[2.1] Challenger Darius Guide | Patch 2.1a

When laning against a Tryndamere pay attention to his fury bar. If it is really high he will deal more damage as he has an increased chance of dealing critical damage to you. You usually win 1v1s vs Tryndamere unless he has full stacks of his passive and engages on you.

The way that you can easily kill Tryndamere even though he uses his ultimate is to stack up 5 stacks of your Hemorrhage and ignite him when his ultimate finishes. The combined damage of these two will kill him.

All I have to say against Dr. Mundo is to get Ignite. Ignite reduces healing which is great against Sadism .

Mundo is a champion that you can snowball against as you just severely out damage him . the way to make sure you win a 1v1 is to ignite him during his ultimate and if you want to REALLY make sure he doesn't heal up you can also get an early Executioner's Calling

Just catch Dr. Mundo with your Apprehend and slow him with Crippling Strike then keep hitting him and you will easily destroy him.

Don't get poked too hard by [mundo:1] by the way, stay behind minions and don't take unnecessary damage.

Singed wants you to chase him without hitting him. The way that you can counter this is by getting Ghost, Boots of Swiftness AND Glorious Enchant . Singed can be a pain in the ass to catch but with these boosts to your movement speed and a little magic resist you should be able to catch up to him and destroy him. 

When you get 5 stacks of Hemorrhage on Singed then just flash onto him and hit him a few more times and kill him.

Darius hard counters Garen . Your passive won't allow him to heal as you deal bleed damage over time. All you gotta do against Garen is to not allow him to poke you out with his Decisive Strike because this can be an annoying ability to deal with. Just ALL-IN a Garen by hooking him in with Apprehend and slowing him with Crippling Strike . A great tip against Garen is to ALL-IN him after he uses Decisive Strike because he can otherwise use it to run away and neglect your slow.

All in all, engage in longer fights and don't get poked out, ez lane.

Nasus is a very easy laning matchup to have. He is incredibly weak early game and whenever you can just hook him in with Apprehend and destroy him. The way that you need to play against Nasus is to freeze the lane and make him overextend. Only last-hit minions, don't push the wave unless you killed him, then you can push the wave under his turret so he loses farm.

When Nasus gets his ultimate you should try to bait it out, do this by pretending you are fully engaging and when he uses his ultimate, disengage (unless you can still kill him).

A good Olaf can be annoying as he can poke you with his axe and ALL-IN you with Ragnarok . You should often run away when Olaf uses his ultimate unless you already have a few stacks of Noxian might on him, then you can also choose to try and get 5 stacks and destroy him with your ultimate.

Be careful of ganks when you are against Olaf as he can turret dive you quite easily with the jungler so having good vision is important when laning against Olaf

Gragas is a very annoying matchup but the reason I didn't put him as a hard matchup is because you can itemize very effectively against him. Buy Mercury's Treads to reduce the CC from Gragas and reduce the magic damage you'll take. Get an early Glorious Enchant against Gragas to be able to catch him.

The way that you can catch him out with Glorious Enchant is to wait in a bush or a spot where he can't see you and then you gank him. Use Apprehend to hook Gragas in and immediately slow him with Crippling Strike . He will likely try to use his ultimate to get you away so try to be unpredictable with your movement so he can't just easily shoot you back with his ultimate.

Don't get poked too hard, you can do this by baiting Barrel Roll . pretend as if you are going somewhere and then back off immediately when he throws a barrel.

Trade in the early game with Jax you will be able to out damage him. Try to bait out Counter Strike and after he used it you can start trading with him again. When you manage to get 5 stacks of Noxian Might on Jax all in him, your ultimate deals damage through Counter Strike so you can decimate him with your ultimate when you have 5 stacks of Noxian Might. Don't be afraid to proc your flash to secure the kill when you have 5 stacks of Noxian might.

Note that Jax is an incredibly strong duelist in the late-game so be careful in 1v1s in the late-game with Jax . Don't feel too confident by just going in like an idiot. If the Jax is good he will likely win an isolated 1v1 with Darius in the late-game.

When laning against a Malphite you should take into consideration that he will buy a lot of armor against you. Black Cleaver is a great item against Malphite . Only build Black Cleaver first if the enemy has more tanks besides Malphite however.

Engage in longer fights with Malphite as a Darius . Don't get poked too hard by Seismic Shard

Mercury's Treads are great against Malphite to reduce incoming damage and reduce the CC.

Akali is a hard matchup in lane for Darius. You have to be very careful because Akali will poke you with Five Point Strike . the way that you need to play against Akali is to not get poked out hard in lane. It will likely cost you some minions but it is what it is. You can trade with Akali with Decimate , if you time it well you can actually out poke Akali with Decimate .

You can catch out Akali if she gets a tad bit too close with Apprehend but she will just go invisible with Twilight Shroud . What I recommend you to do is to hook Akali right before your jungler ganks your lane. This is to bait out Twilight Shroud so you will be able to secure the kill with your junglers abilities.

When you are laning against Vayne go cry in a corner. I am serious cry under your turret and just take last-hits on minions. The way you can win lane is by baiting Vayne to overextend and then gank her with your junger. You won't be able to win trades against the Vayne . Even if you catch Vayne out of position with Apprehend she can just shoot you back with Condemn so don't look for trades unless she wasted Condemn .

A thing to note against Vayne is to try and avoid walls as she can stun you into a wall wth Condemn . If that happens you are probably either going to die or you have to trigger your flash to escape. Communicate with your jungler and time ganks well against Vayne and don't let her farm till the late-game. If you gank Vayne once or twice you might be able to fight her as you will be ahead.

Fiora is incredibly strong early game, almost no champions counter her in a laning matchup. You have to play the baiting game with Fiora . engage in a fight when your junger is ganking. Don't make it too obvious though, just take some trades and if she falls for it then go in and destroy her in a 2v1 with your jungler.

Don't use Noxian Guillotine when Fiora has Riposte up as she can predict your ultimate and dodge ALL the damage with Riposte . once she used her Riposte you can look for a fight and a finisher.

When you play against Kennen in lane make sure you don't get stunned by Kennen . Do this by playing safe. Use your hook when Lightning Rush is on cooldown. You will destroy him if he can't escape with Lightning Rush . Just play safe and don't die, he can also engage on your with Flash or Lightning Rush and use his ultimate when the enemy jungler is ganking you. To avoid dying in a situation like this get Mercury's Treads in the early game as it reduces the stun duration and provides you with some magic resistance.

Camille is a pure skill matchup. Camille will outdamage you in short trades with Precision Protocol . So avoid trading with Camille when she is able to just hit you with Precision Protocol and escape with Hookshot . 

Glorious Enchant is gonna be your best friend against Camille as you'll be able to chase Camille even though she tries to escape with Hookshot .

A thing to note is that Camille can dodge Noxian Guillotine with The Hextech Ultimatum so don't make your ultimate too obvious because if she dodges your ultimate with her ultimate you will likely lose the fight. Bait out Camille ultimate by not always immediately using your ultimate immediately when you have it up.

Teemo is a pure skill matchup for Darius . When he goes for Blinding Dart hook him in because the range of the two abilities is the same. Keep hitting Teemo even though he blinds you because you will still stack up Noxian Might.

Against Teemo it is key to not take free damage, and whenever you are ready to fight just hook Teemo in with Apprehend when he wants to basic attack you.