stop you from killing him.
Kayn
Kayn is a very slippery jungler that will avoid confronting you if possible early on, as you straight up beat him no matter what. Contest ganks and objectives. If he fights, he dies.
Kha'Zix
Kha'Zix is probably the only melee assassin that can beat Darius. If he is slightly ahead and has evolved his Q, he will tear you to shreds and go invisible before you can fight back. You need to tank up if he gets fed. Pre-6 he is free food though.
Kindred
Without Ghost, you will probably never beat Kindred. She has annoying slows, lots of mobility and LOTS of early damage. She will slow and kite you to death. She is also very disruptive in teamfights with her ultimate. Very annoying but you can snowball off of her.
Lee Sin
Lee Sin is a much better jungler champion so he will likely outdo you but with proper macro, you can force him to fight you as you contest things that he wants. He cannot beat you in a 1v1 until level 6 at ALL. And even then, he can only delay you from killing him with his ultimate. You can be outplayed but his demise is inevitable if you straight up fight him.
Master Yi
Master Yi is a very difficult matchup. If he gets fed, and the likelihood of him getting fed is high in soloq, then he will cut you down in 2 seconds and process to murder your team. You can beat him earlier on if you manage your abilities properly. By this I mean making sure you hit your Q and making sure he doesn't dodge your abilities with Alpha Strike. He outscales you very quickly once he kills you twice. After that point there is no hope against him between the %health damage and his true damage.
Mordekaiser
The matchup goes similar to toplane. He beats you without ultimate, you beat him everywhere else. Just make sure to not get hit by his Qs when you are alone as you will get chunked out surprisingly quickly.
Nidalee
Very slippery, mobile and can potentially deal tons of damage. Very snowbally too. A Nidalee can take over a game by herself once fed. You need to prevent this. Dodging her spears is very easy but if you are on autopilot, she can actually reliably land them. Her only reliable way of beating you is through outplaying your Q and kiting you with her superior mobility. In fact, most of the time she'll look to try to take whatever objective you are fighting over and leave. This means you beat her in a straight up all in VERY HARD. She is one of the matchups I'd recommend going damage against, as you will be able to just oneshot her VERY QUICKLY, before she can actually counterplay anything.
Nocturne
Nocturne is tough to deal with without Ghost. He can actually cheese you early on if you can't kite him properly. You do outscale him hard and you will snowball on him even harder if you beat him though. The problem is that beating him is very tricky early on which is when he is going to be taking fights. And you HAVE to beat him. If you don't before he hits level 6, he is in full control of he game as there is no way you can outjungle him with how strong his ultimate is. You can either go tanky and peel your carries or straight up try to fight him and beat him in counterganks. He is VERY weak against invades vs you however, as he will have used his fear and his movement speed skillshot on the camp, leaving behind a free kill. His spell shield is annoying but make sure you trigger it with your W, as your Q and E are wayyy too important. He is also not the best at 2v2s without his ultimate so look for early counterganks.
Nunu & Willump
Nunu stands no chance against you in a fight ever. But he is such a powerful jungler that he can very easily outdo you and get to a point where he is soo tanky that it takes 5 years to kill him. He has more mobility, you CANNOT secure objectives as long as he is alive and he is a tank with hard engage and cc which means his team can afford to just go full damage. But overall, he stands no chance against you if you fight him on equal terms.
Olaf
Olaf is impossible to beat without Ghost. And even with Ghost, if you get hit by his axes you are even more of a free kill for him. Trust me when I tell you that if you don't dodge his axes, you are DEAD. You have to dodge at least one of them and you cannot afford to miss your abilities. Not to mention how he has straight up more DPS than you. It is all about his axes. If he lands them all, you die. If you dodge them, you kill him. On the bright side, you outscale him. Once you put him down, he will STAY down and be worthless as you slaughter his entire team.
Pantheon
Pantheon is tricky in lane. But in a jungle environment, you have more hope into him if you are healthy after your clear. You can use your E to cancel his stun and guarantee your Q hit. The bad part is that he is quite hard to kite so Ghost is somewhat necessary. And you need to make sure he does not block too much damage with his directional damage blocking ability. Ghost helps you deal with it much more easily as you can just walk into him and behind him, continuing to kill him. He will snowball HARD off of you though. If he beats you once, try to tank up a bit before going after him again. Armoring up helps but he will build Cleaver.
Qiyana
Qiyana cannot beat you at all. Her stealth is annoying to deal with but she is completely manageable. Just make sure she cannot use her invisibility to get away and she is just dead. You can use your E to screw with her combo too by cancelling her dash thing.
Rammus
Rammus is similar to other tank junglers but instead of having to get a few kills to be impossible to kill, he is just impossible to kill from the beginning. He is much easier to deal with after Black Cleaver though. You can also peel your team from him VERY effectively if you are playing tanky yourself.
Rek'Sai
Rek'Sai is a very powerful jungler who can get a lot done. Her ganks are VERY powerful and very unpredictable for lower elo players. Even at higher elos, she is difficult to deal with sometimes. You beat her straight up in all fights but she has all the tools necessary to avoid you. You can screw around with her by not moving if she is burrowed if you are waiting in a bush for her. You can also screw with her ultimate using your E if you time it right. Overall, she is the MUCH better jungle champion but you can still beat her in fights and 2v2s.
Rengar
Rengar is free food. He will never be able to kill you unless he gets 10 kills ahead of you. Even then, you can tank up and outlast him. His healing is annoying when he goes Spirit Visage and etc. but lucky for us, most Rengar junglers go full assassin which means he is pretty much cat food. Make him regret jumping on you.
Sejuani
Similar to Nunu. A tank who cannot stand a chance against you. But unlike Nunu, a Cleaver is usually enough for you to be able to cut her down even if she does get fed. Not much you need to know really. Just beat her down early and she will be another corpse waiting to drop in teamfights.
Shaco
I wrote this as a Major threat because a good Shaco will be nigh impossible to deal with. You are too immobile. But the good news is most Shacos are terrible. You need Sweeper to better track him so that he does not outplay you with his stealth. Your bleed stacks expose him anyways but its better to react faster. Also, make sure to land ANYTHING on him before he uses his ultimate. This is because once he uses his R, any bleed stacks you put on him BEFORE, will stay on him and not on his clone. This means you will know the real one INSTANTLY. Also, his clone is very fun to fight, as you get extra healing from your Q if you hit it. So hitting both him and his clone doubles your heal. Your R does not reset off of his clone but you can get your passive if you stack it 5 times off of his clone. So if you have good attack speed, you can stack your passive on his clone and surprise him and his team with a Flash Q or something.
Shyvana
Shyvana is no threat at all. She is actually suuper free pre 6. Just walk up and kill her. After 6, if she has built AP then she has strong poke but is still a free kill. If she goes the old, bloodrazor, bruiser path, she will be very difficult to 1v1 if she gets fed/well farmed but nobody plays her like and even if they do, you have plenty of time to put her down.
Skarner
Skarner can be very disruptive in teamfights and 2v2s due to his ultimate. He can isolate you very well and put you in a position where his team can destroy you. Fortunately, he is very weak when he is to himself. Just don't let him take crystals for free and just beat his head in if he tries to take crab or any objective from you. Pre-6 he is free.
Taliyah
Taliyah is very annoying to deal with due to her movement speed and her self peel. It is small but very quick so she can easily put you in a position where you eat a full combo. She is not as difficult to get to as Kindred though. Once you stay on her, MAKE SURE not to be knocked back. Ghost helps with this a lot. Just don't take too much ranged damage so that once you get to her, you just kill her straight up. Taliyah can be very devastating when fed so try not to die to her too much. She is VERY EASY to oneshot once she is in your melee range though.
Talon
His clear is worse than yours so you will have health advantage. Just don't get cheese by him if he takes ignite early on. He can't oneshot you, especially after you build even the tiniest amount of armor. He is free food. Dispose of him.
Trundle
Trundle can be a nightmare to deal with in the jungle without Ghost. You can't really kite him out properly. He has a TON of dps in melee range and he can actually beat your post 6 if you don't kite him. Be careful in fights against him. Try to avoid him earlier on but take fights after you get your first item as you can probably kill him with proper positioning/kiting unless he got super ahead. I've mentioned it 50 times already but its because its important. If you don't kite, you die.
Twitch
He has no self peel and is defenceless. He can't even kite you properly without red buff. You can't countergank him levels 1-3 too well but invading him is a piece of cake. Get fed off of him and carry your team.
