Leadria Empires and Puzzles HotM December 23
Leadria is Empires and Puzzles’ December 2023 Hero of the Month (HotM) and Noooooo! They nerfed her pre-release.
It’s hard to call it a nerf as she never really existed, besides in the hearts and minds of the Beta Testers scattered across the globe.
But what we have here is a significantly hampered version of the Leadria we all tested.
-It’s a pity because the Special Skill is actually badass in its function. Just feels like a waste now. Anyway…
I took a bit of a sabbatical last month to concentrate on distilling my cynicism, but as we near the end of the majestic year that was 2023, I hope to flip the script and primarily focus on the good in my end-of-year review… Aka, the Christmas Special.
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This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Leadria’s Stats and Special Skills (Hero Of The Month)
Key Facts: Nature (Green), Average, Cleric, Legends 2023
Special Skills (Spirit of Spring): 1. Summons a Spirit of Spring Minion for all allies with 30% HP inherited from the caster. 2. When Summoned, Spirit Minion Boosts 100 health for its owner for as long as the owner has a Spirit of Spring Minion. This effect can’t be dispelled. 3. All allies’ Special Skills deal an additional +20% damage for 4 turns. 4. [Element Link] Gives all Nature allies +10% additional Special Skills damage for 4 turns (can’t be dispelled).
Passive Skills: 1. BOOSTED HEALTH FROM DEAD MINION ~ This character’s recovers 50 boosted health when a Minion owned by them is destroyed. 2. RESIST MAX HEALTH REDUCTION ~ This character has an innate resistance against max health reduction.
Talent: MANASHIELD ~ +35% chance to resist any negative mana status effects or effects that prevent the use of Special Skills.
Aether Power: DEFENSE UP ~ +20% Defense for 6 turns.
Legends 2023 Family Bonus: 1/2/3 Heroes: +10%/+15%/+20% Defense. Bonus for 2+ Heroes: Element Link affects all allies.
Leadria: The Empires and Puzzles December 23 HotM
Beta-Leadria would have made for the perfect Christmas Hero because she was all about giving.
She did it so well, summoning an angelic Minion that continually Boosted the health of her allies til the end of time, or til the little buggers burst from all the excitement and their sheer giddiness.
Although, I didn’t and don’t get the whole “Spring” theme; I mean, why not Angelic Minions? Or Christmas Tarts, or Santa’s Helpers, or maybe a little cheeky Mistletoe, or even Christmas Hampers?
But it was cool because in Beta Leadria was such a strong Hero, summoning Minions worth 35%, and those Minions Boosted health by a decent 200 HP per turn.
And that was enough to make the whole thing worthwhile, -considering all the possible counters.
However, at 100 HP Boosted health, well, I just don’t see how useful she’s gonna be in any serious competition, or how she’s better than any other commonly available Hero at levelling Maps or completing Stages.
Now, she’s basically a low-level pseudo-healer whose payoff isn’t really worth the risk of an easy counter.
-And the simplest counter is to straightforwardly slap the little buggers away.
A Hero like Esme (also Average speed) will Boost the health of all allies by 650 HP in one chunk, with very little to counter her.
And while it’s true that Leadria has the potential to summon a 650’ish HP Minion, they may or may not live long enough to get onto that Boosted healing.
On top of that, these guys don’t have any urgency about them, with only 100 HP to offer per turn.
They should’ve just called them “Slacker Minions” and given them a 10% chance to dodge.
Leadria’s Special Skills in Review (Empires and Puzzles)
On activation, Leadria will summon a relatively weighty Minion (30%) for all of her allies, each specifically nurtured to benefit from her own impressive Health Stats which stand at a stonking 1623 HP.
To put that into context, my Freya, a solid but ageing Summoner, only enjoys 1339 HP.
The result, at least in my Beta testing, is that a Double Limit Broken Leadria will spit out Minions bouncing around the 796 HP mark (now slightly reduced as in Beta the Minions were worth 35% total BMI).
The Minions then supply 100 HP Boosted healing per turn to its owner for as long as it’s alive.
