An alliance mate asked the question, wanting to build depth in red in terms of attack power - raids & war. They already have Natalya maxed as well.
Who would you ascend?
We’re divided on the question, so do you have a clear candidate for ascension, or should they just wait for someone better?
Your expertise would be appreciated - thanks in advance.
i think that it depends on the other heroes of the desk.
without info i vote for Elena: high tile damage, devastanting special and… pretty looking
Without knowing the remaining roster, the answer would be Marjana.
If we know the application of the hero, then at certain point Elena might be better.
My vote goes to Marjana. She’s more versatile and a fast sniper. 
One more vote for Marjana. I have a maxed elena and I like her but I would have chosen Marjana over her if I had her.
You need my expertise? Well, well, I say Marjana! 
In my raid/defense Team (4177 LP) Elena plays a major role to the good and to the bad. If she survives the first strikes of the enemy defense team and fires her special, I like the counter attack over the tile damage. But usually she is the first hero in my team to die (she is flank to Guinivere and next to Evelyn on the wing) I got Marjana only after I fully ascended Elena, but always wanted her more. Now, I will level her to 3/70, where she will stay for a long time, because I pulled Grazul and also got Azlar and Khagan from TC20. Long story short. I would chose Marjana, because she is a fast sniper and has DoT.
Marj gets crap for a lower attack stat but I’d argue that a guaranteed hit or two beats Elena most of the time. I find riposte more useful against monsters and bosses, which Elena would do well at. Marj does well at more things.
Another vote for marj… I have both maxed and there are wars where Elena sits the bench. Marj always gets to fight.
Marjana any day over Elena, if their only red 5* is Natalya.
They are both victims of poor design. Elena is slow with def oriented special, but her stats are among most attack oriented in the game. This makes her very weird hero, that usually does not survive enough to fire, and when fires, it’s usually already impactless (heroes around her may be dead, enemy is ready with healer/dispeller etc).
Marjana, on the other hand, is a pure red 5* sniper - surprisingly, one of her kind. But her stats are so defense oriented, her special attack damage is very underwhelming. Falling behind even her other classic colleagues of the same specialty. Even though I have her on max and with emblems, I still prefer to take Zim/Lancelot/Wilbur/Falcon on my titan fights, and rarely consider Marjana to take elsewhere as a sniper (especially that green tanks are rarity, and if I take off colour sniper, it’s usually Magni or Joon).
Both heroes would be really AMAZING if they just had their stats swapped. In current form, both are rather average. Personally, I would be leaning towards Marjana just because fast snipers can be good for everything, even though she’s probably the worst of them all. Considering your mate has only one 5 star hero of a color maxed, he’s likely quite early in the game so he may actually find her useful for a while (as I did, given she was also my first 5 star red hero maxed).
Great write-up. Thanks.
Marjana (for lack of better options) is currently my tank. Also my only maxed 5* red. I use her regularly. Elena at 3-70 I rarely use at all and am not really considering for maxing soon. I just find her underwhelming, which is disappointing as one of the “faces” of the game (and the fact I have 2 of her).
I also prefer snipers in general.
Thank you for all your responses - @Suicide_Bunny really appreciate the thorough analysis of both heros.
Marjana it is.
Solution found @zephyr1 or @DaveCozy can you please close this thread - thank you (Rook & LittleKAF might be busy dropping zeros elsewhere) 
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Good to hear you reached a conclusion!
We don’t normally close threads like these, as other people may find them useful in the future
If you just don’t want to be notified about further posts in the thread, you can change your status on the thread from Watching to one of the other settings.
The option for that is down at the bottom:
Hmmm… I know all that @DaveCozy as I thought people can still find this thread by searching? I know this is an underused tool in this forum.
Thanks anyway.
Edit - turns out Davecozy dropped the zero and still had time to respond to the tag. Well, well, well… 
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