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Tips on how you can beat Darius in lane and late game

IsIsGankedParis··19 votes·4,227 views

Note: this is for ranked/normals draft. I can't help you in blinds but that doesn't make a champion op. It's like picking Akali top in blind and the other guy is Urgot .

Banning phase: You could ban Darius or you could use it on other things that struggle vs him. In draft if the enemy bans Ashe Kalista Vayne or 2 of them, be ready for a juggernaut pick but even then it's not the end of the world. You can still have a Tristana or a Caitlyn. For other roles, champions that can deal with Darius are:Braum Kalista Jax Irelia Rumble Lulu Malphite Malzahar Anivia Riven RyzeFiora .

Laning Phase: In order to deal with Darius in lane, pick champions that can either CC him to uselessness, can kite him hard, or champions with quick dashes or blinksAnivia Ahri Chogath Irelia Gnar Kennen Malphite Sion Singed TahmKench Yasuo Riven Lissandra Jax Jayce Fiora

When laning vs him as those champions, if you see him winding up his Q, either all in so the edge doesn't hit you or jump/dash out, then all in. Another note, even if your jungler has no CC, as long as you have a slow or stun, Darius is useless to escape a gank.** If Darius dies 2 times before he is level 6, he will not make it back unless YOU make dumb plays, overextend and get ganked, or you don't have a teleport to help your team if Darius tps(if they need it). **

**Team fights: You better hope your team doesn't have all their CC locked on one person because you have no right to complain about Darius running amok. Depending on your role, you either ignore Darius and get the back line OR you don't dive if Darius is actually peeling for his back line. **

If you are the support, you can make Darius useless depending on the support. Alistar Braum Janna Karma Lulu Leona Morgana Thresh are some examples. **They basically CC him to hell and make him useless in fights. **

If you are a mage or tank** WATCH YOUR POSITIONING.** If you see Darius diving, make sure you stay in melee range of him at all costs otherwise he will heal and get 5 stacks without trying because you keep getting hit. stay in melee range, CC him to hell, or stay away to kite him into oblivion. **Teamwork is needed for this. **

If he has item 3742 ,_ have your tank get in melee range for Darius to auto him_, then either CC to death in melee range, or kite. 2 champions can do this easily together. Thresh Lucian is an example. QSS removes bleed stacks.

Itemization. The following items are great vs Darius : item 3102 item 3742 on the ADC, item 3111 item 3083 item 3157 item 3116 item 3143 item 3025 item 3022 item 3153 item 3142

Now I'm not saying he's balanced, just ways to deal with him. Thoughts?

34 Comments

AsphodelNext12 votes

Banning phase: You could ban Darius

Some of the most useful advice here.

jk like the post but it's really dense and hard to read. Space things out a bit more.

IsIsGankedParis1 votes

Thoughts on how it looks now? Just edited.

50000000000000001 votes

It looks pretty good!

AsphodelNext2 votes

Awesome, much easier to read.

Only Play Darius6 votes

That's one of the many problems with Darius 's kit, even after the rework. In lane his only weaknesses are champions who can stay out of his range and damage him (somewhat mitigated by his new HP sustain) or melee DPS champions who are strong enough early game to smack him around while staying in Q handle range. If you are playing a champion that fulfill neither of these conditions (like Nasus MonkeyKing) then there is zero counterplay against Darius other than waiting for a gank (which you can't always rely on getting, especially in top lane) or simply staying away from him early game and giving up your CS, which is about as anti-fun as it gets.

Fact of the matter is that Darius is one of those champions who's counterplay is directly and exclusively tied to what kind of kit your champion has. Either the matchup is in his favor and he can mash buttons to automatically win and there's little you can do about it, or he lanes against a champion that can deal with him and Darius can't win the lane regardless of how good he is. Which is why honestly the easiest way to deal with him is to ban him.

5 Stacks GG1 votes

that's so not true, when you play vs Darius a someone who Darius counters, you can EASILY stay back and cs under tower, something you CANNOT do vs riven.

and or many more champion can zone you no matter how good you play some hating on Darius he is perfectly balanced atm.

Vargrjalmer1 votes

I'm here from the future to tell you, it gets even worse when they rework the runes and add conqueror to the mix. getting 100-0'd in a single combo by an 0/3 darius you've been dumpstering up till that point is 100% balanced.

48983507DEL13 votes

Was expecting simply "Ban Him" to be the whole post. This is pretty helpful, although "Pick X to counter Y" isn't always possible.

