Darius is the commander and Hand of Noxus, a merciless warrior of the empire. Known for its high damage, impenetrable armor and powerful crowd control effects. Played mainly through the top, but can take mid or jungle. In the article we will talk about its features, skills, create current assemblies of runes and items, as well as the best tactics.
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Hero Skills
Deals exclusively physical damage, plays equally well with basic attacks and skills. A difficult character to master. He has well-developed damage, defense and control. Shows itself much weaker in mobility and support. Let's look at each of his abilities in detail.
Passive Skill - Bleed
Darius directs his attacks, causing the target to bleed, dealing increased physical damage over 5 seconds. The effect stacks up to 5 times. Darius deals 300% damage to all monsters.
Upon reaching 5 charges or killing an enemy champion "Noxian guillotine» activated «Noxin Power"for 5 seconds. During the action "Noxian might"Darius gains between 30 and 230 additional Attack Damage and applies a maximum number of Bleeding Charges to enemies with Basic Attacks or Blade"Extermination"(depending on the level).
First Skill - Obliteration
Darius raises his axe, then swings it, dealing physical damage with the blade and handle. Enemies hit by the hilt do not gain a charge"Bleeding».
The hero recovers 13–39% of missing health for each enemy champion and large forest monster hit by the blade. The handle does not heal him and does not apply a charge "Bleeding».
Second skill - Crippling Strike
Darius's next attack deals 140-160% attack damage as Physical damage and slows the target hit by 90% for 1 second.
The ability refunds mana costs and reduces the cooldown by 50% if it kills the target. The skill also activates spell effects when dealing damage.
Third skill - Detention
Passively: Darius gains 15–35% armor penetration.
The Coordinating Staff of Volyn Regional Football Association has actively: The hero hooks his ax, pulling, knocking up and slowing the target by 40% for 2 seconds.
Ultimate - Noxian Guillotine
The character jumps towards the enemy and delivers a fatal blow, dealing 125–375 units of pure damage. For each charge "Bleeding"On the affected target, the ability deals additional damage in the amount of 0–100%.
If he kills the target, he can reuse the ability once within 20 seconds. At rank 3, the skill does not cost any mana, and kills completely refresh the cooldown.
Sequence of leveling skills
First upgrade your first skill, thanks to which you can kill minions faster and restore your health along the way. Next, fully increase the level of the third ability - you will be able to pull opponents out from under the tower, and increase your own armor. Finally, pay attention to the second skill, with which Darius gains small but useful control.
Remember that ult is a priority ability. It is she who deals maximum damage and reveals the hero’s strength. Therefore, be sure to upgrade it before other skills at levels 6, 11 and 16.
Basic Ability Combinations
Darius is a versatile hero with whom you can use a variety of skills and combos. The main thing is to remember to collect stacks of passives, choose the target and method of attack wisely.
- Basic attack -> Second skill -> Basic attack -> Third skill -> Basic attack -> First skill. A very strong basic combination that will fully charge the passive. If you manage to get all the stacks of Bloodshed quickly enough, you will be able to use the ultimate.
- Jump -> Second Skill -> Third Skill. This combo is used either on someone with high mobility or on an enemy with a pressed Blink. It is always better to land a Crippling Strike with lightning speed than to try to stop it with other skills. The range of the third skill is 125 units greater than Blink. So when you use an instant Crippling Strike and an enemy jumps back, you slow them down by 90%.
- Third skill -> Basic attack -> Second skill -> First skill -> Basic attack -> Basic attack -> Ultimate -> Blink -> Basic attack -> Ultimate. The most difficult combination presented. Thanks to it, you will attract your opponent to you, apply slow effects to him, deal all possible damage and charge yourself 5 stacks of Bloodshed. Before using Flash, you kill the first enemy opponent on the front flank - a warrior or tank. And then you make a dash deeper into the squad, and apply the remaining abilities to the main carry.
Pros and cons of the hero
Let's move on to Darius' main traits - strengths and weaknesses that greatly influence his playstyle and builds.
Pros of playing as Darius:
- Strong even at an early stage.
- Very tenacious.
- Shows itself well in team and single battles.
- High damage tank.
- Lots of upgrade options.
- Strong carry potential.
Disadvantages of playing as Darius:
- Quite predictable.
- Non-mobile.
- Easily countered by heroes with ranged attacks.
- Vulnerable to ganks.
- Dependent on the summoner's spells.
- At the end of the game it sags.
- Difficult to learn.
Suitable runes
Runes that enhance attack and guarantee consistently high damage, strength and survivability are best suited for Darius. Therefore, use a combination of runes Precision and Bravery, designed to maximize the abilities of a melee warrior.
Primal Rune - Accuracy:
- Conqueror - If you deal damage to an enemy champion with abilities or basic attacks, you will receive Conqueror stacks that increase adaptive power. These are converted into attack or skill power depending on the character. At maximum stack, vampirism is activated.
- Triumph - for helping or independently killing an enemy champion, you restore health points and receive another 20 extra. coins
- Legend: Fortitude - Receive 5% durability and auxiliary 1,5% per stack collected (up to a maximum of 10). The stack is equal to 100 points, which are earned by killing minions, forest monsters and champions.
