@zephyr1 and I have had some meaningful discussions about path for Proteus. As someone who runs him almost 100% of the time in raids, here are my thoughts:
Defense Proteus
- If you’re going to pair him with other Atlantis family heroes, defense becomes really impressive
An emblemed Defense Proteus on offense can actually take a hit from Lianna (with a decent troop and a family member). And as an ensemble player in 4*/5* purple stack, losing a bit off the top of his DOT in exchange for survivability is a reasonable choice.
So there’s a viable case for upping his defense. Moreover, if you run him on defense with Triton or Ariel, flanking a yellow tank, he’s just nasty.
Attack Proteus
- Don’t underestimate Proteus’ tile damage and DOT.
I have DOTed out lots of emblemed 5* heroes with Proteus. And his tile damage is 5* good. 4+20 Attack Proteus has an attack stat that goes to 840 pre-troops. That’s an astonishingly hard tile hit, and troops just make is better.
With a decent mana troop, a full emblemed Attack Proteus’ DOT does over 460 damage. That’s more than 1/3 of the health of the average 5*. And they’re locked for 3 turns, just eating it.
What to choose?
I’d describe Attack Proteus as a high risk/high reward strategy, but highly suitable for a Proteus used in raid stacks. When he fires, it transforms the board. If you’re raiding up, this is almost certainly the way to go.
Defense Proteus is lower risk, lower reward for raid stacks, and a beast on a defense team with a family member. The closer you are to parity with your foes, the more sense Defense Proteus makes.
Personally, I’ve gone Defense Proteus. But I don’t dislike either option.