Dragon Ball FighterZ Tier List [Mar. 2023]

There is a clear hierarchy in DBFZ when it comes to the strength of each character, that is why Dragon Ball FighterZ Tier Lists exist. While the overall game is very well-balanced, some Top Tier characters just take the edge over the rest of the cast. These differences in character strength may only matter at the highest level of play- but it is a good idea to keep them in mind as you start your journey to be the strongest fighter. 

Dragon Ball FighterZ Tier List Ranking Table:

Tier List Criteria 

Since Dragon Ball FighterZ is a 3v3 fighter, we will take into account what each character has to offer to your entire team and not just their individual strength. That is because your entire team’s overall strength is what matters, rather than 1 single character. We will keep the character’s assists in mind, how many teams they can fit into, and the positions they perform best at. Which position you play the character in matters a lot. The first position is called the point, the middle position is called the mid, and the final position is called the anchor. 

We will rate a character very highly if they can play at the anchor position well, without assists or any other characters backing them up, and have the potential to turn the tables of the entire match. Similarly, we will rate characters that can play well at the point position very highly. They should have the ability to utilize your entire team’s assists to their max potential. Finally, the characters that perform well at the mid position should have very strong assists, so that they can support the point character.

S+ Tier

The characters in this tier are undisputed, you often see them appear in high-level tournaments and played by top players. The characters in this tier alone plague the entire balance of the game and are a league above the entire cast. They are all very easy to use and dish out massive amounts of damage.  

Android 21 (Lab Coat) 

Android 21 (Lab Coat), also known as LC, is without a doubt, the best character in the game, by far. There are debates among every single character below LC in the community. But she is one character that every single person in the entire DBFZ community collectively agrees, is the best. 

She was so broken on her release that every major tournament organizer banned her from their events. Eventually, she was nerfed in patch 1.31, which is the latest patch out as of the making of this tier list. But even after the nerfs, there was no holding her back as her toolkit is still very overpowered, making her the best in the game.

The most broken move LC has in her toolkit is the level 1 debuff. She nerfs your character’s entire damage by 21% percent, while buffing her own damage, also by 21% with a single move. There is no way to undo this and it lasts the entire match, even after LC has died. Before the patch, you could combo into the level 1 debuff, which meant any hit at all would lead to your character pretty much being useless. Luckily, after the patch, you can no longer combo into it, but it still retains its properties. 

Then we have her spin moves, one of which is a full-screen lariat and hits in literally all directions with a 360-degree hitbox. The second spin is the frame 1 entire air which also hits every direction and is completely safe on block. She can fit in any team and can play in all 3 positions. Her assist is one of the best in the game. These are only her strongest tools, she has many other strong things about her which would take up the entire tier list to explain. 

LC is the only character in DBFZ who is strong in all 3 positions on a team. With all these things combined, she truly is the best DBFZ character with no debates whatsoever.  

Gogeta (SSGSS) 

A lot of players like to downplay Gogeta Blue due to his history of not being good in prior versions of Dragon Ball FighterZ. But as of the current version of the game, we believe he is easily the best point character. That not only shows with his toolkit but also how much he is being played at the highest level. In any international tournament’s top 8 results, he is present in at least 90% of the teams, which is an insane statistic. 

Gogeta Blue is like the better version of every single point character in the entire game, he does everything better. That does not give you a reason to play anyone other than Gogeta Blue on point at a high level. His toolkit has the best mix-ups in DBFZ which lead to ungodly amounts of damage. He has an invincible reversal, left-right mix-ups he can do with no assists, and additional level 2 and level 5 supers which only add to the damage he does. 

The only reason Gogeta Blue is weaker than LC is that she outperforms him at anchor and mid position. 

Vegito (SSGSS) 

Vegito is potentially the most overrated character in DBFZ tier lists. He is without a doubt one of the best characters in the game, but he has some weaknesses that hold him back. The only reason he is this high up on our list is that his assist is the top 2 strongest assists in the game, which allows him to fit on many teams. He has another strong tool which is neutral M, that is incredibly fast and leads to massive damage.