IsIsGankedParis1 votes

Yea I realize that, I could make a full list of champs that he counters or is strong against and write small guides on each one for how to deal with and beat Darius.

Only Play Darius2 votes

I main Nasus so i'm pretty screwed by Darius's rise in popularity (mainly play TeamBuilder so I can't ban him out or counterpick).

Worst part is, Darius is actually my second favorite toplaner (110k mastery points) so I should know how to fight against him, but as Nasus there is literally nothing I can do against a competent Darius unless my jungler ganks for me (after a couple of good ganks I can deal with Darius on my own for the rest of the game, but you would be surprised how many games I have had Darius overextend and shove me to my turret all game without getting ganked a single time). Otherwise I have to build AP Nasus and give up on stacking until I can bully him out with spirit fire if I want to get anywhere in lane. Any tips you can give me assuming my jungler doesn't gank when he overextends?

Also honorable mention to Yasuo top. When I play Darius of course I destroy Yas, but Nasus has no way of punishing Yasuo's early game and can't pop his shield without spending almost 100 mana on Spirit Fire, and Yasuo can actually bully Nasus in lane. I play Yasuo mid so I know one of his biggest weaknesses is ganks but once again in my last few games against Yasuo top he pushes me to my turret all game and my jungler doesn't gank once (I honestly don't think junglers know what Wither does), so any advice on what I can do to deal with him on my own would be greatly appreciated.

IsIsGankedParis1 votes

I have played against Darius as Nasus quite a bit(reworked Darius) so I can attempt to give you some tips.

While not recommended, if you start dorans shield or cloth armor vs Darius, you can actually survive the early game a bit more.

When I Q farm as Nasus what I do to bait Darius is turn on my Q, walk by a minion with low health, act like I will hit it but back off once I see his Q is charging , force him to push, then last hit(this is a hard technique to do, I could try to help you out in a custom game later if you want).

Now this will sound very ridiculous but rush Randuins, don't get CDR early unless you are winning lane very well. If you aren't, get Randuins then start on CDR. Spirit visage is a bad 2nd item unless the enemy team is very magic damage focused except Darius.

While I know it sucks when your jungler doesn't gank, what I would do is suck his donger figuratively before the game and during the game, help him out a little(ward the jungle), and ask for a gank that is an easy kill. It works for me and I get 4 ganks in a row and make Darius non existent all game to me.

Here's the big thing, it's ok to have less than 50 stacks at 7 minutes vs Darius if he's playing exceptionally well. The minimum is 100 stacks at 14 minutes, that's when ignoring Darius is a lot better to do.

When you do fight Darius, save wither after 1-2 seconds upon hitting you with Q if he pulled you in, then his next Q won't heal him unless he flashes.

We can work on this more in a custom game later tonight or tomorrow, I don't have league installed where I am but I can help people here ^^

Only Play Darius1 votes

Hmm, ironically the reworked Darius is actually harder for me to deal with as Nasus than old Darius. Because I rush item 3110 (which was also cheaper and gave more armor back then) and old Darius used to rush lifesteal, and even though early game was painful at least I was pretty safe once I had FH. Now that Darius rushes item 3071 and because of the zoning often gets it before I get my FH, he essentially negates half of what I bought to deal with him. Also back then people were more eager to gank him since he couldn't potentially heal 25% missing HP and was complete gank bait, any competent jungler and even midlaner would camp him to get their toplaner fed, now, i'm much less likely to get help with him in lane.

Why rush item 3143? It's more expensive than FH, gives less armor than FH, doesn't help Nasus at all with his mana problems (I start game with 20% CDR in runes+masteries so i'm not concerned too much about CDR early on) and Darius doesn't rely on crit at all.

And I have always started item 1029 item 2003 5 when against AD toplaners, and it has worked perfectly fine for me. Am I not supposed to do this?

IsIsGankedParis1 votes

Randuins rush is for a few reasons.

Some armor to mitigate some damage early.

Move speed slow and attack speed slow.

500(I think) health. That's huge, you want to rush health vs Darius.

While many forgot, Darius has no %hp damage, he's all about flat damage and his true damage ult, meaning health is strong vs him by far.

While I understand it doesn't help Nasus with mana issues and is more expensive, it has a lot of things that Nasus can use to mitigate Darius's damage early and mid game.

Cloth 5 is fine, Dorans shield if you want his bleed to do less damage along with his auto attacks.

