Pantheons under-appreciated role

With Pantheon being new and everything, people seem to be trying to figure out his new role in the meta. Many have simply come to the conclusion that he's really bad and can't really compete as an early game lane bully with stronger options available. And, while I will say that Pantheon probably deserves a bit of a buff to some of his cooldowns, I would say that he actually has a niche that he does better than almost anybody else, and that is as a mid lane counter pick.

This might seem as a meme, but it really isn't. Pantheons kit works surprisingly well in the mid-lane. While his Q is a bit lackluster, his W is an amazing CC and Gap-closer, his R functions extremely well as a roaming tool, which is an important role for mid-laners, but his most important ability for being a good mid-laner is actually his E, the shield.

The thing is in, in top lane blocking all damage for a second or two isn't that important. Top laners tend to be bruisers that don't have instantly damaging combos, but rather deal high DPS. Versus champions like Darius, Mordekaiser, teemo, or Maokai it does serve a bit of a purpose but its full potential can't really shine through. The true value of the ability is shown versus burst champions. , , , and are all champions with big combos where they unleash their whole kit in the span of a few seconds, and Pantheon has the ability to block ALL OF IT. I'm not joking when I say that Pantheon is amazing versus most assassins as he can shut down their entire kit with a single ability, and can do the same to a lot of mages too. Beyond that, having a targeted, almost instant stun is also really good versus them. Locking down a Zed immediately after he ulties with no counter-play is incredibly powerful.

My recommendation would be for mid-laners to start practicing Pantheon as a pocket-pick for mid-lane. He's likely to get a bit of a buff as his damage numbers seem a bit on the weak-side so that you can start wrecking shit with him for real once he gets buffed. He already does very well in the previously listed matchups, and with the coming buffs I can only see that becoming more true.