Udyr
Udyr is similar to Trundle in terms of how you should treat him. Early on, he is a NIGHTMARE to 1v1 if you miss your Q. He is VERY easy to manage if you have ghost and you can just kite him in your sleep though. Overall, don't die to him and you should be good to go. He is useless when behind and only through Tiger Stance Max can he even stand a chance.
Vi
Vi is not too difficult to deal with in a 1v1. You beat her up and you can cancel her dash with your pull. But her ultimate is SOO disruptive and it CANNOT be counterplayed. It can make 2v2s and teamfights very difficult. She also snowballs quite well like you. You outscale her and if you manage to 1v1 kill her early, then you just turn into a monstrosity compared to her though. Just don't be caught in a position where she can easily ult you and turn you into a free kill for her team.
Volibear
Volibear can be tricky to deal with. He isn't a traditional tank. Like Mundo, he has very good 1v1. But unlike Mundo, he is very mobile and has a get out of jail free card from level 1. His passive can seriously mess you up as it just saves him. You might need Bramble Vest or something like that into him if you haven't beaten him already. He is more difficult to kite but it is still doable. Just don't int him as he turns into suuuch a monster.
Warwick
Warwick is an annoying nuisance at best. A very annoying one at that. His ultimate and his fear can do a lot in terms of disrupting you. But he is another tank with very pathetic damage. You straight up destroy him. Just try not to miss your Q. A trick you can do against him is cancel his ultimate with your E. If he Rs onto you, you just need to START your E in the direction he is coming from. Your E animation will still play through, meaning that you will self peel his supression. This is easier to do vs WW than a Malzahar as Malz' ult is instant but with a little bit of prediction, reaction and luck, you can regularly stop him from suppressing you.
Zac
He has a LOT of CC. Thankfully, no way to beat you. If caught alone, he is dead. No questions asked. You can also cancel his slingshot with your E so look forward to watching him think he can get away, only for you to pull him back in and kill him.
Alistar
Although I don't seen him around anymore, Alistar is a great support to have on your team. Having another frontliner on your team allows for you to build more damage and Alistar can set things up for you very effectively. Alistar also is able to engage teamfights which is great as engaging on Darius usually means that you will be focused down and killed before you can get your dunk on unless you build full tank engage with Aftershock or something.
Anivia
Anivia is an okay teamfighter and has decent waveclear. She is also a strong laner which means that having an Anivia on your team will give you a reliable source of slows and waveclear. She is great in 2v2s and she has so much waveclear on her that if you two are the only fed people on the team, she can 2v5 with you and also essentially hold an entire team off while you skirmish and look for picks somewhere else on the map.
Blitzcrank
Blitzcrank is good at catching people and that is pretty much it. The Synergy increases to "OK" if he can regularly hit hooks but in all honesty, Nautilus is better than Blitzcrank in almost every single way possible when it comes to working with Darius.
Braum
Braum is another good tanky support that works well with Darius due to how much CC he has. He isn't as tanky as an Alistar but he will be able to follow up VERY well if you go in too deep.
Galio
He is an okay midlaner to have due to how much he can roam. If he has a single shred of intelligence, ulting you when you are getting 3 manned and ccing everyone might just give you enough time to get your reset and kill them all.
Morgana
Morgana is an support that has SOME synergy with Darius but its not really comparable to a Zilean. Her Black Shield is very useful if you plan on running in and she can accompany you with her own ultimate. Her root is also a very powerful CC ability.
Sona
Sona is somewhat like Karma but she is pretty much worse in terms of working with Darius. This is mostly due to her range. Darius is going to be running in fairly quickly and Sona can't really keep up. But she does have healing, movement speed, damage and a pretty good ultimate that works best after the enemy have engaged on your team.
Wukong
Wukong has decent synergy with Darius. This is only due to his ultimate. Wukong will be able to dive and ult and entire enemy backline, with him also being able to chunk them down which makes it easier for you to get resets.
Karma
Karma is not really the best at anything. She's not even the second best at anything. She just has a bit everything really. She can give you shields and a decent bit of movement speed which is always nice. She has okay CC but its very slow so it will mostly be used as a follow up. Really, the only thing that makes her good is how she can give you a ton of movement speed.
Lissandra
Lissandra is an okay mage to have on your team if you yourself want to be the carry. She has great CC, can lock down people, and can, in certain circumstances, even engage teamfights. What's great about her is her passive though. Basically, with your Ultimate and her passive, you will be able to shut down entire teamfights as every kill will give you a reset and will turn into Lissandra's ice ghost which will walk towards and slow an enemy target.
Lulu
Lulu is an okay support champion to have on your team. Her shields suck but her slows allow for you to chase better and her ultimate saves you in teamfights. A Lulu becomes MUCH more useful if there is a fed champion on the enemy team, as she can polymorph them as you lock them down and begin trying to kill them.
Nami
Nami has fairly strong synergy with Darius because her abilities are a bit longer ranged so she can help you from afar. She is great at chasing people down and engaging fights with her ultimate. Her healing and the damage you get from it are negligible but in all honesty, Nami's synergy with Darius goes from worthless to strong depending on whether she can hit her bubbles consistently or not.
Taric
Taric is an okay champion when it comes to working with Darius. No, you can't do gold funneling so get that out of your head. I meant Taric as in Taric support. His downfall is that he isn't too mobile and that he is not there to do too much of his own. What he does do however is basically make you better at everything you do. If you catch someone, a Taric stun will keep them down long enough for you to kill them straight up. And also if you engage, a Taric ultimate will keep you alive for quite a long amount of time, with it being guaranteed to go off as Darius cannot be bursted down if he builds properly. He is a solid companion to have.
Soraka
Soraka is a great support to have in general, with her working with Darius as well. Her healing is insane. With her ultimate, she is going to be able to help you out during early fights anywhere on the map which is great. If you are up against a poke comp, she will be able to keep you very healthy as you facetank damage for your team. Soraka works well with Darius when you are on the offensive but where she really shines is when the enemy team have engaged on to you as you will get moments where the enemy team come VERY close to killing you but the Soraka is going to use everything at her disposal to keep you alive which will be more than enough for you to kill everyone. If she survives the teamfight, she will make sure you are healthy enough to tank any objective your team would get from winning that teamfight as well.
Thresh
A Thesh goes from OK to Strong depending on whether he can land his hooks or not. He is a wonderful champion to have as he can catch people out, have a good presence in teamfights with his ultimate and save you when you get caught. His flay also makes him great at keeping people off of you as you wait for your cooldowns to come back. A good Thresh is great to have around.
Leona
Leona is a great support champion to have as she has a TON of CC to work with. She isn't the tankiest by far but the sheer amount of CC she has allows her to engage, dive and follow up on essentially anything you want to do. She can keep an hold off and entire team while you get your passive.
Nautilus
Nautilus is somewhat like Leona in terms of him having very good synergy with Darius due to his CC and his tankiness. Nautilus is not as good as her at starting fights but he makes up for it with how great he is at catching people. A Nautilus that can hit his hooks along with a Darius that can do Darius things well is a very powerful combo.
Rakan
Rakan is a character that can get a LOT done. Having a Rakan that jumps around, dashes to you and etc. is like having hacks. He makes life so much easier for you. He has CRAZY mobility which means that he will be able to make plays and work with you regardless of where you are, he is able to charm and hold off entire teams, his knock up makes him excellent for catching people out/chasing, especially since he can dash to you and he can do a tiny bit of healing which might help you survive an Ignite or so. A mechanically gifted Rakan along with a somewhat ahead Darius can 2v5 streamroll an enemy team.
Yuumi
Yuumi is great. If she decides to go into you, you can pretty much 2v5 the entire enemy team if you are fed enough. She is seriously great, as you are able to solo engage a teamfight and she will be able to use her ultimate to CC the entire enemy team in their place so that its easier for you to get your dunk on. She is great at chases and slowing people down, her healing is not Soraka good but it is still significant, and she gives you movement speed which is great.
Zilean
Zilean is a very fun champion to play with as Darius. He just makes life SOO MUCH EASIER. His ultimate allows you to risk your life and go for crazy plays. His stun is very strong and it lets him shut down whoever you catch. And you will be catching a lot of people as he gives you loads of movement speed. The best part is unlike some of the other IDEAL synergies, playing Zilean well is not the hardest thing to do in the world. He has probably the BEST synergy with Darius
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Alistar
Although I don't seen him around anymore, Alistar is a great support to have on your team. Having another frontliner on your team allows for you to build more damage and Alistar can set things up for you very effectively. Alistar also is able to engage teamfights which is great as engaging on Darius usually means that you will be focused down and killed before you can get your dunk on unless you build full tank engage with Aftershock or something.
