This guide will show you how to counter Darius, and also expose the champions our big boy Darius decimates.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD… No, wait, wrong game.
Welcome to Dunk Town! Axe? Check. Lane pressure? Check. Most handsome B O I in the game? Check.
Darius is, and will always be, a lane bully. Your job on the top lane is to make your enemy live miserable and pressure him all the time.
Darius passive, Hemorrhage, is what makes him really hard to trade with on the lane. Hemorrhage allows Darius make his target bleed, dealing damage over time, and this effect can stack up to five times. But that's not the fun part! Once Darius got his five stacks on the enemy, he gains the Noxian Might, a buff that increases his damage by a ton.
Noxian Might make all of his damage skills hit harder, giving him enormous sinergy. His Q, Decimate, allows him to heal himself while chunking the enemy lanner for a good amount of damage, while his W, Crippling Strike, slows the target and helps him get his stacks.
But (and there's always a but), Darius is a immobile champion how takes advantage on the enemy mistakes, and there are some champions out there who can give him a pretty hard time. Let me give you 5 champions who can make his life hell.
Champions that counter Darius
1. Teemo - Darius Counter Rating: 80/100
Not cute. Not at all, you devilish fiend.
See this little guy? Everyone hates him, and Darius players are his #1 hatters. Teemo has an incredibly annoying kit to play against, even more when you are a immobile bruiser who likes to get up close and personal. As Teemo, all you have to do to beat Darius is keep harassing him from afar and manage the creep wave at your favor.
- Just stay away from he and try to bait his E, Apprehend. Once his E is on cooldown (and a pretty high one), Darius is completely vulnerable to you.
- While lanning, keep poking him with your autos. Let your passive do the hard work for you, and if he manages to pull you in, just use your Q, Blinding Dart, as Darius won't be able to stack his passive on you.
- Buy magic penetration ASAP. A good Darius will rush an MR item against Teemo, so get a Haunting Guise as your first item,as Liandry's Torment is one of Teemos core items.
- If you're to close, dont try to run away from his Q, Decimate. Stay close and keep attacking, Darius Q does almost no damage if you're in the inner circle and it also doesn't aply the Hemorrhage stack.
2. Jayce - Darius Counter Rating: 90/100
He’s not a hero, Viktor is. At least in my humble opinion.
Stop! Hammer time! Our valiant "hero", Jayce, has all the tools he need in his hammer to deal with Darius. Jayce can nuke Darius from range with his Q, he can poke our B O I down with his W and also disengage when he needs with his hammer form E. But how do you pin the nail on this match?
- Start the game with your W, Lightning Field / Hypercharge. This will allow you to poke Darius safely when he tries to farm. Remember that every time you switch from hammer to cannon your next auto does additional magic damage.
- Use or Acceleration Gate + Shock Blast combo to deal massive damage and nuke him out of the lane. Don't try and trade blows with him, mow him down first and them use To the Skies (Q in hammer form)and Lighting Field (W in hammer form) to seal the deal.
- If he manage to catch you with his E, use Thundering Blow to knock him back and start kiting him in cannon form.
- Star your build with some armor penetration, as Darius builds armor against champions like Jayce.
3. Jax - Darius Counter Rating: 100/100
This skin is dope. Period.
Nothing beats being hit to death with a lamp. Is that even a real weapon? In Jax hands, everything becomes a weapon of mass destruction. This match up is really straightforward for Jax, but don't get overconfident, as Darius can (and will) beat you if you're not careful. The main reason why Jax is a direct counter to Darius is his Q, Leap Strike, which allows Jax to negate Darius main damage dealing tool, Decimate. Counter Strike, your E, also plays a big part, as Darius will not be able to AA you and then reset with his W to stack his passive. But how do you beat down the Hand of Noxus?
- Take trades with him every time your Counter Strike is up. Jax is a duelist, and if you get a lead on this match, it's over. You will get feed, and every gank against you shall become a double kill.
