Darius, the Hand of Noxus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darius_original.jpg

"They will regret opposing me."

Voiced by:
Chuck Kourouklis (English)
Javier Gámir (European Spanish)
Blas García (Mexican Spanish)
Shinshu Fuji (Japanese)
Ricardo Telles (Brazilian Portuguese, League of Legends)
Reginaldo Primo (Brazilian Portuguese, Legends of Runeterra)
Wan-Kyung Seong (Korean)
Maxim Pinsker (Russian)
Appears in: Legends of Runeterra, Tales of Runeterra, 2XKO

"History only remembers the victors. Stand with Noxus, and be remembered forever."

There is no greater symbol of Noxian might than Darius, the nation’s most feared and battle-hardened leader. Rising from humble origins to become the Hand of Noxus, he cleaves through the empire’s enemies—many of them Noxians themselves. Knowing that he never doubts his cause is just, and never hesitates once his axe is raised, those who stand against the commander of the Trifarian Legion can expect no mercy.

Darius is a Juggernaut champion who excels in protracted fights, enduring his opponents' attacks while gradually bleeding them dry and then brutally executing one enemy after another.

His passive, Hemorrhage, causes Darius' attacks and abilities to make enemies they damage bleed, dealing damage-over-time and stacking up to five times. When an enemy champion reaches five bleed stacks or is killed by Noxian Guillotine, Darius gains Noxian Might for a few seconds, which grants him a massive attack damage bonus and instantly applies five bleed stacks to enemies damaged by his attacks and abilities.
With his first ability, Decimate, Darius winds up his axe and then swings it around, damaging nearby foes and dealing bonus damage to those hit by the blade in the outer edge of the spin. Darius also heals himself based on his missing health per enemy champion hit by the blade.
His second ability, Crippling Strike, causes Darius' next basic attack to deal bonus damage and briefly slow the target. If the attack kills its target, the ability's mana cost and half of its cooldown are refunded.
His third ability, Apprehend, passively grants Darius bonus armor penetration. When activated, Darius yanks all enemies in a cone in a target direction with his axe, pulling them to his location and briefly slowing them.
With his ultimate ability, Noxian Guillotine, Darius strikes a nearby enemy champion with a devastating axe slash, dealing true damage that increases with the targets' Hemorraghe stacks. If the ability kills its target, Darius can use it again at no cost for the next few seconds; if at max rank, the cooldown resets entirely.

Darius' alternate skins include Lord Darius, Bioforge Darius, Woad King Darius, Dunkmaster Darius, Academy Darius, Dreadnova Darius, God King Darius, High Noon Darius, Lunar Beast Darius, Crime City Nightmare Darius, Spirit Blossom Darius, and Porcelain Darius. Legends of Runeterra exclusively includes Rift Master Darius.

In season 1 of Teamfight Tactics, Darius is a Tier 1 Imperial Knight. His ability, Decimate, damages all enemies around Darius and heals him for each enemy hit. He was removed in season 2. He returns in season 3 using his Dreadnova Darius skin as a 2 cost Mana Reaver Space Pirate, with the ability Dreadnova Guillotine, which does a large amount of magic damage to an enemy within 3 hexes, doubled against enemies below 50% HP, which immediately casts again if it deals a killing blow. He was initially removed in season 4, but returns in the Festival of Beasts mid-set update as a Tier 3 Fortune Slayer using his Lunar Beast Darius skin. His Fortune's Guillotine ability is similar to his season 3 ability though with a few tweaks. While Darius is now unstoppable when casting, the ability no longer deals double damage to enemies below 50% health and each consecutive recast from killing blows deals reduced damage. In season 5, he uses his God King Darius skin as a Tier 5 Nightbringer God-King Knight; his God-King class is a unique trait he shares with Garen that grants them bonus damage against enemies with certain traits, but only if exactly one of them is deployed on your board. In Darius' case, the class grants him bonus damage against enemies with the Redeemed, Dawnbringer, Verdant, Draconic, or Ironclad origins. His ability was changed to God-Wolf's Carnage, which has Darius leap unstoppably toward a nearby enemy, striking them for a percentage of his attack damage and reducing their armor for a few seconds. Darius also summons additional God-Wolves based on his star level that apply the same damage and armor shred to other nearby enemies, and after casting, his next few basic attacks restore a percentage of his maximum health. He was removed along with the God-King class in the Dawn of Heroes mid-set update, returning with his season 1 cost and ability in season 6 using his Crime City Nightmare Darius skin as a Syndicate Bodyguard. He was removed in season 7, returning to his base skin in season 9 as a Tier 3 Noxus Juggernaut. His Noxian Guillotine ability is identical to his season 4 spell aside from dealing physical damage instead of magic. He gains the Vanquisher class in addition to his existing traits in the Horizonbound mid-set update. He was removed in season 10, returning in season 11 using his Spirit Blossom Darius skin as a Tier 1 Umbral Duelist. Decimate returns as his ability, though in this iteration it grants his basic attacks bonus magic damage on-hit for a few seconds rather than healing him.

