How to Counter Darius: Top Laners That Shut Him Down in Patch 15.22
Countering Darius means picking champions that either outrange his Q, deny his E engage, or simply don't care about his passive stacks because you're winning trades before he gets there. If you're stuck playing into him with the wrong pick, you're going to spend 15 minutes getting run down every time you walk up for CS, and that's not fun for anyone.
Why Darius Makes You Want to Alt+F4
Darius works because he's got this stupid simple gameplan that punishes you for existing near him. His Q heals him and pokes you down from range if you stand outside the blade, but if you walk inside to trade, he just autos you five times and you die to his passive bleed anyway. Then there's his E, which grabs you when you think you're safe, and his R that executes you at 20-30% health while resetting if he gets a kill in a teamfight.
The real problem isn't any single ability. It's that he wins short trades with autos, wins long trades with Q healing, and wins all-ins with his ult. You need a plan before the game even starts.
Champions That Actually Beat Him
I'm not going to tell you Teemo counters Darius because sure, you can poke him, but one ghost flash and you're dead. Here's what actually works as a darius counter:
Champion | Why It Works | Key Tips |
| Poppy | W stops his ghost and E, Q spam keeps him away | Start Doran's Shield, take Grasp, freeze near your tower. Your W cancels his engage and you can cancel his R with yours at 6. Build Sunfire into Thornmail. |
| Quinn | Outrange everything, E knocks him back, impossible to catch | Take Fleet Footwork, rush Berserker's Greaves. Respect his flash E range, don't push past river when it's up. You kite him forever but never blind pick this. |
| Malphite | Max Q, spam it, walk away. He never touches you | Start Corrupting Potion, take Comet, rush Frozen Heart. You won't kill him but you make him useless. Your Q with ghost up means he's still slow as hell. |
| Vayne | True damage, mobility, self-peel with E | Press the Attack, rush BORK. You need good mechanics or you int. Q dodges his Q, E stops his engage, but you're squishy so one mistake and you're dead. |
| Mordekaiser | Post-6 you R him and stat check him in Brazil | Take Conqueror, don't fight early. At 6 you just press R after he wastes abilities and beat him with stats. Riftmaker into Rylai's and you're unkillable. |
| Gwen | Your W makes you immune to his R, which is unfair | Play safe until Nashor's Tooth. Your W blocks his E pull and R execute. Q does max health true damage so you actually beat him in extended trades. |
Wukong works too because your clone wastes his abilities and your double knockup stops his R, but you need to respect his early levels and only all-in at 6.
Pick Malphite or Poppy if you're learning because you can't really int on them. Pick Quinn or Vayne if you're good mechanically and want to make him suffer. Don't pick anything that has to fight him in melee early unless you know exactly what you're doing.
Managing Waves So He Can't Run You Down
This applies to every matchup: don't let him freeze near his tower. If the wave is there, he just zones you off every CS and you're 30 CS down at 10 minutes. You want the wave either frozen near your tower or shoved into his tower, never sitting in the middle.
Here's how: If the wave is pushing to him, that's fine, let it crash and it'll bounce back. If it's pushing to you, thin it out so it crashes slow and you can freeze. And if he's trying to freeze near his tower, you need to break it by shoving hard with AoE or tanking minions to reset. Most Darius players don't know how to freeze properly so you can usually just walk up and break it, but good players will punish you for this.
The sweet spot is freezing just outside your tower range. He has to walk up to CS, you're safe from ganks, and you can chunk him every time he goes for a minion. But you need to be ready to shove if your jungler is coming because fighting him in a massive minion wave is how you throw your lead.
Practice Drills Before You Queue
Go into practice tool and do this:
- Spacing drill - Put a Darius bot in lane and practice walking in and out of his Q range without getting hit. You need to feel the range in your muscle memory because if you're getting hit by Q every wave, you're going to lose no matter who you pick.
- E reaction - Set your HP to low and try to flash or dash his E when he casts it. The animation has a small windup, so you can react if you're ready for it. Do this 20 times until you can flash it on reaction.
- All-in timing - Practice your level 6 all-in combo on the bot. For example, if you're Poppy, practice E into Q into R so you can do it without thinking in the real game.
- Wave control - Spawn a full wave and practice last hitting to create a freeze. Then practice shoving the wave as fast as possible. You need to be able to do both without thinking so you can focus on dodging his stuff.
Watch How Pros Handle Him at Worlds
Zeus from T1 played Quinn into Darius in scrims and some soloqueue games before Worlds 2024, and you can find those VODs on YouTube if you search "Zeus Quinn vs Darius." The way he spaces around the Q is just clean, and he never lets Darius touch him even once. Watch how he tracks ghost cooldown and respects flash range.
Bin from BLG played Mordekaiser into Darius in LPL playoffs and the way he times his R right after Darius uses E is so smart because then Darius has no escape and can't reposition in the death realm. That game is on YouTube under "BLG vs WBG game 3" from summer playoffs.
TheShy has some insane Gwen vs Darius VODs from Korean soloqueue where he Ws the Darius R and then just deletes him. Search "TheShy Gwen outplay" and you'll find like five examples of him styling on Darius players.
My Final Word
Don't pick tanks and try to out-sustain him. Don't pick stuff like Jax or Irelia and try to outplay him early. Just pick something that either pokes him out, kites him forever, or stat checks him at 6. Respect his ghost flash range, track his cooldowns, and don't fight him in a giant minion wave. And for the love of god, don't let him freeze near his tower because then you're just his gold piñata for 10 minutes.
If you're below Diamond, Malphite or Poppy are your best bets because they're simple and you can't really int on them. If you're comfortable mechanically, Quinn or Vayne just delete him from the game. Pick what you're good at, not what some tier list says, because if you can't pilot the champion you're going to lose anyway.