Anivia
Anivia is an okay teamfighter and has decent waveclear. She is also a strong laner which means that having an Anivia on your team will give you a reliable source of slows and waveclear. She is great in 2v2s and she has so much waveclear on her that if you two are the only fed people on the team, she can 2v5 with you and also essentially hold an entire team off while you skirmish and look for picks somewhere else on the map.
Blitzcrank
Blitzcrank is good at catching people and that is pretty much it. The Synergy increases to "OK" if he can regularly hit hooks but in all honesty, Nautilus is better than Blitzcrank in almost every single way possible when it comes to working with Darius.
Braum
Braum is another good tanky support that works well with Darius due to how much CC he has. He isn't as tanky as an Alistar but he will be able to follow up VERY well if you go in too deep.
Galio
He is an okay midlaner to have due to how much he can roam. If he has a single shred of intelligence, ulting you when you are getting 3 manned and ccing everyone might just give you enough time to get your reset and kill them all.
Morgana
Morgana is an support that has SOME synergy with Darius but its not really comparable to a Zilean. Her Black Shield is very useful if you plan on running in and she can accompany you with her own ultimate. Her root is also a very powerful CC ability.
Sona
Sona is somewhat like Karma but she is pretty much worse in terms of working with Darius. This is mostly due to her range. Darius is going to be running in fairly quickly and Sona can't really keep up. But she does have healing, movement speed, damage and a pretty good ultimate that works best after the enemy have engaged on your team.
Wukong
Wukong has decent synergy with Darius. This is only due to his ultimate. Wukong will be able to dive and ult and entire enemy backline, with him also being able to chunk them down which makes it easier for you to get resets.
Karma
Karma is not really the best at anything. She's not even the second best at anything. She just has a bit everything really. She can give you shields and a decent bit of movement speed which is always nice. She has okay CC but its very slow so it will mostly be used as a follow up. Really, the only thing that makes her good is how she can give you a ton of movement speed.
Lissandra
Lissandra is an okay mage to have on your team if you yourself want to be the carry. She has great CC, can lock down people, and can, in certain circumstances, even engage teamfights. What's great about her is her passive though. Basically, with your Ultimate and her passive, you will be able to shut down entire teamfights as every kill will give you a reset and will turn into Lissandra's ice ghost which will walk towards and slow an enemy target.
Lulu
Lulu is an okay support champion to have on your team. Her shields suck but her slows allow for you to chase better and her ultimate saves you in teamfights. A Lulu becomes MUCH more useful if there is a fed champion on the enemy team, as she can polymorph them as you lock them down and begin trying to kill them.
Nami
Nami has fairly strong synergy with Darius because her abilities are a bit longer ranged so she can help you from afar. She is great at chasing people down and engaging fights with her ultimate. Her healing and the damage you get from it are negligible but in all honesty, Nami's synergy with Darius goes from worthless to strong depending on whether she can hit her bubbles consistently or not.
Taric
Taric is an okay champion when it comes to working with Darius. No, you can't do gold funneling so get that out of your head. I meant Taric as in Taric support. His downfall is that he isn't too mobile and that he is not there to do too much of his own. What he does do however is basically make you better at everything you do. If you catch someone, a Taric stun will keep them down long enough for you to kill them straight up. And also if you engage, a Taric ultimate will keep you alive for quite a long amount of time, with it being guaranteed to go off as Darius cannot be bursted down if he builds properly. He is a solid companion to have.
Soraka
Soraka is a great support to have in general, with her working with Darius as well. Her healing is insane. With her ultimate, she is going to be able to help you out during early fights anywhere on the map which is great. If you are up against a poke comp, she will be able to keep you very healthy as you facetank damage for your team. Soraka works well with Darius when you are on the offensive but where she really shines is when the enemy team have engaged on to you as you will get moments where the enemy team come VERY close to killing you but the Soraka is going to use everything at her disposal to keep you alive which will be more than enough for you to kill everyone. If she survives the teamfight, she will make sure you are healthy enough to tank any objective your team would get from winning that teamfight as well.
Thresh
A Thesh goes from OK to Strong depending on whether he can land his hooks or not. He is a wonderful champion to have as he can catch people out, have a good presence in teamfights with his ultimate and save you when you get caught. His flay also makes him great at keeping people off of you as you wait for your cooldowns to come back. A good Thresh is great to have around.
Leona
Leona is a great support champion to have as she has a TON of CC to work with. She isn't the tankiest by far but the sheer amount of CC she has allows her to engage, dive and follow up on essentially anything you want to do. She can keep an hold off and entire team while you get your passive.
Nautilus
Nautilus is somewhat like Leona in terms of him having very good synergy with Darius due to his CC and his tankiness. Nautilus is not as good as her at starting fights but he makes up for it with how great he is at catching people. A Nautilus that can hit his hooks along with a Darius that can do Darius things well is a very powerful combo.
Rakan
Rakan is a character that can get a LOT done. Having a Rakan that jumps around, dashes to you and etc. is like having hacks. He makes life so much easier for you. He has CRAZY mobility which means that he will be able to make plays and work with you regardless of where you are, he is able to charm and hold off entire teams, his knock up makes him excellent for catching people out/chasing, especially since he can dash to you and he can do a tiny bit of healing which might help you survive an Ignite or so. A mechanically gifted Rakan along with a somewhat ahead Darius can 2v5 streamroll an enemy team.
Yuumi
Yuumi is great. If she decides to go into you, you can pretty much 2v5 the entire enemy team if you are fed enough. She is seriously great, as you are able to solo engage a teamfight and she will be able to use her ultimate to CC the entire enemy team in their place so that its easier for you to get your dunk on. She is great at chases and slowing people down, her healing is not Soraka good but it is still significant, and she gives you movement speed which is great.
Zilean
Zilean is a very fun champion to play with as Darius. He just makes life SOO MUCH EASIER. His ultimate allows you to risk your life and go for crazy plays. His stun is very strong and it lets him shut down whoever you catch. And you will be catching a lot of people as he gives you loads of movement speed. The best part is unlike some of the other IDEAL synergies, playing Zilean well is not the hardest thing to do in the world. He has probably the BEST synergy with Darius
I've been a League of Legends player ever since the 6th Season, with me maining and learning the game through Darius. Right now I am a Darius Onetrick and my main is usually somewhere in Master/Grandmaster on the EUW server. I have peaked high Master before the end of Season 9 after which point I could no longer play properly due to my PC being broken. Season 10 I played well for a bit past the first month and peaked Top 400 (almost Challenger). At the moment, I constantly swap between accounts but I will be making the run for high elo again. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me through the Discussions section of this guide, through private messages on MobaFire, through my stream or through any of my socials which I will link below.
I do not wish to claim that I am some amazing high elo god by putting my opgg and all these plays here. I simply want to provide SOME credibility to this guide. Know that you are receiving advice from a person who knows what he is talking about when it comes to Darius. I have mained him ever since season 7. He was the perfect champion for me which was why after picking him up, I immediately started climbing. With him being a popular pick and a great character to learn the game with, I want people to understand the basics of this champion. Now I am a Darius player first. Therefore this guide, while it should be informative for everyone interested, the people who will make the most use out of it should be jungle players who wish to expand their champion pool. Though he is fragile at certain stages of the game, a snowballing Darius is very difficult to stop. With him being a less popular jungler, those who know his limits will be able to squeeze out leads against unaware opponents and use his immense teamfighting power to secure objectives and overwhelm opponents. He can 1v9 very well but it is not easy to pull off.
This guide is essentially going to contain everything you need to know in order to start playing Darius jungle. But my original guide, although it focuses on Darius Toplane, has in-depth information about every aspect of the champion and if you want to strengthen your knowledge on him, it is definitely worth a look. Just click the banner!
If you wish to add me ingame, here are my usernames:
RhĎŚku(EUW)
Rhoku(EUW)
King Rhoku(NA) very creative aren't they
For now, I exclusively play on the EUW server. I have an NA smurf but I am not actively playing on it at the moment. I apologise if I am rude to you. I am sometimes just tilted. However, do not let that discourage you from asking any question that you might have. I really enjoy teaching newer Darius players. You are also free to add me if you want to download some of my games. I will be playing more seriously once the season starts.
