There are various sets of the wish-granting orbs in the Dragon Ball multiverse, and each set has advantages and disadvantages.
The titular Dragon Balls are the impetus for many of the main events that occur in the Dragon Ball series, even though they don’t always take center stage.
They are the reason Bulma and Goku connected, why Goku and his comrades traveled to Namek, and why everyone is still alive today despite having been killed so frequently.
However, there are multiple sets of Dragon Balls, and each set has its own peculiarities, drawbacks, and dragons.
What are Dragon Balls sets?
The Dragon Balls are sold in sets of seven, with each ball bearing the number of stars that corresponds to its corresponding set number.
Colonel Silver asserted that the Dragon Balls are impenetrable after dropping a phony Dragon Ball.
Vegeta probably didn’t know this when he told Krillin to take out one before the Ginyu Force attacked Namek with them.
Piccolo states in the Fusion Saga that “If you break even one of the balls they can never be utilized again“. Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks fighting Super Buu implied that the Dragon Balls are not fully indestructible or that they are destructible when transformed into stone.
There have been two instances where the Dragon Balls were utilized more than once a year, despite the fact that it takes a year for them to return to normal.
The first instance of this was when Kami revived Shenron and informed Goku that, in light of King Piccolo’s recent wish to have his youth restored, a year would typically pass, but that this particular time, he would make an exception for Goku and his comrades.
When Piccolo and later Kami died in the fight with Nappa and were later revived, the Dragon Balls were effectively restarted, enabling them to be used to restore life to everyone on Namek who had been killed by Frieza and his henchmen.
The first wish, to restore life to Goku, had occurred about a month earlier. The summoner can choose to save their requests as an exception, in which case the Dragon Balls are rendered inactive for a period of four months.
Each set of Dragon Balls is difficult to locate because they are dispersed throughout their respective planet, universe, or galaxy (depending on the Dragon Ball GT dub), in the case of the Black-Star Dragon Balls, numerous universes, in the case of the Super Dragon Balls.
Even throughout time and space, in the case of the Dark Dragon Balls, and are inactive for a year after each wish (though this depends on their origins, as a Namekian year).
One must traverse the planet to locate an Eternal Dragon before having the chance to summon one.
This ultimately became a little simpler as technology advanced, especially after Bulma created the Dragon Radar.
Although the Dragon Balls are programmed to disperse across a specific location or locations after being used, it has been demonstrated that at least one of them can be prevented from dispersing along with the others.
At the conclusion of the Fortuneteller Baba Saga, Goku leaped into the air and grabbed the Four-Star ball before it could flee.
Following are the 7 Dragon Balls:
| Earth Dragon Ball |
| Namekian Dragon Ball |
| The Black Star Dragon Ball |
| The Super Dragon Ball |
| The Negative Energy Dragon Ball |
| The Dark Dragon Ball |
| Cereal’s Dragon Ball |
What are the powers of Dragon Balls?
Earth Dragon Ball
The fist-sized Dragon Balls that were first introduced in the original series are the Earth Dragon Balls.
After the first set was destroyed, Dende later reconstructed them using designs developed initially by Kami.
This set summons the Dragon Shenron, who has the power to grant any wish as long as it doesn’t interfere with the exercise of free will.
Throughout the course of the series, however, people have repeatedly wished the dead to come back to life.
However, even this wish has some restrictions. The person can only be revived once, and their death can’t be brought about by normal circumstances like a heart attack or old age.
The requirement that each person remains deceased for less than a year also applies when reviving numerous people, but not when reviving a single person.
When Frieza was revived after having been dead for much longer than a year, this was proven to be true.
Additionally, someone more powerful than the Dragon Balls’ creator cannot be killed by the Dragon Balls.
After a wish is granted, the Dragon Balls scatter because they contain negative energy equal to the energy used to grant the wish.
This allows the negative energy to diffuse without causing any harm. If they come together before the procedure is finished, the Dragon Balls will break, causing “Black Smoke Shenron,” a dark form of Shenron, to appear.
This only occurs in the non-canon Dragon Ball GT after several wishes are made to reverse the effects of Super 17’s strike.
Due to their frequent use in the series, the Dragon Balls break instead of performing the usual wishing ritual, releasing their stored negative energy.
After ingesting the Dragon Balls, Black Shadow Sheron divides into seven distinct Shadow Dragons.
Namekian Dragon Balls
The Dragon Balls from Kami and Piccolo’s homeworld, Planet Namek, are very different from the others.
They were designed by Grand Elder Guru and are much more significant. They can summon the dragon Porunga, who can grant three wishes rather than one, but only once every 130 Earth days.
In contrast to Shenron, who can bring back numerous people with just one wish, Porunga can only bring back a single person at a time.
Additionally, Porunga has the ability to return a person more than once.
There is no need to look for Namekian Balls because they turn to stone rather than dispersing unless they are deliberately hidden.
The only living Namekian capable of using the Namekian Balls is Dende because they need a password to be used and Porunga only speaks Namekian.
Later, the Namekians changed their Dragon Balls so they could revive numerous people at once, including Shenron.
The Black Star Dragon Balls
Before his personalities separated, the Namekian Piccolo and Kami who created this particular pair of Dragon Balls were Piccolo.
The Black Star Dragon Balls may grant more potent wishes and don’t turn to stone after use because he was the combined good and evil personalities.
They also have a monkey’s paw effect, which means that if the Dragon Balls aren’t brought back to the planet where the wish was made in a year, they will be destroyed.
Even while it seems like a straightforward thing to stop, the fact that the Black Star Balls disperse around the galaxy rather than staying within the boundaries of the planet makes it more difficult to collect them once more.
This set summons Ultimate Sheron, a dragon. Since Dragon Ball GT is no longer canon, these Dragon Balls only ever made an appearance in it, making them technically extinct.
The Super Dragon Balls and Negative Energy Dragon Balls
Since their Namekian makers used pieces from this set to make their own for other planets throughout the cosmos, the Super Dragon Balls were the first set to ever be created and serve as the foundation for all others.
They call forth the Dragon God Zalama, also known as Super Shenron, and are the size of planets.
These Dragon Balls disperse after use throughout Universes 6 and 7. The wish-maker must speak in the Divine Language and direct a specific word to the “core of Zalama’s presence” in order to use them.
This is more difficult said than done because the dragon is considerably larger than the galaxy average size.
The Dark Dragon Balls
This set, which is unique to Dragon Ball Heroes, is dark crimson with Black Stars.
They disperse across time and space, summon Dark Shenron, and are essentially impossible to assemble.
As they do throughout the Heroes’ Dark Empire Saga, they can also fuse with living things and grant enormous power.
These Dragon Balls contain enough negative energy to summon Shadow Dragons with just one wish.
Cereal’s Dragon Balls
These are the most recent Dragon Balls to be added to the canon. They are also the smallest, around the size of marbles.
The set also consists of just two pieces. They summon the relatively small dragon Toronbo and have black stars instead of the red-orange of the Earth and Namekian sets.
According to Granolah, it appears that they have the power to revive an entire race of people instantly.
However, it is currently unknown what else they can do and whether there are any negative side effects.
Have a look at this video for more details.
Conclusion
- The series’ namesake object is a set of dragon balls.
- The Eternal Dragon Shenron, who can grant wishes to anyone who collects all seven of them, can be summoned by these orange, crystalline spheres.