Five unfair characters on Dragon Ball FighterZ

 As you may know, there are loads of fighting games that you can play, from iconic ones like Mortal Kombat to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. There are a multitude of variety and interesting games to play out there but, one of my favorite fighting games of all time is Dragon Ball FighterZ. But what is Dragon Ball FighterZ? Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 2.5D 3v3 fighting game created by Bandai Namco and Arc System. The goal of the game is to knock out all 3 of the opponent’s characters. You do this by draining their HP down to 0. Dragon Ball FighterZ is a game inspired by the Shounen anime called, “Dragon BallZ”. You can find more information on the legendary anime Dragon Ball Z here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z

What are the things that make Dragon Ball FighterZ so special compared to other fighting games? Is it the gameplay perhaps? Not really, Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 2.5D fighting game, and other games like that also utilize input commands. Marvel Vs Capcom and Mortal Kombat are two examples. Well, it must be the mechanics you must be thinking. I would be lying if I said no, but that’s not the main reason why I enjoy the game so much. Is it the multitude of characters? Yes! Dragon Ball FighterZ has 43 different types of characters, all with unique movesets. These can allow the player to freely express their playstyle as well as allow different team combinations that play off one another. It’s a good mix of strategy and skill that makes the game so unique. While there’s a good amount of characters that are fun to use and to go against, there’s also a multitude of characters that are fun to use but hogwash to go against. 

That’s where this article comes in, whether you are a completely new player or a returning veteran, I am here to dive into these character gimmicks and provide both context and reasoning as to what makes these characters so frustrating to fight. I will also provide tips on countering these characters if you ever find yourself going against them.

So without further ado, here are the Top 5 most Unfair Characters in Dragon Ball FighterZ and how to counter them. Keep in mind this list is completely subjective and is my own opinion.

Number 5. Ultra Instinct Goku

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At the very bottom of the list, we have Ultra Instinct Goku. Ultra Instinct Goku is a mouthful to say, so from here on out we’ll just call him UI. For a little background, UI Goku originated in Dragon Ball Super as an additional transformation for Goku, he took on Jiren in a fight along with Freezia and unlocked this new form. Good for him, but unfortunate for you if you’re facing him. This guy has a lot of boops and gimmicks that can trip you up if you aren’t careful. The first is that his jab is pretty fast and wide so sometimes it can catch you off guard. UI has a flip move that allows him to flip across the screen. When he’s in this state, he can perform one of three moves. One of the moves is a really fast beam of light that nets him a free hit. Another one is a command grab. (A command grab is a special type of grab. Unlike normal moves a command grab isn’t blockable, so if you react to it by blocking you’ll get hit.) And his last version of his grab makes him disappear and allows him to be invulnerable for some time. It’s good at going through some moves that take high priority. On top of being an acro maniac, he has a lot of moves that counter your base moves. One of his counter moves if you hit it, teleports him behind you and he gets a free combo off of it. He has another counter where if you hit him he strikes you and can combo you to oblivion off of that one counter. And he has one final counter if you get a combo off him. It’s more of a wild card but most times it’ll catch you if you aren’t careful. You can find more information about UI Goku in this video:

Ok, so now that we’ve known what the moves he has. What can you do to go against said moves? Well, the first thing you should probably do is to play patiently. UI heavily relies on his enemies being super duper impulsive and impatient to throw out any of his moves to start and initiate combos. The next thing you should also do is adapt to how your opponent is playing. Try to pay attention to any key habits that they have, if it’s something that you notice then keep that mental note in your head while you are fighting them. If you can get into their head then you can win any fight.

4. Vegito (SSGSS)

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In fourth place is Vegitio Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. That is entirely a mouthful to say so I’ll just call him what everyone else calls him, Vegitio Blue. Vegitio Blue is a fusion between Goku and Vegito during a fight against Janimba from Dragon BallZ. Unlike their Gogeta counterpart (which we will get into later) Vegito is referred to as one of the mightiest warriors in all of Dragon Ball because of how powerful both of them are. However, they can only retain their fusion power for up to one hour.

