In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, players have may options when it comes to choosing who they want to play as. Unfortunately, since only Goku and Vegeta have access to the most powerful transformations available such as Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue, playing any other character can often feel as though the player is putting a handicap on themselves. This is especially true for fans of both Trunks and Piccolo, both of whom only have a single transformation, and still partially true for those that want to play as Gohan. With the third DLC focusing on Trunks and Gohan, players are wondering if these two characters might receive a power boost.
DLC 3 of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was recently announced to feature the alternate timeline that Future Trunks is from. Rather than just hearing about it or seeing it in flashbacks, players will get to experience every gritty detail through the eyes of a young Trunks as he grows up in a world desolated by the Androids. With all the other Z Fighters dead, Gohan is the only one left that can teach Trunks how to fight, and the two take a final stand against the Android menace together.
Future Trunks and Gohan Current Power Levels
At the moment, Future Trunks and Gohan are both playable characters, but their power levels fall short of Goku's and Vegeta's by a longshot. Gohan is fairly close, with his Ultimate form providing a 150% boost to all of his stats when fully leveled, but even this is child's play compared to the utterly massive 250% boost that comes from Super Saiyan Blue. The two pure Saiyans also have access to more powerful attacks, so Gohan is often left filling the third party slot simply because there is no one better to use after Goku and Vegeta.
On the other hand, Future Trunks quickly became irrelevant in terms of power because he never unlocked the power of Super Saiyan 2. With just the base Super Saiyan transformation, Future Trunks only gets a 50% boost to all of his stats when at max level, so choosing to play him just makes fights take a lot longer than they need to. Even during the story arc in which he was introduced, he is on par with other characters like Goku and Vegeta that were at Super Saiyan 1 at the time and is surpassed by Teen Gohan when the young prodigy reaches Super Saiyan 2.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Future Trunks and Future Gohan
These versions of the characters Trunks and Gohan aren't the same as those that players have access to now, however, and their power levels and available transformations will likely be different as a result. For fans of Gohan, although many consider Future Gohan to be a much cooler version of the character, he is objectively weaker than Teen Gohan at the end of the Cell Saga. This version of the character never surpasses Super Saiyan, and after losing an arm he becomes even weaker. Future Gohan inevitably dies without receiving any kind of power boost at all.
The same isn't necessarily true for Future Trunks, however. As a kid, Trunks is unable to access the Super Saiyan form in this timeline, but he achieves the transformation after witnessing Future Gohan's death. He doesn't get any more powerful until he uses the time machine to go to the past and trains with Vegeta. Here he unlocks the Super Saiyan Grade 2 and Grade 3 forms, neither of which are playable in game. While this may seem discouraging, he eventually does unlock Super Saiyan 2 while defending his version of the Earth from Babidi and Dabura. If the DLC extends that far, he may get a slight power boost.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 - New Playable Characters
One thing that fans know about the next DLC is that it will introduce at least one new playable character. Future Gohan has already been confirmed to be a completely separate character altogether than the Adult Gohan that players have access to now, and it is highly likely that the same will hold true for this younger version of Future Trunks. This means that even if these characters receive some kind of power up that takes them beyond Super Saiyan during the course of the DLC, it's entirely possible that it won't transfer over to the non-DLC character variants.
There's also some confusion about whether or not these characters will be usable in free roam. Many speculate that there will be some option to free roam in Future Trunks' timeline as either Future Gohan or Future Trunks, but this has yet to be confirmed. Regardless, it seems safe to say that the current iterations of these characters won't be getting any stronger as a result of the training done in this DLC story. While this is unfortunate, it does make sense within the canon of the game. This might be different for Future Trunks, however.
Future Trunks in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Future Trunks is an odd character because despite being a fan favorite, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot didn't really do him justice. With any luck, this new DLC will rectify that, but it still is cutting off before he is able to get power that rivals the gods like Goku and Vegeta. In his Super Saiyan Rage form, Future Trunks is shown to be around the same level of power as Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta. Unfortunately, this form isn't achieved until well into Dragon Ball Super, and Kakarot is only adapting Dragon Ball Z content.
This isn't to say that it's impossible for Future Trunks to get stronger in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3, just that it isn't very likely. It could be that the level cap increases even more to 350, allowing all characters to gain a bit more power. It's still possible that Future Trunks will gain access to Super Saiyan 2 during the DLC, or he may get some other power as well. Regardless, fans will have to wait until this Summer to find out for certain.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.