2XKODarius Guide - Moves, Combos, and Overview

Darius stomps into 2XKO as a powerhouse All-Rounder who makes blocking a losing strategy. Built around big normals, long-reaching Specials, and an invincible reversal, the Hand of Noxus excels at forcing opponents to play his game.

Anytime he gets an opponent to start blocking, he can set up free damage from his wound mechanic or force them into a strike/throw mixup. Although his kit is very beginner-friendly, Darius has found success at all levels of play.

This guide breaks down everything you need to master Darius: his best teams and Fuses, how to control neutral, using his Assists effectively, and the combos you'll need to dominate.

For players on the receiving end of his axe, we’ll also cover how to beat Darius, by laying out the best counter strategies.

Whether you're enforcing the strength of the empire or preparing to dismantle it, this guide has got you covered!

Wound / Bleed

Darius has three moves that inflict wounds:

1. S1 Special > M Attack wounds opponent
2. Lacerate (2nd attack inS2 Special > S2 Special) wounds opponents who are hit at the tip of the attack
3. 1. Also deals additional damage against already wounded opponents.
3. Noxian Might (S2 Special Super) wounds the opponent.

Wound Chip Damage

Wound is applied individually to enemy champs. For example, applying wounds to the Point champ does not affect the opponents Assist champ.

When an opponents champ has wounds, all chip damage from Darius and his teammate is greatly increased. This makes Assist champ moves like Illaoi's S2 Special Super super effective with wounds because it will deal a huge amount of chip damage. (Covered under Champion Synergies below).

How to Cleanse Wound

Wounds are removed only when the inflicted champ or their duo team deals damage to Darius or his team.

• If the enemy point champ has wound applied to them and they Tag out, that champ will still have wound status effect even off screen.

Fireball

Darius's DownS2 Special sends a grounded fireball across the screen.

The best part of this move is that it will hit opponents that have tumbled or been knocked flat on the ground. The fireball pops them up and allows Darius or his Assist to continue into a combo.

• A common use is Salted Earth after Throw, into S2 Special Super.

Apprehend

S1 Special pulls opponents to Darius. On block, it forces the opponent into a strike/throw mix. There is no one option to beat all follow ups, making it a potent tool in his kit.

• In addition to the three follow up moves, Darius can also wait out the follow up window if he expects his opponent to block, then start his block pressure over with DownL Attack or similar.

Apprehend Block Strings

Generally, Darius players will chain a blocked H Attack into S1 Special. Canceling H Attack into S1 Special leaves a very small gap that will prevent the blocking opponent from using a normal move, throw, or jumping out.

• However, the S1 Special never true block strings, and the opponent always has time to react with a Parry or invincible move such as their Ultimate.
• Because opponents will typically know this counter tech, changing up the mix by doing a longer or shorter block string into S1 Special is important for throwing off your opponents timing.
• • If you notice the opponent has no meter and no invulnerable reversal, feel free to abuse S1 Special block strings.

Normals

Darius can use L Attack, M Attack & H Attack and their crouching variations in neutral when trying to land a first hit.

His normals are slower than average, but have good range to make up for their speed. Consequently, Darius wants to position just outside of his opponents normal move range where his attacks can whiff punish the opponents attempts at poking him.

Specials

S2

Whether they are block stringed into or used on their own, Darius's Special moves are very threatening in neutral.

S2 Special has huge range and has an 18 frame startup. This means it is just fast enough that it is generally not parryable on reaction (safe to throw out the first S2 Special).

It's huge range make allows Darius to begin pressuring his opponents outside of their non-projectile attack range. Anytime you catch someone with the first hit, chain into S2 Special > S2 Special Super for good damage.

Down ForwardS2 Special

When the opponent has you blocking, look for opportunities to catch them off guard with Grievous Wheel. This move instantly gives Darius 1 hit of armor, making it good to use as a counter hit when there is a gap in the opponents block string.

