Hello solomid.net! My IGN is SifuHok as of now and today I'm here to bring you a Season 3 Darius Guide.

I enjoy top lane the most while also frequenting mid and ADC. I like to play an aggressive, go big or go home game. I am a Gold Elo player who has been playing nigh on two and a half years now; and through that time, I haven't enjoyed a Champion as much as Darius. Darius is a fun, rewarding Champ who brings a lot to a team in terms of damage and tankiness.

• One of the best Solo Top Traders
• Auto-Attack Enhancer (W) hits turrets and proc's Tri-Force
• Hard to build against due to Passive and True Damage
• Has a great AoE spell that also wave clears
• Great at, literally, "apprehending" people out of position
• Scaling true damage Ult.
• HE DUNKS
• He's actually a sensitive, caring, misunderstood child on the inside
• HE DUNKS

• Kited for DAYS
• Hard to go on Dunking Spree's due to some mana issues
• Everyone seems to have it out for him
• YOLO doesn't apply to his victims apparently (They just keep coming back to be dunked)
• Has no escape when Flash isn't up
• Has quite a few counters top lane, however a lot of it comes down to skill

These Masteries are set up to give Darius a very strong early game by investing a lot into the defensive tree and blocking much of the damage taken from foes in lane.
I do not think it's very smart to go 21/9/0 although it is possible. By going that route you give up on early survivability in favor of trying to snowball harder in top lane.



Summoner's Wrath: 1/1 5 damage while Ignite is off is pretty nice
Fury: 3/4 A little attack speed (Really just used to climb tree)
Deadliness: 4/4 Some decent damage added on late
Weapon Expertise: 1/1 The whole reason you're in this tree, goes nicely with your E's passive and will help your damage through all parts of the game




Durability: 4/4 Nice bit of health at 18 just to add to your hopefully impressive health pool
Hardiness: 3/3 Great early defenses for any Attack Damage dealers
Resistance: 3/3 Great early defenses for any Magic Damage dealers
Unyielding: 2/2 Actually reduces a ton of damage in lane
Veteran's Scars: 1/1 Great early game boost to survivability
Block: 1/1 Really strong at mitigating early game Auto Attacks in any lane
Tenacious: 3/3 FREE TENACITY? WHAT IS THIS. THIS IS GREAT. TAKE IT. TAKE IT NOW.
Juggernaut: 3/3 I prefer taking the health boost over the defense boost because penetration is very strong this season and getting defense almost feels bad
Honor Guard: 1/1 It's actually a pretty nice boost to stopping damage

These Runes are designed to allow Darius to counter the damage of his opponent while being tankier and able to last hit more successfully. His high base damage allows him to invest almost entirely into defensive runes with a little AD to last hit.

Health Quints can be swapped for Damage/Movement Speed Quints.
The Flat Magic Resist Glyphs can be alternated with the Magic Resist per level Glyphs.

Flash is the most used summoner spell for a reason. If you don't pick it up, you will already be at a disadvantage due to not having a gap closer or high Movement speed. It is very strong despite it's Cooldown so take it while you can before Riot nerfs it or takes it out of the game.



Ignite works so well with Darius' passive and ult due to it either finishing up an opponent if you ult too early, or just battering away at their health, and stopping them from healing, until he ults. Helps win trades top or just stop high-priority targets from healing.



I've also had some success with Exhaust on Darius vs. some harder lanes such as Jayce/Jax/Kayle. Once they use both flash and their knock back, leap, movement enhancer's, exhaust them and you can pound away at them with ease while they are helpless to do anything. Also stops them from just auto'ing you to death in teamfights.



Running this minimizes the kill potential, (not by much) of your lane but can be invaluable in ganking, split-pushing, and even base races. Don't underestimate it.
PRO-TIP: Teleporting from you summoner's platform with HomeGuard boots still gives you the near 800~ MS, this is great for ganking/initiating a teamfight by flanking.

This passive is one of the best in-game at the moment. Not only does it do Magic damage, (which makes it hard to build against), it also can stack. An important thing to note about this passive is that it gives you movement speed per enemy champs bloodied. Get as many stacks on an Enemy as possible before ulting!







This is Darius' bread and butter spell. It takes a little time to master effectively, (hitting enemies in the outer ring). It also applies a stack of his passive. Use this to harass, push, kill, look cool, imitate Garen, and spin to win.







This spell doesn't receive much notice but is beyond important. This skill makes it possible for Darius to permaslow an enemy in much the same way Olaf does. Important things to note are that it slows attack speed, applies on-hit effects (Tri-Force), can be used on towers, and actually increases your AA ranged slightly.







Apprehend is a very straightforward spell. You pull enemies in a cone in front of you towards you. This spell is used to catch squishies late game. This skill can pull Champions across terrain. This also gives you armor pen for free.
NOTE: If you want to invade blue early, solely for the buff, you can pull it with this.







YOLO DUNK. One of the stronkest ults in the game. Scaling true damage that refreshes on kill. This gives you Pentakill potential and is the reason why he is hated by the community. Try to get all 5 stacks on an enemy before using to maximize damage output. This ult will also follow Champs if they flash/gap close if you already clicked on them, resulting in some hilarious kills.

Start



or



or



OR


If facing a strong jungler.


End Game Build Should look roughly like this (Is in Order)







Start


or




End Game Build Should look roughly like this (Is in Order)







Start


or




End Game Build Should look roughly like this (Is in Order)

You need to last hit as successfully as possible and try to gain as much of a level advantage as you can. Being in lane even 5 seconds before you opponent shows up can decide the entirety or the lane. Harass as much as possible seeing as how your mana costs aren't high, but be sure to hit in the outer ring of Q and to only pull when you believe you can get a kill/force a flash.

If you reach 6 before your opponent, immediately engage and either get a kill or send them back. If they reach 6 before you, play cautious and assess if you can survive an Ult combo from them, and try to reach 6 as fast as possible, no one rivals your kill potential at 6.

Force your tower down as soon as your fed from kills or minions. You want to exploit your damage across all the Lanes of Summoner Rift. (The days of leaving the turret up to farm for hours are over) Once you grab top tower, gank mid/force a dragon fight. This will result in an early teamfight 4v5 in your favor or, if they don't contest it, a free objective.

Spend this time getting tankier, getting kills (or feeding them to the ADC), and taking towers/warding Baron and Dragon.

At this point in the game, you should be full out fighting the enemy and hopefully winning. A good teamfight can result in a Baron or Inhib so play cautious and stay with your team at all times (Unless you picked up Teleport). Don't throw the game because you got cocky by being 8-2 with Darius; you're not God. Be sure to pick up wards whenever you can, don't leave that burden solely to the jungle and support.

Because you are the Front Line in your team, Your main goal late is to absorb as much damage as possible and to catch their carries. You can Flash+Apprehend to grab as much as their team out of position as possible and then try to get the reset on your ult. DO NOT DIE BEFORE ULTING, EVEN IF IT WONT GET YOU THE KILL. You are there to tank and be as much as a disruption as possible.

• Darius can pull blue buff from behind the wall
• Darius will still ult someone if he is in mid-animation even if they flash
• Darius' ult can be a gap closer if you believe that person will flash/jump away
• Flash+Apprehend can literally pull their entire team into you for some nice combos with your team
• Darius' W increases his auto attack length slightly

Darius is a fun and strong Champion. He deals immense damage while being able to wade through the swaths of enemies opposing him. He isn't all out destroyed in lane by many, most of his match-ups come down to skill. His potential to snowball is fierce and he is a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you for reading my guide! Leave comments, questions, and feedback below!

MERRY DUNKMAS~