Dispatch: Perfect Missions Guide *Contains Spoilers*

Steam Community guide by HexStarDragon.

Introduction

Progress Update 12/17/2025
I adding sections for the Coupe + Waterboy route and Sonar + Phenomaman.
Progress update 12/04/2025:
I had some requests, so I added videos of Episodes 8-2 and 8-3. I won't add a write up, because there are too many variables to be that prescriptive, but this should at least give you an idea of how you might approach things.
Playlist of the complete Sonar run here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4L4WU6Y0kH6N8NYKhriIuoFECnomb3TA&si=z1Du87aaPj6uSi-f
Playlist of the complete Coupe run here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4L4WU6Y0kH5ipNK9h4TjPLbx39qCOhCx&si=ZaMo_iV9Xf0-jfnm
The guide is done at this point, barring corrections or patch changes that I'm able to adjust for.
Progress update 11/27/2025:
With the unbugged "H4ck3d by Robert" achievement, I wanted to note that you should be able to deviate from the guide to complete the extra hacking missions without losing anything critical. I haven't fully tested yet, so I haven't updated the guide, but the changes would be in Shift 3-1, hack ing to resolve the sabotage on Flambae, picking Hack the Scammer instead of the Investigate Tip mission, and Shift 4-1, picking the "Hacking" option instead Prism's CSC in Superhero Squabble in Aisle 9. Also note there is a hacking mission that pops up toward the very end of Episode 8, that you will miss if you defeat the boss too quickly.
This guide contains spoilers and assumes players are already aware of various plot points in the game.
Dispatch is a great narrative game, and I actually recommend most people just play through and experience the story. I think a perfect run is actually a mismatch with the narrative and the emotions it's meant to evoke. That said, I'm a compulsive optimizer in my games, and I enjoy the Sudoku-like puzzle of it all.
Everyone will have their own definition of a "perfect" run, but for this guide the main thing we are looking at is to succeed at dispatch calls 100% of the time, without any need for "rerolls" and retries. Secondarily I want to match every call that has a unique hero option, because that felt more "canon" to me. Alternate "perfect" runs might try to maximize XP, which requires failing some missions to make higher XP missions appear, for example.
This guide leaves a lot of unspent skill points and tries to ignore/discard the random bonus skill points received, as part of the "no RNG required" goal. You, of course, can distribute both of those skill points as you see fit, and they will generally make the game easier and give you more flexibility and options. The one warning is that you want to retain some heroes with low COM stats, because later missions will auto-fail if that stat is too high. To a much lesser extent there are few missions that will fail if MOB, INT, or CHA are too high.
This guide won't go through any story choices, and won't cover the in depth mechanics of the game or details on each mission. There are a lot of other guides that cover that. Also, obviously, there will be spoilers.
I got a lot of use from the following guides that helped me put all this together
"Chunky" has a missions guide here on Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3591755863
And "Rogue2555" has a spreadsheet on Reddit that includes a success % calculator:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DispatchAdHoc/comments/1okc9op/made_a_spreadsheet/
Note: By the time you get past about Episode 4, you'll have so many variables (heroes cut/recruited, extra stat points, story choices) that it becomes less of a walkthrough and more of a "this is how my run went". Also, for that reason, I won't do a full walkthrough of the last half of Episode 8 missions as there are both so many variables, and also, lots of ways to solve them that you should be able to get through with existing mission info guides.

Guide Structure and General Tips

At the back of the guide are a list of mission assignments with minimal commentary or explanation.
The guide follows two possible paths: Sonar + Waterboy and Coupe + Phenomaman. There are obviously other combinations, but these two made the most sense to me. Also, because the toughest shifts are 3-1 and 4-1, before you pick either Waterboy or Phenomaman, the choice between the two doesn't play out all that differently as the subsequent shifts are easier and you have more ways to complete the missions.
This guide uses the following notations and abbreviations:

• COM = Combat stat
• VIG = Vigor stat
• MOB = Mobility stat
• CHA = Charisma stat
• INT = Intelligence stat
• CSC = Character-specific choice
• "*" indicates use of a hero power, such as Coupe gaining COM or MOB
• Stat increases in parentheses indicates that players should increase that stat of a hero before sending them on the mission.
• Stats are listed starting at the 12 o'clock position and moving clockwise. So COM, VIG, MOB, INT, CSC

