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Darius Build Guide by nhumanh69

AD Offtank True Noxian Might. It's a Darius guide ok?

AD Offtank True Noxian Might. It's a Darius guide ok?

Updated on January 1, 2017
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League of Legends Build Guide Author nhumanh69 Build Guide By nhumanh69 32 3 1,126,420 Views 50 Comments
32 3 1,126,420 Views 50 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author nhumanh69 Darius Build Guide By nhumanh69 Updated on January 1, 2017
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Darius
    Standard NBA Master
  • LoL Champion: Darius
    Noxian Psychopath
  • LoL Champion: Darius
    My personal enjoyment

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

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

JUST READ THIS, please

I'm a Diamond Darius main. This is what I've come up with using my knowledge about Darius and stuff around him.
  • I'm trying to make this very very in depth with everything I know.
  • It's all about self preference.
  • This build has been working out for me real good, so i'm just sharing it with you guys.

IT'S CRAZY HOW MY GUIDE GOT SO POPULAR! THANKS A LOT CHAMPS!



Please leave your comment about stuff like how well this build works out for you, what can I adjust to improve the guide, what I've been doing that you think is wrong, ect. If you find this helpful to an extent, please upvote. It really helps out a lot!
Ask me any question in the discussion section.. I will try my best to answer.


There are many counters to Darius, most of them abusing the fact that Darius has no gap closer or speed boost, so be a little thoughtful about when to pick Darius:
  • Do not pick Darius against specific champions: Master Yi, Lee Sin (in the jungle), Kennen, LeBlanc, Vayne.
  • Do not pick against full ranged/4 ranged team. Ranged champions can kite Darius hard, and 4-5 of them are gonna do that without needing any skill whatsoever. Just ranged top laner and jungler are gonna make your game so much harder already.
  • It's generally not good to one trick Darius, even though I kinda one trick him in a sense.



I also have a youtube channel called Epsilon, (or just youtube.com/c/EpsilonLOL)producing Darius montages at the moment and most likely full game play commentaries in the future as well. Check it out if you're interested.


I can't verify my account because Mobafire refuses to support VN Server (seriously, you need to do that, mobafire)


You can check out my profile here: Plys 200 AD (Sorry, it's only available in Vietnamese, you should be able to understand the basics though)
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VIDEOS

Here are some Darius-related content that I've created. Take a look. More content are available on my Youtube channel.

A CLASSIC DARIUS GAME


More in the spoiler. Just click on it, Kevin.



Spoiler: Click to view
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PROS/CONS

PROS

  • Outstanding damage output: Darius's whole kit do one thing or another to deal damage. Damage on Hemorrhage, along with an INSANE raw damage increase when it activates, high damage on Decimate, AA reset and 40% extra AA damage on his Crippling Strike, armor penetration on his Apprehend, and the signature DUNK. Everything added up, and you're on top of the NBA ladder.
  • Very few counter: There are only two champions (in my opinion) that can really shut Dunkrius down, and I almost never see them in the top lane (the only times I do, I get rekt. Bad).
  • Relatively durable: You should be building tanky along with your Q healing for 12% of your missing health per enemy champion hit with your axe head, stacking up to 3 times, which is 36%. If you have a Spirit Visage mashed up into your build and having low health, a 3 man Q can heal you for about 1600 HP. This makes Darius an unstoppable brute that deals a quadrillion tons of damage.
  • Made to KS: Yes, I mean it. The fact that his ult is reset when he kills someone with it means you can just press R, be 300 gold richer and say I NEEDED TO DO IT if a bastard teammate claims that kill was their.
  • BM: Just get in a game and spam Ctrl + 3. Ctrl + 2 if you are Dunkmaster. Feels great.
  • Super Saiyan Potential: Being able to use an ability with ~1100 potential TRUE damage multiple times and making your opponents go on their periods in one hit, Darius can suddenly blow up Vegeta's scouter with a Pentadunk out of nowhere.
    Stormraider's Surge helped me a lot here as I activated it by attacking Rengar and dodged Hecarim's ultimate thanks to the movement speed gained. Also, I reached level 16 killing Zed, so I quickly pressed Ctrl + R to level up Noxian Guillotine, and was able to QR Caitlyn. Just a neat little trick.

CONS

  • Slow: Darius don't have anything to boost his movement. Being like this can sometimes make Darius look like a moron being kited around by flirting trolls.
  • Hard to master: Yes, a mediocre Darius can find some success, but to really use Darius to his full extent, it takes a lot of mechanical skills and PRACTICE. If you really want to be an absolute d*ckhole (just like me), play a lot of Darius and you will feel the hang of it.
  • Easily punished: Just look at how Darius works. His ultimate means that if you fail to execute one in a teamfight, your damage output is drastically deceased. Occasionally, failing a Decimate can mean DEATH.
  • Weak against mobile champions: Champions like Lee Sin, Kindred or LeBlanc will most of the times give Darius a really hard time. It's almost impossible to land your Decimate on a mobile champion that knows what he/she is doing.
  • Hard to freeze: The fact that his main ability, Decimate is large area of effect ability makes freezing the lane really hard. Everytime you go for harass, it's almost impossible not to hit the minion wave.

    AND THAT'S IT.

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RUNES

If you are playing blind pick then this should be your rune page:

Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush

Pretty basic, right?

It is recommended that you take Attack speed quints instead of Attack damage.


If you've got a little comfortable on Darius, take these:

Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Dark Harvest
Phase Rush
I switched 3x Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage for 3x Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed for some extra smoothness, allowing you to stack your Hemorrhage more quickly and easily. They will also speed up your basic combo that I'll be talking about down below. I use 6x Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction for 45% CDR along with the rest of the build. This can give you some early game trouble if you're against heavy AP champions because you will start with 33 magic resistance if you take these, so be careful if your opponent is someone like a Rumble.


If you know you are against AP top and jungler, take these

Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush
You will need to build something like a Warmog's Armor to reach CDR cap if you run these.


This is made exclusively for my personal best build. No CDR glyphs required since items already offered 40%. Flat or scaling MR glyphs depending on matchup.

Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush
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MASTERIES

Changes everybody! Changes!

Overhaul on the masteries are here! I've played a little bit, and I think I've figured out what to do. So let's get right into it!

ALWAYS TAKE

This is basically just for Dangerous Game, with a little bonus damage. Really, Dangerous Game is arguably the strongest non-keystone mastery, and on a serial killer like Darius, it can't get any better!

Now for keystones. They will be represented in full mastery pages. Take note that minor points can be replaced depending on the entire enemy team.

