Let's talk about Darius

RiotMorello·3/17/2014, 9:13:08 PM·24 votes·9,744 views

Hey all,

I wanted to take some time to talk about Darius. Awhile ago, I had an off-hand discussion (seen here ) about some ways he differs from original intent, and wanted to reopen the conversation and get some feedback.

Some questions I'd have:

What do current Darius players really like?
What do Darius players not like?
What interesting gameplay and decisions seem present to you as a player?

(Keep in mind, these should be "non-power" considerations. Not liking Darius being weak is not super helpful, or liking him being strong, etc).

The ideas I presented in the original thread are just brainstorms - not particular mechanics or anything, so let's not focus much on those. have some assumptions about Darius, but let's discuss first, then I'll add my own thoughts to the mix.

128 Comments

RiotMorello3/18/2014, 1:20:41 AM15 votes

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far - a lot of breadth in the types of desires and issues.

I'm off to GDC next week, but one tidbit:

Players have developed the identity that Darius punishes mistakes hard, and that's who he is.

I've notice this pattern too, but I wonder how that actually can work. Unless this identity can spread, doesn't it mean the enemy needs to play pretty perfectly, and Darius himself does not? This seems hard to shore up since you're asking the enemy to, potentially, be quite a bit better than the Darius player to win. That could risk Darius being accidentally the easy-mode champ or perpetually be weak because he expresses his power more easily/scales mostly with the badness of enemies, not his own skill in context to it.

5 Stacks GG3/17/2014, 10:27:45 PM8 votes

Im Playing Darius since he was on the pbe and have over 2k games with him (high Diamond too)

1: the aspect I fell in love with was the Dunk I personally feel like he NEED a full reset to compensate for his extreme low mobility and the bleed Interaction is So nice I also really like having multiple dunks in teamfight its what makes Darius so unique and fun.

2: what I really dislike about Darius now is his temporary reset, how many times I HAD to dunk to secure the kill on a tank shen for exemple cuz he was getting away then once I lost my dunk timer a team fight started for some reason (soloQ) and now not having my ult im just being kited and practically useless. another thing I dislike is how is Darius having the lowest mana regen in the game, making him oom after one fight and unable to regen fast enough.

3: The decision to Ult someone knowing you wouldnt kill him but have to because you him dead quickly or If your team already have the kill secured and letting your team grab the kill, but now after the ult nerf I feel like I HAVE to take all the kill after I got the first one to not lose my buff. Darius can either go for the enemy adc and try to kill it or peel for his teammate which is the best option imo.

What make Darius so fun Is his ult is so Satisfying when you get the reset with it the thunder noice and everything make it so perfect <3

I also had this idea the other day idk if it would work but I thought maybe Once Darius reach the full amounts of bleed stacks on the target his ult could reset even if it doesnt kill the target BUT couldnt use it on the same target for like 30 sec that way it could make him less frustrating to play with and less ks intensive. And or make his ult sacle with level so once hes lvl 16 he gets his full reset back for the late game once the lanning phase is over.

Sorry my English is not perfect but I hope you understand what I had to say.

Edit: the reason why he need a full reset is Because Darius is very weak vs ap's and aoe comp and need to snowball to become somewhat effective against these team.

Sir ArmaMalum3/17/2014, 10:33:19 PM7 votes

Tl;dr in reply

####1. Good things

Theme and kit tie in well together
His short effective range on his abilities synergize well with each other, I like having an area where I feel I can really excel
I really like the Q's minimum range, it allow for skill rewarding (aiming)
I like the ability to keep the passive up in laning, it allows for a complete dominance feel without taking away counterplay with his short effective range.
Not gameplay relevant, but his VO is perfect imho

