Hello bakers,

I am a EUW platinum toplaner who plays almost exclusively Shen and Pantheon in ranked. I currently have close to 300k mastery points on Pantheon. I learned him through practice, as well as from watching elite Pantheon streamers Spear Shot (EUW) and Keegun (NA).

This is a guide on my style of playing Pantheon, bruiser-oriented with Muramana. It will not cover more standard builds like Eclipse into Black Cleaver, but will explain comparative strengths and weaknesses of my build.

I will detail all my reasonings and give multiple build options. This guide also includes some tips about Pantheon's ablities, and has a section on wave management in the top lane.

PROS

• Strong laning phase
• High snowballing potential
• Oppressive when ahead
• Reliable single-target stun for the team
• Incredible roaming
• Easy to pick up

CONS

• Mediocre scaling
• No good escape once committed
• Uncomfortable in long duels
• Underwhelming in teamfights
• Weak when behind
• Team-reliant kit

Pantheon excels at winning lane thanks to his strong early game, and at transferring his lead to his entire team thanks to his point and click stun Shield Vault and semi-global ult Grand Starfall.

However, he tends to struggle as the game goes on and enemies get tankier. He is mostly relegated to a team utility role in the late game unless far ahead.

He is mechanically simple, but requires good decision making to make correct use of his abilities, which will only come with practice.

Muramana has 2 passives. The first gives AD based on max mana which results in a ludicrous amount of AD. Expect about 80 AD from Muramana alone in the late game. But the second passive is the real reason why it is so good on Pantheon: it deals bonus damage on every damaging ability that lands (as well as a bit on auto attacks). As icing on the cake, there is some ability haste, which Pantheon greatly appreciates.

This second passive adds a lot of damage to everything Pantheon does. During short fights, he quickly rotates through his spells and autos to burst down an enemy, this rapidly procs Muramana several times. During extended fights, he casts numerous Comet Spears as it has a short cooldown, which procs Muramana a great amount of times.

Muramana is the number one item that gives Pantheon the most damage out of all legendary items (not counting mythics). In fact, it does so much damage by itself that it legitimately removes the need for lethality, which makes space for tankier and better scaling items.

There are two main weaknesses in Muramana. The first and most obvious one is that Manamune requires time to transform. Therefore, playing such a build on Pantheon sacrifices some of his early power in exchange for incredible scaling compared to a normal build like Eclipse into Black Cleaver. The second weakness is the complete lack of defensive features.



If we look at the PROS and CONS from before, the differences between this Muramana build and a standard build would be as follows:

• High snowballing potential -> Mediocre snowballing potential
• Oppressive when ahead -> Oppressive when ahead... only once Muramana is complete
• Mediocre scaling -> Amazing scaling
• Uncomfortable in long duels -> Strong in long duels

Until your Muramana finishes stacking and you complete your mythic item, this build is weaker than something like Eclipse into Black Cleaver. As soon as both those conditions are met, the build becomes stronger, and remains so until the end of the game.

This breaking point should happen around 20:00 in an average game. If you snowballed hard and bought Tear of the Goddess early, you can reach it as early as 16:00-17:00. If you are very behind, you can be several minutes late and the game may even end without the build having come online at all.



So you have two options.

• Option 1: build Manamune first, and then build your mythic.
• Option 2: sit on a Tear of the Goddess, build your mythic first, and then complete Manamune.

Both should result in similar Muramana completion times as long as you remember to stack Tear of the Goddess with abilities if you went with option 2. Then what's better? Both are usually viable. It mostly depends on your mythic of choice, as well as your preferences.

Even an untransformed Manamune is a surprisingly decent item, it gives a truckload of AD to any mana champion and can essentially be seen as an AD / ability haste stat stick until it transforms. At the time you complete it, it should usually give Pantheon approx. 60-65AD (exact amount depends on your level and Tear of the Goddess stacks) on its own.

Perhaps more importantly, it only costs 2900g, whereas a mythic + Tear of the Goddess costs approx. 3700g (depending on the mythic). Therefore, the Manamune first build path is stronger early, but the mythic first build path may become stronger as soon as you can afford your mythic + Tear of the Goddess. Let's see an example with Divine Sunderer.

