The Quarantine specialist at 16 is a disgrace :-D She is so powerful!

I think the Quarantine Specialist is very valuable. She can stop where there's 3 cubes sitting to stop an outbreak, and if there's any connected cities that also have 3 cubes, that can save you the game. It is situational, but can be huge. If you use the event card allowing you to rearrange the top 6 infection cards, then you can really plan that out for the QS to work her magic.

Perhaps it was worth mentioning that some characters are better with 2 player games and some on the other hand shine in 4 player games. Generalist is the good example, the more players are there, the less he is using his 5th action due to fact that game has set number of rounds to end. On the other hand, Dispatcher shines in 4 player games being able to coordinate other 3 players (with their unique powers) but in 2 player games he is simply weak. Also I would mention combos. Some characters goes naturally together so they shine when they're both present in the game. Like Researcher and Scientist. Or Medic and Dispatcher. They create synergy. And to the topic I think the best character in the game is Operations Expert. He is simply OP. When we had him in game, we never lost. Even on Insane difficulties, added mutations etc. His ability to build a Research station without a card and then teleport anywhere on the map is insane. You can just adjust your network to the actual situation. You know which cities are drawn so you can build an effective network very easy with him. He can save many moves of other players not only to treat diseases but particularly when sharing knowledge and discovering cures.

Idk how I feel about Operations Expert being so low... Dude can literally go to any spot with two actions to help set up various situations

Have you ever played the field operative? He is so slow (collects only one cube per turn), that we never got him to cure anything with that ability. - As he still needs to help containing diseases as everyone else does, it even was a challenge to let him collect three of the same color!

This video is is peak Zee. I think the only way he could top is is with a ranking of pandemic box art.

I have to say that i really like this style of lists! Always fun to see what people thinks about characters in games! More of these! Awesome work Zee!

Quarantine Specialist is my favorite. Love that you need to think more on where you end your turn.

I like how you didn’t get bogged down in the minutiae of tactics and combos, but rather focused on the experience of playing each role - the flexibility or rigidity of the role, the type of player each role appeals to (hands-on, puzzle-solver, team facilitator, etc.), and the feeling you’ll have playing as one vs another. Many of us rank them on sheer power & win-ability, but this was a fresh take, Zee. You’ve led me to reconsider some of these. Thanks, man.

Man, Quarantine Spec would have been in my top three!

This is great, Zee! Thanks so much for doing it.

a 25 minute video ranking characters from Pandemic? I balked at first but then thought "no, I actually really want to watch this". Turns out it's great fun! Thanks Zee

If you think about it, Field Director (#20) and Generalist (#1) are the really similar. The field director has a bonus action, acting like the generalist's 5th action, plus he can treat disease in connected cities...

Would love to watch you solo this!

Thanks, Zee! This video filled a gap for me. Since you are such a huge Pandemic fan, it was weird to not have much content related to the game from you. I realize a lot depends on the executive scheduling of The Dice Tower, but thanks to everyone for making this video. I like having this insight into your play style, but I completely agree with other posters that it would be nice to know what player count you used as the basis for your list. I am surpised at how high you ranked the Field Operative. I always find him fiddly and frustrating (maybe because the app seems to make it impossible to use him effectively). I would always take any OTB role over him. I still don’t understand the lack of love for the Pilot, especially in a 3-5 player game. He combos well with several roles and helps to solve the movement portion of the puzzle more effectively. I would also be interested to see how your list changes when you add the Lab Challenge. Because, seriously, who would play just the base game when you have the ITL expansion? (a tiny joke; I don’t get to play the Lab much due to introducing the game to new players frequently).

Me and my wife has been playing Pandemic these past few days, we’ve taken a bit of a loving to some characters, just wanted to share who we prefer to play with. Our top 5: 1. Operations Expert - My wife LOVES this character, she oftens plays this character then she would switch out in the middle of the game because he becomes not as powerful compared to the start. 2. Scientist - This is probably my favourite, we play 2 player mostly and this character makes the game a cake walk IMHO. 3. Medic - our safe pick, since his power isn’t reliant on anything random. We often keep him on reserve for when we use the reassignment event. 4. Generalist - Has been going up my list of favourites, like Zee said, you get to play more of the game and having the 1 extra action may not seem like a big deal, but it can mean the difference between curing a disease this turn or next turn. 5. First Responder - Probably our recent favourite, to be able to prevent outbreaks caused by epidemics is a top notch power!

