How to Play Darius in League of Legends

Last Updated: October 30, 2019

Darius is a melee fighter character in League of Legends, he is best played in the top lane and excels in drawn out fights. He is especially known for his ultimate, which allows him to deal immense true damage and, when timed correctly, can be recast to wipe out an enemy team.

Part 1

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Darius's abilities

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Darius' passive ability is Hemorrhage. Every time Darius lands a basic attack or his Q, a stack of Hemorrhage is applied to the enemy hit. The effect lasts for 5 seconds and can be stacked up to 5 times on one enemy.
- Hemorrhage has 2 effects, the first deals damage to enemy target for its 5 second duration, the second gives Darius a 5% movement speed bonus for each enemy with Hemorrhage applied.
2
Darius's Q ability is Decimate. When activated, Darius spins his axe in a full circle dealing 70/105/140/175/210 damage to each enemy hit. If you hit an enemy in the outer part of the circle, with the axe blade rather than the handle, the damage dealt is increased by 50%.

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3
Darius's W ability is Crippling Strike. When activated, Darius's next basic attack will deal 120/140/160/180/200% bonus damage. This scales depending on your level. It will also slow the struck enemy's movement and attack speed by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 seconds.
- The cooldown on Crippling Strike is reduced by 1 second for every stack of Hemorrhage that is applied on the enemy attacked.
4
Darius's E ability is Apprehend. Apprehend has an active and a passive function, the passive part grants Darius increased armour penetration by 5/10/15/20/25%. The active is a hook-back ability that is cast in a cone (in whichever direction the player chooses) that will pull all enemy champions and/or minions that are in the cone.
- Be very choosy when you cast Apprehend at low levels, it has a long cooldown in early game.
5
Darius's final ability, his ultimate, is Noxian Guillotine. Noxian Guillotine deals a base true damage of 160/250/340, and the damage dealt is increased by 20% for every stack of Hemorrhage on the target, so the maximum damage possible is 320/500/680.
- The best feature of Noxian Guillotine is the feature that if the ability kills an enemy champion, the cooldown will reset and you can recast it within 12 seconds. If you kill another champion within that time, this time is refreshed again and you have another 12 seconds to recast.

Part 2

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In game play

1
Early game. In the laning phase you should look to maximize damage output by hitting enemy champions with the outer part of Decimate. You can also position yourself in the middle of a minion group to farm the wave quickly and efficiently this way.
- Don't play too aggressively before level 6 when you get your ultimate. Keep poking with your Q and if you're under your own tower, try pulling a champion with Apprehend to try to bait him into attacking you under the tower. Darius can pick up easy, safe kills early on this way.
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Mid game. Once you have your ultimate, look to really dominate your lane by getting the enemy to around mid-health (this is somewhat dependent on your opposing top laner. If they're quite tanky, keep poking until they're below half health.) and then committing to a kill attempt.
- When you commit to the kill, land your Q and some basic attacks to add Hemorrhage before using Crippling Strike to slow them down, continue auto-attacking and Decimate, save Apprehend until they start escaping and then use Noxian Guillotine to finish them off.
3
Late game and team fights. In team fights, try to find the right balance between tanking some damage, but not dying early in the fight. Darius will be most useful when the enemy team are low and he can use his ultimate multiple times.
- One of the major things to do in a team fight as Darius is to try picking off an enemy with Apprehend and pulling them into your team for a free kill. Be careful though, it will pull in ALL enemies in the cast zone, so be careful not to overwhelm your team by pulling in most of the opposition team.

Part 3

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Summoner spells and build

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The recommended summoner spells for Darius are Ignite and either Flash or Ghost. Ghost will allow you to keep a fight going longer, so that is the slightly better option.
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For masteries, take 9/21/0. Build attack damage in offense, and armour, magic resist, and health in defense.
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For runes, use Marks of attack damage, Seals of armour, Glyphs of magic resist and Quintessences of attack damage.
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As a general rule, build magic resist, armour and attack damage in items. Take Doran's shield first, then build into Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads for your boots, hexdrinker and sunfire cape for early defensive items. For offensive items build Last Whisper or The Bloodthirster and Ravenous Hydra. Defensive should be Maw of Malmortius, and Frozen Mallet.

Warnings

If you do take Ghost rather than Flash, be extra sure you ward the lane to avoid surprise ganks. You have less probability of escape with Ghost.

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