Pantheon is mylife
> This is when Pantheon shines the brightest and it is your duty to use this phase of the game to its fullest. The perfect scenario for you is to kill your opponent before level 6, so that's what we're going to focus on.
> As the game starts, you buy your initial items (more often than not, Corrupting Potion and a Warding Totem) and head to lane, right? NO! You will not head to lane and I shall tell you why. You will head to the bot lane jungle ASAP and place a ward in the river (the small circular bush), to prevent any unpleasant surprises from the enemy team. Seriously, just start doing this every single game and it will become natural. An unpredictable invade from the enemy can be devastating, even more so if your opponent gets a kill/assist, thus making your life harder. You want to prevent this. And if you see the enemy coming, you can coordinate an ambush with your team and invert the situation, possibly getting a kill yourself! 400 gold allows you to get a nasty Long Sword that will GUARANTEE a lane victory as soon as level 1!
(X marks the spot, follow the path and ward that bush!)
> Unfortunately, people now-a-days are cowards and jungle invades are rare (but you should still place that ward, just in case), so the likely scenario is that nothing will go down and you will head to lane as the minions start arriving. First thing you do is see who the hell you're laning against and what strengths do they possess, because that is how you determine what you must try to do in order to kill them, and what to expect should you fail.
(here you can see a cheeky Rek'Sai trying to sneak into our jungle... we had vision of her so we knew what we could expect)
> Taking some examples, let's imagine you are facing a Brand or a Lux: very skill reliant matchup, they can match your early poke with their own abilities ( Pillar of Flame and Lucent Singularity). If this is the case, your top priority is to figure out a way to safely farm and poke. These are not the types of champions who will sit idly by taking spears in the rear... these guys will try to fight back! Whenever you get close, you have an excuse to hurl a Spear Shot at them. This will most likely trigger a response, which you must try to dodge. If you do manage to hurl those spears and dodge the enemies' abilities, you are effectively kiting them: reducing their HP bar while keeping yours intact, which allows you to all-in them as soon as you get to level 2. Remember to respect the ones who fight back, but for the love of Ares, don't confuse respect with fear! You are Pantheon and you should be doing your best to outdamage these guys. Playing safe does not mean hug the turret and cry like a baby, it means that you have to play smart. Keep that in mind.
> Now, if the matchup is an easy one (which is roughly 80% of them), then the first thing you do when you enter lane is throw a Spear Shot at their face to establish lane dominance (trust me, this works 80% of the time, every time). Then, for the remainder of level 1, you farm... while throwing spears whenever you can, because a response from this kind of champion is not likely to turn in their favour. Should they engage you, don't be afraid to sip a potion and fight back, since there is very little they can do to outdamage you at this point.
> You need to remember that in order to get to level 2, you need to kill 7 minions. That is one entire minion wave plus the first creep from the next one. As Pantheon, getting to level 2 before the enemy provides you with an enormous advantage, because you gain access to Aegis of Zeonia, allowing you to engage hard and ruthlessly, often times resulting in a burned Flash or a cheesy First Blood! A swift | Spear Shot -- Aegis of Zeonia -- AA -- ( Ignite)| combo is devastating to the enemy (not to mention it procs Thunderlord's Decree ) and is well capable of netting you an early kill. Before engaging, make sure the enemy is around 50% health, or you won't be able to kill them. If they are not, make use of your Spear Shots (alternatively, you can use the above mentioned combo to crack their HP bar and zone them). Also, don't be afraid to Flash for the kill, since an early lead will most likely guarantee your lane dominance.
(I hit level 2 before Yasuo, giving me an edge. You can also see I am preparing him for the chopping block, by hurling some Spear Shots)
> When you hit level 3, the first thing you do is press TAB and take a look at who is their jungler. If it is an early game jungler like Lee Sin, you need to be careful with lane control and how hard you engage, because it might turn on you. If it is a more late game jungler, like Shyvana, then you don't need to worry as much, but you should still pay attention to the map! Either way, when the timer hits roughly 3 minutes, it is time to place a ward in the side bushes of mid lane. At this stage, 99% of junglers have cleared half their camps and are ready to gank. Pantheon is a juicy target, since he has no escapes (besides Flash) and ganking you successfully will prevent an avalanche. To counter this, you ward. First time you go base, get a Vision Ward and place it in the river.
(remember to ward when the timer hits approximately 3 minutes, as most junglers have cleared half their camps. Above, Rek'Sai finishing poor Scuttler and heading Mid lane)
> Now that that is out of the way, the second thing that should be crossing your mind when you hit level 3 is how to kill the enemy laner (if you haven't yet done so). When leveling up Heartseeker Strike, you also get access to Certain Death, which is amazing at securing kills, should the enemy attempt to run away. To kill your opponent, do as usual: hurl Spear Shots until they are roughly at ~50% health. Next thing you do is to get close to them and | Spear Shot -- Aegis of Zeonia -- AA -- Heartseeker Strike -- ( Ignite) -- AA -- Spear Shot|. This is the main combo you need to perform in order to get yourself a nice kill (or, at the very least, force your opponent out of lane). Remember that you can use Ignite mid- Heartseeker Strike, which might be useful if the enemy has Flash (since they can escape the range).
( Yasuo went for a bad trade and is now forced to wait for the wave to push. We obviously don't want that, so I decide to freeze, forcing him to lose EXP and gold)
(unfortunately for him, if he wanted to farm, he had to come closer... he came closer and took my full combo in the face, netting me a rather easy First Blood)
> Now that you have your lane dominance firmly established and the enemy has nightmares about you, it is time to abuse your power even further! Levels 3 to 6, simply keep doing what I mentioned above in order to create a disparity: hurl Spear Shots whenever possible and when you feel you can get a kill, don't hesitate to engage! Even if you just force them out, it is a small victory, because you are denying them experience. Speaking of this, you should try to freeze the lane near your own turret, since this will accomplish two things: you get safe farm/poke on the enemy (because you are ungankable), but most importantly the enemy won't be able to farm, since that will imply taking a Spear Shot to the face every time they go for CS (if not outright getting murdered!). Don't forget to ward your lane, the greater your lead, the harder the enemy will try to gank you.
