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Dragon Ball FighterZ is poised to lead the flood of top-tier fighting games are slated to land on consoles and PC this year — many drawing on the characters and rosters of much-beloved anime and gaming series. 

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If you’ve been following Dragon Ball FighterZ or developer Arc System Works, you should already have a good grasp of how fighting in FighterZ will play out, as there are plenty of similarities between it and Guilty Gear Xrd when it comes to all-around gameplay mechanics. You’ll also have a good idea what characters are already on the DB FighterZ‘s roster.

While the game’s 3v3 system lets you select a trio of characters from the game’s list of more than 20 combatants, it’s imperative you pick the right characters for the fight at hand — and having them ranked really helps in that endeavor. 

Dragon Ball Fighter Z Character List

Counting different versions of primary characters, there are more than 20 options available in Fighter Z‘s character list, including the all-new character Android 21. While different combos will play out differently for different character variations and teams, there’s actually more to your character trio decision than just combat tactics.

Some character combinations will give you different intro segments that fans of the series will love, and there are special cutscenes triggered when you defeat an enemy with specific character pairings. Try out different list pairings and see if you can find all the Dragon Ball Easter eggs with these characters:

Character Unlock Criteria   Android 16  Available at Start  Android 18  Available at Start  Android 21 Maijin  Complete Story Mode Beerus  Available at Start  Buu  Available at Start  Captain Ginyu   Available at Start  Cell  Available at Start Frieza  Available at Start   Gohan (Teen + Adult)  Available at Start Goku  Available at Start Super Saiyan Goku Day One Edition or Getting 500K Zeni or
beating Arcade’s “Hyperbolic Time Chamber Course”
with A-Rank on hard difficulty   Goku Black  Available at Start Gotenks  Available at Start Hit  Available at Start  Kid Buu  Available at Start  Krillen  Available at Start Majin Buu  Available at Start Nappa  Available at Start Piccolo  Available at Start Tien  Available at Start Trunks  Available at Start Vegeta  Available at Start Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta Unlocked with Day-One Edition or 
by earning 300,000 Zeni or beating Arcade’s “Gravity
Spaceship Course” with A-Rank on hard difficultyTien Yamcha Available at Start

Dragon Ball Fighter Z Character Tiers

So how do all of those characters stack up to each other? We’re going to rank each character from the roster from best (S Tier) to good (A Tier) to usable but not as immediately awesome as the others (B Tier).

These rankings are based on preliminary beta impressions and limited time with the game ahead of official launch — and these tier lists are primarily centered on the basic abilities of each character and their combo potentials.

Any character can work for you if you practice enough, especially with Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s auto-combo system preventing players from having to memorize complicated combo schemes. So your mileage may vary depending on your playstyle.

Dragon Ball FighterZ S-Tier Characters

S-Tier characters in FighterZ are the absolute best of the best you can find on the game’s roster. These will often be your go-to fighters — especially when times get tough. 

Character Android 21  Adult Gohan Frieza Goku Black Kid Buu Super Saiyan Blue Goku 

 Android 21 is the main villain of the story, and loves turning characters into cupcakes!

Dragon Ball FighterZ A-Tier Characters

If you can’t have all S-Tier characters for some reason, you’ll want to try and get some of these A-Tier characters into your party. These characters have a lot of great strengths, so overlook them at your own peril. 

Character Android 16  Android 18           Beerus          Cell Captain Ginyu Goku Hit Krillin Piccolo Trunks Yamcha

  Of course, longtime character Piccolo appears in Dragon Ball FighterZ!

Dragon Ball FighterZ B-Tier Characters

Ok. So why go B-Tier at all? Because B-Tier characters in Dragon Ball FighterZ are awesome, too. Sure, maybe they’re not as powerful as other characters on the game’s roster, but they’re fun to play as and should be given a chance. you never know — maybe you’ll find your favorite in this group. 

Character Buu Gotenks Nappa Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta Tien Vegeta

     Anybody dominating in multiplayer with Vegeta? If so, let us know your trick!

Dragon Ball FighterZ Online Rankings

While character lists and character tiers are more a matter of personal preference or player skill, the Dragon Ball FighterZ does include official rankings where you earn Battle Points by winning ranked multiplayer matches.

Ahead of launch — and before the rankings fully open up for all players worldwide — these are the Dragon Ball FighterZ rankings we know about so far:

Ranking Saibamen Earthling Namekian Frieza Clan Super Saiyan Android Super Saiyan 2 Supreme Kai Maijin Super Saiyan 3 Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Blue

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What character trio from this list are you going to play when the official Dragon Ball FighterZ release date of January 26 finally arrives? Let us know who you are most excited to try out, and stay tuned for full guides on each character’s basic abilities and combos.

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