Garen vs Darius
Skill matchup
Build vs Darius
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Dead Man's Plate, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Executioner's Calling, Sterak's Gage.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Darius's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
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.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 9s | 5s | 26s | – |
| 6 | 6.5s | 5s | 26s | 2m |
| 9 | 4s | 5s | 26s | 2m |
| 11 | 4s | 5s | 26s | 1m40 |
| 16 | 4s | 5s | 21s | 1m20 |
| 18 | 4s | 5s | 16s | 1m20 |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Darius
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Short trades
Take a short trade, then back off: each of his hits applies a Hemorrhage (passive) stack, and at five stacks he gains a massive AD bonus.
- Leave his blade or hug him
Step out of range or stick to him when he casts Decimate (Q): only the blade, at the edge, heals him and applies Hemorrhage (passive).
- Boots early
Buy your boots early: before he hits level 6, Apprehend (E) is his only spell to get back on you, on a 26 to 16 second cooldown.
- Respect his level 6
Once he hits level 6, don't let him put five Hemorrhage (passive) stacks on you: Noxian Guillotine (R) gains true damage with each stack.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1