Fortnite’s new Dragon Ball Super event is excellent.
There are new playable characters like Bulma and Goku, there are cute themed quests, and it’s fun watching Goku hit the Griddy. But one of these additions considerably changes the way the game is played. Players can now collect items that allow them to ride a Nimbus Cloud through the sky and perform a Kamehameha, Goku’s signature giant laser power. The addition doesn’t just give players a new way to absolutely obliterate their foes, it’s also ratcheted up the chaos to obscene levels.
Imagine you’re making your way from the snow-packed paths of Logjam Lotus toward the greener hills surrounding a nearby town. You’ve just looted the Sawmill and you’re freshly topped off on shields after chugging down a plentiful supply of Chug Splash. You creep up a hill and everything appears to be calm… that is, until you hear an eerie shout in the distance. You and your squadmate don’t quite know what’s going on until you make out the sound:
“Kamehameha.”
Next thing you know, a Death Star-level laser descends from the sky and sets an entire field on fire, killing several players.
The awe-inducing power is part of a new set of items introduced during the Dragon Ball Super event. There are a few ways to get the Kamehameha, and I picked mine up through a random Capsule Corp drop. In Fortnite, these are marked on the map with Capsule Corp drop icons. If you go to that spot (and no one beats you to it), you can consume the capsule and it’ll release two items: a Kamehameha and Nimbus Cloud. Each is its own item that takes up a slot. (There are a few other ways to get these, and you can read our guide here.)
The Nimbus Cloud allows players to soar through the air at breakneck speed, and the Kamehameha looks like a glowing orb. When you pick it up, you get three charges, which lets you unleash a giant laser of death three times.
Getting Kamehameha’d is horrifying, to say the least, and it is the best new way to be bullied by random 11-year-olds playing the game. Here’s a clip of it in action.
Here is Goku using the attack.
People have said it’s overpowered, and it sort of is. When used in combination with the Nimbus Cloud, you can soar up into the sky, and then fire the laser at will from any point suspended in the air. The beam hits a sizable surface area, and it doesn’t need to be aimed all that precisely. You can also move it slightly after you launch.
When you do hit someone, it’s pretty much an insta-kill. There’s nothing quite like seeing your enemy gush health as you see the quaint “100” number pop up on screen and their loot sprinkles out on the battle field. The entire experience is equal parts thrilling and absurd.
That being said, waiting for it to charge up does leave you vulnerable, so it’s not like it’s impossible to beat someone with it. Others can dodge away or snipe at a player while they’re charging up.
The Kamehameha is a widely recognized attack from the Dragon Ball series. Multiple characters know how to use the energy beam, but it became popularized by its protagonist, Goku. The Kamehameha has long been the stuff of memes and viral videos due to the dramatic shouting associated with the power. To pull it off, Goku must shout, “Ka-me-ha-me-ha” as he builds up the power needed to successfully carry out the attack. This is both the origin of the name and why it’s so easily recognizable.
But now, we don’t need to imagine what it would be like to pull one off. We can just go and do it in Fortnite.