Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I seriously can't deal with Darius...

MonkeyMadness·Sep 18, 2016·6 votes·855 views

He's tanky af. He has heals. He has decent crowd control. He has INCREDIBLE damage (Q hurts, W hurts, passive armor pen on E, the fkin hemorrhage stacks, and then the MASSIVE AD buff when he gets 5 stacks...O ya, and his ~1000 TRUE DAMAGE ultimate that HAS NO COOLDOWN). And before you tell me "well he's easily kiteable, he has no gapcloser, etc" well, here's the thing: gives movement speed buff for stickiness (and his passive refreshes this while shredding armor) and gives him that bit of bonus speed to get into a fight and start wreaking havoc. Also, I'm seeing more and more of them build . You simply cannot run from this, if he manages to hit you, you HAVE to flash or burn some other kind of escape ability.

45 Comments

Roit GumsSep 18, 20164 votes

If you cant deal with him, play him, then you will learn the weakness of darius, you need to play like many matches to understand it

Naga the godSep 18, 20163 votes

[deleted]

ReZisT LustSep 18, 20161 votes

No he isnt hes played a bit often just depends if your team bans hin or not

OurLestradeSep 18, 20163 votes

I can keep him down in lane, but I can never kill him. Then he just roams and wins off team fights :P

legionnaire99Sep 18, 20162 votes

Illaoi

SlythionSep 18, 20161 votes

Not really a super hard counter for Darius

legionnaire99Sep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Not really a super hard counter for Darius

She's is allot better vs him then you would at 1st think he should never heal with your W You're going to be healing tentacles hitting him and has and has no way to really stop your ult

SlythionSep 19, 20161 votes

I've played the matchup a lot, once Darius has a item 3044 it's pretty easy to trade with her or zone her... and eventually all in her.

legionnaire99Sep 19, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I've played the matchup a lot, once Darius has a it's pretty easy to trade with her or zone her... and eventually all in her.

They're both my most played champions and I have never won as Darius vs illioa that knew what she is doing and I think I lost him once but also DC for 10 minutes that game due to Internet problems also if you're really are having a hard time with him all leaving you I would drag him to the river entrance did you that's where You can have 2 tentacles hitting him no counting your ult or in front other his or your turret he will win in the middle of the lane unless he messes it up somehow

SlythionSep 19, 20161 votes

In my experience, the only way a Darius loses to an Illaoi is if he doesn't know how to control the battlefield (which is not necessarily an easy thing to do)

You can pull an Illaoi out of her tentacles or simply kite around her and her tentacles when you get phage until you get 5 stacks on her. All of Illaoi's abilities are telegraphed and you know where the tentacles will slam down from. You can freely use W to last hit her tentacles while farming lane and if you just know how to pick your fights with her you can either a) kill her or b) zone her out

legionnaire99Sep 19, 20161 votes

{quoted}

In my experience, the only way a Darius loses to an Illaoi is if he doesn't know how to control the battlefield (which is not necessarily an easy thing to do)

You can pull an Illaoi out of her tentacles or simply kite around her and her tentacles when you get phage until you get 5 stacks on her. All of Illaoi's abilities are telegraphed and you know where the tentacles will slam down from. You can freely use W to last hit her tentacles while farming lane and if you just know how to pick your fights with her you can either a) kill her or b) zone her out

yea and if the illaoi knows how to force him into her she wins i guess i just know both sides so that's common just to know for me

SlythionSep 19, 20161 votes

Ya, I suppose it just feels easier for Darius because Illaoi's area to do damage is very limited to the area she ults and the area your soul is pulled to

Darius's danger area is just near him, so Darius is able to adapt positions in a fight while Illaoi has to stay relatively stationary

JacknifeSep 18, 20162 votes

Basically you need a champion with close range dps. In a fight you'll be so in his face that he usually can't heal off you, and even if he can you can take that health away just as easily as you did before. His slow attack speed means he can't really duel up close, therefore he can't stack his bleed as quickly, therefore you have more time to murder him before he murders you. If you play tank-ish champs, build item 3143 , the attack speed slow does wonders on him. Sustain isn't necessary, but recommended. Also no Aatrox , he's garbage, period.

Sincerely, a Darius main

WarpesSep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Basically you need a champion with close range dps. In a fight you'll be so in his face that he usually can't heal off you, and even if he can you can take that health away just as easily as you did before. His slow attack speed means he can't really duel up close, therefore he can't stack his bleed as quickly, therefore you have more time to murder him before he murders you. If you play tank-ish champs, build , the attack speed slow does wonders on him. Sustain isn't necessary, but recommended. Also no , he's garbage, period.

Sincerely, a Darius main

This is the singular worst advice I've ever seen on these forums. Clearly trolling, or super awful at "darius main" .......

Feed DaddySep 18, 20161 votes

Ur bad

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

I'm sorry, what rank are you?

colesySep 18, 20161 votes

what champion are you playing

HorneybearmanSep 18, 20161 votes

Pull out the Garen my nooba friend

TyrekGoldenspearSep 18, 20161 votes

DEMACIA!