In Legends of Runeterra, Darius is a 6-mana 6/6 Noxus Champion with Overwhelm. When the enemy Nexus is on half health or less he levels up, gaining +4/+1. His signature spell is Darius' Decimate.

Darius is part of the base roster for Riot's upcoming free-to-play 2v2 Tag Team Fighting Game, "2XKO"

open/close all folders

A-F

Adoption Diss: His Dunkmaster Darius skin, while bringing insults against a large chunk of the cast, claims this against his brother... despite both being orphaned since they were children.
"Hey Draven! Momma said you were adopted!
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Dunkmaster Darius is probably the most obnoxious incarnation of the character, taking every moment to indulge in his basketball (or rather, dunking) skills to a comedic degree.
"I don't need a buzzer to tell me when to start dominating."
"Darius knows dunk."
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His entire kit is based around this. He has positively staggering damage output and can wipe out whole teams if he gets the chance, but he has absolutely no option to disengage, no hard CC, and no true gap closer. Sure, he can reel enemies in, but that only moves them to him — it doesn't damage or stun them for a meaningful amount of time^note, and the range on this move is shorter than any ranged carry's auto-attacks. His background shows this as his defining characteristic.
"Never retreat!"
Anti-Villain: Sure, he fights in the name of Noxus, but it's clear that he has no ulterior motives — he just wants to eliminate the corrupt, bloated aristocracy that has tainted Noxus and make it a strong, proud city-state once more. He genuinely believes in his people and home, and that's why he chose to back Swain, who he sees as a true Noxian leader.
Ascended Meme:
- His Ultimate is often likened to a basketball dunk, earning him occasionally being nicknamed 'Dunkmaster'. His Legendary skin, Dunkmaster Darius, comes complete with basketball outfit (with 'Noxus' written on it), switching his axe with basketball goalpost and his idle animation is dribbling a basketball (and he got this first before even the originator of the 'Dunkmaster' meme, Master Yi).
- The idea that the community tends to see Darius players as hostile jerks has ascended twice - Initially when Riot released examples of 'toxic' behavior, the toxic player was always represented by Darius. It's now also reflected in game with the Dunkmaster skin - He has more taunts and insults than anyone else before him, including an extensive array of champion-specific barbs.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He took over his captain's position with one swift decapitation. And now in the present, he stands along General Swain as one of Noxus's Trifarix, the three most powerful individuals in the empire. He''s since gone on to lead their newest army, the Trifarian Legion.
With the establishment of the Trifarix, three individuals would rule Noxus together, each embodying one principle of strength: Vision, Might, and Guile. Darius gladly accepted his place on this council, and pledged to raise a new, elite force—the Trifarian Legion, the most loyal and prestigious warriors the empire could produce—and lead the armies of Noxus into a glorious new age of conquest.
The Hand of Noxus
Badass Cape: Dons a cape colored Noxian red and endowed with the Trifarian Legion's logo, marking him as someone not to be messed with.
Badass Normal: Displays no real superhuman traits, but holds his own still fine with sheer strength. In A New Dawn, he's the last member of his team still standing and doesn't hesitate to fight Ahri, Leona and Rengar by himself, tanking multiple hits from all three before finally going down.
Bad Boss: Implied; if he's willing to summarily execute superiors for showing weakness, he very well might do the same for his subordinates. Apparently, he even went and personally amputated one of his soldiers' feet after they caught severe frostbite.
“In the last campaign against the Winter’s Claw, I saw a soldier’s foot freeze solid[...]His toes cracked off when he put his boot on. So, wham! General Darius chopped the whole thing off.”
-Zalt, "The Winterspike Road"
- "The Winterspike Road" subverts this however; he personally joins his soldiers in fortifying for an enemy attack, shoveling trenches alongside them. Then when the protagonist, Maja, flees battle to get her injured comrade to safety, she fully expects Darius to execute her on the spot for desertion. Instead he gives her a Heroic Second Wind, facing the enemy with renewed strength and winning the battle together.
Balance Buff: From his launch, Darius always had a reputation of being a devastating juggernaut who could Kill Steal his way to pentakills... which wasn't actually that likely since initially, his kit was very segregated between his need to inflict constant damage (otherwise his dunks were completely ineffective) and his need to be tanky (otherwise he'd just get bursted down from long range and in teamfights). He was reworked in the 2015 juggernaut update to meet these demands halfway — Hemorrhage was originally just a stacking bleed effect he needed to prime his damaging abilities with, and with the update, he also gained the Noxian Might passive to allow him to inflict them much more rapidly among enemy teams. Decimate was also tweaked to become the long-windup, but life-draining Spin Attack we know today, rather than the instant pure damage pop of before. With these paradigms, along with shifts in base damage/health values, Darius now works way more definitively as a Mighty Glacier who builds hefty bruiser items and thrives at smashing through extended teamfights, especially at cleanup duties, though he's less of a lane bully and slow enough early on for his opponents to set him back.
