I’m still two rings short of being able to ascend a red 5* but I have both Santa and JF waiting in the wings. After seeing how JF was nerfed, I’m not sure which of these two will be the most advantageous to ascend. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and I have 3 Khagans but, yeah, no, not going to happen. My third came in a 10 pull for Avalon which was very annoying.
What do you need, a solid tank to laugh about in summer or a fast damaging support for every day?
Just for general use. I don’t have a great red tank but I don’t have a ton of monk emblems but have near 500 wizard emblems waiting for a home.
I would go with Jean because of not only the massive burn damage but that defense flip is a nifty mechanic.
JohnFrank gets my vote. Santa’s great at tanking, but JF has great versatility that makes him effective in more places. I know we’re mid-month and it’s common to see JF in raids already, but I think you’ll see even more of him as casual players (or those who get him later in the month) catch up.
I would go with JF. Santa is a good tank but lacks in versatility. JF has many uses imo. He lacks in the titan department but otherwise he’s solid in wars, raids and events. Yes he’s not GM (people keep comparing them) but he’s worth the rings. I’m trying to decide between him and Marjana and i think i will go with JF. Best of luck and let us know who got the rings 
In my honest opinion, both heroes are good and will get plenty of use. So …
Santa for Tank
JF for versatility
It’s a win win situation
Good luck
I’m in exactly the same situation. Just pulled JF. I have been putting off maxing Santa, hoping to get JF, but now finally have to make a decision… Tough call, but I think I’m going to go with JF.
Other Reds are Elena, Red Hood and Grazul, with Kong at 1-1, and Azlar and Santa waiting around at 3/70. I do have 4 more Elenas and an extra Grazul, but I think they will stay there.
Well I vote JF too due to fast mana and alllll the utility he brings to a team but FYI Santa is good for more than just being a tank lmao
He’s fantastic to help complete tough map stages is his #1 use imho, and he’s also good for a red team in war.
My only worry is emblems. I could immediately take my monk emblems off Li Xiu (currently at 19) and use them for Santa. No way I’m taking emblems off Proteus or Guinevere (or even Kiril) to put them on JF.
I give all my monk emblems to drake, Santa has no emblems and he still gets lots of use 
Santa has also been not bad at 3/70. I mean, you don’t use him for his attack anyway and at 697 defense he’s not bad. His main use is for the attack and defense down. Even more leaning to JF, I think…
Red Hood with emblems is super
Like @AnomanderRick said, you can make Santa work at 3/70. That will let you max JF and go back to Santa if you need a red tank.
Yes, I moved my emblems to Seshat. She is at 10 now, I think I will take her to 11, then start putting them on Red Hood again. I love Red Hood!
OP, I don’t know you - is your four star bench already solid? Because if not then working on this is the clear answer.
I have Santa and GM, but not JF. I realize that GM is not a perfect analog, but it’s the best information I have to offer. GM is WAY better than Santa. To such an extent that if JF is some reasonable facsimile of GM he’d be the clear call for me (that is, GM is so much better that an 80% GM would still be > Santa imo). I think JF is interesting and am hoping to still land one in the Costume Portal. I face a lot of Kunchens and Finleys, so his pre-buff defensive flip looks intriguing.
Really? I’ve only run into him a couple of times. Realizing this may be slightly off topic, but are other people seeing him much in the mid or high Diamond Arena? I don’t think it’s totally off topic, because his presence there (or lack thereof) will say a lot about what most of the game’s elite think about him as a defender and whether or not he’s worthy of emblems (since, if he IS showing up near the top he will undoubtedly have emblems).
Also, if he IS getting emblems at that level I think it’d be very telling, as this would be the group most likely to have Hel / Guinevere / Zeline. If he’s getting fed in conjunction with or instead of that group then we can also infer a lot about his perceived worth from that.
I raid in mid-high diamond, and I have yet to run into JF. I am running into quite a few Velas, though, and I can’t wait to get my 6th scope.
What intrigues me it the thought of a fire and ice (water) storm with Vela and JF. That could be fun.
Knowing this, J.F. is the obvious choice here.
Personally I preferred the offensive path with J.F. during Beta, as his burn can go close to 500 over 2 turns with emblems (mana troop will change this give or take)
Oh, my, then I would definitely go JF. Or you could send me some of those emblems! 
I think this thread has convinced me to go with JF…
Wait for season 3