I almost couldn't agree with this list less, but I'm glad you made it Zee! 😁 I still come back and watch this video from time to time, as it's so interesting how different people view the usefulness (or fun) of various characters. For me, the quarantine specialist and epidemiologist ought to be higher (the latter I only discovered recently was really useful). As for the field operative, he'd be at my #20 - takes forever to do anything, inflexible, and never makes the difference in any game I've played with him. I'm also surprised by the placement of the Contingency Specialist (usefulness varies wildly depending on the events) and Generalist (is considered weak whenever we play with her). I'm surprised too that the Medic and Scientist aren't numbers #1 and #2, but the archivist is definitely an all-round terrific role. Regardless, a really interesting and different perspective on a game we love!

Thanks Zee! Loved this video!

Some of my favorites were in the back end of the list but I don’t have all the expansions so seeing some of the similar ones that you thought were better made sense why they weren’t as high up

21:52 that is valuable. If you are ever on any used discards, you can go anywhere by drawing that card from the discard pile and doing the charter flight.

Thanks Zee! While I may not agree with all of your choices, it certainly has given me a lot to think about....

In my opinion, in a 2-player game, which is how I've played Pandemic most often, you can't beat the synergy of Researcher and Scientist. Nearly every time I've beaten a 6-Epidemic game has been this way. In Legacy, which I played 4-player, we agreed that game's version of the Quarantine Specialist was the MVP for our group, especially with the upgrades we gave her. Anyhow, great video Zee. Love me some Pandemic content.

I'm not surprised at all, Zee's two favorite characters in his favorite game of all time both allow him to play more of his favorite game.

Field Director as #20? It's almost an instant win for us if he's in play. Nice list, but it's very contestable.

Im a fan of the Contingency Planner. Great video Zee Shared.

Great video idea! Suggestions: watch the angle of the camera/zoom so the cards are more readable. You could maybe improve it with annotations without having to reshoot!

I played in a Pandemic Survival event not too long ago; my partner was the Scientist and I was the troubleshooter. In a game like that, having 2 extra actions is HUGE! We managed to cure all 4 diseases (on a hail mary play too)

Zee, I think you have severely overestimated the Contingency Planner

I like the Quarantine Specialist and Operations Expert a lot. I find the QS good for putting in the middle of a hotspot, and so she effectively becomes a defensive version of the Medic. And the OE is good for getting Research Stations set up quickly. I find all of the base game (reprint) characters to have very useful powers once you get a feel for what they can do and how to make those abilities best contribute to the game.

My personal fav is Dispatcher - so much flexibility!

My wife and I lost many times. We finally won for the 1st time. I played as the operations expert and she played the quarantine specialist. 1st time either of us played the QS and we won, go figure. QS is very, very valuable

I also put all my pandemic stuff in one of the used pandemic legacy boxes.

Can you do a strategy video so I can actually win this darn game?

The archivist is my favorite. He's the only one I've been able to solo and win at too

Nice list! Zee, I'm curious. Are you basing the ranking on solo experience ( when playing with one or 2 characters) or when playing with several characters. In my experience some of those you find weaker, are actually powerful when playing with several characters. Thoughts?

The thing about pilot is that it can be basically anywhere at any time.

I can see that you like freedom of play and stratagy-thinking, but there's nothing more satisfying then making your Quarentine specialist hit jackpot and prevent tons of cubes into the table. It's just great...

Such a good joke to open the video. Nice stuff.

Quarantine Spec. is my wife's favorite.

Seems like there's plenty of love for quarantine specialist in the comments. One of my faves as well. I like the combo of her plus the dispatcher. Great when cubes are bunched up somewhere and an epidemic just happened.

I would be interested in see what are you favorite player combos.

Man, the Field Operative suuuuucks! He takes forever to cure a disease. Usually, by the time I have all the cubes I need, I already have five cards of the color I was going for.

I also keep all my Pandemic in the Legacy box, also the Red one. thinking if i want to put Cure, Cthulhu, and Iberia (dont have Tides yet) in there also.

I always play the Quarantine Specialist.

Quarantine Specialist all the way. That one has caused games from imploding especially working with a good Dispatcher.