Barbaric Bully: Academy Darius is your classic high school delinquent archetype, intimidating classmates and constantly starting fights.
NOTICE FROM THE DEAN: Darius is henceforth suspended from Academy grounds for behavior including (but not limited to) stuffing students into lockers, possession of dangerous weapons on school property, brawling, fighting, scuffling, fisticuffing, and dunking on fellow classmates during gym class.
-Skin Bio
Big Brother Instinct: Darius provided for both himself and Draven when they were children. Blood of Noxus reveals that this mentality carries into adulthood, despite Draven being... Draven.
Darius struggled to provide for them both, constantly fighting with gangs of older urchins and anyone else who threatened his little brother—even the city guard
The Hand of Noxus
Big Damn Heroes: In "After Victory"; right as the slave is about to be executed by her own master, Darius chucks his axe right into the latter's ribs, pinning the king's dead body against his throne.
Black Knight: He's got the look (minus the helmet), the intimidating weapon (an axe instead of a sword, but you'd be hard pressed to say he'd look better with anything else), the authority (as Swain's right-hand general) and the badass credentials to qualify.
Boring, but Practical:
- His Legends of Runeterra card is just a beatstick, and when it levels up he's the only Champion in the game to not gain any new abilities, instead just gaining a fearsome +4/+1 buff to finish the enemy off with his Overwhelm ability.
- Also apparently applies whenever he shows up in the Reckoner's Arena, and goes toe-to-toe against Draven.
“Yeah, his brother'd win one-on-one, but you see those axes spiraling... it's art, it is. Art.”
-Arena Regular, flavor text of "Spinning Axe"
Brainwashed and Crazy: He's gets overtaken by Viego's mists in the "Ruination" cinematic, proceeding to swing wildly at Samira.
Breakout Character: Following his release, and especially after his rework, Darius has gone from simply another generic fighter to The Noxian champion, as well as one the face of multiple promotional videos. In particular, Noxus went from a primarily sickly green faction more known for treachery and the occasional demonic or undead monster, to the current scheme of angular blacks and grays with red highlights and being all about Might Makes Right... effectively basing the new direction entirely off Darius.
Chain Lethality Enabler: Noxian Guillotine is a hard-hitting single-target ability that can immediately be recast within 20 seconds if it kills an enemy champion, or if the target dies dies almost immediately after it hits. (At max rank, the ability resets its cooldown instead of having a recast window.) Though its damage scales with Hemorrhage stacks, he has a passive ability which allows him to instantly apply max Hemorrhage stacks with a single attack to foes if he either gets a kill with Noxian Guillotine, or maxes out the stacks on an enemy by normal means - this means that, though it may take him awhile to get the first foe to a suitable threshold, further foes can be endangered much more quickly.
Chainsaw Good: A variant: Dreadnova Darius wields an axe with a saw blade in the head.
Characterization Marches On: As much as the current design and direction of Noxus are inspired by Darius himself, his own character had to take a noticeable swerve from his earlier incarnation, which primarily focused on his tendency towards abusing Klingon Promotion to kill his way to the top as part of early Noxus's focus on backstabbing and treachery and most notably, had no indications of being an Old Soldier, appearing much younger in his first splash art, before his current one aged him up.
Childhood Friend Romance: He fell in love with his childhood friend Quiletta, and the two were happy for some years. But this took a dark turn as the two oppose each other in "Blood of Noxus", and ends with Quiletta being slain by her own second-in-command.
Commonality Connection: Played for Laughs. If Darius and Garen are both played on the same side in Legends of Runeterra they can have this hilariously awkward exchange:
Darius: I, uh... like your pauldrons.
Garen: Yours are... also acceptable.
Covered in Scars: He bares a lot of reminders of his harsh childhood on the streets, and even more from being a soldier. You can spot some all across his face.
Every day on the streets was a battle for survival, and Darius earned more scars by his twelfth summer than some soldiers do in a lifetime.
The Hand of Noxus
Crutch Character: In the early game when champs don't have a lot of abilities or stats built up, Darius stands out for his monstrous power. The base damage of his abilities is enough to chunk through his opponent's life bar, and Hemorrhage can even ensure kills should the latter be on their last legs after an extended fight. This power becomes a lot harder to use late in the game though, as while he's still incredibly threatening one-on-one, a coordinated team, with all of their crowd control, range, and defensive options, can stall the slow, close-ranged Darius, preventing him from getting any real damage in. He'll often have to rely on his teammates to create openings, either by locking down or pelting at the enemy from afar, so he can go in and execute weakened foes.
Damage Over Time: The crux of Darius's kit is his Hemorrhage passive; landing attacks and abilities will bleed his opponent, increasing in potency for every stack of the passive. This shapes his ability to fight through extended periods, as his enemy will be left reeling from the most basic hits and can even bleed to death if they overextend against Darius.