GOOD OLD STORMRAIDER'S SURGE


Mobility and swag choice. Take against a bunch of slows on the enemy team as this keystone gives 75% slow resist along with that movement speed. Those two combined and the slow will be completely negated!


FERVOR OF BATTLE


DAMAGE. Take against tanks. Generally those who tend to drag out fights. It's actually good on Darius now as it gives bonus ATTACK DAMAGE rather than ON-HIT DAMAGE. May not sound different to some of you, but they are completely different. Darius has really good scalings on his ability, so that extra AD is really amazingly good!
Anyway, take Fervor against "shrug-it-out" matchups.



COURAGE OF THE COLOSSUS


May look like it's completely for hard matchups when you have to play passive, but really, it's not. This keystone is the king in ranged matchups and some special guys like Ekko or Renekton. Champions with the upperhand in short trades. What Darius does in lanes is he forces trades with E and deal as much damage as possible. That doesn't often work with champions mentioned above as they can get out after using their fast combo. With Courage however, problem is solved. The only way Darius can activate this is to land Apprehend. With that, in almost every trade he forces, he's gonna have a shield to start off with. That's just a "ticket-to-guaranteed-victory".
Another cool thing with this is that this keystone is controllable. You can activate it when you want with Apprehend, as it's the only way, and probably never gonna waste the shield. Aside from when it's on cooldown, which you can check on your status bar.

AND THE SHIELD IS MASSIVE

Anyway... take against champions who utilize short trades. And ranged champions.




About Grasp of the Undying, this has always been there to fight tanks. Now, with Fervor of Battle reworked, I think it's time we ditch grasp. You can take it if you want, but I'm not recommending it.
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SPELLS

or

Flash and Teleport or Teleport and Flash. your choice.

OR


If you've decided to go crazy and play Full AD Darius, why not take crazy reckless spells?

I've seen some Darius take Ghost. It's not half bad really. Speed boost and unit collision ignore can line up some Q's that you probably can't land if you don't have Ghost. Try it out, maybe you'll like it. The thing about this though, is it's really predictable. You ain't surprising anyone with this spell.

Recently, Teleport's channel time has been increased by 1 second. Just that single second greatly lowered it's potential. It just feels sooooooooo slow now. When you start teleporting when a skirmish/teamfight erupts, it's very likely that it's almost over when you arrive, or you can't reach them anymore. Taking ghost in place of teleport will boost your laning power, escaping power and chasing power. Also outplay potential. Works especially well in lower elo where there are not a lot of teamwork actions.
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ABILITIES

Let's get talking.

First off, your overpowered passive: Hemorrhage

  • After the Juggernaut rework, hemorrhage no longer deals magic damage and it's total damage has been decreased. BUT the fact that it deals physical damage means that it will proc Black Cleaver every single tick. Yes, you read that right. Every single tick.
  • Besides that damage tweak, Riot has decided to give Darius an ability called Noxian Might, that activates when you infict 5 stacks of hemorrhage on an enemy champion or executing one with your ultimate , which gives Darius 40-200 Attack Damage and make every single ability that normally inflict one stack of Hemorrhage inflict five stacks instead. (Auto attacks, Outer ring Decimate, Crippling Strike, and Noxian Guillotine(yes, this will cause 5 hemorrhage if you somehow choose to dunk someone without stacks on them)). This ability lasts 5 seconds and has no cooldown.
  • Once you've activated Noxian Might, attacking any champion and inficting 5 stacks to it will REFRESH it, meaning as long as there are targets for you, you won't lose your testosterone booster.
  • If you manage to apply 5 stacks to a champion, it will deal a lot of DPS. Not only because it's stacked up 5 times (duh), but also because you'll activate your Noxian Might, gaining a lot of bonus AD, and Hemorrhage scales with 150% bonus AD.
  • Will not apply a stack if the attack is dodged ( Jax), parried ( Fiora), or you are blinded ( Teemo). Will still apply a stack if the attack is blocked ( Pantheon).
  • Deals damage once every 1.25 second.
All together, this has become one of the most powerful passives in the game. Adds crazy DPS. At 5 stacks it deals more than ignite for sure. Also capable of boosting your AD to 400+ at level 18, building only 2 offensive items.

Next up, let's talk about Decimate:


The basics that one must understand before playing Darius are:
  • After winding up for 0.75 second, Darius swings his axe around himself.
  • It deals physical damage.
  • Applies one Hemorrhage stack to enemies on the outer ring. Five if you have your passive activated.
  • If you hit people with your pole, or in other words, the inner ring, it will only deal 50% damage and will not apply Hemorrhage.
  • AD scaling increases per rank: 100/110/120/130/140 percent of your TOTAL AD. 50/65/60/65/70 percent total AD for inner ring.
  • Heals you if you hit champions on the outer ring.
  • Is blocked by spell shields. Will not apply Hemorrhage if blocked. Will still heal you.
The bread and butter of your kit. It deals really high damage on a short cooldown and low mana cost (although the mana portion got nerfed), plus the heals it gives being absolutely obnoxious. Along with Spirit Visage, this ability can heal you for up to 2000 HP. There's no hesitation, max it first.

Crippling Strike


Its properties are as follow:
  • Resets auto attack timer.
  • Causes your next auto attack to deal 140% damage. Also adds 25 extra attack range, making your range 200, more than most melee champions in the game.
  • Works with Sheen.
  • Refunds 100% mana and 50% cooldown if the blow kills the target.
  • Crits on this hit will amplify the base damage, not the 40% bonus damage.
  • 90% slow for 1 second.
  • Blocked by spell shields
  • Bonus damage will apply Life steal.
This is more of an utility type ability. The slow it offers is really good. Auto attack reset is always a good thing to have.

Riot decided to put the bonus damage at a fixed amount in his rework, which is 140%, instead of scaling with ability rank to 200% at rank 5. Now all we get per rank is 1 second lower cooldown. Seriously. One second. Just max it last Kevin, it's just not worth the ability point.

The "ultimate" vacuum

Apprehend:
This is the most beautiful skill Riot has ever created. It kills, it peels, it... it does stuff! Here are what I know about this ability:
  • Pulls in ALL enemies in a cone towards Big Daddy Darius. Does not do damage.
  • Slows them by 40% for 1 second.
  • Gives 5% armor penetration per rank, up to 25%. This is why we max this ability second ladies and gentlemen. Cooldown also goes down by 3 seconds per rank, which is triple that of Crippling Strike.
  • Pulled enemy are then bounced a little bit away from Darius.
  • Blocked by spell shields.
  • Cancels all animation, such as auto attacks or abilities with long animation.
This ability mashed up with Black Cleaver, all kinds of armor will melt in front of you. Its active reels in kills for you all day long. ALL DAY LONG!