Zee better articulated the vague feelings I've had about the different roles from my ~20 plays of Pandemic. I don't have any problem with his personal favorites ranking, though I'm glad my favorite (dispatcher) made his top 3.

I just bought this game and was wondering what expansion to buy. No I know it’s “on the brink”! Thanks Zee!

Idk if I agree with the list. I won w/ 7 Epidemics and 5 strains using the Field Director & Pilot (switching to the Epidemiologist later in the game with the event card). Field Director is SICC once you have your research stations set up and doubley nasty once you've cured (and the pilot makes that easy).

Thanks for renewing my interest in this game. I think I played with the wrong group when I learned this game. I’m looking forward to gaming with you at Origins, Zee (Kickstarter reward). Get ready for a knife fight in a phone booth!

please make an updated ranking of all pandemic games!

Interesting list! To me the generalist, while useful, is a bit boring because of the lack of a distinct power. We're still working through our Legacy Season 1 playthrough, so I don't think I can get base Pandemic to the table anytime soon. I'd love to see you order your favorites from Legacy Season 1 although I won't watch it until we finish our season!

I agree for the most part but I didn't expect the generalist to be your favourite. I find it to be the most vanilla role...

What I have learned is really that I am probably fine with the base game and on the brink. I loved the new characters in the expansion, I don't feel too thrilled about the ones in the lab and state of emergency offers. For me, it's not terribly easy to find people among my friends I can play with much and while they enjoy the occasional game of pandemic I really don't see myself playing in the lab and on the brink modules too often with them. If anything I would use the extra characters but since I am not very thrilled I really do feel I will have to pass ITL and SOE. I am glad I have bought on the brink though. Anyway pandemic is such a cool game. Probably the best boardgame purchase I have ever made.

The expansion includes empty character cards to fill in, but I am very bad at creating nice cards which are good but not too powerful to unbalance the game. Do you have any suggestions?

First responder sounds so strong! I think it should be higher.

anyone else here giving names to the cards characters (i don't mean legacy ones where you need to do it)? to my game group the operation specialist is morgan freeman, the trouble shooter is halle berry, the field operative is marty mc fly, the reasercher is the one who gives it away easely, the scientist is the one who easely takes it, the dispatcher is tank the operator and so forth and so on.

Field director is awesome though! Hes got a far reach and gets things done!

I'd like to point out that the strength of many of these powers are dependent on player count. The most extreme example I can think of is the Dispatcher, it is all but useless in a 2 player game compared to one of the characters with the alternative cure abilities which become insane in a two player game.

I thought archivist you could only draw the card from the city that you're in?

Medic is so OP! It's the most powerful card I've ever played! I swear if I hadn't played with medic in my last game, I would have lost.

Operations expert is one of my favs but your right as the games goes on he becomes less useful.