Here is my Youtube Channel. I don't have a regular schedule at all, as I only put videos on there when I can be bothered to make them. I'll mostly be uploading plays, guides and memes. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Here is my Twitch account. I stream there every now and again and I have linked it to this guide so you will know whenever I am live. At that point, feel free to come on and ask me questions live at any point in time. I stream mostly around midnight GMT.
A while ago I was talked into opening a Twitter account so here it is. I mostly just post low quality Darius memes, make unfunny/rude jokes and screw around with my friends. If this method is convenient for you, then feel free to DM me on there. If you are sensitive to certain topics/dislike edgy humour, then I suggest not visiting my Twitter.
Here is the Discord Channel for my stream where all of my content will be announced. I will always be on there all the time so you may contact me through there as well. I'd like to see you come and be a part of the community I am trying to build.
These are all the socials that I check regularly. I'd link more but honestly, some are just a waste of time as I am almost never on. Enough about me then. Let us begin.
Pros
+ Can potentially deal incredible amounts of damage. + Difficult to kill due to his tankiness. + Can win entire teamfights singlehandedly. + Is very good at exploiting mistakes. Low Elo Stomper. + His 2v2 potential immensely high. + Snowballs hard and can be used to win any lane if played correctly + Can easily come back into the game off of a single teamfight. He may be down, but he is never out. + Probably one of the best champs at contesting Scuttle
Cons
- Immobile and Very Easy to kite. - Missing E can sometimes mean certain death against strong, mobile kiters. (like Kindred) - Falls off and becomes more team reliant lategame. - Very difficult to play against better opponents. Harder to land Qs. - Not a good tank. Has mediocre peel. - Bad in 1v1s if he misses Q - Has a very weak early clear and suffers against better jungle champions. - People in SoloQ are prone to stealing your Ult resets
PASSIVE ABILITY
HEMORRHAGE
♦︎ Darius' basic attacks and damaging abilities cause enemies to bleed for 5 seconds, dealing 13 - 30 (based on level) (+ 30% bonus AD) physical damage over the duration. The bleeding will trigger every 1.25 seconds, and can stack up to 5 times, for a maximum of 65 - 150 (based on level) (+ 150% bonus AD) physical damage over the duration. ♦︎ Upon applying full Hemorrhage stacks to an enemy champion or killing one with Noxian Guillotine, Darius gains Noxian Might for 5 seconds. ♦︎ Noxian Might: Darius gains 30 - 230 (based on level) bonus attack damage and instantly applies full Hemorrhage stacks through his usual means.
Tips & Tricks
♦︎ Hemorrhage makes Darius a massive threat in lane as he is essentially going to win trades due to it. It is one of the two reasons as to why fighting Darius is a bad idea. The bleed stacks are a built in Ignite of sorts as they will be securing kills for you very often. It also has great synergy with your ultimate so try to get an idea of just how much each stack increases your ultimate’s damage by so that you can get access to Noxian Might faster. Noxian Might itself is what makes Darius such a monster. ♦︎ This passive gives Darius enough damage so building full damage on him is not ideal. You want to be surviving long enough in a fight to get you passive and then oneshot the enemy team with the overwhelming damage that it provides you with. Nothing closes out a fight faster than a Flash + Q with Noxian Might along with him executing everyone unfortunate enough to get hit. It turns disadvantaged fights in your favour and allows you to sweep up whatever’s left of the enemy team even when behind.
Q
DECIMATE
♦︎ Darius prepares his axe for 0.75 seconds, then swings it around himself, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies, reduced to 35% against enemies hit by the shaft. ♦︎ Darius heals for 15% - 45% (based on the amount of enemy champions hit by the blade) MISSING health. The shaft of Darius' axe will not apply Bleed or heal him.
Tips & Tricks
♦︎ Decimate is your main trading tool in lane. It is useful for wave clearing, poking weaker laners, trading vs stronger opponents, mass applying Noxian Might and staying alive thanks to its healing. Learning to land this ability is mandatory if you are going to be a good Darius, because a Darius that cannot land his Qs is not going to be of much use. And in many of the harder matchups, the opening for them to go in for a trade is you missing your Q. ♦︎ A trick to learn with Q that is useful for executing low health enemies and turning teamfights around is using it in conjunction with Flash. You learn how to do it consistently with experience after getting used to Flash range and Darius’ Qs’ outer zone. Try to get good at hitting Q as doing it in higher elos is difficult.
W
CRIPPLING STRIKE
♦︎ Darius' next basic attack within 4 seconds gains 25 bonus range, deals bonus physical damage and slows the target by 90% for 1 second. ♦︎ If Crippling Strike kills its target it refunds its mana cost and half of its cooldown. ♦︎ Crippling Strike resets Darius' autoattack timer.
Tips & Tricks
♦︎ Crippling Strike allows for you to slow the enemy enough to hit them with a Q, apply massive amounts of damage if you have Sheen and it is the source of most of your combos. An E->AA->W->Q combo is good to learn on Darius so make sure you know how to do it. Make sure to be used to your attack speed so that you can efficiently reset your autoattack timer with it. W is a great tool for farming as it refunds both half the cooldown and the entirety of the mana cost. Lastly, make sure you know how to cancel the animation of W by using it with Q. Further explanation on how to do this in the Combo section below.
E
APPREHEND
♦︎ Darius gains armor penetration. ♦︎ After a brief delay, Darius pulls in all enemies in front of him, slowing them by 40% for 1 second, and briefly grants sight of the area around the pull.
Tips & Tricks
♦︎ Landing this ability is vital to your survival on Darius in some matchups. Landing it can grant you kills, whereas missing it can get you killed. Instead of going to the people kiting you, you just bring them to you. This ability allows Darius to stand a chance against ranged laners and it gives him outplay potential against many things. ♦︎ Much like his Ultimate, Apprehend cannot be stopped. This means that it can be used to cancel things that suppress you like Warwick ultimate or Malzahar ultimate if you time your E correctly. E can also be used to pull people out of dashes. If you have great predicting skills and reactions. You can essentially render the dashes of many champions obsolete. Camille’s hookshot, Aatrox’ E and essentially ANY movement spell that isn’t instantaneous and isn’t explicitly states as being unstoppable. If you are fast enough, you can stop the really quick ones like Akali’s R and Irelia’s Q. ♦︎ You can utilise E to escape ganks or even engage the enemy team, which should work better if you have Aftershock. The passive armor pen makes you a nightmare to fight for tanks and lets you shred towers better which is always nice. ♦︎ People often don't utilise the slow of this ability. Basically, the champions that you pull are slowed for 1 second after you use your E. Now this is only situational, as some champions having movement abilities means you have to do your AA->W->Q combo immediately after pulling but if your opponent is immobile and you need to make optimal usage of your slows in order to run them down properly, you can use the slow of your E in order to land an extra auto before doing your combo (so basically E->AA(during E slow)->AA->W->Q).
♦︎ One thing to note is that despite your character model getting bigger, your E range stays consistent. That is why you might run into situations where you have Sterak's Gage activated and your E goes through the enemy champion’s model but it still does not hook.
R
NOXIAN GUILLOTINE
♦︎ Darius becomes unstoppable for 0.25 seconds and attempts to execute the targeted enemy champion, dealing icon true damage, increased by 0% - 100% (based on Hemorrhage stacks). ♦︎ If Noxian Guillotine kills its target, Darius causes all nearby minions and monsters to flee in terror for 3 seconds during which they are rapidly slowed by up to 99% over the duration, activates Noxian Might, and is able to recast the ability within the next 20 seconds at no additional cost. This can occur multiple times in succession. ♦︎ At rank 3, if Noxian Guillotine kills its target, its cooldown resets completely.