And in the last part of her Special, Leadria buffs all of her Besties with a 20% boost in damage dealt from Special Skills.
The function of the Special Skill is actually first-class, in Beta increasing the lifespan of my mini-avatars and living vicariously through them, I could almost taste the immortality.
And while the Minions front and centre were nearly always offed early, the lucky ones got to keep looping the love by avoiding eye contact with any Hitters and surviving out on the wings.
🔍 Of note: In Beta no matter how many Spirit of Spring Minions an ally had, they would still only heal for the set amount (200 Boosted health at the time, 100 Boosted health now).
Before we get to the table, let’s quickly highlight some positives about Leadria’s build:
- Cleric (Manashield) ✓
- 50 HP Boosted Health (when a Minion owned is destroyed) ✓
- Resist Max Health reduction ✓
Leadria Vs. Empires and Puzzles
This is Leadria Vs. some Minion Summoners (for all allies):
| Hero | Mana Speed | Minion Weight | HP | Special Skills |
| Leadria | Average (10 tiles) | 30% | 1623 | Spirit Minion Boosts 100 health for its owner for as long as it’s alive and +20% additional damage for allied Special Skills |
| Arco | Average (10 tiles) | 30% | 1518 | Takes all that is bad and makes it good (Boosted health provider) |
| Hulda | Average (10 tiles) | 31% | 1479 | Minion = +11% health, +24% Mana Gen, and +54% Defense |
| Waterpipe | Average (10 tiles) | 12% | 1645 | Mana-stealing Minions who also reduce Defense and make the target immune to new Status Buffs |
| Red Hood | Average (10 tiles) | 20% | 1353 | Hits all for 181% while Minions recover 7% health for its owner and prevents Mana drain |
| C. Bera | Fast (8 tiles) | 30% | 1813 | Minions stop the enemy from receiving Minions… and poisons them |
| Freya | Fast (8 tiles) | 20% | 1339 | Minions increase Minion attack and Buffs Defense by +30% |
It’s worth noting that Leadria’s Minions are pacifists and won’t retaliate (just like Red Hood’s).
Red Hood is a good comparison Hero because her Minions heal for 7% per turn, which is about 150 HP for a 5-Star Hero with Troops in-game (in my experiments).
Moving on, Arco’s awesome, as we know. Hulda, too. And Costumed Bera is busy popping out some seriously chunky lepidopterans [Wiki] there!
This is a meat market for sure, but while the others have largely expanded their menu to include some extra flavours, Leadria has exclusively focused on the milder end of the palate.
Leadria Empires and Puzzles – Hero of the Month December 23
My final thoughts:
I was hoping we would get the fantastic Hero Leadria was in Beta. A Hero who not only protected her allies with solid Minions but whose Minions would supply copious amounts of unfettered life-blood.
I didn’t think they were overpowered at 200 HP per turn and was considering a Deity: T1 grade.
There are so many counters to Minions, with most of them being readily available to elite players, that Leadria was never in danger of breaking the Meta.
And unless the way she heals has changed (I’m referring to Stacking based on the number of Minions), then I simply don’t understand it!
See, at 200 HP per turn there was at least hope of a reasonably rapid Boost in health. I just can’t see that same potential at 100 HP.
As for grading, you should know that all of these new Heroes inherently present a problem with appraisal due to their advanced Power Stats (Power Creep).
Red Hood’s card is worth 767 Power, while Leadria’s is worth a huge 899. If you put these two into a phonebox, Red Hood isn’t coming out.
I can hear people screaming about Red Hood’s Damage-To-All, and you’re right, but you take my point.
Basically, if you’re a new player, you can’t dismiss a Hero like Leadria because she could still help you complete Maps and Stages and so on.
She’s just a disappointment for nearly everybody else and that’s a real shame, imv.
As always, it’s only my opinion and I could be wrong!
If you wanna help me, please give this a share somewhere.
Have a great month everybody! Christmas is on the way!🎄
Hero Grade for Leadria (Empires and Puzzles)
So for my grading, the question is:
Is this Hero’s Special capable of/likely to change the outcome of a battle? No.
