At first glance, it is glaringly obvious what type of damage Darius does. His huge axe and his red look along with a mean face go a long way to indicate how Darius mostly does physical damage.
Darius is heavily reliant on a certain summoner spell and his e spell to land this damage though, so let us take a deeper look into how Darius functions as a champion in League of Legends.
You should know this about Darius as a champion in League of Legends.
Darius is a Heavy AD building bruiser champion in LoL. He only builds AD because all of his abilities scale well with it. He is devoid of any AP ratios in his kit and instead features % armor penetration in his E passive.
Darius loves to take ghost no matter what lane he is played in because it helps him output the huge amounts of damage he has access to. His bruiser nature makes him slow and clunky but some of this is offset by the fact that his items tend to feature movement speed as well.
Even though Darius makes use of all sorts of AD items, he traditionally tends to build 2-3 heavy AD items and then transitions into tank items to finish his build because by that time all he needs to do is survive and his R can output tons of damage regardless.
Darius is often one of the most played champions in the toplane because he is very strong against a plethora of champions at all stages of the game and has a very low skill ceiling which means he is easy to pick up and master.
This makes Darius one of the most accessible champions in League of Legends. This is also why most new players play either him or Garen when first trying out bruiser champions.
What Are Darius’ Abilities?
P- Hemorrhage
Darius’ damaging basic attacks and abilities apply a stack of Hemorrhage to enemies for 5 seconds, refreshing on subsequent applications and stacking up to 5 times.
For each stack, the target is dealt 13 − 30 (based on level) (+ 30% bonus AD) total physical damage over the duration, up to a maximum of 65 − 150 (based on level) (+ 150% bonus AD) total physical damage over the duration. Hemorrhage deals 300% damage against monsters.
When Darius kills a champion with Noxian Guillotine or applies 5 stacks on an enemy champion, he becomes empowered with Noxian Might for 5 seconds.
Noxian Might: gains 30 − 230 (based on level) bonus attack damage and instantly applies 5 Hemorrhage stacks through his usual means.
Q- Decimate
Darius hefts his axe for 0.75 seconds and then swings it around himself, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies, reduced to 35% against enemies hit by the handle.
Against champions and large monsters hit, Darius heals for 13% − 39% (based on enemies hit by the blade) of his missing health. The handle of Darius’ axe will not heal him nor apply nor refresh Hemorrhage.
Note that you cannot use abilities or auto attack during the Q animation, but you can flash.
W- Crippling Strike
Darius empowers his next basic attack within 4 seconds to have an uncancellable windup, gain 25 bonus range, deal modified physical damage and slow the target by 90% for 1 second.
This also acts as an auto attack rest for Darius to deal a lot of damage in level 1 fights.
Additionally, if his W kills his target, a part of the cooldown and 100% of the mana cost is refunded.
E- Apprehend
Passively, Darius gains armor penetration.
Actively, Darius sweeps his axe in a cone in the target direction, briefly granting sight of the area and slowing enemies hit by 40% for 2 seconds while pulling them towards him. Upon arrival, they rebound 150 units off of him, remaining airborne for 1 second.
R- Noxian Guillotine
Darius attempts to execute the target enemy champion, leaping towards them to deal true damage, increased by 0% − 100% (based on Hemorrhage stacks), and granting sight of the area around them for 2.5 seconds from the start of the cast time.
If the target dies within 0.15 seconds after being hit by Noxian Guillotine, Darius fears nearby minions and monsters for 3 seconds, during which they are gradually slowed by up to 99% over the duration, and can recast the ability within 20 seconds at no cost, which refreshes on further executions.
At rank 3, Noxian Guillotine has no mana cost or a recast timer.
All this means that Darius is very reliant on sticking to his enemies to successfully deal the demonic amounts of true damage he has access to.
Is Full AD Darius Worth It In LoL?
Darius is one of the best toplaners in the game, statistically speaking. His ability to abuse the early game while being equally if not more strong in later stages of the game makes him an excellent choice for people looking to carry without putting in the tremendous amounts of effort required to play something like Irelia.
