* Kaio-ken is a very strong level 1 super, with a lot of damage and possibly even some mixup potential, as well as many ways to use it. This is amplified further by its enhanced versions, x3 Kaio-ken and x20 Kaio-ken.
* Kaio-ken is a very strong level 1 super, with a lot of damage and possibly even some mixup potential, as well as many ways to use it. This is amplified further by its enhanced versions, x3 Kaio-ken and x20 Kaio-ken.
* Assist is useful for combo extensions as it causes wallbounce on hit, and also sends the opponent incredibly far, which can lead to good pressure.
* Assist is useful for combo extensions as it causes wallbounce on hit, and also sends the opponent incredibly far, which can lead to good pressure.
* 1 bar invincible reversal with Kaio-ken finisher
* 1 bar invincible reversal with Kaio-ken finisher.
* One of the scariest anchors in the game when he has full Spirit Bomb, any medium into 5H > 214S is almost 75% damage that you pretty much cannot drop.
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* Only one low (2M), which hurts his mixup game a lot.
* Only one low (2M), which hurts his mixup game a lot.
Revision as of 04:50, 6 March 2020
Goku
Movement Options
Double Jump, Super Jump, 1 Airdash, Dash Type: Run
Play-style
Balanced, Snowball
Team Role
Middle, Anchor
Overview
Son Goku is a martial artist of incredible skill and renown, whose skills only grew stronger after dying at the hands of the villainous Saiyan Raditz, when he trained under the godly King Kai and learned a variety of new skills, including the strength-enhancing Kaio-ken technique and the devastating Spirit Bomb. (Name trivia: "Son Goku" is a pun on "Son Wukong" from **Journey to the West**. His Saiyan name, Kakarot (Kakarotto) comes from English word "Carrot".)
The Saiyan - Early Namek Arc version of Goku flies into Dragon Ball FighterZ as a DLC character. Much like his Super Saiyan counterpart, he is a natural all-rounder with a variety of moves. While he doesn't have his Super Saiyan version's zoning or his SSGSS version's close-range game, he has his own quirks that set him apart from them and make him stand out.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths
Weaknesses
Reliable buttons and specials with solid range and good utility all around.
Strongest level 3 in the game; does huge damage and has many ways he can combo into it from some other characters' supers, which gives Goku very easy ways to get incredible damage.
Kaio-ken is a very strong level 1 super, with a lot of damage and possibly even some mixup potential, as well as many ways to use it. This is amplified further by its enhanced versions, x3 Kaio-ken and x20 Kaio-ken.
Assist is useful for combo extensions as it causes wallbounce on hit, and also sends the opponent incredibly far, which can lead to good pressure.
1 bar invincible reversal with Kaio-ken finisher.
One of the scariest anchors in the game when he has full Spirit Bomb, any medium into 5H > 214S is almost 75% damage that you pretty much cannot drop.
Only one low (2M), which hurts his mixup game a lot.
Requires assists to make any of his strings safe.
While not a slow charge, Spirit Bomb's charge requirement can make it so you might not get the move often, and if you do you may only get level 1 or level 2.
Kaio-ken followup inputs must be learned carefully.
Cannot consistently force a slide knockdown meterlessly like other Mid 2L characters, and when he can it's not long enough to connect a super
Good air to air normal. Can cross the opponent up, if delayed enough.
Using an IAD and delaying this move will cause it to cross up your opponent. The best time to do this is at the end of a blockstring. 5LLMH2H,236L,Assist IAD j.H.
Note: you can shorten the delay by inputting the directional input of your opponent (4 or 6). This is a universal mechanic.
Goku does an upward kick. Not an overhead in the air.
Deceptive horizontal reach. Good for quick mid air conversions after a mid air clash, i.e. super dash clash or blocking opponents super dash while in the air.
Special Moves
Heavy Elbow
Heavy Elbow 236L/M/H (Air OK)
You're wide op- wait a sec, this isn't Ginyu! Or is it?
Does not use up Goku's smash, allowing for conversions in Sparking.
Can be comboed into.
M
Moves forward before grabbing.
Does the 2SSS (divekick) animation on hit.
Causes sliding knockdown, but can be comboed after with the right assist.
Now gives Goku some great oki - enough to charge at least 1 level of 214S. The big range on this command grab allow it to be somewhat tricky if your opponent isn't expecting it, or if you can cover up the startup with an assist or something similar. It's hard to get big damage off of it regularly, but it is still a solid option. Because of its slow startup, you can also just cancel it from a normal and have it grab the opponent because the blockstun ends by the time the actual throw comes out. It's a lot better in pressure due to the buffs, as Goku can now properly get oki afterwards, and convert with the proper assists or timing.
H
Moves forward like the M version, but a bit further ahead.
New followup. Goku throws you backwards, then teleports away and flies in with a shoulder similar to the 236x series. This can be easily comboed afterwards.
If you follow up with a Superdash, Goku can use up his Smash and get sliding knockdown. However, if you follow up with anything else, you do not get the sliding knockdown.
A much more interesting move for Goku. While the fact that you can only get sliding knockdown via superdash into Smash kind of hurts it's ease of use, you can still easily combo into 2SSS or downwards angled Kamehameha. The damage isn't amazing, but it is still decent enough, and with assists it can be much easier to combo into sliding knockdown.
If angled downwards in the air, it will cause a sliding knockdown. It is not as strong as one from using a Smash, but is still very helpful for Goku's vanish combos.
Only hits once, but will still clash with other beams.
