A Beginner's Guide to Expert Leo gameplay (Full combat build

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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Leo Anderson for Circle Undone 0 0 0 1.0
Flaming Leo: Permadeath Dunwich in a Day (2019.09.26) 1 1 0 1.0
Leo Anderson Warband v2.0 2 1 0 2.0
Zapp 0 0 0 1.0
Leo Anderson - Ammo and Allies 0 0 0 1.0
Leo pour les games du mercredi 0 0 0 1.0
Leo Anderson and the gang 0 0 0 1.0
Leo picks a fight 0 0 0 1.0
The Expedition Leader... and protector. 0 0 0 1.0
A Beginner's Guide to Expert Leo gameplay (Full combat build 0 0 0 1.0
Leo let’s get this done and get out 0 0 0 1.0

Alogon · 1045

Intro

The goal of this deck is to consistently get a Big Gun into play with 15+ ammo, that deals 4 or 5 damage per shot, and attacks with 11+ . This Deck is made for Hard and Expert difficulty but for sure you can use it on standard. I consider Leo Anderson to be the most consistent, resilient and flexible Guardian to this day. His main advantages are:

  • His access to Rogue cards. Guardian cards are very good but usually also very expensive. Rogue riches help you circumvent this problem, give you acces to Contraband for infinite ammo and on top of that gives you flexibility. The accelerated set up means great tempo, which usually translates into victory.
  • His ability is very strong. Allies are among the best assets in the game, been able to play them cheaper and without expending an action is amazing for your tempo. His heavy use of allies makes him also very tanky, which mitigates variance/bad luck.
  • His low agility is countered by his acces to rogue cards that evade without testing and by his tankyness. In multiplayer you should nevertheless have atleast one fellow investigator who can evade.
  • His personal weakness is relatively mild.

This deck seeks to exploit all this advantages . This is certainly not a flashy janky deck but a simple to use consistency engine.

Upgrade path

Basic enablers-permanents (3XP)

As Leo you shouldn't be dying. Between you and the mythosdeck stand your trusted allies that should be taking most of the heat. Charon's Obol should help us get the core components of the deck ASAP. Adaptable allows as to...well adapt the deck as the campaign progresses.

Early campaign consistency and survival (7 XP)

The early scenarios are the most dangerous because we don't have our OP combos yet. This early updates will allow us to fight with 7-8 consistently which is decent on the early game and will still be very usefull on the later scenarios. Charisma should also be bought early to be able to have more soakers in play and to enable Leo De Luca. You can exchange "Let me handle this!" for other cards that help you survive more.

Money rules the world (6 XP)

Been rich is good, been poor is bad, what else do I have to say? Hot Streak is amazing in your opening hand, never mulligan it away. I don't recommend to run "Watch this!" early on the campaign before you reach consistently 10+ because of consistency reasons .

Big Gun Core Build (21 XP)

After we secured our early campaign and have a decent cash flow we should immediately start saving XP for the core components of this build. Start by getting the Big Gun and then follow the upgrade path showed bellow. If a fellow investigator has access to rogue cards and you are in a 3+ player game make them also take 2 copies of Contraband for maximum consistency. You should try to get atleast 6 ammo from a contraband. In a 3 player game I recommend getting 14+ ammo, in a 4 player game 18+ in your Gun. To protect your big gun from discard make sure to always have atleast 1 more asset in play (an ally). With this set up you should be able to oneshot most enemies in the game with 11+ (Ace of Swords, Reliable and Beat Cop will boost you up to 13+).

Icing on the cake (get if you have excess XP)

Here are some good optional upgrades if you have some XP left. I like Keen Eye because with Leo I usually end up stockpiling ressources at the mid-late stage of an scenario. I use Keen Eye as a back up in case the scenario forces me to pick up clues or do any sort of intellect test in order to advance. It is also good for fighting bosses with allot of HP because if you have to do 4+ attacks in a row you may want to boost your to 12+ and tell that -8 chaos token to go and f itself :D. Dynamite Blast is great AoE damage and is sweet to blow up a swarm of aloof creeps like Whippoorwill or Humble Supplicant.

Thanks for reading my guide. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to comment!