- If you're in harm's way from Darius Q, Leap Strike on him, AA and follow up with your W, Empower, which is an auto attack reset and then use Counter Strike.
- Once you get your ultimate, Grandmaster's Might, try to harass Darius with your third strike, and if he tries to fight you, go to town with him and show who's boss.
- Lifesteal will do wonders in this match up. Darius can heal from his Q, and he is a bit more tanky, so having some sustain in this fight will make the difference.
3. Aatrox - Darius Counter Rating: 98/100
I miss old Aatrox and his absurd lifesteal...
The World Ender is one of the best toplanners, and for good reason. This Darkin was made to deal with champions like Darius, who can't deal with range and mobility. Aatrox has both. Also, getting to close to Aatrox is not a great idea, since his third Q (The Darkin Blade) does a butt load of damage. Umbral Dash, Aatrox's E, allows he to reposition his strikes with The Darkin Blade and passively heals a % of the physical damage he does to champions, also giving him extra AD. Sounds fun (not for Darius), doesn't?
- The Darkin Blade can be cast 3 times, and each strike can hit with the Edge, knocking Darius up and dealing increased damage. The first two casts have a long range and you can use this to harass him safely.
- Your W, Infernal Chains, can be used to set up ganks or to escape. Once Darius is marked, he either abandon the trade or get pulled to the place where Infernal Chains hit him.
- Your ultimate, World Ender, can change the tide of a battle with Darius. There are many uses to Aatrox ultimate, but mostly it nullifies Darius ultimate, Noxian Guillotine, while giving you a large amount of AD.
- You can use World Ender to close the gap as it gives you a large burst of movespeed for 1 sec. Use this to get face to face with Darius once you used the first two casts of The Darkin Blade as World Ender buffs your AD and makes the third cast hurt even more.
4. Heimerdinger Darius Counter Rating: 90/100
Nope. I don’t like him, get him away from me!
God save your soul if you're playing against this little fella. He will zone you, stun you, deal a metric ton of damage and once you try to fight him, he will use his ultimate and Zhonya's Hourglass, letting his giant turret do the job for him. Also, tower diving Heimerdinger is never, NEVER, a good idea. But how do you sit back and let your turrets kill Darius properly?
- H-28 G Evolution Turret is your Q, and also your main source of damage. The turret will always prioritize Heimerdinger's target. You can deploy a maximum of 3 turrets, and this is what makes Heimer so safe and strong. Your turrets do a lot of damage, and Darius will have to deal with it in order to get close to you, so always stay near yout turrets.
- Use Hextech Micro-Rockets, your W, to clear waves faster and push the lane. CS under tower is difficult, and you need to keep Darius always on check if you want to win this lane and let him out of the game.
- Besides being annoying as hell, Heimers has a stun. Yeah... Imagine being mowed by turrets while being stun. Not fun at all and rage inducing.
- You need Zhonya's Hourglass ASAP. If Darius flashes to get you, all you've to do is stun him, use your ultimate, UPGRADE!!!, place the H-28Q Apex Turret to destroy him and use Zhonya's. Either he dies or he runs away.
- Ward the river. Ganks can pretty much ruin your day as Darius can take a good beating before he goes down, enough time for him and his jungler to deal with you and your turrets.
Champions Darius is Strong Against
1. Riven
Okay, I’ll have to admit, she is cool.
Want see a Riven player quit before the game even starts? Counter pick her with Darius. Riven can't do anything against Darius, except asking for her jungle to help her. All her dashes, jumps and stuns do nothing against Darius, as he can easily punish her everytime she tries to farm a minion or gets to close.
- Try to predict her E, since is the only tool she have to try and dodge your pull. Once her E is on cooldown, is time to go all win.
- Her stun can be annoying, but you've two slows on your kit, so everything is fine.
- Keep her out of exp range, out farm her and dive with your jungler help. If she tries to get a minion, pull her, AA, W and keep beating her up. If she tries to get away, use your Q to heal from the trade and chunk her.
