Dragon Ball techniques that sound cool, but are actually super weak

Dragon Ball features some of the most well-known techniques in anime. It's not just Kamehameha either. Vegeta's Big Bang Attack, Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon, Frieza's Death Beam, the list goes on and on. All of these attacks have catchy names to go with powerful effects. But what about the techniques that fall flat?

There are tons of cool tech in the series that, when you think about it, just aren't that great. The names may make them sound strong, but when you compare them to some of the most effective attacks in the series, these interesting techniques just fall flat.

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Dragon Ball: 7 Techniques Stronger Than Vegeta's Last Flash

Vegeta's Final Flash is insanely strong, but these techniques are stronger.

Devilmite Beam

Maybe if a character like Piccolo had come up with this move, it would have been stronger than it was. Ultimately, Spike the Devil Man's Devilmite Beam sounds menacing, but comes with a massive caveat that rendered it useless once we saw it in the series.

Spike is one of Fortuneteller Baba's fighters and meets Goku when he and the gang set out to defeat Baba's fighters to learn the location of a Dragon Ball in the original series. The Devilmite Beam is meant to use an opponent's negative thoughts and emotions against them, but when used against pure-hearted or well-balanced characters like Goku, it becomes completely ineffective.

Flame Bullet

Crash Launcher

Spopovich may have looked menacing, but that was about it. He was never really a threat or a challenge to any of the Z-Fighters, but was only able to subdue Gohan thanks to Supreme Kai's intervention. Even with Babidi's magic allowing him to forcefully penetrate his limits, he is nothing more than a grunting fighter.

Thanks to Babidi's magic, Spopovich is able to use ki-blasts and uses a technique called Crash Launcher against Videl in the anime. While it is effective against someone not used to fighting with energy waves, in the end it is just a regular energy wave.

Mystic Flasher

Nail was the strongest native Namekian during the Frieza Saga, and although he proved to be a brave, resilient fighter, his luck ran out when his and Frieza's paths crossed. Although skilled in his own right, Nail was far too weak to really take Frieza seriously, with a huge difference in both of their power levels.

Nail used his Mystic Flasher against Frieza to stall for time while Dende set out to give Gohan and Krillin the Namekian Dragon Ball's password. Even though he tried to surprise Frieza with the explosion, it didn't even leave a scratch on the space tyrant. Maybe it would have worked better on one of the Frieza Force grunts, but from what we saw, it just didn't make an impact.

Double Sunday

Some fans still wonder what could have become of Raditz. As Goku's brother, there are those who believe he could be brought back into the story somehow, but the series has long since passed him by. He seemed like a challenging villain during his encounter with Goku and Piccolo on Earth, but we quickly learned that he was quite weak, even for an early Z antagonist.

Double Sunday is a catchy enough name for an attack, and while it did some damage to Piccolo during their battle, it's not really anything special compared to other Saiyan techniques. Maybe Raditz could have improved it if he lived longer and trained more, but as it stands, Double Sunday is just another wave of energy that didn't do much.

Wolf Fang Fist

Yamcha had one of the worst drop-offs in Dragon Ball, going from a useful ally to a minor support character, and later becoming completely irrelevant when it came to fights. Yamcha has some interesting moves, but the one that has always stood out is his Wolf Fang Fist.

It was actually quite effective in the early series, but looking at it now, it doesn't come close to doing much damage to the villains of the series from Z Forward. Melee attacks are often overshadowed by the more powerful ki-based attacks like energy waves and spheres. The Wolf Fang Fist definitely has one of the coolest names in the series, but it's safe to say it won't win anyone any battles.

Maximum Buster

As one of Frieza's right-hand men, Dodoria was one of the biggest obstacles that Krillin, Gohan, and Vegeta faced early on in the Frieza Saga. He may have started out as a terrifying villain, but it didn't take long for him to be outclassed and defeated by Vegeta.

Dodoria's Maximum Buster is a massive energy wave that seems like it would deal a lot of damage. However, when he used it against Dende, Gohan, and Krillin, the trio was able to avoid it. He used it again against Vegeta with the same result. It can deal some damage wherever it lands, but Dodoria doesn't seem to get a hit with it.

Dragon Ball Z

Release date

1989 – 1996

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Daisuke Nishio, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Osamu Kasai

Author

Akira Toriyama, Neil Bligh, Hiroshi Toda, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Aya Matsui, Keiji Terui, Reiko Yoshida, Toshiki Inoue

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  Masako Nozawa

  Son Goku / Son Gohan / Son Goten (voice)

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  Ryo Horikawa

  Vegeta (voice)