Hey, I like pantheon because I believe that there is no better feeling in 'LoL' than leaping into the heat of battle heroically and in the words of Phreak "dealing tons of damage" before getting your hind out of there and watching the chat for people raging about how many stacks, bonuses, spree's they lost when you killed them. pantheon fulfills this role perfectly and my guide will help you get /this job done quicker, easier, and go over some cool tricks and tips that i use while playing my favorite champion

As pantheon does this so well he IS definition of fun, the absolute perfect champion to pick when your team needs a strong solo top, ganker/assasin, or even a mid if no one wants to play an AP ranged carry.
this guide will cover the many attributes to pantheons awesomeness that let him be such a fantastic champion to have on your side

Best game so far 24/3/17 RANKED

Pantheon is an AD assassin.
His goal is to leap onto some unsuspecting enemy champion an execute them withing a short time period and leaving your pushers to easily take down turrets an win the game.
Pantheon can do this so well because of his amazing damage output, quick to cast abilities and his global ult that drops onto all the cowards that will inevitably flee from your spear.

apart from all these good things about him though, I play him just because he is a fun assassin with awesome ability's and also requires a little skill to play

Pantheon is also a fantastic laner because he can be placed anywhere and wreck. he is best with a tanky support champion with some CC in bottom but can be placed in a solo top lane if you have a jungler (just make sure you get some support from them every so often).
pantheon can even play mid lane he is so awesome! all you have to is wait in lane without harassing the enemy until you have you first 3 abilities, then harass with Spear Shot, jump on them, land 2 basic attacks and then Heartseeker Strike. retreat to turret and repeat.

Don't forget to gank when you are lvl. 6 and farm with your automatic crit

Best game so far 24/3/17 RANKED

(courtesy riot)
This is slightly outdated as since this was made Pantheons Grand Skyfall has been nerfed and it no longer has as much range as it used too
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PROS

• Awesome damage output
• Great distance Closer
• Ulti AWESOME IN TEAMFIGHTS
• Rarely played, people do not know how to counter him well
• Manly

CONS

• Squishy without warmogs and defensive runes
• Will not win a solo fight with more than 2 strong people
• Ulti takes getting practice

with pantheon, because you will only be focusing on attack damage you NEED armor penetration but only for marks and quints, the reason for not having armor penetration seal's or glyph's is because they don't really scale up the way you would like them to, and therefore are a waste of money and rune slots.
to go with your amazing armor penetration runes, you will need a nice stack of magic resist and armor to stop those nasty enemies from shutting down your inevitable killing spree. also you want the ruses that scale up per level not by a flat amount, having theme scale by level means that you will have a nice steady increase in armor and magic resist throughout the game and not have it all taken away late game.
P.S the reason we get armor penetration marks and quints instead of attack damage ones is because armor penetration gives you some extra needed damage at the start of the game and some sustained damage mid and late game so that people wont be able to counter easily without a good $3000 gold in armor (which I guarantee they will not do)

the masteries I go with are offence based with a hint of ability utility. the offensive masteries are there to maximize damage (armor pen, crit chance, and crit damage). and the utility masteries are there to enhance your ability's(summoner spells etc.), your survivability, and your sustainability (mana regeneration).

basic stuff...

Obviously with any champion there are people you want to target an people that you want to avoid, here is a list of the people that you'll be able to chase down with ease and the ones that you'll want to let your team rough up before you Spear Shot them for the kill


people you do not want to engage until you have a strong build
LeBlanc all the has to do is dash once, hit you, dash again, and snare
Dr. Mundo unless he is very low there is no point
Lux she has amazing CC
Akali soul shroud + dashing
Fizz the most annoying champ in the game
Heimerdinger try to catch him without his turrets and grenade
Singed unless he is very low you do not want to chase this guy


other than that.. there all yours
Bear in mind that pantheon can take any champion but I suggest you take extra care with these and try to only exchange blows with them with some very expensive items

Now to the fun part.

