Aside from the infamous Golden Frieza, one of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2's claims to fame is the introduction of Horde Battles. This new type of battle pits the player and their characters against 100 or more enemies, tasking them with taking them all out under certain conditions. Though Horde Battles seem simple at first, there's a lot to take into account when playing through them, as well as some tips that can help players defeat these masses of enemies much faster than they otherwise could. There are some nice rewards for completing Horde Battles as well, so players may want to invest the time to complete them.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 sees the return of Golden Frieza, one of Goku's oldest nemeses, as well as the debut of Super Saiyan Blue in the game. This form boasts much higher stats than Super Saiyan God and also comes with some new techniques to make handling Horde Battles a bit easier. Players will want to familiarize themselves with all of these new features before taking on some of the tougher Horde Battles, as they will be a great help when trying to tackle some of these challenges.
Horde Battles Explained
In the simplest terms, a Horde Battle in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is when the players must defeat at least 100 enemies in a single fight. Sometimes this number increases, with Horde Battle options for 200, 500, 999, and even infinite enemies available in the DLC, but the premise remains the same. The challenge comes from managing so many enemies all at once, as players will need to keep an eye on their hit points, Ki, and their allies as well. Thankfully, this isn't quite as hard as it sounds, as the way Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot handles Horde Battles makes things much easier.
Rest assured that at no point will the player have 100 hostile enemies all trying to attack them at once. Instead, enemies seem to spawn together in groups of around six to eight, and even then they take turns attacking the player or sometimes opt to focus on support characters instead. Every time the player kills one of these enemies, another will take its place. Though it may seem like an endless slog at times, it's important to make note of the tracker in the upper corner of the screen that shows how many enemies the player has already defeated and how many remain for this fight.
Story Horde Battles
During the story of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2, players will have to take on at least two Horde Battles while waiting for Goku and Vegeta to make their way to earth and challenge Golden Frieza. The first of these battles is played with Piccolo as the player's character, and any two support characters (other than Goku and Vegeta) can be brought alongside him. At various points throughout the fight, notable members of Frieza's army will make an appearance. While battling the horde as Piccolo, players will also have to fight Cui, Dodoria, and Zarbon.
After competing this, a similar sequence will play out for Gohan and whichever two support characters the player chose to accompany him. His Horde Battle is similarly challenging, but players will have to fight the entire Ginyu Force in addition to Frieza's lower class underlings. This includes Guldo, Jeice, Burter, Recoome, and Ginyu. Naturally, these enemies are much tougher than the normal ones that the player has been fighting up till they arrive, but the level gap between the player and these enemies should be sufficient to make these fights easy. There are also Horde Battles featured throughout the map as random encounters.
Horde Battle Training
Where the Horde Battle mode really kicks off is in the training grounds located in DLC 2's smaller map of Earth. The first several options here will be easy and somewhat time consuming, but after defeating the God rank one, players will unlock new challenges called Survival Trainings. These Horde Battles are set at level 300, so even the fodder enemies will be difficult to take down without max level characters. What's more, they have specific conditions that must be met if the player wants to get all the rewards. The three types of Survival Trainings are the Trial of Valor, Infinity, and Time.
The Trial of Valor makes players face off against an infinite number of Frieza force soldiers. Defeating 999 enemies before dying results in the maximum rewards, including Training Medals and Secrets for Success: Training. The Trial of Infinity is similar in that there are an infinite amount of enemies, but players must defeat as many as possible within 10 minutes. This mode rewards Z Warrior Medals and Secrets for Success: Z Warriors, with the maximum rewards being from defeating 999 enemies in 10 minutes. Finally, the Trial of Time requires players to defeat 999 enemies within 10 minutes, and gives better rewards the faster players are able to do it, with the best reward coming from clearing it under five minutes.
Horde Battle Strategies
In order to do well in these Horde Battles, there are some things players should try and do. For starters, it's best to use either Vegeta or Goku for these missions, as their ability to go Super Saiyan Blue makes them better than other playable characters. If possible, players should try and get these characters to level 300 as well, as that will make things much easier. Alongside this, it will help to have community boards maxed out and have eaten full course meals to boost all stats.
For more specific tips to doing well in Horde Battles, it's important to use skills that deal damage in an area. Vegeta's Big Bang Attack and new Vanish ability, as well as Goku's Spirit Bomb and his area attack technique all work wonders here. Be sure to bring in support characters as well, as using Z Combos will instantly defeat a large number of enemies based on how high the player's combo counter is. Essentially, players should focus on maintaining a combo, taking out groups of enemies with area of effect supers, using assists in order to build up to a Z Combo, and then take out a huge group of enemies with one.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.