I am the biggest Baby fan. In the in-game rankings it says I have 200+ more games played than the next guy in line with a better than average win rate. I know a Super Baby or 2.

If that doesn't convince you, look at my Dokkan box.

There are some general things to keep in mind while playing Baby. These are all qualities that exist regardless of which Baby you are playing.


1. Despite the fact that he is considered by the game to be SSJ3 tier after his first transformation (i.e. he can "blink" with dodge when in sparking mode) all of his attacks do less damage than other characters in his transformation bracket. For example, Super Baby 2's ultimate will only do 17k damage to characters without defense reduction while other characters at their third or even second transformations will have ultimates that hit for 25k as an average. This is likely because of what I view as a technicality; Baby's final form is his Golden Great Ape, meaning if you want to be able to land your maximum damage attacks, you have to be good with Giant Form type characters.
In short, Baby has a permanent damage debuff until you've transformed three times.

2. If you start as any form besides Golden Great Ape, you are missing out on an entire bar of health, or 10k hp. Most characters start with four bars of health, you will only have three unless you go down the entire transformation line, then you are technically on par with other characters, but you'll still be at a disadvantage because while you were doing less damage and having a smaller health pool, you were likely taking hits from stronger characters than yourself with more health widening the health gap.
In short, Baby has a permanent health debuff if you do not start as Golden Great Ape.

3. In every form, his usable super attacks cost three bars. This means ki management is a huge deal. You will not be spamming galick guns like they're death beams or dodon rays.

4. Instead, all forms have a unique form of ki blast because in the anime Baby was a character with a huge amount of ki possesing Vegeta, the guy who made an entire technique dedicated to ki blasting. These are what you'll be throwing out most of the time. Ki blasts in general are important to the neutral in Tenkaichi games, but Baby takes full advantage of this with his multiple forms with special blasts.

5. Every form, besides Golden Great Ape, has the quick kicks that go around guard as its first chain attack. This means Baby has an easy mixup between kicks and teleport if the opponent blocks a melee hit, or essentially free damage since you can continue your melee combo after the first set of kicks if the first melee hit landed. If you just want to end the combo and perform a fast super or transform while the opponent is stunned, punch > chain > punch > chain in every form will give you two fast, barely reactable kick strings that will give you a short stun on the opponent if they don't supercounter or z-counter.

6. Each transformation takes 1 favorite technique charge except Golden Great Ape, which takes 3. That means to reach max strength you will need to charge up 5 sequential favorite technique charges. This is fine, because when you transform you also completely fill your ki guage, meaning special attacks become more available through the match and if you know how to manage it, you should theoretically always have enough ki to win vanish battles.

Chain attacks:
1. Kicks
2. Air Blast
3. Ki Surge
4. Gut Punch

Specials:
1. Baby Vegeta has the special attack "Finger Blitz Barrage" as a two-bar attack. You will never use it in a serious match. Unlike multi-blast supers in previous Tenkaichi games, which are good because they have multiple difficult to vanish projectiles with decent damage on each, this super has its damage split between a ton of projectiles and it is a grantee that several will miss. If you're standing on the ground, some will hit the floor. If you're above your enemy, they can easily dash away because the move has no tracking once it begins. The only thing I've seen it do is sometimes it can make Giant Form enemies have a tough time approaching you, which is an enemy type that you never see in ranked, and a few times if I fire it off for fun and the opponent circles around me to punish, some of the projectiles (only 1-3) will swing back around and collide with them. It's more likely the opponent tries to hit you and accidentally gets hit by a wayward hitbox, causing them to get sucked in and block the rest.
"You're mine!"

2. Galick Gun; plays a cinematic then shoots a big purple beam that does damage. Its simplicity makes up for Finger Blitz Barrage's uselessness, unfortunately you shouldn't be seeing it much because it takes three ki bars and an opponent that's as good as you or better will not let you charge that ki while you're at your weakest.
"Die! Galick Gun!"


Favorite Techniques:
1. Hi Tension; you will never ever use this because the second you get a charge you should transform out of this form. Even if you weren't transforming, a damage buff on what is a base form character just doesn't make him that much stronger.
"Just try it..."

2. Explosive Wave; your get-out-of-federal-prison-after-dealing-narcotics card. Useful if desperate, but you'd rather not have been in the situation to need it in the first place.
"Out of the way!"

Ultimate Technique:
Big Flash Attack/Final Bang; It will not land properly if you try to combo it after some attacks that send your opponent upwards. The beam has somewhat different travel properties from most others in the game, although it is very fast and the hitbox might be a bit wider than it should be. It's hard to tell with any beam ultimate because of the cinematic it triggers, though.
"Die, scum! Big Bang Attack!"

Playstyle:
Baby Vegeta lives and dies by his melee and charge ki blasts. His charged ki blasts shoot three projectiles that travel further than any other in the game. This makes him a zoning god in a game where you should almost always be defining neutral with ki blasts. If the opponent is especially bad at dealing with them, you can throw out the charged ki blast then start charging ki for a second until you need to shoot another charged ki blast. This will result in more ki than you had before, so as long as your opponent is bad at zoning you can safely charge all the ki you want.

