Darius Disscussion

Just looking to talk about the current state of my favorite champion.

According to Champion.gg he's averaging a 46% win rate in Platinum+ games and has a ban rate of 89%. I don't see him that often in solo que anymore either.

I don't think he's really that strong to warrant perma-ban status, but I understand that he's still frustrating to fight in certain circumstances and I believe he could use a couple of touch ups.

Something like...

Decimate: -Blade Radius 220 --> 200 (Handle Radius 205 --> 225) -Nerf -Heal per Champion Struck 12% --> 15% -Buff -Maximum Heal 36% --> 30% -Nerf -Base Damage 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 --> 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 -Nerf -Total Attack Damage Scaling 100 / 110 / 120 / 130 / 140% --> 110 / 120 / 130 / 140 / 150% -Buff -Healing Particle Effect (Green Sparkles) --> Bloody Particles

Riot made the right choice when they nerfed the reliability of Decimate in 5.20 so enemies trying to dodge inside the attack can now actually do that, but I also think this is where he lost of majority of his power in that patch. Bumping the Blade's radius down a bit more will give a little more breathing room as well as letting us clean up a few numbers on this ability. This will make sure Decimate still has good counterplay and the rewards it gives are things Darius has to work for and doesn't always get, but also allows us to make the rewards a little better to return some power to good a Darius.

Slight things like a better single target heal for laning (but a worse teamfight), and an added 10% AD ratio at the cost of 10 base damage for better mid game farming (caster creeps tend to live with 50 HP after Black Cleaver, and due to bleed and minion damage, you end up losing them.)

Take note I also suggest Crippling Strike and Apprehend's slows should be modified, which also factors into the reliability of Decimate.

Crippling Strike: -Slow 90% --> 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90% -Slow Duration 1 Seconds --> 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 Seconds Crippling Strike is a one point wonder ability that makes it frustrating for lane opponents to escape Darius early in the game and lacks a reason to level it up over Apprehend, thus leads to no decisions for a Darius player to make in terms of skill order. Crippling Strike should offer a reason to level it up after Decimate and uniqueness over Apprehend (which would be sticking to a target versus engaging on a target), which leads to...

Apprehend: Slow 40% --> No Slow.

Apprehend's slow offers too much for Darius's Mid Game in the forms of sticking power and making multi-hit Decimate heals too easy. By removing the slow we let Crippling Strike take the spotlight for Darius's sticking power, while also straight up removing some frustration regarding Darius's massive heals and the feeling he's impossible to escape from.

All in all, I think these changes can return some power to Darius in the appropriate places.

Thoughts?