Hello and welcome to my Pantheon guide. In this guide I will express many different ways of building Pantheon, what works and from experience what champions you should be picking this shield wielding spartan against. This guide will mainly focus on Pantheon solo top in RANKED

As Westrice stated: "Pantheon is an assassin as well as a very strong early game champion. He is hard to lane against because of his Q ability in combination of boots. I find him to be one of the champions that do much damage with as little as just Doran's Blades, while making him tankier at the same time."

Below are some recent games played with pantheon using the variety of builds set out in this guide, mainly just stacking Doran's blades with brutalizer ^_^: [These games were played at 1600+ if it helps) - I've also added my season 1 and 2 stats with pantheon just to give an insight.

P.S Before voting or commenting, please try this build in some of your games, whether it be normal or ranked. ^_^

Pros
- Great harasser
- Great farmer
- Amazing at ganking
- Passive is really useful and great against AD
- Can tower-dive easily
- Very versatile
- Fun to play

Cons
- Lacks strong sustain
- Not the best tank or damage dealer
- Sort of risky to play (Easily countered)
- His late game isn't as good as most champions

My skills, again, like my masteries, constitute what pantheon is good at: harass and damage output. Maxing Q is the new way for pantheon, beforehand it used to be E. However with maxing Q you can easily harass your opponent and it also has a small cool down and great range. I max E second solely, again, for the damage. Whilst taking my ultimate whenever I can.


Each time your opponent comes close to farm (if melee) use this ability to harass them so they either get low health, or are unable to farm. You want to be spamming this as much as possible on opponents you can harass. If you're being harassed and is unable to alst hit, use this skill instead.


Only use this where necessary, you don't want to run out of mana straight away. I mainly use this skill when there is a given chance that i could either kill the opponent or make it so the next time my Aegis of zeonia is ready i can kill them.


Again, like Aegis of zeonia only use this when you really have to, avoid using it for farm unless you really have to, or if it is late game. Essentially you want to use Spear shot until they're 50% health, then aegis of zeonia and then heartseeker, and finally another spear. This is total should kill them especially if you have ignite. The passive for the skill is also very useful for last hitting minions as its 100% critical. It can also come in very handy when giving the finishing blow to enemy champions.


This ability is very useful in getting back to your lane fast, or ganking. To use this efficiently when ganking ping your opponents and then skyfall behind or near where you think they're going to run. With the earlier nerf, this ultimate isn't really "grand" but can definitely help secure kills where its needed most. When grand skyfalling you want to quickly stun your opponent after landing, and then heartseeker and spear shot.

Flash
Flash is one of the most overused summoner spells in League of Legends. And its clear why. Flash is very useful for getting out of sticky situations and also can be used as a very good escape tool for avoiding ganks. Since Pantheon is mainly top, its vital that flash is to be used since their jungler is going to be ganking your lane the most (depending on if your team pushes their lanes or not). Flash can also be used to help get those kills where your opponent is less than 15% hp or you quickly escape a tower after you've tower dived.


Ignite
Ignite helps secure kills, and also the mastery skillpoint for the skill gives you 5 AD which is always nice for a champion like Pantheon. Furthermore its common to see a support with heal, or AP/AD carries with life steal. So again ignite is very useful.

Other useful summoner spells:

Teleport
Teleport can come in handy, and in around 1/3 of my pantheon games i use this summoner spell, mainly for ganking and also to sustain my lane. Being fed and having 2 gankable spells (Teleport + Ult) is just too OP


Exhaust
If against a particular champion who may have a lot of burst, or even if your team needs that extra exhaust for your team, i.e Tryndamere, then this can come in handy. Furthermore for going 'ALL OUT SPARTA' which is just pure harass, and damage then get exhaust+ignite - However I've only ever done this in Normal.

Explanation


doran's blade
I've been in a lot of games where my opponents say "dorans pantheon, gg... -.-'" only for them to say "gj" to me 3 minutes later as i draw first blood. Doran's blade for pantheon is a must! i can't stress this enough to my fellow pantheon users that this item is very op for just 475g. With this item you have additional damage output and sustain and a cheeky life steal for even more sustain. This compensates for your masteries which lacks sustainability.