A Day in the Limelight: He's one of the leads in the Tales of Runeterra short "After Victory"; he and Captain Farron liberate a bordering nation from the tyranny of a despotic king, and the short ends with Darius recruiting a rebel slave to his side in the Trifarion Legion.
Deal with the Devil: High Noon Darius is one of the many souls corrupted by the demons of the land.
The once-human Darius was a terrifying manhunter, feared throughout the West for his cunning and brutality. Famously defeated by his brother in a widely publicized duel, his wounded pride eventually twisted into obsession, leading him to strike a deal with the devil Hecarim...
Skin Bio
Difficult, but Awesome: Landing Decimate gives him up to a third of his missing health back and deals a great deal of damage. It's delay and sourspot handle near Darius make it quick difficult to do so however. His gameplay revolves around this and psychological manipulation, making it seem like he's outmatched before turning the fight around. On top of this, the odd, split-second math he has to pull to figure out when to dunk someone with his variable damage ultimate, can get confusing at times. But do it right and well... there's a reason Darius is known as the Pentakill champion.
"Make no mistakes."
The Dragon: To Swain. His title emphasizes how he's the muscle that gets the really gritty work done for his Grand General.
The Dreaded: Darius truly lives up to the title of "Hand of Noxus"; his reputation within the Noxian army garnered a massive following of their bravest and strongest warriors. Enemy nations dread having to face him down in battle.
Such was his fearsome notoriety, even in the lands beyond Noxus, that it was not uncommon for entire cities to surrender at the first sight of his banners.
The Hand of Noxus
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The comic Blood of Noxus shows Darius in a more positive light when it comes to his relations. Despite being annoyed by his antics, he's protective of Draven and he even had a girlfriend before she was killed for betraying Noxus.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- He appears visibly sickened in "After Victory" watching a mad king go on a megalomanic rant and abuse his slave in front of Darius. Which of course ends with the king dying to Darius's axe.
- According to the developers, Darius does not approve of necromancy, and believes those who died in battle should stay dead. He also would have respected Sion as a warrior has it not been tarnished and does not approve Sion's fate as a zombie.
Evil Counterpart: To Garen: both represent the highest standard of their respective cities and both serve a high-ranking military leader (Garen serves Jarvan IV, Darius serves Swain). Their kits also share some similarities, with both of them having a spinning attack and an execution ultimate. Their passive are antithesis to one other - Garen's healing himself over time out of combat, Darius' damages an enemy over time and requires sticking into a fight to make full use of it. Darius is designed to take down the enemies from the front to the back one at a time, while Garen is better suited to dashing in straightaway and going right for the priority threat. In addition, they both have louder and squishier younger siblings. Finally, emphasized by Darius' joke, where he attempts to mimic Judgement.
"NOXUUUUUS- OH OH... ugh, how does he do it?"
Evil Laugh: He lets out a scary chuckle after he casts Crippling Strike.
Exposed to the Elements: He has no issue traversing icy tundras with his bare arms exposed, on top of wearing heavy plated armor which should be freezing his skin off.
A Father to His Men: In spite of what his fearsome reputation would imply, Darius is actually a very attentive leader to his soldiers. "The Winterspike Road" explores this dynamic; he makes a point of assisting his subordinates with manual tasks like digging trenches, and rescues several people from the aftermath of an avalanche, digging them out of the snow himself. As for the crux of the story's plot, he's the one to teach the protagonist, Maja, the ways of a soldier as she's fighting in her first campaign, and while he does exhibit his usual "might makes right" attitude, there's an underlying compassion underneath it towards the younger and inexperienced Maja.
Darius looked Maja over. “This is your first action,” he said.
Maja wondered how he could tell. “Yes, general.”
“Don’t waste time on fear,” he told her. “Focus on facing the enemy. On putting your blade in their throats.”
"The Winterspike Road"
Finishing Move: His ultimate does more damage if he lands successive hits on his target before using it, and the cooldown refreshes if he lands a kill, allowing him to finish multiple enemies in quick succession. If a target is killed this way, part of his passive, Noxian Might, gives Darius a powerful attack buff and applies full stacks of Hemorrhage to new targets, meaning that if Darius kills one target, he's very hard to stop from killing all of them.
- This carries over into LoR through his level-up requirement: Darius gains a massive boost in power once the enemy nexus is at half health, meaning he can go in for one final assault and chop it down.
Force and Finesse: The Finesse to fellow Noxian axe wielder Sion's Force; Darius's axe swings are more concerned with slicing people apart rather than crushing them with blunt force.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He was just an orphan with nothing to his name as a child, then fought and fought his way to becoming Swain's right-hand man.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible Sibling to Draven as the Foolish Sibling. While Draven is a crass showboat who fights in search of glory, Darius takes his job as the Hand of Noxus very seriously.

