Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

Pantheon Build Guide by

Pantheon - The Artisan of the Jungle

90 5

3,180,789 Views

81 Comments

Pantheon Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (81) More Pantheon Guides

Spells:

Smite

Flash

Items

Starting Items

Core

First Offensive

Damage (Got Some Kills)

Armor/Magic Resist (Dying/Team is Losing)

Example End Build

Ability Order

Pantheon Passive Ability

Introduction

Welcome to my Pantheon jungle guide.

PANTH?This is my first guide on the site, and the reason I made it is because I felt there wasn't a guide out there for jungle that met my play style of him back in Season 3. I'm always trying to find the most efficient and deadly build.

It is now pre Season 5, and I am still playing and updating this guide. Please leave some feedback once you read through the guide, thank you.

Pros vs Cons

Pros

+ , need I say more?
+ can block or a
+ One of the best turret divers in the game
+ Tied for the highest base movement speed in the game

Cons

- Not the tankiest jungler
- Must use a summoner spell or to escape
- Has only one CC ability with a considerably long cooldown
- Actually wants to be a baker

Jungle Pantheon - Why?

PANTH?As someone who mains jungler in SoloQ, I already had a sense on how to build him in the jungle. My build in early Season 3 was similar to the way I built , one of my favorite junglers. Pantheon has a leap/stun with two offensive abilities and a ultimate that teleports you with huge range. All of his abilities work amazingly to gank lanes, bringing both CC and damage. is so flexible that he can easily be played as an assassin, bruiser, or tank based on the items you buy. He excels at bringing deadly ganks, dueling, and catching wandering squishies.

Summoner Spells

Main Spells

SPACEA must have for any jungler. operates at a cooldown of 60 seconds, and grants a free and instant damage based on your level. If you plan on stealing the enemy buff, you should always be certain that is ready to be used. Make sure to use it to secure your buffs, dragon, and baron as well. As of patch 4.20, smite is an absolute must for any jungler.

SPACEI choose as a safe pick. You can use it to escape over a wall, dodge ultimates like and , chase down fleeing enemies, or even (riskily) gank with it. It is one of the most versatile summoner spells in the game and I often take this.

Optional

SPACE would have to be my second choice to replace . Sometimes it's better to run ghost, notably for chasing and escaping. I'm more likely to use it to run across the map and save my tower than flashing slightly closer to my destination. There is nothing wrong with taking it over , it's a matter of play style and preference.

Runes

Armor seals are still the best for the early clears. are a good alternative, but with buffs to camps early on you're going to want to stick with armor.

Pretty standard, your alternatives are , I personally like to run 5% CDR in blues but leave MR in the guide to keep new players alive.

Now this is where you get to preference. benefits mostly from AD. Other options likes are good choices on champions like , but Panth is too busy jumping on people, throwing spears, and raising his shield to benefit from other marks early in the game. The second best choice would be greater mark of armor penetration if you don't plan on building or .

Same situation as the marks, but even if you use armor pen marks I'd keep these.

Masteries

This is my go to AD jungling 21/9/0 page. I find it, in my opinion, the most optimal for general builds.

Optional

These masteries may be the safer choice if you are new to jungling or need to tank for you team.

Ability Explanation

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

8===DA fantastic passive that calls for great sustain in the jungle. Whenever this is up you block majority of the damage from the large monsters, on your first clear most hits will be blocked. You can block a turret shot if used wisely, making some interesting plays available. Keep in mind that procs this immediately, so if you want to stay healthy during a clear use it if you can't AA/Q fast enough.

Pantheon hurls his spear at an opponent, dealing 65 / 105 / 145 / 185 / 225 (+1.4 per bonus attack damage) physical damage. If Heartseeker Strike has been leveled up once, Spear Shot will crit to deal 150% damage against opponents whose current health is below 15% of their max health.

8===DThis is basically a lock-on spear that can guarantee a critical hit when the target is low health. With a base cooldown of 4 seconds, you can use it at least twice in a gank, with the second hopefully granting a kill. Prioritize this skill first next to .

Pantheon leaps at an enemy 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

8===DYour utility skill. A jump with 1 second stun at all levels, and a free refresh. Sets up your as well, leaving to an easy gank. This is your utility, so rank this up last. It can also be used on monsters now, so you can use it to jump walls or proc

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

Active: Pantheon channels for 0.75 seconds and deals 3 swift strikes in a cone in front of him. Each strike deals 13 / 23 / 33 / 43 / 53 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage, and they deal double damage to champions.

8===DThe passive on this is amazing. Stack it with a and you're guaranteed a kill. It counts for both your basic attacks and your , couple that with the passive and you have a dead at your feet.