General Tips

• Sonar vs Coupe: I found keeping Sonar was easier than keeping Coupe. There are a lot of missions that require CHA + INT, which Sonar fills. Coupe's bonus stats are more consistent than Sonar's form change in a blind run, but obviously if I'm doing an optimized run where I know which missions are next, with which stat requirements, I can plan around it. The biggest downside with Coupe is a quirk of the geometry in how mission success is calculated. She and Punch Up both have "isolated" stats—a high stat with "1"s in the stats adjacent to it—which forms a pointy triangle that doesn't cover much area. Their stats compliment each other, so they work well together, but both struggle to complete missions alone in a way that is often required in the first half of the game.
  Small, specific tip: It's helpful, but not necessary to keep Invisigal's MOB 5 or less when keeping Sonar and INT 5 or less when keeping Coupe, so you can keep those stats under the auto-fail criteria of the final boss, when paired with Golem who can reset his stats.
• Phenomaman vs Waterboy: Waterboy is probably the superior choice from a purely mechanical standpoint, mainly for two reasons. The first is that his low COM is useful to complete several missions that automatically fail if the COM stat for heroes sent is too high. The second is that in Episode 8, whoever you don't pick will join your team. If you picked Waterboy, initially, you'll be able to level his stats throughout the game and then have a full-strength Phenomaman join, as his stats are static. However, if you pick Phenomaman first, his stats remain static (and he'll reduce the XP your other members earn when sent on missions), and then Waterboy joins at level 1 with his poor, initial stats.
• Vigor is the most important stat. There tends to be a higher VIG requirement than other stats, and missions often have a COM + VIG and/or VIG+MOB requirement. VIG is able to help cover for COM or MOB shortfalls because it's an adjacent stat to both, and we often don't want our combat stat too high, because of the auto-fail criteria in later missions. VIG is also the only stat that never has an auto-fail for being too high.
• Heros get a large XP boost for selecting character-specific choices. In missions that have you choose among options, if you select an option exclusive to that hero, that hero will ~33% more XP. This only boosts the XP that hero receives, not the XP awarded for the mission. So, if you send more than one hero to that mission, the total XP your heroes will gain is reduced, because the mission XP will be distributed equally among your heroes, and then only the smaller portion of XP received by the specific hero will be increased.
• You do get slightly more XP per success% less than 100, but it's not usually a very impactful amount (only 2.5 XP per missing %, which is usually only ~25 XP when missions are giving 500+ XP as a base value).

Underlying Mechanics

I won't try to cover all the mechanics, but I will note a few that are specifically important when trying to achieve a perfect series of successful missions.

• Any missions with a success chance of 80% or greater appear to always succeed.
  The one exception I saw is I had a mission in Episode 8 fail, even though I had an 85% success rate. I also know AdHoc has been rapidly patching small fixes after releasing each episode, so that could be a bug, or could just be a specific hidden mechanic for that mission.
• Mission success is the percentage area of the mission pentagon covered by your team's pentagon
  The pentagons are formed simply by the stats the missions require and the combined stats for your team. This functions differently, and at times, a bit non-intuitively than if the missions were just direct stat-checks, just because of how the geometry works. As a general rule, it's more important to meet the lower stat requirements than the higher stat requirements, and it's more useful to invest in stats adjacent to each other on the chart. The first mission in Episode 2 is an example of both: It requires Mobility 3 and Charisma 2, and Golem (MOB2, CHA2) has a better success rate than Coupe (MOB 3, CHA 1) at 82% vs 70%.
• Synergies between team members will increase your success chance by 5, 10, or 15% for level 1, 2, and 3 synergies.
• Some missions are "choice-based" and don't follow the above pattern or mechanics. Instead, your heroes will be interrupted during the mission, and you will make a choice for them. Choices have requirements corresponding to a single stat, and there is a simple pass/fail based on if your team has a combined stat equal or higher to the requirement. Sometimes there will be a character-specific choice or hacking option that will automatically succeed (or, in rare cases, automatically fail).
• You can affect the timing of when missions appear. Most often, some missions will only appear after another mission has been completed - that is, you click the mission to get the results. Other missions seem to appear based on when other missions are started, and some appear on their own, probably based on a timer. By default, you should let heroes return to base and finish resting before completing a mission, as completing it before that doesn't have any inherent advantages and could make subsequent missions appear sooner and risk expiring before your heroes are ready.
• Update: It also appears it helps to not enter a screen that pauses the timer (e.g. a mission results screen) while there is non-mission dialogue occurring. It seems that some missions won't appear until the dialogue finishes, so having the timer run (e.g. heroes traveling and resting) during the dialogue effectively gives you more time.