####2. Not so good

Primarily, the lack of any defensive presence in his kit, except maybe the ms boost in his passive. I understand he's an 'all-in' kinda guy, but his short effective range makes it necessary (usually) to build at least a little tanky. That's my preferred route at least. Ties into next point...
Armor pen passive. I really don't understand his E's armor pen presence, even at launch. I realize this makes AD nuke Darius fun and let's him stomp, but it doesn't synergize with his defining true damage ult at all. I think his passive is enough to give him a go against high armor targets in-lane and I feel this slot can be better utilized by a small defensive mechanic of some kind. Bonus armor when is E is on cd possibly? Or maybe a small de-buff to a pulled target? Just throwing ideas out here.
The reason I stopped playing him was his absolute helplessness to ranged laning opponents. I don't feel that in of itself is a bad thing persay, but with the prevalence of Teemo top a while back it kind of just killed my want to play Darius.
His presence falls off by a huge amount late game, like all fighters. But other fighters have some active thing (stuns, large slows etc.) thy can do to still feel relevant in a late teamfight. Darius feels like a walking meat shield with a short range pull. He can still make plays, don't get me wrong, but ult resets and proper bleed stacking never happen late game in my experience. I feel like a tanky janitor, cleaning up if necessary and not much else, and even then I usually use my ult even without a possible reset to contribute before its all over.
Playing against Darius as a melee champ is very frustrating, possible request to remove some dmg in the Q min range and more in his max?

####3. Gameplay Decisions

To walk in or not to walk in. When it comes down to it, the lack of out-of-combat utility and short range means I have to just stroll into an enemy team and do Darius's thing. If an initiate happens badly or their comp can just kite me too easily I can't so I hang back until they initiate.
To peel or dive. Naturally every fighter has this decision, but Darius is handicapped in both avenues, his E and somewhat his W are the only things to peel with and his chase is not stellar, so it's hard to excel in either choice. Honestly his kit, imho, suggests to just stay in the middle of the team and hack away at the nearest target, but that rarely goes well unless I can land a good pull because of all the mobility access everyone has now. Very few teams stay clumped nowadays.
When to use his ult. I think everyone thinks about this, "Would it be better to use his ult as soon as someone gets 5 stacks of his passive or should I wait for the reset to get someone else?" Usually I choose the former unless I can get a good opportunity and multiple targets, but I actually really like this choice. Although I would like to see either less reward for getting a reset and/or more reward for using at 5 stacks because I see too many people using it solely for the reset.
Early laning in my experience is a lot about mana management than anything else, because Darius can out-trade most anyone that gets within his range. Before S4 (and I'm sure I'll get some flak for this) I loved rushing a philo stone on him for better staying power and the nice bit o' gold. It gave him a crap very early game sure, but I usually also packed tele for the first back and better map control.

I'm open to debate! =)

thebloody73/17/2014, 10:42:09 PM6 votes

I like Darius for being a punisher I feel like he should maybe have his arp pen removed to put the power else where like Bonus defense or maybe making his pull apply bleed or even make it so he get a full refresh on kill again which is why I started playing him being able to be always dominant and ready to fight if played right to compensate for his poor mobility. Also True dmg it must stay true dmg :p

Ramza7893/18/2014, 8:02:44 AM5 votes

As an avid Darius fan, I feel as though it'd be pretty hard to retool Darius without him losing who he is.

Right now, he his a lane bully who is focused on winning his lane to become viable late game. He has no real scary CC and is very susceptible to chain cc/focus fire as none of his skills give him any escape/tankiness (Unlike Shyv, Renekton, or Mundo). Unlike other lane bully champions (Rumble and Renekton come to mind) he doesn't really transition well to a late game unless he dominates his lane. Once the teams start grouping, his only real utility is a flash E to initiate, or to peel for the squishies.

Unfortunately for him, his kit is kind of broken at it's core. His Q is a medium range AoE nuke, his W is a slow that is also an attack speed reset, his E is a medium range hook with passive Armor Pen and his ult is the most infuriating thing to play against. But these skills make up who Darius is as a champion. If you tool around his Q to give him more late game scaling, he won't be as much of a lane bully. If you buff his E, his lane power will skyrocket and his ult is just an entire other bag of bones. Ultimately, his W is the only skill that has room for change. Thematically, him slicing the enemy forcing them to slow down is pretty neat; but perhaps it could instead give him a short move speed buff (ala his brother Draven). This would make him a bit less powerful in lane, without gutting who he is. It'll also allow him to fulfill a role late game, assuming he can get into range.