A little trick when using this in lane, if you happen to pull in your enemy and his minions, hold down the Target champions only key (` by default) so that you don't accidentally hit minions because it's dumb. It's gonna be even dumber if you combo a minion after forcing your opponent to trade.


It bounces your enemies a little bit away from you after you pull them and also slows them, so this ability can be used as an escape. Use it then run for the hills, you might create a lot more gap than you would think.


Interesting fact: If you pull an enemy over a very thin wall, there's a high chance your enemy will bounce right back over to the same side of the wall. ***THIS HAS BEEN FIXED AS OF 6.14 (but not really cuz it's still happening to me everyday. Whatever you say Rito).

AND the ULTIMATE ultimate,

Noxian Guillotine:
This is what makes Darius Darius. Just look at what it's capable of:
  • Scales with 75% bonus AD with decent base damage.
  • Base damage AND scaling are increased by 20% for each Hemorrhage stack the target currently has, therefore this ability can scale for up to 150% bonus AD.
  • Does true damage, which means damage reduction, armor and magic resist have no effect. Exhaust will not reduce damage dealt either.
  • If you kill your enemy with this, you can kill another within 20 seconds! Number of resets is not capped.
  • No mana cost on recast.
  • Activates your passive if it kills.
  • Inflicts a Hemorrhage stack, although this is not the purpose of the ability whatsoever, maybe that extra stack will finish off your opponent. Never recommended though.
  • Cooldown will begin after the ability's last cast, not when the recast window expires.
  • At rank 3, its cooldown resets entirely on kill and its initial 100 mana cost is also removed.
  • Will not reset if the ability doesn't actually "kill" the target: Guardian Angel, Zilean's ultimate, Aatrox's passive, Anivia's passive (You can dunk her egg, that will reset your ultimate), Zac's passive (Blobs are not dunkable).
  • Will reset if the target doesn't dies from Noxian Guillotine but in the next ~0.5 seconds from any source. Thank you Riot Games!
  • As this ability also makes you kinda dash towards them, rooting effects and Cassiopeia's Miasma will disable Noxian Guillotine.

Ain't this beautiful? This allows you to actually DECIMATE everything in your way!
Calculation: at max hemorrhage stacks, it will deal ~300 damage at level 6, ~600 at level 11, ~1000 at level 16 and 1099 at level 18, if you follow this build. Keep in mind, those are all TRUE damage. Watch out for shields and heals though, as they can, every now and then, mess up your reset.

Trick: Aside from simply levelling Noxian Guillotine before you dunk, there is a more advanced trick. This trick makes use of one mechanic: The damage is calculated by the time the blow arrives, not when the animation start. So, if you happen to get level 11/16 in combat, quickly pressing R - Ctrl R will increase your R damage without any delay.

Interesting fact: If you dunk a Sion and finish him off, you can dunk his reanimated body again! If you finish it off too, you can dunk another!

Interesting fact #2: If you execute one at rank 2 ultimate, then reach level 16 and put a point in Noxian Guillotine within 20 seconds, the ability will be reset. Great!

IMPORTANT: There is a known bug with Noxian Guillotine where if the target dies to Hemorrhage right IMMEDIATELY before the dunk, it will be set on cooldown.

If you've been lazy and skipped down here, take a look at this and scroll back up to read. NOW, KEVIN.
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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COMBOS

Now that you know what Darius's abilities can do (by reading the guide or you already knew, whatever), you have to know how to use them properly.


First off, the most basic one

.
Here's how it looks like:

Skip Apprehend if your opponent is already in melee range. Keep in mind that your Crippling Strike can not be cancelled once you've started the animation. This makes an interesting interaction with your Q, by using Q immediately after you START your W, you can skip most of Crippling Strike's animation. Your opponent shouldn't be able to dodge your Q because they're slowed, unless your opponent is Fizz or something of that category. After that, use auto attacks and move forward if you want to further commit, or back off.

This is the most basic combo, can be put to use almost anytime. You should practice the AA reset with Crippling Strike and using Decimate to cancel Crippling Strike's animation. When mastered, this will be a quick lethal combo. The way to master and perfect this is to get used to your auto attack. Press WQ right after you finish your attack, while still in range, of course.


Interesting fact: Crippling Strike can actually be cancelled with Decimate or with recall if the hit is used on a tower or a ward.

Interesting fact #2: Sometimes when you use this combo, Decimate's animation will not be a thing and you will do Crippling Strike's animation or just simply walking around doing nothing as your Decimate goes off. This should trick your opponent and sometimes even yourself. It just looks like the old instant Decimate.

The "I GOT GANKED" Combo

.
Take a look:

Use the basic combo to get one enemy low, finish him off with Noxian Guillotine, activate your passive and move on to execute the remaining weaklings. Important: be flexible, just use everything that is not on cooldown. Make sure you use it correctly though. For example, do not activate W while moving. You want to use it for an AA reset. It's okay if your opponent somehow gets out of range before you hit them with your W though. At least you tried.

This is what you should be doing when you find yourself in a 1v1, 1v2 or 1v3, and so forth, situations. Once you have activated your passive, NOTHING can match your damage. If you succeed to execute one, there's a high possibility that you'll execute the rest of them.


Landing your outer ring Decimate is absolutely crucial if you want to win a 1v2 or 1v3. Always try to line it up if you don't wanna die.

Darius in a nutshell

.
Super Saiyan Darius in action:

Get one low enough, execute it with Noxian Guillotine, transform into a Super Saiyan, execute the rest. That's basically what Darius do. Again, be flexible and accurate with your spells. Important: Never dunk someone without stacks on it because your ultimate will deal peanut damage if you do so (sometimes, you can accidentally do this by cancelling your AA to soon or failing your Q). It's all about knowing how much damage you deal and trying to deal that damage.

This is exactly how you win games. When you have your passive activated, your Decimate will deal the damage of a meteor, on a 3 seconds cooldown. Once you reach level 16, I promise you one thing: you can one shot an AD carry with QR (with your passive on, of course).

The Double Spin


QWR. Goes great with 1% crit chance.


The quickshot. Mostly used to finish off weaklings. If you're fed, you can finish a full health squishy with this combo.

Flashy Decimate

Shiny!

Flash into position after winding up for Decimate and finish off with either Crippling Strike or Noxian Guillotine. Or both.

Another combo to finish off those boosted animals hiding under their pesky turrets against Big Papa. Or just simply to catch up to them.

THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR NOW. I WILL UPDATE THIS SECTION AS SOON AS I THINK OF AN INTERESTING COMBO


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ITEMS

What to build on Darius and why?



