Opinion on Darius nerf

homerthefatso·Jan 13, 2017·7 votes·1,995 views

First off, I'll fess up and say that I am a level 7 darius main. I do not really care about the passive nerf, because 30 bonus ad early game is still hella high.

However, I do not agree with the Q nerf. Some people are saying that the q nerfs will only affect a bad darius and a darius that is bad at timing q's. I do not know what type of opponents they are laning against but this is only the case in certain match ups vs champs without sudden mobility such as . However many of the most popular top laners right now such as and go in as Darius winds up his Q. They use their sudden gap closers to get some damage off while only getting hit with the handle, taking 50% reduced damage, no bleed stacks, and of course putting his q (his main damage source early) on cd. Any smart player who is playing one of these champs and not either dangerously low on health or very behind will counter darius' q by going in right as he winds it up, taking minimal damage.

While I agree that Darius should be punished for not hitting his opponent with the blade, I think that 35% damage is going too far. Currently, hitting a champion with the handle does 50% less damage, does not apply a bleed stack (which is actually a very big deal), and does not heal him. There is no need to go even further and make it do next to no damage. As it stands, a handle hit from a 250 AD darius will do 255 damage not counting resistances. After the nerf it will only do 179 not yet counting resistances, which is just pitiful for a max ranked ability on a full build champion (especially when that ability is his main source of damage other than ult). As I said earlier, hitting champions with the blade is not as easy as it seems in many match ups. many good top laners with mobility engage right as Darius is winding up his q, making it much harder to hit them with the blade. Currently the 3 top laners with the highest play rates (not including Darius obviously) are and who all use this strategy effectively against Darius so he should not be punished so severely for not hitting them with the blade.

Another reason why I have a problem with this nerf is because top lane is so irrelevant right now and is one of the viable top laners that is something other than a cc bot or some dude with insane mobility (looking at you ) Darius is one of the only if not the only juggernaut doing well top lane right now. However, there is a major drawback to him: his mobility. As a result, Darius is forced to take ghost basically every game, giving up teleport. At the same time, right now is the era of the 4 and 5 man gank bot every single game, putting the team with a Darius at a severe disadvantage early game. Toplane is just completely irrelevant. Many games, including the one I just played today, I completely crush lane as Darius, going 4-0 in lane and getting first turret, only to lose because bot lane was just far too behind.

I would be fine with all of these Darius nerfs if Riot found a way to make top lane relevant again. But until then, I think these nerfs are too severe because about 80% of the games are decided before I can even move from top lane. Darius is one of the only top laners that can actually carry a game by winning lane, and by nerfing him, we are just making top lane even more irrelevant. Many junglers these days don't even really gank top lane because it is so irrelevant, which may be one of the reasons why Darius does so well in lane. Darius is very vulnerable to ganks and that is one of his big weaknesses, but since all of the junglers are focusing on bot lane nowadays, he is free to terrorize many top laners. If you disagree feel free to post your arguments below.

15 Comments

RivetAceJan 13, 20172 votes

Because it's not okay for a champion to have counterplay by melees.

lumanachiJan 13, 20171 votes

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homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

The problem isn't Darius though, its the 4-5 man bot lane meta. Junglers are so focused botlane that they neglect top lane. One of Darius's biggest weaknesses are ganks, but if the enemy jungler isn't going to gank a Darius, of course he'll thrive.

KilanostJan 13, 20171 votes

To be perfectly honest, Darius is so strong even early that I just don't want to gank him as he stands unless I'm playing zac and I have passive.

homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

Well, I main jungle and top. Recently I have actually been putting jungle as primary because it makes such a huge impact and I see Darius top as a free meal. He is pretty safe to gank 1-6 and even after if you are smart. It is only scary when you gank a 5-0 darius because at that point, he can probably 2v1. The problem is many people don't know how to gank darius for some reason. When I am pushed up, the enemy top laner often goes in on me like 5 seconds before his jungler trying to bait me or something. As a result, I already have 4 or 5 stacks on the dude before his jungler comes to the rescue and by that time, I have a much higher chance of killing both because I managed to trigger Noxian Might

Joseph GladstoneJan 13, 20171 votes

Ikr. But it's always fun to cancel a 3rd Riven Q with your pull

noxus is opJan 13, 20171 votes

boi all the rivens i play against use that third q to escape after the combo that ends with tld proc and w stun which leads to her escaping with both 3rd q and e i hate facing a good riven which is why i recently start maining her.

honorable mention... fuk camille.

homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

I have the hardest time vs illaoi haha

DatTwo2Jan 13, 20171 votes

I feel like they should have the weak hit of his Q the same damage it is now and revert the change, but I'd rather have them slightly reduce the blade width on the inside of the circle. I play a decent bit of Darius and sometimes I feel like I'm hitting it just SLIGHTLY too easily. I feel like people should be rewarded for outplaying his Q by dashing in the center at the right time, and sometimes it's shaky if they actually get the outplay and are very, very slightly too far away from the center. This is just my two cents though. This would mostly just be adding counterplay while keeping his OVERALL damage, although I do believe Darius is in a fairly healthy spot at the moment.

homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

That would definitely help top laners with a non point and click dash against him such as fiora or riven. But both of them counter him pretty hard already so I don't really know who else that would really help as people like poppy jayce maokai dash straight on top of him

SquashCannonJan 13, 20171 votes

Also as a M7 darius main (this is a smurf) I wholeheartedly disagree. I'd rather the Q nerf than the passive nerf.

homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

Well the passive nerf is definitely a bigger nerf, but I am alright with it because 30 bonus AD level 1-3 is still really high. I just don't know why they gotta nerf Q with that because he is already punished enough for missing it. Just kinda overkill if you ask me

Troll for TrumpJan 13, 20171 votes

The 7 dmg on Draven early is huge. 10 AD is even larger.

While 10 AD might not seem a lot lategame, it will hurt a lot more early game than you think. It only evens out at lvl 13-14 ish.

For the first 3 lvls, when you're doing the cheese, he will lose out a lot more dmg than you think. Alot of the early trades end up with the opponent flashing out, and the bleed finishing them off + AAs with Noxian Might.

I would prefer if they nerfed his 5 stack steroid and gave back power to the DoT itself. He should be a bully, and he's not doing that anymore, except against immobile nonflashy picks.

homerthefatsoJan 13, 20171 votes

In my experience at least levels 1-4, if I even get to 5 stacks on them they either burn sums or are dead with plenty to spare. The extra 10 rarely makes it or breaks it until I hit 6 or unless they are innately very tanky like say malph naut or poppy

R18Jan 13, 20171 votes

I personally think that he needed the nerf. This is because Darius is a VERY popular pick and has a winrate over 52% over the last dozen patches. While the nerf may seem big, his winrate is still over 51% and I think he's in a much better position. Darius will still be one of the strongest toplaners and this nerf is defunitedly justified. He was so easy to play and do well with.

*Please don't complain about Riven and Yasuo when Darius counters them. (STATISTICALLY)