Holy crap, I just wall of texted all over this thread, I am quite sorry.

BlackFlameFox3/18/2014, 4:20:48 PM4 votes

In season 3 I was Gold 1 with Darius as my one and only top main and second most played champion behind jungle JarvanIV .

What do current Darius players really like?

I really like how Darius is a great duelist and has no gimmicky abilities ( Blitzcrank ). Don't let him catch you or he'll kill you period. None of that fancy stuff other champions have. Just don't fight him. His whole character and kit is about dueling and his ult is so great.

What do Darius players not like?

My response to answer one is turned on it's head. Champions like Nidalee , Teemo ,or Jayce whom you can never catch, you can't beat. I always run MS Quints and summoner 6 and these champs are just impossible to beat. The other half is champions who are superior duelists also auto-win. Champions like Jax or Trundle .

What interesting gameplay and decisions seem present to you as a player?

All things considered, Darius is an auto-win or auto-lose based on the match up. His kit doesn't really have room for error so you can't really outplay people. I'll Q every chance I get until the lane is pushed and I'm oom then I'll recall, and if you have no escapes and I'm the better duelist( Gangplank ), then I'll E, AA, W, Q, every chance until you're low enough to ult or dive. If you're a champion with strong harass like Cassiopeia then I'll sit at my tower till 6, then I'll summoner 6 and even with summoner 4 you won't be able to escape. His strength is in dueling and his weakness is in mobility. If the enemy jungler is a champ like LeeSin or and you're pushed and you get ganked, you're pretty much dead everytime. And the if the enemy top is a champ like Riven or Vayne or any of the above mentioned, and they get that kill on you, then your lane is pretty much over.

Late game if you have snowballed and the enemy top is behind, you can split push and 2v1 top and jungle and try to draw mid to. Or, you can chose to team fight and go almost full damage and play assassin Darius or go tanky and be a bodyguard for the ADC. The decision to give the ADC or Mid the kills in team fights or get the reset on the ult, I would agree, is the only choice I have to make.

It's tough to say what Darius needs because melee champs are usually a contest of who's the better duelist. My brother and his friend got into a dispute over who's the better Garen so they 1v1 top lane. Garen vs Garen. How can you even outplay someone in a situation like that? If Darius were to get any buffs. I'd give a buff to the MS on his passive. That's just my opinion.

doublelift fg3/17/2014, 9:39:35 PM4 votes

darius main since his realise, i really enjoy playing a unique caracter because darius is the only champ with 5 offensives spells. i also enjoy his ulti so much.

what i dislike is his lack of presence in teamfight, you nerfed him in lane but that was the only thing he could do since he is weak in teamfight.

as i said above, i like to play a full offensive champ the decisions are like "kill this target" this is the only one you have with darius

Cheepy3/18/2014, 6:36:54 AM3 votes

Darius resists being snowballed against a lot better than most melee top laners. I suppose this is probably just because he deals so much damage, but I like that I can die playing Darius and not have the lane instantly be over.

On a similar vein, Darius is really really good at pulling a losing team back into the game. This is because of the immense impact he can have when his potential is realized. On other champions, I might feel like the game is over if we're losing badly, but on Darius, I can stick it out and know that there's a path back into this game. I'd like for his kit to retain its "potential," if that makes any sense.

Not really much I don't like honestly. I like that he has weaknesses. I do kind of wish that having the largest impact that I can didn't require me to hog all the gold from kills.

Ted Brosby3/18/2014, 12:22:16 AM3 votes

How I feel about Darius as someone who plays him: I'm only level 17 and my first game against bots, I chose intermediate. Darius Bot was Bioforge Darius and he snowballed us. I instantly wanted to know about him and my girlfriend at the time, told me that he was a powerful execution style bruiser. I like the intimidation of him. When you use apprehend and start stacking passive, some times inexperienced players run away and die. He was my first "go to the store and get RP" champion that I bought, because he was on sale for 487 RP. I love playing as him and I think from 6-12 he's quite powerful. He has a 'lane presence'.

