I am happy to make any corrections if more accurate information is discovered. If you have any comments, you can either post here or e-mail me at: [email protected]
All of the screenshots in this post were taken by me.
1. INTRODUCTION
Dispatch is a new game which is a partnership between AdHoc Studios (founded by developers who worked with Telltale Games) and Critical Role (Dispatch shares a comedic style similar to Critical Role's shows and many of the voice actors lend their talents to the game). Dispatch is more of an interactive animated movie where your choices lead to several potential paths. There is a game element where you dispatch superheroes to resolve calls but the emphasis is on the interactive movie.
This is a guide designed for experienced players and min/maxers. The way Dispatch is designed, the optimal teams are centered around synergy pairs so instead of looking at each hero individually, I will mainly be looking at them as pairs.
In my prior guides:
Dispatch: Stats, Skill Points, Rank, & XP Guide discusses how most heroes start with 12 stat points (less for Invisigal and Waterboy) and can earn 9 skill points through XP. You also get 4 random skill points to allocate amongst all your heroes.
Dispatch: Hero/Power Tier Lists & Analysis ranks and analyzes each of the heroes and their powers, while also discussing who you should cut and who you should recruit.
Some additional guidelines that shape my suggested hero builds:
Don't put points into Combat. Combat is already the most plentiful stat - every hero except Waterboy starts with a minimum Combat of 3. Furthermore, calls with a Combat failure threshold tend to be the most challenging because you can only assign 1 or 2 heroes due to everyone having moderate Combat scores.
A hero doesn't need a 10 stat. Unless you need to unlock the Min Max achievement, intend to have that hero do a lot of solo calls, or expect to be injured a lot or have low morale, you don't really need to bring any stat up to 10. That's because the maximum stat rating on a call is 10, you want to be focusing on synergy pairs, and everyone has a minimum stat value of 1. What is important is that each synergy pair tries to get 10 for each stat but that means for a given hero the realistic max you need is an 8 or 9.
2. WHY FOCUS ON SYNERGY PAIRS?
As discussed in Dispatch: Stats, Skill Points, Rank, & XP Guide, two of the most challenging call types don't allow an auto-success normally:
3. FLIGHT SCHOOL & HERO TRAINING
You will periodically have the opportunity to unlock special powers for your heroes:
In the world of Dispatch, you need an official license to fly in the city. I suppose that makes sense since you would need to work out some rules to avoid interfering with aircraft. And as we see with Phenomaman, the power of his launch "has been known to stun small beings."
There are three flight capable heroes who need a license before they can fly - Flambae, Coupe, and Sonar. Both Phenomaman and Blonde Blazer fly but presumably they already have their licenses from their prior team.
Normally, Flight School opportunities are available in Episode 3 Night Shift and Episode 5 Day Shift. I do not know if there is an additional opportunity if you waste your first session on a character you later cut.
Generally, I would suggest sending Flambae to Flight School first and then later sending whoever you end up keeping. Not only does this give you flexibility in who to cut but Flambae benefits more from being able to fly. Several of his powers revolve around succeeding on many calls so the shortened travel time from flying means that he'll be ready to take on more calls.
Every hero has a fixed revealed power. They also have one slot for an unlocked power, of which there are two options. A hero can only unlock one of their two additional powers. It is not possible to send a hero to Hero Training multiple times, though flight capable heroes can go to Flight School + Hero Training.
Hero Training opportunities are normally available in Episode 3 Night Shift, Episode 4 Day Shift, Episode 4 Night Shift, Episode 5 Day Shift, Episode 5 Night Shift, Episode 6 Day Shift, and Episode 7 Day Shift. So there are only 7 chances. I do not know if there is an additional opportunity if you waste an early session on a character you later cut.
If you factor in Phenomaman/Waterboy, that means not every hero is going to be able to unlock an additional power.
Also, for story reasons, sometimes a specific hero cannot attend a specific training session. For example, Invisigal can't be sent in Episode 3 Night Shift, probably because she has a scripted encounter at the end of the shift. And the first time you have access to Phenomaman or Waterboy you can't immediately send them to Hero Training.
Remember that you need to reveal a hero's base power before you can send them off for Hero Training. For most heroes it is relatively trivial to obtain their revealed power. But if you are really good at the game and never fail any calls it may be hard to reveal Punch Up and Malevola's powers and impossible to reveal Phenomaman's:
Punch Up needs to be injured to reveal his power which normally happens if he fails a call. He can also be injured after being sabotaged by a teammate in Episode 3 Day Shift. Injuries that happen in Episode 8 are too late for him to attend Hero Training.
Malevola needs to be on a team with another injured hero to reveal her power. If you never fail a call, you could still get an injured hero due to sabotage in Episode 3 Day Shift. Also, after Invisigal goes after the Astral Pulse, Golem will go off on his own and get injured. Injuries that happen in Episode 8 are too late for her to attend Hero Training.
Phenomaman always needs minimal rest, even if Easily Depressed is not yet revealed. But his depression is only visible if you fail or miss a call. That means you cannot unlock any of his additional powers unless you fail or miss a call (and Episode 8 is too late to send him for training).
