Overview
Sick of Raelynn’s ♥♥♥♥♥, tired of being forced to drink Genji’s nectar. Well this is the all in one guide for you!
Introduction
Leon is an ambush melee character who is served best at taking out key targets pushing lanes and evasion however as powerful as he is to master and yet easy to learn some people overlook his own shortcomings
Movement Speed: 7.4
Attack Type: Melee
Role: Assassin
In comparison with other nauts, such as Clunk,Derpl,skoldir leon is nowhere near as effective at soaking up the damage (tanking) but this downside is made up in speed and elusiveness
Speed in comparison to other nauts is good if you choose to go for boots you can outrun anyone (bar maybe froggy and ayla)
Because of having a melee auto-attack, it is very easy for enemy nauts to retaliate and damage you if you try to touch them. At base damage and no upgrades, his auto attack is weaker then watered down lemonade (sorry skoldir) but fear not as this little guy snowballs in what could possibly turn out to be a monster.
The way i personally feel he is meant to be played is as a harasser early/mid game then precede to start cleaning up kills then move onto wiping people off the face of the earth like clillit bang
Pro’s and cons of leon
Before i start on all the abilities and how to use them i want to talk about the good the bad and the ugly as Leon lets begin!
Pro’s
- Very fast and easy to get away
- Great at picking off retreating nauts
- Auto attack can cleave for massive aoe or team damage
- Good at cleaning the lane out making sure it is pushed to turret
- Scales very well with gold
- Tongue interrupts Raelynn snipe effectively making her do so much less pressure
- Stealth for easy escape
- Clones to fool people
- Great synergy with other nauts such as Yuri Derpl clunk ect (i will go into more detail below)
- You can effectively (peel) a naut and saving a team mate!
- Clear out gnaw nests
- Good farming naut for gold
- Can snowball pretty hard if the correct amount of gold is reached
Now that seems great lets see the not so great side of Leon
Con’s
- Very low health and easy to kill (clunk pls no)
- Very expensive (around 3k to get most of your damage upgrades)
- The tongue is a so called “skill shot” so you would need to aim to right
- You will be actively hunted by decent players even in stealth (they will shoot around ect)
- Slow to start off with
- Can easily be avoided if the correct steps are not taken
- AI station 404 is a nightmare before the first tower falls!
So as you can see like everyone theres good and bad for Leon lets have a look at some of his ability
Abilitys and Upgrades
Leon isn’t very diverse when it comes to effective builds his upgrades are quite expensive and take time to stack on top of one another you should be seeking to get items that work well with one another but like every rule there are a few exceptions
I will list the upgrades that are decent for any Leon build below
Tongue Snatch
Shoots out your tongue where your mouse cursor is aiming pulls in any enemy naut if touched and damages droids on contact does not do damage to towers
Damage 12
Cooldown 7s
Range 6.6 (baseline)
This move early mid game will be used to close gaps among you and the opposing naut setting up kills (see team play section) late game is used as a bursting tool keep inmind when you tongue people they will be in your face so try not to grip that clunks when you’re at or <50% hp! lets take a look at some of the upgrades
Preview of tongue
Spiked Tongue Piercing
Increases the damage of tongue snatch
Damage +3 per stage (3 stages)
This I think is one of the most needed upgrade for a Leon to be effective as it increases damage of your tongue making it viable for damage aswel as the pull great against low health targets such as raelyinn,gnaw (plants too!) not too expensive ether makes this upgrade useful in any situation
Tongue Stretcher
Increases range of tongue snatch.
Range +2.4
This upgrade is situational and dependant on your team (see more in teamwork section) it effectively gives a ton of range on your tongue I think this is one optional upgrade in this line of abilities.
To get the feel of the difference here is a picture for comparison
Cheese & Garlic Mints
Adds a silencing affect to tongue snatch.
Silence Duration +1 per stage (2 stages)
This is another optional and personal preference upgrade you can use this upgrade to silence a naut after you tongue them so they cannot use abilities for a short amount of time it is very useful against things you do not want using abilities on you such as clunks bite or genji’s cocoon once again this is purely situation and optional if you are finding trouble with foes stopping you burst or just generally walking around this may be an option you would enjoy.