I start my game with sustainability items ( Meki Pendant and 2x Health Potion, because every single person wants to harass the living s*#t out of everyone else at the start of the game, thus the sustain is there for you to be able to take some hits and spend some ability's without the need to go back before you have enough farm for your next item. A tip for early game fights is drinking your health pot/s before you engage the enemy, you will be surprised by how many times it saves you

EARLY GAME Now because it is my firm belief that you need speed to play a good assassin/ damage dealer, that is why I choose Boots of Swiftness over Berserker's Greaves. because of this decision i take dagger early on so that I can start building the expensive stuff pantheon needs later on, and so that I can hopefully get one more hit on my enemy before they are overwhelmed by my presence and backs off to their tower and leaves the exp. to me. The same thing goes when you get your zeal after you B.F sword

MIDDLE GAME after you have purchased your Infinity Edge for that sweet crit damage, its time to do something about how many crit's you do, for me the 'certain death' crits aren't quite enough, so what do I do about this? get a Phantom Dancer, i'm not sure what the image for the item is but its sexy as hell, phantom dancer also buffs your attack and movement speed as well. HILARITY ENSURES!!!! so after you have your two core items its time to get some more damage going on (and some sustain). now the reason i choose Bloodthirster over any other B.F sword based items is 1. because it sounds sexy as hell 2. because it gives you some life steal. used for when need some health back off the nearest minion wave after killing someone tough. 3. STACKS STACKS STACKS!!! with full stacks on this bad boy (or girl) you will have 100 damage. with this item somehow attached to your body, you and pantheon can truly go places, glorious places... Finally for your mid game build you might want to consider getting some kind of armor, magic resist, or health item. you'll probably end up getting a ' Warmog's Armor' because of all the armor and magic resist you already have from your rune page.

LATE GAME After 45 mins of wrecking face as pantheon you might think to yourself "how could there possibly be a late game?" well, sorry to burst your bubble kid, but due to some ad teammates or some really skillful enemies, the game might only just be starting for you and your team. in this case I advise that you do whatever you want, there is no reason for you not to go nuts at this stage of the game (provided you already have the 5 key items we talked about earlier). I always go full out damage and grab myself a Maw of Malmortius as it gives you a fantastic passive that will go nicely with your warmogs and gives me the attack damage that i love, but you might want a ' Guardian Angel if your planning on taking on more than 3 people at once that have high damage, or you might want a Thornmail if their team is AD heavy and you think that you might be taking a little too much damage from their carry... but once again for me its all about the damage.

P.S The reason i have not included ' Youmuu's Ghostblade' in this guide is that I ALWAYS FORGET TO USE IT! Surely I'm not the only one who cannot be stuffed activating for than my 6 macro keys (Q,W,E,R,D,F). however bare in mind that the ghostblade isn't actually needed in this guide anyway because of the summoner spells I've taken and the bonus attack speed that goes with the phantom dancer. this guide is how I play pantheon, but by all means it is a good item if you choose it

P.P.S I recommend choosing boots of swiftness over others but by all means pick up some mercury treads or ninja tabi if you thin that you'd like some more armor etc. to go with your runes

P.P.P.S Bear in mind that this build does not calculate stacks or extra damage with armor pen runes. so instead of your final damage being 298 at 18, it will be something like 338 at 18, just letting you know

I choose a fairly aggressive skill sequence because i like being aggressive and sticking my spear all up in the enemy's face. sounds like a great motto for a 'movie' ;)

Spear Shot After I've gotten my three early skills I take an extra point in my spear shot to help with your last hits, if your being suppressed by a ranged damage dealer and you don't want to get up to close and cuddly until you are sure you can destroy their health bar in less than 10 seconds, other than that i leave it at 2 points until later when i need to wipe of those last couple of bars of health away from a fleeing enemy