• For 2900-3000g. With option 1, you would have Manamune and a lot of AD as a result. With option 2, you would have something like Tear of the Goddess + Sheen + Phage + Kindlegem, which only gives 15AD (and a Sheen effect), although it at least gives some survivability.
• For 3700g. With option 1, you would now have something like Manamune + Kindlegem. With option 2, you would have Tear of the Goddess + Divine Sunderer. Option 1 still gives more AD, but option 2 is overall stronger at this point into the game.
• For 6200g. Both options even out, since you now have both Manamune and Divine Sunderer anyway.

In conclusion, the 2 options have slightly different windows of power. See if you want to have a lot of AD very fast (option 1), or want something a bit safer and more flexible (option 2).

It also depends on which mythic item you're building. Here are my recommendations.

• Divine Sunderer: Both viable, leaning towards option 2 (mythic first).
• Goredrinker: Both viable, leaning towards option 1 ( Manamune first).
• Trinity Force or Stridebreaker: Both viable, leaning towards option 2.
• Turbo Chemtank: Definitely option 1.
• Eclipse or Duskblade of Draktharr: Definitely option 2.

Starting with + would enable a faster completed Muramana, however, Pantheon is an early game champion who wants to fight often. Tear of the Goddess is a 400g investment that does not give him combat power, unlike a or + start.

If you feel cheeky / very comfortable, feel free to go ahead and start with + , but I believe in an easy matchup, it will just give your opponent breathing room, and in a hard matchup, it will just make things more unplayable.

Those two are the most popular keystone choices for Pantheon. Pick depending on your personal preference and the situation. For example, Goredrinker pairs best with Conqueror, while Divine Sunderer leaves both options open. In some matchups, Press the Attack is uncomfortable to proc due to various reasons, for example, Shen's Spirit's Refuge can block the 3 auto attacks from your empowered Shield Vault.

• is an amazing source of mana sustain during the laning phase as long as you're hitting abilities.
• is taken instead if you're starting with Corrupting Potion, since you don't need Presence of Mind anymore in this case.
  
  
• is very useful since many matchups, and almost all comps will have some kind of CC that can be mitigated by tenacity.
• is our second choice if you really don't need tenacity against the enemy comp.
  
  
• is a very powerful rune in the toplane, especially for champions like Pantheon who fight to the death.
• may be taken instead into squishy ranged matchups where you just want to kill them in one swift all-in.

• saves 300g and gives a little bit of movespeed. It does nothing for a while and restricts your buying freedom: take if feeling comfortable enough.
  
• is an extremely powerful rune for a champion like Pantheon, who will fight a lot in the early game and may need the sustain both for HP and mana. You can sell a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will if comfortable enough that you won't need it, for a quick 35g and getting the max mana buff immediately.
  
• is amazing together with Corrupting Potion and Biscuit Delivery, both for getting the immediate sustain to win close fights, and to gap close with the movespeed buff.

You can take + with a + start, or + with a start, as described in the Build section at the very top of this guide.



The Inspiration tree is tried and true, however, you can attempt paired with either or , or something like + if you feel like experimenting.

Pantheon is an AD caster. In order to remain threatening throughout a long fight with a bruiser build, he needs ability haste. This allows for numerous Comet Spears and improves his chances of casting several Shield Vaults during a fight. This is even more important in our Muramana build since most of the value will come from multiple ability casts.

Lethality synergizes infamously well with Pantheon, but we do not need it in this build as Muramana alone has enough damage already. Moreover, it is something of an early game snowballing tool for Pantheon, and doesn't have that much value later in the game.

Apart from ability haste, the most desirable stats are AD (obviously) and HP. HP is especially important as Muramana has no defensive features whatsoever. It is useless to have insane overkill damage if you blow up every time. Other useful stats are the aforementioned lethality, as well as armor penetration, resistances, physical vamp / omnivamp and movespeed.

In conclusion, we want mostly AD, ability haste and HP.

Of course. Read the "About Muramana" section for more details on this item, if you skipped it somehow.

Did someone say AD, ability haste and HP? These 2 bruiser mythics offer perfect stats and have powerful effects. Divine Sunderer is stronger for dueling, split pushing (killing turrets), and shredding tanks. Goredrinker is stronger for team fighting and being tanky yourself. They are the safest and most obviously viable options. Take your pick.

