Getting To Grips With Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero's Wish-Granting Dragons

Everything you could want to know about summoning, wishes, and those titular dragon balls

Samuel Moreno

PublishedOctober 15, 2024

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Gogeta Blue posing on his victory screen, with a Porunga Dragon Ball as a reward. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero perfectly encapsulates what people love about the series: the giant energy beams, passionate screaming, and even the comedy is intact, with characters like Yajirobe creating an online meta with appropriate antics. And of course there are the eponymous mystical Dragon Balls, and the various dragons they can summon.

Read More: Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s ‘Bean Daddies’ Are Using Yajirobe To Destroy Everyone
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Much like in the series, DBSZ’s dragons can grant you wishes, creating a fun, albeit ill-explained mechanic to unlock a variety of things. We’ll be going over the best way to collect the different Dragon Balls, as well as the highlights for summoning each dragon.

Click Next to begin learning everything you need to know about, er, Dragon Balls.

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Where To Find Dragon Balls

Seven orange dragon balls, glowing on the ground. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero eschews the majority of the franchise’s many different iterations for unique dragons and the magical items associated with them, boiling it down to three types. Here is a breakdown of every set and how we’ve been able to earn them.

Dragon Balls (Shenron) - The most iconic set from the franchise, one that resides on planet Earth and summons Shenron. Finishing some of Whis’s missions can earn you a full set. They otherwise seem to have a small chance of dropping during offline or online battles. Those who bought the Season Pass will also receive one free wish to use.
Dragon Balls (Porunga) - The second set introduced, residing on Planet Namek, and summoning Porunga. These seem to have an even smaller chance of dropping during battles.
Dragon Balls (Super Shenron) - The most powerful set that summons Super Shenron. One set can be earned from completing Goku’s Episode Battles, while another can be earned from Trunks’ Episode Battles. It seems likely that these could drop from offline and online battles as well, but if they do, they must have the lowest chances of all. Those who purchased the Ultimate Edition get one free wish to use.

Equipping some ability items to raise your Ki is a fantastic strategy if you can combo into a Beam or Blast Super. Starting a match with Gogeta Blue’s Stardust Blaster against Hercule or a larger opponent is practically guaranteed to send them out of bounds. Another option is to go in as Great Ape Vegeta and try to throw the opponent out of the ring, which can feel pretty cathartic after fighting the big monster. No matter who you use, your goal should be to finish a match within 30 seconds.

I do want to share a word of caution though: you cannot collect more Dragon Balls once you have a full set. A message will pop up to say that you can’t accept another one of the same type because you have too many. I held onto mine in hopes that it would make it more likely for the other types to pop up, but I ended up with more messages if anything. You should aim to use the Dragon Ball sets as soon as possible.

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What Does Summoning Shenron Do?

The iconic green dragon Shenron offers multiple options to wish for. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Summoning Shenron gives you access to a single wish. I’d argue he’s middle of the pack in what he offers, but that depends entirely on what you want to unlock. Here are your choices with this dragon:

I want more Zeni - Grants 300,000 Zeni
I want you to raise my Player Level - One of the first things I did after the tutorial was summon Shenron and choose this wish. I was pretty happy with the result, as it increased my Player Level to 8 and expanded the Shop quite a bit.
I want more Titles - These are titles for your Player Card.
I want New Outfits - These are cosmetic options for specific characters. The options include Yamcha’s original Bandit outfit, Goku and Vegeta’s Outfits from Dragon Ball Super, and Master Roshi’s Jackie Chun outfit.
I want to complete an Episode Battle - Offers a Dragon Orb item to make secondary objectives easier.

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What Does Summoning Porunga Do?

The buff green dragon Porunga offers three wishes. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Things work a bit differently with Porunga. He can’t raise your Player Level or Outfits, and he provides less Zeni, but he has the advantage of granting you three wishes. You can also acquire Ability Items from him. Here’s the breakdown:

I want more Zeni - Grants 120,000 Zeni
I want more Titles - A different set of titles for your Player Card.
I want Ability Items - Most of these will be available in the shop over time, but it’s a great way to unlock some early on.
I want to complete an Episode Battle - Offers a Dragon Orb item to make secondary objectives easier.

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What Does Summoning Super Shenron Do?

The gigantic yellow Super Shenron, with galaxies in the background, offers multiple choices for a wish. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Super Shenron offers an exclusive category, letting you wish for a character. There are a lot of methods to unlock every Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero character, but two of them can be acquired early this way. They’re both thematically appropriate to this dragon and they certainly are fan favorites.

The remainder of his choices are also pretty enticing. He gives you everything the other dragons can, and he grants far more Zeni and player experience. Here’s everything you can get from Super Shenron:

I want more Characters - Allows you to unlock Goku Black or Fused Zamasu.
I want more Zeni - Grants 1,000,000 Zeni.
I want you to raise my Player Level - Using a different profile that was at a player level 2, this option skyrocketed it to 18.
I want new Outfits - Offers the same outfits that Shenron does.
I want more Titles - Super Shenron has some unique titles, and provides the same ones offered by Shenron and Porunga.
I want Ability Items - Offers the same items as Porunga.
I want to complete an Episode Battle - Offers a Dragon Orb item to make secondary objectives easier.

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How to Use Dragon Orbs

The confirmation screen for using a Dragon Orb item. — Screenshot: Bandai Namco / Kotaku

Every dragon can grant help completing an Episode Battle. Choosing that wish will give you an exclusive item called a Dragon Orb. These can be used only when hovering over an Episode Battle with branching paths, as they make the secondary objectives easier to meet. Even though a lot of these objectives just require you to win within a certain time, using a Dragon Orb for a bit more leeway can be a big help. The only caveat is that you won’t earn victory rewards from it, but that’s not too bad of a trade-off to see some really fun what-if stories.

This option won’t pop up until you’ve come across an Episode Battle with potential branching paths. Although that occurs early on in Goku’s story, those who immediately spent a lot of time in multiplayer modes or received a free Shenron summon—depending upon which edition they purchased—would likely not have seen this. Make sure to keep an eye out for this option if you didn’t see it during your first summon(s)!

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero doesn’t spend much time explaining the nuances of summoning the dragons, and leaves it all for us to discover. As fun as that idea is, nobody likes to feel like they made the wrong choice, especially with how rare it can be to see Porunga and Super Shenron.

The best choice for you depends entirely on preference and how far along you are, but you should be better equipped to select a more favorable option. Go out and make your wishes in confidence!

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