So. Darius. You can build him as a bruiser. You can build him full tank. Hell you can even build him full AD yolo. In this section i'll be talking about the offtank and full AD build because full tank Darius is BORING.

STANDARD NBA MASTER




I personally buy Doran's Blade against melee, Doran's Shield against ranged ( Heimerdinger, Jayce, Teemo, ...). You can also buy corruption potion. I personally do not like this as a starting item.
Doran's Blade is superior to Long Sword as a starting item. There's no doubt about that.



Cloth armor isn't half bad, either. If you prefer a safe start and good sustain with 4x Health Potion, this is exactly the item for you.



The absolute core for this build. 300 Health, 50 AD and 20% cooldown reduction. This item honestly offers everything Darius needs. No gold wasted, build this first.


Darius's Hemorrhage applies one stack of Cleave every 1.25 second. Meaning you only need to attack an opponent once and when Hemorrhage ends, that champion will have 25% decreased armor (the bleed ticks 4 times only). This along with Apprehend's passive makes the most broken synergy in the entire game. Just do some math, Kevin. Done? Ok. Now take that result and go rek some faces.

JK, YOU WILL REDUCE YOUR OPPONENT'S ARMOR DOWN TO 52.5% AT MAX CLEAVE STACKS AND MAX E RANK!


You think this is outrageously broken? Then you're right. YOU DON'T? There's more ahead, so just keep on reading.

Black Cleaver's second passive, Rage, procs when you deal physical damage and kills, unlike that on Phage and Trinity Force, which procs only on auto attacks and kills. Therefore, you just need to hit something once, and Hemorrhage's DPS will refresh the movement speed buff for you.



You generally want to buy Boots when you have 300 gold that you can spend after you have finished Phage. Parts for Black Cleaver are more important, so prioritize those before boots. Upgrade them when when you have the sufficient amount of gold, only after you have finished Black Cleaver.

OR

OR


Ravenous Hydra. This is beautiful on Darius. It offers 75 AD, smashed into Darius's kit, we are looking at: 112,5 damage over 5 seconds on Hemorrhage (at 5 stacks), 75/82.5/90/97.5/105 damage on Decimate, and 112.5 true damage on Noxian Guillotine. This, along with Darius's natural armor penetration and Black Cleaver, Darius's damage output will launch like Saturn V on its first fly. It also offers some really nice Life steal, allowing you to sustain in lane for a long time. The active, which also applies life steal btw, can be used while you're winding up for Decimate, will add a SOMETIMES CRUCIAL burst to your combo. I highly recommend building this item second on Darius.

As for Titanic Hydra, I personally think this item is more of a late game type deal. I always build Ravenous Hydra instead of this. However, if the game runs too long and you happen to get too rich that your pockets become too heavy for you to walk, you should switch Ravenous out for Titanic. It sucks that Riot removed the free exchange between Ravenous and Titanic, but it doesn't matter too much since you'll be switching when you have your full build finished. The stats it gives is nice. 450 HP can be the matter of life and death. Its ability to scale with Health makes it fit in best when you have all your defensive items completed. The AA reset can get you a kill that you probably can't get if you have Ravenous Hydra by using the active after you do your basic combo ( Apprehend - AA - Crippling Strike - Decimate - AA - Titanic Hydra, which inflict 5 stacks Hemorrhage in the matter of two seconds, if executed properly). I recommend switching Ravenous Hydra for this if the game gets really long.

Some prefer Trinity Force on Darius. 40% Attack Speed really makes Darius much much much more smoother. Plus, Darius has really high base damage, so the Sheen effect will be really strong. Overall nice item with good stats. If you haven't tried it out, you really need to. It's great. One thing though, is that the Phage's passive is overlapped with Black Cleaver, so that's some gold wasted. If you don't want that and still want to buy this item, you should buy it in place of Black Cleaver and build full tank afterwards, really powerful against squishy teams. Never do this against a team with at least one tank though.The downside to this is you will overcap your CDR, so do not run CDR runes, although you will also just overcap it with 50% CDR after you get your Spirit Visage anyway. Also, it's really expensive, and the stats it gives don't really worth it on Darius. I mean, he doesn't really need extra mana, right?


If you don't feel like buying aggressive second because you're severely behind or building it makes you feel squishy, you should skip these three and buy your defensive item of choice, preferably one of the items analized below.



This is also a really good build, but it's not my idea. You can check it out here.




OR



Those two items give the exact same stats. Both add some extra damage to your kit. THE FOLLOWING IS ENTIRELY AN OPINION.


I think Dead Man's Plate is better, personally. Darius is an aggressive-type champion that deals burst damage. A LOT of burst damage . Sunfire Aegis fit champions that deal sustained damage more (someone like a Dr. Mundo) (Well Darius has a lot of sustained damage too, but why deal sustained damage when you can just burst them down and put them six feet under). Dead Man's Plate however, gives a maximum of 60 movement speed, and a really nice slow. This fits Darius's proactive playstyle more. Whatever you prefer, pick one of these if you want to be a bruiser.



If you have decided to build defensive on Darius, you can't skip this. Even if the enemy team doesn't have AP, build this last after like, Black Cleaver, Ravenous Hydra, Dead Man's Plate, Ninja Tabi and Sterak's Gage. If you're facing AP, build it third. It gives some really nice stats, especially the 10% CDR. But most importantly, it amplifies your healings by 25%. This makes you heal like a mad beast with your Q and life steal from Ravenous Hydra. CORE


increases 25% base attack damage. Darius has the highest AD gain per level of 5, let's have a little comparision with a champion that we normally see building Sterak's Gage.

Pretty outstanding right? This makes Sterak's Gage very gold efficient on Darius. However, it increases BASE damage. We don't want that now do we? Only your AA and Decimate will become stronger because Hemorrhage and Noxian Guillotine both scale off of BONUS damage. 150% bonus damage. Therefore, Sterak's Gage should be considered as a defensive item on Darius for the health and damage mitigation from its shield. Great last item.

About Randuin's Omen, we are looking at some nice armor and health, along with crit damage and attack speed reduction. Build this if you're against critters such as Yasuo, Caitlyn, Tristana, Vayne, Sivir and so on or one of another category, Kalista.

Thornmail should be considered when the enemy AD carry is mechanically skilled and getting on your nerves.

Warmog's Armor should only be considered when you don't run CDR glyphs or if you decided to play against the rules and skip Spirit Visage. The counter to poke comps, as you will heal like a mad beast when out of combat. Careful, never build this against percent health damage such as Fizz, Vayne, Malzahar, so on and so forth.

