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by SilverNova

[2.6a] Darius Guide - Darius ~ Strength Above All!

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Perfectionist World Cultural Heritage To the Moon
Darius is very strong atm, so abuse the living hell out of him. He is as FREE ELO as any champion can possibly become.
Patch 2.6a
February 05, 2022 19:56
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Darius ~ Strength Above All!

A Baron Lane Darius Guide! Includes aggressive and defensive styles, as well as information about pushing and teaming. Learn how to decimate your opponents by smashing their dense skulls into the ground. Come on and slam!

Darius Build

Best Build Guide for Darius

Starting Items
Long Sword
Ruby Crystal
first recall
Phage
Stinger
Boots of Speed
default build (bruiser)
Trinity Force
Glorious Enchant
Sterak's Gage
Dead Man's Plate
Spirit Visage
Randuin's Omen
vampiric build (more ad/lifesteal)
Trinity Force
Protobelt Enchant
Death's Dance
Bloodthirster
Sterak's Gage
Guardian Angel
flexible items
Maw of Malmortius
Quicksilver Enchant
Thornmail
Warmog's Armor
Boots
Boots of Swiftness
Mercury's Treads
Plated Steelcaps

Item Build Description

Additional information on the items

Typically you go for a BRUISER build when your team doesn't have a tank. This allows you to be a front-line threat with Glorious EnchantGlorious Enchant and Dead Man's PlateDead Man's Plate . You can walk up, hook someone with ApprehendApprehend and initiate a fight.

The OFFENSIVE build is more fitting if your team already has a lot of meat, e.g. AlistarAlistar support, Dr. MundoDr. Mundo jungle or MalphiteMalphite mid. Keep in mind that this a very risky build. You don't have a lot of health, and rely a lot on dealing damage to survive. If you get stunned or nuked, there's very little you will be able to do.


Starting Items

  • Long SwordLong Sword to help you last hit which you will later build into Black Cleaver (BC).
  • Ruby CrystalRuby Crystal against hard ad match ups like Vayne & Wukong

First Recall

  • PhagePhage is the first item you buy. It gives you health, attack damage and movement speed which is perfect for Darius
  • StingerStinger is the second item, which is good for landing faster stacks in early game
  • Boots of SpeedBoots of Speed is a recommended purchase either before or after you finish off Trinity Force to get you that extra mobility

Default Build (Bruiser)

  • Trinity ForceTrinity Force is a standard must-have item on Darius as it allows you to move faster, deal more damage with your abilities (W), and generally grants you attributes that Darius can make well use of. This is your first and most powerful power spike
  • Glorious EnchantGlorious Enchant is used for engaging team fights. You use it to gain massive movement speed in order to catch enemies with ApprehendApprehend .
  • Sterak's GageSterak's Gage gives you a lot more sustain and a shield which the enemies might not expect. Allows you to live longer and escape team fights if you get burst by an assassin.
  • Dead Man's PlateDead Man's Plate is your second power spike. It gives you even MORE movement speed, armor, and health. By now you should be flying across the map like an unstoppable killing machine.
  • Randuin's OmenRanduin's Omen is bought to let you survive longer in team fights. ADCs will probably hit you a lot, and so will other bruisers in the top/jungle. This item makes them all weaker
  • Spirit VisageSpirit Visage as a final item is bought to give you some magic resistance as most of your items grant you armor. It also heals you more with the help of your DecimateDecimate

Vampiric Build (AD)

  • Trinity ForceTrinity Force is a standard must-have item on Darius as it allows you to move faster, deal more damage with your abilities (W), and generally grants you attributes that Darius can make well use of. This is your first and most powerful power spike
  • Death's DanceDeath's Dance gives you AD, health, and life steal as well as turning all damage into bleeds. Allows you to live long enough to heal back up with your other items
  • [protobelt_enchant] is used for a quick catch with ApprehendApprehend . It is used as a gap closer for ranged matchups like Vayne, Teemo, and Kennen.
  • BloodthirsterBloodthirster generally grants you a crazy amount of life steal which you can abuse with AA+ Crippling StrikeCrippling Strike . Together with death's dance you should be healing like a mad man through your auto attacks and second ability.
  • Sterak's GageSterak's Gage gives you a lot more sustain and a shield which the enemies might not expect. Allows you to you live longer, and escape team fights if you get burst by an assassin.
  • Guardian AngelGuardian Angel is basically a second lifeline. At this point, you have so much regeneration that if you do die, you can surprise enemies through the rest of your items.

Flexible Items

  • Maw of MalmortiusMaw of Malmortius is useful for the vampiric build against heavy AP compositions
  • Quicksilver EnchantQuicksilver Enchant is powerful if the enemy team has a lot of CC, e.g. Annie, Ahri or Camille.
  • ThornmailThornmail is taken if the enemy team has full AD, meaning no mages or champions with ability power. Generally not advised though
  • Warmog's ArmorWarmog's Armor can be taken if you are in a tough lane. It will let you regenerate health when you are out of combat and have over 2,500 maximum health, which will save you time, gold, and experience by letting you stay in the lane instead of recalling and running back. Also useful in long team battles where you can run out, regenerate and run back in.