8===DAs for the active, it gives nice AOE damage. Helps clear the jungle and take down the enemy champs health. Be sure to use it wisely, it's not worth losing a chase over some damage. We prioritize this second,

Pantheon gathers his strength channeling for 2 seconds and then leaps high in to the air, crashing down at the target area 1.5 seconds later. Deals 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. If the channeling is cancelled, the cooldown is reduced to 10 seconds.

8===DA great ultimate, and one that can be used in all sorts of situation. Enemy warded their bush? No worries, ! You can backdoor, escape, initiate, gank, team fight, and do more with it. Note that it takes a total of 3.5 seconds to use, so make sure you place it in a nice location. Think about using it to initiate the gank or catch them at 10 health. Also note that you can stop it for a 10 second cooldown penalty, so don't be afraid to cancel it or even use it to get away. Prioritize this at level 6/11/16

Skill Sequence

Skill Priority

R > Q > E > W

SPACEHere is the discussion post I made showing the difference between your Q () and your E ()

Quoted:

"Let's assume we're at 70 bonus ad and at max rank for both skill, would do 323 damage before reduction and would do 95 per strike for a total of 285 damage. At rank 1 with let's say 70 bonus AD you would have 98 damage on your Q and 55 damage per strike on your E for a total of 165 damage. And in the middle at rank 3 with 70 bonus AD you have 243 damage on the Q and 75 per strike for a total of 225 on your E.

Now of course with different amounts of bonus AD this would all be different, but then when it comes to cooldown your Q is on a constant 4 second, while your E comes from 10 to 6 seconds. Your Q is up 2.5 times/2 times/1.5 times faster than your E at ranks 1/3/5. Of course the AOE damage on the E could make up with clear times, but don't forget that your Q can crit under 15% max health.

I didn't forget that Heartseeker does double damage to champions, so yes when you look at burst E outshines Q, but when it comes to ranks your Q does 160 more damage at 5 than 1, and, at double damage to champs, your E does 80 more damage at 5 than 1. Also don't forget the scales on the bonus AD, Q has 1.4, over two times more than your E's.

I still feel that it's worth it to max your Q first, for both its great scaling and the crit strike at under 15% health."

Items

Starting Item

Standard start for most if not all junglers. Very cost efficient and allows you to get 2 s. Builds into versatile items to fit your needs.

Core Item

After the changes to in 4.21, Stalker's is now the superior choice. As if a targeted stun isn't enough the slow effect will help secure kills.

This is the upgrade I choose for my jungle item. It's a huge power increase. AD, armor pen, and CDR all in one. In Season 4, I would usually get with but with the changes in patch 4.20 I can absolve the items into one.

Offensive Items

This isn't really an offensive option, but rather an alternative. I haven't tested this item yet, but it is the dueling option for . is already a strong dueler, and if you think you can hunt down and kill the enemy jungler this is the perfect item to use. Again, I haven't tested it, but I thought it was important enough to include here.

This item is one of my favorite items in the game. Usually you get early on for better clearing, as well as sustain with the health regen. The AOE attack passive is very useful for ganking bursts and later on teamfights/splitpushes.

Excellent item to own. It helps your clear time while keeping up often. The active helps immensely with chases and ganks, as well as counter jungling. If you choose to build this build it early on. Now that I build , this item feels less important.

35% armor penetration plus some AD is great at destroying both the AD carry and the tank. Generally you'll want to build an ArPen item, and this is one of the best choices next to .

An alternative to the . Gives a good amount of AD and some health as well. You also get some cooldown reduction, which works swell on . With this item, you get a flat amount of 10 armor penetration, and the ability to stack armor reduction up to 25% by dealing physical damage.

A situational offensive item. If the enemy team is heavy on AP and you need to deal more damage, this is my item of choice. Magic resistance as well as a spell shield when you're low health that couples with 's other passive which gives more AD at lower health.

Defensive Items

This is a great choice for those games where you are fed but don't want to lose your offensive front, and at the same time not risk dying. This is a fantastic solution for those pesky games where you're ahead yet want survivability.

If your support isn't planning on building this you should consider as it's a great item not only for yourself but for your team. You get yourself some health, mr, and a magic resistance aura for your teammates.

Health, the one counter to all types of damage. If you're taking lots of both physical and magic damage, is generally a good choice. The passive also gives a nice sustain for in between team fights and turtling comps.

Mix of health and armor. If you are hit by their basic attack their attack speed is slightly slowed, so dueling you will be difficult. 's active can be used to chase or initiate team fights. I often build this majority of my games for mid game survivability.