Block String Pressure

Darius's go-to block string is:

L Attack > M Attack >Down M Attack > H Attack

He can finish this off with ForwardS2 Special > S2 Special to apply wounds if he thinks the opponent will keep blocking.

If the opponent keeps using Retreating Guard, Darius can Down ForwardH Attack to counter hit after either M Attacks.

He can also mix in his overhead, or micro pause and throw to mixup as well.

S1 Super Finisher

Darius's bread n' butter combo. Works mid-screen and in the corner, deals well over 50% damage and is very consistent to land.

S2 Super Finisher

Even at max distance shown here, the S2 Special Super will always connect from a Lacerate hit. Making this an important combo to keep in your tool box for beating out opponents with his long reaching axe.

• Noxian Might also goes through and destroys projectiles. Combined with it's near full screen range, Darius has scary counterplay to projectile zoning.
• When you have Super meter, watch for the startup animations of projectile's like Teemo's Slingshot. When you see them using it, quickly use S2 Special Super punish them!

Ultimate Finisher

A corner specific combo, but has a bit of corner carry so it will work if you are somewhat near the corner when starting as well.

High damage and good for cashing out your meter when you have all 3 bars available.

After the final DownS1 Special, Darius can also route into Lacerate for the S2 Special Super finisher, or go immediately for S1 Special to end with the slam.

When to Forward Assist

Darius;'s ForwardTag will always cause a wall bounce. This makes it great for extending combos. You can either HandshakeTag to Darius, or dash forward and continue the combo with your point champ.

Remember the wall bounce counts for one of Darius' wall/floor bounces, so if you tag to him and perform another, it will Limit Strike.

However, this is also what makes it great for your point champ since it does not count as one of their two limits.

When to Back Assist

BackTag disables the blocking opponent from using Retreating Guard or Pushblock, same as his regular Apprehend.

Therefore, anytime you are nearing the end of your point champs block string, you can call in Darius BackTag to pull the opponent back in, and force them into another block pressure mix up.

Mid combo it will also yank the opponent back towards Darius, making it useful in combos as well.

Double Down

Darius has extremely high damage Double Down Super combos with just about every other champ in 2XKO. None of his Super allow his Assist champ to Double Down Tag combo during, but they can continue the combo after the animation ends.

His S2 Special reaches so far that he can Double Down combo at ranges that most other champ's supers would missed from.

Double Down is good when for Darius when you want to maximize damage in combos.

2x Assist

2X Assist for Darius generally makes use of his BackTag, followed by his ForwardTag rather than using the same Assist twice in a row.

What makes this strategy so strong is the Apprehend Assist pulls in the opponent, and if the point champ gets a hit, the ForwardTag scores a wall bounce.

2X Assist also makes it easy for Darius to abuse block strings that lead into wounds.

Freestyle

Darius's S2 Special Super is so fast that he can use it multiple times in one combo because his Assist champ can catch the first juggle with a Handshake Tag, then Freestyle Tag back to Darius for another Super.

As covered above, Darius' Apprehend is lethal for setting up block pressure, so if you're other champ can make good use of Freestyle, it's a great Fuse to chose.

Juggernaut and Sidekick

Darius deals such high damage, and has a lot of good Fury cancel routes, so Juggernaut is actually quite good for Darius. However, if you are facing a team of zoners, he's really going to struggle to close the distance.

Sidekick would be the better option in that scenario. Having an Assist also makes his block strings and applying wounds easier and safer. Depending on the matchup, it'd be good to have both options ready if you want to play solo Darius.

Illaoi

Chip damage is the name of the game for this scary duo. Use any of the combo routes that leave the opponent with wounds, then Tag in Illaoi so she can use her tentacles to continue the block pressure on the opponents wake up.

In the corner, an opponent with wounds being set up into Illaoi's S2 Special Super, is in a near checkmate situation. At low health their only option is to pull off a super clutch parry. Even if they have the skill for that, Illaoi can bait it with her command grab.

