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Darius
Patch 16.3.1
TopDifficulty
Easy
Strength
Early
Mid
Late
Win Condition
Win your lane hard to draw 2v1 pressure. In late game, use Ghost to reach a priority target, get 5 stacks of , and chain resets to wipe the enemy team.
Playstyle
Dominant lane bully and juggernaut who thrives on extended fights. You win by forcing the enemy to trade into you, stacking your bleed, and using your ultimate to chain kills in teamfights.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +Unmatched 1v1 power once is fully stacked at 5 counts
- +Massive sustain in combat through blade hits on multiple targets
- +Free armor penetration from makes you a natural tank shredder
- +Extreme snowball potential in teamfights using resets
Weaknesses
- -Highly susceptible to kiting and long-range crowd control
- -Missing the outer blade of leaves you without healing or significant damage
- -No native mobility or dashes, making you reliant on Summoner Spells like Ghost
- -Very vulnerable to jungle ganks if is used aggressively and missed
Abilities
Your bread and butter. Each attack or ability applies a stack. At 5 stacks, you gain 'Noxian Might', granting massive AD and making every hit apply 5 stacks instantly. Never stop fighting until you hit 5.
The swing has a wind-up. Only the outer blade heals you and deals full damage. If the enemy jumps on you, walk backward or use to reposition them into the blade edge.
An auto-attack reset that slows. Use it immediately after a basic attack to get 2 stacks of almost instantly. The slow makes landing much easier.
Passive: You get free Armor Pen. Active: Pulls enemies in and briefly slows them. Save this to interrupt enemy dashes or to pull them back in when they try to run from your 5th stack.
True damage execute. Damage increases by 20% per stack of . If it kills, the cooldown resets. In teamfights, wait for the execute threshold to instantly trigger Noxian Might.
Teamfight Role
Frontline Menace / Cleanup Sweeper
Focus the nearest target to safely stack . Once you have 'Noxian Might', you become the highest priority threat. Use to finish low-health targets and keep the reset chain going.
If the enemy carries are immobile and you have Flash/Ghost, you can dive straight for them to force an early kill.
Combos
Standard Trade
Auto -> ->
The fastest way to get 3 stacks of . Use the slow from to guarantee the outer blade hit of .
All-In Catch
-> Auto -> -> -> Auto ->
Your main engage. The pull guarantees the first auto. By the time they recover, the slow and heal ensure you win the health trade before executing.
Q-Flash Surprise
-> Flash (during windup) -> Auto ->
Start the windup, then Flash onto the enemy. It gives them zero time to react to the blade edge damage and heal.
The Fast Five
Auto -> -> -> Auto -> -> Auto
Used when the enemy tries to dash away. You use to pull them back for the final stack of before they escape.
Power Spikes
| Spike | Why |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | If you start and take Ghost, you can out-duel almost any champion in the game in a long lane. |
| Level 3 | Having access to means enemies can no longer easily walk away from your bleed stacks. |
| Level 6 | provides the massive true damage finisher you need to turn 4 stacks into a kill. |
| Level 11 | Rank 2 increases execute damage significantly and the passive armor pen on begins to scale heavily. |
| Level 16 | Rank 3 has no mana cost on reset and deals massive true damage, making you a teamfight god. |
Tips & Tricks
- •You can cast and then immediately start to hide the animation of the swing.
- • provides a brief knock-up; use it to cancel channeled abilities like Katarina R or Fiddlesticks W.
- •The handle of deals much less damage—if a melee champ dives you, move away as you cast it to hit the blade.
- •If you kill a minion with , it refunds mana and half the cooldown; use this for easy last-hitting.
- • grants a tiny leap; you can occasionally use it over very thin player-made walls like Jarvan IV IV R if targeted.
- •Always check the enemy's armor; the passive pen from means you often deal more damage to tanks than your ADC does.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Panic-casting at 0 or 1 stack.→You deal negligible damage and lose your reset potential, likely losing the fight.
- ✕Using while the enemy is too close.→No healing and reduced damage, often resulting in you losing a 1v1 you should have won.
- ✕Wasting to poke.→It has a 24-18s cooldown. Without it, you can be kited or ganked with no way to peel for yourself.
- ✕Fighting without Ghost or Flash available.→You will get kited to death by any ADC or mage before you even reach 3 stacks of .
- ✕Overestimating your tankiness before 5 stacks.→Darius is only 'tanky' because of the heal; if you don't land it, you die very fast.
AI-generated guide • Patch 16.3.1 • Generated