An amazing item, you get a free revive! You also get some armor and magic resist to help survivability. If you're the initiator for your team it's a pretty good item to have, as you can come back and jump on the carries again.

I like to build this when I'm facing an AP heavy team or a poke comp. Plenty of MR and some health. I would build this over if I'm being singled out.

Item Choices

VsPANTHEONPANTHEONVs

8===D are amazing boots on junglers and Panth is no exception. With patch 4.3 they were reduced 200 gold but the base speed was changed to +25 from +45, personally I find this a fair trade as his base movement speed is already the highest in the game.

8===DNearly the same deal with . Brings you speed up to a constant 415, with a slow resist that couples nicely with a . I would choose this when you're up against a comp that constantly slows you. Think and a holding a .

8===D grants you some armor and a nice passive. The only times I would take this is when a has 15 kills and is at your inhibitor or there are at least 4 AD oriented champions on the enemy team. Think about who is getting all the kills on the other team.

8===DChoosing is usually the better choice when you find yourself being most of the damage output.

8===DAs for , I usually build this when I need to build tankier or find myself not carrying and assisting my team more. It gives health, CDR, and directly applies armor reduction to the target rather than calculating it to your attacks. You also get early game and assists in snowballs.

8===DSo, what should you build? If a game is going extremely well you should go with , and I mean really well. Otherwise go with

Recommended Build Order

Always start out with these, as a jungler there really is no exception.

Take these two as soon as possible, prioritizing over .

Take this for raw AD, Armor Penetration, CDR, and that sweet sustain. Take if you absolutely need tenacity or go very tankier early on.

The is excellent for better clear times and burst AOE damage. You will end up building which has great sustain and stats for , such as the AD giving his much stronger damage. The on the other hand is my go to choice if the other team is AP centered. An example behind an AP top, mid, and jungle. You might even choose this if you see the enemy mid get extremely fed. It ultimately builds into a which provides both offensive stats and AP defenses.

At this point, decide for yourself what to do. If you choose to finish your into a , you should be ahead a few kills and not be at immediate risk of being incinerated. If not, continue on reading.

We get excellent survivability with . It's generally a great item, and the slow active will help chase and initiate. Even if their only AD is the AD carry, it's still a fantastic choice. If you're ahead, you may choose a to be offensive yet survive, or even an outright

This is a great item that will give excellent magic resist and health stats along with helping your team at the same time. It pairs excellently with your crit execute when you're low health yourself. If you end up dying more than the passive shield saves you, maybe a will fit better. If you want a personal MR item to help with being focused or poke, is the best choice.

At this point your last item is entirely dependent on how the game is running on. is fantastic if they build up lots of armor unless you have/rather build a . is usually my choice if I start picking up deaths or immediately get taken out in fights. If you still can't figure out an item, then I direct you back up to the item section and choose from there.

Jungling Route

With the new season and jungle changes, I'm figuring out my routes. Right now it's very simple and situational. Your first three levels will be >> >>

Start at (blue) if on red side, (red) if on blue. Ask for a heavy leash from your top (bot if red) and mid. Heavy means have them bring it down to ~400 health then ping them to go away, do not and immediately head for the next buff.

If you took the warding trinket, ward the river near the buff if you worried about the buff being stolen. If you took the red triket, scan the bush/ground next to the buff. Either way, check all bushes around the buff, just to be certain the enemy jungler isn't around. the when it is at or under ~430 health, so it can't be stolen with a blind spell and you will get the maximum health possible. If you are at blue, smite whenever but it's still safe to leave it as the killing blow.

Finish off your first clear by killing Gwomp (giant frog) if you just killed blue, or the raptors (four birds) so you will get level 3. Odds are you are about 1/2 to 3/4 health with no more potions, so you'll likely recall and pick up the or gank if an enemy lane is poked down and you're at minimal risk of dying. Usually mid is your next destination.

PANTHYou may also start Golems by the red buff for that amazing smite passive. Getting that means not only will your passive block the large monster damage, stunning the large monster will pretty much block 100% of the damage from it and leave only the small ones to hurt you.

The Arts of Farming, Ganking, Team Fighting, and Warding

Comboing

PANTHPANTHPANTHPANTH => => =>

PANTH!Q-W-E-Q. This is how you are going to gank, initiate, and kite. Only autoattack if the enemy is within range, otherwise spam your Q and save your E for your W. If you use your without [[aegis of zeonia]'s stun the enemy champion can easily get away.

Farming

PANTH!You're the jungler. You won't have constant waves of minions coming for you to last hit. In order to not fall behind you must properly farm your jungle. It's not difficult to do, basically you can follow the same route above to farm, after your first jungle run it gets much easier.