Mercury's treads
Mercury treads is better than any other of the boots since Pantheon doesn't really need the run speed, unless he really needs to, and also doesn't require attack speed or cd reduction. Having these boots helps in the sustain and also reduce CC.




The Brutalizer
Must have item for pantheon, even if you're going to go tanky its a must have, the additional armor penetration and damage and even cooldown reduction for finishing it (Youmuu's ghostblade) is just pantheons cup of tea.


Why stack doran's blade?
Stacking doran's blade is only optional, in the majority of my games i stack them to give me the early game edge to win my lane and also help my team-mates with there's by ganking. With 3 dorans you're looking at 300HP, 30 AD and 9% Life steal, all for a small 1425 gold. I stack based on the gold i have on me at the time, below is an example of what I mean:

Blue pill back - I have 475~700g on me: I buy an additional doran's blade
Blue pull back - I have 700~800g on me: I buy boots of speed and Null-magic mantle
blue pill back - I have 815~950g on me: Either another dorans, boots of speed and null-magic mantle, or two long swords. Depending on how well my game is going. If i think i need more sustain on lane ill get dorans, if i need the run speed for ganks later i'll get boots, and if i'm winning my lane and want to rush armor penetration since my opponent bought armor i'll get two long swords.
etc.

After the core items are completed, you then need to analyse your team. whether they're heavy damage, or tanky, or balanced... Also look at who is fed on their team or how the game will look late game (some are stronger late game) and how to counter this.

Heavy damage

If against a heavy damage team you'll want to consider going Tanky since Pantheon can be burst-ed down pretty fast especially if they have heavy CC:



If they have heavy AD, such as 4 AD, consider getting a

Tanky

If against a Tanky team, often a team that has a lot of sustain, i like to go pure damage output, since the majority of tanky players lack the burst to kill Pantheon fast enough before Pantheon kills them.



Now you're probably thinking....3 bloodthirsters...you jelly? Well yeah i am jelly, but it works against certain lineups of tanky players such as Warwick Jarvan IV Irelia Rumble Udyr

Other useful items against a tanky lineup can include

Balance

This is the lineup that you'll probably most likely face. However when facing a balance team its important to look at their team and analyse who is fed and whether they have CC and so fourth.

If they have a much heavier AD burst or their AD is fed then consider:

If they have a much heavier AP burst or their AP is fed then consider:

All round balanced team, no-one fed but heavy ad and ap burst:

Picking pantheon is very risky in Ranked since he can easily be counted. However with the current meta-game and selecting of champions, the majority of the most picked 'solo-top' champions are champions in which Pantheon absolutely should, and can destroy, and counter.

Champions Pantheon counters:

Gangplank - Pantheon counters gangplank, one of the most played champions as of today. This is because Pantheon's spear shot has a much longer range and similar cool-down to gangplanks. the extra range makes it accessible for Pantheon to harass gangplank without losing much health, and if gangplank comes in to last hit a minion without his , then pantheon can hit him freely since his passive can block any physical damage when its activated. Also be sure to get ignite for his orange

Warwick - Since Gangplank counters warwick, and pantheon owns gangplank, its common sense that Warwick doesn't even stand a chance. however you want to be very careful when warwick hits level 6, as you'll be ever more prone to being ganked. also if you're facing a warwick be sure to get ignite for his

Jarvan IV - Constant harass with Pantheon's Spear Shot is too much, even for Jarvan.

Malzahar - I've faced malzahar mid and top many times, and each time I've settled the score to be about 4/0 in the first 5minutes, malzahar is a very easy target and cannot sustain against your 100 damage every 4 seconds with Spear Shot. Furthermore its possible with the right timing that you can cancel his ultimate when you use your Aegis of zeonia (stun - W)

Brand - simply can't sustain your harass, however brand will probably be the most troublesome out of the champions you counter as a good brand may suffice against your harassing and harass you instead. however out of experience, I've not lost vs brand... yet.

Rumble - simply can't sustain your harass

Tryndamere - He will not be able to farm, and if he comes close, Q,W,E,Q and he should back away fast ^_^. For facing tryndamere i'll usually get exhaust.

