The Spartan Warrior now has a little more "skill expression".
Riot Games has revealed Pantheon’s upcoming rework in League of Legends. A new “Behind the Scenes” video gives us an insight into the design process behind his revamp and includes a first look at his new abilities, animations, and visuals too.
Pantheon is one of League of Legends’ original champions, which means he’s not only ancient, but beloved too. With this in mind, Riot makes it clear that it’s not overwriting his core identity as the one-man-army, Spartan Warrior of the rift.
”When we were updating Pantheon we realised that there were tonnes of things that a lot of players loved, and I think, ideally, we always want to keep that kernel of why there are still players who love that champion,” said Michael Luo, writer, Riot Games.
Riot acknowledges that Pantheon currently has a “very simple kit” consisting of point-and-click stuns and spear throws, which effectively makes every game “play out the same way”.
To add greater variety to Pantheon’s gameplay, Riot has given him a brand new set of abilities which grant him a “little bit more skill expression.”
Pantheon’s Ultimate ability is now called Grand Starfall, and instead of crashing down in one fixed location after a huge windup, he now plummets from the sky and streaks across the ground in one direction.
Judging by clips of his other abilities, it looks like Pantheon’s spear throw is now a skill-shot with increased damage and range the longer you charge it. He still retains the point-and-click stun, but auto-attacking straight after landing will now deliver a combo flurry of spear thrusts which deal extra damage.
Finally, Pantheon will also retain his “spear cone” ability, but now hides behind his shield while doing so, perhaps reducing damage from all sources.
Riot hasn’t announced when we’ll be able to get hands-on with a revamped Pantheon, but we expect him to arrive on the League of Legends PBE when patch 9.16 drops in the coming weeks.