I would suggest the following prioritization for who you should send to Hero Training first:
If you keep Coupe then:
#1. Coupe (Pirouette), #2. Prism (Long Range Illusion), #3. Punch Up (Squeeze In)
OR
#1. Prism (Long Range Illusion), #2. Punch Up (Squeeze In), #3. Coupe (A la Seconde)
If you keep Sonar then:
#1. Prism (Long Range Illusion), #2. Punch Up (Squeeze In), #3. Sonar (Talk Shit or Bat Shit)
Those are the most important 3 powers. After that and regardless of who you cut, I would go with:
#4. Flambae (Supernova or Comet)
#5. Golem (Spread Thin or Found Himself)
The remaining two training spots can go to either Malevola, Invisigal, or Phenomaman/Waterboy. The earliest that Phenomaman/Waterboy can go for training is Episode 6.
4. PRISM & FLAMBAE
Prism starts with 4's in Combat and Charisma and a 2 in Intellect.
Flambae starts with a 4 in Combat, 3 in Mobility, and 2's in Vigor and Charisma. His On Fire and Supernova powers can boost Combat and Mobility.
Based on those initial allocations, it makes the most sense to have Prism focus on Charisma and Intellect while Flambae covers Vigor and Mobility. If you really want you could try having Prism do Charisma and Vigor while Flambae concentrates on Vigor and Intellect.
For Prism's unlocked power, Long Range Illusion is a stronger option than Perfect Copy and you should prioritize getting it quickly.
If you plan to get Supernova, you should try to get it relatively early and then you can have Flambae ignore Combat and Mobility entirely. In this case, you can put all of his points into Vigor and anything leftover into either Charisma or Intellect.
If you instead plan to go with Comet (which can wait until you get more important powers) or skip sending him to training school, then I would suggest putting his points primarily into Vigor with some in Mobility.
In this sample end game build, I gave one of the 4 random skill points (Intellect) to Prism.
Since Flambae has Charisma 2, I only raised Prism's Charisma up to 8 (4 points worth) and the other 5 skill points into Intellect.
I decided to go with a Supernova build for Flambae, putting 8 points into Vigor and 1 point into Intellect. If I had gone with Comet I probably would have done 7 points into Vigor and 2 points into Mobility.
5. GOLEM & INVISIGAL
Golem starts with a 4 in Vigor, 3 in Combat, and 2's in Mobility and Charisma.
Invisigal (who starts with 1 less stat point) has 3's in Combat and Mobility, and 2's in Vigor and Intellect.
It makes the most sense to have Golem cover Vigor and Charisma while Invisigal handles Mobility and Intellect. If you want to try something different you can have Golem do Vigor and Intellect and Invisigal deals with Mobility and Charisma.
Both of Golem's revealed powers are just okay. I wouldn't prioritize him and would suggest focusing on sending other heroes to training school first.
If you decide to unlock Found Himself with Golem, that gives you the flexibility to respec him once per shift. If you get a random stat point and you don't like the type, giving it to Golem will allow you to convert it into something else using Found Himself. Also, I often find it useful taking away Combat points (so that Golem can better assist with calls with Combat failure thresholds) and moving them into other stats.
Depending on your in-game choices, Invisigal may or may not be available during the final episode.
Neither of Invisigal's powers are that useful. You could decide that Invisigal is one of the heroes who doesn't get an additional power and send Phenomaman or Waterboy to school instead.
In this sample end game build, I gave one of the 4 random skill points (Combat) to Golem but converted it into a different stat using Found Himself.
For Golem, I brought Vigor up to 8 (since Invisigal has 2 Vigor) using 4 skill points and put the remaining 5 skill points into Charisma. Furthermore, I took 2 Combat skill points and a random skill point and shifted them into Charisma as well.
With Invisigal, I used 5 skill points to boost Mobility up to 8 since Golem has 2 Mobility. And the remaining 4 skill points went into Intellect.
6. COUPE & PUNCH UP
Coupe starts with a 4 in Combat and 3's in Mobility and Intellect.
Punch Up starts with a 4 in Vigor and 3's in Combat and Charisma.
The natural course of progression is to have Coupe build up Mobility and Intellect while Punch Up spends his skill points on Combat and Charisma. That's assuming of course that you plan to keep Coupe. In that case, Coupe should be one of the first heroes sent for power training. Pirouette is the stronger choice but it's also okay if you want to try out A la Seconde. In the case of the latter, you should put more points into Intellect than Mobility since she can get +3 Mobility from A la Seconde.
If you plan to cut Coupe, I would suggest initially using Punch Up's points on Charisma and then waiting to see if you recruit Phenomaman or Waterboy. Please look at their respective sections below on how Punch Up should best complement them.
For Punch Up's additional power, Squeeze In is far better than Harder Head. Regardless of whether or not you keep Coupe, you should train Punch Up early on so that he can squeeze in to other calls for guaranteed success.
