Talk:Pantheon/@comment-20434720-20140406164322/@comment-24795475-20140409161325

Pantheon's mana costs are actually extremely high. The reason people say he is balanced is his mana costs, which is why he is usually found in the jungle, where he can get blue buff/spirit item and sustain. I've played against him a couple times top lane, usually playing Nasus. My suggestion is simply try to outsustain him. If you know your champ will have difficulty sustaining against him, try starting cloth armor and 5 pots.

In the case of nasus, I would get harassed early game, but the lifesteal on my passive allowed me to simply farm under tower until he ran out of mana, in which case I could zone him back. It also helped that I had teleport so I could more easily get items than he could.

In the case of a champ that wants to get an early RoA, a catalyst rush should be enough to sustain in lane. If you are careful when about half health, and farm under tower, you should be able to consistently heal with leveling up.