What I don't like as him: He really lacks a late game utility which is fine, since he's a fighter but I don't understand why his early game isn't that great either. I also don't like that I essentially have to play like a jerk to get the most fun out of him. Every thread about Darius, it seems like everyone thinks the best way to play Darius is to never get kills and do nothing but snare opponents for your ADC. His Ult only shines if I secure kills and hog them to myself. Otherwise I'll hardly ever use it. I don't want to hog kills for myself. It can be fun some times, but I'd rather be able to get a kill here and there and support if necessary. With Darius you can't really do that, if you use E, you better be ready with QWR or you basically wasted E because most of those abilities aren't good on their own. W is 'okay', but Q by itself isn't very "pokey". I guess what I'm saying is, you'll either use your R three or four times in a row or go 10-15 minutes without using it. And without it, his QWE is very situational.

How I feel about Darius on my team: If his cooldowns are up, it's nice to have him in a team fight mid-game because he can take care of a higher threat like a fed Annie or Elise, relatively easy. He can also force Tryn to use his R and remove one of the more powerful pokers out of an attack. He's almost like a rabid dog if his cooldowns are up. But I would also hate to need feeding when he's there, knowing that if he builds his stacks, he's probably gonna shoot for a double or triple and leave me dry as an ADC.

Over all, I like playing him and I generally go 50/50 but what I've noticed is if someone knows how bad his escapes are and plays aggressive 1-6, I will never catch up and I generally have a VERY rough time playing that game. And even when I win, I have to stay on my toes.

Timjin3/18/2014, 5:52:52 AM3 votes

What do current Darius players really like?

I imagine that feeling of being able to lock an opponent down and eviscerate them is important. If this were to take a longer amount of time, it wouldn't be a problem.

What do Darius players not like?

Darius is immobile, which is good for counterplay, yet he is VERY immobile. I suggest looking at his passive for this. Could you take a look at the idea of blood stacks affecting mobility more than they currently do? Currently you gain %movespeed per opponent hit, this may work if the % was a bit higher or changed to work per stack of blood, granted that could become ridiculous at its current tuning.

What interesting gameplay and decisions seem present to you as a player?

You mentioned earlier that you wanted Darius to ramp up over a fight and have decisions based on when to use his skills. I like this direction and I'm curious to see where it goes. As far as things work, I'm concerned with his jungle viability with the past changes to his Ult. Using it tends to leave you unable to have it up for a future gank compared to the resets of the past. It's important to allow an opponent to react but perhaps there is more middle ground?

Lemons223/18/2014, 9:17:29 PM3 votes

Honestly I would love some more tankiness on Darius. Look at Wukong. That passive has great synergy with his kit because you know he's going to have to dive in to do his ult. Darius also has to dive in (or more like walk in), but he has nothing protecting him except his high base armor and whatever items he's built. Darius just can't function very well in today's meta because for whatever reason (new masteries I'm guessing) he's gotten a lot less tanky.

Honestly this is how the average teamfight goes for me: I run in, get focused really hard, and do a desperation dunk, not even at full bleed stacks, then die. And guess what? I don't even kill my target a lot of the time. They usually live. And this is after winning my lane too.

All I'm saying is Darius looks like a tank, but his tankiness is just laughable. I would love for one of his abilities or his passive to be changed to give him a bit more tankiness.

thebloody74/5/2014, 1:54:36 AM3 votes

I know you are a busy man Morello but can we get any info on when Darius rework in gonna hit pbe D: im dying to know!

Drakonitus4/5/2014, 6:58:23 PM3 votes

@Morello I hope you guys rework Darius thinking of how he can be a competitive pick, just as Renekton, Shyvana, Trundle, Mundo, Olaf, Jax and a lot of champions are competitive.

