Dragon Ball: Kaioken, explained

Key takeaways

  • The Kaioken technique multiplies the user's power level but causes great strain on the body.
  • Goku's mastery of Ki control allows him to stack Kaiokane effects and later combine them with Super Saiyan transformations.
  • Kaioken's advantage in increasing strength is offset by serious drawbacks such as physical stress and limited usage duration.



When Goku learns his Saiyan heritage early on Dragon Ball ZIt fundamentally introduced raising stakes Dragon Ball Seen with the rise of the Demon King Piccolo. Goku, one of the most powerful fighters in the story until the end Dragon BallWas badly defeated in battle against his older brother Raditz and sacrificed his own life to defeat him.

After crossing the Serpent's path in the afterlife, Goku was able to receive training from King Kai, who taught him one of the most important moves in Goku's arsenal: the Kaioken. What exactly is this, and what makes it such an important point in Goku's training over the course of the franchise?

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What is Kaioken?

Power amplification was invented by King Kai himself


Kaioken, also romanized as “Kaio-ken”, “Kaioh-ken” and “Kaiōken”, is a technique invented by King Kai. Kaio) which increases the user's physical capacity many times over at the cost of greater stress on the body. When activated, the user's skin and clothing all glow with a fiery purple-red aura that causes their blood vessels to dilate and muscles to numb, instantly increasing their power level, strength, speed and awareness in battle for the duration of the technique. At its base level, Kaioken doubles the user's base power level, but its true value lies in its ability to stack its effects multiple times. During the battle against Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga, Goku managed to unleash the Kaioken x4, but this increased output caused extremely adverse side effects due to the technology's strain on the body.


Canonical vs. non-canonical iterations of Kaiokane

Technology

Canon | Media of presence

Kaioken (x2 – x10)

Canon | Manga and Anime

Kaioken x100

Non-canon Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug

Kaioken x Super Saiyan Blue

Non-canon Anime only

After training under 100 times normal gravity, Goku learns to handle increased outputs, reaching heights such as Kaioken x20 against the Ginyu Force during the Frieza Saga, but its limits are related to the user's durability and combat experience. The mechanic that enables mastering and using Kaiokane is the mastery of Ki control, leading to very powerful Super Saiyan transformations (the first of which is at some point 50 times the user's base power) because these transformations are initially linked to heightened emotional states that lead to Ki control. affects and thus makes technology more. Dangerous to apply with conversion.


However, given that Goku overcomes these with mastery in each form, it should be possible to combine the Kaiokane with the Super Saiyan transformation as shown in Dragon Ball SuperGoku combined this technique with the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan several times before perfecting it in a battle against Jiren during the Tournament of Power.

Its greatest advantage is its greatest weakness

A technique created for giant-killing

goku-kaioken-frieza


Kaioken's ability to multiply the user's base strength many times over makes it the perfect technique to use when facing an opponent much stronger than himself, and without this technique in his arsenal, Goku would likely have been crushed by Vegeta in their first battle. However, the technique generally follows the idea that the stronger the technique, the greater the effect of its use, and therefore its biggest disadvantage is how much stress it puts on the body long after it is used. After using the Kaiokane x4 in the Gallic Gun/Kamehameha Beam conflict, Goku's body was so weak that Yajirobe's back slapped him causing him to scream in pain.

“It's like a huge surge of energy. Everything is heightened: strength, speed, hearing and even vision improve dramatically. You become a kind of super-self. But it only lasts for a short time, so you have to get over it. The job is done quickly. .”

Stress is caused by the immense concentration it takes to keep kiokane active, and the fact that it basically forces the body to work with a flow of kiok that is many times its normal maximum output. Therefore, it is terrible for use in fights that are drawn out, and even when used by Goku Dragon Ball SuperHe couldn't ignore the negative effects of this technique even when combined with Super Saiyan Blue, a form that came with minimal ki leakage, a problem with non-divine Super Saiyan transformations.


Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z is a Japanese anime series produced by Toei Animation and is a sequel to the 1986 Dragon Ball series. It continues Son Goku's adventures as an adult and also parallels the life of his son Gohan. Son Goku usually saves Earth from villains like Vegeta, Frieza, Cell and Majin Buu. The series is followed by Dragon Ball GT and then Dragon Ball Super.

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