A Comprehensive Leon Review in Octopath Traveler: CotC

Square Enix is releasing Leon by "surprise" on December 27th!

Leon, the Sea Serpent, is still a formidable character in Octopath Traveler CotC JP.

His unique blend of skills and debuffs make him an essential addition for players looking to optimize their teams, especially in spear-focused compositions.

Let's dive in!

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Leon, the Sea Serpent: A Comprehensive Review

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Basic Information

• Roles: Attacker (Tier 1), Support (Tier 1)
• Job/Class: Merchant
• Weakness: Spear, Staff
• Rarity: 5 stars
• Influence: Wealth
• How to Obtain: Limited (Sacred Blaze Banner)
• Town: Grandport

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The Power of Leon

Signature Attack: Leon's standout ability is a five-hit spear attack targeting a single enemy.

Extra Attack Mechanism: When using Divine Fivefold Thrust, it grants the Extra Attack effect, allowing for the repetition of another skill that can trigger this effect.

Key Abilities Triggering Extra Attack:

• Snake Fangs: A potent 230 power nuke capable of applying spear and staff resistance down.
• Ramming Thrust: Spear AOE attack that reduces both PDef and EDef.
• Fierce Thrust: Another Spear AOE attack that reduces PAtk and EAtk.

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Passives: Enhances spear damage and mitigates SP consumption when the Extra Attack is active. Also offers a 20% elemental resistance up to the full frontrow.

Ultimate Move: Leon’s ultimate skill, Sea Serpent's Spear, while not overwhelmingly strong, provides a strategic advantage by giving extra BP regen to all characters.

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Strategy and Usage

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• Breaking Shields: To maximize Leon's impact, break enemy shields alternating between his five-hit spear skill and his debuffing skills. Use his 5-hit skill the turn before you break the enemy for maximum damage output.
• When Enemy is Broken: Use his ultimate first to give the whole team more BP and then use his nuke skill on second turn with the Extra Attack effect to deal a huge amount of damage.

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Strengths and Limitations

• Helps Debuffing: He can debuff both attack and defense, helping other units cap their debuffs. He can also debuff both spear and staff resistance.
• No SP Issue: Leon can use his 5-hit skill without many SP issues thanks to his passive.
• Extra Attack Needs Cooldown: Leon can't double cast a skill twice in a row, and you'll need to reapply the effect by using his 5-hit skill.
• Not Suitable for Staff Shield Shaving: His best shield shaving move only hit spear weakness, unlike his other abilities.

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Best Partner Characters for Leon

Leon works best with units that can exploit an enemy's spear weakness, characters that can buff his spear damage, and characters that passively restore SP (like Rinyuu).

Some characters that synergize well with Leon in the Global version include:

• Roland: Can shave shields and apply spear resistance and defense down debuffs.
• Krauser: The second best spear DPS that can also shave tons of shields with his combo.
• W'ludai: Great for shield shaving alongside Leon. Javelin Rush can be a 5-turn spear attack and she also has a 4-hit spear skill.
• Dorothea: Amplifies Leon's spear damage by 15% at Max HP with her first passive.
• Richard: Amplifies Leon's spear damage and PAtk by 15% each at Max HP with his second passive "A King's Pride".

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Leon vs Roland:

• Multi-hit Capability: Leon surpasses Roland with his consistent five-hit attack. However, in AOE scenarios Roland will be better at shield shaving.
• Nuke Attack Potency: Roland edges out slightly with a higher potency at maximum boost.
• Debuffing Ability: Leon is versatile in general stat debuffing and can debuff twice in a turn, while Roland specializes in spear and defense down debuffs.

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Best Equipment for Leon

As with most DPS units, Leon greatly benefits from a high PAtk stat.

For Orsterra content, you should equip him with a Lance of Fortune focused on PAtk to deal as much damage as possible in Arena fights, Fortune Boards and Tower challenges.

For Hell content, you should equip him with a spear that maximizes damage against hellfiends and raises his damage cap. Currently, Stalwart (for 1-hit nukes) and Abyssal weapon series are the best for Leon, which can be unlocked in BoA Chapter 5/6.

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Awakening Stone Priority

A1 is the best awakening for Leon if you're using him as DPS, while A2 can help bringing both debuffing skills to battle.

His A4 accessory, Sea Serpent's Brooch, provides a 10% PAtk buff and SP regen when the enemy is broken. It also boosts PAtk by 100 and HP by 400. While good, it's not a game changer.

His ultimate is another nuke, so upgrading it to U10 won't make a huge impact in battle.

For the most efficient upgrade strategy, you should prioritize: A1 → A4 → U10

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Should you Pull for Leon?

Leon is a worthwhile addition whether you have Roland or not, enhancing spear team compositions significantly.

It's the best spear (and staff!) DPS we'll have in a long time, surpassing Krauser/Yan Long and rivaling Roland.

He's being slowly powercrept in JP by newly released merchants, but they won't be coming soon to Global.

Even though Leon is a Sacred Blaze character, which means you can still pull him when the banner reappears in the future, it's still strongly advisable to pull for him now.

Rating: 9.9/10