Garen vs Pantheon
Skill matchup
Build vs Pantheon
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Dead Man's Plate, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Sterak's Gage, Black Cleaver.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Pantheon's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
Every few spells or attacks, Pantheon's next spell is empowered.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 11s | 13s | 22s | – |
| 6 | 9.5s | 13s | 22s | 3m |
| 9 | 8s | 12s | 22s | 3m |
| 11 | 8s | 11s | 22s | 2m45 |
| 16 | 8s | 9s | 20s | 2m30 |
| 18 | 8s | 9s | 18s | 2m30 |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Pantheon
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Trade after his Shield Vault
Take a trade when Shield Vault (W) is on cooldown: it's his only spell to leap onto you and stun you, on a 13 to 9 second cooldown.
- Go around his Aegis
During Aegis Assault (E), go around him or wait it out: he ignores damage from the front, except from towers.
- Back before you get too low
Back before your health gets too low against him: below a health threshold, Comet Spear (Q) deals much more damage.
- Ping when he leaves lane
Ping your team as soon as he disappears from lane: Grand Starfall (R) lands him from long range, after a short delay that gives you time to get away.
- Drag the game out
If you survive his first minutes, play for time: Pantheon looks to get ahead early through his trades and roams.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1