Because we don't want a Darius a little more powerful, we want Darius to become a competitive champion.

muramasamune4/6/2014, 9:00:01 AM2 votes

I really hope this isn't too late for Morello to see my post, I just realized now that there is a Darius discussion and I would love to give my opinion. I am currently platinum in ranked and pretty much only play Darius and Draven if it is possible. I had quit League of Legends after I thought it was a little too "carebear" until Darius and Draven were released. Then I was back for good! I wanted to put in my feedback as I have noticed some differences between playing at a lower elo (silver) to a higher elo (plat).

1) What do current Darius players really like?

His abilities, they are fun and all them have a (small) amount of skill to use - making sure Q hits on the outer edge, making sure his W resets his auto attack for maximum DPS, actually landing his E as it is a short range skill shot, and making sure his R gets the reset. As much as most players think he is an "easy-mode" champ there is more to him than most players realize. If Darius is not chasing and knows he is in an "all in" fight, he can actually step back a little to use his Q then go back in.

His pull is SO MANLY, I think this ability is underrated as a gap closer. If you manage to flank the enemy and get 2 carries in your pull this move can win team fights much like Thresh or Blitz can do.

His movement speed buff when bleed is applied makes sense and it makes Darius more of a "once you are in you are in" champion.

2) What do Darius players not like?

Even without doing all of the above things right he can still 1v1 almost anyone in lane, especially after lvl 6. I would like to see more punishment for using his abilities in a non-optimal way.

At lower elo you can win your lane so hard that your opponent laner just gives up, even to the point where I have made many people rage in all chat and then rage quit. At higher elo the players realize that he will be kited late game and just wait it out under tower.

Someone I think touched on this before, but not "kill stealing" too much is an important part of Darius play right now, because late game he falls off. This is contradictory to his kit as you WANT TO DUNK as many players as possible.

But my least favorite thing about Darius is that HE IS SQUISHY. He wears heavy armor yet has no tanky abilities at all. I know you can build tanky on him, but he doesn't actually have any innate tankyness in his kit, unlike most current meta top laners. This is a bit of a problem because he does need to have at least SOME attack damage in his build in order to do damage fast enough before the enemy dashes/flashes away and you lose them forever. If he had some form of a tank ability in exchange for some damage somewhere in his kit, he would be able to be more menacing and just run at the enemy team like Garen does and just soak up some of their damage and at least blow more of the enemies' abilities before he dies.

** 3) What interesting gameplay and decisions seem present to you as a player?**

In an early game laning 1v1, the biggest decision seems to be whether to go all in or not. Q poke is pretty good against some champions but most seems to be able to dodge it quite easily if they know how. It sounds like the same as a lot of champions, but because Darius has no escape once you commit you are either dead or they are dead (more likely).

Mid game is pretty much deciding when is the right time to let your team get the kills so they can carry late game.

Late game he has to make is much of the same decisions like other top laners - do I rush their carries or protect mine? Do I build more tank or more damage?

TL;DR

Darius needs a TANKY ABILITY in his kit in exchange for some damage. He is supposed to be leading the charge but right now you just want to come in for cleanup duty.

Pr3dwan3/19/2014, 3:23:20 PM2 votes

*Hemmorhage:

Darius' basic attacks and damaging abilities cause enemies to bleed for 9 / 11 / 13 / 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25 (+ 43% bonus AD) magic damage over 5 seconds. This stacks up to 7 times for a maximum of 175 (+ 300% bonus AD) magic damage over the duration. Darius gains 1% Lifesteal per stack for Hemmorhage ticking from bleeding enemy champion. (max 7%)

Decimate: Range: 425 Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 Cost: 30 mana

Active: Darius swings his axe, dealing physical damage to all enemies within a 425-radius area around him. Shaft Physical Damage: 200 (+ 75% bonus AD) Champions more than 270 units away from him are hit by his axe's blade, and will take 40% additional damage. Blade Physical Damage: 280 (+ 105% bonus AD)

Unclogged Wounds: Range: 400 Cooldown: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 Cost: 50 mana

Passive: Every Darius basic attacks reduce the movement speed and attack speed of and enemy champion by 3/4/5/6/7 times its Hemmorhage stacks for 2s. (49%max) Active: Darius leaps forward, his next basic attack open deeper wounds on the target and adds a second stacks of Hemmorhage.

