The 23rd World Tournament is the fifth DLC episode for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot and the second to be released as part of the game's second season pass. Much like Bardock - Alone Against Fate before it, The 23rd World Tournament is a little on the short side, both the animation and the storytelling are top-notch as always.
The episode is broken up into eight chapters, with an epilogue slapped on at the end. Players can expect to spend somewhere in the region of two hours completing it, though those who decide to complete every Sub Story in The 23rd World Tournament should set aside another hour or so; more, if they struggle with the game's combat.
Prologue Walkthrough (How to Beat Demon King Piccolo)
After starting up the 23rd World Tournament DLC and sitting through the introductory cutscenes, players will find themselves in a one-on-one fight against Demon King Piccolo. This effectively serves as a bit of a refresher on how combat works in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, with on-screen prompts reminding players how everything works.
Players should stick with the tried and tested block, vanish, melee attack combo, which will allow them to tear through the Demon King's health bars with relative ease. After a while, he'll start to glow red, but the strategy for defeating him remains the same, for the most part. He will occasionally fly up into the air and let off a volley of energy blasts now, but these are pretty easy to dodge due to the ground where they're about to hit glowing red.
Once Demon King Piccolo's health has been fully depleted, players will be treated to a few more cutscenes, after which, the prologue will come to an end. They'll also be rewarded with a few Vitadrinks, but in all likelihood they won't actually need these, as none of the enemies are that tough and Goku tends to level up after each battle, ensuring that he starts the next one with full health. As such, being able to heal is not that important in this episode.
Episode 1: Reuniting with Friends Walkthrough
Episode 1 of the 23rd World Tournament DLC begins with a now fully-grown Goku reuniting with some of his old friends near the entrance to the tournament grounds. After a few cutscenes, players will be tasked with heading over to the nearby reception desk, where they'll simply need to select the "Sign up to Fight" option to proceed to the next chapter.
Episode 1: Off to the World Tournament Walkthrough
Following a few more cutscenes, players will have a chance to explore the area a little before the tournament begins. They can grab some food if they like or stock up on healing items, but neither is really required. It's also possible to fly around on the flying Nimbus and take out thugs in the surrounding area, but the XP gained from doing so is pretty useless. The only thing that's really worth doing is the "Satisfy the Fighters' Bellies" Sub Story, after which, players should speak with Krillin and Yamcha near the tournament grounds to proceed.
Episode 1: Tien Shinhan: Crane School Chronicles Walkthrough (How to Beat Mercenary Tao)
Before the preliminaries, players have a chance to complete a special side story called Crance School Chronicles, which at first seems like it might end up being similar to Prince Vegeta's Story from the Bardock - Alone Against Fate DLC. However, upon speaking with Tien to get started, players will soon learn that this side story consists of only a single fight, which sees the three-eyed fighter going head to head with Mercenary Tao.
The fight with Tao is a bit more challenging than the one with Demon King Piccolo a little earlier, but the same strategy can still prove effective. In particular, players should focus on trying to teleport behind their opponent, which will make it much easier to chip away at his health bar. He does have a few hard-hitting attacks up his sleeve, but providing players are ready to block and teleport whenever he uses them, they should be fairly easy to nullify.
Episode 1: Kick Off the Main Event Walkthrough (How to Beat Mercenary Tao)
After completing Crane School Chronicles, players will be returned to the tournament grounds, where they should speak with the World Tournament Announcer to get the ball rolling again. The next fight is a repeat of the last one, with players once again controlling Tien as he attempts to overcome Mercenary Tao.
The only thing to take note of here is that players can lose tournament matches through ring-outs, so it's best to keep the action as close to the center of the arena just to be safe. As it's not possible to beat an enemy via a ring-out, there's really no advantage to going near the edge of the ring under any circumstance.
Episode 2: The Semi-Finals are About to Begin! Walkthrough (How to Beat Tien)
The next fight sees Goku up against Tien in a repeat of the final of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It's broken up into two phases, with the first being similar to the last few fights when it comes to strategy. As such, players should be able to take Tien down pretty quickly, aft which point, he'll make things a bit more interesting by using his multi-form technique to split into four.
Individually, these four versions of Tien are actually pretty weak, though together they can gang up on Goku and cause some serious damage. As such, the best way to beat Tien at the 23rd World Tournament is to take out the four Tiens one by one as quickly as possible. As each one falls, things get easier, with the last one being a walk in the park. Another cutscene follows, marking the end of the chapter.
Episode 2: Kami's Ready for Action Walkthrough
As fans of the manga and anime will already know, the fighter known as Hero is actually Kami, which is revealed to Goku just before their fight with Junior. Players don't actually have to do any fighting in this chapter though, so they can sit back and enjoy the cutscenes and conversations, which, unsurprisingly, all lead to an emphatic victory for Picollo Junior.
Episode 2: The Finals Walkthrough (How to Beat Junior)
Whenever they're ready, players should talk to Tournament Staff E to begin the final fight with Junior. This one's broken up into three phases, though the first is remarkably easy. Once it ends, Junior will become significantly larger and the real battle will begin. Players should keep an eye out for his charge and stomp attacks and aim to attack his legs from the sides or behind so as to decrease the chances of getting trampled. Players should aim to fill the stun bar as quickly as possible and then tear through his health bar once he's down on one knee.
After a few more cutscenes, players will find themselves up against a regular-sized Junior again, but this phase is significantly harder than the two which preceded it. He has several attacks that can stun Goku for several seconds if they make contact, so players should be ready to dodge at a moment's notice. That said, Junior does have a few major weak spots.
The most notable of these sees him fly up into the air and charge up a few large energy balls which land on the field and serve as obstacles. These are very easy to dodge and the time it takes for him to charge them allows players to fully refill their Ki bar and let off three or four Kamehamehas, which can shred through Junior's health bar pretty quickly and prevent the fight from dragging on for too long.
Eventually, Junior will stop taking damage and players will simply need to wait for him to start charging up a big Explosive Wave attack. Once this happens, they'll be prompted to go on the offensive and deplete the yellow bar above his head using melee attacks. They'll then get a chance to follow up their offensive by pressing the Circle (PlayStation) or B (Xbox) button, which will bring the fight to an end.
Epilogue Walkthrough (What to Do After Completing The 23rd World Tournament)
Once they're done watching the resulting cutscenes and sitting through or skipping the end credits, players will be treated to another cutscene showing Goku and Chichi finding a house. They'll then have to defeat a group of thugs, after which, they'll be introduced to the DLC's post-game content. This includes five more Sub Stories, Patrol Missions that require players to beat up thugs for the police, and more Tough Training Grounds, with players also gaining the ability to replay main story missions from the nearby pillar of light.
- The Champ's Victory Party! Sub Story Walkthrough
- The Unseen Threat Sub Story Walkthrough
- Dragon Balls, Resurrected Sub Story Walkthrough
- A Little Alone Time? Sub Story Walkthrough
- Back to the World Tournament! Sub Story Walkthrough
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.