User blog comment:Lokiwg/Can we stop being butt hurt about DGMF/@comment-24648781-20151023204452

I actually think Maokai was toplane´s safety pick for ages and to some degree still is - just because he´s not META at the moment doesn´t mean he´s not still there, can safely farm from a distance with his saplings and still has his initiate potential.

Darius is considered op because he can be annoying for such a long time without dieing that he actually becomes dangerous. I believe that´s pretty much it. His Q can keep him healthy in short skirmishes so he can engage on you sooner than he normally would and it also keeps him alive for longer in teamfights. And due to his passive and the nature of his ult, he can unleash a pretty hefty mid-teamfight damage burst, which is something you don´t really see from others. But hey, a bit of jungle focus early, an intelligent pick into him and he´s usually very far behind for the rest of the game.