Steel False Teeth
Adds life steal to a successful tongue attack.
Life steal +8 per stage (2 stages)
This is yet another very good yet situational upgrade as it provides health on tongue snatch keeping you alive/inlane longer. as the more units in the tongue the more you heal for example if theres a whole droid wave in the way you would heal more then just if one was there so it is a great utility for surviving against most things i find it very good against gnaws poison as it provides that little bit of hp so the poison does not wipe you out
Morning Star Piercing
Increases damage of tongue snatch.
Damage +9
Again this is a similar upgrade to Spiked Tongue Piercing so my comment is relatively the same i would just like to add this + the spiked tongue is a VERY deadly set upgrades together as the tongue does a ton of damage
Magnet Piercing
Your tongue attack will pull Solar towards you and successful damage will add Solar.
Solar Grab Yes
Solar per Damage +2
This is a very good farming tool as you can get allot of solar very quickly with this just like the False Teeth the more you hit the bigger the benefit hit an entire creep wave? great enjoy your free solar it’s a great way to get your upgrades but once again i cannot stress enough how situational it is as when you’re fully leveled it becomes useless (like every solar upgrade) so bear that inmind when you go to pick this little gem
Cloaking Skin
Cool down 8s (starts when stealth is broken not when you press it)
Dummy Health 40 (baseline)
This is really the bread and butter of Leon’s everywhere most builds will revolve around this as it is an amazing escape tool swell as a good skill to use to set up the kills seek and destroy nauts follow them and take them on YOUR terms not theres force them to fear running out of there tower because they do not know where you are. there are some great upgrades to this skill that changes how you play lets take a look
Surprise Party Mask
Adds extra damage to the decloaking first slash.
First Strike Damage +10 per stage (2 stages)
This is my personnel favorite upgrade for this skill as it is effectively an ambush i personally never buy stealth without it (if this upgrade is in your build) it’s amazing at bursting nauts who are very squishy or droids that get too close to tower
Pinot Noir
You will regenerate health when you are cloaked.
Health per Min. +300
This is a very good regen item as no DoT (damage over time) affect will kill you if this is active the best part about this is the fact it stacks with Med-i’-can if you choose to take also that for amazing unkillable regen while cloaked not needing the neutral creeps are a big thing in awesomenauts the more you stay “in lane” collecting solar the better off you will be so you could see how this would affect a team if you would never need to go back to base / creeps to heal.
Basic AI Chip
Makes your replica dummy walk around.
Dummy Walk Yes
This is good at fooling nauts into believing that your dummy is infact you walking jumping around you can also use it to push towers kill droids and just in general distract the foe
Aggressive AI Chip
Makes your replica dummy attack.
Dummy Attack Yes
This with the basic AI chip will fool most people into believing it’s really you this just works wonder in pushing towers with the basic also for more pushing power! wouldn’t really take if you do not have the basic AI chip
Extra Battery Pack
Increases health of the replica dummy.
Dummy Lifespan +8s
Dummy Health +40
This in combine with the AI chips make an exact clone of you and most nauts will presume it is indeed you push towers clear droid waves with the extra health and lifespan you will have your own personal army!
Blow Up Doll
Makes your replica dummy explodes on death.
Dummy Explosion +25 per stage ( two stages)
Very good at getting melee nauts low on health as they kill your droid it will explode to do damage combined with one or two of the AI chips you could get allot of damage in on froggys,clunks,ayla’s!
Slash
Damage eight
Attack Speed 136.4
Range 3.2
A Leon shown here slashing
This is your main attacking ability (left click) it does cleave damage meaning it hits everything in the area that it touches not just one target so it is great for cleaving towers + droids or nauts can be upgraded to do quite a few things lets take a look at the many upgrades for it
Chainsaw Addon
Increases the damage of slash.
Damage +2 per stage (3 stages)
This is a very good upgrade as it stacks onto of all your other damage increasing skills making you that much more scary!
Enhanced Muscle Fibers
Increases the attack speed of slash.
Attack Speed +15% per stage (2 stages)
As with every naut in this game attack speed is one of the best upgrades full stop as it allows you to kill droids nauts and towers faster and stacks with you’re damaging skills more cleave more ambush more back stab! what not to like use it for your scary burst!
