Who is stronger

{quoted}

Darius or Garen

What do you want them to do?

Darius is better at peeling and team fighting in general, while Garen is better at diving the APC and ADC. Darius does more damage (unless Garen is attacking the villain), Garen is tankier. Garen is a bit more mobile and a little less prone to being kited, Darius has more CC.

Garen is probably better at the moment.

Garen, harder to kite, tankier, villain mechanic gives him a lot of free damage against fed targets.

Darius relies too much on being ahead to be good.

In a strict 1v1 melee, Darius beats Garen. Since they both build tanky, he reaches 5 hemorrage stacks and becomes a monster with higher damage. Both get BC to cleave each other's armor, but overall Darius is stronger. If Darius has the villain mark on him, I actually don't know. It might be just enough to turn the balance in Garen's favour.

In a team scenario, it's different. They bring different things to the table. Garen is indeed harder to kite, is specialized in killing one target due to the villain passive, while Darius is more peel centered, getting 5 stacks and then dunking everyone. Darius is better at shutting down some people in the toplane as well, when he counters someone the lane is usually very bloody.

If this is about who would win in a fight, If Darius is the villain, Garen will beat him. Otherwise Darius will probably win