Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 is finally here after a long wait, and this time it is pitting fans against the evil Golden Frieza. This episode is marketed as a boss battle episode in much the same way that the first DLC was, but there are some notable differences in the ways that the boss battles against Golden Frieza and Beerus play out. These distinctions change the way players are likely to approach the DLC, and end up making Golden Frieza a much easier boss to tackle than Beerus was. Canonically this makes sense, but given that Golden Frieza is the second boss, it is rather odd.

Back in April, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot released its first DLC, introducing Goku and Vegeta to Beerus, Whis, and the divine power of Super Saiyan God. In order to take on the episode's boss, Beerus, players had to do a bit of grinding first. Getting either Goku or Vegeta to level 250 and unlocking Super Saiyan God for them. At that time, Beerus was the toughest challenge in the game, but many players expected Golden Frieza to be an even harder boss fight. Oddly enough, some of the defining traits of the Beerus boss fight are missing from the encounter with Golden Frieza.

RELATED: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 - Super Saiyan Blue VS Super Saiyan God

DBZ: Kakarot DLC 1 Story VS DLC 2 Story

DBZ: Kakarot DLC 2 Golden Frieza No Death Beam

One of the major differences between these two boss fights is how they are handled within the story. For the first DLC, Goku and Vegeta are transported to Beerus' planet in what seems to be a timeline outside of the main story. Players can train with Whis and challenge Beerus before they've even beaten Raditz, and Vegeta can be used before he becomes a playable character. Additionally, the fight with Beerus is more of a friendly sparring match, so aside from Goku and Vegeta's pride, there's nothing at stake here.

The fight with Golden Frieza feels completely different. Though it still isn't explicitly stated that it takes place after the base game, it's clear that these events take place after the first DLC at least. When Goku and Vegeta learn of Frieza's return, there's a sense of urgency to get back to Earth as soon as possible. The longer the Saiyans wait, the more likely they are to lose loved ones and potentially their whole planet. Likewise, after Whis turns back time to save the day, Goku must rush to stop Frieza from blowing up Earth, and he gets their just moments before the deed was to be done.

DBZ: Kakarot DLC 2 Max Level

PS5 Xbox Series X disrupt DBZ Kakarot DLC 2 release

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 increased the level cap, but Golden Frieza isn't max level. In fact, the Golden Frieza fight at the end of DLC 2 isn't even at the previous level, instead placing the golden tyrant at level 170. What makes this so odd is that players by default are probably 80 levels higher than Frieza, and those that grinded up to the new level cap of 300 are a whopping 130 levels above the new boss battle.

For this reason, high level players can manage to brute force their way through the Golden Frieza fight, something that would have been mostly impossible for the level 250 Beerus fight at the end of the last DLC, though there are certain builds that make getting S Rank on Beerus easy. Golden Frieza still puts up a good fight surprisingly despite the level gap, but players won't have any issue taking him down thanks to the difference in their stats. It should be said that this is only the case the first time players fight Golden Frieza, as subsequent battles will see him increase in power until he reaches the new level cap of 300.

RELATED: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's Second DLC Highlights a Real Problem

DBZ: Kakarot Boss Battle Episodes and Items

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Golden Frieza Rewards

In the first DLC, players were unable to use items when doing battle with level 250 Beerus. This threw a wrench in a lot of players' plans, as Senzu Beans and Healades are able to carry players through even the toughest of story missions due to their great abundance. This meant that the only way to heal during the fight with Beerus was with a certain Know-how skill that lets players regenerate while in Surge, so avoiding as many hits as possible was paramount to coming out on top.

By contrast, players are able to use items against Golden Frieza, meaning even if they are losing the fight they have a good chance of making a comeback anyway. With Senzu Beans at their disposal, players are able to fully heal their character in the middle of the fight, giving them a huge advantage over Frieza that wasn't present for the Beerus boss fight. In the story, this makes more sense as the fate of the Earth is hinging on the results of this fight, but in terms of gameplay it makes the fight feel less compelling as a whole. Again, items can no longer be used in subsequent fights with him.

DBZ: Kakarot DLC Replayability

DBZ: Kakarot DLC 2 Frieza Gohan

One final way in which the Beerus and Frieza boss fights differ is in their replayability. After fighting Beerus at level 250, there isn't much incentive to do it again. The reward for beating him is 20 Ultimate Sacred Waters, an item that is used for leveling up characters. Players managing to beat Beerus likely already have an abundance of this item from training with Whis, and they're also probably already level 250. Golden Frieza's rewards aren't any better than Beerus', actually coming out as more lackluster.

Beating Golden Frieza at level 300 rewards the player with just four Ultimate Sacred Waters, and these can't even be used to level up characters beyond level 250. What the purpose of them is at this point then remains unclear, but there may be some other use for them in the future. While this may seem to make Golden Frieza less replayable, there is unique dialogue for each support character when replaying the story mission via the time machine, so interested players may want to check those out. All in all the fights are very similar, especially when fighting the repeatable Golden Frieza fight, but these differences are unique nonetheless.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

MORE: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 May Have Missed its Chance