2. Renekton
Steve Irwin best friend in all his glory.
This overgrown lizard is also a lane bully, but Darius does this job way better. His dashes are short and Renekton have to build a Tiamat if he wants to be impactful on the laning phase. Building damage leaves he lacking the tankiness to deal with Darius damage.
- A good Renekton will farm safely and will engage only with his jungler. But some are overconfident and will try to trade you. His combo is simple, he dashes with his E, stuns you with his W , use his Q to damage you and heal himself and them back away with the second cast of his E. The problem is: Darius will tank the combo, wait for the second dash and then pull Renekton with his E. Renekton have high cooldowns and won't be able to escape from Darius combo + passive stacks.
- His ultimate doesn't compare to Noxian Guillotine. Yes, he gains a HP buff, but a full stacked Noxian Guillotine does enough damage to simply ignore this buff.
- You're able to stack your passive easily, which increases the damage on your ultimate. This alone will make Renekton get worried.
3. Nasus
May I ask thee, who let the dogs out?
Nasus is not an early game champion and he will only start being annoying in the late game. Until he gets his stacks, Darius can do whatever he wants in the laning phase. The only way Nasus has to deal with Darius is his Wither (e), a heavy slow, but Darius can work around this with his pull.
- Pressure him all the time, don't let him get his stacks and if he tries to get close just use your E and trade with him.
- You'll always win the trades against him, but don't forget to ward the river. A gank could change the laning phase in his favor.
- Nasus is a monster in the late game, when he's fully stacked, so try end close up the game as soon as possible.
4. Fiora
Waifu material right here, ladies and gentleman!
The Grand Duelist has a hard time against the Hand of Noxus. Her Q, Lunge, allows her to poke but leaves her way to close and a simple pull from Darius can ruin her day. The problem here is her E, Riposte, than can negate both your pull and your ultimate, so stay sharp and try to bait her Riposte for an easy engage.
- Trading with Fiora can be difficult if she is a really good player. But most of times, you can simply apply your passive stacks and leave, letting the DoT do his work.
- If she uses her Riposte, there is almost nothing she can do against you. Just pull her in and go to town.
- Don't let her pop all of the vitals on her ultimate. Hug a wall when she ults you and go all-win.
5. Tryndamere
Is Tryndamere overcompensating for something?
All the salt in the world shall be his, all of it. Darius can, and will, destroy Tryndamere in the early stage of the game. Tryndamere can heal for a good amount, try to escape you and outlast you if you're not careful. But in the late game, he will kill you and all your team if he isn't dealt with.
- Pressure him out of the lane every time you've the opportunity. Out CS him and starve of resources.
- Don't trade with him if his rage bar is full. This means his critical chance is high, and his crits hurt a lot.
- Try to get a kill lvl 1. Hide in the bush, let him walk by and start beating him up. For this strat, I recommend you star with your W for AA reset am to stack your passive faster. If you didn't manage to get the kill, at least you harassed him quite a bit.
How to outsmart a Darius Player
Those who play Darius normally want only one thing: To dunk you into oblivion. As a Darius main, my job is to nullify the enemy toplanner and push his lane, then go mid and help my midlanner do the same. In team fights, I'm always soaking damage and trying to get my passive stacked for those THICC resets on the ultimate.
1. Stay out of his reach and poke him to death
Darius pull, his E, has a good range, but you can always bait this spell and leave him without resources to pursue you.
2. Keep your mind on how many stacks he has on you
His passive hurts a lot, so try no to have long trades with him to avoid Noxian Might, which increases his already high damage.
3. Don't try and fight him alone in the early game
Wait for your jungler to help you take him down. This will give you and your team a lead, that you must use to latter fight him on your on.
Noxus > Demacia
Aaaand that's all folks! I hope this information will help you deal with Darius and his shenanigans. Now you know everything you need to beat him and how to deal with him properly.
How about you stop being hard stuck on Silver? Keep what you learned in mind and fight your way up! Hope to see you on Summoners Rift!
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