After your mythic item, you want Black Cleaver, which gives, once again, a perfect mix of AD, ability haste and HP. It is an insane item on Pantheon, even if the enemy team is squishy. It gives more armor penetration and movespeed during fights which are all useful. You can never go wrong with building it 3rd for a bruiser build.

In conclusion, your 2-item core in the midgame will be + or + , supplemented by for a very powerful 3-item core come mid-late game.

Build Plated Steelcaps for auto attack resistance, Mercury's Treads for tenacity, or Ionian Boots of Lucidity as the offensive option. Usually build tier 2 boots after Manamune, but in ranged matchups, it would make sense to rush Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads to resist their poke and gap close.

These 2 other bruiser mythics give decent stats and have interesting effects. Trinity Force could be well suited to split pushing, while Stridebreaker can help you chase down enemies and simply run faster around the map to reach places earlier. They do not give a lot of HP, however, and feel a bit squishy if you didn't snowball, compared to Goredrinker and Divine Sunderer.

Tanktheon! Muramana packs so much damage that Pantheon can afford to buy a tank mythic and still have sufficient damage to be a threat. Out of the 3, Turbo Chemtank takes the cake thanks to its powerful active and ability haste stacking. You could try to follow this up with items like etc. if you feel like experimenting, otherwise just go normal .

Unlike Prowler's Claw, Eclipse provides survivability through omnivamp and a shield, and Duskblade of Draktharr arguably offers indirect survivability through stealth, and has desirable haste stacking. You can try this assassin hybrid style, but it is extremely squishy at 2 items. An example build is

• is a powerful teamfighting item that offers sustain and anti-burst during fights. It is particularly strong together with Goredrinker and Conqueror.
  
  
• is the most defensive lethality item, with a nice amount of HP. It offers burst to kill squishies faster and a very useful spell shield especially when ulting in.
  
  
• is your go-to armor item. Build it every time against heavy physical damage.
  
  
• is an obvious buy if you need Grievous Wounds, which will often be the case. Luckily, it gives... AD, ability haste and HP. Lovely.
  
  
• can replace Sterak's Gage against a heavy magic damage comp as it is the only decent MR item for Pantheon.
  
  
• can be teched in if the enemy comp has obscene amounts of shields. It is a very squishy item, but the anti shield passive is too strong in this scenario.
  
  
• is generally unnecessary with the passive on Grand Starfall and Black Cleaver (and potentially Divine Sunderer), especially due to the diminishing returns of percentage armor penetration. Only buy it if the enemy team has absolutely unreasonable amounts of armor.
  
  
• is your 1-button answer for cleansing debilitating CC like suppressions. Only take it if your survival is very important, like if you're the most fed carry on your team.
  
  
• is a nice item to have in the late game when death timers are high. Only build it early if you have a large bounty you want to protect, but don't get caught alone and waste it. One of its components is the all-powerful Stopwatch which can singlehandedly win a teamfight. Do not underestimate the League of Stopwatch.
  
  
• gives nice stats and omnivamp and can make you an unmanageable drain tank if you are already fed. If even, however, the lack of defensive stats will be too easily punished in a build that already lacks it due to the presence of Muramana. Only build it when far ahead.

The build part of this guide is mostly over. This section gives general pointers on Pantheon. The Quick overview part is if you are not familiar with Pantheon's kit. Then there is a part about Trading patterns in the laning phase, and finally, some quick and dirty Combos and Tips.




Hover icons for details if you are unfamiliar with Pantheon's kit.

Using Mortal Will correctly is one of the primary skills to master on Pantheon. This includes choosing the right ability to empower, as well as knowing when to hold an ability in order to wait for the empowered version.

Pantheon's bread and butter for fighting, poking, trading, killing, wave clearing. The tap version is almost always preferred. The thrown version is crippled by a prohibitive cooldown, relative ease of dodging, and half damage if it goes through a minion, but it has its situational uses when you need the range. Empowered Q is a major source of damage and is important to land. Learn to visually identify when an enemy is below the 20%HP threshold.

