I was told Darius beats all of the FOTM melee top laners(Riven, Irelia, Gnar in mega form, Rumble)

While that may be true, having a champ that is only useful in beating them in lane but falling off harder than a brick being dropped off the empire state building is never worth it.

Considering all of those FOTM champs have slightly better early than Darius, better mid, and a much better late game.

Rumble harasses better than Darius and has a better teamfight.

Riven can build full damage and be rewarded with tankiness, not to mention her retarded early and late game.

Irelia can just dive the backline or just 1v1 Darius when she has tri force or botrk as Darius is shit, or she can just stun him and have the jungler get free gold.

Gnar is ranged and has around the same amount of damage as Darius in mega form that can be used far more quickly.

But yea, Darius beats them until they buy an item or 2, then he is a pile of garbage on your team as he moves as slow as a snail, is 100% item reliant for tankiness and sustain, gets kited harder than a kite on a windy day, and takes a while to build up his damage.

"But he has retarded amounts of damage to squishy champions!"

If your squishy is in MELEE range of Darius, you have bigger problems than Darius.