Over nine years ago, Pantheon was released to League of Legends and has been a lane-bullying top laner and annoying, albeit off-meta, Jungler ever since. He’s known for throwing spears, taking names, and falling off late game – and now he’s getting a rework.
Riot Games has officially released a first look at what they’re doing with Pantheon and how he’s being modernized without losing the base concept of the champion.
In a nearly six-minute video about the process behind Pantheon’s rework, Riot details everything from the creation of concept art and lore to new abilities and how they’ll impact Pantheon’s gameplay.
For those that don’t know, Pantheon is actually a mortal man named Atreus who becomes imbued with the Aspect of War. This lore is the basis for the updated version, which adds that Pantheon ends up losing a fight with Aatrox, returning him to his mortal state of Atreus.
While the Aspect of War had faded from Atreus, who fought tooth and nail to survive in his mortality, the cries of his enemies being fought by Aatrox months later willed him to fight for them. This sparked the Aspect of War inside of his weapons, and Atreus took on the form of a new version of Pantheon.
This updated backstory maintains the champion that players know and love while adapting him into even more of a heroic warrior.
Riot is also altering Pantheon’s splash art and in-game appearance to match this lore. Concept Artist, Justin Albers, discussed how there were many different conceptual designs including versions of Pantheon with “multiple speared arms coming out of him” or various weapons sticking out from his shield.
Based on the narrative that was created, the final design of Pantheon reflects his battle with Aatrox by balancing glances at his mortality while still displaying his stance as a mighty warrior.
Riot Games also wanted to create a better balance with Pantheon’s abilities, which had begun to feel repetitive and incredibly spell-based. Bryan “Riot Axes” from Gameplay Design shared, “For new Pantheon’s kit, we changed every spell, but tried to stay close to the spirit of what the character was about.”
The most notable change coming to Pantheon’s gameplay is his ultimate ability. Originally, pressing R would active an ability called Grand Skyfall, which would allow Pantheon to leap to a targeted location after a short delay, slowing and dealing damage within the zone.
Now, the ability has been appropriately renamed to Grand Starfall, which sends Pantheon sliding into battle at an angle that does damage as it passes through enemies. The mobility of this ultimate will give Pantheon a lot more room to be a playmaker rather than a static spellcaster.
A new theme song for Pantheon was released alongside his rework details, which should come to live servers during Patch 9.16.
Until then, Pantheon players can say their last goodbyes to the champion in his current state and get ready to dive into a new era of the Unbreakable Spear.
