Hi guys, I'm a Platinum player in the Vietnamese server and I make off-meta builds. I managed to abuse this build to Platinum, but unfortunately, my promos stopped me from reaching Diamond and now I'm hardstuck (bruh). I have never really been a Pantheon main or a mid laner, but this build is absolutely insane.

And in case some of you guys decided to try this build out and feed, please keep in mind 2 things:
1. This build is item reliant and requires combos to work well. If you skip the Combos and Gameplay part, I can not guarantee that it will work.
2. This build is off-meta, which means it isn't the most effective strategy. Therefore, it is not recommended in ranked games (unless you have fully mastered the playstyle).

Also, be sure to check out my new Blue Nasus build, which is also kinda off-meta.

Let's get to the guide, shall we?

Pros:
- Strong throughout all stages of the game
- Mamma mia the damage
- No matter how THICC the opponent's health bar is, you're gonna makes it vanish after a second.
- A superior amount of single-targeted damage.
- EXTREME carry potential

Cons:
- You are obviously very squishy.
- Extremely vulnerable to CC
- This is a Feast/Famine playstyle, which means that it's great if you can snowball, but it can otherwise be very weak and underwhelming if you are behind.

Why Hail of Blades and not Press the Attack?
People often choose Press the Attack because it has more damaging potential and its huge utility output since it also increases the damage for your teammates. But since this build has a lot of damage, you need more attack speed, which is what Press the Attack lacks, while Hail of Blades can just fit right in.

Additionally, Hail of Blades offers faster combos, which helps you get out of the enemy backline more easily after doing a combo (which has been instructed in the Combos section).

But what about Lethal Tempo? Isn't it a better rune for attack speed?

Regarding this question, it is true that Lethal Tempo offers better opportunities to utilize the bonus attack speed granted since it is not limited to 3 attacks. Despite being relatively popular recently due to the Season 12 update, there remains a few reasons why Hail of Blades is still considerably better:

- The focus of this build isn't attack speed, but rather critical damage and AD. The Hail of Blades attack speed only helps us combo faster and burst more quickly, instead of prolonging the fight/trade and utilizing the attack speed like Lethal Tempo.

- Lethal Tempo takes a few seconds to be (fully) activated, while Hail of Blades immediately procs on auto-attacks. And how does this benefits us? Well, let's just say you won't get the most value when you W and by the time you can actually use the bonus AS from Lethal Tempo, your combo is already halfway over (which is like the last two autos and E). So theoretically, Pantheon can stack Lethal Tempo more quickly than a lot of other champions thanks to his Shield Vault but it is useless after one trade/combo.

Sheeesh, that was tiring. Let's move on to the next part, shall we?

Sudden Impact will help quite a bit when you use your W cause it's a leap. That one bit of lethality later on in the game can do much more than just a bit of damage since it adds up over time.

Eyeball Collection Should be quite obvious why I take this rune. Gives you exta AD=> More damage output.

Ravenous Hunter used to give you insane healing and you need it every time you all-in. Now that it's gone, I feel like Treasure Hunter can now be a new staple. With its insane scaling potential, combined with this item-reliant and powerspike-reliant playstyle, this rune should do a great job at helping you snowball. Give Treasure Hunter a try, if you are trying to dominate and snowball, you will not regret it.

Relentless Hunter is an alternative when it is a farm lane with no kill pressure and you seek to roam as well as make macro plays more often.

This question popped up after the mini-rework he got in patch 10.25, and it actually depends on personal preference. But in my viewpoint, maxing Aegis Assault second is more beneficial than Shield Vault.

The reason why this question appeared is because of how the new Shield Vault got 'buffed' and how the Aegis Assault got massacred. New Shield Vault now increases more damage with each level up (60/80/100/120/140 ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220 in particular), while the new Aegis Assault no longer blocks turret shots and the empowered one is now replaced with a slight burst of movement speed ( 60% movement speed for 1.5 seconds).

To be brutally honest, maxing Shield Vault is not a bad option. It gives you quite a bit of damage and a lower cooldown, but since the recent Hail of Blades nerf heavily affected the cooldown issue, I would not recommend maxing Shield Vault second since this ability already has a decent amount of cooldown and damage.

On the other hand, maxing Aegis Assault second grants multiple benefits:
- Protect you more in fights -> Better trades
- Aegis Assault has a lot more cooldown than Shield Vault -> balances out Pantheon's kit for the combos.
- Empowered Aegis Assault allows you to either extend the trade or quickly back off.

The bottom line is, maxing Aegis Assault second is better.

These are mythic items that you can have a look at to see what to build and what not to.

- Immortal Shieldbow makes you less squishy while giving you an outplay potential. One of the best mythic items for this build.

- Galeforce is solid. It gives a dash to gap-close with enemies more easily for your combo and an execute with the active.

- Kraken Slayer is the WORST among all mythic crit items. The passive only procs on your 3rd hit, which deals about 250 damage maximum. If it procs on all of the 3 auto-attacks in your Shield Vault it would be awesome, but unfortunately, it doesn't. You shouldn't even build this in a Pantheon On-Hit build because this item is ******ed. If someone tells you to build this item on Pantheon, it is obvious that they haven't thought clearly about this item. And I'm being neither mean nor exaggerated. Please, if you don't want this build to go to hell, don't build this item.