15 comments

Aug 28, 2019 matt88 · 2968

I suggest keeping Enchanted Blade in the deck and stick one copy of Prepared for the Worst under Stick to the Plan on top of that for consistency reasons. With only 2 weapons in the deck, Prepared for the Worst is more likely to whiff so you lose in consistency overall. I also find Custom Ammunition a bit superfluous with Flamethrower (4 damage is already enough in most cases and big bosses usually aren't monster-traited anyway). I also strongly recommend upgrading to Beat Cop 2 much earlier in the campaign, before you even get your core weapon upgrades. The utility it provides just can't be ignored, as it can help a lot with tougher enemies before your core upgrades are in place.

Aug 28, 2019 Alogon · 1045

Cheers, @matt88.

The cards I normally attach to Stick to the Plan are Extra Ammunition, Custom Ammunition and for sure a copy of Prepared for the Worst. Only 2 weapons in the deck is indeed a little bit risky; if your 2 copies of Flamethrower are at the bottom 10 cards of the deck and 2+ enemies spawn on the first round and your team mates can't help you, then you could be in trouble (this happens very rarely though). Anyhow, keeping 1 or even 2 copies of Enchanted Blade in the deck could be a wise decision even though they will be dead draws 95% of the games. There is a little Rogue in me (and in Leo Anderson) so I like to push my luck a little and will never run more than 1 emergency weapon besides Flamethrower, "calculated risk is not risk at all" as Leo Anderson or any Rougue would say :D.

If you go for the Flamethrower as your big gun then Custom Ammunition is indeed not essential. I recomend it though because it is an awesome upgrade for just 3 XP. It gives you extra ammo at fast speed (adding even more consistency to Contraband plays) and often also +1 damage. Extra damage is always welcome, even if its not assential. Besides if you are also runing Beat Cop and/or Vicious Blow you could one-shot a 7 HP mini-boss monster (like Beast of Aldebaran or Piper of Azathoth) with 1 single bullet, which automatically makes you a real badass.

Finally in respect of Beat Cop(2), I think his testless damage can help you survive the early scenarios, but after you get the Flamethrower his extra damage becomes kinda irrelevant. I guess you could upgrade him early instead of getting Hot Streak in order not to delay the core big gun upgrades, but in that case I wouldn't recommend running Leo De Luca. I prefer early Hot Streak because it is very useful before and after Flamethrower.

Aug 28, 2019 Krysmopompas · 350

curious as to not using what I think is Leo's best weapon, the BAR. Loading it up with 2xContraband from Stick to the Plan (and even some Extra Ammo beforehand), and you've got minimum 32 bullets to wreak some havoc on the big bosses Leo always seems to encounter. Add Double or Nothing and a couple of Bandoliers with a Blade and you're set.

Aug 29, 2019 Alogon · 1045

Hey @Krysmopompas, good question.

I honestly haven't playtested the M1918 BAR whit this build yet but it seems to me that the Flamethrower is all in all the most consistent weapon. So lets make a direct comparison between this two weapons in the context of this build.

What does the M1918 BAR offers that the Flamethrower does not?

  • It cost 2 less XP to buy a set. This is good but not decisive by any means.

  • It allows you to dispatch low HP minions most efficiently since you can choose exactly how much bullets and damage to deal. This seems great on paper but it really isn't since this is an "infinite" ammo build and expending 1 Flamethrower ammo to kill a single vermin is not a problem at all. Besides the Flamethower allows you to distribute damage, meaning it is more efficient at dealing with swarms than the BAR. On Top of that, if the low HP enemy has 3+ combat and you are just expending 1 or 2 ammo, you are attacking with considerably less , which may lead to a failed attack, a lost ammo and a lost action (this been even more relevant on higher difficulties).

  • It has potential more damage and + than the Flamethrower. If you are expending 5 ammo with the BAR you are actually just getting 1 more damage and 1 more . There is only 1 recurring enemy with more than 4 HP that I can think of (Thing in the Sarcophagus) and this build runs Custom Ammunition anyways meaning that the extra potential tick of damage of the BAR is only relevant against Elites. Considering that sustaining that ammout of damage cost so much ammo for the BAR and that the base 4 damage of the Flamethrower is still very high, I think this advantage of the BAR is almost irrelevant.

  • You get to keep your body slot with the BAR and can play Bandolier. In the context of this build this is irrelevant though, since it's a pure combat build we don't need any Flashlights and since we will have so much ammo, there is no need for a sidearm after the Flamethrower is in play.

What are the disadvantages of the M1918 BAR in comparison to the Flamethrower?

