Dragon Ball 5 Attacks The Heroes Always Rely On (& 5 That Never Work)

Dragon Ball's Z-Fighters often resort to the same attacks, some of which are synonymous with failure.

The Dragon Ball series is full of some of the most impressive and well-known attacks in all of anime and manga. This series actually is the one that introduced many of these revolutionary attacks that many shonen series have adapted as well.

One thing that many fans always notice is that there are those attacks that the heroes of the series always go to during a battle, with some of them always failing. This list will be taking a look at those many moves from both sides of the pond.

10 ALWAYS RELY ON: AFTERIMAGE

The afterimage technique is simply whenever a character is seen moving faster than the eye can follow. In fact, they move so fast from the initial movement of this technique that a literal fading image of them can still be seen where they originally stood.

This move is constantly seen throughout the series and usually to good effect as an opening gambit or a simple go-to move during a fight. Usually, it helps the heroes get a good hit in when things are going their way.

9 NEVER WORKS: EVIL CONTAINMENT WAVE

The Evil Containment Wave is one of the moves that goes all the way back to the original Dragon Ball series. This move made its first appearance in the battle against King Piccolo, with Master Roshi using it. Of course, as the placing suggests, it didn't end well.

Ever since this moment, the Evil Containment Wave has returned quite a few times and usually fails, save for one moment in Super. Immediately after this successful attempt, however, it failed again.

8 ALWAYS RELY ON: SPIRIT BOMB

While many may look at the Spirit Bomb as one of the failure special attacks of the Dragon Ball series, it's actually quite successful. The Spirit Bomb has shown up quite a few times, from Dragon Ball Z to Dragon Ball GT, and has saved the heroes a few times.

It was successful in the battle against Vegeta, Kid Buu, and technically Zamasu. It also shows up in a few Dragon Ball films and works well there as well.

7 NEVER WORKS: TRANSFORMATIONS

One thing that many are used to in the Dragon Ball series is pointless transformations. That, of course, means that this move is one that frequently does not work, at least when it comes to the heroes of the series.

This is something that is seen as early as the Saiyan Saga when Goku's Kaioken ended up being beaten out by Vegeta's transformation in the end. There are countless cases after this but this is the first big one. While there are obvious exceptions – Goku going Super Saiyan during the Frieza fight being a prime example – new transformations are rarely the key to success.

6 ALWAYS RELY ON: TRANSFORMATIONS

While it isn't something that always works, transformations are a very common part of the Z-Fighters' offense that they rely on. As said, this begins as early as the Saiyan Saga and has remained a giant piece of Dragon Ball lore ever since.

Obviously this is talking about Super Saiyans but this extends to Unlocked Potential boosts, and the new member of the transformation family, the God transformations.

5 NEVER WORKS: ENERGY BARRAGE

While never officially named, the energy barrage attack is constantly used by the heroes in the series, namely Vegeta. This move sees a character rapidly firing a crazy amount of projectiles towards an enemy.

One thing that is easy to notice is that barrages rarely have any impact and usually serve as a way for Dragon Ball to show that an enemy is indestructible.

4 ALWAYS RELY ON: KAMEHAMEHA

The Kamehameha technique is the most iconic special attack in Dragon Ball, which means this move will naturally constantly show up throughout the series. This move is arguably one that the heroes rely on most of all due to it being the go-to move of so many members of the cast.

At times, this move is able to even take out foes when enough power is used. This is the case with moves like the Father-Son Kamehameha, Angry Kamehameha, Big Bang Kamehameha, and more variations of this classic attack.

3 NEVER WORKS: FUSION

A common meme among the Dragon Ball fandom is the fact that whenever two characters resort to using the fusion technique, it ends up being a fruitless attempt. Each time the superstrong fusion character gets enough energy to finish off the boss enemy, they get so cocky that they run out of fusion time.

This happens literally every single time two characters fuse in the TV series, although Goku and Vegeta's Gogeta has had more luck in the films.

2 ALWAYS RELY ON: SOLAR FLARE

One move that is the go-to for many of the Z-Warriors is the Solar Flare. Many fans think of Krillin when this move is the topic of the discussion but it actually is a very important attack for a lot of the cast, including Goku.

The Solar Flare always serves as a smokescreen whenever the heroes need to make a quick escape and don't have time to actually confront the foe in question.

1 NEVER WORKS: TRI-BEAM

While it is always said to be one of the strongest moves in the series, Tien's Tri-Beam has a pretty bad track record that traces all the way back to his bout with Goku in the original Dragon Ball run.

While the move was meant to scare but not kill Goku in Dragon Ball, the Tri-Beam hasn't ever killed anyone since then. The attack was laughed at by Nappa and helped to stall Semi-Perfect Cell; otherwise, the Tri-Beam is not really notable.