It should also be noted that partially charging and fully charging the blast will change the speed of the orbs, the more charged the slower. Fully charging them will make them more likely to hit subsequently while a partial charge will likely cause them all to hit nearly at the same time.

Eventually your opponent will get sick of the ki blasts and dash at you. Luckily, all of Baby Vegeta's chain attacks are useful.

It's also a good idea to use charged ki blasts between combos for resets. They obscure the opponent's vision and make it hard to see what you're doing, especially if they block because it creates a smoke effect that will hide you. Throwing charged ki blasts into charged heavies then using the vanish finish to put them on the ground and loop back to the charged ki blasts is something that works at least twice against anyone that hasn't played against Baby, but you should experiment with other ways to open them up with what is basically a free smokescreen.

The zoning and prodding come together after you get the first transformation done with. With regular gameflow, it usually happens after light zoning or 2-3 combos have been exchanged.

His jump charge ki blast will shoot a single fast projectile instead of the three we're used to. It's not really ever needed.

Chain Attacks:
1. Kicks
2. Ki Surge
3. Air Blast
4. Gut Punch

Specials:
1. Tuffle Revenger; a rush attack that you were desperately missing. This by itself does about 10k damage, and it can easily be combo'd into.
"Just run away!
Oh, I'll teach you! Goaah!"

2. Galick Gun; as far as I can tell, it's exactly the same but it does 1k more damage. I have a hard time justifying its use when Tuffle Revenger is the same amount of ki, harder to vanish and does more damage. And technically the cinematic does change from the previous form, but I don't think any beam properties do nor do any hitbox changes occur from the minorly different poses done by the 3d models. All of that said, it is a beam and gives the classic "beam-rush" meta to one of Baby's transformations, so painfully average is just fine.
"Crumble! Galick Gun!"

Favorite Techniques:
1. Hi Tension; If you don't plan on transforming anymore or you're too big-balled to use afterimage, some bonus damage might help.
Default 5 hit combo damage before vs after: 2844-3102
"Interesting..."

2. Afterimage: You teleport out of the way of a punch. Requires setup and is telegraphed by you losing 2 favorite technique charges, but it'll catch people off-guard all the time. Baby also automatically throws hash on your behalf, which I appreciate. The line's delivery is very good.
"That's the extent of your power?"

Ultimate Technique:
Final Flash:Extremely fast, but has a very tough time hitting opponents hanging out above you. Baby will not aim upward in the slightest, meaning the beam will shoot forward for most of its travel time and miss. Very annoying, make sure to lab combos if you want to use this.
"Time to end this! Begone!"

Playstyle:
This form is objectively better than the previous. I'm willing to bet punch > chain > punch > chain > Tuffle Revenger can carry you through B rank because no one knows how to vanish rush attacks, and especially not after a quick melee stun. Something else cheeky to try is using the charged ki blast during your previous form, then when you see them connect, you can transform and combo Tuffle Revenger for a whole health bar of damage.

Being Baby's first really playable form, you can absolutely choose to stay here and not go to Super Baby 2 or Golden Great Ape. Afterimage is lost during the other transformations and you already have access to blinking if you go into sparking mode (I'm almost certain Baby is the only character with an ssj1 adjacent form that lets him blink and its soley for anime lore reasons). Unfortunately, despite being strong enough to blink, he still takes multiple hits to break hyper armor. This makes him a weak choice against Giant Form characters, whom are also immune to Tuffle Revenger, and Broly who will shred your 10k less health having self.

With normal gameflow, I find that after a single Tuffle Revenger I can already transform again. Although it's short-lived, this form can be absolutely devastating due to its high damage potential against lower-level to medium strength transformations. The only debatably bad thing about it is the fact that afterimage replaced explosive wave, but with this game's explosive wave nerfs in general you can take either and be just fine.

All of his ki blasts are the same as his first form, all except his jump charge blast, which splits into two and each travels in its own randomized spread. Very strange.

Chain Attacks:
1. Kicks
2. Gut Punch
3. Opponent Spin
4. Ki Surge

Specials:
1. Final Flash: Replacing Galick Gun as the new standard beam, Final Flash either moves faster than the Galick Gun or I've placebo'd myself into thinking it does because it gets more use than Galick Gun really did in either of the previous forms. It does aim upward this time, which makes me wonder why the ultimates were so limited.
"I'll disintegrate you! Final Flash!"

2. Revenge Cutter; This attack can not be blocked, but will do less damage than Final Flash if all hits connect. The Cutter itself has multiple hits and will fly for a long time without disappearing, leaving you open for punishment if it misses. The Cutter also has an issue where it will clip through the enemy as they go into a stunned pain animation when it connects, causing the rest of the Cutter to fly harmlessly away and you to stand there praying that you recover before the opponent does. You only want to use this if you're aiming toward the ground because hitting your opponent with it doesn't always guarantee a good situation.
"Revenge is mine!"

