There are various mages in Returners, but Dr. Jekyll and Nikola Tesla are some of the most famous heroes among them.

Dr. Jekyll and Nikola Tesla are powerful mages who are widely used for Adventure and PvP content. However, their combat styles are quite different from each other; Nikola Tesla deals strong bursts of damage with powerful skills, while Dr. Jekyll focuses more on auto attacks while also buffing himself with his ultimate skill, following his MAG DEF buff and healing skill at the beginning of the fight.

Although Nikola Tesla had been dominating because he was released in the game before Dr. Jekyll, the tide is turning in favor of the doctor. The reason why he is becoming more favored can be found in his specs.

Dr. Jekyll’s popularity comes from his skill set

The reason why Jekyll has become more favored than Nikola Tesla as the best mage is his skill set. Both have one thing in common: their skills are specialized in dealing AoE damage. However, since their fighting styles differ, battles go differently depending on which you use.

Nikola Tesla’s firepower surpasses Dr. Jekyll’s. All of his three skills deal AoE damage, which puts him in a better position in terms of an burst damage. In particular, he boasts overwhelming firepower when paired with heroes who pull enemies towards one point such as Maid Victoria or Hong Gil-dong.

However, his biggest weakness is that he is very vulnerable to enemy CC skills. He has no skill that negates CC, nor does he have any way to put distance between himself and an approaching enemy. Thus, he is expected to deal a high amount of damage when he is given an opening, but such openings are quite rare in actual fights where CC skills are quite common. Nikola Tesla is extremely weak to hard CC like stuns or knockups and is also quite vulnerable to silence skills.

Dr. Jekyll is, therefore, the most ideal alternative. Unlike Nikola Tesla, who is heavily reliant on skill damage, Dr. Jekyll’s damage mainly comes from auto attacks in combination with his ultimate skill. Upon using his ultimate, Dr. Jekyll transforms into Mr. Hyde with increased MAG ATK, ATK SPD, and health.

The biggest difference between the two heroes is that Dr. Jekyll gains CC immunity when he casts his ultimate skill. Since he gains the immunity as soon as the ultimate is triggered, the skill cannot be interrupted.

The CC immunity is not Dr. Jekyll’s only strength. Though his auto attack normally hits a single target, Mr. Hyde’s auto attack throws a projectile that explodes and deals AoE damage. The range is somewhat shorter compared to typical AoE skills, but this strong and constant auto attack allows you to deal massive accumulated damage on enemies who are gathered together.

Another one of his strengths is that he specializes against MAG DMG heroes. The trending League comp in early Returners was heavily reliant upon PHY DMG with rangers. However, mages are becoming more common recently, with the AoE MAG DMG-focused comp appearing in the form of wombo combo teams.

With that in mind, Dr. Jekyll’s Gift of Defense becomes very effective against the MAG comp due since it increases the MAG DEF of his allies. The biggest weakness of this skill is that the range is relatively small, but since enemy wombo combo comps usually force your heroes to crowd together, it ironically maximizes the effect of Gift of Defense.

How to use Dr. Jekyll most efficiently

As Dr. Jekyll mainly focuses on using auto attacks rather than skills, he needs a somewhat different gear set. The most comprehensive set that Dr. Jekyll uses is Conquering Monarch Staff and Hat, Great Demon God Cape and Shoes, and Heroic Deity Fergus Ring, which is a Loyalty Gear.

This grants him ATK SPD and high MAG ATK, further enhancing Dr. Jekyll’s firepower potential while reducing his ultimate skill CD so that he can quickly transform into Mr. Hyde. If you don’t have this set yet, you can use the Conquering Monarch Set which is comprehensively used instead and replace them one by one.

Dr. Jekyll is one of the heroes well-suited to the wombo combo team comp, so he’s a great match with either Hong Gil-dong or Maid Victoria. Since Dr. Jekyll’s auto attack range is quite short, it isn’t very effective when the enemy team is spread out. Hong Gil-dong and Maid Victoria can supplement that weakness by forcing the enemies to gather together.

Even though he’s mainly used for the League, he can serve reasonably well in Adventure as well. Thanks to his CC immunity, it’s better to have him in the team for stages where CC skills are quite frequently seen.

However, Dr. Jekyll’s auto attack damage is relatively weaker than that of Jumong, who can deal a significant amount of damage to single targets. He’s therefore not that effective in certain battles, such as the bosses of each Adventure stage and Raid where you need to deal a tremendous amount of damage to one target in a short time.