Boots

Darius Runes

Best Runes for Darius

Keystone
Conqueror
Conqueror
Domination
Gathering Storm
Gathering Storm
Resolve
Conditioning
Conditioning
Inspiration
Sweet Tooth
Sweet Tooth

Conquerer

  • The only rune that fits Darius. It stacks, like your passive, allowing you to get stronger the longer a fight lasts. Also useful as you can apply many stacks with DecimateDecimate

Gathering Storm

  • A good rune that scales with the game, allowing you to have pressure at all times

Conditioning/ Hunter Titan / Spirit Walker

  • Conditioning to round out your resistances. Useful for a team or enemies with mixed damage (E.g. Kennen).
  • Hunter Titan is good if the enemies have a lot of stuns. Gives you health and tenacity, allowing for different boots
  • Spirit Walker is powerful against enemies with slows like Olaf and Nasus. Lets you press them even further

Sweet tooth

  • A really good rune that gives you more lane sustain and extra gold. The rest are irrelevant for Darius.

Skill Order

How to distribute skill points

Hemorrhage
Hemorrhage - Passive
Decimate
Decimate
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Crippling Strike
Crippling Strike
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Apprehend
Apprehend
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Noxian Guillotine
Noxian Guillotine
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Summoner Spells

When to take which summoners

Flash
Always take flash.
Ignite
Take ignite if you have kill pressure in lane.
Ghost
Ghost if you do not have kill pressure, as it is useful for catching enemies outside of the lane.
Barrier

Combos

Learn how to maximize the champions potential

Glorious Enchant
Crippling Strike
2nd
Auto Attack
AA
Decimate
1st
Apprehend
3rd
Auto Attack
AA
Noxian Guillotine
Ult

Combo used in order to catch up to people

Apprehend
3rd
Auto Attack
AA
Crippling Strike
2nd
Decimate
1st
Auto Attack
AA
Auto Attack
AA
Noxian Guillotine
Ult

Lane trading combo for killing someone

Apprehend
3rd
Auto Attack
AA
Crippling Strike
2nd
Decimate
1st

Basic combo to trade with your opponent

Darius Matchups & Counters

Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters

Tryndamere
Easy
Tryndamere
Nasus
Easy
Nasus
Dr. Mundo
Easy
Dr. Mundo
Singed
Easy
Singed
Olaf
Easy
Olaf
Garen
Easy
Garen
Yasuo
Easy
Yasuo
Renekton
Easy
Renekton
Wukong
Easy
Wukong
Gragas
Medium
Gragas
Teemo
Medium
Teemo
Kennen
Medium
Kennen
Vayne
Hard
Vayne
Akali
Hard
Akali
Fiora
Hard
Fiora
Jax
Skill
Jax
Camille
Skill
Camille
Darius
Skill
Darius
Malphite
Skill
Malphite
Sett
Skill
Sett

Tips to easily beat him:

Darius

Ability Tips & Tricks

HemorrhageHemorrhage

  • This ability gives darius a stack every time he lands an auto-attack on enemy champions or hits with his Crippling StrikeCrippling Strike or the outer blade of DecimateDecimate .When fully stacked, he gets extra attack damage. Because of this ability, Darius doesn't need a lot of damage and is therefore typically built as a bruiser.

DecimateDecimate

  • Your main trading ability. Useful for clearing big waves, poking laners and applying your passive on multiple targets while getting healed. This is the bread and butter to becoming a strong darius player.
  • Useful tip is to use Q + Flash to quickly land it on your enemies without them expecting it.

Crippling StrikeCrippling Strike

  • Super powerful ability after you get SheenSheen you can pull in enemies, land an attack and then use this ability with your Q to deal tons of damage. This ability also grants you 25 attack range, so you can use it for enemies trying to escape you.

ApprehendApprehend

  • Landing this ability is vital for your survival. You can use it to pull enemies while they are performing an action, like HookshotHookshot , LungeLunge and Spirit RushSpirit Rush . Use this ability to catch enemies running away from you, or to start a fight.

Noxian GuillotineNoxian Guillotine

  • Has somewhat medium-range, allowing you to close gaps after a fight. Killing an enemy with this ability will instantly refresh the cooldown, allowing you to further dunk your opponents.
Darius

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

  • 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.
  • Can turn a gank into a Double Kill. 
  • 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.

Weaknesses

  • Immobile and very easy to kite.
  • Missing E can sometimes mean certain death in some lanes.
  • Very difficult to play vs high elo toplaners.
  • Not a good tank.
  • Has mediocre peel.
  • Can be killed very quickly if he misses Q
Darius

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