Just1KB Darius Guide
Master Darius Main - Twitch Streamer
J
January 16th, 2023 ⸱ 22 min read
Twitch Stream
Intro
Hi, My name is Just1kb. I've been a league player since the end of Season 2. I've peaked at 255lp Master on my Main account and 160LP on my Smurf in Season 12.
Welcome to Season 13! Congratulations on making it this far! Concerning the state of Darius, I would say that he is in a very decent spot. As always he is a very strong counter pick and easy to use and understand in the right scenario. Conq will be standard for Darius with Lethal being used in certain counter snowball matchups e.g Nasus or Cho. for items I would suggest Stride into Deaths Dance as a standard build as this adds to the Scaling Darius needs, it also allows you to get an Early sheen which is vital for trading into a lot of dmg dealers and oppressors top. These are some initial thoughts going into Season 13 and I will update you all next week with more info!
Quick Start guide

Quick Darius AD Top Build
Socials
Runes
- Standard
- Lethal - Situational
- Phase Rush
- Aftershock
Summoner Spells
Skill Path

Darius
Item Builds
Matchups and Synergies
This is a very difficult matchup! I would recommend taking Conq and Resolve with Second wind. Your goal in this lane is to let her push and run her down with your Jungler at level 3. If this is not successful you need to make sure she burns, flash, and that the jungle repeat ganks her. When trading tries to save your E for when she gets greedy and Q's into you. If you can rush Tabi and phage with a bramble vest you can take favorable trades and look for the all-in when she is below 50% HP. When she hits level 6 make sure that you disengage and fight her without ult! It's far too risky to fight her without as she can dodge your E very easily. I would just ban if I was you at the moment she is very strong into Darius.
Kennen When playing against Kennen make sure that you rush Merc's as soon as possible! Try and force trades after he uses E while also positioning behind minions to prevent his Q from hitting you. This makes it harder for him to free trade you with Q, W. If you can get a gun early you can snowball against him hard with an early phage and you can always run him down after he uses E with ghost. You beat him hard late game as you can itemize very well into him.
This is a hard lane for Darius as Cassiopeia can poke from range and stay out of combat with Phase Rush. Make sure you dodge her Q as then she will have to waste her W to stop you from trading. Make sure that you start Dorans Sheild and rush Mercs treads! Your third item has to be an Adaptive helm!
More annoying than effective! Make sure that you take Dorans Shield and that you are able to get Q's off against him tower at level 2! Once you get Merc Treads you can safely Q his towers while trying to dodge his stun. If you can take out 2 towers without his response make sure you try to run him down and finish him off.
Laning against Jayce early is really difficult! He can disengage from your lockdown with his Hammer Form E as well as his kite ability in his gun form. In this lane, I take phase rush and try to stay healthy until level 3! At level 3 take a full E, W, Q trade and back out with phase rush. You should end up healthier than Jayce! Try and bait the next trade with your jungle and run him down with Ghost after he uses Hammer form E. Rush Tabi's and take Dead man's third if you start to fall behind
If you can land your E, it's fairly easy to reposition yourself behind her and run her down. If she plays very safe, try and freeze the lane and wait for your jungle!
Teemo is annoying, but as long as you don't die to him early he shouldn't be a problem! Try not to waste your W when you are blinded and wait out the duration before attacking! A Teemo's team fighting is dreadful, so make sure you have Ghost and Flash up and use him as a stacking tool when he falls out of position. If you find this matchup hard you can go phase rush and let the first 3 waves push, while staying healthy and running him down level 3 with ease. The only problem will be that you won't scale into the late game as hard compared to Conquerer.
She is very annoying to lane against as she can go in and out of Darius's abilities. Rush mercs in this lane and try not to get hit by her empowered autos after she Q's. Only go in against her after she has used her shroud, and start trades with your Q.
This lane is very annoying for Darius! He will constantly poke you down with Q and Grasp. Make sure you rush tabi and take trades when he has used his barrels. If you are smart enough, you can AA W to destroy the barrels quickly. Try to fight him at level 3 with E and force early trades. Good luck.
This is very favorable to Darius before level 6 so you need to abuse this. Force jungle pressure and control the waves so that you can freeze and stop her scaling harder. when she is 6 make sure you instantly disengage if she hits you with an E, and even if she doesn't try to not fight her inside tentacles. I would recommend going executioners early into a Tri - Ster and forcing any mistakes she makes with your Jungler.