G-Z

Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the lore his signature execution style is Off with His Head! while the target is still standing. Though his ultimate is called Noxian Guillotine, the animation and spell icon suggest that he cleaves his victim from the head to torso (splitting the body in two). This might be because leaping in the air and splitting an enemy into two pieces with a mighty blow looks cooler than just chopping sideways at the neck. (Of course, the name is because a guillotine is a blade that descends from above.) His critical strike animation has Darius taking a baseball swing, invoking his signature style.
Gathering Steam: While letting Darius get close to you is almost always a bad idea, he's not a champion who can immediately burst you down. He's quite reliant on stacking Hemorrhage onto enemies and bleeding them out in order to win trades (especially early on), and his dreaded Noxian Guillotine must optimally be used on those with full Hemorrhage stacks. This means during any fight, he'll probably be focusing on smacking a single focus with attacks to build up stacks, but this is compensated during late game teamfights by making it so once he reaches them on just one target, his next attack on new targets applies the maximum immediately, bypassing the pesky windup.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: He approaches one of his soldiers, Maja, who's helping an injured comrade and is paralyzed by fear from their enemy's assault, and convinces her to stand once more and fight back the enemy.
A flurry of arrows ricocheted off the flat of [his] blade, falling harmlessly around them, and Darius lowered the axe again. “Noxians don’t run. We win,” he growled. “We chop them to pieces for what they do to us.”
And suddenly, Maja was angry—at the Winter’s Claw, and at herself, and at her fear. With jerking, frozen limbs, she shoved Zalt aside. She heard him grunt as he hit the ice—but she left him there, and Darius did, too. Beside him, lock-step, she ran into the whirlwind of Noxian steel.
"The Winterspike Road"
Grapple Move: Apprehend is Darius's primary tool to go all in, as it allows his to follow up with Crippling Strike and auto attacks to slow and stack subsequent stacks of Hemmorage. Project L turns this move into a full command grab ala a traditional fighting game grappler.
Hates Rich People: Fitting Noxus's meritocratic vision, Darius has no tolerance for those who lord over others with their wealth and power, including nobles and kings. He's very blunt when addressing the noble-born val-Lokan Twins, calling out their hypocrisy when they claim they it's by their hand that Noxus can source its iron. A lot of this can also be justified by Darius growing up in poverty and having to work his way up to his commander position, thus developing a loathing for those who get to inherit power with no merit.
Oram val-Lokan: “We toil likes slaves in the darkness of the deep-mines below the mountains, and every day we watch as the fruits of our labors are taken from us in great wagon trains that come back empty. We are scarcely able to feed our—”
Swain: “Oh, really? Please, show me your palms.”
Oram: “What?"
Swain: “Show us your hands, boy. Show us these hands that toil in the rock and dust and darkness beneath your mountain fortress.”
Oram: “..."
Darius: “Never struggled a day in his life, this one. Her neither. The only calluses you two possess certainly didn’t come from hard work.”
"The Principles of Strength"
Hero Killer: The first minute of "A New Dawn" has Darius killing Leona in front of Ahri...Or so it seems, because it turns out Leona survived almost being guillotined.
Heroic Second Wind: Well, okay Villainous Second Wind, but nonetheless, Darius is designed for come-from-behind wins, with a heal that increases in potency the lower his health is, a major power spike if the fight goes on long enough, and a repeatable execution ultimate, Darius can turn around a seemingly lost fight with surprising haste.
I Did What I Had to Do: "Blood of Noxus" shows that Darius has to justify to himself the human cost of Noxus's expansion, even pushing down any sense of loss from his own loved ones, including his son. This brings him into conflict with his lover Quiletta, showing that his refusal to sway from the empire's vision compromises his closest relationships.
