Bandai Namco has updated the official Dragon Ball FighterZ website with ratings for the current confirmed roster's Power, Speed, Technique, and several more attributes. The ratings are provided on a letter grading scale of F through A with exceptional ratings denoted by S or SS. For Dragon Ball Z fans, the list offers a change to debate one character's strengths versus another, so it'll be interesting to see how Dragon Ball FighterZ developer Arc System Works responds

Nine different characters are currently confirmed for the Dragon Ball FighterZ roster, with Krillin and Piccolo the most recent additions. All nine characters have been ranked in six different categories: Power, Speed, Reach, Technique, Energy, and Ease of Use. Currently, no rankings go below a C and none go above an SS. Perhaps that means there's room for more specialized characters to be revealed later, which also explains why all nine characters are ranked between A and SS for Ease of Use.

Beyond Ease of Use, here are the Dragon Ball FighterZ rankings sorted with each roster character listed with their grade:

  • Power - SS: Gohan; S: Cell, Goku, Majin Buu; A: Frieza, Piccolo, Trunks, Vegeta; B: Krillin
  • Speed - S: Gohan; A: Cell, Frieza, Krillin, Trunks, Vegeta; B: Goku, Piccolo; C: Majin Buu
  • Reach - S: Cell, Majin Buu, Piccolo, Trunks; A: Frieza, Goku; B: Vegeta; C: Gohan, Krillin
  • Technique - S: Frieza, Krillin, Majin Buu, Piccolo, Trunks; A: Cell, Goku, Vegeta; B: Gohan
  • Energy - S: Frieza, Magin Buu, Vegeta; A: Cell, Gohan, Goku, Krillin, Piccolo; B: Trunks
  • Ease of Use - SS: Goku, Vegeta; S: Trunks, Gohan, Cell, Krillin; A: Piccolo, Majin Buu, Frieza

Coming out on top in pure power is teen Gohan, in recognition of his fight with Cell where he avenged his father's death. No other character on the current roster has earned an SS rank in any of these attributes.

Seeing these ratings after getting to see Dragon Ball FighterZ played at a competitive level at the EVO Championship Series 2017 gives some interesting perspective on the game. Since the game is team vs. team, with each player getting three characters to play, each character can serve very different roles. Gohan was often placed on teams as the middle member where he'd most-often help with assists. His Power ranking shows why, as he could drop in and do a lot of damage as needed.

More rounded characters like Goku and Trunks were used by a much wider range of players for all manner of roles. And highly ranked Technique characters like Frieza and Majin Buu were often called in after energy bars had been built up to make best use of their abilities. Mapping these ratings to gameplay in simple but meaningful ways is yet another plus for Dragon Ball FighterZ. Fighting games can have trouble informing players in these kinds of details, but DBFZ is getting a head start.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is planned for release in early 2018 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Sign-ups for a large closed beta will begin on August 22.

Source: Shonen Games