Hey there, I'm Sydekic, and I'm a certified Pantheon Enjoyer. I started playing in season 11, just before viego came out, and I'm currently ranking for the first time - and I'm currently in high plat. I play plenty of champs in plenty of roles, but in ranked, I one-trick Pantheon Jungle. By no means am I a top-tier player among the likes of SpearShot and such, but I think my advice still holds sound. There's also several other good guides for specific lanes of pantheon, but I wanted to make a comprehensive one that gives a quick rundown on major ideals, standard builds, some off-meta fun, and a few notable matchups for each role, all in one place. I hope you enjoy!

I hold the belief that Pantheon is one of the few champions that can truly be played in EVERY role, with multiple different build options, and that's one of my favorite things about him. Contrary to seemingly popular belief, Pantheon's strong early game is not the only good thing about him - he actually scales pretty well into the late game, and stays a powerful threat in duels, skirmishes, teamfights, and the sidelane. His versatility, easy to pick up playstyle, outplay potential, and roam pressure are the main things that make Pantheon as a champion so attractive.

Pros:

+ Strong early game and pretty good scaling
+ Highly versatile
+ Easy to pick up
+ High burst and extended fight damage
+ Easy access to high priority targets

Cons:

- Fairly predictable
- Lacks damage when behind
- Can get shut down by longer range poke like Viktor
- Highly susceptable to CC effects, no matter the duration

Pantheon's best roles are Mid and Top, while he also sees play in Support, and in Jungle to a lesser extent. While I wouldn't recommend it for ranked, he's even viable as an ADC if you have a good support with you, and it can be a lot of fun. If you're totally new to panth, though, you should probably stay away from Jungle and ADC, and focus on learning on fundamentals in other lanes. The remainder of this guide will be split between learning Pantheon's abilities, general combat philosophy, and discussing different objectives depending on what lane you're in.

Mortal Will is a fairly simple passive that provides a lot of power to Pantheon. On-hit, or on spell cast, you gain a stack, and at 5 stacks, your next basic ability will consume these stacks to become empowered with a stronger version of itself. Knowing how to utilize this ability is key to playing Pantheon well. I'll explain what each empowered version does in their own sections. Generally, you'll want to have your passive stacked before all-inning, but it's not always required.

Pantheon's Q ability, Comet Spear, is your bread and butter damaging ability. Tapping it will thrust forward, dealing damage, plus bonus damage if the enemy is below 20% health. Holding it down will slightly slow you and prepare a ranged version, which throws the spear for the same effect, but with a longer cooldown, and it loses damage past the first enemy hit. This means Pantheon's Q is an excellent tool for closing out kills, but if you're planning on finishing someone with a ranged Q, don't let them hide behind minions, or else they will likely survive. When in combat, use Q basically off cooldown, and try to predict if the enemy will dodge it, as your main damage source is this ability. The Empoweredversion further increases the damage dealt, effectively doubling it. This is an excellent tool for poking, clearing waves, and finishing enemies with an insane burst of damage.

Pantheon's W ability is a single-target point-and-click dash that stuns a target enemy for 1 second. The great thing about this ability is its range - at 600 units, your W cast range is equivilant to or longer than a majority of the roster's basic attack range, meaning that if someone is trying to poke you, they have to come within jumping range. Use this to engage on practically anyone you like. You can also use it to peel a teammate that's getting focused down by a large threat on the enemy team. You can even use it to gap close or retreat by using it on a nearby minion or monster to slightly reposition yourself closer to or farther from an enemy. The Empowered version causes Pantheon to immediately perform a triple-attack after stunning the enemy, dealing a burst of damage and applying on-hit effects for all three attacks. This shiuld be your primary engaging tool, as it gets you in, bursts your enemy, stacks your runes (if you have PTA or Conqerer, which you should,) refunds three passive stacks, and sets you up to continue your basic combo, which would be Q - Basic Attack - Empowered E.

Arguably the strongest part of Pantheon's kit, Aegis Assault causes Pantheon to channel for 1.5 seconds in a target direction, becoming completely immune to all non-turret damage in that direction and dealing damage over time, followed by a burst of damage at the end of the channel, or upon recasting the ability to end it early. This ability is straight-up unfair and using it effectively can and will make the difference between an easy multikill and a complete int. Anticipating your enemy's position and burst time will allow you to completely neuter their damage while stalling for your cooldowns. Also, don't forget about the damage - sitting at a flat amount plus 150% bonus AD, the burst from ending the ability can actually deal quite a lot of damage and you can use it to kill enemies just out of your basic attack range. An important thing to remember is that this ability blocks all damage from the direction you're facing - this means the origin of the damage matters. For example, if someone ignites you, E towards them to block the ignite damage. Another example is Kayn - if he ults you, you need to predict the direction he will exit from and block towards it, as that will prevent the damage from going through. The Empowered version grants you 60% bonus movespeed after finishing the cast. This means that using Empowered E at the end of a combo is an excellent way for you to either continue chasing your target or retreat to a safer position, making it extremely useful in all situations. Your standard combo is Empowered W > Triple Attack > Q > Basic attack > Empowered E > Chase or Disengage.