"Instant Death" Radius: A Darius with Noxian Might can take out enemy champions, especially squishier ones with no time at all, letting him rip apart entire teams once he's gotten started.
Intergenerational Rivalry: He's at least a few decades older than Garen, treating the latter like a fresh soldier by contrast.
I Shall Taunt You: Dunkmaster Darius has a rather large amount of taunts, champion or skin-wise; with a total of 9 generic taunts, and 37 champion-specific for a total of 46 taunts.
Jerk Jock: Hoo boy, Dunkmaster Darius has been definitely learning trash talk from his brother.
The Juggernaut: Has no way to actually initiate fights without getting close, so he just marches in and starts hacking away. It's further emphasized in "A New Dawn" where he treads through the enemy team's every attack to try and kill them. Darius is the kind of person who makes Menacing Stroll even more terrifying.
Kill Steal: The fact that Darius has an execution ultimate that refreshes upon kills means it's quite easy for him to show up late to a teamfight then promptly chop the heads off of the enemy in rapid succession.
Kill Streak: Designed for this; killing a foe with his ultimate immediately activates his otherwise rather difficult to stack up passive, and lets him use it again and again, allowing him to run wild through enemy lines, barely even pausing as he dunks targets one after the other.
Klingon Promotion: How he got where he is now; he slew his own general for daring to retreat from battle. Darius then turned the tides for his division to win the battle. In Noxus, this is an accepted (if somewhat discouraged) way of advancing in rank.
On the bloodsoaked fields of Dalamor Plain, he even beheaded a Noxian general after the coward ordered a retreat. Roaring in defiance and hefting his bloodied axe axe overhead, Darius rallied the scattered warbands and won a great and unexpected victory against a far more numerous foe.
The Hand of Noxus
Knight Templar: Willing to do anything to route out the corrupt, decadent elements of Noxian leadership in order to restore it to greatness.
Large and in Charge: As tall and well-built as Garen, and in a position of command because of it. The announcement for the Dunkmaster skin also confirms a specific height for Darius as well: 6ft 5in.
Life Drain: Decimate doubles as his main damage and sustain tool, healing him if he lands the outer hitbox of the attack against champions and monsters, as well as dealing bonus damage.
A Lighter Shade of Black: It's hard to call him a full hero, given that he's guilty of pushing Noxus's expansionism. Though he's got a lot sympathetic qualities that prevent him from being pure evil (his love for his brother, his camaraderie with his soldiers, and the subtle regret he shows for his actions like in "Blood of Noxus"). And unlike other villains like Swain and LeBlanc who have fewer scruples or have malicious ulterior motives, he's got a lot of lines he's not willing to cross to achieve glory for his country.
Mascot: Darius is the Noxian champ, informing everything about the region and its aesthetics, principles, and lore. The extended use of red and black would be a trait used on many Noxian champs after his release, and his playstyle emphasizing raw power and self-reliance is something most champs from the region encompass to some extant (shout outs to Swain, Draven, Samira, Katarina, and Kled). He's also front and center of the region in subsequent materials like Legends of Runeterra, the "After Victory" short, and Project: L.
Menacing Stroll: Slow, lumbering, and you REALLY don't want him to reach you. Watch the "A New Dawn" cinematic for a better representation than the game can provide.
Might Makes Right: True to Noxian ideals, Darius believes in "strength above all".
Mighty Glacier: His kit is loaded with damage, and he gains even more damage if he gets Noxian Might activated, but his best method of getting his opponents close enough to use it all is pulling them to him, which has a fairly short range.
Not So Above It All: Darius is a super serious, duty-driven soldier unlike his show-off brother Draven. However, unlike some champions that literally know nothing about the concept of jokes, Darius is not above making jokes (in form of trying to mimic Garen's Judgment, and failing).
Off with His Head!: A repeated execution-style by Darius, according to the lore. It's also the basis of his ultimate, executing his enemies one by one with a swing of his axe.