You'll want Guardian Angel as a last item if you are severely ahead. The hybrid defensive stats it offers make you much more tanky, along with your high health, since you're ahead, and you are already tanky with your defensive items, 30% health on revival will be a lot. If you manage to line up a nice Decimate after you revive, it'll be basically 2 lives. After you've used the revive effect, you should sell the item and switch it out for something like a Randuin's Omen or a Sterak's Gage.

If you're still far ahead after you finish your build, take an Elixir of Wrath and shove it up your ***. You will deal a lot of physical damage with your basic abilities, especially your and the healing effect is not reduced on area of effect like Death's Dance.

If it's an even game or you're behind (you shouldn't be, you're Darius, remember?), do yourself a favor and buy Elixir of Iron. Extra tankiness and tenacity will help you a lot.

Remember to refresh elixirs every now and then.

That's all i've got to say for this build. Let's move on.


NOXIAN PSYCHOPATH


ONE THING TO KEEP IN MIND, THIS BUILD IS PURELY REVOLVED AROUND AUTO ATTACK POWER!



Build this if you want to be full AD Darius. Sheen damage goes great with Crippling Strike. Attack speed helps with stacking Hemorrhage, 20% CDR boosts Darius's surviving potential and seriously, the 5% movement speed it offers make you go really fast. Like, super duper fast if you got used to the standard build. Overall, this is CORE for this build.



Crits. This makes full AD Darius full AD Darius. You have Crippling Strike which activates Sheen and the extra damage from , which can also crit and the crit damage is affected by Infinity Edge's bonus crit damage. This will give the result of ~1300 physical damage and ~250 magic damage in a single auto attack on a squishy, most of the time the AD Carry because those champions don't build armor, and since you will attack so fast with this build, it doesn't even matter if the blow finishes it off or not. ALSO CORE




60 Attack damage is beautiful. 10% cooldown reduction is great. 20 armor penetration is absolutely gorgeus. The active, helps you chase down targets that you normally can't catch. Really well rounded item. I highly recommend this item, even if you're playing bruiser Darius. Great against Quinn.


Upgrade boots when you feel like doing it. It should always be berserker's greaves, unless you're not doing so hot. Other choices should be made as stated before in the bruiser build.


This gives you some extra survivability, something the noxian psychopath lacks. It will heal you for A LOT, especially when attacking minions because you're gonna do SO MUCH DAMAGE with your auto attacks if you've finished the rest of your build.


Switch boots out for this if the game runs long. You won't loose too much movement speed. This item will boost your final crit chance up to 80%.


Build this in place of Youmuu's Ghostblade if you want some extra survivability thanks to life steal, stacked up with that of . Even though this item gives more raw AD, the armor penetration from make you deal more damage overall and you won't have the extra alacrity from 's active. Defensive alternative.


The only elixir that fits the Noxian Psychopath. Buy this after you've finished your build. Remember to refresh it.

MY PERSONAL ENJOYMENT/BEST BUILD

OUTDATED. SEASON 7 INFO DOWN BELOW

I've been running the Ravenous Hydra build for a while now. From time to time, I feel like this is not the best build, at least for me. I do enjoy building more offensive on Darius, but Ravenous Hydra just doesn't cut it for me. So after some giggles, I found out about this.



This makes Darius deal way more damage thanks to 20 armor penetration, and rank 5 Decimate has 140% total AD scaling. However, just straight up building this second in place of Ravenous Hydra makes me really squishy because Ghostblade is a full offensive item. After the fact, this build path is what I've come up with.



Double Doran's Blade offer the missing life steal for not building Ravenous Hydra, boosting my survivability.


I deal more damage with Ghostblade finished than with Hydra. The active gives bonus movespeed making you less kitable and attack speed boosting your DPS. Ninja Tabi + Spirit Visage combo makes me really tanky. Like, super tanky for the gold I spend on those 2 items, which is 3900 gold. By the time I finish them, I'll have around 110 armor and 110 magic resist, with around 2500 HP and increased heal from Spirit Visage.


Because Black Cleaver + Spirit Visage + Youmuu's Ghostblade already gave me 40% CDR, I no longer need 10% scaling cooldown reduction from my rune page, so I switch those for either flat magic resist or scaling magic resist, depending on matchup. Others are still the same.


This is now my legit build. I honestly run this build every game. I build Ninja Tabi even if I'm facing an AP laner so I don't have to worry about building a full armor item such as Dead Man's Plate so I can go for Youmuu's Ghostblade as a third item without worrying about AD champions messing me up. Just try it out, maybe you'll find this a miracle.

Cases where I don't build Tabi are when the enemy is full AP, like literally full AP, with a Corki ADC.

Sometimes I also build Youmuus second, when the enemy team's AP is minimal or he's really far behind at the moment.


Full item build path without explanations is up above, in the third build, in case you missed it.

END OF SEASON 6 CONTENT



SEASON 7



Before I get into this, I would like to make a point that Youmuu's Ghostblade is still viable, however it's not that good as it used to be anymore. The bonus attack speed, which was one of many reasons this item was good, got removed. It's still there if you like it, but better choices are in the game too.



They are:



PICK ONE




  • Build against: 2+ AP champions and at least a melee bruiser on the enemy team.
  • Why it's good: AD, MR, CDR, magic shield. Perfect anti mage item. Anti mage I said. Just don't build this against full AD comps and it's gonna be OP. It's even more OP with 10% Spell vamp you get when you have the shield activated (which can last forever and ever if you have something to hit on). This spell vamp will apply too ALL kinds of damage you deal. With your abilities of course. This includes Hemorrhage and Noxian Guillotine, and you know, those abilities deal a **** ton of damage. And they're spammable.
  • Build against: 2+ melee tanks, preferably with little to no AP, so that you don't have any reason to build Maw.
  • Why it's good: Extremely strong in extended fights with the synergy between delaying damage taken and life stealing. That delayed damage can be nullified completely if you deal enough damage. Also gives the highest AD among the 4 choices.
  • Build against: Squishy immobile champions. Good examples are Rumble, Ashe, most control mages.
  • Why it's good: The only item that offers extra HP. This will help fighting against those immobile champions I was talking about, but that's not the main strength of this. What's powerful is that this offers crazy health-based on hit damage. If you tried this, you'll notice. All those squishies are gonna get blown up with a combo from Titanic (AA-W-Q-AA-Titanic active). Will not work very well against mobile champions, even if they're squishies.

    About Youmuu's, just take it whenever you feel like it or when you're in a situation that I've not covered.