Here are the end game stats for when I kept Coupe. Coupe got 1 random skill point in Combat while Punch Up got 1 random skill point in Vigor.
I spent 6 of Coupe's skill points to bring her Mobility up to 9 (since Punch Up has 1 Mobility) and put the remaining 3 points into Intellect. It also would have been okay to shift some more points from Mobility to Intellect, especially since she can get Mobility by being put into the second slot.
For Punch Up, I upped his Charisma to 9 with 6 skill points and put the rest into Vigor.
7. MALEVOLA & SONAR
Malevola has the most well-rounded stats at the beginning with 3's in Combat and Charisma and 2's in Vigor, Mobility, and Intellect.
Sonar starts with a 4 in Intellect, 3 in Charisma, 2 in Combat and Mobility, and 1 in Vigor as a Hybrid. But remember that when he transforms, his Intellect swaps with Combat and his Charisma swaps with Vigor. Thus he is 4 in Combat, 3 in Vigor, 2 in Intellect and Mobility, and 1 in Charisma when in Mega Bat form.
If you decide to keep Sonar, then usually you are better off spending his skill points primarily on Intellect and secondarily on Charisma. Those will then swap over to Combat and Vigor when he transforms. Talk Shit is generally more useful than Bat Shit and you should try to get it early but remember that it only works when he is in the right form.
Keeping Malevola/Sonar as a pair, it makes sense to have Malevola focus on Mobility. Any remaining points can go towards Charisma or Vigor.
On the other hand, if you plan to cut Sonar then you will want to build Malevola very differently. Check out the Phenomaman and Waterboy sections below on how you should structure Malevola in those scenarios.
I don't find Malevola's unlocked powers to be that useful. I feel that Portal Ritual is slightly better than Life Trade Visions. However, you can definitely delay unlocking any of Malevola's powers and instead prioritize the more impactful ones possessed by other heroes.
In my first playthrough when I was still learning the mechanics and strategy, I gave Sonar one random skill point in Intellect and raised his Intellect to 10.
I did have Malevola focus on Mobility, spending 6 skill points to bring it to 8, which combined with Sonar's 2 mobility equals 10. Instead of putting Malevola's remaining 3 skill points in Charisma, I think I would have been slightly better off putting several of those into Vigor instead.
Sonar doesn't really need a 10 in Intellect. Since Malevola has a 2 in Intellect, I should have kept Sonar at 8 Intellect. Since Malevola has 3 Charisma, Sonar doesn't really need more than 7 Charisma and might need less if you put some of Malevola's points into Charisma. Any extraneous skill points (like the excess I would take from Intellect) is probably better off going to Sonar's weak areas, to reduce the chance you fail a call because Sonar is in the wrong form.
8. PHENOMAMAN
Phenomaman starts at Rank 12 but doesn't gain XP so he has fixed stats.
If you cut Coupe then Phenomaman's synergy partner is Punch Up. Punch Up's Hard Head power is a good contingency in case Phenomaman gets depressed and bails. However, the two don't synergize well in terms of stats because of an overabundance of Vigor. In this case, I would have Punch Up concentrate on Charisma (up to 8 since Phenomaman has a 2) and Intellect, even though it might seem counterintuitive to have Punch Up boost his Intellect.
If you cut Sonar then Phenomaman's synergy partner is Malevola. Malevola is well rounded which makes it easier to have her complement Phenomaman. Unfortunately, an ideal Malevola build for partnering with Phenomaman is very different from an ideal Malevola build for partnering with Sonar, so this works best if you commit to a decision early on. When Malevola is working with Phenomaman, it is best for her to concentrate on Charisma and Intellect (as seen in the sample end game stats above), since those are Phenomaman's weaknesses.
If you recruit Phenomaman, you do have the option of sending him for power training, though that means another of your heroes will not be able to unlock a power. If you find depression to be too debilitating, you can heavily medicate him. Otherwise you can phenomenally motivate his teammates - since he should be paired up often with Malevola this can help sync up their recovery times.
9. WATERBOY
Waterboy has terrible stats but since he starts at Rank 1, he is flexible which means you can easily design him around Punch Up or Coupe.
If Waterboy is paired with Punch Up, it is best to have Punch Up focus on Vigor and Charisma (just like how he would if Coupe were still around) and then Waterboy can cover Intellect and Mobility. In the above screenshot, I had Punch Up go to 10 Charisma which is a little overkill. In hindsight I should have put one of those points into Vigor instead. Here I put 7 of Waterboy's points into Intellect and the other 2 into Mobility but you can rearrange it however you want.
If Waterboy is paired with Malevola then Malevola should prioritize Charisma. Of the three remaining stats (Vigor, Mobility, and Intellect), Malevola should take one and Waterboy should take the other two.
If you really need more healing, then it may be worth it to use one of your final two training opportunities to have Waterboy unlock Holy Water Spit. I don't think it's worth it getting Eager Super Sponge, or to get Holy Water Spit when you don't need the healing (which will just neutralize his self-assignment disadvantage).
