The Silver Guide to beating Darius

I am a Silver III Darius 'main' at the moment, and I have 60 games on him ranked and many more on norms draft. I have decided to pick up, because every time I fought him top he was so "stupidly op", but after picking him and learning his strengths and weaknesses, I discovered his one big weakness. This guide is directed to the lower elo, because kiting is a skill most of us do NOT possess and reliable jungle ganks top lane are most likely not available in lower elo as well. This guide does not apply to the 20/0 fed af Darius running at your team...

Darius FAQ: Passive is the only thing that makes Darius worth anything Q IS HIS ONLY SOURCE OF REAL DAMAGE Q can be dodged by jumping into it, negating heal, stack and basically all of the damage W is a glorified auto reset, slow is just annoying E is a glorified reengage, short range and does ZERO damage and applies no stack (other then the free auto he gets) Ult is only really useful when passive is proc'd

There are four champs that I know can beat Darius in a one v one trade and those are also the champions you should play if you insist on killing Darius Jax: Trade with W up only, Q on to him asap when he Q's (assuming you are healthy), do not E as you jump onto him unless there is a gank, save E for when he pulls or if he decides to all in you. Riven: You have to know how to play her really well, you out damage him until he procs his passive, stay inside his Q's for trading, save a dash or two so you can get out safely during trades Renekton: Trade with fury up to get heal, you do not win the extended trades Fiora: Hit vitals, Darius will most likely pull you, parry his pull. Dash into Q to get hit by the handle, and parry his ult (super telegraphed) Others that survive the lane only: Gangplank, Jayce, Malphite, Rumble, Galio

Building against him: An early ninja tabi works really well and some early armor if you can afford it. Most importantly get lifesteal, Jax rushes Botrk, Fiora and Renekton rush Ravenous and Riven can build either Deaths dance or Ravenous.

*Assuming there is no Jungle Ganks on your side::

Understanding the Lane : Darius has power spikes at level 1,2,3 and 6 or anytime he procs the ad steroid of his passive. At the levels 1,2 and 3 Darius will beat any champ you pick in trades (except most ranged), so only farm the melee minions. You do not want to go up to Darius, since you are essentially giving him free stacks and he can reengage with his slows and pull if you try to run. You want Darius to actually try to kill you, not just give him free kills by standing next to him. As I said before if you want to trade wait for his Q, and then jump into the handle to remain undamaged. When he hits 6 he only gets slightly scarier assuming you play all the trades well and not letting him get a good amount of stacks on you.

Understanding the mid game: Darius shouldn't have been able to dunk you in lane if you followed the dodge the Q rule, so he should exit lane not being a giant monster. You still have to watch his KS dunks, because he can get powerful off that. However if you picked Fiora, Jax, or Riven you should be well farmed up enough to deal with his middle game

Understanding the late game: Darius will try to dunk or get 5 stacks as quickly as possible to penta dunk your team, he should be relatively tanky, but fortunately the champs mentioned in this guide shine in the late game. Riven, Fiora, Jax (not much renekton) should stomp the entire enemy team by then.

Tldr; Do not eat his Q, don't take 5 free autos to the face, and most importantly learn to kite so you can play the lane with a ranged champ

Btw this is my first guide, if I am missing some important tips or anything feel free to mention it.