Numerical solutions to complex characteristic equations are quite often required to solve electromagnetic wave problems. In general, two traditional complex root search algorithms, the Newton-Raphson method and the Muller method, are used to produce such solutions. However, when utilizing these two methods, the choice of the initial iteration value is very sensitive, otherwise, the iteration can fail to converge into a solution. Thus, as an alternative approach, where the selection of the initial iteration value is more relaxed and the computation speed is high, Davidenko's method is used to determine accurate complex propagation constants for leaky circular symmetric modes in circular dielectric rod waveguides. Based on a precise determination of the complex propagation constants, the leaky mode characteristics of several lower-order circular symmetric modes are then numerically analyzed. In addition, no modification of the characteristic equation is required for the application of Davidenko's method.