[2.0.0] Noxian Style - The Complete Darius Guide
Noxian Style - The Complete Darius Guide
Darius Build
Best Build Guide for Darius
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
Starting:
The most recommended and common starting item will be Long Sword. If you’re up against an early poke matchup like a Fiora or Gragas and aren’t too confident you could go the defensive route adapting to your opponent, armour for AD and magic resist (MR) for AP. Boots will be the only other variant you should be picking early, if you need help dodging your opponents skill shots in early game.
Core:
The core item on Darius will be Trinity force/Black Cleaver and Sterak’s Gage. If you are doing well and not falling behind in farm, rush your trinity force into sterak’s second. If you are falling behind in farm and dying a lot or if your enemy is just a tanky line-up, you should go for black cleaver as the cheaper option into sterak’s.
Boots:
Ninja Tabi: If the enemy is heavily AD.
Mercury’s Treads: If the enemy is heavily AP or if the enemy has a lot of CC.
Enchant:
Glorious Enchant: This is a great enchant if you’re getting kited easily by the enemy. The movement speed will be very helpful to catch up to your enemies and get all 5 stacks of your passive off.
Quicksilver Enchant: If the enemy is very CC reliant, you need quicksilver. Keep in mind, it doesn’t cleanse knock-ups, so it is useless to build against champs like Malphite, but a great item against an Amumu.
Gargoyle Enchant: This is an enchant to go for when you are falling behind in farm and your team is not doing so well. It only costs 500, so it’s the cheapest option, but not just that it gives you a lot of tankiness. So, in a team fight, since you won’t have the damage to carry if you’re behind, you can use this enchant and just stick to one enemy and get all 5 stacks of your passive off on them and then use Noxian Might to go ham and try to win the fight.
Teleport Enchant: This is something you will be needing very rarely. This is usually built by champs who have good split-pushing potential so they can push lanes and join their team with teleport, but Darius is not a split-pushing champion at all so this should not be your playstyle, however If you’re turning out to be the solo carry in your team and having to do everything, you can of course try split-pushing and using TP to group with your team.
Viable Items:
Spirit Visage: You’ll be building this in almost every game unless the enemy has no AP threats at all. It complements his Q heal really well and is generally the best item to build against AP opponents. If you’re struggling in lane against an AP opponent like Gragas or AP Kennen, you can rush Spectre’s Cowl and then go on with your core items and complete Visage later on.
Randuin’s Omen: One of the most viable AD defence items. This will always be a part of your build.
Death’s Dance: This is one of the tankier options in the physical damage item choices. If you’re snowballing and you don’t need Randuin’s or Visage immediately, this is a great item to build after your core items are done.
Thornmail: When you’re up against champions that heal a lot, you can rush a bramble vest for the grievous wounds passive and build it into Thornmail later after you get your core items. Examples would be: Dr. Mundo, Fiora, and Nasus.
Dead Man’s Plate: If the enemy is heavily AD, you can build dead man’s plate on top of your Randuin’s. Randuin’s is an objectively better item against AD comps, but if you need more armour, you can build Dead man’s on top of it instead of MR.
Guardian Angel: It is not the best item to choose for Darius but against heavy AD comps where you have already got a randuin's omen it is a good choice along with Dead Man's Plate.
Darius Runes
Best Runes for Darius
Keystone: Conqueror. Always. No other option. Your whole kit is base around hitting the enemy and getting your passive stacks off on them. Conqueror will also stack till 5 just like your passive making your Noxian Might + fully stacked conqueror become the deadliest thing in the game. All you need to do in game is get your Noxian might and you win every fight.
Domination: Brutal/Triumph. Brutal is an overall great rune. Definitely S tier and so taking it on Darius is recommended. Triumph is also good if you want to give it a try, it will make your ultimate do a lot more damage because the enemies will be low health, however, it is not really needed so I’d recommend going brutal most of the time.
Resolve: Except for Loyalty, all are viable in different situations. Spirit walker is something you’ll take against someone with slows in lane. Best example would be Nasus. Regeneration would be ideal against poke matchups like Fiora or a ranged matchup. Hunter-titan against enemies with a lot of CC, conditioning and backbone are good general case picks.
