Here is a shopping guide for the essential figurines to buy to have the most fun possible with Skylanders: SuperChargers!
The Portal
If you bought the game alone, you need a portal and characters in order to even play. The portal is a peripheral that plugs into your console and tells it which figurines you have when you place them on the portal. Without a portal, your characters are unusable.
That said, don’t buy the game without a portal.
Vehicles
We’ll actually start with the vehicles because, in SuperChargers, there are areas of the maps you can’t enter without certain types of vehicles. The three types of vehicles are land, sea, and sky, and you’ll want to have at least one of each.
Hot Streak
Hot streak actually comes in the starter packs for both Xbox and PlayStation, so this should be easy to come by. Hot Streak is a land vehicle, which you’ll need to play the majority of the game.
If you bought the game without the starter pack figurines, that’s okay: you can still buy Hot Streak separately online.
Whether you get Hot Streak or not, you will need a land vehicle to even play the main storyline! This is why a land vehicle comes in the starter pack.
The reason Hot Streak is so essential is that it goes perfectly with Spitfire, another one of the main starter figurines. Spitfire is cool, easy to play, and improves Hot Streak’s features.
Hot Streak comes in the Starter Pack at no additional cost, but if you want to buy it separately, it can cost anywhere from $14 out of the package to $29 new.
Dive Bomber
Tons of the side missions in Skylanders: SuperChargers require a sea vehicle, and Dive Bomber is the most basic sea vehicle you can get. Dive Bomber matches up with the figurine Dive-Clops for maximum coolness, and since they’ve both been out since launch, you can find them all over the place.
Sea and sky vehicles can’t be purchased in starter sets, so look for them individually to round out your collection. Dive Bomber runs new for the standard $14.99 price point.
Sky Slicer
Just like sea vehicles, sky vehicles are required to play certain side quests, but not to finish the main storyline. Sky Slicer matches up with a main pilot, the Skylander Stormblade, and has also been available since launch as the go-to sky vehicle.
For about $14.99 you can get Sky Slicer as a standalone.
SuperChargers Drivers
For the three main vehicles, we have three main drivers that pump up the appearance and stats for their matching vehicles. Here they are:
Spitfire (matches Hot Streak)
Spitfire comes free with the Starter Pack, but costs much more individually at around $29 online.
Dive-Clops (matches Dive Bomber)
Dive-Clops doesn’t come in the Starter Pack, but you can add him to the collection for about $15.
Stormblade (matches Sky Slicer)
Another non-starter character, Stormblade can be added to your team for about $15.
Elemental Types
So you’ve got a land, sea, and sky vehicle, and you can play almost any of the fun missions the game has to offer. There’s still more you can do to maximize in-game rewards and play various missions in new ways with advantages that matter at higher difficulties.
Since getting the absolute most out of Skylanders: SuperChargers means owning one of every element type for both Skylanders and vehicles, let me put it all out there for you!
Magic Tech Earth Air Water Life Light Dark Undead Fire
Even though vehicles would intuitively be labeled Earth, Air, and Water to correspond with land, sea, and sky, this is not always the case. For example, the vehicle Stealth Stinger is an air vehicle, but its element type is Life. Eventually you’ll be able to collect vehicles of every element as well as every type.
Also, there are some vehicles that have the same element and type as another vehicle. What this means for you: not every new figurine purchase will diversify your collection!
For example, you could buy both Hot Streak and Burn Cycle, but neither one of them would add new content or rewards. They’re both land vehicles with a Fire element. Of course, they will play differently, have different stats, and look totally unique, but they fill the same role for your collection.
Bundles
Bundles are a great way to expand your collection quickly. The Starter Pack is the best bundle to start with, but a few of the others will save you money over adding individual character figurines.
Triple Pack #1 saves you about $15 (costs $30 for 3 figurines) Dual Pack #2 costs about $5 less than solo pieces (spend $25 for two)
Some bundles cost more than buying a couple individual characters, but these bundles offer special trophies, tracks, and characters that can’t be bought alone:
Legendary Racing Sky Pack costs $50 Racing Sea Pack Costs $35
Pace Yourself
Don’t try to buy all the SuperChargers at once. Start with getting at least a land, sea, and sky vehicle. Then, try to buy one of each SuperCharger element type.
Also, some of the most fun and unique SuperChargers aren’t even out yet, and their release dates haven’t been set. If you spend your whole Skylanders budget on the existing figurines, you’ll be out of luck when a better option comes out!
Sources suspect that the next wave of figurines, Wave 3, will be released in December 2015 for the Christmas rush!
