Key Takeaways
- Frieza's Death Beam is known for its piercing power and lack of charge, making it a deadly and accurate attack.
- Frieza often uses Death Beam to eliminate players in Dragon Ball, showing off his offensive skills.
- Death Beam has variants such as Death Laser and Death Bullet, with Golden Frieza's Great Death Beam being the most powerful.
Almost every hero and villain in the Dragon Ball franchise has come up with an amazing and powerful signature attack that matches their character. From Goku's Kamehameha to Omega Shenron's Negative Karma Ball, both canon and non-series space is filled with these famous techniques.
However, at least for the villains, no attack reaches the same level of evil as Frieza's Death Beam. Although it is not a powerful move, it is the one he uses the most during his many appearances in Dragon Ball. So, let's take a look at the Death Beam and see why it's so important and such an important part of Frieza's arsenal.
What is a Death Beam?
A move by Frieza
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First appearance |
Dragon Ball ZEpisode 70, “Approaching Frieza” |
|---|---|
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Start date |
December 5, 1990 |
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Story Arc |
Namek Saga |
As Frieza's most famous move, the Death Beam is a Ki attack that perfectly reflects the brutal and sadistic nature of its creator. This is a thin, highly concentrated beam of Ki that emphasizes pure piercing power, making it strong enough to push through anything, similar to Piccolo's Special Beam Canon. However, it is not as strong as the Namekian's signature ability, although the lack of required charges makes up for it.
Because of this, Frieza can fire the Death Beam in short bursts and even in rapid succession, making it a dangerous attack. Although it is not the most powerful technique, it is certainly the most famous and most used, as many players have died at the hands of Frieza's Death Beam!
How to make the Death Beam
This attack is one of the most straightforward in the entire series as it requires almost no charge and can be performed instantly. To do this, Frieza simply raises his hand and points at the target with his index finger. The Ki is concentrated at the tips of his fingers and fired in thin, straight lines that can easily pierce through armor. This also makes it one of the most accurate attacks of all Dragon Ball!
Popular Uses of Death Rays
The lethal success rate of attacks
As mentioned before, the Death Beam seems to be Frieza's preferred method of directly disposing of someone, as he has been shown to kill many people using this attack. The first time it was used in the anime was shortly after the introduction of Galactic Tyrant, where he used it to continuously take down random Namekian warriors, showing that his attack control was incredible, even in his weakest form. .
During the Namek Saga, Frieza also used the Death Beam to kill Dende, and again, when he used it to kill Vegeta after taking down the Saiyan Prince. This was the perfect moment to show the accuracy of the attack, as Frieza was able to target Vegeta's heart perfectly despite standing far away from him. The Death Beam he used here also showed the deadly nature of this move, as it bounced off Vegeta's armor.
Don't worry, it won't hurt too much. Really… death is my specialty!
Frieza then used this attack to hurt Goku and Piccolo, though he was unable to kill them. However, every time he used it against Super Saiyan Goku, the Death Beam was found to be ineffective due to the difference in their power. The attack is later seen again in the hands of Perfect Cell, who uses it in his battle with Gohan.
After Frieza was resurrected Dragon Ball Superthe Death Beam continued to see frequent use. After unlocking a more powerful transformation with Golden Frieza, the attack has also seen a major upgrade. Now, the color has changed from pinkish-purple to a more prominent red, which has greatly increased its size and strength. All actions were used frequently Great and now a more traditional Ki wave due to Frieza's increased power after releasing his golden form.
Variations of the Death Beam:
- Death laser: A slightly thicker and stronger version of the attack used by Frieza and Cooler.
- Dead bullet A version of the attack that fires a single projectile at high speed instead of a beam. It was used by Frieza in his third and fourth forms.
- Crazy Finger Beam (Crazy Finger Beam): A variation of the Death Bullet used in Frieza's third form that sees him use two hands in quick succession to launch multiple bullets, one after the other.
- Death Beam Barrage: Similar to a dead bullet but fired quickly from one finger. Used by Frieza and Perfect Cell.
- Great Death Beam: A variation of the powerful attack used by Golden Frieza, where the pillar is burned with all fingers instead of one to create a net of Ki blasts.
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