First of all I want to say that the actual guide part will be about Build 1 and it will include MY way of playing Pantheon that works for ME. I can't say this is an awesome build that will cause you to win 100% of your games and that you will have an insane K/D-ratio.

But the feeling you get when you do this is just awesome:

spaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + Great assassin. + Good poker early/mid game. + Reliable stun. + Good damage. + Map control. + Easy to farm with.

space

space

Cons - Very vulnerable to CC. - No real escape mechanism. - Doesn't scale very well into late game. - Melee. - Needs item to be effective. - Ultimate can put you in a very bad position.

I play with 21/0/9.

The 21 in the offensive tree allows me to deal the most damage. Not only do I get ArP which synergizes well with the rest of the build but I also get +CrD which is very good combined with the passive on your Heartseeker Strike. This masteries also provides with much easier farming. Especially since I get Offensive Mastery .

The 9 in the utillity tree allows me to easily out-level my opponent with Spatial Accuracy combined with Awareness .

The runes I play with are actually more complex than what it shows on the cheat sheet.

Greater Mark of Desolation x3
Greater Mark of Attack Damage x6

Greater Seal of Armor x3
Greater Seal of Replenishment x6

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x9

Greater Quintessence of Health x1
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed x2

Explanation:

ArP marks provides me with a total of 39.94 ArP and in my elo there are lots of people not even buying defensive items until very end-game. Meaning that 39 ArP will reduce many champions armor close to 0. At that point AD gives you more damage than ArP and that's why I take Flat AD runes aswell (not to mention 2 of my abilities scale of AD).

For seals i combine flat armor and flat manareg. This makes going against auto-attackers even easier. Not only do you block their attacks with Aegis Protection but when they actually do hit, they don't hit as hard.
The manareg is just a player preferance, you could go full Armor or maybe hpregen but since Pantheon is quite the manahog earlygame I prefer to boost my manareg.

The magic resist/lvl glyphs are there since with my full item build I will be having alot of armor but not as much magic resist, so I like to pick up these instead of CD reduction or anything else.

For summoner spells i choose Teleport and Flash.

Optimal Choices

• Teleport - A great spell that I use to not only to get back to my lane faster but also to gank, farm, backdoor and defend.
  
• Flash - The most overpowered spell in-game at the moment (imo). Read more in the Flash section

Good Choices

• Ghost - Can be used to, just as teleport, get back to the lane faster, escaping or since you will be quite tanky with this build you can afford to chase pretty far compared to a glasscannon build.
  
• Ignite - Great for bringing down those annoying healers or if you simply feel like you need more damage.
  
• Exhaust - Good for getting the upperhand in 1v1, chasing, getting away or saving your team from that AD Carry, Death Lotus or Absolute Zero.
  
• Clarity - Good if you are having problems conserving your mana or if you're not level 30, thus not having any runes. It also allows for more Spear Shot harrassing, making your early-game even stronger.
  
• Cleanse - Good in combination with Flash or Ghost if you find yourself in a bad position.

Bad Choices

• Clairvoyance - Overall a great spell. Can be used to land that Grand Skyfall on the last enemy or to spot an incomming gank.
  Still, it would be best to leave it to a support and take something that benefits you more.
  
• Rally - Could be used when pushing/backdooring or to get FB.
  
• Heal - Could be fun to screw someone over in a tower dive, but it becomes insanly useless as soon as you get a little HP.
  
• Fortify - Leave it for the tank.

Terrible Choices

• Smite - This is used for jungling, and you are not going to jungle with this build.
  
• Revive - No.

Escape/Defense:

• Flash is great for getting/staying out of range of enemy stuns or slows (e.g. Warwick ult or Taric stun)
  
• Flashing will prevent any inbound spells/attacks from hitting you (e.g. Sion throws his stun and you flash, the stun will not hit you). This also works with tower hits, as long as the spell or attack has already left its source and hasn't yet hit you it will work (barring a few bugs here and there).
  
• You can flash through walls and trees. This can be a great escape mechanism, especially in the jungle as you can flash through the trees and the enemy team can't get to you quickly.
  
• Escaping AoE ults/spells. Examples include Nunu's ult, Anivia's ult, Gangplank's ult and more. Don't get stuck trying to run out of it with those slows on you, just flash away.

Initiation:

• Flash is a fantastic spell for initiating team battles, especially in combination with many champion skills. For example, flash is great in combination with Rammus' powerball to hit their entire team by flashing into the midst of them. Galio's ult also works great with it, and many more.
  
• Using flash to initiate also means they won't be able to stop you before you are amidst them, and you can almost always get at least one spell off before any sort of stun is thrown your way.

Positioning:

• Flash can let you get into the position you need to do what you need to do. Playing Allistar against an annoying Twitch that just sits behind his teammates? Flash into him and knock him to your teammates.
  
• Flashing from one bush to another bush. Not used often by many players, but doing this means the enemy won't have visibility of you as you run from one bush to another, which can prevent them from getting a stun or spell off as you try to escape. This is in positioning because you can also use it to evade notice in setting up a good gank, but is a very aggressive and risky use of Flash.

Offense:

• Getting in range to get that stun or spell off. People learn your champions spell ranges as they play, flash effectively is a one time extension of this range and can be invaluable. Any Annie fan would be quite familiar with this.

---

Aegis Protection (passive):
"After attacking or casting spells 4 times, Pantheon will block the next incoming basic attack or turret attack."

This is your passive skill, with this you can backdoor very effectivly and it also works as a "Get out of jail free-card" when going a bit too close to the tower.
Always make sure this is stacked when towerdiving or harrassing.

• This can block tower attacks aswell as Parrrley, Headshot etc.
• Use this + Spear Shot to outharrass most AD carries.