Tips & Tricks
♦︎ The execute. The dunk. The identity of Darius. Noxian Guillotine is why Darius is feared in teamfights. A good Darius will make proper usage of it and clean up teamfights at every opportunity. There is a bug ingame, as the “Maximum” damage displayed, does not factor in your Noxian Might AD so it is lower than what you will ACTUALLY do by 60-345 damage. ♦︎ It is a good idea to know how much minimum damage your ultimate does so that you are able to get an easy reset off of a low HP opponent which should win you the fight. Just know how much your ultimate does as you do not have an indicator like Cho'Gath or Pyke. Make sure to take shields and heals into account, as you might need an auto or two before utling to make sure they don’t get in your way. ♦︎ Although it is always good to secure the kill with your ultimate, keep in mind that sometimes, it might be better to use the ultimate early, when it won’t kill. This is useful vs champions who have invulnerability spells ( Fiora, Kayle), in fights where getting your passive is more important than getting your ultimate off, when you have a Sheen and just need the empowered auto and for when you are about to die which means that you might as well use it so that your team can capitalise off of your damage. ♦︎ If you are looking to Flash+R, make sure to buffer your R before you Flash as that makes it instantaneous and impossible to avoid, even if the enemy Flashes. ♦︎ You are unstoppable while ulting. Unless the spell ( Sivir) or the damage ( Fiora) is blocked, the ability is going to go through no matter the distance or anything. It cannot be avoided and can only be stopped by killing Darius. If your target gets out of vision, goes untargetable( Zhonya's Hourglass) or you yourself are in stasis( Bard R), then the Ultimate does not go through but it also does not go on cooldown so you will be able to use it again instantly. It is a good idea to ward the other side of a wall or a bush, when you know that your opponent is going to be using Flash to try to escape. ♦︎ A little known trick with Darius is that you don't have to kill an enemy with your Ultimate for it to reset. I know it sounds crazy but if the enemy just dies milliseconds after you use your ultimate, regardless of whether it is you or your ally that kills them, you get your ultimate back. If you attack speed is high enough, you might be able to get your ultimate back if you kill the enemy with your Auto Attack right after ulting. ♦︎ Another thing to consider is that Darius' R is technically a movement ability. If you look closely, Darius slightly moves closer to his target that he uses his ultimate on. This basically means that you cannot use your ultimate if you are grounded, by Cassiopeia's Miasma for example, or rooted.
I will only explain how the viable runes synergise with Darius when it comes to jungling. I have already done an extensive breakdown of how every single rune and keystone in the game works with Darius in my other guide. Go check it out if you are curious.
Primary Trees
Precision
As the best tree for Darius, Precision offers you power in many areas that other trees simply cannot compare against. As a primary tree, you definitely get more consistent power from precision. For Keystones, Conqueror allows you to scale much better and be a lot stronger in all fights. It also is vital a lot of the time early game to the point where if you are fighting someone with Conqueror when you yourself don’t have Conqueror, you are at a disadvantage. Fleet Footwork lets you have a MUCH more healthy clear. This leads to you better being able to fight and go for opportunities in the middle of your clear, as you will have the health to do so.
There is no debate or question over which one is the best here. The other runes don’t work and Triumph is honestly the most powerful rune in the game if you don’t count keystones. It is stronger than half the keystones anyway for Darius.
For the most part, you want to go for Tenacity. As a Jungler, you have to deal with more CC than a roamer so you need the extra tenacity. However, the attack speed is good for more DPS and it helps your clearing so if you do not need the tenacity or if the enemy CC is avoidable, then go for Legend: Alacrity.
The cases in which Coup de Grace is useful are not really common. The opposite is true for Last Stand. Just take Last Stand as it is MUCH better.
Domination
In my opinion the Domination tree is overall, the worst tree in the game for Darius. It can be fun to use here and there in Normal games but if your goal is winning, then stay away from this tree in general. The only reason you'd even consider the Domination tree is purely due to Predator. Predator for Darius jungle is a very powerful rune, as it pretty much acts as like a Ghost on a shorter cooldown. It does not really let you outplay and do much DURING fights like Ghost but it makes your ganks quite formidable and gives you overall mobility which Darius is obviously lacking. The downside is that you cannot take Precision or Conqueror so your clears will be weak and your 1v1ing will be much worse. Predator is difficult to use and if you think you can play the gank heavy playstyle that make this rune worth it, then you are welcome to try it.
These are all either bad, have very little use or are good but insignificant. Just go for Eyeball Collection to have the extra AD.
You can either take Ravenous Hunter that lets you clear more healthily and get a nice chunk of healing from your ultimate provided you have fully stacked it up, or Relentless Hunter which gives you movespeed which Darius loves. The runes are nice but the fact that you have to stack them up combined with how Darius' ganks are kinda terrible makes it a bit difficult to use to their full potential.
Secondary Tree
Sorcery
Nimbus Cloak is vital for Darius Jungle. This rune combined with blue smite lets Darius actually have viable ganks that aren’t just him running up to someone. This also makes his plays with his other summoner spell, Flash or Ghost, to be more devastating. Even if you are taking predator, the in fight mobility that Nimbus Cloak can give is VERY versatile and it can be used as a mini Ghost if needed. Basically speaking, if you are jungling on Darius, get it.
Overall, you mostly want to go for Celerity out of these three if you want to have all of your movespeed amplified. Darius Jungle relies on movespeed quite a bit which makes this rune very strong.
Instead of Celerity, you may also take Waterwalking. Darius already is very powerful in river fights and Waterwalking only amplifies this.
Stats
You mostly be wanting to go this setup as the Armor will also be helping you against the camps themselves, in addition to the enemy. Although the adaptive force and the armor can be adapted to the enemy team, you almost ALWAYS want attack speed in the first slot
Item Set
THIS SECTION IS OUTDATED!
Here is a video I made about Darius’ Items. It is mostly for Toplane but it applies to jungle as well. I will make more specialized videos for Jungle later on but for now, this video plus the things I’ve written below should be enough.
STARTING ITEMS
Hunter's Talisman
Hunter's Talisman is pretty much your most viable choice into the jungle. Darius’ clear sucks a lot but at the very least, Talisman allows for you to take a few camps like the Raptor camp with many creatures more easily. His bleed synergises with Talisman very well, allowing you to the trick where you Q the raptor camp and do the red where this just gives you a ton of HP back. Overall, Talisman is much better than Machete.
Hunter's Machete
Hunter's Machete is worse than Hunter's Talisman. Focusing on the single target camps with Machete like Gromp and both buffs is not the worst, especially if you are starting blue side but I’ve tried out both and Talisman is just better.
I enjoy getting this over Health Potions because you get to use it beyond the first back. It is really helpful in certain situations and in fights as well. But only get it after you are more confident in your clears.
FIRST BACK
Control Ward
Control Wards are vital. As a jungler, vision control is a bigger priority for you so you should always be carrying around a few Control Wards, placing them down in objectives or even for your laners to help them out.
Stalker's Blade
Stalker's Blade is the go to option for Darius early on. The Blue Smite, combined with Nimbus Cloak, actually allows Darius to execute ganks that are more than just him walking up on someone. Smite can be used in a lot of ways and learning to manage it and save it so that you have it up in ganks is a skill. Overall, I would never go for Red Smite on Darius. Blue Smite just turns him into an actual jungler. Not a good one. But one that can gank at least.
Boots of Speed
Picking up an early Boots is great. It lets you kite better. It lets you stick to enemy champions better and it allows you to dodge skillshots much more easily and as a jungler, you get to move around the map faster. Not by much, but every bit helps. I love being able to move around so I usually pick it up on my first back. Doing so also allows me to more quickly upgrade it into one of the two very powerful upgrades straight away after I finish my Jungle Item.
Long Sword
AD in the jungle is very useful and if you are going for Stalker's Blade - Warrior, you might want to go for a few long swords instead of boots. It lets you clear your camps faster and it makes you more dangerous in fights. It is risky but if you are snowballing, it could be a good path to take playstyle wise.
JUNGLE ITEM
Stalker's Blade - Warrior
Darius’ normal playstyle is getting damage that also gives him utility and tankiness, with the option of outlasting the opponent and waiting for 5 stacks to always be available. But the nature of the Jungle role opens up a new path for Darius that is more fun and more 1v9 yet more risky. Going for the damage items like Ghostblade and etc. allow for Darius to be a very major backline threat. You are no longer looking to get 5 stacks. Your goal is to do your combo of AA-W-Q and then use your ultimate straight up. If you are fed and are going for more damage items, you will straight up oneshot squishies with this combo. Not to mention how in a teamfight with Flash, the extra AD will make your plays very devastating if you managed to get Noxian Might off of someone. Now going FULL damage is stupid and I wouldn’t advise it. But getting an early Warrior instead of a Cinderhulk will give you so much damage that you will be able to snowball out of control and you might even have enough money for Trinity Force if you get enough kills which just gives you 1v9 amount of damage, even if you just build full tank afterwards. It is new but if you are fed and want to carry, if you want to 1v9 or if you simply want to blow squishies up, try it out and see if you enjoy the extra damage.
Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk
Warrior is fun and very good for solo carrying. But it is VERY risky. The lack of tankiness in the form of hp or resistances will leave you VERY squishy to the point where a fed mage or adc on the enemy team could shut you down for good with the help of proper peel. If you would like a bigger margin for error, if the enemy has more damage or if you simply are not as confident in your ability to carry, Cinderhulk is a very powerful option and the buffer passive of the item should be useful, as going full tank will allow for you to stick to people and eat their damage more.
BOOTS
Ninja Tabi
Ninja Tabi are amazing. They essentially work into every AD jungler in the book. And into some, it is mandatory. Lee Sin, Rek'Sai and Olaf are great examples of champions that you need Tabis against if you do not want to be destroyed. Ninja Tabi give you a decent bit of armor but the passive is what makes this item shine. The reduction of AA damage makes this great into any and all autoattackers. If the enemy team has a strong auto attacking character, say a fed ADC, Toplaner or a fed auto attacker, you will probably be looking to pick up Ninja Tabi.
Mercury's Treads
Mercury's Treads are great items as well. The tenacity that they provide can be great into matchups where they have stuns that you cannot counterplay. Champions like Kennen, Ryze or even Neeko where dodging her stun is possible but very difficult. Treads work very well into high CC teams with champions like Sejuani, Morgana or Braum where you getting stunned is an inevitability. Though I wouldn’t recommend it for Toplane, but as a jungler who is going to be dealing with everyone on the enemy team from early on, getting Mercs earlier is well worth it if heavy CC is problematic.
Boots of Mobility
Boots of Mobility are for when you are going the damage build and would like to go in and out of lanes over and over again. It is for when you are super fed in terms of kills, are getting all the damage items, are camping lanes and just ganking people non stop. You WILL be set behind in XP but in terms of gold, these boots can help you ramp up your snowballing to a maximum and let you solo win a game in 5-10 minutes. But doing so requires a LOT of good jungling knowledge. And honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it as it gives no actual combat stats and the other upgraded boots are better DURING fights. But if you are fed and love to live on the edge, pick them up a bit and see if you like the high speed playstyle.
TRINITY FORCE vs BLACK CLEAVER
The choice between Trinity Force and Black Cleaver is one you are going to have to make depending on your playstyle, the enemy team composition and whether you are able to generate a lead or not. The TL;DR of the comparison is that you want to go Trinity Force if you are ahead and are up against squishy champions. This makes you a better splitpusher, duelist, a bigger backling threat and overall just a better carry. Black Cleaver however, is what you want to buy when you are up against more than 2 tanks, when you have fallen behind, as it lets you be more useful to your team in teamfights, or you want to go for hard wins the early game as it is cheaper. Do not build both of them at the same time for the love of god.
TRINITY FORCE
VS
BLACK CLEAVER
Trinity Force has much more damage and it lets you outplay your opponents better. You will be less of a use to your team utility wise but that does not matter as you will be a dueling monster and a splitpushing threat with how quickly you take down turrets. Your burst makes you very dangerous to the enemy backline and allows for your Flash plays to be even more powerful. You want to go for Trinity Force if you are fed and it is up to you to carry. As a jungle, you will also LOVE the 5% extra movespeed.
Black Cleaver is what you should go for if you are looking to play more around your team, if the enemy has a tanky lineup, if you fell behind in lane or if you want to build cheap damage items and win the game quickly(better into lategame teams. Lets you 1v9 finish the game before they can scale). It has more AD and HP but it does not offer anywhere close to the damage Trinity Force does. Your bleed passive synergises with the item very well, because if you hit an enemy once, the bleed stack will lead to them having the full Black Cleaver armour shred. If you wish to work more with the team incase there is another carry, and especially if you are looking to frontline for your team, then Black Cleaver with a full tank build might be a viable option.
VIABLE ITEMS
Sterak's Gage
Sterak's Gage is an incredible item for Darius. The stats that it gives are great. The health is great but due to Darius’ high base AD, the item gives you up to 70 bonus AD which is very powerful. The shield along with the tenacity is very powerful in teamfights as it stops you from being bursted down. It lets you survive getting caught, survive some burst, and it helps you 2v1. Another great thing about this item is that the shield scales off of the HP you will build and the bonus AD will scale along with your level, leading to the item scaling well as the game continues.
Dead Man's Plate
This is a great best tank item for Darius. It gives you great tank stats and it gives you an okay slow on your next auto attack. The damage is somewhat negligible. But the slow on the AA is not why we build this item. The movement speed is. The movement speed lets you chase people down better and, more importantly, it allows for you to rotate much faster. This becomes exceedingly more useful as the game goes, as you might have to collapse on someone or get to an objective before a fight breaks out. The movement speed is also helpful when splitpushing.
Spirit Visage
The tank stats of this item are great. The increased healing on it, makes Spirit Visage your go to Magic Resist item. It synergises incredibly well with Darius, as your Q hits now heal for 20% of your missing HP instead of 15. It is a great option when the enemy players pick up grievous wounds and a VERY good purchase when your team has a healer.
Righteous Glory
Turbo Chemtank is a very nice item. It gives you a powerful active, decent tank stats and is quite cheap. It allows for you to catch up to characters who would normally kite you out. It helps you teamfight better, so it is a great 3rd of 4th item to pick up. If you are up against some cheese champion like Zilean or a Vayne, then Turbo Chemtank might be your only hope of reaching and killing them.
ITEM POOL
Randuin's Omen
This item is great if you are up against champions that build crit. Yasuos, Tryndameres and fed ADCs come to mind. The slow on it is very great in teamfights and when catching people out for your team. It makes you tankier than Dead Man's Plate but the movespeed from Dead Man's Plate is better for the Jungle so get this if you just need to tank up and be better in teamfights.
Adaptive Helm
Adaptive Helm is somewhat inferior to Spirit Visage but if you are up against an AP champion that spams abilities like Ryze or Cassiopeia, then you need to go for this item. Adaptive Helm also works vs the AP damage portion of Corki’s autoattacks, Kai'Sas passive and Kog'Maw’s percentage health damage. It works against ANY SOURCE OF MAGIC DAMAGE THAT IS REPEATED. It should work against Mordekaiser as well but if you are going to itemise against him, it is better for you to pick up Quicksilver Sash, break free of his ultimate and disengage as he only beats you with his ultimate.
Thornmail
Thornmail is a very niche item but it is great at what it does. Though for most of the game, you will be sitting on a Bramble Vest, upgrading it to Thornmail is not a bad idea at all. The massive amount of Armour helps greatly when you are stacking it against a full AD team. This item is optimal against an enemy team that has healing autoattackers( Fiora, Draven with Bloodthirster). It also SOMEWHAT helps against those that build on-hit but on-hit builds tend to be nigh impossible to deal with once the one building them gets ahead. Overall, Thornmail is a great pickup if you are up against a full AD team.
Gargoyle Stoneplate
Gargoyle Stoneplate is, in my opinion, a very underrated and underutilized item for Darius. If you are planning on frontlining for your own team, you are your team's only engage or you are up against heavy DPS, this item is a MUST HAVE. It only helps in teamfights so you will be mostly wanting to take it into games where you will be working with your team extensively. The item allows for you to tank a LOT of damage (unless you are up against a character like Vayne or Kog'Maw) for quite a long time. It gives you time to stack your passive off of tanks during the active duration of the item, then allowing for you to engage and reap the enemy team after its effects are over. It is also a great item for saving you if you are low, with it not decrease the damage of your ultimate being a nice bonus. But it is somewhat counterintuitive if you are going for a Trinity Force based build, as it cuts your damage by a significant amount. Normally, you would stray away from this item but if you fell behind and you are in a position where you HAVE to work with your team, this item is an excellent choice.
Death's Dance
Death's Dance is a damage item. It gives you a lot of AD and makes all of your abilities do quite a bit of damage. The CDR is great, the lifesteal allows you to sustain much better and the passive of the item makes you impossible to burst down along with Sterak's Gage. The biggest weakness of the item is its price. There are cheaper items that work better with Darius and the time it takes to build Death's Dance is enough for the enemy, who is building properly, to screw you over. Not to mention how it is super risky, meaning that if you get taken down with it, you will be throwing away a massive lead and it might be the mistake that costs you the game if you are your teams only carry. If you know you can play carefully, it is an okay option.