Clover of Honour
Increases the damage of you’re third hit.
Damage +6 per stage (2 stages)
This is great combined with the muscle fibers as you will do the extra damage every three hits no matter how fast you swing remember it’s a cleave so that extra damage is going to everything within range this is situational and to the users choice but i would recommend it
Back stab Blade
Adds an extra amount of damage when striking the back of a target with slash.
Back stab Damage +4 per stage (2 stages)
This is one reason Leon’s are so scary if they run from you you can back stab the cowards! works as cleave still please do note towers and cores cannot be back stabbed as of a recent patch it still does work on droids nauts and nauts minions such as healbot plants ect this is situational and personnel choice
Hungry Sword
Adds a life steal affect to slash
Life steal +20%
This is much like the life steal on the tongue as it is how many units you hit so if you cleave a whole droid wave you will get more hp but please bear in mind it is 20% of your damage done is healed so if you upgrade damage it will heal for more once again this is situational and personal choice
Electrifier
Adds a slowing affect to slash.
Slowing Power +15% per stage ( two stages)
Slow Duration 1s
This is great against classes that would want to run against you such as other Leon’s,raelynn,Voltar ect it slows them so they cannot get away great to use if tongue is on cd it can also be used to see stealth Leon’s as it glows up purple if they are slowed so it’s not so easy to get away from you again this is 100% opinion and to your play style if you would want to take this
Utilities
Here i will discuss the utlities and what they can do for Leon
Power Pills Light
Increases maximum health.
Health +15 per stage ( three stages)
Great if you need that extra health to survive burst or just damage in general i would say this is a solid thing to have if you are new to Leon and cant yet dodge allot it allows for more mistakes and recovery
Med-i’-can
Automatically regenerate health.
Health Per Min +100 per stage (2 stages)
Great for regening health as it is constant and will allow you to forget health kits and creeps for health it does stack onto of the wine for more healing if needed keeps you inlane longer collecting solar!
Space Air Max
Increases movement speed.
Movement +1.6
Want to win a race with froggy or ayla? need to run from that genji or skoldir this is the item for you as you become pretty much uncatchable and can chase down most nauts with them on and hey they are stylish also
Solar Tree
Gain additional Solar over time.
Solar Per Min +20
Great for earning more solar without picking up everything in sight you will soon find yourself drowning in solar ready for upgrades whoever you want with this just make sure to live enough enough for it to be effective!
Piggy Bank
Gives 115 Solar.
Solar +115
Great for the start where you would want to buy more then one thing gives you that little boost that you might need to get rolling just bear inmind after around 10min solar tree surpasses it so it is only to get a head start as 100 solar is one level thus an extra level at the start
Baby Kuri Mammoth
Reduces the affect of all debuffs
Debuffs -20% per stage (2 stages)
Genji just cocooned you? clunk had a chomp out of your lizzard ass? no worries you will be out of there before the explode goes off works also on Gnaws poison affects possibly saving your life!
Build – Extreme burst
Leon extreme burst build[nautsbuilder.com]
You will need alot of solar per min for this see solar leon guide below
This build will need you to be aware of where you are and not to take burst damage as it does not upgrade health but the damage output is insane with the tounge melee swing and ambush you should be able to pretty much 1shot lonestar raelynn coco genji voltar and derpl maybe ayla and gnaw but they have ways of living when it comes down to living as this build if you get away and go into stealth you will not die as you have 2 regens going at the same time!
The rotation for this spec is as follows (if fully upgraded)
Go behind somone leftclick and asoon as you have done the ambush instantly do your rightclick for your tongue damage then spam left clicks while running behind them as they try to run/fight you this should ensure in a kill just make sure to backstab the droids to clear the lanes out
The shop timers are as follows (when to go back to buy stuff)
1st shop : 415 solar
2nd shop: 480 solar
3rd shop : 420 solar
4th shop : 400 solar
5th shop : 400 solar
6th shop : 650 solar
After this you should be fully damage upgraded so go back every 300-500 for more upgrades until level 35 where you will have everything