Summary
Itemization
Darius is a champion who is both tough and capable of inflicting enormous damage with his Passive — Hemorrhage and R — Noxian Guillotine. However, his strength is limited by his low mobility. Items giving movespeed are to be preferred.
Beginning of the game:
If you are in a difficult lane, Doran's Shield will allow you to survive the poke inflicted by your opponent. However, if you're confident, Doran's Blade is an excellent, more aggressive, alternative.
Core items:
The Trinity Force, Sterak's Gage and Dead Man's Plate is an excellent combination of items that allow Darius to inflict heavy damage while surviving longer in the melee.
Situational Items:
- The Black Cliver is more effective than the Trinity Force if you're taking on a team with a lot of armor.
- The movespeed provided by Righteous Glory's active skill greatly helps Darius reach more mobile teams.
- Gargoyle Stoneplate is an excellent alternative if you're the only lane front of the team.
How to play Darius?
Darius is great at the beginning of the game thanks to his damage and regeneration. He's particularly effective against Champions in hand-to-hand combat.
- Level 1: Take W — Crippling Strike and charge your Conqueror rune. Take advantage of the refreshing self-attack delay provided by W — Crippling Strike to accumulate a maximum of bleeding with Hemorrhage.
- Level 2: Use Q — Decimate to improve your lane, thanks to the healing you take if you hit your enemy with the blade of your axe.
In teamfight:
- Seek to touch E — Apprehend in order to attract a misplaced enemy.
- To optimize your damage, load your liability to the maximum on an enemy. Take advantage of the damage bonus provided by the Passive —Hemorrhage to decimate your enemies.
- Hit as many enemies as possible with Q — Decimate to keep you alive.
- Use R — Noxian Guillotine to finish off your enemies. If this spell kills the target, it can be reused within 20 seconds without mana cost. At level 16 (Ultimate Rank 3), the spell no longer costs mana and the cooldown is cancelled — if it's followed by the death of your opponent.
Match-ups
Tips and Tricks
- Q — Decimate restores health points to Darius according to the number of enemies hit only by the blade.
- W — Crippling Strike resets your basic attack.
- E — Apprehend can draw enemies through walls if they are within range.
- After 5 cumulative effects of Passive — Hemorrhage, R — Noxian Guillotine deals its maximum damage.
- When Hemorrhage reaches 5 drops, Darius can apply the maximum charged Passive directly to any other enemy champion.
- If R — Noxian Guillotine does not kill the opponent, but the opponent dies within a very short window of time afterwards, your recovery time still refreshes.