Wallbounces.
Everyone, lend me your energy!
Everyone, lend me your energy! 214S
"De-de-de, de-de-de, de-de-do, I'ma charging my attack!"
Causes wallbounce and hits both in front and behind Goku.
Huge blockstun.
Goku's assist has some use, as while it may be a bit tricky to use as a neutral tool, if it hits (either in a combo or raw) it will immediately send the opponent flying and they will wallbounce. This can give a character really quick corner control or a good combo extender, which is always useful.
Full Spirit Bomb levels makes it charge one full bar.
Goku appears on screen and charges a level of Spirit Bomb. While he's charging, he will also increase your meter by about .75 bars. He can do this assist as many times as he would like, there's no limit based on his current Spirit Bomb level. This assist also increase Goku's actual Spirit Bomb even if he already has one charged up, making getting the full level 3 charge way easier.
Goku does a Kamehameha, and then teleports behind the opponent to smack them back to the ground. Most likely harder to confirm than other assists of this style due to how his beam is only one hit.
Kaioken has 3 followups with all team members remaining, 5 with two remaining, and 7 if only Goku is left.
On block or hit, any Kaioken followup can cancel into any other, except itself.
All followups hit fullscreen and off sliding knockdown. But only a few is fast enough to connect after a solo combo, i.e. 5L, 5S, Enders.
Enders can be used at any time but cannot be followed up, even after all followups have been used (for example, Kaioken Finisher can be used as a fourth hit with a full team).
On hit, using the same followup more than once will cause it to be "staled," receiving reduced damage (550)
Minimum damage: 18% for all followups including staled, excluding Kame enders.
This means to maximize damage, you want to cycle through all unique followups.
However, due to all staled moves dealing the same amount of damage, this also means that a string like S L L L... will do more damage, is a lot easier to execute, while still keeping the corner carry ability of S L S L...
5L
Startup: Followups are done 3f before time freeze ends. So Kaioken activation > 5L has startup of: 9 - 3 + 13 = 19f.
Activating Kaioken and not pressing any button will automatically does 5L, but it's 1f slower than manually pressing 5L (20f).
Mashing L will alternate between 5L and 2L.
2L
Won't overshoot the opponent.
Vulnerable to Anti-Airs.
Due to sharing the same rolling animation as 5M, can be used as some sort of mixup.
5M
Switches sides if the opponent is less than a fullscreen away.
Has invincibility during the roll.
Mashing M will alternate between 5M and 2M.
2M
On block, switches sides if the opponent is less than a fullscreen away.
5H
On hit, switches sides and wall bounces.
Very long startup but deals the most damage, albeit not by much.
Only hit once per string, like other command grabs.
Can be solo combo'd into in the corner. Some characters can also DHC immediately into Kaioken 5H.
5S
Stands still and shoots a Ki blast forward.
Common starter from sliding knockdowns due to the short startup.
2S
Similar to 5S, but aims diagonally.
Can only combo into enders.
Kaioken Finisher L+M
Teleports to the opponent and is fully invincible on startup.
The second part only come out on hit.
Can cancel into Kaioken Kamehameha by pressing L+M or H+S, but only if team members are down. (after 1.21 patch,Kaioken Kamehameha can now be cancelled after the first hit,or after the dive)
x3 Kaioken Kamehameha H+S when one team member is down
Costs 1 bar.
Minimum damage: 55*15 [55*14].
Values in [] is when cancelling from Kaioken Finisher.
Fires an upward Kamehameha, similar to SS Goku's Super Kamehameha aimed up.
x20 Kaioken Kamehameha H+S when two team members are down
Costs 1 bar.
Minimum damage: 50*20.
Teleports backward, tracks everywhere on screen, then fires a Kamehameha straight forward.
Causes a hard knockdown regardless of height.
Super Spirit Bomb
Super Spirit Bomb 214L+M or 214H+S (Air OK)
I'm so SORRY good sir but would you like a small PORTION of GENKI?
If you do Super Spirit Bomb in the corner, Goku will teleport out and fire it into the corner.
Some characters can DHC into this, sometimes depending on screen position, so experiment with your team and find out what works! For example, SS Goku can combo into this with Warp Kamehameha, but only in the corner, while Beerus can combo into it anywhere and Vegeta can't combo into it at all.
Goku can combo into this by himself or with the help of assists, but it's often impractical to pull off in a real match. Thus to utilize its high damage, you'll need to build your team around DHC-ing into this Super.
While this is invincible on startup and not punishable on block, Goku is vulnerable while the Spirit Bomb is falling. This means the opponent can run under the Spirit Bomb to the other side of Goku and superdash up to him for a full combo.
Damage calculation (WARNING: Math)
Like Broly's Gigantic Meteor, this Super also has "tiers," but a lot simpler. It doesn't have "auto-correct" shenanigans to keep the damage around a certain value, and the ball also tends to "stick around" making the first 2 tiers obsolete.
The descending part uses the current combo's scaling. The explosion has its unique minimum damages.
Unlike Broly which almost always has his combo scaled to 10%, Goku can have 15% scaled combos or inherit them from DHC, thus Spirit Bomb can deal up to 2100 scaled. But to keep it simple we'll only look at 10% scaled.
Also unlike Broly, Spirit Bomb's first hit will prorate the rest of the Super. So the following formulas are more accurately represented as something like
To edit frame data, edit values in DBFZ/Goku/Data. Be sure to update both the move and the move Full sections. One is shown on the character page, while the other is shown on the frame data page.