Old Soldier: Darius has been at the soldier thing for a while, long enough to be graying up top and possibly have a daughter old enough to serve in the Noxian army. A taunt from Tahm Kench implies age is his one fear.
Tahm Kench: Your strength is waning, General. 'Course, I can help you slow time's regress.
Outliving One's Offspring: He and his lover Quiletta had a son, Decius, who grew up to be a Noxian soldier. The kid would be tragically Killed Offscreen.
Parental Abandonment: Darius and his brother are orphans, right from a young age.
Patriotic Fervor: He's deeply devoted to his city-state and constantly boasts about its ideals of strength and despising the weak. In short, the only thing he's missing is shouting out "NOXUS!" whenever he spins.
Noxus will rise!
Perpetual Frowner: He never has anything but a scowl on his face.
Pet the Dog: In "After Victory", he saves the life of a slave, owned by the tyrannical king he was trying to unseat, just as she was about to be executed by her master. He then offers her a spot in the Legion, believing it will allow her to control her own destiny.
''"Kings demand you kneel before their heirlooms and unearned titles. Noxus want you to stand, so you can be reforged in a glory...shared by all.
Pragmatic Villainy: He'll lay siege to a kingdom and conquer it for Noxus, but he'd rather do so with minimum bloodshed.
Reckless Trifarian: Here to watch the bloodshed sir?
Darius Here to win the war, soldier. Stand to!
Legends of Runeterra
Pretender Diss: Legends of Runeterra shows that part of why Darius hates Garen is because he doesn't believe he's worthy of the battlefield, also seeing the high regard Demacia puts him under as all talk, no action.
Garen: We fight for those who cannot!
Darius: Has your armor even seen battle, boy?
Promotion to Parent: After his and Draven's parents died when they were young, Darius had to do everything he could to keep the two of them alive.
Rasputinian Death: His defeat in "A New Dawn" comes after he's been blasted by Leona's Solar Flare, shanked by Rengar who was waiting for him in camoflauge, and then finally blasted away at by Ahri's magic. And this is all after lasting through a grueling battle between his team and theirs.
Red Baron: In addition to his in-game champion title, "The Hand of Noxus" is also his in-universe title, representing his assertion of Noxian ideals across Runeterra.
After a grinding victory against the cloud-fortresses of the Varju, a proud warrior people who had resisted decades of Noxian aggression, Darius was named the Hand of Noxus by Emperor Boram Darkwill himself.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: At least in his splash art where he has frightening red eyes. They have also been green, blue, and brown.
The Rival: To Garen, representing the ideological hero of Noxus much like the former does to Demacia. Their God King skins play into it even further , both reveling in the chance to strike the other down.
Sadistic Choice: How he "Taunts" enemies. Either they focus Darius, a very tanky target with a powerful heal, or they risk his ability to rapidly execute enemies if left alone in a teamfight.
Self-Made Man: He's now a famed Noxian general who is the right-hand man of the current Grand General of Noxus, starting out as an young orphan fighting just to survive. He doesn't take kindly to those who won't, as it is contrary to Noxian ideals, thus his purging of Noxus' aristocracy.
Shared Family Quirks: At least with the Dunkmaster skin, it's clear that Darius and Draven DO have a similar method of Trash Talk and self-aggrandizing. Hell, if Darius actually tries he can clearly out-do his brother when it comes to stroking his own ego.
Shoulders of Doom: He marches into battle with the bulkiest shoulder guards possible, with Spikes of Villainy too!
Sibling Team: He and Draven have fought in multiple battles, garnering a reputations as "The Blood Brothers".
Darius: (pairing up with Draven) Just like old times.
Draven: But I got better lookin'.
Sibling Yin-Yang: With Draven. It's not as extreme an example as, say, Kayle and Morgana, but Darius does play the dour, duty-fulfilling warrior to Draven's cheerful, self-aggrandizing performer.
Silliness Switch: Dunkmaster Darius has a different voice set and animation to match the basketball theme, so he isn't the same, scary, beheading Noxian general when he's being the Dunkmaster.