But you have to be skilled anyway, becuase Darius will dumpster a Garen picked solely to counterpick.

ÐelofashtSep 18, 20161 votes

Jayce > Darius, you out range him and can go Hammer to knock him off you if he gets close.

ReZisT LustSep 18, 20161 votes

Runs stormraiders it helps

ReZisT LustSep 18, 20161 votes

Also renekton dunks on him or at least my renekton does

Kokiri StarSep 18, 20161 votes

I'm a main otp poppy, darius is so unpredictable, sometimes i dumpster him, sometimes he trashes me. personally i think he needs a few numbers changed

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

Thank you...I'm getting this complete bs about how all you have to do is hard cc him. Right, because what champion isn't counted by hard cc?...His heal is just thematically dumb. It does not make sense on him from a backstory point of view. If that were removed, I think I would be completely ok with the rest of his kit.

Big LincolnSep 19, 20161 votes

When people say Darius is easy to kite, they mean that it is MUCH easier to keep him from getting on you in the first place than it is to get away from him.

Knowing this, you have to understand that once he does catch you, unless you have HARD disengage or enough mobility to outrun him, you probably aren't going to get away. There are actually a good amount of top laners that can crush Darius in a straight up duel. If you're just looking to bash on him all game at the expense of having a subpar teamfight, I recommend learning Jax, who is probably the best person to pick when it comes to dueling Darius. Gnar is a good pick for lane if you can kite, and does a good job at peeling him off when it's time to group. Poppy is very good at peeling Darius but will often get crushed in lane if she misplays even once.

Overall I think he's fine. He has very honest gameplay and very powerful rewards with reasonable costs being his low mobility and lack of range. He has a habit of snowballing extremely hard off a small lead, but what top laner doesn't

MonkeyMadnessSep 19, 20161 votes

I don't think I've seen any top laner snowball as hard as Darius. And given how easy it can be for him to get that initial lead, I feel he is a least a little op.

Big LincolnSep 19, 20161 votes

Riven Irelia Olaf Tryndamere Swain are all primary top laners I would say can snowball as hard as or harder than Darius. Maybe not as easily since most of them have been nerfed pretty heavily for that exact reason, but they've definitely been able to run away with the game in the past.

I think the main issue with Darius snowballing is that he doesn't actually need to invest in that much damage like most of these guys, it's mostly going to go to making him tanky once he finishes Cleaver, so it just becomes incredibly hard to deal with a fed Darius by mid-game because nobody has the armor pen needed to kill him, even during his CC.

His hardest counter besides a flat-out counterpick is probably just to camp him. He's got no real escapes once he burns Flash, so if he ever over-extends he's basically dead if you catch him. Shutting him down before he has a chance to get started is always the best option.

MonkeyMadnessSep 19, 20161 votes

Exactly, he builds virtually full tank but still deals MASSIVE damage. This is the problem I'm having. That, and the fact that he can burst heal himself for a shitload if you try to focus him down. But if you don't focus him, he will annihilate your team. fighting him is a lose lose unless you can somehow secure a pick and force a significantly more favorable engage.

Big LincolnSep 19, 20161 votes

There's not much I can say beyond the generic "CC him, group early, take him as a tam, etc" but it really is what works best against him. As an immobile melee champion, heavy slows and stuns hurt him more than anyone else, since he can only walk towards you.

If you're having trouble dealing with his Q healing, grab item 3123 or item 3165 as soon as you can and if you're melee, stand close to him so he doesn't get the heal at all. Picking a champion with high % damage works wonders too, like Elise for jungling or Gnar top; if you don't, you should build a BotRK (assuming you want to duel him and aren't a tank.)

Another important thing to note is that health is much more useful than armor once Darius hits level 6 and he. Both is best, but if you want to play it safe from the beginning I would rush Sunfire or DMP early on and fight Darius with your base damage while he's building Cleaver; you might not come out on top, but the important thing here is to survive and go even with him.

Again, there's really no single way to beat a fed Darius one on one. It's gonna take teamwork to take him down, which is what I think a lot of people struggle with in solo queue. The best advice I can give you is just camp him hard and make sure he never gets fed to begin with.

TyrekGoldenspearSep 19, 20161 votes

Well when I lane against him as Garen I Spin2Win into him, hitting W to block most of his burst, then Q and disengage while He's silenced so he can't pull me back. I repeat until he's low, then summoner 14 +Ult to finish the job.

In a team fight I run straight at him when he's looking to dunk and Q him. He's useless for 1.5 secs, no dunking. Then he's easily bursted down.

Meep ManSep 19, 20161 votes

A couple huge things to keep in mind when facing the little hand of Noxus:

When he is winding up his Q, hug him or be really far away from him, no in between.
Know that you enter the lane on his terms most of the time and that the lane will be revolving around him, not you, for Darius domain is the early game.
During a team fight, avoid letting Darius kill an enemy, for this will give him a huge DPS increase. If he does get said DPS increase, keep hima way from your squishy carries at all costs, even if it means dying, for they have the greatest chance of killing him compared to most Top Lane champions.
WHEN HE IS WINDING UP HIS Q, HUG HIM OR BE REALLY FAR AWAY FROM HIM, NO IN BETWEEN!