Next you should rank the event cards

Quarantine specialist is top three

After comparing lists, it feels to me like yours is based mostly on 2-and-3-player games. I play 4-player games (5 Epidemics) and a lot of the ones you put high become far less useful with more players. Here are the Roles I ranked way differently. 17 = GENERALIST (I don't have State of Emergency so I only have 17 Roles) - The difference between a 2-player and 4-player game is monumental here. In a 2-player game, each player gets 12 turns (if playing to deck exhaustion, generally speaking as one player would get one more turn), which means the Generalist would get 12 extra actions. In a 4-player game, each gets 6 turns. Six extra actions is NOT a game-changer. In fact, playing on the app, I lose with the Generalist at least 50% of the time. Add to that her "general" boringness to play with and it was an easy Last Place for me. (I keep her under the insert in my physical game.) 14 = CONTAINMENT SPECIALIST - Once again, it's another character that doesn't do as well at the higher player counts. Plus, he is VERY situational. If the infected cities are spread out, he's practically useless. He's far more useful when the cities are all grouped together. (All the Roles that specialize in Treating ranked lower than yours for similar reasons. Except one...) 12 = TROUBLESHOOTER - Another role that fares worse at higher player counts. Her abilities are great, but if she Cures a disease, she's almost useless after that. Having 1 or 2 cards doesn't get you to many places. And in a 4-or-5-player game, it's usually 4 different characters Curing diseases, so she is almost always Curing and then becoming useless. I put her one below the Operations Expert because he has far better movement after Curing. 10 = ARCHIVIST - I luuuuv the Archivist. In a 2-or-3-player game, he is fantastic. He has a lot of turns so other characters can freely burn cards traveling or building and he can collect them. In these games, he can often be relied on to Cure two diseases. But in 4-or-5, he tends to Cure just one disease, and that happens late in the game due to his limited turns. 8 = FIELD DIRECTOR = I'm actually a little surprised to see this one so low because he's actually a great character for any player count. His Treat ability is better than anyone else's except for the Medic, and infected cities don't have to be as grouped as they do with the Containment Specialist, so his ability is far less situational. He can be next to two infected cities and without moving, he's removed 4 cubes from the board. His ability to move others really makes him another Generalist, though the fifth move goes to another player. This ability is more situational, but it can come in handy later in the game if someone has two neighboring city cards and he's collecting. Or he can move someone to be in a better position for that Sharing. Or he can move the Quarantine Specialist, Medic or Containment Specialist to a neighboring hot spot. Because this Role isn't in the app, I don't have as much experience with him, but I've won at least 75% of the time he's been on the board in the physical game. This could change in the future. 5 = EPIDEMIOLOGIST - I'm surprised she's so low on yours because she is one of the few characters who is powerful at all player counts. Even with fewer turns in a higher-player-count game, I can usually get her to Cure two diseases. I've had several games where she's Cured three! In fact, if you use her non-action ability every round, she's the Generalist who never has to waste an action Sharing! Plus, she's fantastic late in the game. If someone has two needed cards of one color, that player just needs to go to one of those cities and the Epidemiologist will soon have BOTH those cards. I have never lost a game with the Epidemiologist paired up with the Researcher or the Archivist. (My favorite move with the Archivist is to go to a needed city, build a Research Station and then Retrieve the card. The Epidemiologist can easily fly in and get two cards with just two actions!) 4 = LOCAL LIAISON - Once again, a power that is amplified with more players because Sharing is far more difficult when the cards are in 4 or 5 hands instead of just 2 or 3. It's especially strong in these games because someone who needs a couple cards for the Cure just needs to meet up with one of the players and the Liaison can easily hand over the second. In fact, you mentioned that the Archivist is great for "manipulation of the game"; the Epidemiologist and the Local Liaison do that in my 4-player games far more than the Archivist can and they tend to be two of my favorites to play for this reason. Once again, I haven't played a ton with the physical-game-only Liaison, but if her ranking changed at all, it'd be to move HIGHER up the chart. 1= RESEARCHER - For the same reason as the Local Liaison. When I saw how low you had the Researcher, that's when I realized you were coming more from a 2-or-3-player perspective. Because she is EASILY the most important Role for 4 or 5 players. To quote Sam, "END OF DISCUSSION!" Before I got the app, I had never lost a game when she was one of the Roles. Whenever I have her on the app, I win at least 90% of the time. AT LEAST. And that includes when I switch to her using the New Assignment Event Card. In fact, I've noticed that every time I lose with her, I ALSO HAVE THE GENERALIST! Yeah, she's not sexy, like the Dispatcher or the Contingency Planner or the Local Liaison or even my not-that-sexy Epidemiologist. But if I have her, the only thing keeping me from winning is her drawing all the Event Cards! Good list, though no list is going to be perfect for every situation. I'd like to see a similar list for the In the Lab expansion as I've noticed that changes the power list dramatically. How about ranking the Event Cards? Or the Roles for the other standalone games? You can drag this out for years!

The Pilot is much better than stated here. I played a game with him & he took the Scientist when they each had 2 black cards & was able to pass both of his in 1 turn so she could cure black. Then, he grabbed the Medic & hit 3 black cities, leaving the Medic in range to knock down cubes in 4 other black cities.

Dispatcher and Researcher are 1 and 2 for me. Contingency Planner is 3 if you're playing On the Brink. I don't like him much in the base game. Scientist is my #4, especially if I have my #1 and #2. #5 is probably the Medic.

You kind of rushed through the researcher, but I think it's important to point out that her ability only allows cards to flow from the researcher to other players, not vice versa. The text on the card doesn't make that very clear, but the base game instructions (at least in the reprint version) specifically point it out. I think it is commonly misunderstood that the researcher can also take/receive cards from other players, so she is often considered more valuable than she really is. It's still a powerful ability, but in the base game, I'd rank her 5 or 6 out of seven 7. I can't say for sure, but you said "for passing cards, getting cards", which makes me think that you may be incorrectly playing the researcher as though she can take/receive.

