Hi, my name is Akumi and I am currently maining Panth. He is by far (after nerfing AP Ezreal to something I can't even think of) the most fun character to play in my opinion. He's got a decent stun, killer Heartseeker, an Ultimate that won teamfights countless times and - by far, my favorite ability that allows you to lasthit and deals really amazing damage - spear shot.

I had an argument with my friend about his abilities, he's saying that in the current metagame AND after people found out how to build him (lol @ previous AS builds) Pantheon is definitely OP and he's going to get hit by nerfhammer really hard and really soon. I am afraid that this will make him not viable and will push him to the bottom tier list, as he was before.

He still is squishy, easy to counter (CC and he can't do a thing) but his main attributes atm are these magic DPS abilities, allowing to FB on lvl 3 without even trying to do so.

So, my dear community and Riot staff, what are your thoughts about the current Pantheon? Is he OP? Is he allright the way he is? Is he UP?
Do you think he's going to be nerfed so hard as AP Ezreal did?

Akumi.

I notice that whenever I play him I do well in the early game, around up to level 16, but after that he really gets weak compared to other melee carries.

IMO, he is Stun then Heartseeker Strike. If he is fed, he's good; if not, he's not.

He is not DPS. He is burst damage. More of a physical nuker. You could build him like any dps, but that's stupid considering there are at least a dozen champions who fill that role better.

he gets ganked once or twice earlygame, he's done.

he ganks successfully once or twice earlygame, you're ****ing done.

Pantheon is AD Annie.

Pantheon needs to be reworked so that he is less powerful early game and more powerful late game. If Panth goes mid he can be strong through 25 minutes or so, after that he just gets CC'd and stomped. I feel he fills a similar niche role as Shaco (physical nuker) but shaco performs that role better with a lot better survivability. I also think pantheon is currently suffering from a problem that shaco used to suffer from: being rediculously strong early game and underpowered late game.

I think he is in a really unfun spot to play against right now. It's like the others said above, if he doesn't get his Sword of the Occult stacks he might as well not even be around but if he has multiple stacks he will hit you with one skill and do 1k damage to you in a few seconds. I'd like him a lot better if his other skills mattered more and HSS was a bit more toned down. He's a one trick pony.

Just my opinion though.

I am sure there are characters that fit a DPS-role obviously better than Panth, however he really can critrape with only Youmuu's and Arm-pen marks for, like, 300 early every third hit. With some dmg items and his abilities he can turn out pretty **** well, especially with a team that cooperates with you.

I've played really ridiculous games where not even going mid, but laning with a fine partner gave me first blood and then let me fed on squishy enemies. He is one of the best gankers atm IMO, when landing his R correctly. It does really horrendous amount of damage, slows and allows you to land a full combo of your skills, which are (if done correctly) almost a instakill.

After playing characters that required abit of skill to land their abilities, predicting where your enemy can go while landing R is not that hard. Actually, I've done it so well I really started to feel it is OP - cdr per lvl runes, mana regen/5/lvl runes and arm-pen runes allow you to gank after getting to level 6, it doesn't really matter if you go mid or go another lane. Once you hit 6, gankathon is ON and you can get fed really easly.

Too bad I am not playing that long to remember the earlier Shaco, however I am afraid - as I stated before - that reworking or nerfing Panth will make him bottom tier again and almost not viable at all.

It's not just about occult, I only had one game that I tried it - it ruled, sure, but when I still was lvl ~10 and had my fun with Ryze I've noticed something. Snowball items are really gimmick, sometimes it's really worth getting them, sometimes you just waste ~1200g that can be converted to a much more profitable item.

Even without stacks on occult or even the item itself, Panth with a little help of his teammates can jump behind (or even land on) enemies that are pushing too far and get fed easly, as his Q deals really insane amount of damage. With only a longsword at lvl 1 it deals about 100 damage - can get on your nerves really while playing a squishy.

Pretty much sums it up here. If you don't think of Panth as a "dps" character but rather as a caster you'll have your answer. If ya think about it, buying a BF Sword is kinda like buying the Large Rod for him.