Darkone7001Jun 26, 20171 votes

Play kled, I have never lost a lane to a darius granted I've only lanned vs him with kled like 3 times but still, I just snowball him so hard idk why. I am by no means a good player but for some reason me and kled just destroy all the darius I have come across. If you can kill him before level 6 and keep getting kills or out CS him, you will do very well vs him, he is very weak when behind even with his true dmg ult. (Just a noobs 2 cents)

Guyy FieriSep 18, 2016

Unless you picked a team comp with no low cd cc or you team is misusing said cc, it is always possible to cc Darius.

He has no gap closer so against a Cc heavy team comp, without flash he has no reliable way in.

As for his heals Executioners Calling really screws up Darius's day.

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

This is NOT counterplay. Literally every champ in the game is countered by cc. Darius has no specific counter play options.

While he doesn't have gap closers, he does have a hook and itemization that allows him to get into fights much more efficiently.

Finally, executioners calling is a situation item at best that is NOT an acceptable build path on most top laners.

Guyy FieriSep 18, 20161 votes

Whatever. If you don't want to believe me I can't do anything to change that. Hard Cc beats juggernauts. End of discussion.

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

Hard cc beats EVERYONE. This is not specific counter play...Like, I thought this was commonly understand fact at this point...And even if you want to make this argument, you can't exactly chain cc him in a 1v1 during the laning phase. This is when he is at his most abusive, he has incredibly aoe zoning with his q and the threat of getting yanked, and you simply can't do anything if he gets a good trade in (which is very easy for him to do).

Also, stop justifying Riot's damage creep by using this bullshit class designation "juggernaut". They are tanks, end of story.

Guyy FieriSep 18, 20161 votes

This comment tho. Listen you can either look for opinions on the matter and listen to other people's mindset and try to learn or you can just keep the opinion to yourself. He isn't that oppressive in lane as long as you aren't dumb enough to get pulled (and even some champs can still win trades win they do). But you can keep qqing about a champ who hasn't been op for a while. I'm done arguing with you

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

Any melee champion will virtually always be in pull range, unless you decide that csing is optional...

PermabannedGarenSep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Hard cc beats EVERYONE. This is not specific counter play...Like, I thought this was commonly understand fact at this point...And even if you want to make this argument, you can't exactly chain cc him in a 1v1 during the laning phase. This is when he is at his most abusive, he has incredibly aoe zoning with his q and the threat of getting yanked, and you simply can't do anything if he gets a good trade in (which is very easy for him to do).

Also, stop justifying Riot's damage creep by using this bullshit class designation "juggernaut". They are tanks, end of story.

Hard CC barely does shit if you use it on a Maokai. You're just wasting it on the enemy tank.

On an actual damage threat like Darius (he's called a juggernaut instead of a tank because he's a significant damage threat, your immature whining about the new class designations doesn't change that) CC keeps them from doing their job. Tanks also often have gap closers. Darius doesn't. A slow alone ruins Darius' day. A slow won't stop Malphite from slamming his face into your team.

Juggernauts are weak to kiting. Hard CC and even slows make their lives hard. Darius also has no innate defense steroids, so as long as your team isn't lining up to heal him he's fairly easy to shred with your ADC.

Oh, and who do you use against him in lane? What top laners do you play?

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

Except that by this logic, if you use hard CC on Darius, his adc/mage will be reking the rest of your team while he just presses q to heal up the damage you dealt. See how your "counter" really just isn't?

PermabannedGarenSep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Except that by this logic, if you use hard CC on Darius, his adc/mage will be reking the rest of your team while he just presses q to heal up the damage you dealt. See how your "counter" really just isn't?

So can you not read?

I already said you can kite Darius in team fights with just a slow.

A Janna alone can keep Darius off of her ADC, and if the Darius continues to chase he's going to overextend and be gunned down by the enemy ADC, and possibly collapsed on.

Also, answer the question. Who are you being pounded with top lane?

MonkeyMadnessSep 18, 20161 votes

But he gets speed boosts from cleaver and he has massive sticking potential with frozen mallet and his w. Also, the aoe on his Q is large enough that he can usually reach you unless you have ridiculous range (ie cait).

PermabannedGarenSep 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

But he gets speed boosts from cleaver and he has massive sticking potential with frozen mallet and his w. Also, the aoe on his Q is large enough that he can usually reach you unless you have ridiculous range (ie cait).

He has very little sticking potential outside of a one on one.

A good Janna won't let him get close enough to the ADC to apply Frozen Mallet. Darius is better off trying to get Noxian Might off of the front line and look for resets with his ult, which has its own counterplay.

And once more, who do you play top lane?

MonkeyMadnessSep 19, 20161 votes

A good janna won't let anyone get close, unless they are specifically made to dive (ie malphite or vi).

And I don't often play toplane, I jungle. But I see too many of my teammate fail to this champ, and when he wins a 1v2 so easily without even having a significant item advantage, there is a clear balance issue.