Hey, I'm Real. I am a former LCS coach who previously coached Golden Guardians and Team Liquid. I am also a jungler and Pantheon main, I've played Pantheon jungle since Season 6. I have played thousands of games on him across many accounts and have a good idea of how to optimally use him. I have peaked masters in Season 5 and usually hover around diamond most seasons now. I want to share this guide with those of you who are looking to pick up Pantheon in the future, or maybe just hone your current skills on Pantheon now. He is a viable jungler and not just a top laner, and I prefer playing him in the jungle as opposed to top lane. Hope you enjoy!

I recently got into streaming and you can find me at: https://twitch.tv/lolreai

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Pros + Strong early game + Great mid game + Huge pick potential + Strong map pressure + One of best gankers in game + Relatively easy to pick up + Versatile team fighter

Cons - Falls off late game - Weak if playing from behind - Slower clear - High risk high reward jungler - Needs to get early ganks off - Team reliant later

Mortal Will (Passive)

INNATE: Pantheon gains a stack when he lands a basic attack on-hit or casts an ability, up to a maximum of 5. At 5 stacks, Pantheon's next basic ability consume the stacks to gain additional effects.

Pantheon gains full stacks upon starting the game and upon respawning.

Pantheon' passive is now pretty unique and useful in a variety of situations. Our most used combo with this for ganking will be (5 stacks ready) Shield Vault > Auto attack > Aegis Assault (instant release) > Comet Spear (Tap Q). This is the combo of ours that does the most damage, but it is not the quickest. It gets us 2 empowered abilities off in one rotation (W at start and Q at end). We will get more into that later.

I'll briefly go over which empowered ability is best for which situation.

Empowered Comet Spear is best when poking enemies or going for a kill outside of your engage range.

Empowered Shield Vault is the best opener for ganking or jumping on anyone for a pick.

Empowered Aegis Assault is best suited for when you are tanking in a team fight or trying to soak up damage in a skirmish. It blocks a lot of damage and should not be overlooked as an option in a team fight. This will be your main empowered ability late game.


Comet Spear

Tap: Pantheon thrusts his spear, dealing physical damage to enemies hit. Refunds 50% of Comet Spear's cooldown.
Hold: Pantheon hurls his spear, dealing physical damage to the first enemy hit and 50% less to further targets. Deals increased physical damage to targets below 20% health instead.

Mortal Will Bonus: Deals additional physical damage and slows the target by 25% for 2.5 seconds.

Pantheon' Q Comet Spear is his most used ability. It is a good poking tool and also useful for dealing a lot of damage on targets we gank or pick. When empowered it is good as a finisher and another CC option with its slow.


Shield Vault

Active: Pantheon dashes to an enemy, dealing physical damage and stunning them for 1 second.

Mortal Will Bonus: Pantheon's next attack strikes 3 times, dealing physical damage.


Pantheon' W Shield Vault is a basic but very useful ability. Point and click CC is incredible on its own and that's exactly what this is. With 5 stacks of Mortal Will this will be our opener to every gank if possible. Empowered W into Auto Attack > Q does a lot of quick damage to an enemy.


Aegis Assault

Active: Pantheon braces his shield and engages enemies in a chosen direction for 1.5 seconds, becoming immune to damage from that direction and dealing (+100% total) physical damage over the duration.
The last hit slams with Pantheon's shield, dealing physical damage.

Mortal Will Bonus: Duration is increased to 2.5 seconds (dealing (+167% total) physical damage over the duration).

Aegis Assault is honestly the ability that completely changed the fundamental playstyle of Pantheon. At first I did not like the new E, however, overall it is much better than the old version of his E. Pantheon really goes from an assassin to an off-tank with this ability. Late game empowered E is able to soak so much damage in team fights and can straight up win you the game if used properly. Always use this in team fights (especially if empowered) if you are engaging and front lining for your team, 2.5 seconds of immunity is absolutely broken if timed right.


Grand Starfall

Active: Pantheon gathers his strength to leap high into the air, then crashes down as a meteor at the target area a few seconds later. Deals magic damage to enemies in a line (decreased by up to 50% at the edges of the area).
Grand Starfall instantly readies Mortal Will.

Grand Starfall is a great ultimate. Most commonly used for ganking and flanking in team fights, it is a very useful tool to position yourself properly in a team fight and enter from an awkward angle. For ganking, it is best used to cut off the enemy laner and force them into a choke. Similarly, for team fighting, you want to flank the enemy team and force their carries into a bad position. This is usually done by ulting behind them with your team approaching from the front.

Keep in mind that it instantly readies your Mortal Will stacks. This can be used to get a W > Auto off for quick damage, or, depending on the fight, an empowered Aegis Assault to soak up damage in a fight and absorb a lot of the enemy cooldowns. This will basically change depending on the team fight, but remember to use the spell right after your Grand Starfall wisely.

Flash

Always take Flash, no exceptions. It is strictly the best summoner spell available in the game.


Smite

Straight forward enough. We're jungling, only other option we can take.

Pantheon Jungle




I have run many different pages testing keystones + secondary trees on the new patch and I've come to conclusion that this is one of the best in general. Press the Attack is OP on the current patch and should be used. Conqueror has been nerfed too much to be on the same level now. The amount of damage you get from Press the Attack and the fact that you can insta-proc it with empowered W makes it such a powerful rune.

Triumph is self-explanatory. It's the best of its tree since Overheal and Presence of Mind aren't needed on Pantheon.

Legend: Alacrity is our best option here. It allows us to spec into the extra adaptive damage in our flex runes to give us a stronger early-mid game (exactly what we need on Pantheon jungle.)

