Transformers Devastation Character Breakdown and Strategies

There are five playable characters in Transformers Devastation. At first you can’t choose which character to play as, but once you reach a point in the first chapter you can select which Autobot you wish to play as. While some weapons can only be used with certain characters, there are statistical differences between the characters that may cater to different play styles. Let’s take a closer look at each one of the Autobots so you can figure out which one works best for you.

Each character is rated in health, melee attack, ranged attack, defense and top speed. However, these stats can change as you level up and spend credits to improve each character. Instead of listing numbers, we’ve provided a simply rating system of high, medium or low for each of the stats. The rating reflects the base stats of each character. You can always upgrade these stats to improve them, but keep in mind that it will take more to upgrade a character with a low rating compared to a character with a high rating.

Optimus Prime

Health: High
Melee Attack: High
Ranged Attack: Medium
Defense: High
Top Speed: Medium

L1 / LB – Trailer Swipe
Super Move – Power Slam

Recommended Combo
Xbox – X, X, X, X, X, RB
PlayStation – Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, R1

Optimus is a heavy weight character. He moves and attacks a bit slower compared to most of the other Autobots. However, what he loses in speed he makes up for with high health and defense, along with a high rating for melee attacks. If you’re good at dodging at the last moment so you can get the slow-motion effect, you will have success with Optimus. You won’t get the long, extended combos that a character like Bumblebee or Sideswipe can perform, but the damage output makes up for that, especially if you can continually secure the slow-motion dodge.

The Trailer Swipe unique attack has a wide range and will hit multiple enemies if they’re close enough. Think of this as a clear out attack that can get you out of trouble. Couple this with the higher defense of Optimus compared to the others, and he’s a great character if you’ve been taking a lot of hits. His higher health means you can take more abuse as well. If that weren’t enough, his Super Move is a Power Slam that inflicts considerable damage and stuns the enemy so you can follow up with another combo in most cases.

Bumblebee

Health: Low
Melee Attack: Low
Ranged Attack: High
Defense: Medium
Top Speed: Medium

L1 / LB – Evasive Slide
Super Move – Bomb Barrage

Recommended Combo:
Xbox – X, X, X, X, Y, RB
PlayStation – Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, R1

Bumblebee is small and agile. His base movement speed is fairly quick, even if his top speed is only average. He also has the highest ranged attack rating of the Autobots and higher defense than Sideswipe and Wheeljack. The biggest downfall of Bumblebee is that he has the lowest health out of all the Autobots. If you’ve been taking a lot of hits, or you’re not particularly skilled at dodging enemy attacks, you may have a hard time playing as Bumblebee because he will die faster than the other characters.

As one of the more agile Autobots, Bumblebee’s unique attack is an Evasive Slide. You can use it to escape a sticky situation and create a bit more distance than the normal dodge ability that all of the Autobots have. Unfortunately it’s not particularly effective as an offensive attack.

To make up for Bumblebee’s lack of melee attack power and the fact that his unique attack is defensive in nature, he has a much easier time stringing together his combos. The recommended combo ends with a vehicle attack which usually stuns the opponent so you can start the combo all over again. As you move through the game and face more difficult enemies, they’ll escape the combo, but you can quickly switch to vehicle mode, circle around and go for a vehicle dash attack to start the combo series over again.

Bumblebee’s Super Move is a barrage of bombs that fall on the enemy. Unfortunately, the damage on this attack isn’t very high, and it generally doesn’t leave Bumblebee in a great position to follow up with another combo. This is the weakest aspect of Bumblebee’s play style, so if you rely on the Super Moves to get you out of tough situations, you may want to look at other characters.

Sideswipe

Health: Medium
Melee Attack: Low
Ranged Attack: Medium
Defense: Medium
Top Speed: High

L1 / LB – Rapid Dash
Super Move – Missile Barrage

Recommended Combo
Xbox – X, X, X, X, X, RB
PlayStation – Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, R1

Sideswipe is the fastest Autobot in the game when he’s in vehicle mode. However, his melee attack is weak (only slightly better than Bumblebee’s) and his ranged attack power is average. His defense rating is also average, which means that Sideswipe is about as close as you’re going to get to a well-balance character. He doesn’t excel at any one aspect aside from top speed, but that’s not important throughout most of the game. However, he’s not the worst at anything either.

