Talk:Garen/@comment-3107063-20120908062850/@comment-46.7.207.128-20120908130440

Since the changes with Garen, the matchup is no longer heavily in favour of Demacia, but is a lot more even. Unfortunately this also means that you have to take some caution when facing Darius, particularly in the early game. What I prefer to do vs Darius is to start with a Doran's shield, which gives you armour, hp and increased health regen, and allows you to enter the fight beefier and tougher than him. Start with Q and try to bait out his Q, once he has used it, immediately try to harass him, hit and run him at the start. The important feature here is, you have to wait for him to act first. Level up W second then E third, followed by Q and W for levels 4 and 5. Don't initiate first with your Q, otherwise he will simply apprehend you back, giving you a ton of pain.

Try to bait out his Q with your W during the early laning phase as you will knock its damage by 30% then quickly Q and E him. At least in the early phases, you should at least have considerably more durability than Darius and can very easily shove him out of lane if he plays too aggressivelly. Another tip is to bait him into the brush but don't stand on the edge. If he is a poor Darius he may waste his aprehend which is the perfect time to strike with your Q and E combo.

My build vs him is generally the Doran's Shield, as mentioned above, boots, cloth armour then a health gem. Since the changes this is more 50/50 but Garen can definitiely take Darius' burst exceptionally better than most in the early game.