Jiren is one of the toughest opponents Goku encounters in Dragon Ball Super, and his story in Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO shows just how limited his character development is in the original timeline. While Jiren’s unlockable Episode Battle campaign mainly features some tough endurance challenges, he does have a few branching paths that require specific conditions to access. He’s also one of the rare characters in Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO who can unlock a wish from the Dragon Balls through Super Shenron by completing a side story. This guide covers all the steps you need to take to unlock all of Jiren’s paths, complete his campaign, and make that wish happen.
All Jiren Branching Paths in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO
To unlock Jiren as a playable character, you first have to finish Goku’s Episode Battle mode. You can still explore Goku’s branching paths, but Jiren will only become available after completing the mission titled “Goku’s Strength.” Among all the branching paths, starting Jiren’s is surprisingly easy since it only requires a simple dialogue choice. The side path is True Strength. However, you might find the upcoming endurance battles quite challenging, especially when Goku starts using his Ultra Instinct forms to evade many of your attacks.
The True Strength Pathway
First, you need to finish Jiren’s campaign without unlocking the True Strength side path. This means you should choose to intervene during the dialogue in Saiyan Rampage and defeat Kale when she transforms into the Legendary Super Saiyan. Be sure to defeat all your enemies in time, and you’ll unlock the first of the side paths after the mission Ultimate Climactic Battle.
After that, return to the cutscene in Saiyan Rampage and choose to wait and see instead. This path is somewhat similar to Piccolo’s branching path, where you have to complete certain missions before rejoining the main timeline and altering the outcomes of fights that seem predetermined.
Now you’ll face several endurance battles in a row, but more importantly for the story, you need to make Jiren fight Master Roshi. Roshi will share some wisdom that transforms Jiren, so when he quickly defeats all the heroes in Ultimate Climactic Battle, he’ll wish for all the erased universes to come back. This grants you a single use of the Super Dragon Balls, 100,000 Zeni, and the “Jiren’s Saga: True Strength” photo collection.
As one of the newer characters in Dragon Ball, Jiren appears in only one arc. Unlike characters like Vegeta, who have multiple branching paths, Jiren’s options depend solely on whether you’ve played the side story first. To summarize Jiren’s branching path: in the “Ultimate Climactic Battle” of the Universe Survival Arc, you can either defeat all enemies after completing the main story for the regular deviation step or win against all opponents after fighting Master Roshi by completing all the side story missions and then swiftly defeating everyone in this mission.