PANTH!When you are jungling you should always be doing something. The only time you should be sitting still is when you're waiting for an allies abilities to come off cooldown in order to gank. Otherwise, always clear jungle camps when you have no other priorities. A lot of the time, especially in solo queue, you'll find that all the lanes are pushed to the enemy tower. That's okay, you don't have to gank every five seconds. Just farm and get experience, or try and cut the enemy jungler off from ganking your allies.

One final note, always ditch the camp you're at if a lane nearby is in distress, whether they have to recall or they were just ganked themselves and the tower is in danger. Just remember that if you kill some jungle creeps but leave at least one alive they don't respawn, so make haste to clear the last of a camp before moving on.

Ganking

PANTH!Ganking lanes is just as important as farming the jungle. A gank can change your bottom lane from being pressured under the tower into giving your AD carry a double kill and taking the enemy tower in return. A misconception is that when you don't get a kill while ganking makes it not worth your time, but blowing someones summoner spell or forcing them to recall is almost as good as a kill. You still deny farm to them for that duration while letting your laner CS hassle free.

PANTH!On the image above I included the basic ganking locations. You can gank through lane, where you can also sneak into the brush by the map boundaries, or the river brushes. The only time you should gank is when you are certain to cause destruction and inconvenience to the other team. When ganking, you should ping the ally in that lane that you are coming. Sometimes you must run in instead of waiting in brush, and your ally may not have noticed in time. Start off the gank by running your combo as explained above with assistance by your ally, unless you are ganking to save their life. I tend to give the kill to whoever is in lane at the time but don't be afraid to take the kill.

PANTH!Now that you gank is done, you have a couple options. You may have taken damage in the middle of the gank and must recall, which is fine. You could hold the lane if your ally is low on health, pushing the lane is fine as long as you deny farm to the enemy. Don't hesitate to take some farm while in lane. One or two CS that would have gone to waste won't cause too much damage. But sometimes, the enemy gets away. In this case, you can go back to farming if they are now extremely cautious, or you can wait in the brush and surprise them again. The most important rule during a gank is to not feed a kill to the enemy laner. Try not to gank if you think you'll just die.

Team Fighting

PANTH!Now the laning phase is over, team fights start breaking out, what do you do? First of all, make sure your team actually is incorporating teamwork. If you jump on the AD carry and your team starts running away, bad events are about to unfold. Unless there's a on your team it is likely you are the one initiating. Likely you are with your team, so run your combo on the closest enemy and fight it out. You should chase down anyone who is low and trying to escape, you can easily kill them. Otherwise, try and kite/poke as much as you can with your , running your combo again as soon as your is up again.

PANTH!You can also make interesting plays with . When it's 5v4 in the other teams favor, they are likely to initiate the fight. What you could do is ult on top of the team fight, remember the base damage on is actually pretty nice considering you don't build AP. Once you're there clean up the fight, the AD carry should be dead already or near death. This play could quickly turn the tide of the game.

PANTH!Another use for could be backdooring. Yes, you're not or , and you likely don't have a crazy amount of attack speed. But with an ultimate that can throw you in the enemy base you can easily backdoor and win the game. Of course, it is unlikely you'll do this every game, but don't forget it is an option.

Warding

Spoiler: Click to view

PANTH!Warding is a huge aspect to the game. The image above shows common spots where wards should be place. As a jungler, you should always keep a few wards on you. Prioritize them at your buff camps in case the enemy jungler feels thrifty. You can also feel generous and throw a ward down near someones lane, but usually that's up to the laners to place them, especially with the season 4 changes. Always try to keep dragon warded, and later in the game baron. Placing a ward could mean avoiding that brush later on with the whole rival team hidden in it.

Wards can also hinder you, especially with the new trinkets, which is why I try to ping that I am ganking and go straight in. If you try to set up a gank by standing in a river brush and see the enemy champions suddenly double back under the tower, chances are there's a ward at your feet. Don't be disgruntled, head back to farming. No need to force a gank. If you really want to gank with surprise, you can buy use the red trinket to destroy enemy wards, leave, and come back later to surprise them.

Summary

FINAL!Thanks for taking the time to read my jungle guide. This is my first guide, and after reading on how to properly make a guide and editing it for over 2 League seasons I'm satisfied on how it turned out. But as only one person and the creator of the guide, I'm not fully keen on the mistakes I've done and information I left out. So, if you have any criticism for me, please leave a comment and let me know. Other than that I hope you had an enjoyable time and wish you good luck on trying this build out.