Fresh from dunking on Kefla in the tournament of power (or from going toe to toe with Moro if you’re caught up on the manga), Ultra Instinct Goku has arrived in Dragon Ball FighterZ. The Dragon Ball protagonist has taken the concept of going “even further beyond” so far that, at this point, it's safe to say he’ll just always be as strong as he needs to be.
How strong a character is in the source material doesn’t always translate into success in a fighting game, just ask Jiren about that one. However, the online tech monsters don’t sleep, and early hands on time with UI Goku have him looking like a swiss army knife in terms of utility. Here are 6 things you need to know about Ultra Instinct Goku in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
1. Zoners beware
So you thought you were gonna spam Broly’s 5S? Or maybe you were going to point at your opponent repeatedly with Friza? Whatever your preferred flavour of zoning, you’re going to have to adapt to UI Goku’s bag of tricks which includes a passive stance that’s immune to weak projectiles.
Standard ki blasts in neutral are a nice way to lock your opponent down while assists recharge, to bait superdash or to try scoring an errant hit and convert with a vanish. Zoners will need to adjust their gameplans for the improved Saiyan warrior though. Through unlocking his Migatte no Goku’i, Goku can now deftly evade low priority ki blasts by…. walking forward.
It loses to heavier projectiles like Jiren’s ki blast or the various beams in the game, but this is Dragon Ball’s protagonist we’re talking about. Of course he’s got something for that. He has a stance, activated by pushing 6H, where he relaxes, dodges what you throw at him, and then moves to the other side of you to attempt a punish. It doesn’t matter where you are on screen, Goku will find you. It’s not a guaranteed punish, though. If you can resist mashing ki blast and only push it once (or use something else with quick recovery), you’ll recover in time to plan your response. He can be thrown out of this stance as well, but you’re going to need to step into range if you want to do that.
He’s no slouch from a distance himself and can lob it downtown with the best of them. His basic ki blast is like Jiren’s, in that it beats most weak projectiles and super dashes. He’s got a beam of his own which he can aim downwards from the air, like Cell, and his 2S aims upwards like GT Goku. If you’re playing on the same monitor, he can probably hit you.
2. He’s got the shmix
The scenario: Ui Goku is in your face, and you’re blocking. What do you do? His 5M has a built in low (both hits are jump cancellable, because he needs it), similar to Adult Gohan’s 5L, so get ready to block low after the high, and hope he doesn’t 6M off of the first hit. He doesn’t have a 6frame normal, so at least you can beat him in situations where you’d trade with most other characters. Too bad he’s got a demon flip with an aggressive amount of mix options coming out of it. It comes in light, medium and EX versions with the EX iteration gaining invincibility, although it’s not from frame 1.
If UI Goku flips at you, you have to worry about getting command grabbed, him hitting you with an attack that gives him hard to come by plus frames (it’s +3!), or him flipping back to the other side of you and threatening you with those options from another angle.
The flip is also completely projectile invulnerable. As if you didn’t have enough to worry about with him walking towards you slowly. The flip crosses up your inputs, so be wary of trying to reflect follow ups. You might accidentally get ki blast, which will miss, or you do it properly and get command grabbed anyway. By the way, flip steals the corner too. So there’s that.
3. Invincible reversals
Not all characters are created equal. Having access to an invincible reversal is almost enough of reason to add a fighter to your team (we say *almost* because Videl has one and.. yeah). Captain Corridor, Jam Session or its actual name: Rising Heat, whatever you want to call it, UI Goku’s got it. It’s frame 1 invul, and it’s an awesome reversal that hits on both sides.
EX flip has invincibility frames so, while not quite reversal status, it can get you out of some jams. All versions of the move are projectile invul as well, adding to his slipperiness. Factor in the fact that he comes equipped with a reversal super that counters everything but other supers, and you’ve got a character with a ton of ways to get out of trouble.
His reversal super is very strong. Activating on frame 1, it can’t be safe jumped. It activates after coming into contact with any attack that isn’t a super, and he will teleport to you and grab you. The only way out is to duck it, or backdash which, depending on how the match is going, is easier said than done.
4. Assist me!
‘But what are his assists?’ That’s usually one of the first questions someone asks when a new character is revealed, along with ‘do they have a low 2L?’ (he does). UI Goku is packing some very cool and, more importantly, very useful assists. His C assist is pretty standard fare. It tracks in the air, has great combo extension, and has atrocious recharge time. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It’s his A and B assists that really get the party started.
His A assist is the big corridor of light that extends upwards. It hits on both sides, and also reaches stupidly high. Think along the same lines as how Gotenks’ donut will hit an opponent while you’re doing a high altitude combo. Its horizontal tracking isn’t so great, but that vertical reach is absurd, plus hitting on both sides will open up a lot of possibilities for your point character’s offense.
B assist is a beam, which is good. UI Goku’s beam assist, however, isn’t horizontal and instead is angled downwards similarly to Cell’s. It takes a little long to start up, but reaches full screen and covers a unique angle of the screen. If you manage to land a hit with it, it plays nice in combos. You won’t have to strain yourself too hard by coming up with new routes to get that ever coveted optimal damage.
5. Positional advantage
Dragon Ball FighterZ is not lacking for point characters, so it comes as no surprise that UI Goku performs exceedling well leading your squad of three. The nice part is, he’s got the tools to be very successful at mid and anchor as well, allowing you to slot him in with most of the cast pretty easily. His mixup shenanigans, which are still being explored since the character just came out, are a prime candidate for opening opponents up with assists backing him, but he’s very self sufficient.
At anchor, his Autonomous Fist is pretty invaluable. It moves him forward and, if you choose to spend half a bar on the EX version, is very fast with invincibility while he’s moving forward. Because he needed more invincibility. If you do it but don’t get a hit, for half a bar, you can just do it again. At only -2 on block, who needs to play smart neutral? Once you land the hit, you get a full combo. So anchor UI Goku with Limit Break on deck is not to be slept on.
6. He’s not unbeatable
It’s always important to mention, a character’s true power isn’t usually revealed right off the bat. Fighting game metas are ever evolving, and UI Goku can’t escape the flow of time as his weaknesses come to light. Already, people are finding that his 6H stance loses to busted autocombos like Teen Gohan and Bardock’s. His fastest normal being only 7 frames, and missing out on the range of other 7 framers is a slight drawback, but overall, Ultra Instinct Goku looks like a very strong, fun, character. It’ll just take some time to learn how to fight him.