Leonardo – Champion Spotlight

After 2 months of waiting, the Swordmaster Path–a guaranteed way to get Leonardo–is finally here!

As the best champion from the TMNT crossover event, it’s crucial that you build Leonardo the right way: in this guide we break down everything you need to know about this TMNT Unity, counterattack spamming, damage machine–from how his abilities work to his best gear sets, blessings, and more!

Check out our dedicated Champion page for Leonardo for even more info and ratings!

Leonardo is an incredibly strong damage dealer who brings powerful defensive buffs for his team, crazy personal survivability, and a unique set of TMNT Unity bonuses when used alongside other turtles.

A1 – NEW YORK SLICE

Leo’s A1 does solid damage, scaling up well with up to 5 buffs on him and dealing an entire second attack’s worth of damage against a second random enemy when counterattacking (which he does often due to his A2).

In a full turtle team you should be running Leonardo at the front, ensuring he softens up enemies with his A1 so that Raphael can come in and land his Block Revive debuff.

A2 – SHELL YEAH!

A fantastic support move which sets Leo up to deal massive damage with his A3! The team buffs are very useful for keeping your team alive, and Leo can easily survive the incoming damage due to his Unkillable buff and Stoneskin passive trigger. Note that as a DEF-scaling damage dealer, the Increase DEF buff will boost Leo’s damage by 60%. His Counterattacks are nice, but are a relatively small part of his damage compared to his next attack…

In a full turtle team you will often prioritise this move in order to keep Leonardo and Donatello alive, setting Leo up for A3 spam.

A3 – TURTLES TOGETHER

The name of this move rather underplays the fact that it’s actually one of the most powerful attacks in the entire game!

It’s a good attack by default, but the scaling of 5% more damage per each buff on all allies and enemies is what makes it so strong: with 5 buffs on all allies and enemies in arena for example (i.e. 8 champions, 40 buffs), you’re looking at a 200% damage boost… Scary stuff!

This move becomes insanely strong when the TMNT Unity effects begin to be stacked. 1 and 2 extra turtles add significant damage to the attack (you could easily see 4x more damage fairly regularly with 4 turtles compared to Leo alone).

The 3rd and final level of TMNT Unity is what wins PvP fights though, with Leo getting a free use of this skill every time anyone on his team drops below 50% HP (though it won’t trigger if your ally dies–much like his passive, they must drop below 50% HP but remain above 0% HP…). It is very easy for enemy teams to trigger this attack due to Donnie’s passive and Raph’s Unkillable buffs, and it won’t be uncommon for enemies to kill their entire teams off accidently when fighting Leo. Keep Leo at the front of the team to ensure Donatello keeps him alive with his passive.

P1 -HERO IN A HALF SHELL

Leo’s passive has two parts. Firstly, he has the regular TMNT ally attack passive that every turtle has and it’s equally good here. Note that it won’t trigger off his counterattacks, just his active uses of his A1.

Even better though is his cheat death mechanic, where Leo will get Stoneskin whenever his HP drops below 50% from an enemy attack. This is incredibly powerful because it essentially removes all debuffs from Leo, and makes him impossible to debuff and kill for most enemies while the Stoneskin persists, leaving Leo free to use his A3 Unity attacks. Note that Leo can be killed without this triggering–he needs to go from above 50% to below 50% but still above 0% for this to work–this is why it’s important to run him at the front of the team, so Donatello can save him with his passive if Leo would have otherwise died. It also won’t trigger from debuffs like Poison. There is no cooldown on Leo’s passive, so he can trigger it again immediately if he gets above 50% HP and gets dropped below by another attack (something Donnie is good at enabling as well, as is the Leech debuff from Mikey).

AURA – 33% DEF IN ALL BATTLES

This is a good aura and you’ll end up using it regularly in the turtle team–not due to the aura itself however, but rather due to arranging the turtles in the best order to maximise their passive effects.

… Everywhere?!

As you can see from the breakdown above, Leonardo is an incredibly strong damage dealer who can dominate almost any area of the game when paired up with the rest of the TMNT crew–and he’s even strong enough to do good work without them as well!

TURTLE TEAMS

When using a full turtle team, the ideal team order is Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello. The first reason for this is to direct Donatello’s passive towards keeping the highest priority turtle alive (if multiple turtles are killed at once, it will save the first “dead” turtle in the team order); the second reason is to soften up enemies with Leo before landing the strongest turtle A1 (Raphael’s, due to the Block Revive effect) as often and effectively as possible.

ARENA AND SIEGE

Leo’s strongest area is PvP.

Without the other turtles, he remains a powerful defense-based nuker who has two extremely powerful survivability mechanics built in to his kit: his passive Stoneskin trigger, and his A2 Unkillable buff. When paired up with the Lightning Cage blessing and the Wand of Submission (or a support who can protect him from CC) he becomes a very difficult champion to actually kill. He even self-buffs Increase DEF to boost his own damage, and the short cooldown and high damage of his A3 (which is particularly strong in a buff-heavy meta) make him a constant fight-ending threat.