The reason Vegito’s assist is so strong is that it is a defensive assist. The assist spawns further back and due to its speed, you cannot hit it out, allowing it to function as a defensive assist. It also has one of the longest hitstun in DBFZ, which allows you to continue your combo very easily.  

Vegito can fit on almost any team in DBFZ and compliments the top 2 characters very well. That is why he is so strong. But as a character, he has weaknesses that you can exploit, such as a lack of reversal options and no mix-ups.  

Gogeta (SS4) 

Gogeta (SS4), also known as Gogeta 4, is an incredibly well-rounded character. He is played on the point position most of the time but can function excellently at the anchor position. He does suffer a little in the mid position but can still make it work. 

Gogeta 4 has a very strong toolkit with reversal DPs and strong normal moves. He is one of the only 2 characters in the game with a double air dash. That allows him to run mix-ups even without assists. He can also do a left-right mix-up similar to Vegito and Gogeta Blue.

Additionally, Gogeta 4 has the only instant kill in the game. It allows him to kill an entire character with a single ultimate move if it lands. But to activate it you need to reach level 7 with him, which can be very risky. 

But he does fall short when it comes to the number of teams he can fit in. Vegito and Gogeta blue do a much better job at fitting in various teams. They can also fit on a team with LC, much better than Gogeta 4 can. 

Zamasu (Fused) 

North America is one of the few regions that has managed to explore Zamasu to his max potential. While he may not be as strong as the rest of the S+ tier, he still deserves to be in this spot. He has one of the highest damage in the game. He can kill a character without even using spark a lot of the time. Zamasu also boasts mix-ups using his level 1 upon knockdown which is truly scary.

The strongest tool that Zamasu has by far is his down heavy move. Not only can he anti-air with it, but he can also hit projectiles. That can allow him to kill 2 characters at once if he hits your assist with his down heavy. Zamasu’s second-best tool is flight. He can just fly away while keeping his distance and attack whenever he feels like it. 

Zamasu still falls short when it comes to fighting at anchor position and cannot fit on a lot of teams. 

S Tier

The characters in the S tier are still at the top of the game but do not quite reach the S+ tier. They all have tools comparable to S+ tier characters but end up having some sort of weakness that holds them back. 

Gohan (Adult) 

Adult Gohan is very close to the S+ tier, some can even debate him to be in there. But we believe he falls just slightly short of it due to only becoming incredibly strong after reaching level 3. He has a very strong and fast anti-air assist with a lot of hit stun. 

As Adult Gohan levels up, he gains additional abilities. Similar to Gogeta 4, he gains a double air dash at level 3. at level 5 adult Gohan gets reverse beat. Finally, at level 7 he gets special cancels. These special cancels allow him to make his invincible move completely safe. 

At level 7 Gohan is the best character in the game. But he has to sacrifice a lot of meter and take a lot of risks to achieve it. That holds him back from the very top. 

Goku (SSGSS) 

Goku Blue is a character focused on damage and grabs. His mix-ups are a complete guess with or without assists. You can react to Goku Blue’s M and H grabs but you cannot react to his L grab. His L grab allows combo extensions with assists, leading to incredible damage.

Even with all these damage and mix-up tools, Goku blue falls short because Gogeta Blue does all the things better and easier. You need a lot of high-execution combos with Goku blue that Gogeta Blue completely skips. But even then Goku blue is very scary in the hands of a master and deserves his spot in the S tier. 

Janemba 

Janemba is exclusively an anchor character and the best one in the entire game. He is a grappler but what makes him incredibly dangerous are his neutral and down Light moves. Both of these moves allow you to stagger and still keep your turn, essentially keeping your opponent locked down forever.

Janemba has access to his down heavy move in the air, allowing him to anti-air any move while he is in the air. Janemba is the only character in DBFZ with a down heavy with this property. Additionally, he has a counter which can absorb any projectile or assist. But he falls short in dishing out massive amounts of damage and finishing the job. 

