Pantheon General Guide by Sception

Intro

Hello everybody, and welcome to my pantheon guide.
After having a lot of fun while playing pantheon, i decided to make use of my experiences and try to help other people.

Please dont just commend or vote after seeing the top of this build, only comment if you have read the whole build.

Pros and Cons

Ways of playing Pantheon

There are multiple ways to play pantheon:

You can play pantheon as a pretty decent jungler (not included in this guide),
You can play pantheon as a offtank toplaner,
Or you can play pantheon as a high damage top (the way i like to go).

Ofcourse there are other ways of playing pantheon, but they are not in this guide.

Runes and Masteries Assassin

Runes

I use very offensive runes, because i know im an aggrassive player who likes a lot of damage.

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration: armor penetration is one of the best runes you can have, because flat AD or AD per level wont be as usefull lategame compared to armor penetration.

Greater Seal of Armor: armor is always good, especialy early game, so you wont get as much damage when harrassed.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: you will need some magic resistance for teamfights lategame, so you can survive and do your part of damage dealing.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: These are just for some nice early game damage.



Masteries: I use 21-9-0 for the best damage output and still some armor and magic resistance so you wont be killed right away.

Runes and Masteries Offtank

Runes

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration: Armor penetration is important, even for offtank Pantheon, because Pantheon is one of the strongest early game champions, so you want to make the difference in your lane as quick as possible.

Greater Seal of Armor: When you play Offtank Pantheon, you want to have armor. These runes make you a bit more tanky early game.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Extra late game magic resistance is always good for an Offtank.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Also just like the armor penetration runes, you will need some damage early game to win your lane.

Masteries: Here I use 9-21-0, because of pantheons great potential early game, take 9 points in offence to give you a bit more damage. the 21 points in defence are mainly to make you tanky so you won't get bursted away.

Pantheon's Skillset

Aegis Protection gives pantheon a basic attack blocking shield every 4 times he hits a basic attack (or throws his Q).

Spear Shot Pantheon throws a spear to the enemy champion dealing damage (the spear wil also activate the passive on pantheon's E, and after 4 Spear shot's Pantheon's passive will also activate).

Aegis of Zeonia a short range jump that deals a bit of damage and stuns the enemy champion for 1 second (the stun wont be longer if you level this spell).

Heartseeker Strike a short channel (0.75 seconds) in witch Pantheon strikes the enemy 3 times (doesn't that much damage until you level it).

Heartseeker Strike(passive) when you take pantheon's E, you will have 100% crit chance against every champion lower then 15% health, witch makes pantheon great at finishing or last hitting.

Grand Skyfall Grand Skyfall lets you chose an area where you want to land, then Pantheon jumps into the air (2 second channel), to land at the by you chosen location to deal massive area of effect damage (1,5 second channel). while you are waiting for the last 1,5 second channel you can also jump on an enemy champion with your Aegis of Zeonia to stun them and make sure you hit your R. Pantheon's ult can be cancelled only within the first 2 seconds of channelling.

Summoner Spells

There are a few summoner spells witch are good to have with Pantheon, but there are some spells that are terrible.

Summoner Spells that are good on Pantheon:
Flash great for mobility, can be used for chasing as well as escaping.

Ghost also great for mobility, its better for long chases, but you cant use it to jump walls or for short chases.

Ignite great spell for enemy's with heal, spellvamp, or lifesteal. this will shut down their regeneration and its also usefull for finishing enemy champions.

Exhaust also good for chasing, or nice to have when you play against some high damage champion since it denies 70% of the enemy's attack damage.


Summoner spells that aren't very good on Pantheon:
Heal you dont need heal in most cases because you will be able to burst down most champions, and if you know you cant burst someone down instant or almost instant, it might be better just to avoid them as much as possible.

Clarity If you dont finish off every single minion with your Q or E you will be fine with your mana, as long as you go back when you have enough gold to buy some items.

