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League of Legends: First look at Pantheon’s updated abilities

By Matthew Liebl

Riot Games
Riot Games /
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Pantheon is the latest League of Legends champion to undergo a visual and gameplay update. Today, Riot revealed his new look, lore and abilities.

League of Legends developer Riot Games revealed today the reimagined Pantheon. Formerly known as “the Artisan of War,” Pantheon now goes by “the Unbreakable Spear” – a moniker that better reflects his expanded lore and aggressive physical nature.

Riot released a behind-the-scenes video detailing the creative process behind Pantheon’s VGU. In it, they highlight his new background lore and how it ties into his updated visuals which are a mix between mortal warrior with god-like powers.

Despite his magic powers, though, Pantheon is still very much a physical warrior and that’s reflected in his kit. While the original plan for Pantheon’s VGU only included “modernizing” his ability kit, Riot revealed they actually changed every spell. Although he’ll still feel like old Pantheon, there’s more depth and skill involved in his kit.

As Riot detailed in the video, the process in updating his kit involved exploring the possibility of Pantheon switching weapons in combat — throwing a spear, having it stick in the ground and him pulling out a sword for a while. But Riot soon discovered that it “drifted too far from old Pantheon.” So what we have instead are modernized versions of his previous abilities.

His ultimate (R), Grand Skyfall, has been renamed Grand Starfall. And while it’s still largely the same in concept, Pantheon will now dive in at an angle and streak across the ground. A player with more skill should be able to hit more enemies. While just a subtle tweak, the change made to his ultimate just feels more impactful and exciting.

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As Dot Esports noticed in the video, it now appears that Pantheon’s other abilities work off of a passive as well. It seems Pantheon will gain stacks by attacking champions and/or minion. When his stacks are full, his next ability will have some extra power before the stacks need to be charged up again. Riot didn’t officially confirm this, however; it’s all purely speculation based on the video.

Pantheon’s Comet Spear (Q) is now a skill shot as opposed to a point-and-click ability. It’s believed that it will do extra damage. His currently unnamed (W) looks similar to Aegis of Zeonia; however, it seems that he’ll now strike an enemy with his spear when leaping to them. While empowered, his ability will root and stun an enemy. And lastly, his new (E) ability seems quite the same as his previous Heartseeker Strike, in which Pantheon will rapidly strike an enemy in front of him with a fan of blades from his spear.

***Update: Riot Games has released a new video showcasing Pantheon’s abilities.

The updated Pantheon is slated to arrive with League of Legends patch 9.16, which is expected to release on August 14. Pantheon is the latest champion to receive a VGU, but Riot is also reworking Volibear and Fiddlesticks and provided a status update on both of them this week.

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