Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is finally out, retelling Goku’s epic tale in the form of an action-RPG. As you progress through Goku’s thrilling story, you’ll play as the titular character, as well as other iconic characters like Gohan, Piccolo, and Vegeta while improving their abilities and building friendships along the way. But how exactly do you improve your characters? This Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot guide will help you understand all the intricacies with leveling your characters throughout the game.
Learn How to Fight Effectively
The most rudimentary way to progress your characters in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is through fighting. In a way, that is representative of the Dragon Ball Z anime. Goku, Vegeta, and the other Z fighters only get stronger by fighting. Getting into battles will earn you experience, which will level your character.
After each battle, you will be ranked by how well you perform. In my 7 hours of playing Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, I have only earned S and A ranks, with the S rating presumably being the highest rating. So, it isn’t too difficult to really get the most experience you can get. Once you’ve wrapped your head around the awkward controls and understand the basics of any given battle’s pacing, getting a good rank is pretty straightforward.
Community Boards and Soul Emblems
In the opening moments of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, you will unlock the Community Board and Soul Emblems. The Community Board consists of 7 unique communities that give stat bonuses to your characters. Housed in these communities are Soul Emblems, which can be placed to increase that community’s rank.
Upon the two systems being introduced, understanding how these features work together is a bit overwhelming. But it gets easier as you unlock and experiment with Soul Emblem placements on each board.
Each board has a leader that are permanent additions to that community. For example, Goku is the leader of the Z Warrior Community, which gives bonuses to combat-focused stats. Within a community, there are empty slots that can house Soul Emblems you’ve earned throughout your adventure. Some Soul Emblems are better suited for certain communities, which allows you to maximize its rank. Leveling up each community is how you garner new stat bonuses.
Additionally, certain Soul Emblems may have a special relationship that will grant you a Link Bonus. These Link Bonuses help increase a community’s rank. As such, it is important to look at these relationships, as well as putting more effort into certain communities that reflect your playstyle.
Lastly, each of these Soul Emblems can be given gifts, which increases your proficiency for certain communities depending on the gift you give. For example, one of the first gift items you are given is “Sacred Text of Martial Arts.” This gives you +2 to Z Warrior proficiency and +3 to Friendship. Gifting this to Goku will increase his Z Warrior proficiency, and in turn, increase the rank of that community.
So, how do you effectively use Community Boards and Soul Emblems? First, you will want to ask yourself what areas you want to focus in. The majority of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot‘s gameplay is in battle, so I recommend applying most of your efforts into the Z Fighter community since that helps increase the effectiveness of your attacks.
Next, you’ll want to see what kind of relationships each Soul Emblem has with one another. You can do this by checking a Soul Emblem’s details. To do this, just press Y/Triangle while you hover a cursor over a Soul Emblem on the Community Board. Once you go to that detail page, there is a small table on the right side that is titled “Confirm Bonuses” that give you an increased level for a community. For example, if you place Goku and Gohan next to each other on a Community Board, it will unlock the “Ultimate Father-Son Team” and give you +2 to the level of the Z Fighter Community.
It really is a bit confusing at first glance. Not that a system like it hasn’t been in other games, it just was a bit of a surprise. But once you mess around with it, using the Community Board and Soul Emblems is pretty simple.
Eat a Meal When You Can
I don’t mean to go in your refrigerator and prepare yourself a ham and swiss. Although, if you have been playing for a few hours, you may want to eat something. In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Chi-Chi and the other cooks found in cities can prepare a meal for you that will give you temporary and permanent stat boosts.
If you visit Chi-Chi, you will have the option to create a dish or a full-course meal. The difference between the two is that the latter has a greater effect, giving you more gains. However, they are a bit more difficult to craft. Additionally, using rarer ingredients will have a more positive effect on boosting your character’s stats.
Whether you’re completing missions or just exploring the world, you’ll garner ingredients throughout your travels. While some of the smaller dishes you’ll make may seem like they only make minuscule amounts of change to your stats, you will be able to make a lot of them, which will make a difference.
Training and Ability Skill Tree
Training in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot allows you to expand your list of abilities you can use. You can only use four of these at a time, but at least you will have choices that can go well with your playstyle. Training areas are indicated on the map, and there are recommended levels for completing the challenge needed to acquire the ability.
These abilities can be further upgraded on the ability skill tree. Using Z Orbs you’ll acquire when completing missions or exploring the world, you can access the tree at any point during your adventure from the Characters menu.
Side Missions
While not entirely integral to the main story, there are plenty of side missions for you to complete in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Not only do these missions give you more experience to level your characters, but you’ll also earn more Z Orbs to use to upgrade your Super Attacks, ingredients for dishes, and additional Soul Emblems for the Community Board.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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