Items Assasin Pantheon

Here's a list with items that are good for pantheon, these are the items I normaly chose, but if you dont like the way they are, feel free to change it so you will like it.

First start with Elixir of Fortitude a sight ward and 4 Health Potion, some people might like it more to start with
Doran's Blade, or even Doran's Shield, but when you bring along a Elixir of Fortitude you can use it to counter the enemy, because using it gives you a health and attack damage boost, wich could be pretty usefull when u are about to be towerdived or about to towerdive.

Then when you go back for the first time, try to have enough gold for a Tear of the Goddess, buy this item as fast as you can, because it's really important so stack it as fast as possible. you might want to grab 2 Doran's Blade if you aren't going that well, and you could use the health boost. Otherwise i would advise you to buy a The Brutalizer as soon as possible, because it will give your damage a huge boost, it has cooldown reduction so you can deal more damage in a shorter amount of time, and it has armor penetration so your attack damage will be used better.

Next up are the Boots of Speed, just to give you a bit more mobility. some of you guys might want to buy Boots of Speed a lot earlier, but my experience has learned me that you don't really need them a lot earlier in the game.

after buying Boots of Speed, buy The Black Cleaver, this item really wasn't that great before, but since riot decided to change it's passive, it is one hell of an item for pantheon, everytime you deal damage to your enemy, he wil lose 7,5% of his armor for a short duration, and this stacks up to 4 times! so you'll deal amazing damage when u have this item.

now make your Tear of the Goddess a Manamune because when u get this item full stacked it will change into a Muramana, everytime you are about to do your combo, toggle this item on for a lot more damage.

Now the build is pretty much dependant on how you are doing, if you are going great and u feel like you can take on everyone, go ahead and buy a B. F. Sword, just for the damage,
If you're not doing that great, pick a Phage for some more health,
If the enemy team has got an AP wich is bothering you, buy the Hexdrinker so you can deal with him/her.

Eventualy you only want to have 2 of these items.

When you bought a B. F. Sword first, look at how you are doing before buying your The Bloodthirster.
If your going good you want to have that The Bloodthirster as soon as possible,
If your not doing great you better build that Frozen Mallet first,
And again, if their AP is being difficult make a Maw of Malmortius first.

Do this until you have 2 of the items above, then finally buy a Last Whisper to counter that last bit of armor the enemy has, so you can burst them down even faster.

I'll say this yet again, if you dont like an item and you think something else is better, feel free to take that item, this is only a guide.

Items Offtank Pantheon

Just as Assasin Pantheon, start with Elixir of Fortitude a sight ward and 4 Health Potion. just as with Assasin Pantheon, if you think its better to start with Doran's Blade or Doran's Shield, its your choice so do whatever you feel good by.

When coming back for the first time, go with 2 Doran's Blade, not just for the attack damage but also for the 80 health on each dorans blade, if you have enough gold left, also buy a Ruby Crystal so you can buy yourelf a Phage later.

The Pantheon offtank build doesnt contain The Brutalizer, because this item only gives you more damage and 0 health, armor or magic resistance. If i build Offtank Pantheon i rather go for a Phage , and a
Hexdrinker because these items still give you some attack damage but also give you health or magic resistance.

When you have both the Phage and the Hexdrinker, i reccomend to build Mercury's Treads and a Chain Vest, because the only armor you had untill now where your runes and tier 2 boots provide you that extra bit of mobility and tenacity.

Then after that build a Frozen Mallet and a Maw of Malmortius, wich are great items for damage with health and magic resistance.

As soon as you have the Frozen Mallet and the Maw of Malmortius, buy yourself a Sunfire Cape for more armor and health.

now you will only need a bit more health to complete your build, so buy a Warmog's Armor for health, and after that a Atma's Impaler, because this item gives you armor, and damage for a % of your health.

now your build is complete.

Other good items for Pantheon

Trinity Force a great item, witch is good on Pantheon, but it costs really a lot of money, and the other items are just as good for less gold.