Android 18 

Android 18 can be one of the most frustrating characters to face in neutral because of her barrier. She can call Android 17 which will activate the barrier and absorb all attacks while Android 18 is free to move during it. This makes approaching her almost impossible.

Android 18 also has the ability to do a 4-way mix-up after her level 3 knockdown. But she lacks a lot of strength when it comes to her normal moves. They do not have a lot of range but have way too much recovery.  

Hit 

Hit is possibly the most unique character you can fight in the entire game. Even some of the top players lack the match-up knowledge to fight hit because there are not a lot of hit players. He has a very slow low but a fast overhead, which is the opposite of the rest of the cast. He additionally has one of the strongest assists in the game.

Hit has stances that he can cancel into different moves that are completely invincible. Even with the match-up knowledge hit is a menace to fight. But these things alone aren’t enough to put him high up in the tier list. Hit needs a very specific team to play in and cannot fit in with the majority of the teams. 

Jiren 

Jiren focuses on defensive counterplay and dishing out massive damage. His damage is comparable to the likes of Gogeta Blue even. He has the only Light attack in the entire game which does the same damage as a Medium attack. That allows Jiren to kill an entire character with a single combo by just landing a down Light attack.

Jiren has an invincible counter that does massive amounts of damage and an assist counter. Jiren shuts off assists with that counter and makes neutral completely one-sided. But Jiren does suffer from a lack of mix-ups due to his command grab being very slow. Even then, a Jiren master can dominate even the S+ tier characters with his tools. 

Android 17 

Android 17 is one of the most popular anchor characters to play with the Vegito and Gogeta Blue shell. His barrier assist is one of the best in the game, not only does it act as a defensive assist, it has a built-in blast that you can use in blockstrings and combos. Android 17’s use of sparking is amazing combined with his ki blasts and possibly the best meter build in DBFZ. All this combined makes him an excellent anchor choice.

Android 17’s downfall is similar to 18’s, he lacks a lot of range in his normal attacks. While his air medium attack is amazing, his grounded Light attack has no range. 

Vegeta (Base) 

Base Vegeta used to be one of the strongest characters in the game, some even considered him to be the best. But ever since the fusions and LC took over, Base Vegeta has fallen off considerably. It’s not that his tools were nerfed too hard, but the S+ tier characters hard counter Base Vegeta. Despite that, he is still incredibly strong.

He has one of the strongest neutral in the game which relies on fast ki blasts with no recovery. He additionally has built-in mix-ups with his disk, supported by assists.  

Base Vegeta’s weakness quite literally is the S+ tier characters. He is a point character similar to Gogeta Blue, so he just does everything Base Vegeta does but better. Vegito’s assist completely shuts off Base Vegeta’s neutral. These reasons hold him back from climbing to the top again.  

Krillin 

Krillin has to be the most underused character in the entire game. There is only 1 top player consistently using Krillin to his max potential. Krillin has the ability to not only heal his own health using Senzu Beans, but also the characters on his team. This makes invincible moves almost useless against Krillin.

Krillin also has the best assist in the game. It completely takes over neutral and has an insane amount of hitstun. You can also turn the assist into a senzu bean by holding back, which will allow you to heal your health.  

The only thing that holds Krillin back is the fact that he is a hard character to master. But once you do master him, he is one of the best. 

Android 21 

Unlike her lab coat counterpart, Majin 21 is not that broken because her level 3 has been nerfed in patch 1.31. But that does not mean she is not insanely strong because all her other tools are still there.

Majin 21 can use her grab to steal moves from the opponent and use a stronger version of those moves. She also gets moves unique to her from certain races that are incredibly broken. Majin 21’s neutral control is phenomenal due to her ki blasts having higher priority and a very huge air medium attack.  

Majin 21’s weaknesses are very weak level 3 knockdown and having to spend meter to get a sliding knockdown.  

