There are several new side gigs to be found in the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, including the Waiting for Dodger gig. But you will need to make a choice about if you should lie to the Dodger this mission is named for.
In this mission, you are tasked with rescuing two NCPD officers who have somehow found themselves trapped in the base of a man named Dodger. Dodger is one of the henchmen of Kurt Hansen—the big bad boss of Dogtown—but he is also a violent psychopath in his own right. His base is somewhat ironically found in an abandoned NCPD station. Your mission is to get into the station and find the cops before they are hunted down by Dodger.
As with most of the gigs in Cyberpunk 2077, there are usually a few different ways to go about certain aspects of it. In this new Phantom Liberty side gig, you will eventually cross paths with Dodger himself, where you choose whether to lie or tell him the truth. With this in mind, we are going to take a look at some of the potential outcomes of your choice in this handy guide.
Waiting for Dodger mission in Cyberpunk 2077: Full guide
Talk to Stella
The first objective you will be given is to talk to Stella, the fiancée of one of the cops trapped in Dodger’s base. Follow the green mission marker, and it will lead you to a car that is being surrounded by Dodger’s men. Take them out and you will get a prompt from Stella telling you to get in the car.
After a rather interesting conversation that takes place fully reclined in the passenger seat while Stella is doing the same in the driver’s seat (she’s taking precautions, can’t really blame her), Stella will tell you that her fiancé Bill and his partner Charlie have gotten themselves mixed up in something pretty bad. You can probe her for some more details and if you do, she will tell you that Charlie is a bad influence on Bill and Stella suspects that the situation is likely Charlie’s doing.
Once you have all the information you can get from her, Stella will give you an access key to get into the former police station, which she has as she is also a cop. The base is just across the street, so head in when you are ready.
Make your way through the base
As soon as you get into the old NCPD station, you will see Dodger’s men milling around. It’s up to you whether you want to kill them, take them down non-lethally, or try and sneak past them. Without giving too much away, this will be an important point later and I’ll touch on why when I get to the choice to be made later on in the side gig. Choose wisely when it comes to whether you want to take these guys out or not.
Read the messages on the computer in the base
Keep making your way into the base, and you will come to a room with three of Dodger’s men hanging out. There is a computer in the center of the room on a desk. If you are particularly good with stealth, then it is possible to get to the computer without them seeing you. This will take some good timing, use of distractions, and concentration, but if you make it through without being spotted, check out the messages on the computer, and you will find out that Bill and Charlie are in the basement.
Finding Bill and Charlie
The mission marker will lead you down to the basement, where you will find one of Dodger’s men trying to get through a door. Knock him out or kill him, and you will then be able to talk to the person on the other side of the door, who turns out to be Charlie. Either help Charlie pull the door open or open it yourself if you have enough points allocated to Strength.
When the door is open, you will be met with a rather gruesome-looking Charlie, who is covered from head to toe in blood. Thankfully, it’s not his. Charlie leads you into the back room, where you meet Bill. Not only that, but you also get to find out why they are both so blood-drenched. Spoiler alert: it’s not pretty.
NCPD’s Finest
It becomes clear very quickly that Bill and Charlie aren’t exactly the kind of cops that you would want to be stuck with in this situation. They are both pretty hapless, but it does make for some entertaining moments. Once pleasantries are briefly exchanged, the story of the corpse lying on the table comes to light.
After swallowing a huge bag of drugs and yelling “fuck you pigs” (what a way to go), the man promptly died after the bag split in his stomach. Unfortunately for Bill and Charlie, this man happened to be one of Dodger’s gang mates, and they know they are sure to be on his hit list when they find him in this state. So what do they decide to do? They try to cut the drugs out of him. It makes no sense since the drugs would have already dissolved, hence why the gang member died, but apparently—in their panic-stricken state—this thought didn’t cross their minds. The bottom line is that these guys are out of their depth and in need of escape, and you’re the one tasked with helping them. Lucky you.
Escort Bill and Charlie to the garage
You need to get Bill and Charlie to the garage so that they can escape in their squad car, but there are still several of Dodger’s men still in the building. First, you will need to go downstairs and get a large double door open. There are two ways that you can do this: either by hand, if you have 20 Strength points, or by following the red cables coming out of the control panel next to the door. The cables will lead you to a fuse box. All you need to do is interact with it and the door will open.
Confronting Dodger
After dealing with or sneaking past more of Dodger’s men, you finally reach the garage. Just as it seems like Bill and Charlie are going to get out of this mess scot-free, a car pulls into the garage and out steps Dodger himself. He will ask Bill and Charlie to tell him what happened, and Bill will spin him a terrible story. There will then be an optional dialogue choice wherein you can lie, tell the truth, or ignore both options and just start shooting. Let’s take a look at the two main options in more detail.
Telling Dodger the Truth
Surprisingly, Dodger will be more understanding and even in slightly good spirits if you urge Bill to tell him the truth. The insanity of the situation gives Dodger and his men a good laugh and they will agree to let Bill and Charlie go. However, what is important to remember here is that if you have killed any of Dodger’s men during your trek through the hideout, he will change his mind and attack you. This is why you should only knock out his men or sneak past them if you are aiming for a pacifist play-through. You need to be careful as well, as even with neutralizing weapons, it can be hard to not accidentally kill any of the gang members. I played through the mission twice, and I was so sure I hadn’t killed anyone in the second play-through. I was wrong, as Dodger started to attack me again, even though I told him the truth.
Lying to Dodger
Dodger will see straight through Bill’s lie and if you back him up, he will immediately begin to attack you as well. It’s pretty much the same as the option that lets you start shooting. To be fair to Dodger, I would probably be angry too if someone fed me a lie as blatant as Bill’s and thought I was dumb enough to believe it.
The aftermath of your confrontation with Dodger
No matter what, the iconic duo of Bill and Charlie will make their escape and live to tell the tale of their shenanigans, so at least there is a somewhat happy ending. If you managed to keep all of Dodger’s men alive, and you tell him the truth, he lets them go. For now at least. If you kill Dodger, you can loot him and get his Rosco Iconic Power Revolver. There doesn’t seem to be any far-reaching consequences for killing Dodger, either (none that I have found so far, at least).
Mr. Hands will call you to congratulate you on a job well done after the side gig is complete, but he doesn’t seem bothered if you did kill Dodger. After all, if the client is happy, then we are all happy. With Dodger dead, it’s safe to say that the clients are definitely going to be feeling happy.
Should you lie to Dodger in Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty?
Go for it. I would say that you might as well kill Dodger and be done with it. Either start shooting him straight away, lie, or tell the truth but kill his men. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as all three of these choices will lead to a firefight between you and Dodger. Not only do you get a cool weapon if you loot Dodger’s body, but you’re also ridding the streets of Dogtown of a violent criminal. As well as that, it is also easier and less time-consuming to take out his men as you go through the base.
Seeing as there aren’t any repercussions for taking the violent approach, other than having to engage in what are some relatively easy gun fights, go in all guns blazing for the quickest, easiest, and most rewarding option.
Published: Sep 25, 2023 06:14 pm