A Potential Darius change

First of all, I personally have no issue with Darius; I love playing Darius, and I think he's a great champion with solid strengths and weaknesses. However, I've been seeing Darius discussions growing more frequent over time, and he's being banned a lot more now than I can remember since his initial nerfs after the juggernaut update. So, I decided to think through what may be the problem, and propose my idea(s) for possible solution(s).

A) What's wrong with Darius? Any solution first requires a problem to be the solution to. So what exactly is the issue at present? Here's my interpretation of the problem, and it's two fold: I) Darius is, and has always been, a god tier champion at punishing even the slightest mistakes, and II) Darius Q (Decimate) is a make or break ability. I'll discuss both in order.

I) Darius as a punishing champion Now, don't get me wrong; I think there should be champions who are extremely punishing ( , just some of the ones that immediately jump to mind) when you make mistakes, such as poor positioning or opting to bad trades. This has arguably been one of Darius's best characteristics, as he is very good at punishing poor positioning and improper ability management (you use your dash improperly, he can pull you in and get a solid trade). This I think is a perfectly acceptable characteristic, but it's directly connect to point 2, and I hope to solve both issues at once.

II) Darius Q is a make or break spell What I consider to be the main issue is Darius Q. Darius Q has a lot packed into it; it deals hefty damage, stacks his passive, and heals him, but only if he hits enemies with the blade. This creates very good interaction between players because it creates a necessity to hit or dodge the blade for the Darius and the enemy, respectively. The enemy can move towards Darius and opt into the haft's damage, or move away to avoid all damage. The Darius must move in an according manner to secure the damage. However, the problem here is that if the Darius misses his Q, he losses a massive, massive amount of power. I'm not just talking about the actual damage, but the heal and the passive stack, leaving Darius with 0 sustain and only 3 ways to stack bleed now (autos, W and Ult [yes Ult applies a stack]). Imo, that level of power investment in a single cast is far too great, as failing will almost certainly result in a failed trade unless Darius can force his opponent to fight him until he procs Noxian Might, which someone would almost never do. The only other champions I can think of who are that reliant on one spell are Q, Q, and Q, and two of those are enhanced autos, which are pretty hard to miss. Even then, I don't believe any of those abilities carry as much weight as Decimate does, being both sustain and the main damaging ability.

B) So what do we do? Here's my idea, and you can feel free to call it crazy: separate Decimate into two abilities, have one swing as Q1 and another swing as Q2, but half the damage, mana cost and heal on the swings so the total amounts for each quality remain unchanged if both Q's land. Now, there are a few benefits to this.

1. Darius now has an additional way to stack bleed, since both Q's would apply single stack
2. No real damage or heal change, keeping power and sustain intact if both Q's are landed
3. Really good Darius players won't miss too many Q's, so this doesn't really affect higher proficiency players other than spacing out the damage
4. By spacing out Darius's damage, you allow the enemy player more time to react and increase interactivity, which can help alleviate point I's issue to some degree. This seems to be a very sought-after quality in League, and I think this may introduce more to Darius's kit.

There are a few obvious drawbacks though:

1. Reducing upfront damage forces Darius to stay in fights longer, which he does love, for maximum heal and damage potential, which can be risky against certain champions who can outburst him after this change.
2. By giving opponents an addition chance to dodge the damage, the Darius player is, in essence, forced to ensure both Q's land, or they risk losing a good bit of power. This could lead to under-appreciation of the Q's that do land due to dissatisfaction of those that don't land.

Now, drawback 1 isn't necessarily terrible, as Darius does have E and W slow to force longer fights, which can ensure that he successfully lands appropriate damage. In addition, I'm finding Mallet Darius builds becoming a little more frequent, which ensures easier Q landing.

Should drawback 2 become apparent, one could raise the damage on both Q's slightly, which would ensure that landing even one Q would still be decent even if you missed the second Q.

Let me know what you guys think about this idea. It's a little hastily pieced together, but I figured it was one that was worth pitching. Thanks for reading.