    Those are the offensive choices. HOWEVER, double AD items is not as good anymore, for various reasons. So, Black cleaver into 4 tank items (and boots) is actually gonna be more effective now.
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PLAYSTYLE

ALL EXAMPLES IN THIS SECTION SHOULD BE IN RANKED GAMES BECAUSE THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE PRACTICAL

(Diamonds in this region really like playing Yasuo top, no idea why)
Some of this are old, from when I haven't realized how good Stormraider's Surge is on Darius, so you may see some hot Grasp action going on down there. Some still have my old name.

THIS SECTION WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO CREATE DOMINANCE


Let's get straight into it. First off, you need to know one thing, IT'S ALL ABOUT KNOWING HOW MUCH DAMAGE YOU DEAL THROUGH ESTIMATIONS. NO CALCULATION NEEDED. THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO TRULY MASTER DARIUS.

THOUGHTS: Think you're strong. You're on top of the world. Think you can kill everyone, even if you can't. It's self confidence that makes you succeed, Kevin!

KNOW YOUR POWER SPIKES! Times when you are strong: Level 1, finishing Phage, level 6, finishing Black Cleaver, level 11, finishing Spirit Visage and level 16.


Alright, if your opponent is melee (except Olaf, check out matchups section):
  • If you're not leashing, when your creep wave meets the other, you wanna walk up and hit minions as much as you can. Switch your target to champion if you opponent gets in range.
  • If you're leashing, walk up and give them some warning shots. Teach them respect. Also, even though this is dirty, hope your jungler messes up and let your passive kill their camp. It gives you a really big lead.
  • If they don't respect the presence of Big Daddy, show them no mercy. Use AA - or just if they're not close enough.
  • Make sure you move so that you hit on the outer ring. Continue attacking and moving forward (even if they're not backing off, just try to move towards their tower. Don't walk into tower range tho because it's dumb).
  • Your Stormraider's Surge should activate after 2-3 auto attacks (if you're running it), making it even easier to chase down those cowards.
  • Once you get 5 stacks, your damage will launch (40 extra AD at level 1), and most unexperienced enemies will be surprised by this.
  • Continue auto attacking, flash after them if they flash.
Easy first blood.

If your opponent somehow deals more damage than you though, like way more, you have to back off and wait for your Q to come up again, then reengage. If they are dealing just a little bit more damage than you, you will win the duel, as you will deal a lot more when your passive kicks in and your opponent will most likely be dead because he is surprised.


If you're facing a ranged champion (With the exception of Heimerdinger, Quinn and Vayne. Will talk about them later in the matchup section. So you wanna stay back and hit minions as much as possible and try to get to level 2 before they do. Level Apprehend. When they try to go in for poke like most ranged champions do, run straight at them in the middle of their animation and pull them with Apprehend. Now that it's an even fight, do what Darius does. Keep auto attacking and moving forward, there's absolutely no ranged champion that can beat Darius in an early auto attacking fight. This should at least burn their flash if you successfully pull them.. If you don't, stay back and reserve your health for your next all in attemp when Apprehend comes back up.
Example coming soon. Haven't got any ranged matchup lately.

Once you've set your dominance, try to maintain it. Kill them everytime they overstep. Due to recent changes to tower first blood, don't freeze the lane. If you are winning but can't kill your opponent, your goal is going to be to get the tower first blood. Push in waves to poke the tower down. Trade your life for it if you have to. You'll get yourself 650 gold and your whole team 125 gold each if you succeed. That added up is going to be 1150 for your team. If you get ganked, keep calm and kill both of them, one by one. If it's a three man gank, good luck. If your bot lane is struggling or just tower hugging, ask for a ward in the high bush and look for an oppotunity to help them out using Teleport.



If the enemy team is not smart enough, split all game and brute through their base. Alone. Kill anyone who tries to contest. If they are a little bright and gather 4-5 men to kill you, however, start grouping. Then, act as the frontline. Hook anyone in your range. Do not try to reach the back line and use that target to activate your passive. Once you do, charge forward and kill everything in your way.

Take a close look at Kog'maw. Tell me how much of an *sshole Braum and his is.

But what if you lose the laning phase? You still outdamage most champions in the game with your kit. If they get too aggressive, show them who's the real boss. As Darius, when they underestimate you just a little TINY bit, you SHOULD be able to show them what's up (if you can't, learn and practice more). You don't outdamage them? Well just try your best, but you shouldn't have a real chance if your opponent can overpower Darius the Man. Play your teamfights more wisely and less aggressively. If you find a hook when you're behind, don't fully commit like when you're ahead. Just keep one thought, NOTHING can match your damage when you have your passive up, doesn't matter if you're ahead or not, so activating your passive will be your #1 priotity. Look for an easy target, most likely their tank/diver (they are ahead, so wait for them to initiate), activate your passive while still playing back, then dive in and kill them all when you finally have it activated. Show them who you are, Kevin!

What you should consider doing when you are behind are as follow:
  • Avoid fighting their strong member. Just back off. Never hook them unless you got back up.
  • Get early boots upgrade. It's actually worth it since they're so cheap. Ninja Tabi is so damn efficient now.
  • If you see a kill, use everything you've got for it. It's gonna be really unfortunate if they get away. They're ahead, so you can't predict what they can do. For instance, don't hope your passive will kill them off.

That's all I've got ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for not ignoring my work.
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MATCHUPS

KNOWING WHO DARIUS CAN BEAT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

This will include champions that are strong against Darius from other roles as well

Examples are coming soon in GIFs or MP4. I currently don't have the condition to produce content because I'm writing this guide with a potato. :(

RE-FORMAT IS IN PROGRESS. THIS SECTION WILL BE UPDATED AND EXISTING MATCHUPS WILL LOOK BETTER.

MOST STARTING ITEM CHOICES CAN BE REPLACED WITH CLOTH ARMOR IF YOU CHOOSE SO


Aatrox:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Go for level 1 first blood. His passive will revive him, but it won't heal him much. Prevent him from auto attacking, as he will heal. This is only relevant when he's below 50% HP though, as the ability itself is pretty underpowered. Play aggressive.
  • Mechanics: His Dark Flight has a delay wher he takes off before he actually travels, so you can easily interrupt it with Apprehend. You will not get your reset if you execute him with Noxian Guillotine when he has his passive up (red resource bar), so watch out for that.


Cho'Gath:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: Go for first blood at level 1, when he's weakest. Cho'gath has a lot of damage packed in his kit. Post-6, recall if you get yourself below 60% health as his full combo will most likely finish you off.
  • Mechanics: If he's moving forward, start winding up your Decimate as he will probably use his Feral Scream to silence you. You can still move so line it up. When laning, stay on the edge of your wave, as he will try to hit minions and you with it. Punish him if he's greedy. Do not let him get free CS after you harassed him, as his passive, Carnivore heals him a lot for every unit killed.
  • Object: Do not get killed. Kill him if possible.


