When the popular Dragon Ball character Piccolo comes to mind, two special moves usually jump into the head of fans everywhere. No, we're not talking about Light Grenade or his weird mouth beam. We're talking about the two highlights of Piccolo's Dragon Ball Z career, Special Beam Cannon and Hellzone Grenade.
These two moves are the go to moves when anyone puts everyone's favorite demonic Namekian in a game and are easily his two most popular and powerful moves. Which is the better move though? That's exactly why we created this list comparing the two, to find out arguments from both sides.
10 SPECIAL BEAM CANNON: CAN ACTUALLY KILL
If you haven't noticed, in Dragon Ball Z everyone that sees Piccolo charging up the Special Beam Cannon that recognizes what it is knows that they need to immediately get out of the way. This is because even with its weaknesses, the Special Beam Cannon is one of the most deadly special moves in the Dragon Ball series.
This is found out as early as the first battle in Dragon Ball Z where the move is used as Piccolo's trump card versus Raditz. Piccolo even teased it to Goku as the special surprise he created just for their rematch.
9 HELLZONE GRENADE: COOLER CONCEPT
While Special Beam Cannon has the ability to kill once it lands you have to admit that the concept behind the Hellzone Grenade is much cooler. Enclosing your opponent inside a barrage of balls of ki without them even noticing what you're planning until it's too late is one of the most creative things seen in Dragon Ball Z.
The best part is the reaction of the opponent once they know that it's too late to escape. By the time they see what's happened Piccolo is closing his arms and they see nothing but a flash of light.
8 SPECIAL BEAM CANNON: STRONGER
The Hellzone Grenade may have more spectacle going for it but is that a good enough replacement for strength? When Piccolo landed the Hellzone Grenade against Android 17 in the Cell/Android Saga it had no effect with Android 17 blocking at the last second. The same weakness is nowhere to be seen with the Special Beam Cannon.
This move has a 100% kill rate and is one of the strongest beams in the Dragon Ball series due to its drill-like nature. That's one of the reasons it's still seen to this day.
7 HELLZONE GRENADE: BETTER CHANCE OF HITTING
Yeah, the Special Beam Cannon has massive strength going for it but that's not saying much when it's only landed twice. It's a beam with a very slow charging rate. This is one place where the sneaky nature of the Hellzone Grenade truly shines. The move may not be as strong but it usually finds its mark.
This is because the Hellzone Grenade is masked behind a variety of things while Piccolo is unleashing the technique. First you think you're dodging lots of ki blasts and next thing you know you're trapped.
6 SPECIAL BEAM CANNON: ACTUALLY WORKED
Unlike the Hellzone Grenade, the Special Beam Cannon has a better win rate when it comes to Piccolo. It, of course, saved Gohan and the Earth from an early demise at the hands of Raditz. It's also claimed two lives during the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super. This is more than the Hellzone Grenade can say due to its first appearance basically being a dud.
While the Hellzone Grenade has shown its uses it sadly hasn't had as much of a success rate as the Special Beam Cannon. Maybe it's not as worth it as it seems?
5 HELLZONE GRENADE: MORE THAN ONE APPLICATION
The Hellzone Grenade makes up for its success rate by being useful in more than one way. This move doesn't just have to be used as a straight up attacking barrage. It's been seen to be a move for Piccolo to implement a myriad of tactics with such as when it was used to mix up an opponent during Super's Tournament of Power.
The same can't be said for the Special Beam Cannon as it is exactly what it says it is. A beam cannon that is only used to hit its target and kill.
4 SPECIAL BEAM CANNON: NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
Like we said, when an opponent sees the Special Beam Cannon and knows what it is or reads the power level behind it they know exactly what they need to do. There isn't a character in Dragon Ball history that has sat and watched Piccolo fire off a Special Beam Cannon with the intent to try to block or deflect it.
This is because you simply can't survive the Special Beam Cannon. The move has properties that turn it into a corkscrew drill ki blast that runs its way right through whoever Piccolo points his two fingers at.
3 HELLZONE GRENADE: FASTER FIRING RATE
Even though you can't survive the Special Beam Cannon that doesn't matter much if it has a charge time of like five minutes. With enough concentration, it is able to be fired off faster but that still doesn't bring it anywhere close to the firing rate of the Hellzone Grenade.
This is simply due to the nature of the Hellzone Grenade technique. It begins with an entire barrage of ki blasts. That's enough of a firing rate to outshine the Special Beam Cannon anyway. It also doesn't require Piccolo to sit and gather energy with his fingers on his forehead which adds more charge up time.
2 SPECIAL BEAM CANNON: CAN BEAT MULTIPLE OPPONENTS
While the Hellzone Grenade can trap opponents we've never seen it used against multiple foes. The same can't be said for the Special Beam Cannon as the drill-like nature of this beam allows it to go right through one opponent and continue drilling on through an opponent sitting right behind the first as well.
This is seen in two instances throughout the series. No one can forget the time it killed Goku and Raditz but it was used this way once again during the Tournament of Power where Piccolo took out two opponents with it once more.
1 HELLZONE GRENADE: CAN'T BE DODGED
Like we said earlier, the startup time of the Special Beam Cannon is the move's main weakness. No one is sitting around and waiting to get hit by a beam that will end their life in the most painful way a beam can on contact. That's a weakness that is unshared by the Hellzone Grenade, as the tricky nature of this special moves comes in handy once more.
The Hellzone Grenade when successfully deployed completely engulfs the target and leaves little to no room to escape and avoid it. This means that once the ki is out you can't dodge the Hellzone Grenade.