After close to a year of playing I can finally fully ascend a red hero and I’m torn. My biggest issue is that I’m not prepared to strip Proteus of his wizard emblems meaning that maxed JF would stay vanilla while I have plenty of fighter emblems but on the other end I do have Master Lepus who of course pairs extremely well with JF.
Thoughts? Also take into account that this will be my only 5 star red for quite a while until I build my mystic rings back up.
Jean-François gets my vote.
You haven’t said whether you have her costume, which may affect the answers of others. I’m sticking with JF, none-the-less.
No costume so she’s pretty weak but I could at least load her up with a few emblems and improve her defence a bit. Because this will be my only fully levelled red 5 star I need to think about versatility as well. Is JF very good against titans?
Hmm. You’ve raised a couple of good points. First, if you go the Elena route, there are a couple of posts you should read before you apply the emblems. I applied emblems to Elena (she was my first five-star red and only one for a long time) following the shield path. In hindsight, that may not have been the right way to go.
You didn’t ask, but I’ll recommend that you should get a red mana troop leveled asap to support her. At level 11, a mana troop gets her special to fire one tile more quickly.
Second, re titans: I was thinking raids, and speed is a big differentiator for me. It is for titans, too, but if you use mana flasks, less so. That said, I think at least some people will say that Elena is better against titans (Anchor’s rating gives her an A against Titans while JF gets a B). Those that do will likely point to her tile count as the basis for doing so. I can’t argue with that, she has a great tile count and since you have healers, mana pots, and healing potions against titans all of which mean she can survive.
Editing to add a relevant thread. Look especially at the link to a post by @IvyTheTerrible:
No, I wouldn’t really recommend JF as a titan killer. He’s not lame, but he doesn’t have any special powers there.
Elena, on the other hand, is unmatched in her basic tile damage. She’s good in titan fights.
Nonetheless, JF gets my vote. I recently max ascended him myself. I really enjoy watching squads melt. Remember, his burn damage goes up with troops, in case you didn’t know. Mine’s level 75, and he’s up to a little over 350 burn/2 turns with a level 10 mana troop. I really like the fire. 
Elena looks kinda squishy. I’ve also never made much use of counterattackers, so there’s not much excitement from me there.
If you’re looking for well-rounded versatility, then I’d also look at tournaments. Elena could be awesome in Very Fast tournaments. JF is a master in Buff Boosters, though.
Now for war. Counterattackers are popular tanks for war. JF takes no damage from them when his special goes off. It’s very nice. Also, I found out heroes on defense get +20% to their Attack & Defense. It’s a little detail to round things out. But if I’m not mistaken, that means the players who fight my JF in wars have to withstand burn even higher than 350/2 turns. You’ll want to verify that, but it sounds painful.
Yeah I noticed this one day when I faced him and he was doing a lot more damage than what was on paper. That’s when I found out about the 20% buff for the defending team. This might make him a viable option for my defence team if I have him on flank and Lepus beside him on wing. 
JF gets my vote too, better than advertised, specially with a mana troop. Not great for titans but yes everywhere else.
Fast>>>>slow in general anyways
If you already have any sort of viable tank, JF Is your best choice, and it’s not close.
JF is an excellent hero and useful in high diamond defences, raids, buff and bloody tournaments and the only advantage Elena has is tile damage for titans. But she’s way too squishy and embleming her is really a waste of a precious resource as you have to take her up a path that runs counter to her prime benefit to make her even pretend to be viable in diamond or wars vs teams w strong benches.
That all said, if you’re in platinum or lower, lack any 5 star tank and fight wars vs mostly 3-4 star opponents… Elena can be dominant.
In short, with more info there may be a case for Elana - but with what you’ve presented, thinking long term, JF is the answer
Haha Atomos is my tank, he was my first 5 star and hence he was my first to be fully levelled. I’m so happy he got buffed to average speed as slow is really what made him so bad but he’s still not a great tank. I’d definitely run Elena as tank if I choose her.
I teeter between high platinum and low diamond and our war team is a big mix and hence so are our opponents.
In your position I’d go JF. And it’s still not close. I leveled Elena last month when i hit 21 rings and had again failed to land Gravy. Reds are my weakest colour and w Telly appearing on war defences I figured I needed her
She hasn’t got on the field as she can’t dislodge anyone from my A Red team (I run mono) and my B teams in other colours are all stronger than my B red team.
She’ll probably get on my Titan offence but that’s it. For me, it’s disappointing and a waste of resources. But I seem to get double the rings than any other 4star mat. Still, I’d like that Dblade back.
I think I’m slowly being convinced JF, before starting this thread I was actually leaning more towards Elena, but I think that stems from at the moment I find Elena more useful as JF’s damage at 3/70 is largely underwhelming. What are your thoughts of JF as a tank? Also remembering I have Lepus and would want JF to go off first.
JF is a corner dweller for me so no clue about tank. The only non-conventional tank I ever run is Drake bc he’s fast, hits hard and that blind can really mess up specials
Realistically you may benefit more from Elena for couple of months. But This game is allllll about the long term and planning and patience - and a few months from now JF will start to be more valuable and He’ll stay that way pretty much forever after.
Thanks everyone, you’ve convinced me that JF is the way to go, I’ll be putting him at flank with Lepus behind him at wing and I guess I’ll be keeping Atomos as my tank until something better comes along.