Laning as Darius: when to trade and when to wait
Wave management and trading windows for Darius, built from its real range, resource and ability costs.
What your range lets you do
At 175 attack range Darius has to walk into damage to deal it, so every trade begins with a decision about whether you can afford the walk.
Darius is mana-gated, which is the real limit on how often you can contest a wave early.
The costs that decide how often you can contest
Hemorrhage
Darius' attacks and damaging abilities cause enemies to bleed for physical damage over 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Darius enrages and gains massive Attack Damage when his target reaches max stacks.
Decimate
Darius winds up and swings his axe in a wide circle. Enemies struck by the blade take more damage than those struck by the handle. Darius heals based on enemy champions and large monsters hit by the blade.
Crippling Strike
Darius's next attack strikes an enemy's crucial artery. As they bleed out, their Move Speed is slowed.
Apprehend
Darius hones his axe, passively causing his physical damage to ignore a percentage of his target's Armor. When activated, Darius sweeps up his enemies with his axe's hook and pulls them to him.
Noxian Guillotine
Darius leaps to an enemy champion and strikes a lethal blow, dealing true damage. This damage is increased for each stack of Hemorrhage on the target. If Noxian Guillotine is a killing blow, its cooldown is refreshed for a brief duration.
The wave decides the trade
Trades are won by the wave before they are won by the champion. Standing in the larger minion wave means taking chip damage for every second the exchange lasts.
Darius wants to trade repeatedly, survive the return damage, and win the third exchange rather than the first, so the good window is the one where the wave is not helping them and your key cooldown is up.
Recall timing
Backing on a shoved wave is free. Backing on a wave crashing into your own tower costs you the next two minutes. It is the most transferable habit in the game and the one that moves a smurf's MMR fastest.
Riot's own notes on playing Darius
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for Darius.
- Decimate is a powerful harassment ability. Strike an enemy from maximum range for the greatest effect.
- Noxian Guillotine does more damage the more attacks you can land prior to it. Use Noxian Might to deal maximum damage.
- Darius benefits greatly from enhanced survivability. The longer you can prolong a fight, the more powerful he becomes.
What the stat line does between level 1 and 18
| Stat | Level 1 | Level 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 652 | 2590 |
| Attack damage | 64 | 64 |
| Armour | 37 | 125.4 |
| Magic resist | 32 | 66.9 |
Movement speed 340 and attack range 175 do not grow with levels — they are the two numbers that stay true all game.
Full Darius page — abilities, stats and every skin →