Wild Rift Darius build guide: Best runes, spells, items, tips and tricks, more

Wild Rift is now available in many parts of the world and millions of players are now getting some serious time with the mobile version of Riot's MOBA behemoth - League of Legends.

While there are many similarities between the PC and the mobile version, there are also differences from the available Champions to how Runes work, and many other points of differences that make Wild Rift its own game, with its own meta.

To signal the launch of the game in yet more regions Wild Rift had its first in-game event, Noxian Brotherhood, which allows players to unlock one of two of the ax-wielding brothers, Darius and Draven.

Darius and Draven are two big bois with bigger axes. (Picture: Riot Games)

For this guide, we are taking a look at Darius showing you how to get the most out of the Hand of Noxus.

Darius: His active and passive skills

(Picture: My Main Is Dunk)

His passive ability, Hemorrhage, causes enemies hit by Darius's basic attacks and abilities to bleed for five seconds, dealing physical damage and granting them a stack. Upon reaching five stacks, Darius's damage to these enemies will increase.

Let's move on to his active skills:

• Decimate: Darius draws a wide circle with his axe, dealing damage to enemies hit by it. Depending on how many targets have been hit, Darius will regain HP.
• Crippling Strike: When activated, Darius's next basic attack will deal bonus damage, in addition to temporarily slowing the target.
• Apprehend: Passively gain extra armour penetration. When activated, Darius will pull enemies in front of him and slow them down.
• Ultimate - Noxian Guillotine: Darius will leap towards an enemy to land a blow that deals true damage. The damage will be increased for each stack of Hemorrhage the target has. If the attack is fatal, it can be used again temporarily.

Recommended Runes and Spells for Darius

Being one of the champions with the highest pick and ban ratio overall, Darius made his arrival in Wild Rift in the latest update. The immense physical damage he can afflict, his life steal abilities, and impact passives make him an enemy to fear. These are the recommended runes for him:

• Conqueror: This rune goes hand in hand with Darius' continuous harassment attacks, as both his Hemorrhage and this Keystone Rune are maxed out with 5 stacks.
• Brutal: Grants a flat bonus to attack damage and armour penetration, useful for early game and ambushes.
• Hunter - Titan: Grants bonus health and tenacity that increases with each unique takedown.
• Sweet Tooth: While several Inspiration runes are viable, this one gives you a compositional advantage, thanks to the extra gold and better healings from consuming a Honeyfruit.

As a tip, you can take Triumph instead of Brutal, thanks to the extra damage you can apply to low health enemies, and the healing received for each knockdown.

(Picture: Canserole)

Chose to play aggressively in the top lane, your options for spells are as follows:

• Flash: It gives you a little more security for confrontations, given his low mobility and ability to unhook battles.
• Ghost: Allows you to catch the enemy by surprise, making you able to force fights or ambushes against champions without vision or at low health.

Some players also prefer to carry him with Ignite, however, it’s only useful to Darius in the early game.

The best items for Darius

(Picture: Canserole)

Darius' composition is based on just one thing: Punishing the enemy as much as possible, with an offensive focus on physical attack damage, armour penetration, and a bit of durability with life steal, and armour or magic resistance depending on the case.

• Trinity Force: Its passives increase his explosive damage, in addition to granting him additional movement speed that helps him with one of his main problems, his mobility.
• Sterak's Gage: Its health bonus and passive shield give him a better window of time for fights, helping him stand up better and take some kills.
• Death’s Dance: Its passive will keep you in battle for longer and give you room to regain more life through its physical vampirism.
• Guardian Angel: Gives you a second chance thanks to its revival. A prime tool in case the enemy jungler or mid laner has the upper hand.

Now, to complement it, it’s important to focus on the priority of enemy damage. For example, if there is a lot of physical damage, it’s best to carry Ninja Tabi along with Dead Man's Plate and Randuin's Omen. If instead there is more magic damage, it’s better to go for the Mercury Threads, along with Spirit Visage and Warmog’s Armor.

Tips for Darius’s play style

(Picture: Riot Games)

Darius is a well-known champion due to his aggressive playstyle, focused on the melee attack thanks to his Noxian axe, allowing him to hit nearby targets to reduce their health slowly until they are executed at the right time.

In the early game, your approach with Darius should be based more on the composition of the top lane. For champions with attacks that depend on getting close to you, take advantage of these moments to harass them with Crippling Strike, and use Decimate as your enemy moves away from the battle.

Your main objective in the lane phase will be to prevent the enemy from eliminating minions, thus preventing them from scaling faster than you in the mid-game. But you have to be careful pushing too far without vision, or the jungle or centre lane could ambush you.

(Picture: Riot Games)

When initiating fights with your opponent, you can use both Apprehend and Decimate, that way they will start to incur Hemorrhage stacks and it will be more difficult for them to face you, thanks to its temporary immobilization and life steal.

Noxian Guillotine should be seen as your last resort since while it does a good amount of damage, it’s better to take advantage of it either in the early game with a single enemy to gain an advantage or in team fights when all or most of your opponents are low on health.

Depending on how you play Darius, it can be a watershed over the course of the game, as a good start can give your team a huge advantage from the get-go and can see you to an easy win.

• Read more: Wild Rift tier list - The best Champions by role and class

However, if you have a bad early game, focus on building your composition with life steal and something defensive so you can bounce back and emerge victorious in the Rift.