This page contains the following information.

This analysis was written by Dorflord.

Leonie's great speed and dexterity growths combined with access to Point-Blank Volley and a lack of any deficiencies whatsoever make her a fantastic unit overall. Her personal ability, Rivalry, makes her deal 2 more damage and take 2 less damage when next to a male unit. The difference is slight, but is usually easy to activate and can help out when she is just shy of surviving an attack or getting a kill. Leonie's strength growth rate is decent but not amazing, so she more heavily relies on her speed stat to double the enemy in order to deal damage. Leonie can also be somewhat bulky with good HP and defense growths.

Leonie is a flexible unit due to her lack of deficiencies, but her dexterity growth, Bow combat arts, and Bow and Riding proficiencies make Bow Knight one of her most effective possibilities. She can also function as an effective Falcon Knight, taking advantage of her great Speed stat to function as a dodge tank. Any other physically oriented class is suitable to Leonie, though Lance and Bow are the only weapon proficiencies she has and the only ones she learns unique combat arts for, so classes that specialize in Lance and Bow are generally easier for Leonie to succeed in.

While Leonie has immediate access to Tempest Lance, it is important to have her use Bows early on because she is generally more effective overall when using a Bow. Depending on whether Leonie plans to specialize in Lances or Bows, the Soldier and Fighter classes respectively are good choices for her beginner class, although Fighter's Strength +2 ability for mastery and its increased strength growth are generally more useful.

Darting Blow is important to have on Leonie to ensure that she doubles against some of the very fast enemies that appear in Maddening mode. Therefore, classing Leonie as a Pegasus Knight and having her master the class is a good idea, and the extra movement and Canto that the class provides will be useful while she is using it. Mastery of the Archer and Brigand classes are also important for Leonie; Death Blow helps increase her damage output which helps her compensate for her less than perfect strength growth, and Hit +20 helps her have improved accuracy with a Bow.

Leonie can make use of the Sniper class until she is ready to class into Bow Knight; its growth increases in strength, luck, and especially dex will help Leonie gain better hit and crit rates as well as deal more damage. Its abilities Bowfaire and Bowrange +1 help Leonie function as an effective Bow user while she is in the class, and its mastery combat art, Hunter's Volley, allows her to attack twice in a row, dealing massive damage.

Alternatively, Leonie can class into a Paladin in order to train her riding rank and gain growth boosts in HP, strength, defense and resistance. Since Leonie won't need Hunter's Volley as a Bow Knight and she will likely learn Point-Blank Volley before Hunter's Volley anyway, she won't get much use out of the Sniper class. While Paladin lacks Bowfaire and Bowrange +1, its growth increases are more useful and will generally help Leonie more in the long run.

Once Leonie reaches A rank in Bows, she will be able to use Point-Blank Volley, which allows her to attack twice in a row when standing adjacent to the enemy. This allows her to deal lots of damage at once and makes Sniper's Hunter's Volley less necessary. While Point-Blank Volley needs to be executed from close range, Bow Knight's superior movement allows Leonie to get up close and Canto away more easily. Bow Knight also gives Leonie Bowrange +2, which, in tandem with Bow Knight's high movement, allows Leonie to cover very large areas. While Bow Knight is a good class for Leonie to have in the endgame, its growth rates do not help her out very much; it doesn't increase any growth rates other than the near-universal 10% to HP and 5% to charm, and it deducts 5% from her speed growth. Keeping her as a Sniper is or some other class for a bit longer can be beneficial. Giving Leonie a Killer Bow+, a Critical Ring, and a battalion that raises her critical hit rate will work well with her good dex and luck growths to give her a very high critical hit rate.

It is worth noting that Leonie also has access to Break Shot, which reduces the enemy's Defense by 5, and can therefore be very useful for breaking down monsters or tankier enemies.

Thanks to Leonie's great 60% speed growth, she can function as an effective dodge tank. Classing her as a Pegasus Knight or Falcon Knight helps increase her Flying skill level in order to unlock Alert Stance+, and boosts her speed growth to help her become even more evasive. With Falcon Knight's Avoid +10, and if paired with other modifiers such as an Evasion Ring or a battalion that boosts Avoid, she can be safely sent into enemy range in order to draw them in. Leonie also does well with a Lance, with access to Monster Piercer early on and Lance Jab at A rank in Lances. Lance Jab is particularly powerful since its damage increases based on the user's speed, which is a strong suit of Leonie's, especially when classed as a Falcon Knight.

Leonie has a lot of strong aspects going in her favor, but these aspects don't necessarily synergize well with each other. Her growth rates are similar to fast units such as Petra and Ingrid who can be good dodge tanks as fliers, but her skill growths make her more easily classed as a Paladin. She doesn't function especially well as a Paladin considering she gets Point-Blank Volley and not Swift Strikes, but Bow Knight has awful growth rates. This means that, no matter what, Leonie will require a bit of extra investment. She will require extra Flying training if classed as a flier and her stats will be less than ideal if classed as a Paladin, Sniper, or Bow Knight. This means it is overall more difficult to become as effective of a flier as Petra or Ingrid, or as dominant on player phase as Swift Strikes Paladins like Ferdinand or Sylvain when classed as a Bow Knight. Still, she has some aspects that set her apart from those characters, and should still be considered a great unit.

Leonie can build support with the following characters.

Leonie will automatically be recruited if the player selects to teach the Golden Deer house.

Leonie can be recruited once Byleth has achieved a stat of Str 15 and Skill Rank C in Lance. These requirements can be lowered if Byleth builds support with Leonie, as shown in the below table.