This lane depends on how well, Jax does in the early trading! If you can land 2 clean Q's without getting hit by his E at level 1 you can snowball the lane very hard! Make sure you take your E level 2 to disengage if he tries to leap on you! rush phage and try to get Trinity quickly to push your lead. Once he gets BORK the lane becomes difficult, you will need to purchase bramble and start to wait on Ster. Jax's main weakness is his tilt! Try to pressure him with the Jungler and make sure he doesn't just get to free farm.
Kayle before level 6 is easy. Don't push the wave and try to force mistakes out of her at level 3. If you get a lead try to snowball by tower diving her and pressuring top hard. Be wary though if the game goes past 35mins she will beat you!
This can be difficult if you allow him to get free trades off early. You have much better range, which means you can poke him down with E, Q, W at level 3, just don't make sure you are pushed as his Q and gap close will become a problem for you. I would recommend rushing phage and poking with Q, using the movement speed to avoid his Axe’s, while also ensuring the wave doesn’t perma push. Once you Hit level 6 with Phage and Tabi you can look to fight him if you can bait out his W.
Pantheon is heavily favored early game, but he falls off hard. If you manage to dodge his empowered Q you can engage him. Try not to use your ult until he has used his E, bait this out with Q’s and you E to get him in close. I would recommend waiting until level 6 to hard engage or waiting for a clear ganking opportunity.
It can be difficult if you take a bad early trade. They usually take E first so try and farm within your wave. Look to poke with Q and once the wave is shoving you can run him down at level 3 once he uses W. He must use a lot of mana early to shove u in so try and capitalize on this and track his mana costs. Rush Mercs into this matchup. If the game goes too late he will just burst and poke you down with ease.
Just a big yikes tbh, I'm really confused at what the peeps at Riot HQ thought with this one? I guess they were too busy listening to all the Wu mains crying about his terrible win-rate. Just ban Wukong tbh, he has 2 ways to gap close inside your Q, his sustain can match Darius's while also having the chance to cast his Ult twice which can slow down stacking. The Blade Buffs just means the only time in the game you can fight him is if he is somehow level 15 to your 16.
Yes.... she is back!!! Someone at Riot HQ thought lets buff her again because she's underperforming in bot lane..... Well guess what she is back in top lane. I would recommend to either dodge or if u can't wait till level 3 and try to run her down with jungle pressure. If she has barrier then you can't do much just wait till 6 and try to spit and snowball against her.
This is a skill matchup that favors Darius. Try to bait out his first Q at level 1 and then hit yours! Try to rush him at level 2 and force a big wave under his tower at level 3. You should be able to back on an extra D-blade and completely outtrade him once the wave pushes back in your favor. If you get ahead, make sure you buy an executioner as this significantly reduces his healing. If you are ahead Aatrox shouldn't pose any threat to you. If you are behind, then build a bramble vest and wait till level 16 3 items to stomp him.
Camille can be a problem early if you fail to respect her shield and her W. Make sure you are poking her with Q in the early laning phase, while also being wary of lane position. You can pull her out of the E2 so try and take extended trades once you have achieved this! Don't be fearful of taking early trade damage as you will mostly always win extended trades against her. Please be careful late game as she does outscale you! You need to press your lead during the midgame.
In all honesty, as long as you're not facing a challenger Fiora you really can't lose as Darius, contrary to popular belief. Start Dsheild and play inside your minions, when she goes to a Q trade with yours. Make sure that when she starts the engage you must wait for her W to then hit yours! You need to be really sneaky and mask when you use your E, for example, if she QAAW avoids the W then Q instantly E and run her down. Rush Bramble every time! Remember, you win at 5 stacks before 40mins! I see so many Darius players fearing Fiora but she has to play the lane a lot more cautiously and cleanly to create a lead for herself. One big issue I see is that players fear her scaling! In the current meta and state of the game, it is very hard for the game to go 40+ minutes so have confidence!
Go Phaserush and try to run him down at level 3 once the wave is near your tower! You can beat him at all stages of the game if you have higher HP than him and he has no E! Rush Tabi's and phage and look to bait his E! if you are losing early you can come back into the game significantly at level 11 and once more at level 16. Try not to let him proc his passive too much as the movement speed will be too much to handle.
This is a purely skill-based matchup! If you can fight him within your wave you should win sustained trades. Make sure that you can avoid his Q as the heal reduction limits your sustain. You beat him until he hits level 11. Try not to trade with him if he has his W up as this increases his burst significantly. Once he dismounts try to get close and time your E with his Q. Kill him as fast as possible once he has dismounted.
