Pantheon; A character study

Oh Pantheon. He is my second most played champion, but I really never play him unless he is a hard counter to someone really annoying that I have to go against. He however is still there because I played soo soo much Pantheon when I started playing League, my first main, my first joy, my first power trip, my first penta kill and it was a 1v5 to boot. I truly do love this champ even if I have moved onto for more generally enjoyable gameplay. And Pantheon has a lot of problems when it comes to his gameplay, I don't think that is something I really need to say and yeah ofcourse I have designed reworked kits to modernize him and make him feel better, but kits are a whole other mess that I would rather not get into right now, perhaps some point in the future, though I recognize that attempts at Pantheon kit reworks are hamstrung by an incredible level of disagreement on what path he should go down and what parts of his kit are the most iconic.

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No rather this is a conversation on Pantheon's character that has been a bit of a mess. I am more then aware that others are not quite as fond of the changes from the Targon update as I was, and I can understand that the Targon lore update was a big change, and the reality is that new directions for a champion's development often make some people upset. But his old character wasn't just underdeveloped it was just bad, and dead ended. It utterly reeked of old league, and that isn't going to cut it, I certainly laughed at the 300 references to, but he needs a more unique identity. Having him have Greek inspirations is obviously a must at this point, but if his visual theme is just being a hoplite then he will never be his own person, besides if he is just a great soldier then how is he not just Targonian / ? If you want a good soldier boy from Pantheon then you aren't making him unique, a legendary warrior with a righteous cause? Hmm sounds like you just made another , clearly I can understand the idea of trying to make him into a demi god hero kind of individual like in Greek Mythology, but is that really that interesting? Apart from being a bit on the nose and stereotypical, on top of being another big retcon of Pantheon's story, it also doesn't really make Pantheon a terribly compelling champion, nor does it really deal with the prior issue of some people wishing they could relate more to him.

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No, rather I would like to focus on the idea that Pantheon is indeed something else entirely. Atreus was the man, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping him in the background for the sake of just knowing more about the league world and especially what other Targonians would have to go off of when they come to meet the body of Atreus again. But no, clearly the aspects are something quite interesting in their celestial glory and their ability to influence mortals, especially ones that seem to become some sort of 'champion' in being their aspect. Nothing says that the effects of being an aspect should be even remotely similar between these different entities, so lets accept that Atreus is dead and explore the potential of a body that serves the purpose of being a physical embodiment of what is essentially the god of war. Indeed I suggest that Pantheon become the Avatar of Pantheon, a physical body embroiled in celestial energies as a vicious and brutal god of war who is very single minded in his pursuit of defending Mt Targon and very well all of Runeterra from the threat that is the Void. He is not a soldier that fights out of a sense of duty or honour, he isn't a winged alien who views endless fighting as an art ( ), he isn't some kind of entity that sits on Mount Olympus Celestial Targon (Or alternatively ) to just swoop down when he pleases. No, he is a force of nature who does not understand much beyond the crushing of his foes and the letting of their blood, he wishes for nothing more then to destroy his enemies. Not because he likes it as some sort of art, not because he wants to defend the weak, not because he attaches any kind of ideology to it, but because he was summoned, and he has made it very clear that the sacrifice of the noble blood shall summon the wrath of a cosmic being. (In this case Atreus was purposefully sacrificed and expected to die in the way he did without being told so that Mt Targon might receive a protector in Pantheon's presence) He could be used to advance a group of champs preparing to fight the Void, in particular him joining with Jax, and they might very well use him in some capacity to continue the / story. (Also this is just a secondary thought, but I was even curious about the idea of the sacrifice made to him actually being selling him a soul, and Pantheon effectively being a kind of 'good' or atleast not objectively bad Demon.)

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I do hope that I explained my intention well, but incase I didn't, allow me to atleast try to help by providing an example of what I had in mind with his VO, and with his visual update.

[(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbxAY9lmWdg&t=23s)]

https://pre00.deviantart.net/d85c/th/pre/i/2014/075/6/f/ares_by_tolyanmy-d7aitdt.jpg This gets across the grandeur I had in mind, but they need to keep the flaming eyes, and he should have some kind of swirling effects around him to show some attachment to magical energies, whether it be flames or lightning arcing around him, either sound cool.

https://www.fightersgeneration.com/nx5/char/ares-dc-blue.png

And maybe a reworked skin or new skin that gives him a dark theme like Ares from WonderWoman? Hmmmm, one can dream.