Edit: Righteous glory rush instead of Randuins can work too.

BakedLotion2 votes

Riven DID U JUST FUCKING SAY RIVEN BEATS DARIUS? HOW IS THIS EVEN REMOTELY TRUE

If she somehow even manages to survive Darius, she's going to be behind as shit, and shes going to be near useless.

Shadow Gilgamesh2 votes

I would not suggest taking Yasuo into laning against Darius, since he easily invalidates all 3 of Yasuo's safety nets.

Darius isn't ranged, so windwall is useless. bleed will make you lose your flow shield so easily. and Darius can start cloth armor+5 HP pots and just zone you far enough out of the wave that dashing all over won't be nearly as helpful as it is in midlane. And finally, he'll pull you if you try to get any farm. You'll likely end up behind in farm, even if you don't feed, which is bad news on a champ like Yasuo who needs to break even to even have a chance post laning

ADepressedLeona1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Shadow Gilgamesh,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cihTEvEd,comment-id=000c,timestamp=2015-09-21T03:01:35.054+0000)

I would not suggest taking Yasuo into laning against Darius, since he easily invalidates all 3 of Yasuo's safety nets.

Darius isn't ranged, so windwall is useless. bleed will make you lose your flow shield so easily. and Darius can start cloth armor+5 HP pots and just zone you far enough out of the wave that dashing all over won't be nearly as helpful as it is in midlane. And finally, he'll pull you if you try to get any farm. You'll likely end up behind in farm, even if you don't feed, which is bad news on a champ like Yasuo who needs to break even to even have a chance post laning

I don't understand why people take Yasuo top, period. Especially with this new juggernaut stuff.

Black Vomit1 votes

Ban darius is a good advice :D

Ðoggo1 votes

Broooooooooo Broooooooooo, you forgot FIORA Fiora ?!?! She can Q out of his Q and will get a short cooldown cuz there are Minions. And Either you block his E , stun him and burst him down or you just block his Ult. He will always ult at maximum stacks so its pretty easy to win this Lane.
Just saying ^^ The only ugly part is the heal on his Q but you should dodge as many as possible. And always remeember to ult. Even if you block his Ult, the Blood will deal hella damage so the Heal is great ( unless he has Ignite xD)

IsIsGankedParis1 votes

The only reason why I left Fiora out is because she is incredibly easy to beat as Darius in lane, but not in teamfights.

While I understand that her W or E(whichever is her riposte) can block his ult, that's something a lot of Fioras I have played against do, they never used their riposte because they were waiting for my ultimate. I won the duel without ult by kiting her(sort of) and she died to bleed.

I will admit though, she can shit on a Darius in lane absolutely, skill matchup for early, swings in Fiora's favor at level 8-11 IF she plays it right, but she can win hard 1-6.

I'll add her, thanks for reminding me about her ^^

howstheweather131 votes

Haven't played league since April but I am a Darius main Aatrox and Jayce and my personal fave Pantheon were all hard lanes for Darius if played well and ranged champs like Lulu and tanks high sustain champs like and Maokai could easily ruin his day. See you guys s6.

The Governer1 votes

I really think you should check out the changes made to him after Darius' Jaggernaut rework. He is not the same Darius you used to play.

Neckoe1 votes

I'd say summoner 14 item 3165? Sorry if im wrong, I rarely play top.

rG Thundrag1 votes

I've actually consistantly beaten darius in lane is Taric , but thats mostly attributed to his bleed being physical now.

Mid/late game is dicey but you can just permastun him honestly cause of the way cdr + passive works.

Tails Doll1 votes

Just take the axe to the face. Less dmg, no heal. GG NO RE.

xl Kirito lx1 votes

Ok. First of all, in lane. You're saying either back off from his Q, or move into it. Great in theory, should work. The problem is that Darius has a base of 340ms. So, assuming he isn't running MS quints, or rushing boots, a champion has to have greater then 340 ms to run from the axe, or get inside of it's range. Even having greater than 340ms, it's still possible to get hit, since Darius can move while he's charging his Q. Realistically, you aren't going to dodge his Q unless Darius refuses to buy boots, or has no idea how his Q works.

Now, those champions you listed have the potential to kite Darius, or CC him late game. The problem is, the champions that are able to kite him in lane phase play incredibly risky. If darius can pull - aa - e - q, that's going to chunk someone like Gnar to half health easily. Possibly give Darius an all-in based on his level / SS. Someone like Sion is just going to get bullied all game, since any prolonged fights will automatically be won by Darius. Any short term fights will be won by Darius if he manages to land a portion of his Q.