Level 1 and 2 favor Darius, but at level 3 he can dodge your Q while also stunning you and escaping at the same time… try to poke with Q and bait out his E by stepping back inside the wave. If you manage to get a freeze off in lane it is very favorable for you as he must push up and burn his cooldowns to do anything. You do outscale Renekton but it is harder due to the Blade buffs. Try and fight him when you have at least Tri-ster alongside bramble and Tabi.
It can be difficult if you take a bad early trade. They usually take E first so try and farm within your wave. Look to poke with Q and once the wave is shoving you can run him down at level 3 once he uses W. He must use a lot of mana early to shove u in so try and capitalize on this and track his mana costs.
This is free for Darius if you can zone him from the wave as soon as possible. Make sure you land all the Q's you can so he has to heal with his Rage. You can abuse your range with W and E allowing him to be kited and poked inside both waves. Try not to fall behind in CS and make sure you rush tabi and phage.
You win this matchup early, but you have to be able to get a sustainable lead otherwise he can come into the game post level 6. Make sure you get your passive as soon as you can and try to avoid his E, as this can ruin your Q hitbox. If you can cast your Ult early to avoid the shield and kite back the trade until your Q is off cooldown.
Auto-space him with your W like you would a Tryndamere. Make sure you play around his W, it's longer than everything you have apart from your E! If you can poke with Q and try to avoid fighting in minions. You beat him hard late game once u get some armor!! Try to all in him when he uses W and kill him before it comes back online!!
This is Darius favored, don't underestimate Shen's early burst. You can start to beat him hard at level 6, try to pressure waves so he doesn't ult, look to run him down once he has used his taunt.
She is still ok, her changes make her lane sustain more annoying but she needed it, to be honest, just don't go for crazy trades and waste mana early. Look to build early tabi and hp and outlast her in long trades in which you win hard. I would also recommend going Grasp into this matchup, it is very successful at deterring a riven from short trades as you can end up gaining a lot from them while the wave still shoves in your favor. Also building HP vs Riven is very effective as this slows down her powerspike especially at level 6.
This is not too bad for Darius as you will almost certainly have a base movement speed advantage. Rush phage and try and get on him as much as possible. you can land your E whenever he goes to auto the wave, just make sure he uses Phase rush and his W before hard engaging on him.
You can abuse Cho if he uses his Q too frequently within the wave. Once you have a freeze it is really easy to run him down with a Flash E, W, AA Q to then finish him off near his tower. This has a high success rate when Cho is at about 60% HP.
Rush Executioner's Calling. Make sure you avoid his Q with minions as this will automatically push the wave in your favor. make sure you can land your E, Q outside of his minions as this will invite ganks. You should be able to still beat him late game with your true damage and sustain with Q.
Garen is so free for Darius it's kinda unreal. You can free poke him with Q and kite out his Q with your E. Make sure if he goes in hard you can still land a Q, W AA before his Q lands. The only way you lose is if you engage him at half hp and he has his ult up. Just keep poking him in the lane and set up a nice engage once you are level 6 and have higher HP than he does.
Don't fight her when she has her passive stacked!!! make sure you are only fighting her inside her wave as she cannot stack her passive as easily. If you can dodge her E and then you can set up the rest of you engage with an easy Q into AA, W, AA E, AA, and R. It is easy for her to beat you once she gets blade now so wait until you have completed Trinity in order to re-engage her.
It is easier to beat Ornn now as you can get away with rushing phage into boots, then going Blade into this matchup. Make sure you always pull his E as he can chain cc you to death. Try and only fight him at level 6 until 13 and then at level 16.
You can win this matchup hard if you can dodge his E or if he uses his W prematurely. Try to stick to one side of him when trading with him as this will ensure his passive won’t shred you. Capitalize on the mistakes he makes as this will make it is easy to do in this matchup. Watch out for your HP once he gets to level 6.
As long as you try not to get a leash early you can handle his first wave pressure and absorb the minion aggro with your Q on him. Make sure you hard engage him as much as possible once you hit level 3 and also try to freeze when your Jungler is topside! Easy lane once you get ahead but can be a nightmare if you somehow fall behind.
try not to get cheesed level 1 or 2 by his W damage. Make sure you engage him once his E has fully finished and his shield depleted. You can easily run him down level 3 if he tries to engage on you and misses his E. If you are struggling rush Black cleaver and play around with your jungler. Normally you would rush trinity into steraks and snowball against him at all levels. The only scare might be if he is able to cheese you and somehow freeze early.
