Practicing Darius; Tips Appreciated

EkkoFroffles·Apr 14, 2015·2 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

Hasztalan2Apr 14, 20153 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.

EkkoFrofflesApr 14, 20151 votes

Oh, I ward plenty no matter what role/champion I'm playing. According to that ward score site, I ward more than 80% of other top laners. Heh.

BeatzBoyFTWApr 14, 20153 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.

EkkoFrofflesApr 14, 20151 votes

Freezing lane is something I've been needing to work on with every champion I play, so I'll be working on that for sure. Warding, I do as much as or more than the supports when I top lane. For poke, I have actually been sticking to my Q, and using it so sparingly at points that my mana regen kept me at nearly 100%. I only combo when I know I have an opening and I'be weakened them enough. Max order, I put a point into Q or R every chance I get, almost, and tend to go E second for the passive. And you don't have to worry about me picking into a ranged champ. I have 100+ ranked games with Garen this season, and ranged champs not named Teemo give me fits still. If I see Vayne or anyone like that, I know I'm in for a bad time.

Thanks for your pretty in-depth tips. Now I know I'm doing things more or less right, but need to build a little more damage. I can adjust too in match, swapping out tank items for damage if I'm not seeming to be a threat, so I'll keep this in mind if things aren't going how I'd hope in a given match.

ZarxisApr 14, 20151 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.

EkkoFrofflesApr 14, 20151 votes

I guess I'll start going Black Cleaver then, since it's what both of you have suggested. I have always loved that item, at least on my main Garen, and a couple others, so I'd gladly build it on another champ.

Speaking of counters, though, that's something people can't quite seem to agree on aside from a couple. Yorick and Teemo are mentioned across the board. But with Yorick... well, who plays Yorick? And Teemo doesn't strike me as the biggest threat either going based off the attempts Teemos have made to "counter" me as Garen. I'm 10-4 in that matchup, if I remember correctly, and I think I won my lane maybe all but once. I'm bronze 5, keep in mind, so I don't run into many experienced Teemos. Should I be on the lookout for anyone else in particular? His counters seem to fall somewhat in line with Garen's, and I know his quite well, so should I just go off that?

And thank you both! :)

EkkoFrofflesApr 14, 20151 votes

Oh, and I have given thought to Darius jungle. Just have yet to actually try it. I've seen it be successful, but I wonder how viable it really is since I've heard mixed things. I can see his ganks being decent with a surprise E, ending with a dunk, particularly on bot and mid lane, but feel you'd have to play it just right to avoid them getting away or kiting you. Top lane kiting isn't as much of a concern.

ZarxisApr 14, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Oh, and I have given thought to Darius jungle. Just have yet to actually try it. I've seen it be successful, but I wonder how viable it really is since I've heard mixed things. I can see his ganks being decent with a surprise E, ending with a dunk, particularly on bot and mid lane, but feel you'd have to play it just right to avoid them getting away or kiting you. Top lane kiting isn't as much of a concern.

It has low sustain, but his clear times are decent and his ganks are good if you can get into range to pull your opponent (you have plenty of damage). It's best if your allies have methods of CC'ing their lane opponents while you walk in; very few enemies will be slow/immobile enough for you to walk up and pull them. You could try ganking them from behind (ex: red top tri bush if you're on the blue team, or blue bottom tri bush if you're on the purple team), but your gank targets would have to be extremely pushed up for you to get the jump on them if they have any wards around.

EkkoFrofflesApr 14, 20151 votes

I tried it in co-op just using my 9/21 Garen mastery page and building straight damage and I can see it working now. Had a Ryze mid and an Ashe bot, so they weren't getting away very much. And once I got rolling, it just became a dunk party. Heck, if you get fed enough, just a normal ult-less combo on two grouped enemies can net you a double kill. Think I might use him instead of Yi when I'm looking for a safe potential carry jungler. You can build Yi as a bruiser, but even against bots I seem useless unless I build him as a glass cannon.

DrackolusApr 14, 20151 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 17Apr 14, 20151 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.