Twisted Fate - Has...no....chance.

Vladimir - Even his pool can't save him.

Kennen - As before stated, kennen will struggle to sustain early game.

Galio - since Galio is more of an AP tank than a AD one, he will struggle to sustain against your Spear Shots


Possible candidates that Pantheon could beat

Garen - Has a strong laning presence against most AD top, furthermore with his passive it's hard to harass Garen so its better you sit back and farm

Cho'Gath - Its uncertain whether you can beat cho'gath, he holds a strong lane presence with his multiple CC skills and also if you're ganked, then you're surely dead. furthermore with cho'gaths passives on his abilities he has a strong sustain against most harassers

Riven - hit or miss, whether to pick pantheon vs riven is risky indeed, one game i beat a riven top going about 10/2/8, whereas the next time i faced a riven top i went 1/3/1 in the first 15minutes with 30 less cs, so it really depends on how good the riven is.

Renekton - has decent sustain and also has great damage. His abilities are very handy in 1v1 situations, so its risky getting close to renekton. However renekton can still be harassed early game from levels 1~4 so it is possible that pantheon could uphold the lane and get control and zone renekton out of farming.


Champions you shouldn't pick pantheon against:
Udyr - his is really annoying, and harassing him is kind of a waste of time.

Sion - has heavy burst and can block your harass with his

Mordekaiser - is a very strong pusher, and his pasive grants him a shield whereby your harass is pretty pointless, however it is possible to beat him by waiting for him to use his skills and then combo-ing him, Q+E+W+Q, each time...however its risky, since his ulti+ignite is strong and since hes ap you'll have a hard time dodging his

Talon - has a good toolkit of abilities to deal with harassers like pantheon. He has silence, and another abilities with decent range to not only farm but also harass you. Furthermore his ultimate can cause problems for you in the laning phase.

Swain - has good sustain and poking damage.

When in a ranked game its important to anaylse their team carefully in champion select before picking pantheon, if they have Swain and Gangplank and Udyr it's uncertain who is going to go solo top, since all 3 are candidates and only one you can counter. However basic assumptions of swain must go mid is probable since hes the only one who is ap and has the range to deal with the other ap carries. However it still leaves you with a risky pick.

Also when in champion select don't first pick pantheon unless you instinctively know, through either bans, or experience, that they're going to pick someone you can counter, which is highly probable since the majority of the most player top champions are champions you counter.

Within Ranked played, its very different to normal, in a way that people probably have a higher understanding of the game, in terms of countering and warding (from experience people in normal barely ward and its mainly troll-games with duo top etc.). when playing Pantheon make sure to always ward your lane because with harassing you'll never really be near your turret.

Another thing to point out in ranked is that at higher elo, around 1800+, people may know how to anti-counter you. Items to look out for is dorans shields mainly. I recently won a game by switching with my team-mate in mid before the laning phase started as i notified that Rumble had cloth armor and 5 potions and their Malzahar had boots and a ward. This gave me the opportunity to harass malzahar without him having any sustain or armor, and also win my lane, which i did.

After winning your lane, or even gaining lane control i cannot stress the importance of ganking, especially in ranked games. Pantheon has a great toolkit to help secure kills or lane dominance. If mid is slightly pushed, ulti just near the enemy tower so he cant run there and try and secure a kill. the same can be said about bottom, however mid is usually the place i gank since it easier in terms of time and having to run back to my lane, and mid plays a huge part early game in terms of dragon control and also ganking bot lane.

Thanks for reading my guide. - and for those players who hate that pesky gangplank just constant parrley-ing...well pick pantheon and constant spear that pirate! Remember not to be scared into stacking Doran's blades, its a great method for pantheon as it gives him stronger lane dominance and also can help secure dragon and gives you the sustain to tower dive and help other lanes. Be sure not to go crazy though, i usually only get 3 Doran's blades max. Also don't forget Q+W+E+Q. ^_^

I'll also like to emphasize that you don't have to necessarily build the items in order. Occasionally i find myself with, for example:



It's about choosing what items you need first, if they're doing heavy damage, get a giants belt before damage, if you're lacking damage then get b.f sword, extra doran's or brutalizer etc.