Aegis of Zeonia Aegis of Zeonia is your most useful skill; it closes distances, initiates fights, is a great escape mechanism, and keeps the enemy while you or your tower lay waste to them. However i must ask you not to put all your points into this skill until late game as it does not improve that much, as we are not building into AP we do not need this skill ranked up or on a short cooldown, you should only need it twice in a fight: once to initiate/ stun, and again to close the distance between you and your opponent as they flee in terror

Heartseeker Strike At first this ability seems useless apart from its 'certain death' passive, but i must ask that you have the utmost faith in it and by levels 5-6 you will be doing plenty of damage with your B.F sword behind it. heart seeker strikes main attribute as a damage ability is its speed and reach, late game it is the equivalent of 5-7 basic attacks over a 2.5 second period, its reach is also helpful as it is difficult to avoid when running away from it, it's main reason for this effectiveness is that the area of damage gets bigger the further away from you the enemy gets. and so to avoid this fury of strikes the enemy has to move to the side of you leaving a huge opening for your team mates to step in and beat the **** outta them.

Grand Skyfall In my opinion this is one of the most overlooked ultimate's in the game, this is fantastic!, most people upon seeing a big red circle appear around them don't think about how much damage it really does until it has already hit them and you've completely decimated their health bar down to a few auto crits or a spear shot. some people even wait for a bit an then walk right into the center of it thinking that through it is the best means of an escape.

The key to this ultimate is the placing of it, it can be placed in many different areas of the map for different situations, placing it over a team fight with either result in the enemy team splitting up (making it easier to pick individuals off), or better.. staying exactly where they are and seeing a huge chunk of health being taken out their health bar. other ways you can use you ulti is in a 1v1 fight; if your tank, carry, or support is engaged in a fight that they will loose do not hesitated to place a circle of friendship over the top of them, doing so will encourage the enemy to lay off and flee or continue fighting and be destroyed. your ulti can be used to cut off fleeing champions who will often not change their course to avoid you (try and place it in a one way route so that there is no where else to go).

All this is well and good, but I have saved my favorite use of your ult for last: targeting that weak unsuspecting champion right on top of their tower! because towers are so overlooked as an OP damage dealer and safeguard..
NOT WHEN PANTHEON IS AROUND. placing you circle of awesome over a low champion directly over their tower will lull them into a false sense of security, with luck they will walk right into the center of it thinking that they will shut down your godlike status (how wrong they are). watch as their health drains away!

P.S a useful thing to do when ulti'ing is when the circle turns a darker color start activating your W skill Aegis of Zeonia, for some reason even if the enemy walks out of the AOE as soon as you land you will perform a huge leap bigger than the actual range) and slap them across their face with your shield of glory! also performing this same maneuver on a champ under a tower will give you a quick '[[Aegis Protection' passive which will stop a turret from doing any damage while you do heaps to the person silly enough to stand underneath it
P.S gank as soon as you see an opening and have this ability

Basically I have a set combo when i go in for a kill

1. Q Spear Shot for initial damage
2. W Aegis of Zeonia for keeping them in place for my E
3. E Heartseeker Strike use as soon as your W is cast or when you need some more range (it has a lot of reach)
4. Q Spear Shot again by the time i have executed my combo this ability has come off cooldown and you can cast it again to crit someone, or do some more damage before flashing and ghosting after someone
5. R Grand Skyfall I use this either at the start of my combo to deal initial damage/ cut people off, or at the end to catch up with the quicker champions an finish them off

bear in mind its better to focus on ONE champion at a time engaging in a fight. your E move can focus two but don't go out of your way with your other abilities and auto attacks. Better one dead than 2 escaped

notice pantheon's low mana costs, take note of these and harass with dat' spear shot, don't worry 'meki pendant' will cover the cost of the first 10 spear shots on the enemy champions and minions

another point to dwell on is that Pantheon is actually classified as an assassin in the store and should be played that way: initiate, kill, leave, all within 10 seconds at max