Coup de Grace is better than Last Stand here. It's true that we will be front lining later in the game, but Coup de Grace is much better early-mid game where we are spam ganking and influencing the map.

Cheap Shot is excellent free damage since we have Shield Vault. It's overall better for Pantheon over Sudden Impact.

Relentless Hunter is exactly what we want and a big reason why we take the domination tree. Extra move speed based off kills that we will likely be getting early-mid game are huge on Pantheon.

Mobility Boots

Best boots on Pantheon by far, at least early and mid game. Always get these for optimal map pressure. Your game plan should be to gank as much as possible early game, so these are an essential pick up. Can (and should) be swapped out for Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads late game. If the enemy is an AD heavy comp opt for Plated Steelcaps, if they are heavy AP or have a lot of CC, then opt for the Mercury's Treads instead.

Eclipse

Best mythic for Pantheon on the patch. Gives us tons of good stats that we need and extra burst damage. Build this every game we can.


The Collector

Great synergy with Eclipse this will be the 2nd item you rush every game. Helps give us more damage and burst which is what we're looking for on Pantheon.


Serylda's Grudge

This will be your next core item most games. Serylda's Grudge is simply too efficient on Pantheon now. Ability haste, armor pen, and AD are 3 incredibly useful stats on Pantheon, it is also cheap to build and the components are good.


Serpent's Fang

Serpent's Fang should usually be your 4th item pick up. So many champions on this patch have a shield now that this is usually very efficient to build. Components are cheap again and stats are good on us too.

Hexdrinker

Pick up an early Hexdrinker vs. heavy AP threats. Can turn it into a Maw of Malmortius 3rd or 4th item if enemy AP champs are still oppressive.

OR

Sterak's Gage

Sterak's Gage is a great item to round out your build on Pantheon. Makes us tankier and gives us a bit of extra damage when on the back line. Two things that help us greatly going into the late game. This item can be swapped out for something like Dead Man's Plate or Randuin's Omen if the enemy team has heavy AD threats, or a fed ADC.

Note: Build Maw of Malmortius OR Sterak's Gage. Never build both, the lifeline passives DO NOT STACK.


Youmuu's Ghostblade

If you want more damage and don't want Maw of Malmortius or Sterak's Gage this is a good option. Honestly, most games will not go to 6 items on Pantheon. You either will have ended the game earlier, or won't have enough gold to finish your full build. If you happen to get to this point, Youmuu's Ghostblade is a good option for more mobility and damage. It comes down to preference however. This can easily be substituted with a tank item depending on how the game is going. Evaluate threats and the game state to make your decision on what the best final item will be. If you need to kill the back line get something like Youmuu's Ghostblade. If you're just soaking damage then get a tanky item or something like Randuin's Omen.

Early Game

Early Game on Pantheon you should be looking to get a fast level 3 and gank immediately. You can also level 2 gank right after blue or red, but this is generally a pretty high risk strategy.

My favorite clear right now is Red > Krugs > Raptors > Gank

You can also do Blue > Gromp > Wolves > Gank

These clears gets you on the map at level 3 quickly and ready to gank. After this early gank look to secure one or both crabs as you will likely be stronger than the enemy jungler early.

If you get kills bot/mid OR have strong bot/mid priority, be sure to take an early dragon if possible. Pantheon is not the best at clearing dragon but he can manage with his team.



Mid Game

Mid game will mostly revolve around continuing to take camps as they spawn mixed in with a lot of ganking. Use your Mobility Boots power spike to really open up the map and spam gank. It is ok (and generally encouraged) to skip camps on Pantheon to force ganks. Just make sure most of them translate into summoners or kills, because you will probably fall behind otherwise. Pantheon's role is to put a ton of pressure on the map early and mid game to enable your team to carry later in the game. Make sure you play around that.

Use Grand Starfall to set up easy ganks post-6 and continue to take dragon and rift herald when able.

Keep in mind that mid game is still a fairly big power spike for Pantheon. You should focus on continuing to be proactive on the map with your 1 to 2 item power spike + Mobility Boots and get your laners even farther ahead than you already have. Keep pressuring lanes with ganks while trying not to fall too far behind the enemy jungler, this way when we transition to late game we have a foundation of strong teammates that will help carry the game.

Reminder: Pantheon falls off hard late game and is not considered a late game carry in any sense. This is why it's really important to play the mid game correctly.



Late Game

Late game Pantheon becomes a front liner in most situations. You lose your kill pressure unless you are insanely far ahead, but you excel at soaking damage with your Aegis Assault. Use the empowered Aegis Assault in team fights late game to get the 2.5s of immunity, it is a game changer. If your ADC is fed, it is also a good idea to peel them with your Shield Vault and soak damage in front of them instead of diving the backline/carries.

Comet Spear is still OK poke in the late game when everyone is hovering mid before a fight breaks out. Be sure to be spamming it and using it off cool down to break shields/bone plating/etc. Any small advantage you can create before a team fight breaks out is a bonus.

If you played proactively early and mid game hopefully you will have a dragon soul coming up for your team. Be sure to look to secure that at all costs, even if it means trading it for baron. The elder dragon that comes after is even more important and game breaking on this patch. Get these and you have a very high chance of winning the game.

Note: If someone is out of position late game, Flash into Shield Vault is an excellent way to get a pick on a target and win the game. Always be looking for an enemy carry to be out of position if you have your Flash available.

Thanks for reading my guide on Pantheon. I hope you take the information learned here into your next Pantheon game on the rift.



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