But why are they up here? Surely they would think of balancing one of the best warriors in the entirety of the Dragon Ball Franchise right?, well not exactly. For starters, Vegito has one of, if not the best projectiles in the game. It comes out fast and it combos with everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. On top of having a really solid zoning tool, he also has a very saucy kit. If you don’t play carefully enough around him, then your character’s health will plummet quickly. With the right assists and characters you could get yourself in a pickle with just a couple of hits. Vegitio is also a very unique character when it comes to level combos. So normally with every character you can only do one super, whether taking up one bar or three bars. This is referred to as “Levels”. So for example, if you used up a bar and did a special that is a level 1, since it’s one full bar of special that you used up. Every character in the game at least has both a level 1 and a level 3. But you can combo different characters to get level 2s,4s, and even 7s. So what does this have to do with Vegito Blue? Well, Vegito Blue has a special gimmick where if he levels (whether being a level 1 or a level 3) he can use a level 1, making it either a level 2 or a level 4. As small as it may seem it can quickly pile up and lead to you taking unnecessary damage or losing a character. So a guy with an amazing kit, a cheating level system, and a really good zoning tool. How are you supposed to counter that? Even if it may seem hard, any character can be beaten through careful planning. Vegito has a good amount of laggy moves, though some of them don’t have a lot of end lag. Vegito doesn’t also have a lot of moves that reach you other than his light attack. All of his other moves don’t have a lot of reach, and most of them depending on only your character can outrange him. As mentioned earlier he has the best projectile in the game, however, that projectile is limited and can be zoned out with other projectiles. It’s also one of his laggiest moves, so don’t be afraid to block and punish. 

For being the number-four pick, Vegito Blue has a lot of gimmicks and moves that can catch you off guard if you are not careful.

Number 3. Gogeta (SSGSS)

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Coming in third place, we have Gogeta Blue, or you could use his long name Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. But for this article and the sake of my sanity, I will be calling it Gogeta Blue. Gogeta Blue originates from Dragon BallZ as well. This character was again born when Goku and Vegito fused in an attempt to gain an advantage against Super Saiyan Broly. They fail their fusion twice but end up fusing at the very last moment. You can learn more about Gogeta and their originations here.

But enough about Gogeta Blue and their origins, you only came here to see why they are up here on this list. Gogeta Blue has a lot of mix-up options. While not as notorious as his older orange-haired brother he still has a good number of things that can be frustrating to go against. For starters, Gogeta Blue has 2 beam moves, which cover the entire screen. They can be pretty overwhelming and sometimes hard to react to when you aren’t paying attention. He has numerous options too that can block you into jail. No, I don’t mean the real-life jail, whenever you are blocking in a fighting game and are stuck in place to avoid getting hit. This is called getting jailed. The reason why it’s called jail is because you are stuck in a block and you really can’t do anything much about it until the opponent decides they’re done. But the reason why he’s so high on the list comes down to one of his specific moves. For background knowledge, whenever you are about to get hit there’s usually only one thing you can do and that’s block. But FighterZ is a unique spin on the fighting game genre and wants to be different so you have another option. Your second option is to reflect on the attack, reflecting is hard to time though, and it’s a very high-risk reward sort of situation. But when done right is very rewarding. Remember how earlier I said you only have 2 options when it comes to defense in this game? Well, Gogeta Blue has a move that negates one of those defensive options being blocked. His move goes straight through your block and gives him a free punishment. That’s not the kicker though, that same move is also a move that has the same animation as his reflection. So if Gogeta goes directly in front of you and uses that move it turns into a 50/50 gamble on if you should be blocking or jumping or attacking back. You can learn more about Gogeta Blue in here

Ok, so we learned about the move set and the general crap you’ll have to face when you are facing a Gogeta Blue player? What can you do against that Gogeta Blue player? Well, like I said in the UI counterplay. You need to learn your opponent, adapt to how they play, and prepare for a counterplay. Gogeta Blue players are huge hypocrites, they love to jail people but hate getting jailed themselves. The reason behind this is because Gogeta Blue players have good jailing moves but they don’t have a lot of options for getting out of jail. They also struggle a lot with gaining meter, meter is very important when it comes to playing FighterZ. Meter gives you access to certain moves that can end one of your characters off, and Gogeta’s biggest drawback is not providing enough meter for both himself and his team. This means that he has to rely on others on his team to have that same meter gain. Overall, while being an overwhelming threat, Gogeta Blue isn’t as bad as a lot of other characters that are higher on the list.

2. Gogeta (?!?!?!?!) SS4

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Wait, didn’t we just cover this character? No, I promise this is a different character. Looking just like his older brother Gogeta Blue, Gogeta SS4 is a yellow-tinted fusion between Goku and Vegeta. But now with a silly little monkey tail. Although having a very silly tail, that tail is the source of most of their power. If it were to be ripped or snipped off then they would be drastically weaker in their form. Gogeta SS4 originated from Dragon Ball Super and is a fusion between Goku and Vegeta. Gogeta SS4 is a lot more cocky in personality than his other counterpart (akin more to Vegeta’s personality.) You’ll hear it in a lot of his voice lines as you face him. Speaking of facing him, here’s why I believe he is #2 on this list.

