Darius should have power moved away from dunk burst

Moody P·Apr 20, 2019·10 votes·3,248 views

this is the best way to balance him across elos because in higher play he simply doesn't survive long enough to make use of his power and in lower levels he is hard to deal with on account of his sudden and heavy burst potential.

Reduce his ult scaling, maybe nerf Noxian Might's AD as well, and then raise his attack speed per level so that into the mid and late game Darius can more reliably make an impact in the game without basically needing to be spoon fed a reset by his team before he's threatening.

17 Comments

xDogMeatxApr 20, 20197 votes

juggernauts altogether shouldnt have assassin damage with tank stats. they need their power spread evenly so that it doesnt the ult/passive power doesnt take 70% priority.

kingDeDeDariusApr 21, 20193 votes

False. You're looking at it too one sidedly. Assassins have damage AND mobility (usually doubled or tripled as engage, disengage, or defensive for dodging, just look at fizz, lb, and Zed). Tanks have durability AND loads of cc or other utility, and generally better mobility than juggers. Juggers have damage AND durability. They have way less mobility than assassins, and a little less mobility and a lit less cc than the average tank. What you suggest would serve to make juggers even more mediocre and good at absolutely nothing. Either that or you would make them synonymous with normal bruisers like vi and Camille who have solid damage, mobility, durability, and utility, but are not excellent in either category except maybe mobility.

ThefrostyvikingApr 20, 20195 votes

Why not boost his durability+movespeed if you are cutting down on his damage? Seems like a fair tradeoff that he has a easier time getting in and standing around if he doesnt do as much.

Crescent DuskApr 20, 20193 votes

{quoted}

Why not boost his durability+movespeed if you are cutting down on his damage? Seems like a fair tradeoff that he has a easier time getting in and standing around if he doesnt do as much.

He already has higher base move speed than a mage like Malzahar. Darius's weakness HAS to be his mobility, as he pretty much melts any non-bruiser withing a single Apprehend+W.

ThefrostyvikingApr 20, 20191 votes

True his apprehend is probably a problem, it screws with his powerbudget too much.

But to be honest i´d like to see Darius as a real powerhouse for extended trades and fights, not some "here i got a combo off and now i´ll do a true damage dunk which if successful will let me start dunking any nearby friend you have".

However he needs to survive for longer and have an easier time getting in for that, less burst and more DPS too.

SaevumApr 20, 20193 votes

{quoted}

True his apprehend is probably a problem, it screws with his powerbudget too much.

But to be honest i´d like to see Darius as a real powerhouse for extended trades and fights, not some "here i got a combo off and now i´ll do a true damage dunk which if successful will let me start dunking any nearby friend you have".

However he needs to survive for longer and have an easier time getting in for that, less burst and more DPS too.

You don't get it.

He needs to be slow cause he needs a weakness (not being able to sit on top of his target is a good thing). Also your comprehension of burst and dps in a jugger kit who is supposed to be more caster-ish (in this case) its flawed. He cannot be DPS if he is a AD caster (more ability reliant than AA reliant). And now, on the side of 'bursty', the OP suggests a powershift (exchange) between Darius Passive "Noxian Might" into Attack speed growth (not from items, but innate AS growth per level).

And then, the user D357R0Y3R, suggests that his Q cast time 'delay' be diminished according to the total amount of AS (innate AS i assume). The problem with that, it's that the counterplay window would become a bathroom sized window in the long run. Cause Darius kit would need stuff removed from his Q in order to exchange a new form of power or effectiveness. IF you ask me, that is.

Aside from the things posted above, I agree that indeed, Darius needs other type of mechanics instead of just being a bursty true damage wielder.

D357R0Y3RApr 20, 20192 votes

yes innate AS, so darius doesn't lose damage by casting Q just like xin zhao W and jinx W

Crescent DuskApr 20, 20192 votes

{quoted}

True his apprehend is probably a problem, it screws with his powerbudget too much.

But to be honest i´d like to see Darius as a real powerhouse for extended trades and fights, not some "here i got a combo off and now i´ll do a true damage dunk which if successful will let me start dunking any nearby friend you have".

However he needs to survive for longer and have an easier time getting in for that, less burst and more DPS too.

It's not just the dunk. As soon as he gets 5 stacks and this allows him to spread it across anyone he touches, he does monstrous damage with noxian might even without ulting.

His auto>W>auto with Noxian Might alone will kill any non-bruiser and anything short of a Vayne won't even escape him since W has a massive slow built into it while darius always builds phage plus rushed boots so getting him off you once he gets in your face is almost impossible.

Darius is countered by mobile bruisers and long range ADC's, and that's fine. He completely stomps tanks and bruisers like Garen/Illaoi/Irelia/Wukong.

SaezioApr 20, 20194 votes

IDK, I like champions having clear strengths and weaknesses . I would like for Riot to balance all champions to be viable in Diamond elo (not pro-play, imagine having to buff trynda so hard to make him viable in pro xD) and when the plebs cry tell them "Git gud", but since they aren't going to do that, I don't want to see all champions being homogenised to a generic mass.

Just an opinion, plis no h8

kingDeDeDariusApr 21, 20191 votes

I agree actually

Crescent DuskApr 20, 20194 votes

Darius has clear weaknesses while being massively overbearing against match ups he is strong against (he can out-trade Garen with only a W>auto through Garen's W+ Q>auto....).

Darius is working as intended. He's ridiculously strong against less mobile bruisers and tanks like Poppy/Sion/Malphite/Garen, while being weak to some mobile bruisers like Riven/Renekton/Kled. He even goes even against Fiora, who should be countering him.

Darius's passive is ridiculously strong and he has the strongest extended trades of any bruiser. Mobile bruisers creating short trades to their favor is by design.

Darius will rise when the tank meta returns. He needs no buffs.

D357R0Y3RApr 20, 20193 votes

WHAT THE HECK MOODY DON'T STEAL MY IDEAS

But yea, Darius shouldn't be balanced around "le epic pentadunk" , it's such a shit idea to put massive power into his ult by giving him 230 bonus ad after 5 stacks and 150% bonus ad ratio on his ult.

We need to nerf them, and then buff his attack speed, AND make his Q cast time reduced with attack speed

YUUKI VKApr 20, 20193 votes

he is fine atm, only issues are these wildly broken champs like riven,vayne, jax, kennen, hec,Yi being played a ton that happen to completely destroy him 90% of the time, he has no chance vs those picks if the other player has even 1/10th a functioning brain

TheMoobileApr 21, 20192 votes

Darius doesn't do well I higher elo because he dies before he can even get a Q off and his ult doesn't even need a nerf 900 true damage for 5 stacks vs a Cho'Gath with over 1K and health scaling true damage and doesn't stack anything? Okay. Darius has to work for that burst, if they do reduce ult damage they have to bring back instant Q.

Edit: follow up, also why nerf a kiteable melee champion when you have ranged champions abusing top lane? Like Viktor, kennen, karma, neeko - can we fix that shit first?

Minimac2000Apr 21, 20192 votes

Idk, I agree that he should have power taken away from his chain dunks and moved into the rest of his kit. But honestly he needs to keep the majority of his power locked behind his full stacks. That's what makes darius darius and if you shift power away from that mechanic he pub stomps even harder but also loses his identity and windows of power/weakness

kingDeDeDariusApr 21, 20192 votes

I'm torn on the suggestion by OP. On the one hand, I'd love Darius to be viable in all elos. On the other hand, darius's dunk and stacks define his identity and experience and weakening either would make him rather bland imo. Not sure though.