in no way shape or form counters 
And no, is not OP.
It baffles me when I first pick darius thinking I'm going to have a miserable game and then the other team hurr durr picks garen thinking that he counters darius... And then they proceed to Q_Q when they find out that the opposite is true. The counters are clear here folks... Riot intended it to be this way. And no, not DEMACIAAAAAAAA, but rather, NOXUS.
RookPusher1 votesI don't play top often, but I assume Ashe hard-counters Darius. No?
Tychusfindlay9191 votesI don't play top often, but I assume Ashe hard-counters Darius. No?
Are the pictures wrong? I'm pretty sure it's garen and darius up there. Or is this just an off-shoot question? And so long as she can kite successfully, yes, ashe counters darius not because she can necessarily kill him, but because he can't kill her. Ashe is notoriously weak when it comes to straight up damage. But she can definitely wittle darius down. If darius for whatever reason can get close enough to pull her in though, it's either she has flash or she insta dies. A harder counter would be vayne.
Spanked eGirl1 votesUm, I am 100% sure 
> , what are you even talking about OP?
Tychusfindlay9191 votes[{quoted}](name=Girl Will Carry,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cWjl85wv,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-04-05T20:54:16.890+0000)
Um, I am 100% sure
First off, katarina isn't mentioned rofl, anywhere in the OP.
Second off, Katarina does not counter darius. Darius builds spirit visage and then kat can't ult because if she does she's standing still, accumulating stacks, and eventually getting dunked by a darius who doesn't care for her damage.
LeeZesuo1 votesholy shit TRIGGERED
Spanked eGirl1 votesFirst off, katarina isn't mentioned rofl, anywhere in the OP.
Second off, Katarina does not counter darius. Darius builds spirit visage and then kat can't ult because if she does she's standing still, accumulating stacks, and eventually getting dunked by a darius who doesn't care for her damage.
Why are we even talking about 
? He never goes against
ModWulf Helhammer1 votesCare to elaborate how Darius counters Garen?
Toothierosprey32 votesDarius wins exchanges early and can prolong them to make good use of his passive.
ModWulf Helhammer1 votesThen Garen gap closes past Darius's heal zone, out-survives him with straight damage reduction from W and his passive heal, and silences him to prevent damage with his Q. Then you have spin damage and a potent execute. Darius may have a small window in the early game, but it closes fast
Tychusfindlay9192 votesThen Garen gap closes past Darius's heal zone, out-survives him with straight damage reduction from W and his passive heal, and silences him to prevent damage with his Q. Then you have spin damage and a potent execute. Darius may have a small window in the early game, but it closes fast
Fail. Maybe againsta retard darius this works sure.
Also, darius does not stand still to Q. If garen goes HAM, darius can walk back. Worst case scenario for darius is that the hilt hits garen instead of the blade. So now garen is face to face with darius and all he has left is 30% reduction for a couple seconds and a spin to win with a weak ultimate (let's assume darius isn't the villain here, they both have 0 kills). Darius still has his W 90% slow (which gives a stack) and his E pull which also slows by 40%. Darius AA and then uses W immediately to put 2 stacks on garen. Garen activates his W (timing doesn't matter here much) and most likely reduces the damage taken by 2-3 darius auto attacks (also depends on the level we're talking about here. As a former garen main, I know for a fact that W is usually upgraded last, otherwise spin to win deals laughable damage at level 1). Although he takes reduced damage, he now has 4-5 stacks on him. If garen has 5 stacks, now he's fighting an enraged darius who, at level 1, gains 40 bonus AD, if any level higher, he gains even more bonus ad (level 18 darius gains a whopping 200 bonus AD if he's enraged). Darius has gone trough about 5 autos including his W, so around 4 or so seconds have passed. Garen's Q is still not up yet, and darius still has his pull. Maybe in the meantime you're spinning to win but that trade is losing for you fast. Darius' Q only has a 4 second CD once he gets black cleaver and it's level 5. Garen's Q is 8 CD at all ranks. Darius abilities and Auto attacks are hurting like an absolute bitch since he's enraged and your base damage is utter trash, nevermind the fact that your useless active isn't activated in combat and your base AD is miles below darius' along with your base HP.