We never play without the Operations Expert. Have to have Research Stations to cure diseases and they make it easier to move around the board for everyone. I always start out as OE in a solo game and then use the CDC to switch when I have good coverage.

I think I have played Researcher the most. Generalist is kind of boring, I would rather do something special. I agree Dispatcher is most powerful in solving the puzzle.

my personal favourite characters to use: the medic, i love it, i always and only use it, if you're playing pandemic with me, you know the medic is taken, the containment specialist seconds it cause it feels like a student medic to me, operation expert is a bit tricky to me so i don't use it too much but i like it. my least favourites are the contingency planner, the epidemiologist and, allthough i love it theoretically and the whole idea of it, it's so helpful, i always end up getting mad and frustrated when i use the dispatcher, cause i feel too manipulated by other players when i do and like i can't take my own gaming decisions. i also really have no sympathy for the archivist, the epidemiologist and the generalist.

I'm not familiar with the expansion sets, so here is my ranking of the base game characters... 7. Contingency Planner (F tier) - The ability of reusing event cards is extremely beneficial. However, by the nature of the game, this role is completely luck dependent. Far more so than any other character role, in my experience. I have had multiple games where few to none of the event cards were drawn until reaching the last quarter / fifth of the player deck (by which time it was too late to be of any real impact). Essentially meaning that my character had no use (outside of general actions) and no significant way to help the team. In the right game this role can be a benefit. But it's completely down to chance. And it's never as thrilling to win a game of chance as it is to carry out a successful strategy. 6. Quarantine specialist (C tier) - This may be my most controversial choice, but hopefully by presenting this role with a C-tier, you will see that I do not think this role is ineffective. Just that in my opinion, the other roles are more useful. The ability of this role, to prevent infection cubes being added to any city you are in or connected to, is incredibly powerful. And in more than a few games, it has saved my team from being overwhelmed by outbreaks. However, like the contingency planner, this role is quite luck based. If you draw the right infection cards, it can be really effective. But the wrong draw can mean its ability is neutered. This is particularly frustrating in games with multiple hotspots spread across the board. Essentially you have to guess which area to protect and hope the infection draw is kind. Also, if an area is particularly infected, it can be quite paralysing. Meaning your character has to stay still (or return to the same hub city) for multiple turns until the infections are cleared. A very powerful ability, but limited by the nature of the game and when it comes to cube management, there are more powerful roles. 5. Researcher (C tier) - One of the main challenges of the game is swapping coloured city cards, so that you can make sets of these city cards and cure diseases. In order to do so, you need to get two players to a specific city, just to swap a single card. The researchers ability, to give city cards to another player in ANY city, it therefore incredibly useful. The downside is that information can only travel one way (from the researcher to another player), so the usefulness of the role is dependent on which cities the researcher draws. Again, this role is quite luck based (I am seeing a pattern emerging). This puts it in a very similar position to the quarantine specialist, but I put it higher up the list as its ability helps to win the game (curing diseases), rather than just helping with cube management. 4. Operations Expert (B tier) - With the ability to set up research stations, this is one of the roles that can greatly aid fast-travel around the board. As movement around the board is vital, for managing cubes, stopping outbreaks and swapping cards, these fast-travel points can be game changers. However, even with six research stations on the board (the maximum amount allowed), movement can be quite inefficient. It is common to use actions getting to a research station, another action to fast travel, and further actions to get to a relevant city or player. Meaning that you cant remove any infection cubes or swap cards in that same turn. If your team doesn't have a dispatcher, I would say that this is the closest role to an alternative. But it is nowhere near as effective at the job of aiding fast-travel. 3. Scientist (B tier) - This role is a bit of a contradiction for me. The scientist is always useful...but never perfect! Let me explain. The ability of the scientist is to cure a disease with 4 cards, rather than needing 5. This is a very powerful ability, meaning that your team only needs to collect 16 cards (4 cards x 4 cures) rather than 20, in order to win. And in every game I have played with the scientist, this power has allowed them to cure at least 2 of the diseases. Sometimes 3. But never all 4. Luck, once again, dictates the usefulness of this card. As it depends on what you and your teammates draw from the payer deck. However, unlike some of the lower ranks, luck seems to have a lesser effect on this role. As I said, i have never played a game where the scientists ability has not been used. And as the ability is tied directly to the win condition, the scientist is aways a welcome member of the team. 2. Medic (A tier) - Like the quarantine specialist mentioned above, the main role of this character is cube management. However, in my opinion, the medic achieves this far better than the quarantine specialist. The medics abilities are two-fold. One, it can cure all cubes in a city in one action. (Always useful, particularly in heavily infected areas). And two, once a disease is cured, any city the medic visits is automatically treated of all infection cubes, without having to use an action (this is outrageously powerful!). What is great about this role is that it makes eradicating a disease (not just curing, but eradicating) a realistic goal. I have never eradicated a disease without this character on the team. And once a disease is eradicated, it makes the game much easier. Suddenly you do not have to worry about one (or more) of the colours at all. Not about infections or outbreaks or anything. And allowing a team to narrow their focus like that, can completely turn a difficult game around. Throw in the importance of cube management in general (as running out of cubes is one of the lose conditions) and the ability to visit 4 cities and remove all of the cubes present, IN A SINGLE TURN, makes this character a massive asset to any pandemic team. 1. Dispatcher (S tier) - If I got to guarantee that one role would be present on my team, it would be the dispatcher. Like the medic, the dispatchers abilities are two-fold. One, it can move a player's piece as it it were it's own (useful, but used more sparingly). Two, it can move any pawn to a city with another pawn. It's that second ability that it used constantly. One of the hardest aspects of the game is trading cards. As I mentioned earlier you need to get two players to a specific city, before you can swap a single, specific card. With the dispatcher, all you need to do is get ONE player to the right city, and the dispatcher takes care of the rest. It makes movement so efficient. You don't have to trek to the nearest research station and get somewhere near your target destination. You are sent straight there. And the ability is versatile, making it useful in combination with most roles. Is there a heavily infected area...move the medic so they can sort it. Has the scientist got 4 cards...move them to a research centre so they can cure straight away next turn. Has the researcher just drawn a useful card...teleport them across the map so they can trade information to the right player. The only limitation (having to move player to player) is easily minimised by spreading our your characters across the board. Which you are probably doing anyway, trying to manage multiple infections at once. This means that the dispatcher is always useful. Not just every game...pretty much every TURN! This role is so powerful that i believe it's presence alone can effect the outcome of a game. In the introductory game (4 epidemics), if the dispatcher is present...you WILL win! In the standard game (5 epidemics), if the dispatcher is present...you will PROBABLY win. And In the heroic game (6 epidemics), if the dispatcher is NOT present...you will NOT win! While I do not have any data to support this, I honestly believe it to be true. The dispatcher role is just that powerful! I hope you enjoyed my list. Let me know below if you disagree!

