League of Legends: a look at the reveal for reworked Pantheon
By Josh Tyler
With the reveal yesterday that the new Pantheon will be coming to League of Legends in a future patch, what can we expect to come next for the Artisan of War?
Riot dropped a ton of information yesterday regarding the newest reworked champion to be hitting the League of Legends game. That’s right, Pantheon, the Unbreakable Spear (apparently he’s retired from baking) was teased with a behind-the-scenes video, a preview of his champion loading screen and theme, updated lore, and several sick-looking new splash arts. So what do we know about the Pantheon rework?
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From this behind the scenes video, we get a look into what the game designers were thinking in conceptualizing the reworked kit for Pantheon. I’ve played a fair amount of Pantheon in my time with League of Legends, and I love that they’re keeping his identity as a spell-casting AD fighter. It’s also a relief that they’re keeping his global ultimate in the Grand Skyfall but updating how it operates (it should be harder for enemies to walk away from it and feel less clunky).
The rework also appears to be focusing heavily on Pantheon’s spear-chucking, something that was not as realized in his old kit. He appears to have a new line skill shot as well as some sort of a cone attack on his dash (sort of like they combined his old Aegis of Zeonia and Heartseeker Strike). Given that the Rioters said that they reworked every one of Pantheon’s abilities, it’s probably safe to say that he doesn’t have that “I block auto-attacks and tower shots for free” passive that makes him so frustrating to play against in the top lane.
The video also touches on his concept art, model, and splashes. I definitely agree that Panth needed to get a visual update and he seems more like a fearsome warrior than just a generic extra from 300. His walk and design look quite menacing and his armor really fits that Spartan warrior motif.
This is further expressed by the champion loading screen and theme that Riot also released. These heart-pounding tones really evoke that aspect of being a fierce warrior and adds to the formidable, almost godly, aura to the new Pantheon.
They also touched on the update to
, which takes his original story of being a Targonian warrior who ascended Mount Targon to become imbued with the Aspect of War to something a bit more interesting. It’s the same basic story, however, in the updated version the Aspect of War that inhabits his body is killed by Aatrox. The man who walked in the body the Aspect occupies then returned to his mortal form, still possessing the powers the Aspect of War gave him.
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The new Pantheon will hit the PBE soon and hit the rift on Patch 9.16.