What the hell is making you think this is going well for you?
If you're curious, we can always 1v1. I can care less if you're challenger. You can take garen, I will take darius, and unless if I really fuck up or AFK the whole time, your face is getting pummeled in the sand.
Tychusfindlay9191 votesDarius wins exchanges early and can prolong them to make good use of his passive.
Darius wins 1v1 trades against garen early, mid, and late. They both scale in a somewhat mediocre fashion late late game, but darius' undoubtedly scales better unless the two teams are only poking each other (which would make garen's passive work at it's absolute best).
Tychusfindlay9191 votesCare to elaborate how Darius counters Garen?
Darius passive almost completely nullifies garen passive unless garen decides to back off for an incredibly long time. Garen's damage falls off hard late game whereas darius' damage stays pristine for much of the game. Darius has two abilities that can slow, one allows him to also pull in enemies. Garen has one mediocre speed boost and slow cleanse. This means that every time garen goes in, he won't be coming out. Since darius' damage in all stages of the game outshine Garen's by a mile, it's REALLY bad for garen that he can't engage without getting 4-5 stacks on him every time, even in early game.
Offensive/tanky items benefit darius the same or more than garen's does when they fight each other. For example, darius can slice a backline minion once, let it bleed while not attacking it again, and he can have the BC mini speed boost for nearly 8 or so seconds with little effort. Garen can only get speed if he goes all in HAM since he has absolutely no ranged poke or DoT abilities that don't require him to have to stick to something. Spirit visage benefits darius more since garen's passive rarely goes off when he's facing darius (Explained before, this is because of darius' passive countering garen's hard) but darius is constantly Q sustaining no matter where he is.
I'll spend a few sentences on base stats. Darius' has far superior base stats to garen. He has better base attack damage, better base HP, better base regen (not counting garen passive), better base armor, same MS, and better cooldown on his Q compared to garen (Q being the main tool for both champs).
Now their second passives come to play. Darius has an armor pen passive on his E, and garen has free defensive stats. Garen overall get's about 10 armor over darius when he maxes his free armor stats and is level 18 (This is because the D man's base armor at lvl 18 is 97.9 whereas the Demacian weakling has 78.5 base armor at lvl 18). Garen's free MR means nothing since darius is a full AD champ. The trade off in the end? Garen gets 10 armor over darius and darius gets 25% passive armor shred for his Q, W, and AA. I think we all know whose second passive is better...
Finally, the ultimates... Outside of darius being the villain, garen's ultimate is essntially useless the second darius gets spirit visage (which is common due to darius Q healing mechanic). Darius ultimate is always a threat to garen because it's true damage. Also, contrary to some beliefs out there, garen's W does not lower true damage (even though it says 30% reduction of all damage). This means that in a 1v1 situation with both champs at 0 kills over each other, garen is dealing pitiful magic damage to darius and darius is dealing various amount of true damage to garen that is inescapable.
With how lopsided this matchup is, it honestly surprises me how riot had the balls to give garen a taunt specific to darius. Garen gets shat on in so many ways when fighting darius.
GamblerOfLives1 votesI've played this match-up as Garen. You should start E. Now,depending onthe Darius, if he missed Q on you, you E him. After that you walk away.. Even if he hits you, your E will deal more dmg than his Q..level 1 i mean.. Secondly, the way you play this, is this way. You go in vs Darius, or he goes in vs you, regardless, you fight him, but don;t take long fights(you will lose otherwise), you will deal more dmg than him and when you back off, your passive heals you:).. You won;t kill him unless he is stupid, and he won;t kill you:)..but, Darius doesn;t counter Garen:). Play it smart as Garen and you might win lane;)..