- The Last Frontier - when health points are reduced to 60%, the character's damage gradually increases with each lost health point.
Secondary Rune - Courage:
- Bone plate - When an enemy champion deals damage to you, his next 3 abilities or basic attacks will deal 30-60 less damage to you.
- Dauntless - With this rune you gain 5% slow resistance. The stat increases based on the health points lost, up to 25% slow and tenacity resistance.
- +10 attack speed.
- +9 to adaptive damage.
- +6 Armor.
Required Spells
Jump - a spell suitable for almost every character. This is an instantaneous short-distance dash of up to 400 units, which is used for defense or attack, depending on the situation. Works even through walls and other obstacles.- Teleport - allows you to quickly navigate around the map. With a delay of 4 seconds, you will move to the selected allied tower. In the middle of the game (14 minutes), you can also teleport to friendly totems or minions, and also receive a small buff to your movement speed.
- Ghost - Your champion ignores unit collision for 10 seconds and gains 24–48% additional movement speed for the duration (depending on the champion's level). The duration of this buff increases by 4-7 seconds after making a kill (depending on level).
Best Build
We offer one of the best builds based on win rate results. Pictures have been added to each stage of assembly, where you can see icons and the cost of items.
Starting Items
With this set you can pick up minions faster and increase your survivability. Don't forget about totems, with which you can prevent ganks from someone else's forester.
- Shield of Doran.
- Health Potion.
- Hidden totem.
Early items
At this stage, Darius should increase his movement speed and armor.
- Armored boots.
Main subjects
The following items will help the hero in matches against ranged and melee champions, they increase attack power and speed. Additional movement speed, armor and health are very important characteristics for him.
- Bonebreaker.
- Armored boots.
- Dead Man's Armor.
Complete assembly
In the late game, add equipment that increases your health, magic resistance, and armor. High survivability is very important for a character to fight on the front lines and withstand attacks from ranged champions.
- Bonebreaker.
- Armored boots.
- Dead Man's Armor.
- Power of nature.
- Test of Sterak.
- Spiked armor.
Worst and best enemies
The easiest way is to stand on the line against Tryndamere, Renekton and X'Sante. You can play a little more assertively, but don't make fatal mistakes and take care of your health, otherwise they may take advantage of your weakness. Try to ban the following champions:
- Wayne – an extremely complex night hunter. Give up early farming, take minions only under the tower. Playing with her in the lane requires constant help from the jungler, unless Vayne makes a lot of blunders. Watch out for misuse of skills and try to take advantage of her mistakes.
- Gnar – you lose to him at the beginning, middle and end on the sideline. He is as good a team warrior as Darius. If the enemy makes a mistake and goes too far, you can defeat him, but he can easily jump out and hide. The line with him will only farm under the tower.
- Kennen – a little simpler than the others, but still a nightmare champion if played correctly. You have to count on him to make a mistake, otherwise you farm under the tower and don’t go far. To stabilize the situation, you will need a lot of farming and the support of your allies.
Sejujuan – excellent synergy with Darius if he plays the role of a jungler. She makes ganks very easily with her control. Also do well in a team with junglers Fiddlesticks, Jarvan IV and Rek'Sai.
How to play as Darius
Beginning of the game. From the very early stage the hero is very strong. Focus on farming to get the first levels as quickly as possible. Level 2 and 3 of Darius are a huge peak in power, and if you manage to get it before your opponent, you can easily kill him. At level 3 you can fight 1v1 with almost any top laner.
Around this moment, the enemy jungler will focus on you. Place totems wisely to monitor the map and avoid a surprise attack. If he still tries to gank you, then it is better to retreat under the tower. If your forester is upstairs at this time, then be prepared to run to the river to help him fight the enemy.
Average game. Follow the map, find easy targets. If your team is winning, they can play 4v4 without any problems, and even 4v5 if the enemy makes a serious mistake.
At this stage, you can separate from your teammates and do split-pushing alone if you are strong enough. However, don't play too aggressively, retreat when you don't see key members of the enemy team on the map. Don't overdo it or take on too much.
If your allies are lagging behind in farming, then they need you. The second a team fights even fewer enemies, they will lose. Make sure the minions on the side lanes have advanced far enough.
late game. Finishing a match is not Darius' strong suit. By this point, the enemy carries will be farmed up and will deal a lot of damage. You can still be very useful in team fights, but you have to be careful with marksmen and assassins who have 5-6 items at this point.
There are two late game options. You can separate from the team and try to put pressure on the sidelines or engage in battles with your teammates.
If you are stronger than all the enemy champions in a 1v1 fight, then split-pushing is a good idea. If you are outmatched by someone on the sideline, then your best bet is to group up with a team and engage in massive battles.
If your carry is strong enough, then destroy tanks and the most tenacious opponents to clear the way for him. Try to close the distance to enemy shooters and magicians. If your main damage dealer is weaker than your enemies, then you should try to close the gap with spells and destroy enemies with high damage.
Darius is one of the most popular characters in the game, who can inflict stable high damage and perform various functions during the match - defense, attack, pushing, flank warrior. Practice more and get a feel for his mechanics. We wish you good luck and look forward to your comments below!
