How To Counter Darius

How To Counter Darius:  Darius is a top lane champion (mainly) played aggressively due to his passive and ability to slowly eat away at his opponent’s health. In this guide, you learn some of the best ways to counter Darius and which champions are good Darius counters.

How Darius Works

Playing against Darius

Key Insights

• The outer ring of Q does extra damage and heals. If you’re melee, try to hug him when fighting.
• Avoid prolonged trades as his bleed stack (passive) gives him an edge.
• With Phage, he can hit a minion for increased MS and use E to catch you.
• Once Darius fully stacks his passive on an enemy or kills them with R, he can instantly apply full stacks on another enemy by hitting them.

Power Spike

• Watch out for brush cheeses before minion spawn (lvl 1). Avoid going to the lane through the river.
• All-in potentials at lvl 3 with E + W + Q, and at lvl 6: R massive damage boost means an easy 1v1 kill.
• Phage is a strong power spike as it increases catch potential.

Vulnerable

• Immobile with no escapes.

How To Counter Darius: Champions

• Yorick
• Kayle
• Jayce
• Quinn
• Aatrox
• Teemo
• Jax

Kayle

• Kayle is strong against Darius because of her ult. You do have to be a bit careful pre-6 due to jungler ganks.
• But, by level 6 there should be nothing Darius can do. His ult has a long cast animation and you can ult yourself to block the damage.
• Kayle also outranges Darius when using her abilities.

Jax

Play safe early game by poking with an automatic attack, activate E and get off a few more autos if possible.

Make sure you hit Darius with your E then retreat and repeat until you can all in or until he recalls. It’s a good idea to start with Blade of the Ruined King or Triforce.

Teemo

• Harass! Keep Harassing! Harass! Darius does not have a gap closer. Hence, you can kite him while he tries to E you. Keep your distance.
• Let your E eat away at his health with the damage over time.
• Don’t get caught by him but if you do, use Q (Teemo’s blind). It helps because he can’t stack his passive from his auto attack or W.
• Teemo’s W also gives you a speed boost to escape.

Tips & Tricks For Playing Against Darius

• Pay attention to his Apprehend ability. Try to stay out of its range. Once he uses it and it is on cooldown, he is incredibly easy to kite.
• Try to deny him a reset on his ultimate with a shield/heal. This significantly lowers his damage output in a team fight.
• Always be mindful of his passive Hemorrhage. Sustaining multiple stacks potentially doubles the true damage dealt by Noxian Guillotine, his ultimate.
• After the circle of his Q’s channeling appears, it’s safer to stay directly near him.
• Receiving a hit within the interior of the circle deals less damage and does not apply Haemorrhage.

More Darius Counter Tips

Jax Vs Darius

Let’s expand a bit on the Jax vs Darius top lane matchup. Jax has a starting speed of 350 while Darius starts out at 340. It slight difference, however, Jax has the advantage as the game progresses in terms of movement speed.

As Jax and Darius are both melee champions, you have to get in close to deal your damage. Once Darius misses his (E), you can go in and deal some damage and safely retreat. For example, once Darius misses Apprehend, Jax then enables Empower and Leap Strike before going in with Counter-Strike.

Remember that the combo stuns Darius for about a second. It also blocks incoming damage for a while. Once you get off a few auto-attacks, you can use Leap Strike to escape or commit to the trade if you feel that you can defeat Darius.

However, remember that Leap Strike has a 6-second cooldown from the initial landing. When you combine this with the 2-second Counter-Strike and 1-second stun you only have to wait 3 seconds before it’s available again.

If Darius manages to catch you with Apprehend you can also escape by Leap Striking to a nearby minion or ward. And, Apprehend only slows down movement speed by 90% for 1 second, it does not affect other gap closing abilities.

If you happen to go face to face with Darius then remember to use Jax’s ultimate to boost your defenses. Jax’s ult increases his bonus armor and magic resist.

Darius Vs Renekton

Renekon, though not mentioned on the list above, is another good Darius counter to use. However, most players find Renekton difficult to play. Here’s the thing, once you learn Renekton’s moves, you can beat Darius.

Firstly, you need to farm until you have 50+ fury. Once you do, slice in, Q and E Darius. Then quickly dice out. Using this combo wisely lets you win trades vs Darius.

However, be sure to get away immediately as Darius out damages you if he apprehends then attacks during your getaway.

Likewise, you can take a more aggressive route early game to beat Darius. Use Renekton’ss E to stay inside of the inner circle of Darius’ Q in trades.

Renekton outtrades him because he can’t get his Passive stacks on you if you stay in the inner circle and he also won’t heal himself.

How To Counter Darius LOL: A Counter Play Video

With the tips outlined, you now have an idea of how to counter Darius. Use them wisely to come up with a good strategy when laning against him.