“It ain’t over til’ it’s over.”
A mantra that has been apart of fighting games since the beginning. The match isn’t truly done until you get knocked out, as a comeback is always possible (especially with the right characters). In “tag” games such as Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and more recently Dragonball FighterZ, you have teams of two or three, and the last of those characters are referred to as an anchor. These characters usually have the tools to make comebacks, taking advantage of the game’s mechanics as well as being able to capitalize off opponents’ mistakes. This article will be looking at the five best anchors in DBFZ, and what makes them so good and why you should be playing them.
5. Yamcha
"Guess I showed your I'm not playing around!"
Yamcha is the only character on this list that isn’t considered a top tier, which speaks volumes to just how good of an anchor Yamcha is. While Yamcha has the lowest damage in the game (much like his anime counterpart), he is balanced by having incredibly good built in mixups. He can level one into his level three to extend out damage as much as possible. Yamcha also has one of the best assists in the game (more often not Yamcha is picked solely for the assist) since it makes a lot of things safer like super dashing and hard tagging. Yamcha works best as an anchor in order to take advantage of the level three Sparking damage boost and to let your other two characters take full advantage of his assist.
Yamcha Anchor Power Level: 70/100
4. Gotenks
Gotenks knows how good he is.
Gotenks on the surface seems like a relatively simple character, but once you get deeper into the game, it’s clear to see why so many people play him. He has tons of good neutral options, which allow him to keep space and go in when appropriate which is what an anchor character must be good at to succeed. Gotenks has some great oki with his ghosts, which let him keep mixing up the opponent for the eventual kill. Gotenks has long reaching normals and is able to build bar easily, though doesn’t have the most damaging combos out there and relies on mix ups and resets; luckily Gotenks is great at those.
Gotenks Anchor Power Level: 80/100
3. Kid Buu
The best DBFZ majin there is.
A former contender for best in the game, Kid Buu still shines as an anchor. He has the best assist in the game when it comes to helping other characters mix up your opponent due to how long the blockstun on it is; although the assist is incredibly hard to extend combos with. His normals have tons of range (Kid Buu has some of the best range in the whole game), with simple and damaging combos. Kid Buu has some of the best DHC synergy in the game, and lets almost everyone double super. The majin even has some of, if not the best oki in DBFZ, and he doesn’t even need a sliding or hard knockdown to take advantage of it.
Kid Buu Anchor Power Rating: 85/100
2. Vegeta (Super Saiyan)
You cocky bastard!
Perhaps the original DBFZ anchor, Super Saiyan Vegeta still holds up in today’s metagame. He possesses one of the strongest assists in the game, as well as rather damaging combos despite their simplicity. Vegeta gets a DP on the ground and in the air, which are incredibly useful for punishing super dashes. Vegeta has a super strong ki blast game, which lets him play neutral really well. Vegeta’s only real downside is struggling to get sliding knockdowns off of vanish, but with everything else he has he is still able to hang with the best.
Vegeta Anchor Power Level: 85/100
1. Android 16
When you see this, fear for your life. For the mixup is a-comin'.
Android 16 gets the pleasure of not only being one of the best anchors, but one of the best characters in DBFZ. His assist is incredibly versatile (which a good assist can make or break a character’s position as anchor), and is good on just about any team. When he has access to Sparking Blast, Android 16 gets long, incredibly damaging loops that can kill a character. He also has insane mix up potential off of every knockdown he can do, which allows him to “two touch” more often than not which makes him as good as he is. He has somewhat misleading hitboxes, which gives him really good range as well as a fantastic ki blast.
Android 16 Anchor Power Ranking: 100/100
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