Guardian Angel
Guardian Angel is the item that you want to be getting if you are super ahead and have to carry your team. It is when you know that your death would probably lead to the end of the game which is why you would immediately build this item and then get into teamfights to abuse your mid-game powerspike. The stats on it are not that appealing but the passive is really great. Keep in mind that this item isn't going to allow you to go “oh I get to turn off my brain and run at the enemy team”. When you carry, you have to think the MOST. So when you die, make sure that you have taken down enough people with you to the point where your team can actually follow up and help you as you revive. The item does fall off super hard lategame, where a tank item would be much better though. It is a good choice as a third item.
Youmuu's Ghostblade
Youmuu's Ghostblade is the only lethality item I'd recommend. It works very well against a squishy team and combined with Black Cleaver/ Trinity Force, you will just oneshot squishies instantly. Overall, high risk but high reward item. Don't use it if you are new to Darius or if you are going for the tankier, Cinderhulk build.
Knight's Vow
Playing support AS Darius isn't great. HOWEVER, if you are feeding and you have a fed carry on your team who is your only hope for victory, then it does help to get tanky support items like Knight's Vow or Locket of the Iron Solari to help them out.
Quicksilver Sash
Quicksilver Sash is a great item to pick up and sit on if you are your team's only carry and are against Malzahar or Mordekaiser. It is even more important if you are a jungler as Mordekaiser can stop you from securing objectives. Just train yourself to use it quickly. You almost never want to upgrade it to Mercurial Scimitar unless it is hyper late game, and you have completely filled out all of your item slots.
Executioner's Calling
Executioner's Calling is similar to Bramble Vest in purpose. Darius’ bleed allows for him to apply Grievous Wounds very effectively with this item. If they have a strong healer on the enemy team and nobody else is willing to pick this item up, then it might be you who has to do it. Executioner's Calling is also great into Vladimir and Swain, as they are big healers who won’t be auto attacking you. Unfortunately, Executioner's Calling does not build into any useful item for Darius later down the line. Once another character in your team gets Grievous Wounds, you should be selling it.
FLASH
Flash is vital on Darius. It makes him a threat to the enemy backline, it saves your life when you get caught which will be often as an immobile champion and it allows you to outplay your opponents in any situation. It also lets you cross walls when it is urgent and make plays around major objectives, letting you steal with smite.
GHOST
Ghost is a great summoner spell as it eliminates one of the things that inhibit your destructive abilities on Darius which is your lack of mobility. Ghost makes it difficult to nigh impossible to kite you, it makes it easy to land your Qs, it lets you run away from bad fights(not as effectively as flash), it also lets you chase people down and it is on a much lower cooldown than Flash meaning you will be able to make more plays. Ghost takes most 1v1s from tricky/impossible, to easy/doable. In toplane, most Darius onetricks take it all the time but it is much more risky in the Jungle, as Flash is just necessary and if you fall behind with Ghost, you are likely going to stay behind.
Smite
You cannot jungle without Smite. No jungle items, no objective control, MUCH worse clears, etc. Bad idea in general. My other guide is more useful if you are planning on playing him toplane.
The thing with Darius is that there is no one concrete combo. This is not a fighting game. This is not Riven where you have a combo lined up for every situation. As Darius, you have your abilities which you can use in any order. It all depends on the situation.
The biggest thing to remember for Darius though is the cancelling of his W animation. You use your empowered W on a target and then press Q just as Darius begins his auto attack animation. This way, Darius still hits the enemy with his W but the wind up for the Q begins which allows for you to hit your enemy with the two abilities one after another. Add an auto attack and you are left with an AA+W+Q combo that can get you 3 stacks in seconds. With Trinity Force, this combo will be able to chunk squishies down and do so VERY quickly. Get into practice tool and work on being able to do this combo reliable.
Another thing you can practice is to make sure the enemy has no chance to escape your ultimate. If you are in a teamfight or are chasing your opponent down where your target is out of your R range, and your ultimate will immediately kill them, then the obvious thing is to Flash+R. But remember, if the enemy predicts that you will do this, then they can Flash too. In order to circumvent this, you have to press R on your target and THEN Flash. R+ Flash. In the opposite order. Why this is better is due to the fact that when you press R on someone, Darius will walk towards them and ult immediately as they get in range. So if you R before you Flash and are in Ult range with your opponent for mere milliseconds, then Darius will automatically begin ulting. And we all know that Darius Ultimate cannot be dodged once it begins. This techinque essentially reduces the time window the enemy has to Flash or dash away to a bare minimum. It being super easy to do is also a plus.
One more thing you can do is practice Flash Q and Flash E. They are not really any special mechanics but you have to practice the timing. The key idea is to Flash just before Darius swings his Q around, NOT when he winds it up. Remember, in League of Legends, the more time you give your opponent to react, the less successful you are going to be. Be lightning quick so that you can kill them before they can react. Both Flash Q and E will get better as you play more Darius and get used to his hitboxes and whatnot though.
Here is a video I made where I do all of the above and explain how to do so, how they work and etc. along with a few more tips here and there.
Overall, you want to be staying away from Gromp earlier on as you will have Hunter’s Talisman since it is what you will be running 99% of the time. I can’t give you a guaranteed route that will work ALL the time but this one has worked so far. Keep in mind that if you are doing a camp but see a lane that needs help IMMEDIATELY and you CAN make a difference, drop the camp and go help. This is only if it is an emergency though. Don’t be doing this earlier on.
Red - Raptor - Wolves - Blue - Gromp - Gank/Crab - Back - Krugs - etc.
You mostly want to start at Red, regardless of whether it is your toplane or your botlane leashing you. It is true that 2 people leashing is better than 1 but Red Buff gives you HP regen and it lets you do more damage and clear faster which leads to you overall having a healthier clear. But if you want to start botlane, you may use this path which is essentially just a mirrored version. You want a decent leash regardless, as any bit helps at the end of the day. And also, HIT YOUR QS ON THE MAIN MONSTERS. The healing from your Q is vital so make sure you don’t miss it. EVER.
Blue - Wolves - Raptor - Red - Krugs - Gank/Crab - Back - Gromp - etc.
After this you mostly wanna path in a way through your camps that will lead you to the lanes you wish to gank/objectives you plan on pressuring/taking. You want to kill camps as soon as they come up because camps have levels. You see, a camp will have the level of the average level of all champions in the game. And the higher level a camp is, the more XP and Gold it will give off. So if you kill them quickly, they will respawn more and you will get a bigger overall yield from them.
Keep your eyes open for invade opportunities. Lets say your enemy jungler ganks top but you can’t make plays botside. Then go take all of his botside camps but be sure to start backing off when his team starts rotating.
Kiting camps is a very important part of jungling as it reduces the amount of damage you take by quite a lot. My Jungle gameplay contains quite a bit of it from a Darius’ perspective but it is not really a tutorial whereas this video is. So go check this video out and try to apply it in game so that you minimize HP loss.
Another trick you can do is quickly Q the raptor camp and THEN start doing redbuff. The Talisman passive combined with your bleed will give you an INSANE amount of HP regen overall, which will make your inital clear very healthy.
As Darius, you have to pick your ganks very carefully as you are not very good at them until you get your blue smite. In earlier levels, you mostly want to be looking at counter ganks but if you are just ganking by yourself, try to do so towards lanes that are pushed up as they will have time to walk away if they are closer to your turret. Once you get near the bushes, use your Oracle Lens so that you are not spotted by wards.
Also keep the amount of setup your laners have in mind. If you are ganking for a Leona+ Draven who can instantly start fights, you will have a much easier time than ganking for a Vladimir top who will basically do nothing until you come and engage. Once you get your blue smite and your ultimate, your tankiness and your burst will allow you to dive very well so you basically want to run at the enemy, blue smite them and then pile your slows on. Try to save your E for the last with this. Basically run in, do your AA-W-Q but save your E for when they Flash. It is also not bad to use your flash in ganks earlier on.
Use Blast Cone and your vision plants as much as possible too. Olaf has a VERY SIMILAR playstyle to Darius in the jungle in terms of both builds, paths and ganking patterns so if you are a jungler looking for a good parallel that you are familiar with or a player who wants to learn more about jungle but apply it to Darius, then Olaf is similar enough to the point where your knowledge should improve your Darius Jungle gameplay.