If not, do they still bring enough to the party to help defeat the deities? No.
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Warrior
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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Got and tested her, unfortunately no staking up for the Minions health buff, little underwhelming in my opinion.
Thanks for double checking that Duende! It’s a pity… Thanks for stopping by!
What a bummer! I would have liked to get Neema last month but didn’t. I won’t be sad about this one. Hope you are feeling less nerfed than her OC! Best of luck with your Winter summons!
Cheers Gabrielle, a real pity! I thought Neema and Leadria would be awesome catches one after the other. Oh well.
Thank you for all of your great posts on heroes and always making it clear about the different utility for different level players. Can you confirm that the elemental link gives 10% on top of the 20% from the special? Is this resulting damage buff enough to be a consideration on her usefulness?
Hey Hobie, no worries. Going back to my beta notes, the two have different icons so I believe they will stack.
I do think the attack buff is worthwhile and she was tested with some hitters. But on the whole, power stats aside, there are better options, imv. Leadria isn’t a horrible hero, but that extra 100 hp was gravy. She’s a solid Minion maker now, with a nice little attack buff.
As a summoner, there’s synergy out there, but I suspect for most, she’ll be underwhelming!
Just pulled her on a single free summon !
As I’m a c2p, she’s a welcome boost to my team. I only have one other 5* healer (Ariel). Haven’t gotten to actually use her much yet, but the 20% boost to allies specials seems real nice.
That 100 HP can stack up, considering they have to get through the 30% minion to stop it. I suppose some elite opponent will just wipe the board of minions 5 different ways, but for me, she’s gonna see a lot of action.
Congrats Jeff! It’s true, it’s a just a matter of your roster. She’s a very decent hero and useable depending on what you have. Hope she’s fun!
Howdy OC, your analysis on Leadria is on point.
I didn’t even know she got nerfed… I beta she was OK as a pseudo healer, and I too thought she would at the very least be serviceable but now I’m disappointed that she came with the very first coin pull…
Yes, my roster is still very limited when it comes to 5* heroes and I was hoping I could pair her with my Frosth who would at least give her minions even more health but now I feel like someone decided to give me a steaming pile all wrapped up in Christmas ribbons.
Leadria, as she was in beta could have made even more of a difference because I picked up Neema last month and the possibilities were starting to look golden but now… Thanks $G 💩
That’s what I’m saying! I don’t think the extra 100 was a big issue. It’s hard to understand why but I’m sure there’s something in the background. Thanks for stopping by, Cornelius.
I just took her in a rainbow lineup of unlevelled 5*s with Uthragan, Neema, Gefjon and Frida on some map stages to see if at least she could help keep the team alive.
It actually worked.
That health boost over time does need time but given enough turns it really does work.
I’m under no illusions but she will have at least some use from me.
I agree. I don’t know why everyone saying that Leadria is a bad hero. 100hp boost at every turn with 30% minions and high stats are not small. For the average player she just fine. For a 6000 team power plus player probably she is not so strong.
I got her, she’s so underwhelming even Balur or Klaern may gain confidence when facing her.
Reading your review I honestly don’t get why they ‘nerfed’ her. Even with 200 health boost she wouldn’t be a threat to high level players.
No, I can’t see that any of the top players were sweating her 😁 but maybe she would make stages too easy or something, who knows! Thanks for stopping by, Wifverdim.
Thanks for your great reviews OC, they’re always on point with that nice blend of humour and cynicism.
I was lucky enough to pull Leadria and whilst I wouldn’t use her in any pvp battles, she is proving to be a useful addition on map / quest stages.
With a few minion generators in there (Noor and Freya for me), her health boosting minions can sit behind a beefy minion wall topping up the boosted health tank. By the time the team reaches the final boss level the heroes are topped up and ready to fight the good fight.
I quite like her to mix up the everyday grind of map stages.
Hey Odin, yes that’s exactly where I think she’ll thrive too. Not to shabby when we have reasonable expectations of her. Thanks for reading and sharing how she’s getting on!