Darius:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: duh.
  • Playstyle: You want to check his stats at level 1. If he has lower attack speed than you, go in for level 1 first blood. Keystone is also important. If he's running Grasp of the Undying and you're not, he'll deal more damage than you. You'll want to lend in some pokes before going in if he has Grasp. Overall skilled matchup.
  • Mechanics: Only use your Q after he's finished his Q as the heal on Decimate is based on missing health. If enemy Darius starts his Decimate when he's in your range, Apprehend him. This will deny the heal and 50% damage.
  • Object: Prove yourself. Aim to trash enemy Darius. Show the world who you are. It's just a normal match anyway.

Dr. Mundo:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Aggressive. Try to go for level 1 first blood. Whether you get it or not, freeze the lane. It's never a good idea to push against a Mundo. Do not try for warning shots. If you do ever catch him, finish him off because if you don't, he'll just regenate back up after a minute or so.
  • Mechanics: Mundo does not have any tools to get away when he gets hooked. Avoid getting cleaved by his dirty cleaver by staying behind your melee minions. Step up and hook him if he tries to use his auto attacks to last hit.
  • Object: Stomp the lane. You HAVE TO success because Mundo is a late game monster. If he wins even the laning phase, it's all over.

Ekko:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: Aggressive. Go for level 1 first blood. Do not let him farm without getting punished.
  • Mechanics: When you successfully Apprehend him, move forward a lot if you see him cast his Parallel Convergence, after you finish your combo. Most won't expect this and aim it where you are. Watch out if you're low, as he will deal a lot of percent health damage with his auto attacks. His Phase Dive can be used to dodge your Decimate, then go right back on you, so don't try for pokes.
  • Object: Prevent him from getting his items. Try not to get killed. Doing this will not be easy. Keep your wards up.


Fiora:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Hard.
  • Playstyle: Aggressive if you feel like you have the skills. Be neutral and farm up for your items if you don't. You CAN win a lane against Fiora.
  • Mechanics: Pay attention to where the vital currently is. Position yourself heavily over that direction. Fiora will have a hard time hitting it. If you Apprehend her, careful when she uses her Riposte. Dodge it by all means. If you don't, you'll get your movement speed AND attack speed slowed by 50% for 1.5 seconds. It will even stun you for 1.5 seconds if she blocked your Apprehend. If she somehow managed to block Apprehend and pointed the skillshot the right way, there's no way you can dodge it because of your animation. Whether you get slowed or stunned is not important. It will still lose you the duel. Post-6, save your Apprehend if you go all in. To prevent her from blocking your Noxian Guillotine with her Riposte, use E - R. She won't be able to block when she's being pulled. If she's used it to block your Decimate, just dunk her.
  • Object: Pick one: stomp the lane, or just farm. You obviously can't afford to lose this lane. If you choose to farm, Fiora will become a giant threat to your team. Late game, you won't be able to defeat a Fiora that has an even amount of gold as you, or more, because Fiora scales extremely well with levels and AD.


Fizz:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: Play slowly level 1. Hold on to your skill point. Find out what ability he got. If he didn't take Seastone Trident, take Crippling Strike and go in. If he did, take Decimate and go in. Ask for ganks post-6.
  • Mechanics: You will most likely never land your Decimate on a good fizz as he can use his Urchin Strike and Playful / Trickster to either dodge it or deny the heal and 50% damage (as well as a Hemorrhage stack). You need to rely on your auto attacks against Fizz. I recommend changing up your build a bit. Buy a Phage, then build a full Spirit Visage because fizz deals a lot of magic damage (he still deals a decent amount of magic damage even when he's building full AD) before upgrading the phage into Trinity Force. OR if they have a tank jungler, buy Black Cleaver instead.
  • Object: Decide to go for first blood or not. Whatever you decided, farm up your Spirit Visage.



[/list]

Nasus:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Entirely aggressive. This will most likely be a bloody lane as almost every Nasus will try to last hit to ramp up his Siphoning Strike's damage and Darius will punish him for every single minion he tries to get. Hold on to your ability point at level one. If he does move in for CS, take Crippling Strike and go in for AA - W. Try to kill him at level one. If he's not scared, kill him again everytime he goes in for that juicy CS. Freeze the lane afterwards, if possible.
  • Mechanics: You need to run Stormraider's Surge against Nasus. 75% slow resistance offered by this keystone will make his Wither feels like non-existance. Don't try for AA reset while withered, as you will most likely mess it up because you'll attack very slow. Do not fight if he has a big minion wave. His E will reduce your armor, making minions hurt a lot. Darius don't have much trouble clearling minion waves, so do that first.
  • Object: Stomp the lane. Prevent Nasus from stacking up his Q.

Heimerdinger:
  • Start: Doran's Shield or Corrupting Potion.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: Survive level 1. Look for oppotunities starting from level 3. If he oversteps, unleash your wrath on him.
  • Mechanics: Use AA - Crippling Strike to destroy his turret with ease, if it's too high up in the lane. You won't lose anything for this because Crippling Strike refunds mana on kill. Running into an unwarded bush will drop his turret aggro, especially useful when he uses his ultimate turret.
  • Object: Survive level 1 and 2. Kill everytime you can post-3. Try not to get killed.





Gangplank:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Gangplank is farm thirsty. Punish him for every minion he tries to get. Try for level 1 first blood. Freeze the lane if you can. It's okay if you don't.
  • Mechanics: If he lays down barrels in your range, wait for it to tick down to 2 HP and destroy it with AA - Crippling Strike. You will not lose anything for this because Crippling Strike refunds all of its mana cost if it kills. His oranges will only remove your slows on Crippling Strike and Apprehend, both lasting for only 1 second, so it's not impactful.
  • Object: Stomp the lane. Prevent him from getting too much gold and silver serpents.


Garen:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Entirely aggressive. Kill everytime he gets in range.
  • Mechanics: For a Garen running at you, it's not a challenge to lend in your full combo before you get silenced. AA-W, start winding up Decimate just before he hits you and you're good. Trust me, it's not hard to pull off. Your auto attacks and Crippling Strike along with DPS from Hemorrhage are stronger than his auto attacks and Judgment. Your ultimate is really just his ultimate on steroid.
  • Object: Stomp the lane.