Infinity Edge it gives you a lot of extra crit damage, but you only crit when the enemy champion is at 15% health or lower and mostly you can kill the enemy easily if they are under 15% health, so you wont need the extra crit damage.

philosopher's stone it can be a good items if you want to spam your ability's early game, but then you would have to keep it for a decent time until it has payed itself back. And because you can't use it to build a item good for panteon late game, i won't reccomend it.

Mercurial Scimitar this item is one of the items you really need against a heavy cc team, it gives you a nice damage boost and it packs a lot of magic resist.
Also you can use it the same way as Cleanse to get you out of sticky sitiations like getting stunned, because as an assassin cc is your worst enemy. I wouldn't recommend this item on offtank pantheon tough, because the Maw of Malmortius packs a shield wich is much more usefull when playing offtank.

Early Game Assasin

After buying the Elixir of Fortitude, sight ward and Health Potion, got top and wait at the turret, as soon as the minions are fighting, try to take as much minion kills as you can, while harrassing your opponent with your Spear Shot (be carefull not to waste all your mana)

When you reach level 3, you should have got the opponent low enough to try and go for the kill.
throw your Spear Shot, then jump with your Aegis of Zeonia and use your
Heartseeker Strike straight after. If your opponent didnt die yet, Finish him off with basic attacks and your Spear Shot.

Keep on farming and killing untill you reach level 6.

Then look for opportunities to gank mid with your Grand Skyfall, so the mid goes well, and the jungler has all the time to help out bot, if needed.

Early Game Offtank

Because Pantheon is such a strong Early Game champion, you should play the same as with Assasin Pantheon, but try to be a little bit more carefull for ganks because these can break your whole game.

Mid Game Assasin

The teamfights should be starting about now, your job is to focus out the enemy AD and AP carry, wich you could do by using your Grand Skyfall onto the back of their team.
this causes confusion in their team wich you and your team can use to win the teamfight.

besides teamfights you want to grab as much minionkills as possible, because you need the items to deal damage.

Mid Game Offtank

Keep trying to farm, but a little less, try to be with your team as much as you can, and be there on the frontline, because you must be the one who will initiate and give your team a chanse to attack the enemy team.

In teamfights try to focus out the enemy AD and AP carry´s so your team will win that teamfight.

Late Game Assassin

Still try and farm whenever possible, and try to kill every AD and AP carry in the enemy team, every teamfight. you might die because you aren't the most tanky champion, but you will deal massive damage. if you're able to erase their carry's your team will win every teamfight for sure (unless your team isn't reacting to your initiate).

Late game Offtank

Ult into every teamfight when possible, try to confuse the enemy team so they break up and your team can whipe them out. Dont be afraid to go in, because you can take a lot of damage.

Tips and Tricks

Now i'm going to tell you some tips and tricks for playing pantheon,

1: always try to Aegis of Zeonia when you are still in the air while using Grand Skyfall, it gives you a lot more chanse to do damage with Grand Skyfall.

2: try out playing pantheon mid, he is a great counter for most of the ap champs, so he is a nice alternative for champions like talon or kha'zix.

3: you can play pantheon support, and it works quite well, but support isn't explained in this guide so try and find out what works well for you, or find an pantheon support build.

4: pantheon is also a beast in dominion, so if you do like to play something else sometimes, try it out, its great fun.

5: try not to throw too much Spear Shot because u can get out of mana really fast at low level.

6: once you got the Tear of the Goddess it is recommended to throw as much Spear Shot as you can, to fill that Tear of the Goddess faster.

7: use your Elixir of Fortitude to surprise the enemy, for example: when he/she is towerdiving you, use your Elixir of Fortitude to grant you some extra health so you are able to counter the towerdive and grab yourself a kill.

Summary

So, if you're reading this it meant you've read the whole guide, Thanks for that, because it was a lot of work to make it, i'll try to update my guide every now and then so it doesn't get outdated.

Feel free to comment and send me some information about how you think my guide is and how i can improve it.

Be sure to try the guide before commenting and/or voting.

Greets, Sception