We have already covered some of the heroes in Returners, who all hail from different historical tales and myths, and for today’s spotlight, we will be talking about Jane the Kid! Jane the Kid is an attractive character that recently got a new skin, ‘Officer Jane’, in Returners. She is a ranger you get near the start of the game, so she is usually one of the heroes you use during the early phase. However, in the context of history and folklore, the name Jane the Kid may not ring any bells. That may be because Jane the Kid is a gender-bent version of Billy the Kid, the notorious gunslinger from the American Old West.

Billy the Kid, or William Henry McCarty, was a famous gunslinger who fought in the frontier war taking place in Lincoln County, North Carolina; this series of battles was later known as the Lincoln County War. The tales say that Billy the Kid killed more than 20 people in his life, although historians count the number to be actually much lower - around 8 or 9.

Billy the Kid began working for an English businessman named John Tunstall. Tunstall’s company was rivaled by another business that was actively monopolizing dry goods in Lincoln County. That same company was in cahoots with one Sheriff William J. Brady, who sent a posse out to kill John Tunstall; Tunstall’s death sparked an all-out feud between the two factions. Kid joined the group in Lincoln County known as the “Regulators”, who all sought to avenge Tunstall’s death. While Kid managed to avenge Tunstall by killing Sheriff Brady and the others who took part in his murder, Billy the Kid and the other Regulators became wanted men for the murders they committed.

Pat Garrett, who was a gambling friend of Kid, became the next sheriff and urged Kid to leave Lincoln County. Against his friend’s advice, Kid remained and was eventually captured by Garrett. After killing the guards and escaping from his imprisonment, Kid was chased down and shot to death by Garrett. Kid was just 21 years old when he was killed, and although he did not accomplish great deeds, he is a well-remembered and important figure that represents the gunmen and frontier war from the Old West.

Just like the notorious gunmen, Billy the Kid, Jane the Kid is a gunner. However, even though she is initially based on Billy the Kid the outlaw, Jane the Kid has more of a bounty hunter vibe. Also, she has a special skill set that isn’t all Billy the Kid references -- she uses traps and nets to catch her enemies and rains fire upon them with her ult. Also, the most prominent photo of Billy the Kid shows him with a revolver and a rifle but Jane the Kid uses a pair of shotgun-esque revolvers.

Jane the Kid in Returners, is an AoE ranger who deals physical damage with her basic attacks, and both magical and physical damage with her skills. Her preferred targets are tanks and fighters with the lowest physical defense. She can stun her targets or slow down all targets in a small area with her normal skills (Snare Trap & Net Trap). However, her CC isn’t great compared to other heroes, because her targets need to step on her traps in order to be stunned and enemies will need to be quite close to each other for her AoE to hit more than one target. Not only that, her skill animations put a fairly long delay on the actual damage of her skills. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say her normal skills aren’t effective at all.

On the other hand, her ultimate skill deals a great amount of damage despite her default stats - including physical attack - being comparatively lower than other rangers’ in Returners. If she is your favorite hero and you want to place her on your team, you would need to make up for her stats with a good set of equipment; a good set to use is the Mega Launcher set. It will increase her physical and magical attack, skill cooldown, health, and attack speed. However, by the time you are able to get your hands on that Launcher set, you would have been able to obtain better rangers. At that point, the only place you will likely be using Jane the Kid is in the Specter Chase floor 15, where you need a hero that deals both magical and physical damage. She isn’t a recommended ranger in the later phase since there aren’t many places she can perform well in Returners.

Although Jane the Kid’s performance isn’t the best in Returners, it is true that she is an interesting character in the way she was designed. Also, she comes with an amazing skin, which is one of the best skins in Returners. She may not be the best, but she still is a good hero to use in the early phase. I hope this helped you understand more about Jane the Kid!