Hello people it's me Phil and welcome to my jungle Pantheon guide. After trying it myself a few times I was extremely surprised to discover that pantheon can be an extremely strong and potent jungler. I will explain what I believe to be the optimal set to jungle as pantheon and what your role during laning phase and late game should be. Hope you will enjoy and as always I am open to constructive criticism.

Please remember English is not my first language. I assume there will be many typo mistakes but I honestly tried my best to limit them. This is the first guide that I am proud to release and I hope you will like and try it.

Pros

-Extremely dominant early
-Snowballs extremely well
-Great ganking potential
-Very mobile Ultimate
-You get to play the guy from 300

Cons

-Falls of horribly late game
-Taking him is a bet. If you can't get kills or feed your lanes early you are going to have a bad time
-Lacks escape mechanism (Spartans never surrender or flee)

I find that these runes are optimal for jungling with Pantheon and I believe they are pretty self-explanatory. They apply to most of the common junglers.

Ok so you are jungling understood? Yes well take it and secures the objectives.

Flash is always useful it can allow you to do a flash W( Aegis of Zeonia) combo and secure kills. It allows you to flash over wall and dodge spells.

I don't recomend using this spell instead of flash it can be good on champs that lack cc (i.e Shyvana). But, it reduces Pantheon flash+stun opportunities on ganks

Some people like it better than Flash I find that flash allows you to have a more aggressive and nervous play style

All other summoners Spells should not be used if you intend to jungle as Pantheon

After attacking or casting spells 4 times, Pantheon will block the next normal attack that deals more than 40 damage to him.

Explanation: Pantheon passive. This is great to maintain high hp in the jungle and this is what allows you to come on top of ad based champions

Note: It can block 1 tower shot



Pantheon hurls his spear at an opponent, dealing 65/105/145/185/225 + 140% of his bonus attack damage in physical damage. Certain Death causes Spear Shot to critically strike for 1.5x damage

Cooldown 4 seconds
Cost 45 mana
Range 600

Explanation: Pantheon bread and butter. Its a great skill because it can crit and scales extremely well with ad (this is why I run flat Ad quints). You should max this first.

Note: Does not apply on hit effects(i.e Phage)



Pantheon leaps at the target enemy champion and deals 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+100% of ability power) magic damage and stuns them for 1 second. Pantheon also instantly refreshes his Aegis Protection.

Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
Cost 70 mana
Range 600

Explanation: This is why Pantheon is a great jungler. He has this strong and reliable stun which make him a great ganker. Dont be afraid to use Flash to get in range and stun.

Note: If you have red buff try to stun AA once to proc red and then use Q. This will greatly improve the damage you do.




Passive: Pantheon gains 100% critical strike chance against targets below 15% of their max health.

Active: Pantheon focuses and deals 3 swift strikes in front of him for 13/23/33/43/53 + 60% of his bonus attack damage as physical damage per strike. Deals double damage to champions. Channels for 0.75 seconds

Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6 seconds
Cost 45/50/55/60/65 mana
Range 400

Explanation: This is extremely weak early game and I would reccomend not using the .75sec to cast it and just AA instead. However, the damage potential it has late game is pretty decent.



Pantheon gathers his strength and then leaps high into the air for 2 seconds, crashing down at the target area 1.5 seconds later. Deals up to 400 / 700 / 1000 (+100% of ability power) magic damage to units at the center (down to 50% at the edge) and slows them by 35% for 1 second.

Cost 150 / 250 / 350 mana
Range 5500

Explanation:

This is what makes Pantheon a great jungler. With his ultimate he can punish any lane who overextend to way. Or he can change the tide of a skirmish by getting there faster than everyone else.

Know in order to be a good Pantheon you must know HOW TO ULT. Bot and Top lane are the easiest to gank with your ultimate. Many people will be tempted ult directly on the enemy champs. DONT DO IT, you make it easy for them to flee. What you need to do is to ult behind them(Generally close to the river). This way you cut their escape route and turn a 2v2 or 1v1 situation into a 3v2 or 2v1 situation and thus you can feed your lanes.

Note: When the ring of your ultimate forms you can spam aegis of zonia before you land and cast it at the same time you land. This is simply magnificent. In addition, if you are about to jump but realize that it is not a good idea (i.e your allies or foes have been killed leaving the lane empty) you can cancel your ult by simply moving Pantheon your ult cd will be 10sec if you cancel your ultimate



Final word on skills: I recomend that you smartcast all of your abilities except for your ultimate so you can position it perfectly.

You can of course differ from what I reccomend just use your own judgment on what you need
those are some good alternatives in my opinion


Those boots are pretty nice for Pantheon as they offer some nice AS allowing you to proc your passive more often and to have an even easier time jungling



Another nice item as it gives you some armor and crit chance and can compensate for Randuin's Omen if you dont have enough gold to get it



A great item against heavy cc teams I would get it instead of FoN



Good item and can change the tides of battles. I would get it at the end(just sell one of your dorans).



If you feel confident buy a The Brutalizer instead of 2 dorans blades and later turn it into a ghostblade. This item gives you nice stats for short skirmishes.