---

Spear Shot (Q):
"Pantheon hurls his spear at an opponent, dealing damage."

Single target, ranged, poke.
This is mainly used for harrassing early-game, but due to it's awesome scaling it's a good damage source throughout the game. Using this you can also killsteal insanly easy. (Although killstealing is bad and shouldn't be done by anyone).

You're going to want to max out this first.

• Use your passive + Spear Shot when harrassing to avoid being harrassed.
• When you have The Brutalizer combined with your ArP marks Spear Shot is almost dealing true damage (depending on the targets armor).
• Combined with your passive you can easily just walk up to a towerhugging enemy and Spear Shot him to oblivion.

---

Aegis of Zeonia (W):
"Pantheon leaps at an enemy and bashes the enemy with his shield, stunning them. After finishing the attack, Pantheon readies himself to block the next attack."

Single target, stun.
A nerfed but still reliable stun. Can be used not only to initiate a gank/simple kill but to escape a chasing enemy or saving an ally from a chasing enemy aswell.

You're going to want to get this at level 2 for the utility and then leave it there to be maxed last.

• Can be used to towerdive with ease, (blocking one towerhit with your passive then another after you stun your target).
• Great when being towerdived, simply stun and HSS their faces, or if you are really low: Stun > Flash away.
• Great for interrupting channeling spells such as Death Lotus, Requiem etc.

---

Heartseeker Strike (E):
"Pantheon focuses and unleashes 5 swift strikes to the area in front of him, dealing double damage to champions. Pantheon also becomes more aware of his enemy's vital spots, allowing him to always crit enemies below 15% health.

Cone AOE, high damage.
This is what tears people apart mid-game. This is what makes Pantheon the killing machine he is.

Considering all that you are still not going to max this out first, due to the fact you need some bonus AD for it to be effective aswell as some health to be able to actually sustain being in close-range of enemy champions.

• Great for farming.
• The passive makes last-hitting even easier. Also improves your damage by alot when doing baron/dragon/taking buffs.

---

Grand Skyfall (R):
"Pantheon composes himself then leaps into the air to a target, striking all enemy units in an area. Enemies closer to the impact take more damage."

AOE, high damage, slow, map control, lane dominance.
This is an overall great ultimate. Farming, ganking, defending, backdooring.
Due to it's limited range it isn't as good as it used to be, but it's still pretty damn good!
Make sure you lead your enemies, don't just put it right on their current position and think that they won't move an inch during the 3.5 seconds it takes for you to actually launch and land.
Also make sure you don't use it on someone that can get out of it's range with ease.
Examples: Teemo, Tristana, Caitlyn, Vayne, Shen or anyone with Flash
Basically, you don't want to use it on targets with movement speed buffs or blinks. Especially not on targets with non-target blinks.

Max this whenever you can.

• Combined with Teleport you can backdoor a turret then teleport away before your enemies know what happend.
• Can be used to suprise a towerhugger thinking he's save behind his tower.
• Can be used to innate a teambattle.

*NOTE:* This could put you in a very dangerous situation if you don't coordinate with your team. I wouldn't recommend doing this w/o being on Skype/TS/vent or something similar.

: This is imo the most solid starter item for pantheon since it brings both AD and health at a low cost. Combined with the runes you will have about 77 AD at level 1, which is enough to go 1v1 against almost anyone.


OR

AND x3 : I would pick up these if I feel very confident or if I'm going to face Ezreal or maybe Karthus. Always take potions if you have some gold to spare. They are cost-efficent all through mid game. I usually don't stop buying these until I get my Phage.

: Since you will be jumping straight in to the fray I suggest you pick these up so you don't get completely wrecked by CC's.
: AD, ArP and CDreduction. Simply a great item for an awesome cost.
: Some AD, a big chunk of health and a great passive.

: Since you will be jumping straight in to the fray I suggest you pick this up so you don't get completely wrecked by CC's. (Yes I copied this part from the Merc Treads part).
: Considering the Magic Resist you get from both Banshee's Veil and Merc Treads you are going to need some more armor, and this item does not only provide a high amount of armor, but also additional magic resist and a great passive.
: A good armor boost aswell as 2% of your max HP as AD! A great boost for anyone with over 3000 health. And to top it off this item even gives additional CrC.

: AD, CDR, ArP, CrC to go with your Atma's Impaler and not to mention a great active, granting movement speed and attack speed. This is like a bad Ghost but with an attack speed steroid aswell.

OR


: AD, %ArP. If the enemy team is building heavy armor this is the item for you! 40% ArP will wreck almost anyone stacking armor.

Last-hitting:
With your runes and masteries combined with a Doran's Blade, las-hitting should be a breeze. Although, if you are being outharrased by someone with HP regen abilities you could simply spam your Spear Shot due to it's low mana cost.
*NOTE:* Do not use Spear Shot if you can use a simple AA.

Harrassing:
Stack up your Aegis of Protection by last-hitting creeps then it is safe to throw a Spear Shot without being hit by Parrrley, Headshot etc. or maybe just an AA.

Killing:
Stack up your Aegis of Protection > Spear Shot (so far the enemy might just think you are harrassin as usual and they will probably just throw of an AA, breaking your passive) > Aegis of Zeonia (thus triggering your passive again) > HSS > AA / Spearshot to land a kill.

Ganking:
*COMING SOON*

Farming:
*COMING SOON*

Warding:
*COMING SOON*

Team battles:
*COMING SOON*

Backdooring:
*COMING SOON*

02/10/2011
- Build Published

jhoijhoi for his amazing guide on making a mobafire guide, which you can find here.

Bigmantree from the LoL forums for the Flash chapter. Can be found in the comment section here.