Merlin or Proteus? 🤔

I don’t have a Merlin and I wouldn’t kick one out of bed if I got one, but I’d absolutely agree: Proeteus over Merlin every single day.

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Proteus freezes mana and has decent DoT on three along with a good attack stat. He has helped me win many raids.

This makes me a huge fan of Proteus, I have a 2nd Proteus in the works with a third on the bench.

I wanted (still want) Merlin b/c he looks both fun and useful, didn’t get him but have no lingering regrets.

Proteus has:
+. Higher attack (707 vs 682)
+. Damages Three
+. Freezes Mana on Three
+. Slightly more durable (2* Def + Health) 1674 > 1635
= Average Mana, same as Merlin

Team composition:
Merlin will work well on the same team with Onatel while Proteus negates her special. Merlin never blocks mana, just knocks it to zero under Mindless Attack, so Onatel can continue to steal generated mana. Proteus’ mana block means Onatel has nothing to steal from the blocked heroes.

Edit for clarity, Onatel steals generated mana, not existing mana

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That was actually one of my questions. To be clear, Onatel only steals mana that would have otherwise gone to a target, not many that was blocked? Or in other words, Proteus’ effect is taken into account before Onatel’s?

If that’s the case, I guess I’ll be getting a touch more use out of Hansel and Gretel (and Merlin if I ever get one) in the future, but Proteus is still pretty great.

Correct (from what I have read on the forum).
Ontael’s special allows her to steal a % of what the enemy is getting that turn. If that is zero due to Proteus then Onatel steals xx% of zero.

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Proteus is the one you want, to help you get through the toughest boss stages on the challenges and events or if you are working through the hard Atlantis. He was a game changer for me - I could only compare his impact to the one Wu Kong or Wilbur had. He’s basically cheaper and more available version of Hel, who is considered one of the most powerful purples in the game.

If you ever read those advices about how many dragon attacks and bombs you need to bring to the challenges to finish the boss stages, with Proteus just replace these with 2 sets of mana pots and you can handle everything.

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I have, and use, both of them. They do very different things, and so you want to pick the right tool for the right job.

Proteus: good tile damage, low direct damage, and 3-hero mana freeze

He’s really good if you’re facing multiple heroes who are scary if they fire (think GM, Guin and Quintus). He doesn’t make the situation better (mana is frozen, not reduced), but he can buy you time. Fire Proteus, then move tiles around to change the board to best advantage, without fear that dumping tiles will make someone fire.

Merlin: decent direct damage, decent tile damage, and 1-hero mana effect

Merlin is best for dealing with one scary target. Unlike Proteus, he actually can improve your situation. If you dump enough tiles into the target to fill its mana bar, it will damage its own team with a slash attack, and empty its mana to boot. That, plus decent attack damage, is very helpful in coping with one strong target among several weaker targets.

Note, also, that Proteus doesn’t stop mana gain from Alby or Onatel. When facing them, Merlin is by far the better choice, since the fill-up they produce can be countered by pushing the enemy mana bar to full.

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To clarify, in case this is misread by others, this means they can regenerate or steal mana, even while a status effect affecting mana generation is active, and this is confirmed to be intended behavior:

@Dante2377 wrote a nice explanation on this, which goes into useful detail (click through for more, only quoting the most salient part, and note that this explanation predates Onatel’s release):

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Technically, Onatel is stealing, not regenerating. So just to be 100% clear:

You hit Onatel with Proteus’ status effect, and she can still steal mana from others through her special.

But if Onatel and Proteus both affect the same target at the same time, then Onatel won’t steal mana from that hero until Proteus’ status effect goes away. Thus:

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Cheers, thanks for clarifying my comments, I’ve tidied it up so no one is led astray in the future.

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Yes, thanks, good further clarification. The explanation about Albe predates Onatel, obviously. I’ll edit for further clarify.

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I think the problem was my unclear comment that @Zephyr1 was trying to clear up. I just figured I’d clarify the clarification :slight_smile:

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One more for the newer players but not exactly on the OP topic:

Hansel and Gretel, from Grimm Forest have a similar niche to Merlin although less spectacular.
When an enemy is under their special it continues to gain mana but when reaching 100% the enemy takes damage and loses 50% of the mana.
This means they work well with Onatel in the same team and also help tame her when on opposite teams.
Hansel is fast mana, hit one, Gretel is average mana hit three for damage but still one target for mana control.

Hope some of this helped @ochartier. In a few months you may have both Merlin and Proteus maxed and can come back to give us your verdict.

Summed up perfectly. I don’t think it is a layup for either. I tend to use Merlin more now.

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A raised proteus earns you rare missions, events, emblem missions, raids, is undoubtedly a superclass, at the level of Wu or above.

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I’ve allready started using both, and while I agree proteus is 100% overall better, Merlin shines against strong and slow mana ennemies and other specific situations.

When Isarnia, Alberich, Mother North (etc) are close to firing, proteus will save you 3 turns, but Merlin will allow you to reset them from the start, taking them a lot more then 3 turns to get back to full mana with their slow speed.

Also, since the ennemy tank usually dies pretty quick, in the second phase of the fight, Proteus looses 1/3 of his efficiency, only being able to hit 2 enemies instead of 3.

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I agree completely with what you say, there are situations where Merlin is better, there are probably more times where Proteus is better but you are in a good position with both.

My most oft used raid team has Proteus and Hansel. Proteus throws the blanket freeze and Hansel cuts mana back with a precision scalpel.

If I ever draw Merlin I would want to level him.

Well, I have three Proteus, now I just need to quench their thirst.

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I have 3 of them , will level all , one after the other . Even the yet to be fully leveled proved its worth in the class event .

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I’ll follow suit.

20 characters.

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I use both Proteus and Merlin on raids. Merlin is also on talent grid level 4, Proteus has 20 levels left until max.
I win 5 out of 6 raids against yellow tanks with a 4:1 purple team including those two. Normally going 5-600 cups above my team strengths (40+ cup gain) and allows me to fight back to diamond on a daily basis.

I love both, but I love Proteus more. The mana freeze for 3 enemies is a total game changer.
Same for challenge events. If I had 2 more Proteus-es, I would level them.

I have 2 more Merlins and they are waiting.

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