Pantheon's R ability, along with passively granting armor penetration, is a semi-global teleport that deals damage, slows, and most importantly, allows for wide-range map pressure and an easy access to vulnerable enemies. After selecting a spot on the map and channeling, you will teleport to a target location, dealing a good chunk of damage and readying your passive. This is an excellent tool for getting back to lane and punishing any overconfident enemies trying to take your tower, catching the enemy backline to start a teamfight, and even as a tool for quick map rotations, be it ganks or invades. Don't forget to ping your team before you ult, because if you're on the same page as your team, Grand Starfall can be an insanely useful tool to pick up free kills and create a lot of pressure. I even sometimes use it if I know exactly where an enemy jungler is, teleporting straight to them while their guard is down and killing them, then stealing their camps.

No matter the lane you're in, generally, your philosophy early in the match is to poke the enemy with Qs and look to all-in once they're in kill range. Your W allows for good catch potential, your E is great for blocking retaliation, and your R is excellent for roaming once you establish a lead. During the mid-game and late-game, identify a priority target and make it your mission to remove them from fights as early as possible, then brawl your way out of (or through) the remaining enemies. Even if you're behind, just the 1-second stun from your W can be enough to shut down the enemy carry and win a fight.

Top Lane is a very fun lane for Pantheon, as your early game allows you to harass your enemy laner without much counterplay, as most toplaners lack the range to deal with you. Look to poke the enemy without damaging your wavestate and all-in when they're in kill range, then pressure the rest of the map with your high-damage, high-agency roams. Your E is also a good tool to escape ganks with, should they ever come. A lot of times, when you recall, enemy laners will try to punish you by shoving a wave and taking turret plates, but you can easily catch them out with your Ultimate, making them an easy kill if they're too careless.

My personal favorite way to play Pantheon, the jungle is a surprisingly effective place for the champion. Your full clear is on the slower end, but still fast enough to get to scuttle just after it spawns, and your ganks are incredibly strong. Full clears and early ganks are both viable. As a fairly strong early game champion, you can often look to invade once you have a couple of levels under your belt. Your ultimate is an excellent tool for ganks, counter-ganks, rotating to objectives, and catching the enemy jungler off guard, both in your jungle and in your own. Your general goal is to get yourself and your team ahead with your speedy roams and high burst.

Pantheon's most common role, and for good reason: while some of your hardest matchups reside here, so do most of your best ones, and the location on the map makes Pantheon one of the highest ranged threats in the game, as being in the middle of the map means your ult can take you just about anywhere you need within seconds. Look to poke out your lane opponent in the early levels and establish an early lead to snowball, roaming whenever possible and establishing pressure across the whole map. You are especially strong into many melee assassins common to this lane, like Akali and Yone - shut them down in lane and follow their roams for an easy victory.

The least viable role, but definitely a fun one. Grab a buddy and try this out in norms - just make sure to ban out Nilah and Soraka, as they hard counter you. Especially when building on-hit with an engage support, playing Pantheon in the ADC role is incredibly enjoyable, as your W range allows you to completely delete most marksmen that try to step up and force you off the wave. Pop everyone you see before they pop you, and chain cc with your support for easy kills.

Poke at level 1 and look to all-in at level 2 to get an early lead. Roam lots and use your w to peel your ADC when needed. Don't be afraid to take some kills, either - when playing Pantheon Support, you are just as much as a carry as the marksman you share your lane with. Throughout the match, look to jump on high-priority targets and delete them, then use your E to soak any retaliation and retreat.

Overall, Pantheon is an incredibly fun champion and I would recommend him to anyone. Thanks for checking out this comprehensive guide. If you're looking for more on pantheon's more common roles, Dustyacer's guide to Pantheon mid is another great guide to check out, as is ObiW's Pantheon Top guide.

I'll try to keep this fairly updated if any major changes occur (Especially the item changes coming with the new season,) but other than that, thanks again for reading, and I hope I've helped you become a fellow Pantheon Enjoyer.