Inspiration: You don’t really need most of the runes in this tree. You can consider going sweet tooth for that bonus gold to get your tri-force quicker, or mastermind, for help in taking objectives.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Skill Order Explanation
Skill Order:
Starting: You can start with any of the 3 skills as they all work in different situations. If your team is invading, you will take E first as CC is key in lv 1 skirmishes and your hook can cause them to burn their flash. If you are waiting in a bush to cheese your opponent laner, start with W because it is an auto reset which allows you to get 2 stacks off quickly whenever it’s up and it slows them as well, so you can chase them down and possibly kill them at level 1. You will start with Q in situations where you are up against a lane bully or a ranged matchup, so you can’t walk up to get last hits, so you will use Q to get them.
Max order: Q > E > W | R (Whenever you can)
Explanation: Your Q will be the most helpful tool in the laning phase and out of it as well as it heals you and applies passive stacks to everyone in the outer circle. You do not need to max your W, Your W is just a tool to hit your Q perfectly as it slows and apply one stack of your passive. So, you will always max your Q first. Max E second as it not just hooks the enemy but it has a passive that increases your armour penetration, which is HUGE and also you need it on a low cool down. Max W last and take a point in R whenever you can.
Combos
Let’s start with the simplest combos and then build up on those.
1. Auto > W: Darius’ W is an auto attack reset. What this means is that if you auto attack and then press W, you can immediately auto attack again instead of waiting for your next auto attack to come up. So, instead of just trading with the enemy by pressing W, you’ll get more value if you auto attack and then W instantly as you’ll get 2 stacks of your passive as well.
2. W > Q: Darius’ W has an animation. It is quite small but still, if you press your Q, right as you are getting your W auto attack off, it will cancel the animation of your W auto attack, and the slow from your W will allow you to land your Q perfectly. This will get you 2 stacks as well instantly.
3. Auto > W > Q: This combo is just utilizing 1st and 2nd combos together. So you auto attack, instantly reset auto with W and hit your W auto attack, press Q to cancel W animation and land Q perfectly. This will get you 3 stacks in just over 1 second.
4. E > Auto > W > Q: This is the same as combo 3. You can start with your E to pull them in and slow, and then use combo 3 on them.
5. E > Auto > W > Q > Ghost > Auto > Auto > R: This is your all-in combo in lane. You start with your hook to get on them and then pull of your combo 3 and get 3 stacks on them. Then you can use ghost if you think they can run away, if not you can save it, and then get 2 more auto attacks off on them to get your Noxian Might and then R them to seal the deal.
Flash Combos:
1. Q > Flash: You can charge up your Q and flash to the enemy just before it goes off so they can’t dodge it. This takes a lot of practice and precision so try it out a bunch of times in the practice tool.
2. R > Flash: Your ultimate has a weakness that it has a huge animation. People can use their zhonyas, or someone like Fiora or Jax can dodge it easily. If you Flash then R, you will go through the whole animation giving them time to react however if you
Game Plan
Early:
Early game, there are very few champions who can beat Darius’ cheese, namely Olaf and Wukong if you’re not careful. Except for them, you can fight any one at melee range with your W. Laning phase is never too hard, with your Q harass, you can take trades safely and heal up as well even in bad matchups and not miss too much CS. Darius is very good at punishing mistakes and turning fights around so he can snowball fairly easily if your opponent slips up even a little.
Mid:
Mid game is where Darius shines. If you won lane hard, you can basically do whatever you want in the mid game. But, in order to not fall off late game you should keep roaming and helping your team. Push out side lanes as much as you can but never commit to split pushing since Darius is NOT a split pushing champ. Unless you’re insanely ahead and can take on 1v3s, try your best to stick with your team and just ensure that side lanes are pushing out. If you’re with your team, every E you land will almost be a guaranteed kill and you can get your passive by timing your R well so you won’t have to get all 5 stacks off.
Late:
Darius isn’t the best in the late game, however if you have itemised well for your opponents, you can still be very relevant. If you’ve been extremely dominant, the game will rarely reach late game, which should be your aim and point while playing Darius. Your focus should be to stick with your team and not take 1v2s or 1v3s anymore in the late game and rather try to get picks.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
1. Has tons of burst damage.
2. Has armour penetration built into his kit.
3. Not a very high skill capped champion.
4. Scales reasonably well.
5. Not very farm dependant.
6. Can completely turn losing fights around if he gets Noxian Might.
Cons:
1. Can be kited down fairly easily.
2. Is useless in teamfights without his passive stacked up.
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