Pantheon's source of hard CC as well as his gap closer or chasing tool. The point-and-click nature makes him notoriously oppressive when fed, or when setting up a gank. Use it wisely. Empowered W is a frequent engage tool as it quickly stacks (and ) or instantly procs , and also immediately gives back 3 passive stacks, making the next empowered ability come sooner.

An extremely potent tool both offensively and defensively. The damage over time is low, but the final slam hurts badly. More importantly, the damage immunity can block lethal enemy attacks or abilities. It is extremely important to not waste E and make smart use of it. Knowing when to blow it for burst and when to hold it for survival is an important skill to master on Pantheon and also requires knowing your opponent's kit. Empowered E is not used too often, but can be useful for chasing or fleeing.

Pantheon's infamous semi-global ultimate. Use it for ganking other lanes, joining fights to turn them around, surprising your lane opponent who is cheekily pushing your turret, cutting off your enemies' escape after a won teamfight, simply catching a big wave that is crashing under your turret... Pantheon's R has many uses and has almost limitless potential. Knowing when an opportunity is good will only come with practice. Do try to land the spear, as its slow almost guarantees you can catch up to a fleeing enemy.

Level 1

Look to tap Q repeatedly to start chunking your opponent and zoning them off the wave, and contest the push by hitting minions to get level 2 first. Try to not miss a Q , especially empowered. It is easier to hit them when they are last hitting.

If you space correctly, most melee champions cannot easily retaliate against your tap Q poke, but a few like or can match your range. Avoid pushing the wave too fast: hurting the enemy wave a little bit more than your own is generally sufficient to secure level 2 first.

You may have to give up level 2 priority if you leashed your jungler, if you started W because of an invade situation, or if their level 1 is stronger and/or way better at shoving, like for example or the majority of ranged top laners.

Level 2

You get a decent powerspike with W and now have genuine kill potential on opponents who heavily disrespect your damage. If you got level 2 first and they are out of position, you can generally kill them or force .

Otherwise, the general concept is the same: if you can afford it in your matchup, hold your push advantage and aim to get level 3 first. Trade aggressively if applicable.

Level 3-5

At level 3, with E , you are stronger than most champions. You can usually trade aggressively unless the enemy wave is huge, as long as you make smart use of your abilities. This is the usual time to look for a kill and get a lead in your lane.

Do note this is a frequent gank timing. What to do from there mostly depends on the state of the wave - more on this in the next section. Level 4 and 5 are similar to level 3 in terms of relative power.

Level 6

Unlike previous iterations of Pantheon, you will get a serviceable combat powerspike at level 6, with the passive armor penetration on R . But many top laners will have a stronger powerspike than you and at that point, if you didn't get a lead before, a favorable matchup may become even or an even matchup may become unfavorable, for example (and many others) become significantly harder.

Fortunately, this is also the time where you can start looking for roams with R , notably mid or in potential topside skirmishes since it is easy to walk back top after those. Roaming bot is a high risk high reward play if you don't have to go back top. Only do it if the outcome would be awesome enough to offset lost plates and CS.

Sometimes, you may simply R back to lane. If your lane opponent is naively pushing your turret and vulnerable, you may get a free kill or a burnt . This is a mistake even high elo top laners make occasionally against Pantheon. Using R to catch a sizeable wave that is crashing under your turret is also acceptable.

Level 7+

In the context of this build, you should have a at this point. With the lack of , this period of the game is played less aggressively than with a usual Pantheon build. Unless already far ahead, you are generally not looking for a solo kill here. However you are still strong enough to get one if they make a mistake, so don't hesitate to punish if applicable!

Look to stack on your lane opponent rather than on minions as it stacks twice as fast. This will occur naturally as you trade. But in a situation where you're just last hitting, remember to use abilities every now and then to get your stacks.

Maximizing your keystone

The ideal use of Conqueror is to stack it with repeated tap Qs , as the cooldown allows for it. If the opponent doesn't respect this, you can easily stack it up before engaging an advantageous fight. If they walk back to reset your Conqueror, which is often the correct reaction, you now have temporary control of the wave and may zone them off CS.

The ideal use of Press the Attack is much more straightforward: jump in with empowered W and fight. One important point is that if they run Bone Plating, it is in your best interest to first break it with Q , throwing it if necessary, before engaging with empowered W , otherwise Bone Plating will deny a lot of damage.