  • Your Contraband plays are less consistent and the value of other ammo generation cards like Extra Ammunition, Custom Ammunition and Venturer is diminished. Remember that you can not attach 2 identical cards to Stick to the Plan (also no 2 Contrabands can be attached) and that the cost of playing Contraband and the BAR together would be 9 ressources! If you have to kill a 3+ HP enemy with the BAR before you get to play those Contrabands your ability to reach those insane ammo counts is greatly diminished. This problem is allot less severe with the Flamethrower, since your rate of ammo consumption is much lower and therefore you can get away with having less ammo.

  • As alredy mention, if you use few ammo with the BAR or if you make use of a sidearm (like Machete) your is considerably lower, leading to increased failed attacks.

For all this reasons I argue that the Flamethrower is the better weapon in the context of this build (full comabt multiplayer).

Aug 29, 2019 Malek061 · 1

Im knew to Arkham and am trying a Leo build. Would shotgun work in this build?

Aug 29, 2019 Alogon · 1045

Hey @Malek061. Welcome to Arkham DB and be prapered to lose your sanity with this game! :D

Shotgun would work but it has big drawbacks in comparison to other big guns so that you have to buil around this limitations:

  • Comming into play with only 2 ammo is a big drawback. This means that good Contraband plays will be more difficult to pull of and you probably won't be able to get as much ammo as with the Flamethrower. To counter this you can run the upgraded version of Contraband(2) and since you probably won't be getting more that 12 ammo on the shotgun you should also consider using Bandolier and a sidearm like (.45 Thompson or Enchanted Blade or even .45 Automatic) to deal with low HP recurring enemies.

  • You are at the mercy of the chaos bag when determining how much damage you will deal and only get +3 . This build has you covered though because it runs Reliable, Ace of Swords and Beat Cops to boost . If you don't have acces to any of this cards I would recomend buying Keen Eye early (and keeping Emergency Cache in the deck), upgrading Vicious Blow and keeping more skillcards that boost to somehow compensate.

Aug 29, 2019 Malek061 · 1

If I use stick to the plan and get extra ammo, contraband, and prepared for the worst, would that solve the ammo problem? Im thinking about adding cards like high roller, opportunist, and well connected with the ones you named to boost damage. If I can get to around 10 or 11 damage, should that be safe? Also, would adding lucky dice cancel an autofail on the first chaos token?

Aug 30, 2019 Django · 4854

You can use Stick to the Plan only once per turn. So if you need Prepared for the Worst, you must wait 2 more turns until you can play the other 2 to maximise ammunition. If enemies show up, you'll waste ammo before you can double it.

Additionally, ressources: Prepared for the Worst costs 2 ressources, Shotgun 5, Extra Ammunition 2 and Contraband 3. That's 12 over 3 turns, but you start with 5 and gain only 2 during this time.

Sep 03, 2019 Clinkcraft · 79

Unless I'm mistaken, you can't have more than one Charon's Obol in play or apply the effects of duplicate exceptional items, so why are you slotting two?

Sep 03, 2019 Alogon · 1045

Hey, 2 XP means it cost two expercience points to get :D

Sep 04, 2019 Django · 4854

To clarify further, the Exceptional Keyword (quote from Rules):

Exceptional is a deckbuilding keyword ability.

A card with the exceptional keyword costs twice its printed experience cost to purchase.
A player's investigator deck cannot include more than 1 copy (by title) of any given exceptional card.

Sep 05, 2019 Clinkcraft · 79

My bad! I saw 2X not 2XP :)

Dec 01, 2019 The Lynx · 952

Nice deck. I am setting up a Leo build with the [.45 Automatic] (2) (/card/03190) as the main weapon and [.41 Derringer] (2) (/card/03234) and [Enchanted Blade] (0) (/card/05118) as the backup weapons. Enchanted Blade is due to playing Carcosa with those pesky Geists. This setup should put Leo at an 6 plus 1-2 Beat Cop and the Ace of Swords.

I will be adding all some mix of the Extra Ammunition, Custom Ammunition and Contraband(/card/51005) to the mix plus the Venturer to keep everything resupplied.

Nov 08, 2020 Alienmen1 · 1

That deck is illegal. Hot Streak is a rogue level 4 cards and Leo has only access to level 0-2 rogue cards...

Nov 08, 2020 Alienmen1 · 1

Nvm I just saw there was a level 2 Hot Streak All's good!