Apprehend: Range: 595 Cooldown: 24 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 12 Cost: 50 mana

Passive: Darius basic attacks deals true damage equal to 2/4/6/8/10 times the number of Hemmorhage stacks on his targets. Active: After a brief delay, Darius pulls in all enemies in front of him.

Noxian Guillotine: Range: 460 Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 Cost: 80 mana

Active: Darius leaps to an enemy champion and strikes a devastating blow, dealing true damage. For each stack of Hemorrhage on the target, Noxian Guillotine deals an additional 25% damage.

When Noxian Guillotine kills the target, it can be recast within the next 20 seconds. This can occur multiple times in succession. True Damage: 80 / 160 / 250 (+ 75% bonus AD) Max True Damage: 220 / 440 / 687 (+ 206% bonus AD)

lvl 06 +100AD = 80+75 = 155 No stacks (235 OLD) = 426.25 Fully stacked (470 OLD) lvl 11 +150AD = 160+112.5 = 272.5 (362.5 OLD) = 749.375 (725 OLD) lvl 16 +200AD = 250+150 = 400 (490 OLD) = 1100 (980 OLD) lvl 18 +300AD = 250+225 = 475 (565 OLD) = 1306.25 (1130 OLD) *

The dot was increased and scaled for a more AD build and 7 stacks.

Decimate was slightly nerfed because you should be more glued to your target thanks to W passive. the utility is the 7% life steal once fully stacked.

Crippling Strike changed to another ability (Unclogged Wounds here, name subject to change !) to gain a gap closer ability which does not deal any physical damage bonus just the standard autoattack reset and adds a second stack of Hemmorhage.

Apprehend was changed to have a more in line "Darius ability",passive now does true damage. range was increased as well.

Noxian Guillotine damage was reduced without any hemmorhage stacks, you will want your target to bleed before beheading ! Every numbers are subject to change.

All in all it's up to you to decide which way you want this champion to go. Moves can be done in any direction, it is not a matter of technical ability or implementation. It is just a matter of will.

Voplec3/18/2014, 5:50:00 AM2 votes

I love the idea of Darius. He feels like the great anti-hero of the League. I don't mind the early dueling power he has due to him pretty much being forced to all in or do nothing. t deals is nice due to mixed damage,

Love Darius passive. Bleed is a fantastic ability that gives play/counterplay to a severe bruiser kit. The magic damage is nice since it provides mixed damage, though I gain little advantage of my ArPen due to this. But it is hard to complain about free damage.

His Q is alright, it is thematic, has counterplay and punishments for misuse (easy to accidentally push wave if not used correctly). The inner and outer ranges are very appropriate and well done.

I do like his E's passive, since it allows Darius to build tanky and still have relevant damage through mid-game. Though it does go against his ult's idea. Maybe his E could still do no damage, but maybe apply 2x bleed stacks in addition to the current passive? That would help him to still get some damage in team fights late game, basically a good pull and Q would replicate a sunfire cape on affected targets for a short period.

His W is where I am worried, while I do enjoy the slow and AA reset, I feel that I gain very little if anything from leveling it. Progressing ranks in it really does nothing. To be honest, I feel that an ability change here would help him tremendously. After level 13, it feels that I have little to gain from levels beside 16's ult and base stats gained.

His R, I feel should be reverted to the permanent reset on kill. As a Darius player, I find myself ulting before the kill, especially on mid-high priority targets in team fights. I know that I am not going to scale for my team since I usually need to build tanky, so I really don't want to KS all the kills in team fights because, it becomes rather useless on me as opposed to an APC or an ADC or an Assassin. The resets are not a guaranteed penta or even triple kill. The best thing I liked on them was that after a fight in top, I could back and head bot and try to help shut down a snowballing ADC if they get ahead and still have a way to kill them. Especially with no mobility bonuses in my kit (esp since all my targets will have at least one). I feel the reset is necessary for this (I know this is somewhat situational, but I found this happening A LOT in my games).

