Counterplay to Pantheon?
Whenever I see a Pantheon top and I'm an AD champ I just get wrecked. What's his counterplay? What can you do to beat him even as an AD champ?
8 Comments
A lot of champions can just start Cloth Armor and outlast his mana bar as long as they don't take unnecessary autoattacks. Honestly, as long as you don't feed Pantheon most champions will outscale him quite easily as the game progresses.
Though, if the enemy picks Pantheon before you pick, I can tell you that Mordekaiser does hilariously well against him. Your passive shield will absorb his Q harass, your Q will bypass his shield, and you can easily harass him down with E.
Generally speaking, there are a few archetypes that do well against a Pantheon. Champions with natural resists, high sustain, and good poke / a better all in will be attractive against Pantheon. It's important to find what works for you, because there are many ways to do it. For example, Alistar is not a bad pick if you know what you're doing. You can interrupt his abilities and his combo fairly easily, and you can easily out live his all in post-6. This won't work for everyone, but it serves as an example of what is possible.
Now, what would be good against Pantheon, assuming you have no experience? Xin Zhao is easily a good counterpick. Pantheon cannot harass Xin Zhao down, since he's constantly healing from his auto attacks. Pantheon has no escape from Xin Zhao's all in, which is much stronger. While not popular, Gangplank is another counter to Pantheon, for the exact same reasons that Xin Zhao are. Just to name a few more that do well against Pantheon: Kayle. Trundle. Olaf. Lee Sin. Vladimir.
All of the previous champions will have easy, safe laning phases. If you prefer feast or famine champions that rely heavily on outplaying rather than by being innately prone to the match up, here are a few and why:
Nocturne is a situational pick up, as he has mild sustain, a spell shield, and a great all in. This lane relies heavily on being able to trade effectively, and spell shielding the right spell to win an all in or trade. If you are unable to play effectively this way, then Pantheon will be able to walk on you. Many champions follow this same pattern, like Fizz.
What can you do against Pantheon as an AD champion? I tend to run armor quintessences, and scaling armor seals with 21 in the defense tree whilst also starting cloth / 5 pots. There is literally nothing he can do to you, especially if you have sustain and strong trading capabilities. I personally do this on Rengar with great success. Anyways, I hope this helped.
Build armor and outsustain his mana, or get ganks and burst him.