User blog:Nuclrdmntr/How to beat Darius AKA Dunkmaster D

Ok, this is a response to all the annoying Darius QQ I've seen on the forums. Every time I see an argument saying how his Q does so much damage, you can't trade with him because of W, his E has a massive range, ZOMG ULTI SO MUCH DAMAGE WTF etcetc, I get annoyed because I know I have beat darius a lot of times in the past.

First, here are his pros and cons: Now, here's some basic tips to laning against darius:
 * Pros:
 * Completely rapes autoattack-based champions and s trong against quite a few melee champions.
 * AS and MS slow which also does quite a bit of damage on W.
 * Lvl 3 is very strong with QEAAWQ combo, which can take off up to 1/2 the enemy top-laner's HP bar.
 * True damage ultimate and magic damage passive make building armor not as effective (hence being called Dunkmaster D).
 * Cons:
 * No ranged poke, Q doesn't count because it's almost melee range.
 * No gap-closer means he's an all-in champion.
 * His grab has a short range. This combined with the previous point means that he's very easily kited.
 * He has no sustain or shields ability.


 * Darius is very, very predictable. Here are three examples:


 * At lvl 1 most darius players grab their Q ability first.  Make sure you abuse this as his Q only has 475 range.  Because of the above two facts, his lvl 1 and lvl 2 to some extent is very very weak.
 * If he walks towards you, he probably is thinking of either grabbing or using his Q on you.
 * If you have at least 4 hemorrage stacks on you, and less than 30% of your health, chances are that he will use his ultimate soon.
 * Memorize darius' grab range.


 * Make sure you know exactly how close you can get to him before you risk getting grabbed, and stay at least this far from darius at all times.
 * Actually, think of darius' grab as having an extra 25 range, just to be safe.

​Because of these points, he has a few champions that counter him. I'll list all his counters: Why have I chosen these champions? Well, almost all have some kind of ranged poke. A fair few have sustain. Almost all have a slow, silence, or stun. About 1/3 are ranged. See some kind of pattern starting to emerge here? All of these champions exploit darius' weak points in some way.
 * Treat this like you treat warding, calling mia/ss, last-hitting, etc and you should be fine, because getting grabbed by darius does mean that you usually lose at least 1/3 of your HP.
 * ​He has no gap-closers and no sustain. The range of his abilities are also very very low.  This means that if you harass him he'll stay harassed and if you have a slow/stun and he walks towards you use it and he won't be touching you.
 * Teemo
 * Elise
 * Kayle
 * Yorick
 * Cho'Gath
 * Jayce
 * Garen
 * Heimerdinger
 * Malphite
 * Pantheon
 * Yorick

A few, to my personal knowledge, totally rape darius. These are, in order this time: There may be more but I chose these because I've either totally crushed darius playing as these champions or have gotten crushed by them when playing as darius.
 * 1) Elise
 * 2) Teemo
 * 3) Garen

With that knowledge, I'll put a guide of how to lane against darius as these three champions:

Garen

Get your Q first. Run towards him and hit him with an AA, Q combo to take off at least 1/3 of his HP as soon as he comes to lane. Repeat this until you reach lvl 2. When you reach lvl 2, add your E to this combo. Get your W at lvl 3 so he can't do much damage to you and continue using your QE combo. Use W if he attempts to trade with you. Repeat until you kill him/force him to B. Press your advantage and continue doing this for the rest of laning phase.

Not much else to say because garen is piss easy, just don't forget to ward, as  darius will QQ and call for his jungler to camp top.

Teemo

When using teemo I get E first, stealth in the middle of the lane and when he comes close to farm I autoattack him a few times, usually getting him to under 1/3 HP and forcing him to either B or be zoned. Using this tactic, I am therefore at least a lvl ahead of him for the rest of laning phase.

After this surprise buttsecks, I proceed to last-hit as normal, but every time he comes to try and last hit/be aggressive on me, I AAQAA him then if he continues to try and chase I simply alternate between autoattacking and walking backwards until he stops chasing. If he chases for long enough and gets low enough (around 1/3 health), I turn back and attempt to kill him with ignite, Q, W and AAs.

If darius is being totally passive, I attempt to bait his grab by using W and going close to him then abruptly doubling back. Once he uses his grab I have a free 24 seconds to harass him without fear of much retaliation, because what darius maxes E first? By now you should be winning the lane, so feel free to rush malady. Don't forget to ward, as  darius will QQ and call for his jungler to camp top.

Elise

If I use elise on the other hand, I get my Q first and, staying in human form, play passively until lvl 3 when I get lvl 2 Q, then I spam my human form Q on darius (it has 650 range so I'm safe from darius' grab). He has no answer to this heavy harass and it does not push the lane either. If darius walks towards you just stun him and drop your human form W onto him.

Once you get him to around 1/3 health, leave some enemy minions alive (I'll say why later) and, starting in human form, use this combo: E, Q, W, R, Q, Ignite, W, AA, AA, Q. This will kill him for certain. Then use spider form E (rappel) to escape to an enemy minion if you towerdove him (that's why you leave the minions).

From then on, press your advantage and repeat the exact same thing every time he comes back to lane. Remember to ward because darius will QQ and call for his jungler to camp top. Feel free to rush haunting guise to deal even more damage to him.

Here's the end of the guide, I'll add more when I can think of more things to do to torture poor darius.