I understand that different champions have power shifts at different times in game and that is a risk you take in champ select. Darius is most definitely one of these champions. However, I feel a change to his W, along with a return to his ult resetting on kill would be incredibly beneficial to Darius's gameplay. I would have that early game fun that his kit carries, as well as still feeling relevant to my team besides a semi-long CD reposition ability I provide.

MoxtB3/18/2014, 3:50:51 PM2 votes

What do current Darius players really like?

I like his ability to serve as a strong laner and good cleanup in teamfights. When built as a tank, he can survive to the end of a fight, where he's most dangerous due to his ultimate. Truly an executioner. He fits well into team comps that don't have assassins or some other form of cleanup. The threat of his ult zones his opponents out, which compensates for his otherwise low damage. The tanky executioner fills a unique spot.

What do Darius players not like?

He's really tough to play late game if you are not ahead. He needs to be able to survive in teamfights to get stacks and executes. He has no escape, and that's fine, but, when you're behind, it's really difficult to do anything with him at all. He's just totally ineffective against anyone that's stronger and can dive on top of him. I think this is a fine tradeoff for his strong lane phase though, but it feels bad late game when I'm behind.

There is one quality of life change that would make Darius much easier to balance around -- an indicator when his ult will finish someone off, like Cho'Gath has. Currently, the best Darius players know when an ult will finish someone off. A novice Darius player may have a feel for it, but needs to check the damage output of the ult, do a quick calculation based on the enemy HP and the number of stacks, and then hope that the ult finishes before someone else gets the kill. This reset is his entire late game threat, especially if built tank. Balancing for top-tier Darius players requires the assumption that they get the reset 100% of the time. Balancing for low-tier Darius players requires the assumption that they don't. Due to the amount of power this skill brings to his kit, it's going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to balance him with this skill differential.

I also really don't like it when I'm mid-execute, and the person dies to another champ, and I lose my reset. Better players will realize the Darius execute, and allow him to do it, but at lower leagues you're often fighting your team for the reset. I don't know how to fix this -- I'm not sure he should get any level of reset if he gets an assist (maybe the ult goes down for 10 seconds, then it's up for 10 seconds, then it goes on normal cooldown?), but it's frustrating to lose all your power when you're trying to protect your ADC from a dive and then you end up having no damage for the rest of the fight.

What interesting gameplay decisions seem present to you as a player?

I like trying to decide whether to build tankier or more damage. He can do both, especially if he's ahead. He has more build paths than most top laners. Choosing who to hook and whether to peel for the ADC, using your true damage execute as a threat, all of these things are interesting and good. Choosing whether to chase + hook + execute someone running away or saving the hook for protection purposes is also interesting.

Lord Ðaríus3/31/2014, 3:05:56 AM1 votes

why has morello abandoned this thread?

SpoonTwoBig3/17/2014, 11:57:19 PM1 votes

I don't play Darius all that often, but I usually enjoy it when I do so I'll add my thoughts. (Was ranked silver last and this season if you are keeping track)

What do current Darius players really like?

The idea of fighting someone 1v1 for a long time and then finishing with a powerful strike like his ult is really fun!
Working to keep passive stacks up/increasing adds a fun layer on top of cs'ing during laning, kind of like building stacks with nasus.

What do Darius players not like?

I'm never quite sure how I should level my skills; I always max Q first, but I'm undecided on W and E.
In the same vein, it can be hard to decide on how to build him. I've had success going tanky and also going damage, but I wonder if his kit works better with one or the other.

What interesting gameplay and decisions seem present to you as a player?

Deciding if I'm strong enough to fight someone long enough to win with my ult or if I need to stay back and try to keep a few passive stacks up to whittle them down until I think I can win