Pantheon is one of the most powerful humans in all of Runeterra. In League of Legends, players have always loved how Pantheon brought a powerful top lane duelist to the game who wasn’t forced to take teleport every game because of his powerful global presence. Today, we’ll be learning more about this champion’s powerful kit to take over Summoner’s Rift in our Pantheon tips & tricks guide.
The Best Pantheon Tips & Tricks
Pantheon is powerful AD bruiser that’s able to take down opponents instantly or poke them down safely in the lane. This champion has an array of abilities that allow him to threaten an enemy champion to force them into a safer position. This is why Pantheon also has a dominant presence as a support champion. In this Pantheon tips and tricks guide, we’ll be helping you understand the different ways to utilize this character’s kit as a fighter.
The goal of playing Pantheon is to be able to threaten enemies all the time. If you are within the presence of the enemy team, they should be scared to approach you since you have the ability to lock them down. Additionally, your global threat should also force enemies to take caution when trying to engage. To do both these things, you need to secure an early lead which you’ll learn more about with our Pantheon tips and tricks.
5. Empowering Your Abilities
Every time Pantheon attacks or casts an ability, he generates a stack charging up to 5 times. After collecting the 5th stack, his next ability is empowered and their effects are increased. While it’s not practical to monitor your stack generation at all times, you should plan ahead to make sure that you’ll be able to empower the right ability to inflict maximum damage to your opponent. Ideally, you always want to empower your Q or W abilities to inflict more damage on the target.
If you’re a total beginner, instead of counting each stack as you generate them, it’s better to practice combos that allow you to charge up your stacks. The most common combo is to use Auto > Q > W> Auto and finish up with an empowered Q to deal maximum damage. Use the Practice Tool to see which combinations of attack + abilities allow you get the biggest damage output that you can get from every situation. Also, don’t save or conserve your stacks, just use them to deal damage when you can.
4. Should You Charge Your Spear?
A common mistake that beginners make when playing Pantheon is that they overcharge his spear. Advanced Pantheon players don’t charge his spear at every situation. In close-quarter fights and quick skirmishes, it’s a lot better to quick cast the ability to deal instant damage and not leave yourself in a vulnerable position by giving the enemy champion a chance to interrupt your channeling ability. The damage you get from charging up the spear is negligible compared to the damage you can deal from landing autos.
The only times you should charge your spear is when there is a significant distance between you and your target and your E ability is on cooldown. The biggest problem with charging your spear is that it’ll be easier to dodge and can be interrupted by your opponent’s CC abilities. When your spear misses, it’s a waste of efficient damage output and mana. Advanced Pantheon users charge their spear for about 0.2 seconds, which is enough time to provide extra damage but not enough time for the enemy to react.
3. Catch Your Enemies By Surprise
Pantheon’s greatest strength is his abilities’ quick cast animations. Unlike many champions in the game, his basic abilities don’t leave the opponent with a lot of time to react. This means he can do an action immediately without the option for the enemy to dodge or place themselves in a safer position. His W ability – Shield Vault – is the most dangerous ability of this all because it allows him to deal damage and stun the enemy for a relevant amount of time.
Don’t be predictable by walking toward the enemy and charging up your abilities. Try to hide your intent by having the enemy walk towards you until they are in range of your abilities. There are many players who underestimate Pantheon’s overall burst ability since he doesn’t have a threatening presence on the rift. Being able to hide inside a bush or using your ultimate ability while the enemy is overextended are the best Pantheon tips you can use in any situation.
2. Efficiently Negate Damage
Negating damage is always a good thing. However, being on a cooldown means that you need to be smart about what damage you want to negate. It’s better to negate the highest damage source than wasting your E ability – Aegis Assault – on weaker attacks. Of course, you need to expect that the enemy will try to bait out this ability so that you’ll be left more vulnerable while fighting these enemies.
Try to study your enemy’s movements and negate powerful abilities such as ultimate to conserve a large chunk of your HP during a fight. The best application to this ability is to use it while the enemy is trying to initiate a combo. Keep in mind that this ability also inflicts a relevant amount of damage so you can use it offensively if you think that you don’t need to play defensively against your current target.
1. Put Your Presence on the Map
Pantheon has one of the most powerful ultimate abilities in the game. In this Pantheon tips and tricks guide, we mentioned how important it is for this champion to maximize his threat on the enemy team. Pantheon’s ultimate ability – Grand Starfall – allows him to travel halfway through the map after a few seconds. This is the only slow ability that Pantheon has but he makes up for it by being able to respond quickly once he lands.
When using Grand Starfall, it’s a good idea to allot a good distance towards the enemies’ escape route rather than jumping on top of them. This is because the enemies can begin running away when they see the marker for your ultimate come down on the map. Don’t go too far though or the enemy will simply walk in a different direction and escape anyway. Use this ability as much as you can to make the enemy team feel unsafe to overextend.