When paired up with other turtles, Leo ascends to another level. Due to his Faction Unity bonuses, he forms the lynchpin of the TMNT team and can threaten even the strongest mythical teams. With the 3 other turtles his A3 becomes around the 4th strongest attack in the game, which he will automatically use every time any ally drops below 50% HP. Donatello’s “cheat death” passive is invaluable for ensuring that this will happen at least once, and Raph’s Unkillable self-buff also gives a regular trigger.

Ideally, you should build Leo and Mickey in Stoneskin and damage sets, Raph in damage and Reaction, and Donnie in very high-RES Stoneskin and Feral. The safest bet is to give every turtle the Wand of Submission to protect from CC. Gearing Donnie well is absolutely crucial to protect the team from Lockout and Bombs which would otherwise cripple the team. Leo can rip enemy teams apart with his A3, and Raph is a big Block Revive threat. Mickey is mostly there for fun–but his Taunt buff, Evade passive, and sneaky damage can add another frustrating layer of RNG to the fight for your opponents!

DUNGEONS

Leo is a great damage dealer for all dungeon with the extra benefit of helping your team stay alive through Ally Protection.

When used in a full turtle team, Leo has the potential to quickly farm every dungeon in the game at time of writing. This is definitely dependent on having good gear, but you also have a 5th team slot to fill if you’re earlier in the game; try strong reviver or healer champions such as Rector Drath, Elva Autumnborn, or Raglin to supplement the turtles’ survivability.

CLAN BOSSES

While not a top-tier team for any Clan Boss, the turtles are still far above average, and will put in good numbers without needing to do anything special with your builds. Consider supplementing the with a healer/reviver, like we mentioned above, or add in a Weaken champion for even more damage output.

Best Stats

The key stats to look for on Leonardo are:

1. 100% C.RATE
2. DEF%
3. C.DMG%
4. SPD
5. HP%

C.RATE should be built to 100%, then strike a balance between DEF% and C.DMG% for maximum damage. Use our Hellhades Optimiser Tool to find the best build for your account.

SPD priority depends on how you’re using him: if relying on his A3 procs from a full Turtle team, you can skimp a bit on SPD; if using him as a standard nuker, go with the high SPD stats you’d build for any nuker these days (somewhere in the range of 200-250 SPD is common for mid-late game, with 250-300 being appropriate for endgame play).

HP is a nice bonus to help Leonardo stay alive to trigger his passive.

Best Gear Sets

The best sets for Leonardo are:

1. Lethal/Savage/Instinct
2. Stoneskin
3. Merciless
4. Feral
5. Reaction
6. Zeal

In general, we are looking for sets that will give Leo as much Ignore Defence as possible, combined with secondary sets to keep him alive.

Lethal is the go-to set for PvP since it allows you to use strong 4-piece defensive sets as well. Savage and Instinct are the same, but worse.

Stoneskin is the ideal 4-piece defensive set to keep Leo alive during the first turn of PvP. Feral is a strong alternative, particularly if enemies are regularly trying to counter your turtle team with Bombs. Reaction accessories are very strong as well if you’re lacking the more reliable Stoneskin pieces.

Zeal is the best 2-piece sets to complement a 6-Merciless build for PvE.

Best Masteries

Check out our dedicated Leonardo champion page to see his best masteries!

As a top-tier damage dealer, it is essential to give Leonardo the best Blessings and Relics to maximise his potential.

Best Blessings

Check out our Blessings Tier List for full details on all Blessings!

There are a few viable Blessings:

1. Lightning Cage (Legendary): This is by far the best option for PvP, protecting Leo’s Unkillable and Stoneskin buffs from being removed.
2. Crushing Rend (Epic): The best PvE option but only at 6-stars. It’s a massive damage boost, though it will likely be overkill on his A3 if running him alongside enough turtles.
3. Heavencast (Epic): His best PvE option below 6-stars. It’s a small but reliable damage boost.
4. Soul Reap (Legendary): A decent option for Faction Wars Hard to secure kills on both waves and bosses.
5. Faultless Defence (Rare): A niche pick for Fire Knight, allowing Leo to knock points off the Fire Knight shield when his team are hit while under his Increase DEF buff (Note: this doesn’t work if you absorb the damage with Shields).

Best Relics

Check out our Relics Tier List for full details on all Relics!

There are several great options for Relics:

1. Wand of Submission (Legendary Standard Relic): Generally the best PvP option, since it protects him from CC effects and Polymorph.
2. Stormcaller (Mythical Chimera Relic): With Leo’s constant free attacks and counterattacks he will rapidly stack this for big damage output as well as turning him into a Stun machine.
3. The Cat’s Gaze (Legendary Event Relic): A huge damage boost in all content, with strong offensive gem sockets.
4. Gilded Dragonstone (Epic Standard Relic): A budget option which will boost his DEF in longer fights, increasing both damage and survivability.
5. Malefic Talon (Rare Chimera Relic): The budget damage dealer relic. Basically a C.DMG% stat stick.