Possibly the best item in terms of what it is worth(Cheap) and stats it gives

As a jungler its important to have your timers on mind and to be there in time to get and controls your buffs so here are some important timer.

Jungling is controlling the objectives and ganking

Ancient Golem

Blue buff spawn at 1:55

Respawn time: 5:00

Lizard Elder

Red buff spawn at 1:55

Respawn time: 5:00

Dragon

Dragon spawn at 2:30

Respawn time: 6:00

Baron Nashor

Baron spawn at 15:00

Respawn time 7:00

Note: You can change your setting so that you can see time whenever something happens(Someone write, somebody kill a champ, etc.) . This is helpfull as it also indicates when dragon and baron were killed (Assuming you had vision on it or were the one who killed it). This make your job of keeping in touch with your timers extremely easy.

Most junglers start wolves->Blue->Wraiths->Golems->Red-> Gank/recall

As Pantheon you can choose to do that or you can play it Man mode
which is

wolves->Blue->Gank(mid if you are on purple side or mid/top if you are on blue side)

Remember dont be afraid to flash in order to stun


Note: If mid or top has a stun doing this is almost a certain kill unless you screw up. Also, if the jungler on the other side see that you ganked without taking your 2 buffs is first reaction(Assuming he is decent) should be to go and steal your red buff. This is why man mode is risky.

When clearing the jungle do not use Heartseeker Strike until later levels. Dont use it as your AA's still do more damage

I am not saying that you can't counter jungle as Pantheon only that I do not reccoment it because I believe it will set you behind and make you extremely squishy.

If you are yourself getting counter-jungled remember that wards are your best friend. You just need to ward the jungle entrance wait for them to enter your jungle and then kill them (with the help of a teammate if needs be)

Pantheon should be more oriented at ganking his lanes than anything else. He is an extremely strong champ early game and should use this to make his lanes snowball. You should spend a lot of time ganking. Pantheon falls late game so farming wont save you. In short, use your strenght and not your weaknesses


There is 4 way to gank with Pantheon I wont explain them in detail as I assume everyone understant how it works.

1- River Gank
2- Tribush Gank
3- Lane Gank
4- In addition with Pantheon you can do what I call Ultimate Gank(You use your ult to gank and this way wards cant see you)

Easy


Shaco is hardly played anymore and his boxes have been nerfed to the ground. Easy opponent for you deastroy him in 1v1. Also, its been ages since I saw a good one.





Hard


Udyr is simply too strong in the jungle for you. He beats you 1v1.




Normal


Nocturne Ult range has been nerfed a lot but he is still an extremely good jungler. Your ultimate has a greater range than his. If you fight him 1v1 remember he has a spell shield that can reduce your damge output a lot.



Normal


A good shyvana can counter jungle you a lot. You cant do much about it just try to ward your jungle entrance. Gank a lot as her ganks are meh.




Hard


This guys is the jungle. Also, he has extremely strong ganks and his too tanky for you to beat quickly in 1v1.




Hard


Despite his nerfs, this guy brings up a lot more utility to his team and his a monster during late game. Concentrate on early ganks and try to help your team as quickly as possible.



Hard


This guy is a beast late game. Your only advantage on him is your early game power and ganks.


Normal


We hardly see any of these guys jungling nowadays. It can go either way I would say. Its an ok matchup(See what I did there?)


Hard


This guy whole kit is against Ad and he has a better late game than you do. Keep in mind tha he can clear up really fast.




easy




Normal






Normal





Normal






Normal



Note: I need more games to complete all possible matchups I will do it as soon as I can

You are extremely strong early game. I suggest that you gank and camp as often as possible. If top or midlane doesnt ward punish them for this. Mid lane is easy ganks and you can always Flash and stun.

Also, early game you are stronger than most of the other junglers due to your passive and stun(which refresh your passive). If they invade your jungle you can easily fight back.

Once you get to level 6 you should start looking at opportunities to gank bot lane. Dont try ganking bot too early as its the most difficult lane to gank as the support is warding since the beggining(Assuming he is intelligent).

But, with your ultimate you can go over the wards and help secure a kill on the Ad carry or support. If you wipe out bot lane try to do dragon. Remember to keep the timer on dragon it is your role to do so as the jungler.

Moreover, each time your ultimate is up you should use it as soon as you see an opportunity. That is what makes Pantheon an awesome ganker.


Note: You should have done at least 1-2 ganks at that point

This is where Pantheon shines the least. But, you are not totally uselless.


With a full build, or at least Frozen Mallet, you can initiate fights on overextended foes with your ult and wrap up a kill. Don't go in all alone in a 1v5 because you will die.
You can easily catch people with your ultimate late game when outer/middle turrets are gone.


At this point usually the baron dances begins. Both team get close to baron and try to push the other off or try to force a teamfight. It is important to keep the timer on baron and if you attempt it you must use smite to secure the baron kill.

In temfights you can either go for their carries or stay with your carry and peel ennemies from him with your Frozen Mallet slow and Aegis of Zeonia. In general if you did your job well your team should be strong enough to win fights.

I hope you liked this guide and that it will help you out. And remember no matter how a game turns out stay positive and have fun. After all its only a game.

October 2nd,2012: Guide is completed and up for grammatical revision
October3rd, 2012: Guide is published