Ok, so I really enjoy playing Pantheon. Most guides I read back in the early release days of him, stated that you wanted to level Spear whenever possible and put Heartseeker on the back burner, but now I am seeing the exact opposite. Any in detail insight on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

For me, Pantheon is all about getting your enemy to that 15% hp level as quickly as possible. An early BF sword turns Heartseeker into a hero shredder, especially if you have some armor penetration. Aegis -> Heartseeker often leaves my opponent around half health, if not worse. From there it's chasing with spear harass for the kill. If you run with exhaust you're essentially guaranteed a 1v1 kill unless your opponent has an escape mechanism.

Heartseeker is also the best method for dealing damage while exhausted. I try to save my Heartseeker if I know they'll exhaust/blind. They think the fight is over and you hit them for half their HP. If you saved Aegis or if it's back up your stun will last until the exhaust is gone and it's gg for anyone in your face.

Heartseeker also provides some AOE damage. Yes, it's situational, but if your opponents are grouped around one of your teammates a good Heartseeker will scare off just about anyone.

Basically Heartseeker is much better burst. Personally, I take one rank of each skill, then max Heartseeker, then Spear, followed by Aegis. I know, Aegis lowers the CD, but it's still 10 seconds. If you're chasing enough to use it more than once as a 12-15 second CD, you're probably chasing too far. Consider also that more damage from your Spear Shot means you don't have to chase nearly as long.

Thanks for the insight. I'm gonna try building up Heartseeker first and see how I do as compared to before.

P.S. By the way, Ender FTW!

I generally level up spear first, and this is mainly because it helps so much in harrassing, farming and in my opinion is just as useful in ganking. In a typical gank I will throw my spear, shield bash, then heartseeker, then spear throw again. Since I am throwing my spear twice each gank it is more beneficial to level it up first.

Once you get your BF sword at level 7 or w/e you can already take out a full group of ranged minions with 1 heartseaker so I feel it is not necessary to level this up to AoE farm better. In most cases you won't have enough mana to use heartseeker often anyways, at least until you get golem.

However if my lane is getting pushed heartseeker is more useful and I will start leveling it up more cause I can use it to attack my opponent and their minions at the same time while they are attacking my tower. (this really should not happen often as Pantheon, unless you are laning 1v2)

I've enjoyed Panth, he's neat!

I level Spear first and harrass with it (Meki Pendant + x2 HP Potion). If someone in my lane is dumb and down to 50% or lower hp, level 2 is Aegis then Spear -> Aegis -> Spear -> Ignite -> FIRST BLOOD! If they're playing cautiously level 2 is Heartseeker, lvl 3 is Aegis. After that I leave Aegis at lvl 1 and prioritize as follows: Skyfall, Spear, Heartseeker, Aegis.

Works well for me, hope it works for you too!

(Meki Pendant, Zerker Greaves, Emblem of Valor, Inf Edge, Starks; BT/Exec/Malady as needed)

i used to lvl spear, but if you go max damage build, heartseeker is best to max first. Many reasons for this.
Last hit champs with it
Minion farming
skill damage scales with physical damage better than his other skills.

Spear is a great harrassment skill, and leveling first gives you a nice advantage, but because Pantheon benefits so much from gold to build big dps items, I prefer to farm entire minion waves, and jungle spawns on heartseeker recharge.

See, mixed reviews, but thanks to the detail, you guys have all given me some very useful information. It seems it is all very reliant on what build you aim for as well as who you are laning against and the situations at which the lane is being pushed or pushed against. Thanks guys.

couldn't find a thread about this, so i thought it'd fit best here


are pantheon's skills (Q and E) affected by armor penetration? this includes weapons, not only runes...thanks