Dante: The Best Shadowrunner

[Zamir GOAT [MLG Monkey King]]

I've seen some people on the forums knocking Dante as a Shadowrunning partner once you unlock his Awakened form, and the only justification for the dislike I can imagine is that these people simply didn't actually take a close look at Dante's stats and powers.

If the below looks too long to you, here's the TL;DR:
DANTE CAN EQUIP AND CAST ANY SPELL HIS STATS ALLOW HIM TO, IN HIS THREE OPEN SPOTS.


Dante is most obviously a substitute for Dietrich, so let's compare the two.

Dietrich:

STATS:
Intelligence 3
Willpower 6
Spellcasting 5
Charisma 7
Summoning 6
Spirit Control 5
Conjuring 6

~~~Spells~~~
Heal Wound I
Haste III
Dragonslayer's Favor 2: Medium Ley Line
Electro Core III (Ball Lightning)
Aim II
[ONE BLANK SPELL]

Dante:

STATS:
Willpower 8
Spellcasting 7
Charisma 6
Intelligence 6

~~~Spells~~~
Flame Breath
Petrify
Fireball
[ONE BLANK SPELL]
[ONE BLANK SPELL]
[ONE BLANK SPELL]

So, Dietrich vs Dante:
Intelligence 3 vs. 6
Charisma 7 v. 6
Willpower 6 v. 8
Spellcasting 5 v. 7

And the real kicker is that Dietrich's spellbook is cluttered with mostly useless crap (Ley Line) or spells that are weaker than he could equip given his stats (Heal Wound I, Aim II). He only has one open spell slot, and Spellcasting 5, Intelligence 4 at the end of the game really limits what you can put there.

Now, let me re-iterate here:

DANTE CAN EQUIP AND CAST ANY SPELL HIS STATS ALLOW HIM TO, IN HIS THREE OPEN SPOTS.
[He can also use items you give him, including Stims and Grenades!]

You can therefore give Dante, as I did, Aim III, Heal Wound II, and then a spell of your choice - he can equip pretty much any destructive spell in the game, or, as I chose to do, I gave him Armor III and made him a sort of "Buff Bot" that nonetheless could absolutely wreck havoc if you had Dante caste Aim III on himself before charging into melee.

Dietrich has nothing to compete with the usefulness of Petrify and three open spell slots, and his offensive abilities are basically a joke. The ONLY thing he has on Dante is summoning, and his stats in that area really aren't that great, anyway.

Dante >>>> Dietrich, and honestly, the doggie's damage output, if you build and play for it, eclipses Glory, Eiger and Blitz pretty handily, too.

Most damage, best buffs, GOAT Shadowrunner.

[barkas85]

I've put him down.

[FelixSylvaris]

You can change your crew gear setup before each mission includin changing spells.
So you can remove for example Lay Lines from Dietrich and put there someting yours.
I gave him Armor II and Flamestrike (simple damaging spells), and play Dietrich pure support, give around aim, and haste, and armor, if combat is hard summon spirit from point or bag.
The main problem with Dietrich for me is his love for throwing knives, not very effective and takes points from spellcasting and being assigned as Healer, so every enemy targets oldman first.

Some other problems could be that COnjuring is not that good. Haste is nice, but then there are hardly any good spells. And summoning totems is fun. But spellcasting is plain better in buffs and blast.

[Zamir GOAT [MLG Monkey King]]

Wait... HOW do you change crew gear setup??? Seriously???

[Panurge]

Before a mission you are asked to confirm your gear, and it will show your stash.... you can just press the arrows around your PC and change to the other guys. It will show everything you give them is "loaned" because you dont give people free stuff.

[Zamir GOAT [MLG Monkey King]]

Huh - I know the screen, obv. That's where you give Dante 3 extra spells at the start of a mission. I just never had any success getting a Shadowrunner to give up an item or spell they already had equipped.

I'll have to try it again...

[Ichthyic]

something else Dante can carry and use...

Drone repair kits.

why?

who knows.

[jlrmarin]

Dante works fine. If anything, he's an alternate Glory, since the main reason to use them both is to ferret out enemies from their cover. :3

I like Dante fine. I just like Glory better, and unless I'm a decker myself, Blitz is taking up a slot. But with my Decker I went without magic and used Glory/Dante/Eiger on a few missions, and they were pretty good.

I love Panzerdrohne for that last mission, on that note.

[lizardperson]

You assume I'm not madly in love with Dietrich and would him leave at home for any mission. Which is not the case.
Dante is cool and all, but so late in the game I'm too good-running with my standard team that I would want to switch.

[Zamir GOAT [MLG Monkey King]]

i always liked dante more than any other memeber of my team, even before he became playable

[Bleh]

Two years later, I discover this and just want to thank OP for the great laugh.

[frdnwsm]

Dante is OK, but Dietrich is every bit as good. He has less offensive punch, but his main use is as a buffer in any event. He's also a bit more versatile, having hands. I usually change Dietrich's spells around also. I leave his ley line spell at home; he gets Armor, Lightning barrier, and a spell de jour, depending on my mood. Note that his throwing knife can pin an enemy in place, which is almost as good as petrify and can be used more often.

Dante can't cast conjuring spells. No Haste, no Barrier spells.

I am not happy with the cooldown on some of Dante's abilities. Petrify is nice but can only be used occasionally. With luck, he can use it twice during the average combat. Also his flame breath is rather inaccurate, unless you do indeed buff it with an Aim spell.

Saying that Dante's combat abilities eclipses that of Eiger and Glory is exaggerated rhetoric.

Eiger has a weapon for every range. Give her wired reflexes and sniper double tap and she's up for anything. The Steyr on full auto is just vicious, and her sniper rifle has ridiculous range.

For the end run, Glory has the Hand of Glory, and I buy her the Vindicator and give her the Roomsweeper to replace her usual pistol.

[Zamir GOAT [MLG Monkey King]]

Originally posted by _Not_A_Cockroach_:

Two years later, I discover this and just want to thank OP for the great laugh.

lmao how did you find this

i totally don't even remember writing this, haha

i still stand by my assertion that Dante is the GOAT puppers, though