Goku (Base) 

Base Goku is an amazing anchor who can dish out incredible damage. He relies on his grabs to open his opponents up because they are too fast to react to. Base Goku can turn the tables instantly due to his high damage, but you need high execution to get that damage. That is what holds Base Goku back from appearing at the top.

Super Baby 2 

Baby is the best zoning character in the game, he can harass you with ki blasts that come back while he stays back. He can lock you down in a blockstring forever due to his returning ki blasts. But he struggles to open players up due to a lack of easy mix-ups. Baby’s combos also require a decently high amount of execution and character knowledge as they can be character specific. That can hold him back.

Broly 

Broly was the anchor king before Janemba received the insane buffs to his toolkit. He is also similar to Baby when it comes to overwhelming zoning with his ki blasts. Broly has armor on a lot of his moves that can be incredibly frustrating to deal with. But in patch 1.31, his ki blasts were nerfed and had recovery added to them. Additionally, his neutral medium and down medium was nerfed as well. All these nerfs caused him to fall a lot, but he is still incredibly formidable.

Tien 

Tien is another superb anchor in the S tier, possibly the most damaging anchor at that. Any medium hit can lead to death because of his Neo Tri Beam ultimate attack. Tien also has invincible frames on his grab, allowing him to use it as a reversal. Additionally, he has high-low mix-ups with his special overhead moves.

Tien is held back by the fact that some of his normal moves do not have too much range and his health is chipped every time you use a super attack. 

Gohan (Teen) 

Teen Gohan is a point character who is focused on mix-ups and damage. He has the most damaging level 1 super attack in DBFZ and a defensive assist. But, as you may have guessed, Gogeta Blue does all these things but better. Teen Gohan’s mix can be guard canceled while Gogeta Blue’s can’t. He also does more damage than Teen Gohan. A handful of top players still decide to run Teen Gohan because they are masters of this character.

Goku (Ultra Instinct) 

UI Goku used to be one of the most broken characters in the game. At one point, he was at the very top of the meta and revered as the undisputed best character in DBFZ. But a lot of UI Goku’s tools were nerfed and rightfully so. But he still stands strong, though, not at the very top.

UI Goku has several strong tools that, when used in the hands of a master, are deadly. He has some of the best normal attacks in the game, such as his neutral light attack. UI Goku has amazing neutral control tools with his special ki blast attack. But he fails to finish the job due to his lack of damage and his assists are mediocre because of nerfs. These weaknesses have held him back from reaching the top once again.

Beerus

Beerus is one of the most underrated characters in DBFZ. He can use his orbs to completely control the pace in neutral. Beerus can use those same orbs to run high-low mix-ups without the need of for assists. He can also dish out massive amounts of damage and is a complete menace to face if played by a master.

The only thing holding Beerus back on a Dragon Ball FighterZ tier list and in high-level tournament games is the fact that he is very hard to master and does not fit in a lot of teams. But, if you can master Beerus and find a really good team for him, he is right up there with the S+ tier characters.

Nappa

Nappa can be one of the most obscure characters to face in DBFZ. He can plant Saibamen in the ground and attack with them. Those Saibamen aid Nappa not only in neutral but also in mix-ups. They do not disappear even if you hit Nappa. The only way to get them off the screen is to physically hit them with a melee attack. Ki blasts do not work on the Saibamen.

This makes Nappa an incredibly frustrating character to deal with once the Saibamen are out. They can also hit you in the middle of your combo, essentially saving Nappa. But, he needs a very specific team that helps him plant the Saibamen. The Saibamen are also very hard to master because you have to learn all of their attack timings and patterns. These are the only 2 things that hold Nappa back, otherwise, he is one of the strongest characters.

A Tier 

The A tier characters are still viable at the highest level. These characters still have some very strong tools, unlike the S tier characters, those tools cannot compete with the S+ tier characters. These characters also have some weaknesses on top of not having the strongest tools.

Kefla

When Kefla was released, she was hyped up a lot because she seemed to have some of the best tools and meter build. But that did not last long because she does not have any tools that can compete with the current S+ tier characters. Kefla’s strength is in neutral, she has very good ki blasts and lariats that help her control neutral very well.