As an early game lane bully, this period of the game is going to be the most important one. Darius spikes very hard during early-midgame fights where nobody has the damage to burst him down. Gathering a lead in early scuttle fights or counterganks will allow for you to be the main carry of your team up until the very end of the midgame. Darius jungle is a tricky playstyle. You NEED levels as Darius as without levels, Darius is very terrible as that is how he gets all of his stats. But you also need kills to be effective. This is why I think that you should be playing around clearing your jungle but also being there for bigger fights. You should be trying very hard to track your enemy jungler and just mirroring their ganks. Darius will win most 2v2s so learning how to countergank properly is the way to go if you want to put yourself ahead, and more importantly, put the enemy jungler behind. You also want to be looking to gank botlane the most as you will be getting more kills and an objective out of it. Speaking of objectives, PRIOTIZIE THEM. Try to plan your jungle routes around the objectives that are up and make sure you do not neglect them. Laners pay very little attention to objectives as they are wayy to busy fighting their opposing laner. You are the one who has to initiate things most of the time. Take as many drakes as possible and never give them away unless you have no other choice. So plan around ganks/fights that give you multiple kills, objectives, and invades/1v1s where you are trying to put yourself ahead of the enemy jungler. Be careful when invading though as if the enemy laners start rotating, you are ****ed as you really have no good escape since you are immobile.
Overall, try to get as big as you possibly can get in terms of both XP and Gold, as you will need it if you want to truly 1v9.
Mid Game Playstyle
The midgame is arguably the most important part of the game and most of the time, it is when the game is on its way to finish as game length has been very low lately. The length of a game gets lower the higher up the ranks you go, as people tend to be better at closing games out and knowing what to do with leads. The midgame is when Darius spikes the hardest. As long as you haven’t died more than 3-4 times and actually have ganked your team a bit and have kept up in farm, you should be one of the key players for your team so keep your eyes open. And even if you did feed, getting multiple kills in a single teamfight can get you back into the game so you should always keep your eyes open.
Mid game when you should be looking to end the game. Your biggest priority should be taking down your opponent’s first turrets in every lane using Herald or by just wiping out the enemy laners and taking the turret with your allied laners. but that alone isn’t enough to win you games. The tricky part of this stage is balancing how much time you spend farming with how much time you spend getting kills and/or objectives around the map. Though the more fed you are, the more fights and objectives you should be taking as you are just powerful enough to do so and taking as many as possible is the way to rush the game to a quicker finish. I myself play primarily around Botlane and Midlane. This is due to the fact that if I win midlane, then I can roam together with midlane to 3-4 man top or botlane. Not to mention how Midlane can help for both Herald and Drakes. Botlane has 2 kills instead of 1 and a successful botlane gank will usually amount to a turret or a drake. And in this meta, getting as many drakes as possible is a win condition due to how powerful Dragon Soul is. I usually do hit my toplaner up with an early level 3-4 gank to help them snowball. This is simply my playstyle though. I just think its easier to win the game through the botside. Rift Herald is a powerful objective so if you get ahead early, take it with your toplaner or even alone if you aren’t afraid of the enemy 2v1ing you. Rift Herald can actually help you take T2s and push the game to an early win VERY quickly. But be aware that taking inhibitor before Baron is sometimes bad as it is just giving the enemy free farm. Superminions give a lot of gold so try to only use it to take the other turrets first.
As you start snowballing, the rest of the momentum should just come naturally as you go from one side of the map to the other, taking objectives left and right. As long as you are fed, you are the one dictating the game and you do NOT want to give the enemy ANY room to breathe. Be ruthless, be quick and be decisive. You fall off.
Mid game is when teamfights occur most often and you should ALWAYS be involved. Before we get into these concepts, there are a few more things that you should know. One of these things is the importance of your summoner spells. You might’ve noticed that after playing a bunch of Darius, WITH your Ghost and Flash, you are an unstoppable god but without them, you feel like an immobile turtle who rarely does anything without help from your team. This is why sometimes, it is better to get into fights only when you have your summoner spells. And sometimes, a single kill won’t be worth a summoner spell. It is up to you really. Just be aware of your limits as a Darius who has no summoner spells as overstepping and expecting to be saved by your Ghost when in actuality it is on cooldown can be a great way to int away a game. Another key tip is to NOT DIE. Seriously. Dying throws away such a massive gold and XP lead. If you just focus on not dying and you keep farming properly, you will eventually build up a 3-4 level advantage over the enemy team. That is not to say that it is ALWAYS bad to die. But it is just bad MOST of the time. With how bounties work recently, if you have a lead, then the game is going to slap a bounty on you which will make death even more punishing.
Here is a Coaching video I will be linking multiple times in this guide as it explains a lot of concepts at once.
Teamfighting
Teamfights in most elos are a chaotic mess where nobody really knows what’s going on. And sometimes, that includes you at times. To keep focus in teamfights and not do stupid things, you have to, first off, clear your head when a teamfight is coming up. Concentration is key. The next thing is to establish what your goals for a teamfight are. What is your role for this current game? Are you acting as a peeler where you will be sticking to your carry, stopping everyone from getting to them and getting 5 stacks off of the tank that is going to attack them in order to then run the enemy team down? Are you a tank frontliner who will be the one engaging and facing the enemy tanks? Or are you a squishy yet dangerous threat to the enemy backline who can use his summoner spells to decimate the enemy backline? Whatever your goals are, keep them in mind but do not adhere to them too much. It is a dynamic game and sometimes, unpredictable things can happen. You might be trying to get 5 stacks off of a tank but then an assassin will be caught and reduced to 300 health right next to you. At that point, switching targets will allow you to get to your passive faster. Do not tunnel vision too much. Keep a general overview of how the fight is going. And if it looks like you guys are all gonna die, it might be better to fall back and mitigate the losses.
Your goal as Darius should be to kill the enemy team which you do by getting access to your passive. Your passive is a GAME CHANGER. It can turn the tide of battle as it lets you oneshot essentially anyone on the enemy team unless you are very far behind. There are two approaches to go about doing so but keep this thing in mind. IF A LOW HP ENEMY IS IN YOUR RANGE, GO FOR THEM! AUTO THEM ONCE AND USE YOUR ULTIMATE TO KILL THEM. The more you play Darius, the more of a sense you are going to get for how much damage he does with his ultimate. Now that we got that out of the ways, lets get into the two ways. Manually stack up to 5, and then chunking a backliner with a combo and executing them with R. Manually stacking up to your passive can take quite a bit of time. You need to be a frontliner to do so and as a tank, you will be very prone to getting comboed and chunked down. The other way is to get your hands onto a Soraka or a Jhin or some other low HP backline champion and using your combo to get them low enough where your Ultimate will be enough to kill them without 5 stacks. This way is easier to do when you are flanking and you are generally going to need a summoner spell to do it effectively. But this way IS the more effective way to go through teamfights unless you’ve built like a full tank. Flanking is all about vision control and having superior positioning. You could also do it with splitpushing but splitting as a jungler is a very bad idea.
If you haven’t carried the game to a victory by now, know that it is no longer up to you to win the game. Darius is strong early, immensely powerful midgame but also terribly weak lategame. Although a tank build will allow you to do more than a damage build, you will get shredded to bits either way by the enemy backline. You have to work with your teammates and if your teammates are feeding, then the game is essentially lost. Splitpushing is not really an option as you are the Jungler. If the enemy team sees you on the other side of the map, then it is a chance for them to begin rushing an objective with your team not being able to stop them. Just be a meatshield/ Smite bot for your team. Teamfighting lategame is very difficult as one misstep results in your immediate death. If you do not have Flash or Ghost, then you will not be able to do any killing in a teamfight if the enemy carries know how to kite properly. Your ultimate damage is still staggering though. You should be saving your squishy teammates from assassins and peeling for them until you get your Noxian Might after which point you should try to oneshot at least one of the enemy carries using your Flash. Your ultimate also helps deal with tanks. Don't tunnel vision on attacking the enemy.
PROTECT YOUR BACKLINE.
They have the damage to carry now, you don't.
Thanks a lot for reading this guide. It was difficult to get this out ASAP as I don't have too much time on my hands. I will be putting in more improvements as time goes on! Matchups and Synergies will come soon! But for now, I hope this is good enough. I tried to contain everything you need to know in this guide. If you do have any specific questions or need something explained in more detail, then simply contact me and I will try my best to help out as quickly as possible. And be sure to check out my original Darius Guide for more Darius information :D
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