First off, he has 2 counters. One counter counters attacks, and some specials if they get close enough. The other counters attacks and projectiles if timed correctly. But for projectiles, the actual counter doesn’t come out. He has a really wide heavy attack which can take people off guard when facing him for the first time, his lights are godspeed and you can hit a lot of them making them exceptional for combos. He has a bunch of overheads including a flip move that can sometimes go over you. But his most numerous and signature move is Finish Sign. Finish Sign is scary, it gives Gogeta a camping tool, it allows Gogeta to get a little bit of bar but most importantly it improves his specials. The finish sign improves the amount of damage those specials do. So a Level 3 charged finish sign and then a Level 3 bar special is better than just doing a Level 3 bar special. When charged up fully he gains access to a brand new level 3. Only this time this level 3 is a one-shot move. That’s right, if you allow him to charge up enough finish sign he will have a one-shot in his arsenal. This means that if you get hit by it any character that’s in your roster dies, no exceptions. So yeah, definitely something you would wanna watch out for, but how do we play against him?

Well first things first, you have to make sure that he can’t get to a level 7 fully charged finish sign. If you do then you will have to play a lot more cautiously to avoid getting one shot. You need to play aggressively and in his face, do not give him any time to breathe. Gogeta has no moves to zone you out with, and he suffers from little meter gain just like his blue brother. So stay in his face and rush him down, get him down as soon and as quickly as possible before he gains his level 7. Almost every Gogeta player revolves their team around getting to that level 7 and it’s the Gogeta’s main goal to get that level 7 off. So the sooner you get him down the better it’ll be for your game.

1. Android 21 (Lab Coat version)

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This is Lab Coat 21, Android 21 and Andriod 21 Lab Coat are two COMPLETELY CONTRASTING VERSIONS of Android 21. Android 21 is a pretty fair and balanced character with gimmicks that you can react to. The lab coat is an absolute unit of a character that can decimate and destroy your team in seconds. Let’s start with the basics, Lab Coat 21’s light, mediums, and heavies are ALL fast and all long. So if you are blocking these moves she can easily catch you off guard with another one. Lab Coat has 2 spin moves that can cover both your air options and your grounded ones, which makes her extremely oppressive and hard to go against. She has 2 sets of projectiles a beam and ki blasts. A beam hits full screen but a ki blast only hits at an angle. Ki blasts usually come out faster than beams and are a lot easier to camp. So she has a very oppressive offensive kit, well what about her defensive kit? Well, she has a barrier, which if you hit gains a meter and can combo-start any of her other moves. Her blade moves are kai reflectors so there’s almost no use in camping her out. She has a lot of mix-up options once she gets out of the block too, so it’s a risk pressuring her block at times, especially with an unsafe move. Ok so her defensive options are really good too, there’s no way it could get worse than this right? Well, that’s where you are wrong. Lab Coat 21’s specials are a MAJOR FACTOR to why she’s so high on this list. She has 2 level 3s, which only a handful of characters in the roster have. Both of them do pretty good damage, but the main ones you have to be worried about are her level 1s. One level one is just a big ball, not a big deal, although she can vanish and catch you off guard sometimes. Her main problem is her other level 1, photon pulse. This move is a command grab, so if you are blocking you’ll get grabbed by the move. If you do get hit by it you are hit with a 21% negated nerf to all damage done by the character that got hit for the rest of the game, and she gets a 21% damage buff for all special moves that she does. The nerf is huge and can invalidate a lot of characters in the game. The only way to negate this effect is by sparking, which doesn’t even last forever so you’ll end up getting nerfed anyway. Ok, so that’s a lot to take in, how exactly do you counter her?

Well, there is kinda a problem. There isn’t a way to counter her much. She’s so oppressive that sometimes there isn’t a lot you can do to counter her much, her damage debuff move is insane and all of her other moves make her good. The only word of advice I can recommend for you is to not get hit first, but that’s inevitable in a game of FighterZ since blows will always be exchanged. She doesn’t gain a lot of bar like the fusions but that isn’t as much of a problem since she can supply enough bar by herself. Overall, she’s an impressive character, with a lot of things to look out for. She has oppressive offensive options, really good defensive options, and a move that nerfs your characters. Although I would like to give more advice on how to counter her, she is just too oppressive for most players and it would be hard to keep up with her game.

So, those were my top 5 most unfair characters in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Even with these characters in the game I still have a plethora of fun and enjoyment when it comes to playing this game. This game is one of my most passionate games and I would recommend it to anyone who would want to play in the future. And remember, even with these characters in the game, any game can be winnable, as long as you have the brains to outsmart and outplay your opponent. And with that, I close this list up for you and am excited to see how these counters work for you.