Committing to a fight is very important, run or stay. initiating, then running then going back then hesitating and finally dying in not a good look for anyone. my advice to combat this is to go with your gut. you need to be %100 committed with Pantheon

unlike my runes and items for aggression, here are those times when you just need to say "fudge it" and head or the nearest exit available. this is where 'ghost' and 'flash' come in. Flash will clear you from any situation, and Ghost will make sure you stay away from it.
But like anything in league of legends it can be turned around to be aggressive also, use flash when ganking to create a massive distance closer, paired with 'Aegis of the Legion" it will close any gap between you and a squishy carry/ support. Ghost can also be used offensively by closing the distance between you and a scared helpless enemy, or get you to an enemy who is harassing one of your teammates to provide a helping hand
It is always helpful to have at least one summoner spell on cooldown, but don't be afraid to use both at once, better to be safe than 'shutdown'

Other alternatives...

• IGNITE: Awesome spell for putting the moves on a low enemy who you don't think you'll be able to catch
• Exhaust: Great for keeping a champ in range of your combo and basic attacks
• Heal: OK I guess... if you don't mind being called a n00b
• Promote: leave it for the supports, please
• Clarity: once again a god spell but leave it to your support

FARMING
I cannot STRESS how much you need to farm as pantheon, your items are expensive and to keep your damage ratio high as the game progresses you will need about $3600 dowlas by 35 mins, its a big number but it is get-able, this number will come from 4 kills, 75 minions, 2 towers, and 2 dragons + any amount in assists and tank minions.

farming is relatively easy once you have your 'B.F sword' and your ' Certain Death' passive, if you are being harassed in lane use you 'spear shot' with 2 points invested in it, or ask for a gank from your jungler or mid, asking for help is not a n00b thing to do

LANING
Pantheon is a strong last hitter and damage dealer but not so good at keeping minions away form his turret that is why he is best with a support tank as he is squishy early game. however if you are required to do a solo top role this is not a bad thing you will have more exp and you'll be able to farm minions with the help of your E (Heartseeker strike) and your auto crits. Midding is a challenge for anyone who is does not have ranged basic attacks so play it cool until you have a full combo (levels 4-5), then you can push your enemy out of lane when they get to close or jump on you under your tower (simply stun them and watch as the tower dominates them). but don't for get to gank when you can past level 6.
also as you are a mana dependent champion don't forget to check out blue buff on occasion and pick it up, you deserve it

P.S. I hate to say it but a little extra kills from a 'KS" never hurt

In any game of LoL it is important to use the full potential of your team (they have abilities too), it doesn't matter if your plan is communicated through; Skype, chat, or through of furious Pinging. GET YOUR POINT ACROSS IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE, I for one feel that there is no worse feel than casting your Grand Skyfall to find yourself alone in the middle of 5 kill hungry enemies..

Thus it is also important to let people know when you want to gank their lane, people will be very angry at you when the enemy gets away, even if it wasn't your fault people always blame the ganker.

It is also important to consider who you want to attack with mid and late game after the Laning phase is over, I find pantheon work best with high CC tanks ( Volibear and Alistar are the best <3) or just people who are willing to give you the kill to help your item set up

Like any champion they are meant to be fun and I truly enjoy playing one of LoL's forgotten champions, and you should to. keep some general pointers in mind like how to last hit, what to do when getting harassed, and you basic combos and distance closers, as well as where and when to place you Ulti.
other things to consider are who you are about to attack (le blanc can simply jump away from you) and try not to attack anyone that can CC the **** out of you and run away or bait you to their carry.

Pantheon can be frustrating at first and takes some getting used to, it took me 5 games before I realized the potential of his E skill, but no matter what happens i urge you to stick with him through thick and thin, the good games and the bad games. Play smart and let "Honor Compel you!!!"

Lastly i cannot wait for baker Pantheon to come out, it's gonna be SWEET!

feel free to email or comment with any questions or advice that for my first build to answer any questions individually.. or receive any RP that someone want to give me :D
Cheers!

rbroadstock@stmichaels.vic.edu.au
North America account: pandamonium301