I've won lane (3 kills even) vs a Darius main and i was first time Garen..Ranked in high plat:) Currently d4 :)
You back off if he has 3-4 stacks on you
Tychusfindlay9191 votesI've played this match-up as Garen. You should start E. Now,depending onthe Darius, if he missed Q on you, you E him. After that you walk away.. Even if he hits you, your E will deal more dmg than his Q..level 1 i mean.. Secondly, the way you play this, is this way. You go in vs Darius, or he goes in vs you, regardless, you fight him, but don;t take long fights(you will lose otherwise), you will deal more dmg than him and when you back off, your passive heals you:).. You won;t kill him unless he is stupid, and he won;t kill you:)..but, Darius doesn;t counter Garen:). Play it smart as Garen and you might win lane;)..
I've won lane (3 kills even) vs a Darius main and i was first time Garen..Ranked in high plat:) Currently d4 :)
You back off if he has 5 stacks on you
What's preventing me from saying "play smart as darius and you will win lane?"
"playing smart" has nothing to do with balance states and counters. The argument is that darius counters garen on paper, and I reckon that the argument is going towards me. The only wild card here is the villain mechanic.
GamblerOfLives1 votesDude, Garen has dmg, i don;t play this champ..but i was surprised at how much dmg he does. Secondly, yes, play it smart and you might win lane as Garen...what's so hard to understand from that? Take it the other way around Darius needs to play smart and win. Wtf is so smart about him? He just needs to AA him to death and the Garen to be an idiot to fight him like that. So, the Garen needs to be an idiot to lose and smart to win the lane. Darius, needs to just AA him Q, W, E w/e,, just make him bleed when he gets close:)..He is a lane bully, not a counter
On paper lol, maybe..but in-game not so much..you win early skirmishes as Garen..and when you back off you use your passive to heal up..His bleed lasts only for 1-2 seconds lol..:| that doesn;t mean he counters garen bcs of that:)
Tychusfindlay9191 votesDude, Garen has dmg, i don;t play this champ..but i was surprised at how much dmg he does. Secondly, yes, play it smart and you might win lane as Garen...what's so hard to understand from that? Take it the other way around Darius needs to play smart and win. Wtf is so smart about him? He just needs to AA him to death and the Garen to be an idiot to fight him like that. So, the Garen needs to be an idiot to lose and smart to win the lane. Darius, needs to just AA him Q, W, E w/e,, just make him bleed when he gets close:)..He is a lane bully, not a counter
On paper lol, maybe..but in-game not so much..you win early skirmishes as Garen..and when you back off you use your passive to heal up..His bleed lasts only for 1-2 seconds lol..:| that doesn;t mean he counters garen bcs of that:)
Fail, bleed lasts for 5 seconds. That means in any early skirmish, garen would have to back off entirely from the minion wave (because if he tries to stay near darius has range with decimate) for a whopping 14 seconds before his passive can go off. 14 seconds is a lot of time to not be CSing. And garen's passive early on is PATHETIC. Its nowhere near strong enough to undo the damage darius can put out early game.
GamblerOfLives1 votesFail, bleed lasts for 5 seconds. That means in any early skirmish, garen would have to back off entirely from the minion wave (because if he tries to stay near darius has range with decimate) for a whopping 14 seconds before his passive can go off. 14 seconds is a lot of time to not be CSing. And garen's passive early on is PATHETIC. Its nowhere near strong enough to undo the damage darius can put out early game.
Man, not cs-ing? lol..if darius Qs he will Q the wave.. the wave will push:)...you farm....he is a lane bully darius,, but as darius you can outplay him pretty easy..as i said, take some early fights..not too long, and you will win bcs of your passive..you regenaret enough health and you won't give out farm bcs the wave will most likely be pushed to you:)..also, if darius hits his max range q on you,, you are bad as garen:)..