playing the new morde in a solo lane proved to be very difficult. he doesn't have as much burst as he did before, nor the solo lane safety. especially since they changed his W completely.
Also, after playing the new skarner, i don't find the 6 crystals on the map that obscure (minus the black squares), and gives him more opportunities to make plays before lvl 6. Even his stun is a little better in my opinion, since anyone hit by his E only needs one auto.
Darius, on the other hand, i think had the bigger buffs out of the group and i have yet to be in a game where darius didn't dominate whatever lane he was in. But I do think the buffs were necessary (just on a lesser scale QQ)
I'm not sure of what to think of the new garen, he seems to be the more balanced of the group but I have yet to play him.
I do love the new items though, they allow melee champs who normally don't have good waveclear to clear lanes pretty well.