Gnar:
  • Start: Doran's Blade or Boots.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: Try to get to level 2 before he does without fighting too much by focusing on attacking minions. Take Apprehend at level 2 and try to go for kills everytime you can. Preferably when he's close to getting his mega form.
  • Mechanics: Unlike most other champions, you actually want to fight Gnar in his Mega form instead of his small form. His small form can kite you really easily and efficiently, so you touching him is really difficult. His mega form has high damage and crowd control, but it forces Gnar to stay in melee range and there are only few melee champions in the game can beat Darius, and Gnar is not one of those. Most Gnar players get confident when they transform, but little do they know, that's when you shine.
  • Object: Win the lane. You also need to play your teamfights well because Gnar has a lot of teamfighting presence with his ultimate. You can't let a yordle be more useful than you.


Graves: Top lane Graves is almost nowhere to be seen, but if you happen to find one of those, this should help you figure out what to do.
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Moderate.
  • Playstyle: You want to fight him at level 1, when he hasn't got his E yet. Try to get him low or kill him so you have the early lane advantage. You can beat him easily post-6, with your ultimate up.
  • Mechanics: Graves's auto attacks are blockable, so he can't poke you easily. Since you have 175 auto attack range, you can hit enemy melee minions from behind your melee minions so Graves's auto attacks will be blocked by your minions. Armor and Magic resist coming from Graves's E is only refreshed when he attacks champions, turrets or jungle monsters, so try not to get hit when he's just used his E because if you let the effect stack up, it will make him super tanky and near impossible to kill. Your ultimate will just ignore this though. Switch up your buy order: Phage into Ninja Tabi. Just finish Tabi and he's not gonna kill you 1v1, not even a chance.
  • Object: Make it a positive or even lane.


Olaf:
  • Start: Doran's Blade.
  • Difficulty: Easy.
  • Playstyle: Neutral at level 1. There's no way you will be able to win a level 1 duel with Olaf due to his Q spam. Take Crippling Strike at level 2 and show him who's boss. If both of you are level 5, play neutral again as his third rank Undertow will again, overpower you. Get to level 6 and take back your boss seat for the rest of the game.
  • Mechanics: During Ragnarok, your Apprehend's active is useless. Your Crippling Strike won't slow him either. However, damage is still dealt as normal, so if he gets too confident because you can't CC him, he'll be dead before he realizes.
  • Object: Survive level 1. Shove him out levels 2-4. Survive level 5 if it's equal. Be the boss post-6.




Rumble: Start Doran's Blade. If you ran 6 scaling CDR and 3 scaling MR glyphs, don't go aggressive as he will deal a lot of damage because you only have 31 magic resistance. If you ran flat MR glyphs though, go for level 1 first blood. Either way, you will trash Rumble post-6, so just play the right way and become the boss when you finally get Noxian Guillotine.

Teemo: Start Doran's Shield. Preserve your health when starting the game, just stand in experience range. You should go in for last hits on melee minions and accept getting poked a bit, it doesn't matter too much because Doran's Shield will help you regenate right back up. Do not go for ranged minions. Start playing a little bit less defensive when you reach level 2 and get your Apprehend. Grab him if he gets in range, give him a warning with AA - Decimate, but do not further commit. Once you reach level 3, grab him every time he oversteps, but be smart. Do not use your basic combo. He will definitely use his Q on you when he gets hooked, so use your Q instead. Make sure you move away a little bit, preferably sideways to hit on the outer circle. Move forward while waiting out the blind, then use AA - W, keep auto attacking him to death, or maybe Hemorrhage will finish the job for you. That's basically the only way you can win against Satan in the laning phase.

Illaoi: Start Doran's Blade. Darius is just simply powerful against immobile beasts. She has no way to get away if she gets hooked besides flashing. She can't dodge Decimate. She basically can't move while slowed by Crippling Strike. Just look to unleash your wrath on her every time you can. However, Illaoi has an insane potential damage output. Post-6, when you know she has her ultimate, run away immediately if she successfully pulls your spirit. If you stay in her tentacles' range, you'll get hentai'd. Wait it out and re-engage if she's still acting like a b*tch with her ultimate on cooldown. Other than that, it's a relatively easy matchup.


Poppy: Start Doran's Blade. Relatively easy. If she plays defensively, always push towards her tower. She'll have a hard time last hitting under tower. She'll eventually run out of mana if she tries to get minions. If she plays aggressively, show her who's boss. Be confident and kill her. She should then respect your presence and play defensively. Watch out for one thing though, if your opponent is a good Poppy, she'll use her E as you're about to swing your Decimate, making you miss the outer ring, and possibly stun you against a wall. If she seems to be dealing quite a bit of damage with that, back off. If she doesn't, KILL.


Shen: Start Doran's Blade Can be annoying with his taunt and auto attacks blocks from his W. Blocked auto attacks will not apply Hemorrhage. Save your Decimate for when he uses his W. I suggest building tank after finishing Black Cleaver against shen as he has quite a bit of damage and he's tanky as hell. You should not lose this matchup.


Vayne: Some still pick Vayne and go top. This will give you the basic idea on how to deal with her. However, you can never win a late game 1v1 against Vayne.
  • Start: Doran's Shield.
  • Difficulty: Hard.
  • Playstyle: Passive levels 1-2. Lend in a warning Decimate if she gets in range. Accept some pokes, it's ok. Laugh at her. Show your mastery emote. Go in with either Flash - Decimate or Apprehend at level 3, or preferably level 4. Look to kill. Do not be afraid if your health is lower, as your Decimate heals for percent missing health. Try to find more oppotunities to kill. You can never farm freely against a Vayne unless she's dead.
    Sorry, the video is kinda laggy. I just don't have a good computer right now. :(

  • Mechanics: A well timed Apprehend will cancel her Tumble. If you successfully hook her, immediately slow her with Crippling Strike (don't try for AA reset) before she uses Condemn so you can catch up to her again. Post-6, invest in pink wards and plant it in a bush so you can see her. Build Youmuu's Ghostblade in place of Ravenous Hydra, as a Vayne should not be building armor, and she is a kite type champion, so its active will help you out a lot.
  • Object: Survive levels 1-2. Kill her levels 3 onward. Do not try to shove her from farm, you can't. Late game, Vayne will kill you with ease, unless you bullied her 0/10 or something like that.
    I lost though. My AD carry went AFK. :(


    STILL IN PROGRESS! WILL UPDATE REAL SOON! PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FEEDBACK!

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CHANGES MADE

Used to keep track of changes made to the guide.




8/22/2016:
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8/27/2016:
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09/13/2016:
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10/17/2016:
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10/11/2016:
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12/11/2016:
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nhumanh69 Darius Guide
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