Favorite Techniques:

1. Explosive Wave: VIP move, if anyone touches you just use it and reset neutral. Baby also spits hash again.
"You trash!"


2. Full Power: Charges ki fully into sparking mode with no damage buffs. It costs 4 favorite technique charges, which can be a hefty price but it will get you out of some tough spots mainly because of the inherent advantages of sparking mode.
"I'll destroy you!:


Ultimate Technique:
Revenge Death Ball: A large sphere similar to a spirit bomb in size and speed, unfortunately this one can be blocked. For being a third form ultimate, the damage is somewhat disappointing to me. The ball hitting also triggers a cinematic, which will put you and the opponent in set positions after it ends, positions that will make it very easy for them to re-lock onto you after the ultimate animation ends. Overall a disappointment, but by the time you launch it the opponent shouldn't have enough health to survive so it's really a non-issue if you've been transforming up to this point. If you start as Super Baby 2 and get stuck launching 18k damage orbs that get their damage reduced to 15k against all the good characters in the game, I don't know what to tell you.
"Know the pain...of the Tuffles! Revenge Death Ball!"

Playstyle:
Go absolutely wild. Genuinely, by the time you're at Super Baby 2 either you or the other guy is about to die. It's rare that you'll get this far and you both have two bars of health. Not to mention with the order of your chain attacks changing and your special attacks changing every transformation, if someone isn't used to the match-up they can get completely flustered and shut down. Your charged ki blast has become a more normalized single flying ball. I promise, after having to reflect or block three of them, the other guy is going to have trouble managing the one strong one. Don't be afraid to drop zoning if you get to Super Baby 2, he hits much harder than the previous forms and isn't much built for zoning anymore anyway now that he shoots one charged ki blast at a time. (Your jump charged ki blast is now a mini destructo-disc.)

Chain Attacks:
1. Ki Canon
2. Opponent Spin
3. Gut Punch
4. Ki Surge

Specials:

1. Super Galick Gun: DO NOT use this like a normal beam attack. It has a cinematic, but the animation continues after the cinematic and makes it too slow to punish other beams and too slow to combo into most things. The only thing I can reliably combo it with is a grab, but the opponent can probably tech out or vanish it and I've just never seen it. To be fair, it does 10k damage; 12k with the boost and that's maybe the highest normal to boost ratio in the game. Boosting most moves just isn't worth it because they don't get 2k extra damage. If this is about to land, make it hurt like hell.
"Just die! Super Galick Gun!"

2. Gigantic Flame; Very short ranged, and lasts a long time so you can get punished heavy, but it's unblockable. It does similiar damage to the Revenge Cutter, but boosted lands a full 10k. Great for people that don't know the matchup, terrible for everybody else.
"No escape!"

Favorite Techniques:

1. Explosive Wave: The most important move in the game just got even better because now you're a hulking behemoth that gets combo'd every which way. At least with this you can reliably reset to neutral since it's hard Z-Countering when you can't see the other guy with Baby standing in the way.
"Keep away!"


2. Roar: Charges ki fully into sparking mode with a damage and defense buff. You only get the chance to use this when people try to zone you out, so counterzone as best you can then hit it.
"Ga-ah ah"

Ultimate Technique:
Revenge Death Ball Final: A large sphere similar to a spirit bomb in size and speed, unfortunately this one can be blocked. This ultimate is very disappointing, too. It can be blocked, can pass over opponents if they are standing too close to you when you use it, and does not cross the 25k damage threshold that the busted characters' ultimates do. Desperately needs a buff.
"This will finish you off! Die, trash!"

Playstyle:
You were about to die with Super Baby 2 and needed some extra health to close the fight, and now you're having trouble controlling yourself. Playing a Great Ape character takes knowledge of a completely different game it feels like, there are a lot of things to consider like character heights and general positioning. Great Apes are the best at playing honest footsies with medium strength characters and lose to everything above that matchup-wise. Both you and your opponent are going to have to adjust to the new form on the fly, so it may help to know they didn't see this coming if it's your first match together, especially so if they're playing a Super character because Super fans never actually watched GT.

Your ki projectiles are stronger than most characters and you can tank through light ones without reacting. Characters that are considered SSJ2 strength and weaker will have to fight through hyper armor before they can combo you, giving you chances to counter hit them for a combo of your own. If they're SSJ3 or stronger, you're going to have to space them out so that your long limbs outreach their attacks and hope trades don't happen.
If the opponent is below you, hold the down direction while attacking to attack closer to the ground. I once got this string to combo after the default one, but never again after that one time.
Your super attacks won't combo after much, but they're also great for counter hits because of the super attack armor. If someone tries to turtle up, lock them in place with ki blasts then spit fire on them.

Unless you really wanted to play Golden Great Ape, you probably have low health and need to play smart and slow. That's the most important part, don't go in swinging like an idiot or you will lose every time.

If I hear another twitch streaming, whining, conniving, dlc buying, Tenkaichi skipping momma's boy complain about transformations and shooting ki blasts in a Dragonball game I'm going to go mental on this new influx of players.