Consequently, Darius sits on a 50.63% win rate in Platiunum+ with a 9.5% pick rate, which just goes to show how strong he is. A 9.5 pick rate means out of every 1000 games, Darius is in 95 of them on average. These are unfathomable statistics if you compare them to some of the lesser popular champions in the toplane.
How Do You Play Full AD Darius In LoL?
If you are looking for a build for Darius that will dominate while working well in the current meta, We have it.
Best runes for Full AD Darius in LoL:
- Conqueror- Your basic attacks on damage against enemy champions grant 2 stacks of Conqueror. Abilities, spells, and item actives on damage will grant 2 stacks.
Each stack of Conqueror grants 1.2 − 2.7 (based on level) bonus Attack Damage or 2 − 4.5 (based on level) Ability Power (Adaptive) for 5 seconds, stacking up to 12 times. While fully stacked, you heal for 8% from damage dealt to enemy champions. Subsequent damage dealt by basic attacks, abilities, spells, or item actives refreshes the duration. This is a vital part of your damage output as it scales insanely well with your passive AD and your ultimate.
- Triumph- Scoring a takedown against an enemy champion heals you for 10% of your missing health and grants you an additional 20 Gold after a 1-second delay.
- Legend: Tenacity- Gain 5% (+ 2.5% per Legend stack) tenacity, up to 30% with 10 stacks.
Gain Legend stacks for every 100 points earned, up to 10:
100 points for champion takedowns
100 points for epic monster takedowns
25 points for large monster kills
4 points for minion kills
- Last Stand- Deal 5% increased damage (except true damage) to champions while below 60% maximum health. This increases based on your missing health, up to 11% increased damage while below 30% maximum health.
- Second Wind- After taking damage from an enemy champion, regenerate 3 (+ 4% of your missing health) health over 10 seconds.
- Unflinching- Gain 5% − 25% (based on missing health) slow resist and tenacity.
For Bonuses, Go AS, AD, and Armor/ MR depending on the matchup
Best Item build for Full AD Darius in LoL:
- Plated Steelcaps / Mercury’s Treads- Good to chase down your opponents seeing as movement speed is the single most important thing for Darius / Good source of extra tenacity if the enemy has a lot of stuns on their team.
- Trinity Force- Main source of damage and increased movement speed to catch up to enemy champions that are ranged or particularly slippery.
- Death’s Dance- Basically makes you unkillable by allowing you to tank more than you should be able to.
- Dead Man’s Plate- Good source of extra armor alongside movement speed.
- Force of Nature- The only viable tank MR item, very effective against heavy magic damage and also provides some movement speed.
- Sterak’s Gage / Guardian Angel- Burst protection in the form of a shield / Burst protection in the form of a second life.
Other than these items Darius can go a wide variety of items including but not limited to Stridebreaker, Prowler’s Claw, Duskblade of Draktharr, Divine Sunderer, Frozen Heart, Essence Reaver, Infinity edge, Yomuus Ghostblade, Maw of Malmortius, and a lot more.
What Lane Is Darius?
As mentioned before, Darius is a toplaner through and through. He excels in other roles, namely jungle, but in comparison to his toplane dominance, no other role comes close. Toplane is designed in such a way that if you die once it often feels like the lane is just over.
It is for this reason that Darius’ game-long strength goes a long way in making him worthy of getting in the top 3 spots on tier lists more often than than not. He is relentless and abusive both inside and outside of the lane, and that is why he is best played in the toplane. That being said, if you wish to play him in the jungle, the same runes and build will do just fine.
Final Thoughts
Darius is very attractive to players as he is one of the most popular champions in LoL. That doesn’t mean he is overrated by any margin though, rather he is one of the best champions for any player, new and experienced alike, to pick up and climb with.
I hope this article served its purpose in illuminating you with the bare minimum of playing Darius. If you agree, kindly drop any feedback and suggestions you may have down in the comments section. Until next time!
(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)
Loading...