Episode 2: Intro

The first few missions have limited options, as they only have room for 1 hero and none have leveled up yet. Looking forward the main challenge is completing the first mission of Episode 3-1 with a single hero. You need to a stat line of 4 VIG, 3 MOB, and 3 CHA to reach 80% and guarantee success, and the only way to double-level Golem or Punch Up, in the Sonar route, is to forgo some character-specific options. The next best option is Malevola who is much easier to level up twice during Episode 2, and can reach a 72% success rate. This will be the only mission left up to chance in this Guide, that might require a reset if aiming for a perfect success record.
At the start of the game, your heroes have the following stats:
Name Combat Vigor Mobility Charisma Intellect Sonar 2 1 2 3 4 Flambae 4 2 3 2 1 Invisigal 3 2 3 1 2 Punch Up 3 4 1 3 1 Prism 4 1 1 4 2 Malevola 3 2 2 3 2 Golem 3 4 2 2 1 Coupe 4 1 3 1 3

Episode 2: Sonar

Sonar + Waterboy Route

Mission: Lost Balloon
Hero: Flambae
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 3 2 1 Heroes 4 2 3 2 1 The first "real" dispatch of the game, and the candidate pool might immediately demonstrate how some of the geometry winds up a bit counter-intuitive. The heroes who reach an 80% success rate are Sonar-H (hybrid form), Flambae, Malevola, and Golem. I needed Sonar to stay in hybrid form, and Malevola is needed for the next mission. I initially tried Golem who gets slightly more XP at 82% than Flambae at 100%, but later used Flambae because I wanted to make progress to his first level up.
Mission: VAND-GO Opening
Hero: Malevola
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 1 3 3 Heroes 3 2 2 3 2 Options are Sonar, Prism, and Malevola. Sonar needs to stay in hybrid form and Prism is about to be sent on a mission with a character-specific-choice (CSC).
Choice Mission: Fight at Crypto-Night
Hero: Prism, pick CSC
Mission:Retrieve Stolen Boat
Hero: Invisigal
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 2 4 1 2 Heroes 3 2 3 1 2 Flambae is the other hero with the stats to succeed, but he's unavailable at the time of this mission. He's "on break" and about to start a fire that causes the next mission.
Choice Mission: Blaze in the Burbs
Hero: Golem, Pick "Use your body" option
Requirements: "Body" - VIG 4; "Hose" - INT 2
Any hero other than Flambae can succeed on one of the choices, but I sent Golem to get him some XP. Of note, if you are just trying to maximize XP you can fail this mission, causing a mission worth more XP to appear.
Choice Mission: Museum Robbery
Hero: Malevola, Pick hacking option
Because of the hacking option, any hero can succeed at this mission. I sent Malevola to maximize her XP.
Mission: In the Zone
Hero: Sonar
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 1 4 4 Heroes 2 1 2 3 4 There are a couple other heroes who could succeed at this if they level up and increase their stats, but Sonar is the only one who can succeed with his base stats.
Mission: Apprehend Art Thieves
Hero: Flambae + Punch Up
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 2 1 5 2 4 Heroes 8 6 5 5 2 No one can solo this, but almost any two heroes will succeed. I sent Flambae and Punch Up to get them some XP. Punch Up, particularly, wants to opportunistically get XP, because he synergistically pairs with Coupe, who we are avoiding with plans to cut her.
Choice Mission: Send Sonar As Security
Hero: Sonar, Pick "Story" option
You get a fair amount more XP if you instead select the mission "Send Literally Anyone Else", and are arguably in a better position overall. But I'm picking all the character-specific options (both choices and missions) when I can as part of what feels "perfect" to me. Feel free to deviate for your own play. Notably, you could use Punch Up in this and a couple previous missions to level him up twice and guarantee success on the first mission of Episode 3-1.
Choice Mission: Juvenile Pickpocket At Large
Hero: Malevola, Pick CSC
This gives you enough XP to level Malevola twice. You will want to increase VIG and MOB. You can do that now, but for this guide, I'll indicate when you should increase stats before the mission when they are needed.
Choice Mission: Locate Stolen Art
Hero: Invisigal, Pick CSC
Coupe also has a CSC for this mission, but we plan to cut her, so no sense in giving her the XP.