Pantheon does not have optimal predetermined combos, it is all situational. Only practice will enable you to make correct use of your 3 abilities in the correct order, and even challenger players may make mistakes when piloting Pantheon. However, some common proactive patterns are as follows, depending on starting Mortal Will stacks:

• (5 stacks) Empowered W -> triple auto -> Q
  Quick trade with no counterplay. Powerful with . Either back off or commit with autos and/or E .
  
  
• (3 or 4 stacks) W -> auto -> empowered Q
  Quick trade with no counterplay, usually less damage than the first combo but also less predictable and smoother. Either back off or commit with autos and/or E .
  
  
• (5 stacks) empowered W -> triple auto -> Q -> auto -> empowered E
  Possible followup to the first combo, hard engage for a big trade or an all-in. Use the movespeed buff to chase or disengage.
  
  
• (5 stacks) empowered W -> triple auto -> Q -> E -> (auto) -> empowered Q
  Variant on the previous combo with more damage but no movespeed buff. Try to squeeze the final auto in the early game, but it becomes optional after your Q cooldown is low enough.
  
  
• (2 stacks) W -> auto -> E -> slam E early -> empowered Q
  Decently quick trade that deals good damage and is unpredictable due to starting at 2 Mortal Will stacks, but it blows your E which commits you.
  
  
• (5 stacks) empowered Q -> auto -> W -> auto -> E -> auto -> empowered Q
  This is not so much a strict sequence as an example of what scrappy fights will often look like, and an illustration of the importance of weaving autos in-between your abilities to stack up Mortal Will efficiently.

• Starting from the midgame, stack up Mortal Will by tapping Qs in the air.
  
  
• is faster than . This works for both the tap and thrown variants of Comet Spear.
  
  
• You can reach Baron Nashor or a non-leashed Dragon from across the wall with a thrown Comet Spear. Get stealing!
  
  
• The leap from Shield Vault can be used as a juking tool, for example against Darius' Decimate.
  
  
• You can cancel the triple auto from empowered Shield Vault by spamming a move command. This is important if you are stunning to disengage, as the triple auto would be a waste of time.
  
  
• Remember the bulk of the damage from Aegis Assault is in the final slam, not in the continuous stabbing which is weak. This is why it is sometimes appropriate to slam E early for burst.
  
  
• Aegis Assault denies all damage from champions who are in the half-plane in front of you. The location of the champion is what matters, not the direction of the projectile or anything else. While this doesn't matter most of the time, it is important to know.
  
  
• You can use empowered Aegis Assault to go back to lane faster from base if you know you will not need the Mortal Will stacks immediately upon arriving.
  
  
• You can Q or E right after the triple auto from empowered W , almost at the same time. However, if you input the Q or E command too early, you will simply cancel the triple auto.
  
  
• You can E right after casting Q , almost at the same time.
  
  
• After a W -> auto, you can walk back slightly before casting Q while the opponent is still stunned, in order to disengage more efficiently.
  
  
• If you need to escape and you know the enemy currently has no way to interrupt Grand Starfall, it's time to make a stylish exit and leap out of there!

Wave management is a critical concept for all top laners, but even more so for Pantheon, who wants to leverage his laning phase to the absolute maximum. If you are not already familiar with the basics of wave management in the top lane, keep reading, this will help you.



Top lane is like a game of ping pong. Minions originally meet in the middle of the lane, but one champion inevitably takes the push, either by last hitting while their opponent is conceding CS, or by actively hurting minions faster than their opponent. The wave then pushes towards the turret until it eventually crashes. Then, it bounces back thanks to the turret compensating the minion difference. It is now pushing in the other direction. Rinse and repeat. (This is a simplification, of course. The goal is just to give a general picture.)



Pantheon has a tendency to naturally take the push in early levels into most matchups. Having the push gives you a minion advantage which makes you stronger, as your numerous minions will defend you from enemy champions and deal high damage.

However, it also puts you in an uncomfortable position: in the enemy half of the lane, which is vulnerable to ganks from the jungler, or occasionally mid laner or support.

When you have the push, your eventual goal is generally to crash the wave into the turret so that it bounces back into you. This has a lot of advantages.

