Burning Attack

The Burning Attack begins with one of the most distinctive animations in the series. Future Trunks performs a rapid, almost hypnotic sequence of arm movements, weaving his hands through the air in a pattern that seems to serve no practical purpose. He then crosses his arms over his chest before extending both palms forward with thumbs and index fingers touching, forming a diamond shape. From this formation, he launches a concentrated energy sphere at his target.

The hand movements are widely believed to be a feint or distraction rather than a necessary component of the technique. Trunks has demonstrated the ability to fire the attack without the elaborate setup, suggesting the arm flourishes are tactical misdirection designed to confuse opponents about the timing and trajectory of the actual blast.

Future Trunks introduces the Burning Attack during his legendary first appearance on Earth. After shouting to get Frieza's attention, he fires the energy sphere at the rebuilt tyrant. Frieza dodges and scoffs at the apparent miss, but the Burning Attack was never meant to hit. It was bait. While Frieza is busy being smug about dodging, Trunks appears above him with his sword drawn and slices him to pieces in one of the most satisfying moments in Dragon Ball Z history.

Across Timelines and Sagas

In the Dragon Ball Super manga, Future Trunks uses the Burning Attack as a Super Saiyan 2 to eliminate Future Dabura and Future Babidi, preventing them from ever resurrecting Majin Buu in his timeline. During the Goku Black arc in the anime, Trunks fires a point-blank Burning Attack at Super Saiyan Rose Goku Black after dragging him to the ground, creating an enormous pillar of fire.

The technique also appears in several films. In Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, Trunks fires it at Broly to defend Vegeta, though the Legendary Super Saiyan shrugs it off completely and floors Trunks with a single punch.

Few techniques in Dragon Ball have spawned as many variants as the Burning Attack. The Super Burning Attack, Limit Breaker Burning Attack, Spread Shot Burning Attack, and Guided Burning Attack all appear in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot alone. Xeno Trunks wields a Full Charge Burning Attack in Dragon Ball Heroes, and a combined version merges the Burning Attack with a partner's energy wave in Xenoverse 2.

Perhaps the most creative spin is the Burning Impact from Dragon Ball Heroes, which fuses Trunks' Burning Attack with Vegeta's Dirty Fireworks, used by the fusion character Xeno Vegeks. The technique has appeared in well over 30 video games since its debut, cementing it as one of the most recognizable signature moves in the franchise.