But these neutral tools do not allow her to be able to compete with the very top because she lacks mix-ups. The neutral tools she has, while great, are not the best. But Kefla is still strong enough to be at the top of the A tier.

Goku (GT)

GT Goku was the king of season 2 of DBFZ, as some of you may remember. In season 2, you had to put GT Goku on your team if you wanted to compete, he was that strong. But eventually, over the course of several updates and nerfs, GT Goku fell off.

Currently, he does not have any tools besides his very strong B assist that can compete with the top. His normal attacks are lackluster and his neutral tools and mix-ups are not very strong. But he is still worth playing due to his assist.

Vegeta (SSGSS)

Blue Vegeta has never had a history of being strong at any point in the game. While on paper, he has many strong tools, they become quite lackluster in matches due to a lack of strong normal attacks. Blue Vegeta still excels at running strong mix-ups, which is why he is placed in the A tier category.

Bardock

Another old king on the list, who eventually fell off throughout updates. Bardock is still a very well-rounded character with almost all his tools being strong, but those tools are not strong enough to reach the top. Bardock has the fastest lariat in the game, amazing staggers, and great normal attacks. But his assists are some of the worst in the game which does not do a very good job of convincing you to play Bardock.

Videl

Videl is possibly the most underexplored character on this list. We believe she has the potential to be in the S tier category or even beyond because of her obscure toolset and mix-ups. But only a handful of the top players have shown a small glimpse of this potential. Additionally, Videl is similar to a lot of the characters in this category when it comes to the fact that she needs a specific team built around her.

Cooler

Cooler would normally be placed in the B-tier category but the DBFZ community recently discovered a game-changing mix-up with him. You can use his air down heavy in a block string to cross up your opponent and they cannot react to it. You can use this without any assistance. But Cooler still has the weaknesses he has always had, such as not having a lot of combo potential, lackluster neutral, and not having the best assists.

Piccolo

Piccolo is another overall very strong character, without any huge weaknesses or holes in his toolset. But again, the strong tools he has just are not strong enough to reach the top. Piccolo has one of the best assists, the best air light attack, and some of the best mix-ups with and without assists.

But, similar to Base Vegeta, Piccolo is completely dominated by Vegito and his assist. Vegito almost makes piccolo seem useless. Despite that, Piccolo is still one of the strongest characters in the game, if he faces anyone other than Vegito. 

Majin Buu

Majin Buu is also an obscure character with a lot of people not knowing how to fight him. He can use resets to mix you up after a combo and he has some of the best anti-air moves with his cartwheels. But he lacks in normal attacks, especially his neutral light attack, a lot of the smaller characters can just crouch under it.

Kid Buu

Kid Buu dominated majority of the early life-span of the game and stayed strong all the way up to season 3. But he has fallen off, especially recently, with the likes of Gogeta Blue outright invalidating Kid Buu’s existence.

Kid Buu’s strong tools are unrelenting mix-ups with his Ball attack and his down medium attacks. He can control the pace of neutral very well with those down medium attacks. But he has added recovery on them, making them punishable if they whiff. Kid Buu is still strong but has been power crept on. 

Gotenks

Gotenks could have been placed in the S tier category but he has a history of being a bugged character, ever since season 3.5. Before, the bugs were in Gotenks’ favor, but right now he struggles to stagger his opponents because his normal light attacks let the full auto combo happen, instead of being cancelable like the rest of the cast. Even with this bug, he is still strong because of his mix-up and neutral potential. If this bug is fixed he can easily go into the S tier category.

Goku (Super Saiyan)

SS Goku is a very solid character at the anchor position, with some of the highest damage in the game. His staggers and mix-up potential were also buffed in patch 1.31. SS Goku’s down medium attack is very deadly and can control the neutral space very well. While he is strong, there are much better choices you can make for an anchor character in the S or S+ tier category.