Simple, yet Awesome: Darius is one of the purest examples of the juggernaut archetype, with a straightforward kit and self-explanatory weaknesses and strengths. This mostly comes down to him having a limited range, but within that domain, he is its king and can inflict tremendous damage on anyone he catches, and he's so innately bulky that there's almost never any periods where he doesn't pose a threat.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Oddly he keeps his arms unarmored, showing his buff, scarred biceps.
The Social Darwinist: Basically being Noxus' posterboy for their ideals, his preferred method of dealing with the weak is decapitation. This is why he purges the nobility of Noxus, as not only are they fairly useless militarily but he despises that they've done nothing to earn positions of authority whereas he's a Self-Made Man who fought his way to the top, and he views their For the Evulz acts as detrimental to Noxus's image. He believes the strong should lead the weak, but also that the strong shouldn't oppress the weak.
Spin Attack: Decimate has him do a quick 360 with his axe. not so different from a certain Demacian general... His Crippling Strike involves a spinning windup as well, although that one only hits one person.
Sword Drag: Well, Axe Drag. He starts dragging his weapon while Crippling Strike is active and is ready to hit something. With the Evil Laugh that accompanies it, he certainly earns intimidation points.
Taking You with Me: Although this doesn't happen that often; it's certainly possible to score an posthumous kill by leaving Darius' assailant with only an sliver of health left and several Hemorrhage stacks on them in order to let his passive ability drain the rest of their health.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and his rival Garen are both uncomfortable being paired together in LoR, exchanging awkward compliments.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Draven used to have the distinction of being the only pairs of siblings listed by Riot as both "Friends" and "Rivals". Probably because of the Sibling Yin-Yang they have going on.
We Have Reserves: He (and Noxus in general) has this view when commenting on Singed's chemical attacks on both enemy and allied troops in Riven's backstory, saying it was a necessary sacrifice. It's much more poignant in the comic "Blood of Noxus", part of his conviction was watching his former lover Quiletta lose her arm during the Ionian campaign from the Zaunite Melters and her subsequent revolt as she secedes from Noxius.
Weapon-Based Characterization: He's got a giant axe that he carries into battle, with a blade almost the size of his torso. It plays into his theme as an executioner, going into battle to chop foes' heads off one by one.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He sees the Noxian leadership for the corruption-filled aristocracy that it is, and decided that there needed to be some changes, and began making the changes himself, one beheading at a time.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: No magic, just a gigantic battle-axe, so his options are fairly limited when dealing with his enemies, the weak, the corrupt, the unjust, or people he just doesn't like in general. Limited, of course, doesn't mean ineffective...
Worthy Opponent: According to Legends of Runeterra, Darius thinks Tryndamere's strength would be a worthy addition to the Noxian cause. The Barbarian King isn't interested.
Darius: Noxus could use a man like you.
Tryndamere: Noxus uses people all too often.
Xanatos Gambit: After Victory sees him and Captain Farron accost the king of Urtis after conquering the kingdom, with two soldiers bringing in a tub of molten steel to melt his crown in. When a slave girl strikes Farron in the leg with a hot poker and steals the crown back, Farron tries to give chase but Darius, seeing potential in her, stops him and chooses to instead see how the king reacts to the girl returning his crown to him. If the girl defies him in the face of his ingratitude (which she does), he has an opportunity to recruit her into the Noxian army. If the girl chooses to stand by her king despite his treatment of her, it's not like she had any real chance of stopping them anyway.

Characters / League of Legends: Darius

Darius, the Hand of Noxus

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / League of Legends: Darius

Edit Locked

Darius, the Hand of Noxus

Previous

Index

Next