His unique ability is a rapid dash which is primarily defensive in nature, similar to Bumblebee’s unique ability. It can get you out of a tough situation and works well to evade attacks, especially ranged weapon attacks from aerial enemies. It’s fairly easy to chain his recommended combo repeatedly against most enemies in the game. Just like Bumblebee’s recommended combo, it ends with a vehicle attack that stuns most enemies and allows you to follow with the same combo again.

Sideswipe’s Super Move is a Missile Barrage that fires from his shoulder launcher. It inflicts a decent amount of damage and you can follow with a combo if you’re close enough to the enemy when you use it. This can lead to pretty big damage if you can start with a Super Move then chain into multiple combos. If you’re looking for a beginner character, Sideswipe is fairly well balanced, but as stated earlier, he doesn’t really excel at any one thing.

Wheeljack

Health: Medium
Melee Attack: Medium
Ranged Attack: High
Defense: Low
Top Speed: Medium

L1 / LB – Energy Shield
Super Move – Spread Bomb

Recommended Combo
Xbox – X, X, X, X, X, RB
PlayStation – Square, Square, Square, Square, Square, R1

Wheeljack is unlocked once you complete Chapter One in the game. His stats are fairly well-balanced, similar to Sideswipe, but his ranged attack damage is the best in the game. He also has a relatively high melee attack damage stat, which means he can really dish out the damage. The only weak aspect of Wheeljack is that his health is relatively low. The only character with lower health than Wheeljack is Bumblebee, so you can’t take many hits if you want to survive as Wheeljack.

To make up for Wheeljack’s low health, his unique ability is an Energy Shield similar to the shield many enemies can use. You can still attack with the Energy Shield up, which means you can block most enemy attacks, then immediately counter attack. This makes Wheeljack the best character for novice players who are not good at using the universal dodge ability. While you’ll still want to dodge when and where you can, the ability to use an Energy Shield gives you an easy defensive option.

Wheeljack’s Super Move is a wide area Spread Bomb that inflicts considerable damage to any enemy within range. Weaker enemies will go down to this attack with ease, while more powerful enemies will still take a decent amount of damage. Once again, this factors into Wheeljack’s novice-friendly play style. If you’re struggling through the game, or you’re having issues on a higher difficulty, Wheeljack should be your go-to Autobot.

Grimlock

Health: High
Melee Attack: High
Ranged Attack: Low
Defense: High
Top Speed: Medium

L1 / LB – Dash Grab
Super Move – Flame Inferno

Recommended Combo
Xbox – X, X, X, X, Y, RB
PlayStation – Square, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, R1

Grimlock becomes playable once you clear Chapter Two in the game. As you might expect of the Dinobot leader, he has the most health out of any character in the game, and the most damaging melee attack power as well. He’s also the Autobot with the highest defense rating, so if you just want a powerhouse character, Grimlock should be your go-to Autobot.

Where Grimlock falls short is in the ranged attack and top speed category. He only has access to his flame breath in dinosaur mode, which means you can only use an equipped ranged weapon when he’s in robot form. Even still. Grimlock has the weakest ranged attack power in the game, so if you’re playing through a mission that requires ranged attacks, you may want to steer away from Grimlock.

For Grimlock’s unique ability, he dashes would an enemy, grabs them with his teeth and tears into them. This doesn’t work on every enemy, but it’s very damaging against lesser enemies. For his Super Move, Grimlock blasts any enemy in close proximity with a Flame Inferno from his mouth that inflicts significant damage.

While Grimlock may seem fairly overpowered, this is balanced by the fact that Grimlock doesn’t automatically change back into robot form after a combo that has a vehicle transition. Instead, he remains a dinosaur with limited range and limited combos. For this reason, you may want to stick to combos that do not end with a vehicle transformation in order to remain in robot form if you have difficulty fighting in Grimlock’s slower, short-reaching dinosaur form.

Be sure to check out our general tips and weapon synthesis guide if you haven’t already. Transformers Devastation is a fairly straightforward game, but it can be challenging if you don’t know a firm understanding of how the game plays!