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Practicing Darius; Tips Appreciated

EkkoFroffles·4/14/2015, 4:34:09 AM·2 votes·1,021 views

Played Darius for the first time a while back, grew to kinda love him, but knew I needed to put in a lot more time with him because of how boom-or-bust I was with the guy. But, having played 3 matches tonight where I built more or less straight tank, I've come to realize that maybe I was just building him all wrong before. I'd buy some defensive items, except he was practically a glass cannon when I played him at first, as I was trying to maximize his hyper carry capabilities. Needless to say, I was probably overdoing it, since I was racking up the kills with a Brutalizer as my sole offensive item, unless you count Sunfire Cape. 14/1/10, 16/10/9, 13/5/10.

His base stats and scaling, plus the reset on his true damage ult which now becomes a full reset level 16, seems to me like it's enough on its own. Get him tanky and put him in the middle of a team fight and, if he and his teammates play it correctly, he's gonna output quite a bit of damage, as well as be able to separate enemies from the rest of their team or keep them off their squishies and ADCs with his E. I should probably go with something else besides a Brutalizer, such as Ravenous Hydra, but am I right in thinking that building him this way is best... at least for someone such as myself who's not to be trusted as a glass cannon most of the time? I also often find my teams in want of both a tank and a carry, two things it would appear he can be simultaneously.

Also, any other little tips and tricks for maximizing my potential with him would be great. :)

11 Comments

Hasztalan24/14/2015, 6:47:49 AM3 votes

item 2044 is your best friend early on. Darius player's are one of the easiest to bait into lost 1v2 fights at toplane early on apart from egoistic riven shits. Don't be like one of them.

BeatzBoyFTW4/14/2015, 12:41:13 PM3 votes
  • ** Try to freeze lane if possible when cs-ing & poking**

Darius's kit has high potential of pushing lanes pretty quick, while also having a Q which deals serious painful damage when positioning his outer axe properly. But of course, in early game you wouldn't want the wave to be pushed, or else you're highly open to enemy ganks. In laning phase, just last hit minions instead of weakening it. The damage from your Q which you used to poke your lane opponent out is pretty detrimental in terms of freezing lane.

  • Be aware of ganks. Always grab a ward.

Darius has no mobility kit, and his passive movement speed boost is seriously unnoticeable. Whenever you pushed far, always be on guard for enemy ganks.

  • Don't spam your pokes too much

Darius is pretty easy to get oom really fast. You need to learn the timing & positioning on your Q really well. I suggest you only pokes with his Q instead of his EWQ combo in laning phase. You can do it once, but please, don't do it all the time......unless if it's a Nasus, fk that guy, just go crazy on him.

  • NEVER BUILD FULL TANK DARIUS

As a Darius main, I have made lots of mistakes in building a highly defensive champion, yet harmless as a cat. No, I'm not kidding. Aside from his true damage ult, his Q & W deals pitiful damage when building Darius as a full tank. Also, he doesn't have lots of CC compared to the likes of J4. But if you're really that persistent into building a tanky Darius, I suggest your core offensive items be either item 3071 or item 3078 .

  • Order of maxing abilities

Q is without a doubt, the first ability to be maxed first, since it is Darius's main damage. Depending on the champion matchups, if you're going against squishy champions like Riven Pantheon or AA-reliant like XinZhao , max W second then E last. If going against a heavy tank champ like Malphite Chogath , I suggest you take turns to max W & E each level you go up. (Don't forget his E has armor penetration % passive)

  • In rank/draft games, never go Darius against range champions

Similar to Olaf, Darius is pretty easy to get kited by the likes of Vayne, Vladimir & Urgot. Due to his immobility, it is not recommended to bring him to top lane against most range champions.

Zarxis4/14/2015, 6:55:05 AM1 votes

If you're going to build full tank... At least fit a Black Cleaver into your build. Your ADC will (should) thank you. Trinity Force has some health, as well, so it's not much of a loss in terms of tankiness. You'll end up doing no damage besides your ultimate and bleed if you don't build some form of Armor Penetration, and Black Cleaver has more synergy with Darius than the other Armor Penetration items. The upcoming Black Cleaver rebalance will make the synergy even more powerful. Ravenous Hydra and Last Whisper are greedy/glass cannon items (Hydra less so because the lifesteal can help you tank, but it's an offensive item, for sure).

You should worry about champion select more than anything... Darius is ridiculously easy to counter, as I'm sure you already know. I'd suggest learning to jungle him, so you can always play him whether you get countered hard or not.

Drackolus4/14/2015, 6:57:35 AM1 votes

I always try to fit a item 3074 in, sometimes a item 3071. That item's rework will probably make that a must-grab on him, since it means he doesn't have to walk past the tanks - he can smash 'em right then and there. Buy axes on the axe-man.

Takeuchi 174/14/2015, 1:11:36 PM1 votes

Ok so I mained darius for a little while around S3/4 and heres what I normally go. I take attack damage runes. my masteries I go 9/21/0.

I rush a hydra first, thats the only damage item I build on him (unless its a heavy ap team in which ill build maw of malmortus) then i go tank with something like randuins and then sunfire or vice versa depending on things or again if its an ap heavy team I'll build MR. if the adc is a problem just build a thornmail but that doesnt usually pop up until later in the game.

when laning keep in mind the portion of your q that does the most damage (hover over the q ability to show the circle, you do more damage in between the outer circle and the inner one). I always start q then go w and then e and max them in that order as well. always try to use your ult as a last hit so that it resets and you can use it again. Darius is also rather immobile and people like to gank him early and often so be sure to ward and try not to push the lane up too much without map awareness.

another thing i do with darius is take ignite to be a jerk. it will help get the early kills and allows me to be aggressive. just poke em with the q and use the w and if they're dumb enough to continue engaging just keep hitting em with stacks, use e to grab em if they try and run and when they start to run away again use your q (dont spam q when they're close since it wont do much REMEMBER THE CIRCLE OF DAMAGE) and then use ignite so as they run and bleed they'll also burn and die.