• It guarantees the wave will bounce back and push towards your half of the lane, which is a comfortable position regarding ganks.
• While the enemy is busy farming under tower, you can roam to help your team or invade the enemy jungle.
• Right after a crash is an amazing timing to recall and lose very little CS for it, commonly known as a "cheater recall". You now have an item advantage and the wave is pushing into you.
• If the crashing wave is large, you may dive, often together with an ally, sometimes alone if you have a gigantic HP advantage.
• Your jungler can walk through alcove brushes unseen and lane gank once the wave has bounced back.

You don't have to crash the wave ASAP, it depends on several factors like where the enemy jungler is, how much gold you wish to recall with, etc. But you want to crash it eventually, or alternatively, try to make the enemy hurt your minions and push back into you, for example by baiting AoE abilities.

If you get ganked while having the push, you can try to escape or fight the 1v2. With the minion advantage and Pantheon's high damage, you may successfully 1v2 or at least get a 1 for 1. But of course, ideally, you usually want to see the gank with a ward or predict it, and just move back preemptively.



The wave is pushing into you, perhaps after you successfully crashed it. This puts you in a safe position in your half of the lane, and is an ideal time for your jungler or other allies to come and gank for you.

This position is so comfortable that it would be really nice to have it forever... That is why your ideal goal in this situation is often to freeze the wave in this position. This is achieved by having an enemy wave larger than yours by about 4 minions, only last hitting from there, and never allowing enemy minions to reach your turret (tank them to hold them in place or pull them back by walking into an alcove brush if necessary).

If you secure a freeze, your opponent has to break the freeze. If they are strong enough to do it solo (they beat you in a 1v1), you will unfortunately have to let them crash the wave. But it is an ideal time to gank them.

If you're actually stronger in a 1v1, which is often the case with Pantheon in the early game, you can make the opponent's lane their worst experience of the day by zoning them off CS while you last hit, therefore building a large gold lead over time. Do not mindlessly Comet Spear the wave if you want to maintain the freeze. The opponent will need to badly outplay you in a 1v1, or get help from their jungler, mid or support, if they want to play the game.



A common application of all this for strong early game champions like Pantheon is to get the push early game, and crash the first cannon wave, or 3rd wave, into the enemy turret. This is the most common "cheater recall" and can give you a strong early advantage.

Slow push the first wave, just hurting the enemy minions a bit more than yours is sufficient. Just maintain that push advantage during the second wave, this is important: if you push the 2nd wave too fast, it will crash. While this can be good, it is not the strategy we're describing here (it's just a way to get early level priority but still get the lane to bounce back and push towards you). Anyway, once the 3rd wave arrives, shove it as fast as possible with your abilities and recall once you've made sure it's crashed.

If you farmed decently, you should have 400-500g upon executing this, which allows you to buy any basic component you wish. In the specific context of this build, it is an ideal time to squeeze in an early Tear of the Goddess. You can also buy a Control Ward if you want, if you got perfect CS.

An alternative is to not recall, but move to the topside Rift Scuttler if your jungler is contesting it, while your opponent is stuck farming a large wave under turret. They will greatly appreciate the help and you can simply go back top after, with the wave now comfortably pushing into you.

If attempting this 3rd wave crash, be wary that if the enemy jungler started botside, you can frequently expect a gank starting from 3:00 which is exactly when you're trying to crash the wave.



It is important to know that not all kills have the same value. Killing your lane opponent is generally great, but it may make them lose a lot of CS, or no CS, and those are not the same result at all. In the worst scenarios, it is actually not worth it for you.

For example, imagine you're running Ignite, they have Teleport, you are extremely low after killing them, and the wave state is bad: either slow pushing to their side, or close to crashing into your turret. What happens then is that you're forced to recall and walk back to lane, while they can TP back and lose no CS at all. Meanwhile, you lose a lot of CS either to your turret or to your own minions. You probably still got more gold from the kill than what you lose, but now have an XP deficit, which is extremely detrimental, and you haven't fixed the wave.

The ideal times to kill your lane opponent are therefore in favorable wave states that would result in them losing a lot of CS in addition to giving you the kill gold. This generally implies they do not have Teleport or have already used it.