Episode 2: Coupe

Coupe + Phenomaman Route

Mission: Lost Balloon
Hero: Flambae
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 3 2 1 Heroes 4 2 3 2 1 The first "real" dispatch of the game, and the candidate pool might immediately demonstrate how some of the geometry winds up a bit counter-intuitive. The heroes who reach an 80% success rate are Sonar-H (hybrid form), Flambae, Malevola, and Golem. Malevola is needed for the next mission, and I don't want to give Sonar XP when I plan to cut him. Golem gets slightly more XP at 82% than Flambae at 100%, but I send Flambae as I need to get as much XP on him as possible to succeed in the Episode 4-1 shift.
Mission: VAND-GO Opening
Hero: Malevola
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 1 3 3 Heroes 3 2 2 3 2 Options are Prism, and Malevola. Prism is about to be sent on a mission with a character-specific-choice (CSC).
Choice Mission: Fight at Crypto-Night
Hero: Prism, pick CSC
Mission:Retrieve Stolen Boat
Hero: Invisigal
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 2 4 1 2 Heroes 3 2 3 1 2 Flambae is the other hero with the stats to succeed, but he's unavailable at the time of this mission. He's "on break" and about to start a fire that causes the next mission.
Choice Mission: Blaze in the Burbs
Hero: Punch Up, Pick "Use your body" option
Requirements: "Body" - VIG 4; "Hose" - INT 2
Any hero other than Flambae can succeed on one of the choices, but I sent Punch Up to get him XP with the intent of leveling him twice. Of note, if you are just trying to maximize XP you can fail this mission (and some missions in future episodes), causing a mission worth more XP to appear.
Choice Mission: Museum Robbery
Hero: Malevola, Pick hacking option
Because of the hacking option, any hero can succeed at this mission. I sent Malevola, but you can probably send whoever. The main XP pressure in the beginning is on Flambae and Punch Up, but neither are available at this time.
Mission: In the Zone
Hero: Prism (+INT)
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 1 1 4 4 Heroes 4 1 1 4 3 Increase Prism's INT so she can succeed this mission. The only other hero who guarantees success is Sonar.
Don't complete the mission after it finishes until after Punch Up is returned and rested, so that he can deploy to Send Literally Anyone Else, which appears after.
Mission: Apprehend Art Thieves
Hero: Flambae + Punch Up
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 2 1 5 2 4 Heroes 7 6 4 5 2 No one can solo this, but almost any two heroes will succeed. I sent Flambae and Punch Up to get both of them more XP.
Mission: Send Literally Anyone Else
Hero: Punch Up (+MOB)
Stats COM VIG MOB CHA INT Mission 1 5 2 4 1 Heroes 3 4 2 3 1 You get a fair amount more XP if you instead select the mission "Send Literally Anyone Else", and are arguably in a better position overall. We aren't keeping Sonar, so I don't mind declining his request for his character-specific mission (Send Sonar As Security) here.
Choice Mission: Juvenile Pickpocket At Large
Hero: Malevola, Pick CSC
The other character with a CSC for this mission is Sonar.
Choice Mission: Locate Stolen Art
Hero: Coupe, Pick CSC
In addition to guaranteeing success regardless of stats, CSC options in choice missions reward more XP. Invisigal is the other option here, but I'm going to need Coupe to get a lot of INT stat points in Shift 4-1 in the absence of Sonar.

Episode 3-1: Intro

The main quirk of this shift is that your heroes will sabotage each other, as a response to learning that one of them will be cut. When a hero is sabotaged they will face a choice, similar to the choice-based missions, and if they fail they will be injured. If two heroes are sent together on a mission, a random one will sabotage the other, with the other leaving the mission and returning to base to rest, even if they successfully succeed on the sabotage check. Sometimes a hero will leave base to sabotage another hero returning from a mission, which delays both heroes availability for missions.
There are a few details that to take advantage of:

• Flambae never commits sabotage. Thematically, probably because he is the highest Z-team member on the leaderboards and doesn't feel in danger of being cut.
• Synergistic partners won't sabotage each other. So you can dispatch Sonar with Malevola, Flambae with Prism, Invisigal with Golem, and Punch Up with Coupe safely.
• Excluding one story-fixed sabotage, a hero will only be sabotaged once, and all heroes except Malevola have at least one option they can succeed at with their base stats. Malevola can succeed with COM 4+, MOB 3+, or CHA 4+.

Recommended Sabotage Choices

• Sonar - Track (MOB 1)
• Flambae - Blast (COM 1) or Hack if going for the "H4ck3d by R0b3rt" achievement.
• Invisigal - Ditch (MOB 3)
• Punch Up - Force (VIG 1)
• Prism - Distract (CHA 4)
• Malevola - Run (MOB 3) or Play (CHA