Captain Ginyu

Captain Ginyu’s toolset consists of the entire Ginyu force members. He can call these members to aid him in battle and they act like separate assists. The match can get very chaotic with so many attacks happening at once with Captain Ginyu. He is overall incredibly strong with some of the highest damage and most broken gimmicks in DBFZ.

His weakness is similar to Videl, he is just under-explored and we have yet to see Ginyu with his potential. Along with the fact that you need a team built around him a lot of the time.

Frieza

Frieza is another anchor character we rarely ever see. He has a transformation where he can transform into Golden Frieza and get all sorts of power-ups. But we barely see this get used as there are not many Frieza players. His zoning is great and can be incredibly frustrating to deal with, especially for players unfamiliar with Frieza. But other than the Golden transformation, his toolset is lackluster and he fails to finish the job.

Android 16

Android 16 is a very scary grappler and even has a full-screen grab that can go through projectiles. His other grab is anti-air and hits low at the same time, the physical hit is incredibly fast. His weakness is not being able to complement a lot of teams and his normal attacks are lackluster.

Cell

Cell has the Perfect Attacks, which are incredibly broken anti-air moves that also work in the air and can be used for mix-ups at the same time. His level 3 ultimate move, the Perfect Kamehameha allows him to get left-right mix-ups in the corner as well. Cell’s only weakness is the lack of good assists and not being able to run any mix-ups by himself.

Broly (DBS)

Broly from DBS, AKA, S Broly, is a grappler and a heavy hitter. He has some of the highest solo damage in the game. If he hits you once with a medium attack, it is almost guaranteed death. But, it depends on him getting that hit. S Broly struggles with opening up players with very good defense and his staggers are some of the worst in the game. He also struggles with one of the worst neutral light attacks in the game.

B Tier

The B Tier characters all have major weaknesses and struggle at the highest level way too much. They may only have a few things going for them but have too many flaws for it to be worth putting time and effort into them. 

Trunks

Trunks is a tragedy, he has bad assists, bad normal attacks, bad special attacks, bad air attacks, and low damage. He gets all these flaws on top of having impossibly high execution on his mix-ups. Outside of very specific teams, Trunks fails to perform at a high level.

Master Roshi

Master Roshi is the only character in the game who cannot Superdash or utilize float. Though, he does not suffer much from not being able to Superdash because he can use Kamehameha for his dash, which is arguably better than Superdash. But not being able to float affects him a lot at a high level because most of the high-level movement consists of floats.

Master Roshi’s normal attacks are also horrible and tiny, his special attacks are mediocre, and his assist has been nerfed.

Goku Black

Goku Black has been notoriously bad throughout the history of DBFZ. He is still not good, unfortunately. His normal attacks are horrible, his mix-ups are lackluster, and his assists are bad. Goku Black’s only saving grace is the fact that he has some very cool combos and good special attacks for neutral.

Vegeta (Super Saiyan)

SS Vegeta has fallen off considerably compared to what he had to offer in season 1 of the game. His normal attacks are some of the worst in DBFZ, his assists are horrible, and he does not do good damage. The only strength he has is decent mix.

Yamcha 

Finally, we have Yamcha, he has been consistently one of the worst characters ever since season 2 of DBFZ. His neutral is severely lacking with high recovery on his Wolf Fang Fist Flash special move. His normal attacks also remain lackluster. And lastly, when it comes to mix-ups, yamcha’s offense can often be dealt with using option selects.

Wrap-up

With that, we wrap-up our Dragon Ball FighterZ tier list. Remember, character strength and tiers only matter at the highest level. We recommend you play whoever you enjoy playing the most as a beginner. And for those of you aiming for the top level, DBFZ is balanced well enough that you can compete at the highest level with any character, provided your team has synergy. In that case, it is a good idea to go over this tier list and understand the meta and what makes a character good.

Next:

• DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS Review
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle Kamehameha Tier List
• Dragon Ball Legends Tier List
• DBZ Dokkan Battle Powerful Comeback Tier List
• Dragon Ball Legends Tier List