Ideas and Discussion: Pantheon
Pantheon Points:
~ He is a spartan-like dude that wants to be a baker and uses a javelin, one of those does not correspond to gameplay at all. ~ ~ What I learned is that in every other video game that javelins can be thrown at a distance, which Pantheon currently has, but are not very accurate. So making his javelin toss a point and click does not make sense and the guaranteed harass in lane constantly on a spammed point and click nuke is not really fun to deal with and offers no actual counter play against it. Turning this into a skill shot of some kind can allow for it to gain power, offer counter play, and introduce inaccurate javelin tosses at a distance (but powerful when they land). ~ ~ ~ One idea would be have it as a placement skill shot where he throw the spear in the air to land at the target location damaging a single target (the projectile and animation will be similar to a Ziggs' Q). There will be one twist however which is damage could based on how accurate the shot was, hit box edge would be minimum damage, and centre of the hitbox would be massive amounts of damage (maximum damage); of course this be the hit box of the target. ~ ~ ~ Maybe something else to go along with this, to add options on how to use the skill rather than only be used for damage.
~ His shield may be more interesting of an ability if it was an active ability rather than his passive. Perhaps something like he swings out his shield in the target direction for a split second blocking enemy projectiles while dealing damage and stunning struck enemies close up that are directly hit by the shield (close by as in melee range or basically melee range).
~ A channeled flurry of attacks feels odd and so does his current ultimate of doing a massive leap to creating a massive dent in the ground on landing as someone that is fit, but definitely do not consider a huge buffed man not does he wear heavy armour. ~ ~ I am thinking his ultimate could be ripped straight from the movie 300 where he summons a huge flurry of spears to the target location a great distance away dealing physical damage to enemies in the area and possible something else. I do think it would make Pantheon feels super unique by making his gameplay properly feel like he has that true hybrid nature of a javelin being both a melee and ranged weapon.
~ This brings to the next point of Pantheon should feel like he is an attack damage caster. Not a basic attacker or assassin, but strictly try to have him feel like he is an attack damage caster with his power being the best in the mid game (more/less). This may mean he might feel slightly like a melee, poke champion, but it is not like we have much of those (I actually cannot think of any actually, current Pantheon is the closest to that), so may be a good thing as far as uniqueness goes.
~ Final point to bring up is if Pantheon should have any kind of mobility spell in his kit. Just because he is melee does not mean he has to have a mobility spell, especially if we really dig into Pantheon being melee champion that feels like a ranged champion while still being a melee champion just like how a javelin feels like (I am actually basing this off of games that I played that used a javelin, most of them are melee weapons where you can throw the javelin at a distance). I think having a squishy-ish mainly physical damage dealing melee champion without mobility spells can work fine, he will have some defensive skills to help him out of course, but for the most part he will have an uniqueness to him that other melees won't have.
Base of ideas below, they are to help start the ideas flowing for everyone else by laying some kind of ground work to get started with.
Basic Attack Range: 250 / 125 units (need to make it feel like he is using a long melee weapon like a spear) Attack Speed: 0.525 +1.5% per level
Stab and Bash (Passive): Spear Range: 250 units static in a line As long as Pantheon has his spear in hand he deals full damage and can damage all enemies his spear skewers.
If Pantheon does not have his spear in hand then he resorts to using his shield to damage foes dealing 40% reduced damage against non-minions and monsters and loses 125 range, but he can block one basic attack while his shield is currently in mid swing.
If neither spear nor shield is in hand then Pantheon cannot basic attack.
Spear Toss (Q): Cooldown: None; Cost: 40/50/60/70/80 mana: 1200 units Pantheon tosses his spear to the target location dealing between 10/15/20/25/30(+40/50/60/70/80%AD) to 40/60/80/100/120(+160/200/240/280/320%AD) physical damage to a single enemy based on how close to the centre of its hitbox the spear landed at.
Afterwards Pantheon's spear remains at the target location for the next 19/18/17/16/15 seconds [lowers with CDR] or until he picks it up.
Aegis of Ionia (W): Cooldown: 17/15/13/11/9 seconds; Cost: 65 mana; Range: 250 units / 120 degrees Pantheon swings his shield in the target direction, dealing 60/75/90/105/120(+60%AD)(+100%AP) magical damage to struck enemies and stunning for 1.5 seconds. While the shield is in mid swing during Aegis of Ionia it will block all enemy projectiles it collides with.
Shield Toss (E): Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds; Cost: 50 mana; Range: 900 units Pantheon tosses his shield at the target enemy, dealing 50/75/100/125/150(+60%AD) physical damage and knocking it back, and then returns back to Pantheon.
Pantheon can toss his shield at his spear stuck in the ground instead causing it to bounce off of it and towards the closest enemy near it [~450 radius], prioritizing champions, dealing the same damage and knock back before returning back to Pantheon. This method also returns Pantheon's spear back to him.
Blackened Skies (R): Cooldown: 110/90/70 seconds; Cost: 100 mana; Range: 2500/3250/4000 units Pantheon tosses a multitude of spears through the air over 1.5 seconds causing them to all land at the target location at the same time, dealing up to 300/500/700(+300%Bonus AD)(+250%AP) physical damage based on struck enemies' missing health and slowing them down by 99% for 1.5 seconds.