Additionally, between Illaoi's tentacles and Darius's wall bounce Tag, these two have no trouble creating super long and high damage combos.

2X Assist works really good if you want to focus on wound set ups, and covering Darius' block strings.

Yasuo

These two champs have excellent block pressure when paired together. When Darius is on point, Yasuo's ForwardTag crosses to set up a sandwich, or will juggle on hit.

• This is especially good to use during Darius's block string combo covered in the Neutral section above.

If Yasuo is on point, Darius ForwardTag will wall bounce after Yasuo's Stance > stomp OTG to extend his combos.

A super easy left/right mixup is to intentionally whiff Yasuo's air S1 Special and call Darius ForwardTag in the reverse direction. Opponents often get hit because they don't realized they need to reverse their blocking direction, or they are trying to catch the Yasuo.

Braum

Both Champs have good forward charging assists and big heavy hitting moves. They're similar playstyles make them a great pair to learn at the same time.

Darius's BackTag is great for pulling blocking opponents into Braum's high/low and strike/throw mixups.

Braum's BackTag comes in hand for protecting Darius from being jabbed during his Apprehend mix ups in the gaps where it does not true block string.

Any time Braum lands a S2 Special > S2 Special, use Darius's ForwardTag to extend the combo with a wall bounce.

• 2X Assist, Freestyle and Double Down can all be effective fuses for this duo.
• Check out LightWhisp tournament footage on YouTube to see pro level gameplay is this duo.

Dealing with Apprehend

The #1 Best counter to Apprehend in block strings and in neutral is to parry on reaction. You have about a half of a second to react with a parry when you see the start up animation.

Generally, Darius players will chain a blocked H Attack into S1 Special. Canceling H Attack into S1 Special leaves a very small gap that will prevent you from being able to use a normal move, throw, or jump out.

• However, the S1 Special never true block strings, and you always have time to react with a Parry or invincible move such as your Ultimate.
• • Champs with invincible reversals such as Vi and Darius, always have those available as meter-less options.

L Attack follow up has a tiny gap that you can use invincible reversal during. It also hits overhead, and must be blocked standing.

M Attack follow up true block strings, and inflicts wounds on hit and block.

• The L Attack or M Attack follow ups are safe on block, but you can move/attack before Darius can.

H Attack follow up is a grab and the strongest counter is to neutral jump. Jumping is countered by both L Attack and M Attack follow ups, so jumping is a hard read on the grab mixup.

• Mashing your L Attack will also beat the grab

Apprehend counter OS

OS means option select and refers to inputs that beat multiple options.

Holding block and mashing an invincible reversal will beat all three options. If Darius M Attack follow up, you will block. If he does either L Attack or H Attack, you will hit him.

• Loses to Darius waiting, or delaying his next attack.

Beating his DP

Grievous Wheel (Down ForwardS2 Special) is referred to as a "DP" or Dragon Punch, because it has armored start up frames and gets used to interrupt the enemies attack or anti-air, similar to how Dragon Punch uppercuts from other fighting games series function.

If you suspect Darius is going to use Grievous Wheel, try starting your pressure by mashing L Attack or another fast attack. You'll be able to hit Darius out of Grievous Wheel before the attack comes out.

Otherwise, blocking this move gives you a big window of time to punish him.

Darius can also NOT call Tag during his Down ForwardS2 Special animation or recovery, so there is no threat of being caught by an Assist.

Beating his block pressure

When Darius is getting you in his standard block strings, start by Retreating Guard to get out of his range. Often his H Attack will whiff and give you an opportunity to counter hit.

If he's caught on and starts sweeping, then Push Block will cause the sweep to miss. Now you can either reset neutral or commit to a punish attack.

• Watch for Darius players who like to S2 Special > Forward S2 Special. The 2nd hit can always be a parried on reaction.