- Duskblade of Draktharr is a high risk - high reward item. It is such a huge power spike for the build and it has amazing stats. But if you build Duskblade of Draktharr you will have to build Infinity Edge fourth item. In other words, you get more damage but less utility and you get your first power spike earlier, but your Infinity Edge power spike later. Plus, since this is a non-crit mythic, Blade of the Ruined King is no longer a viable option, since 60% crit is too low to utilize the damge. If you can make full use of your first power spike, this will be a solid choice. But if you are uncertain whether you are gonna snowball, it would still be better to stick with Immortal Shieldbow or Galeforce.

This build is mostly around crit items and DPS. Your Shield Vault will be the most important ability in the build. For now, let's analyze the items that I picked.

- Blade of the Ruined King is, in my humble opinion, one of the most powerful items in the game at the moment, together with Eclipse and Divine Sunderer. Not only does it have incredible synergy with your Shield Vault (3 auto-attacks), it also has a 12% max health damage on each attack. With this damage and Pantheon's ultimate passive Grand Starfall, you will be able to shred tanks and burst squishy targets. Rush this item to take advantage of its merits.

- Infinity Edge gives AD, crit chance and it increases the damage when you crit. Remember that this should be your 3rd item because it only gives the passive when you have at least 60% crit chance.

- Essence Reaver gives ability haste, AD, mana restoration, and crit chance. The passive also works with your Shield Vault, adding even more damage to your combo.

- Death's Dance works on bruiser Pantheon, but from my experience, it doesn't synergize too well with this crit build. Not recommended, but still viable.

- Sterak's Gage offers health, AD, and the GIGANTIC shield from the passive. Take this if you think you are likely to be burst down.

- The Collector gives lethality and the ability to finish off low health enemies. Despite the fact that it got gutted a few patches ago, it is still a solid item. Remember when you use your long-range Comet Spear to finish off a low-health enemy but end up wasting your time because the damage is not enough? Well, **** that, because we have this item now. Definitely worth buying.

- Edge of Night is arguably one of the best defensive options for this build. Not only does it gives you health and a spell shield, it also grants AD and lethality. Very suitable.

- If you like to spam abilities and do non-stop combos to apply pressure on your opponents, Manamune is the choice for you. The On-Hit passive also works with your Shield Vault so this item is definitely recommended. However, you shouldn't start with Tear of the Goddess because it gives no early combat stats and you will waste your early game power. Buy it on the first back and start working towards your Mythic Item, and then build Manamune.

*UPDATE: I've come to the realization that Ionian Boots of Lucidity is kinda broken lately, and Navori Flickerblade is not that good. Therefore, I've decided to replace Berserker's Greaves with Ionian Boots of Lucidity due to the fact that you only need the attack speed from items and Hail of Blades, as well as you can replace the cdr from Navori Flickerblade.

As you already have the 30% armor penetration passive from Grand Starfall and Percentage health damage from Blade of the Ruined King, other tank-shredder items are rather unnecessary.

The whole build will be around your Shield Vault and Comet Spear, so these combos must be learned before playing. It's vital.

1. Empowered Shield Vault - AA - AA
This combo is for level 1 trades. After hitting Shield Vault, give them two extra auto attacks to stack up Pantheon's passive, preparing for the next trade. If you are afraid of being traded back, hit the empowered Shield Vault then back immediately. You can always stack the passive on the minions later.

2. Empowered Shield Vault - Comet Spear - AA - Aegis Assault
This is the most common combo you are going to use. Always cancel the animation (Shown in the Tips and tricks section). The extra movement speed from your Aegis Assault allows you to either extend the trade and harass or disengage safely and prevent your opponent from retaliating. Rinse and repeat.

3. Empowered Shield Vault - AA - Aegis Assault - Empowered Comet Spear
This combo is for immobile enemies who can't runaway and you can extend the trade.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

- Flash + charged Comet Spear
A pretty basic finishing move. Flash can also sometimes catch enemy off-guard.

- Aegis Assault + Galeforce active
You can cast Galeforce during the E animation. E damage is actually quite a lot, so in case the opponent doesn't die with your previous combos, this is the move that will earn you a kill.

- Flash + Shield Vault
Obviously, this helps you get in range with your target. However, one very VERY important thing is to right-click on your enemy after doing this trick, since (for some reason) Pantheon will only stun and doesn't do the 3 auto-attacks.

- Animation cancel: If you time it correctly, you can align the last auto-attacks out of the 3 attacks in the empowered Shield Vault with Comet Spear, cancelling its animation, which makes the combo a lot faster.

- Spear Shot Special: Use Ignite early
I learnt this trick from the Pantheon God himself Spear Shot. Most people would use Ignite late or at the last minute of the fight/all-in, but using the spell early (halfway through the fight) can get them to the 20% health point, at which your Comet Spear is going to crit and execute your opponent. This applies not only to this build, but to playing Pantheon in general.

- The gameplay is simple. Use the combos above, look for trading opportunities during the laning phase and roam with ult. Late game you should concentrate on the enemy's backline. Pantheon is relatively weak late game, but this build should fix that right up. Whenever I am fed, I usually kill mages and ADCs with just the Shield Vault only. If they build resistant items, the two consecutive auto attacks and the empowered Comet Spear will make them vanish. You targeted a tank and couldn't kill him? No worries, use your Aegis Assault then back off.

Enemy: Nooooooo you can't just burst me to death and block all my damage!!!!! Riot this is not balanced!!!
Pantheon: haha ADCs go boom boom

Thank you so much for 400,000+ views (that is an unimaginable number of views to me). It took a while but I got the job done. I hope that you will be able to climb to higher ranks(If a 1st challenger somehow sees this build then I hope you stay right where you are). If you have time, PLEASE give me feedback or a response so that I can improve my guide and add more information. I appreciate your support a lot. Goodbye and see you later on other guides!