Late game. I don't think Darius even cares who he's attacking. His main focus in a fight is to get his passive up, AOE somewhat, then go on a dunking spree. You can say to kite him all you want, but if Darius gets 5 stacks on his passive, he destroys almost anyone between his ult and free damage on his passive. Even cc' locking him isn't a great idea, since he's still a tank.

Even with his latest round of nerfs, he's still stronger then he was on release. On release, it was 10% per Q hit, up to 30%. Now it's, 12%, up to 36%.

The Governer3 votes

When immobile champions finally start to deal some serious damage and become a threat, people start whining.

I am not saying Darius does not need changes. In fact he does need some tune-down (mainly on his Q heal and passive, with smaller Q windup time as compensation), but acting as if Darius offers little counterplay as an immobile champion is pretty ridiculous, especially in the "League of Mobility", where champions like Lee Sin are still dominating in Solo Q and competitive scene.

Oh and on release his Q heal was 15% per Q hit, not 10%.

HolyCrapItsMe2 votes

It was actualy 10% up to 30%, then 15% up to 30% then 12% up to 36%.

In my opinion darius isnt all that OP, his Q isnt that hard to dodge, especially with dashes. his heal is strong, and he has a lot of penta potential, but hes not some Fizz/riven/fiora scale broken (QQ) I think the main point that makes him OP, same as garen, is the stupid amount of movement speed from DMP, hes sticky as all hell now with his 2 90% slows, short range pull, movespeed buff from black cleaver and 60 extra movespeed from DMP (which also slows), the problem is that now darius can catch up to champions with dashes and blinks, darius' weak spot was his immobility, and now hes mobile and still has loads of damage. I honestly dont know how a plate can be so useful even when its broken.

The Governer1 votes

I share the same sentiment in the matter of damage and tankiness vs mobility.

The new Jaggernauts' items introduced give the Jaggernauts pretty much access to everything ranging from tankiness and damage to mobility. I mean, look at Dead Man's Plate stats and unique passive. It basically gives a fair share of armor, health, and movement speed, plus a passive that enhances their damage. In my humble opinion, I think all champions should only have 2 of these attributes in their kits/core (or essential) items, and I think Jaggernauts should not have mobility since their basic theme consists of immobility. As basically an essential item for Jaggernauts, Dead Man's plate should be nerfed, because it offers too much utility and it is way too cost-efficient.

By the way, I do not necessarily agree with you when you say Darius can catch up to champions with blinks and dashes, due to the fact that Riot fixed the "bug" when Darius can pull champions that are half way during their dashes or blinks. In fact, it's harder for Darius to catch up to enemies with blinks and dashes anymore. Even with Dead Man's Plate, it's not as easy as pre-work Darius since dashes/blinks are far more superior than gradually increased movement speed. Darius' main theme is the teamfight potential, like landing his Qs on multiple enemies, and dunking everyone when Noxian Might is activated. His "catching-up" potential is vastly limited unless enemies are in his range, and this is why his teamfight potential is so exponentially good after the rework.

5 Stacks GG1 votes

his passive does NOT need to be tuned down ever.

BeMyFriendPlease1 votes

So wait. If you kill a champion multiple times early they fall behind?

AND if you cc them you can stop them in teamfights? Wow cool wow NEAT!

No really, CC should not be the only answer to any one champion, especially when hes the tanky front line just making way for the other 4... come now

Alphadef1 votes

Jayce is rather strong vs Darius when played well

Steel Blossom1 votes

Basically how to win against any dive-oriented champion: Pick Janna . So fucking stupid.

Kitten of Evil1 votes

Anyone who can kite can do pretty well. I can't believe you didn't mention Velkoz in mages! If you don't get pulled, you can kite him until he gives up and turns around. Even if you do get pulled, a well-placed E can buy you time.

Obviously you can't lane into him as Vel, but late-game he shouldn't be too much of a problem since he can't easy dodge your skillshots and he lacks a gap-closer. Plus, the Q slow drains his item 3742 .

howstheweather131 votes

That's the point the current adc's are meelee ranged duelist ( idc it takes tremendous skill to pull off Vayne)or immobile. They killed Lucian. Not to mention Kalista and Graves lol.

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