If the wave is frozen on your side and you kill them, you are free to recall. If the freeze was properly managed on your part, you can walk back to lane and it will still be frozen.

If the wave is crashing into their turret and you kill them, they lose the CS to the turret, which is why it is so beneficial to successfully dive a lane opponent, even if you die too.

When you kill your opponent and the wave is pushing to them but not crashing, you should always make it crash if possible: this is called fixing the wave, as it is in a poor state if you leave it as is. It may not be possible if they have Teleport or if the enemy jungler is lurking around. Also, after a successful gank, you may need to ask your jungler to help you fix the wave, in situations where you would barely fail to make it crash on your own. Even if your jungler ends up sharing XP and stealing some CS in the process, see it as a justified little tax, as they're helping you a great deal.

This guide focuses more on laning phase, but here I will share some thoughts on what happens after.

Pantheon is usually not strong enough to sidelane offensively after the laning phase unless he got fed. He can often at most sidelane defensively by matching an enemy split pusher and holding turrets as he is quite hard to dive. However, with this build, you should be strong enough to sidelane against many champions and duel them successfully. If you still aren't, either because they're too fed or their champion is too good a duelist, it's fine - as I said, you can hold a turret.

If you are strong enough in a duel, however, look to pressure a side lane at the same time as your team is pressuring a different location, like the midlane or an objective. The general idea is to draw an enemy to you to defend the lane, and then ult to your team for a favorable 5v4 in order to secure an important objective, like a Dragon or Baron Nashor . Do not get caught and killed while sidelaning!!

You don't have to be the one playing that role, you can also move together with your team if an ally can sidelane instead. Pantheon excels at picks by flanking with R , and/or simply with his point-and-click W stun, possibly gap closing with if necessary. Burning for a successful pick is almost always worth it.

Other than picks, R is also a decent engaging tool if the circumstances allow it. It is, after all, a very potent gap closer, and the AoE damage is quite high. If you land in a dangerous position, E can go a long way to buy time for your allies to join the fray. On the other hand, if your allies already engaged a fight and you are close but not quite there, simply ulting in is a lot faster than running into the fight and also does damage. It might be the correct call depending on the exact situation.

Outside of ult considerations, Pantheon is usually a mediocre teamfighter, but with this build, his teamfighting prowess should be enhanced to a decent or serviceable level at least. You will ideally look to lock down and burst either a vulnerable enemy backliner like or , or an enemy who is attacking your own backline like or . But in actual chaotic situations, you will often be hitting what you can. After your first rotation, the rest of the teamfight often mostly consists of running after enemies to try and Q them in the face.

Your teamfighting skill will simply improve with practice and if I may allow myself a personal recommendation in this final part of the guide, ARAM can help you a great deal, both to get familiar with the kits of many champions, and to tremendously improve your teamfight mechanics and decision making. Obviously it does nothing for your laning skill though.



MID

You can try out Muramana on midlane Pantheon, but you're probably better off going full assassin with a lethality mythic like Prowler's Claw instead of going bruiser.

JUNGLE

A somewhat greedy scaling build like this works a lot better for lane Pantheon than jungle Pantheon, who is mostly an early game cheese ganker. But you can try if you want.

SUPPORT

Obviously don't go Muramana if you're the support, unless maybe if you're a farming support with a fasting Senna. Usually just build Umbral Glaive into mythic or something.

ADC

If you somehow ended up in this position... Then I say there's no better time to go for this build! Show the enemy bot lane what you're made of.



I wanna give credit to Keegun and Spear Shot, these 2 streamers taught me a lot about Pantheon and Spear Shot even took a quick look at this guide on stream which led to the first revision. Also, they are awesome.

Thank you for reading my guide about my style of playing Pantheon with Muramana. I hope you enjoyed it, and learned something from it, and hopefully you will find success with this build! Feel free to ask me any question about the guide.

Cheers - Sleepless



April 15, 2021 - Big revision on Manamune first vs second, now both options are covered + added Gwen to matchups

April 12, 2021 - Big visual cleanup + revised some parts for clarity

April 08, 2021 - Added justification on Manamune first + revised some parts for accuracy + took Spear Shot's remarks into account for matchups

April 06, 2021 - Published