You da best!

I know this video is old, but hopefully someone at @The Dice Tower is paying attention. Do you only shuffle up your like top 10 roles? I feel sometimes if you get too many of the low power characters, you just lose.

Colonel ftw!

Great. Now they just need to finish reprinting "On the Brink" :)

I agree with the number 1, I think she is the #1 in the cure also.

I love puzzles so I'm always the Dispatcher.

The generalist is generally good :)

I actually find Generalist and Contigency Planner useless and seldom play them. After looking at this list, I want to play them.

Very strange that you place field director and pilot at the bottom while having the pharmacist in the top ten and dispatcher in top three. The field director is basically how you describe the pharmacist: 'a spin on the medic with a power that is weaker but more far reaching'. That's exactly what the field director does. The medic can remove six cubes in two cities. The field director can remove four cubes in four cities. That's as much as the containment specialist that you rank so much higher, yet without the containment specialist's limitation (of treating 2 or 3 cube cities only). Once the cure is found, both medic and field director can clear up to twelve cubes in four cities (whereas the containment specialist's power might not clear any city at all!). That power alone - without mentioning the field director's secondary ability - is certainly not worth the last place. About the pilot you say that 'there are characters that can move more effectively and that can move other players more effectively'. Ugh... which characters exactly? Apart from the dispatcher and field director, no character can move other characters. The dispatcher is better in bringing together pwans, the pilot is better in spreading pawns out. The pilot does what the dispatcher does but in a different fashion. The penalty of not being able to build a research station is a penalty indeed but not a big deal. The pilot doesn't need to shuttle because in one turn he can move anywhere on the board. Anywhere. In one turn. Withtout spending a card. And take a character with him. And still have an action left (for curing or sharing). The generalist can only dream of accomplishing any of these tricks with a single extra action. Moving from one end of the map to another and perform a single cure or share amounts to up to ten actions. Treating four cubes in four cities equals at least seven actions.