Basic Combo's
The easiest damage combo for Darius is Apprehend, AA, Crippling Strike, Decimate. This applies 3 stacks of Hemorrhage, itit'ss really good for poking in lane and showing early dominance. If the enemy has flash or No escape you change the combo to E, AA,AA,W,Q. This is because of the E slow which can allow you to path forwards and get another AA off on the enemy. This combo also ensures that your next auto will get you 5 stacks while you are in range. This combo is insane when you can use you R. so this makes in a half hp execution combo. E,AA,AA,W,Q,AA,R. this should kill most people at half hp or higher, during the early to mid-game. It is really important as a Darius player to practice how fast you can W,Q. You need to be able to animation cancel this ability so that it looks like one Decimate motion but with in-depth the Crippling Strike. Refer to the video for a more in depth look and a visual representation.
Early Game
Darius is an insane lane bully in the early game. you need to quickly ***es how effective you can be at punishing your laner and adapt different styles in order to effectively gain a solid early lead. If you are against a Yasuo for example you can afford to push the early lanes and you have a clear advantage against him when going into level 3. If you are confident enough you can force hard aggressive trades while trying to 1v2 the enemy Jungler if the Laner is low enough. The problem comes when you face someone like a Vayne or someone with ranged poke. I would suggest not pushing the first two waves, let them push into you and sustain, if the enemy pushes too far forward and you have higher HP than them go in with Ghost and run that *** down! If you are worried about jungle pressure try to force your jungler up and take a lane trade if possible. If you decide that you want to push the first wave against someone ranged, try to hard push the 3rd wave, this way you can back on another Doran’s item while also making sure the 4th wave crashes just below your tower putting you in a freezing position and enabling you to run them down with ghost and small item advantage. Flanking in brushes early as Darius is really nice! whenever you can look to cheese and flank your opponent as you can usually hit a Q,AA,W really quickly from a brush and burn a flash. If you find yourself falling behind as Darius pick up boots as early as possible and try and get phage, farm under tower and look to roam mid with ghost whenever it is up! more than not the enemy toplaner will get annoyed at how safe you are playing and try to dive with the jungler! YOU CAN OUTPLAY THIS WITH YOUR E AND Q!!!!! make sure you use your E,Q at the last second under tower for a true combo and a very annoyed enemy top and jungle!
Mid Game
Mid game can be tricky for a Darius player. Lots of small decisions need to be taken into account when going into mid-game as these things can dictate what you do and how you do it. Mid-game is where Darius spikes the hardest, you can hit levels 11 and 16 and your Ult can completely decimate enemy teams! The hardest level part about this stage of the game is deciding whether or not to commit to pushing top lane and destroying towers or rotating around the map to push the lead that you gained in the early game. A good rule of thumb for a Darius player is to look at the lead you have and if it can dictate objective control, this way you can understand how efficient it is to help your team push objectives or if it would be wiser to create pressure in top and force more enemy team members from objectives. If an important objective is up it is essential that you slow push top and rotate down, if you can save ghost and flash for these fights around objectives that is an added bonus, which can win games. In low Elo it is so important to take control of fights after 15 minutes, as 9/10 games are won and lost during this time! ESPECIALLY in plat and Below. It is really important to prioritize Herald effectively in the mid game, as you may or may not know herald deals 2000 true damage to the tower! towers gain more stats the more people are around them and the lower they are! SO!!! make sure you use herald to execute them not start on them! From 20mins onward you need to be constantly rotating around the side-lanes to create pressure while looking for flanks with your team around objectives! it is essential in this part of the game to save ghost for important fights as it can win or lose you team fights as Darius. One final tip for mid-game is ple***ssse try not to die!! this halts your ability to create pressure in the side-lanes and ultimately gives back map control and pressure to the enemy team, meaning they can control objectives that decide the game.
Late Game
This is the saddest part of the game as a Darius player. If the game is not over by 40 minutes then it is a lot harder to win by yourself, by this time the enemy ADC and midlaner can shred through you! However, you can still catch people out and look too hard engage on their ADC with a Flash E! Your main objective however late game is to engage second and protect your backline! If you can kill someone in a sidelane then your team should be able to rotate and take objectives however your damage is staggered and you do get out-scaled by a lot of champions during this part of the game!
Videos