The fastet way to accumulate city cards is by drawing them. Thus, playing 3-5 people, we usually keep flying to a minimum until we see who accumulated what. At 3 or 4 cards we think about how to develop the cure the fastest with all the player at hand with minimal costs. - I consider the Archivist weak, because he can only help himself getting the 4th or 5th card for curing, by going to a specific city (play card discard pile is “almost” empty) and picking up a card, or even have someone else do a useless flight to initiate the transfer of the card. The dispatcher can bring people together with the same effort and can do it for everyone, himself included. Or the Scientist can just skip the 5th card all together for free without doing anything at all. In my view: both beat the Archivist, maybe other role combinations trump even them.

I always play with a fixed 4 member team... 1. Scientist 2. Researcher 3. Dispatcher 4. Medic

I disagree about the quarantine specialist. that role is fantastically powerful if you pay attention to what cards might be coming up.

Dispatcher FTW! 😊

The generalist is great

Wow Zee, you know you Pandemic-Sh!t... I said GOODDAY SIR!!

Virologist is amazing. It deserves to be at least in the top 10

I think the Troubleshooter is much stronger than number 13.

I find myself hating the dispatcher. Not because I think it is weak but because getting given that character often means you don't get to play because more often than not you end up being an extension for the other players. I would have much preferred it if the move ability was something like once per turn but then gain some other benefit (like the Rook in BurgleBros, a cooperative game with similar role systems). I'm glad the contingency planner is high on the list. Base game players would say it is useless but if you use On The Brink rules suddenly events become much more available. I probably would have rated the operations expert a bit higher due to his versatility as well the first responder (especially if those two are in the same game). Also the pilot, I think they have to be in a 3 player game and much like the dispatcher they are more an extension of the other players but the pilot does have some independence. I find the gene splicer very subjective and it depends way too much on your starting hand, also much better at higher player counts.

Medic is my number 1

i think you don't quite understand how powerfull the epidemiologist is. She can TAKE ANY CITY CARD. So you don't have to be in the specific city you want to take. For example. The epidemiologist is in mexico city together with the medic she can now take seol from the medic with her special ability and still have 4 action.So its bassicly the researcher ability expect give you take. Agree Quarantine Specialist is passive but becomes overpowered when the dispatcher is in play or you have the airlift event card in my opinion the generalist is overrated yes you have 5 actions but you don't have any other abilities like the other characters that might help you

To be honest I'm kind of surprised from how much you and the comment section like the characters from the original game. I think all those 'Paramedic', 'Operation Expert' and cetra are just a pilot characters. Characters from the expansions are way more original, balanced and interesting like: 'Containment Specialist' is a balanced takeoff on the 'Paramedic'. 'Local Liaison' is an original takeoff on the 'Researcher' which really adds so many cool possibilities to the game. The 'Field Director', 'Gene Splicer' and 'Pilot' are so much fun, much more than their origins. It's a shame all of them are at the bottom of your list.. Would love to hear what people have to say about my opinion :)

I think you're great Zee but I need to know what you're smoking thinking Contingency planner is that good

The dispatcher is just tooo good not to use, clearly my Nr.1. the researcher is great as well.

I only own the base pandemic. Always felt the scientist was worthless. :(

We always put all the roles in a stack and draw them randomly. Way too much randomness for "gamers", I'm sure, but it's way more fun and unpredictable this way.

Some of the roles are definitely stronger with more players. Playing with 2 players, some of the roles loose their shine.

How about Pandemic Iberia? The Royal Academy Scientist is underpowered and the Politician overpowered. I'm even considering swapping one of their abilities as a house rule

While I agree with some of your points and interesting perspectives, for almost half of the roles` rankings I fundamentally disagree. #7 should be much lower on the list imo. It is just not as interesting, nor original as other roles that are lower.

Field operative is so bad. You waste several actions to save 2 cards 4 turns later.