The greatest power-ups in Dragon Ball, ranked

summary

• Characters in the Dragon Ball franchise have gone through incredible and impressive power-ups.
• Frieza's power increases from 530,000 to 120 million; Super Saiyan Goku meets.
• Gohan's Beast Form Ultra Instinct in Dragon Ball Super is comparable to Goku's.

The Dragon Ball The series has always been known for some of the most memorable fights in anime history. But what makes these fights so special? Some of the best fights in Dragon Ball Series are the ones where the characters are much stronger than when they started the fight. The series originally had a concept that measured a character's power level, but as these numbers became more and more ridiculous, it abandoned it for arbitrary estimates based on their achievements.

what makes Dragon Ball Brawl specials are incredible power-ups that the characters are fighting with. Especially the main characters, who beat the odds by giving their opponents the power to match. The best way to rank power-ups in Dragon Ball is to gauge how strong a character is in their base form.

10 Frieza – Base Form to Final Form

But this is not his final form either

When he is originally introduced in the series, Frieza is portrayed as a formidable opponent that must be avoided at all costs. He is known as “the strongest being in the universe” and even Vegeta, who was such a threat to the Z Warriors, fears him. In his base form, Frieza's power level is 530,000.

In his final form against Goku, Frieza's power level is at 60 million. Goku, whose base power level is at 3 million, isn't able to do much even with a 20x Kaioken, increasing his power to match Frieza's suppressed power level. After Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan, Frieza powers up to 100% of his final form, which is 120 million. The reason it isn't higher is because Frieza already starts strong at his base level.

9 Super Sion

Legendary Saiyan Warrior

• Dragon Ball Z (Anime, 1989-1996)

Goku is the first of the Saiyans to achieve a legendary transformation during his battle against Frieza. Official sources claim that the Super Saiyan has a 50-fold increase in power level, pushing Goku's base 3 million power level into the 150 million range. His power level as a Super Saiyan is enough to help him defeat Frieza on Namek.

Eventually, the Super Saiyan form becomes an even greater power-up with Goku and Gohan's training in the Chamber of Souls and Time. Once Gohan gains his Super Saiyan power-up, they both train to master the Super Saiyan form, as Goku believes that managing their energy levels in the Super Saiyan state is more important than seeking anything outside of this form.

8 Super Namekian Piccolo

Piccolo absorbs Kami to overcome super science

• Dragon Ball Z (Anime, 1989-1996)

After absorbing Kami, Piccolo gains another massive power-up. This time, he receives a power-up that makes him stronger than all three Super Saiyans in the series, making him the strongest Z Warrior. This is a much larger, more exponential power-up than when Nel first absorbed the Namekian.

After this power-up, Piccolo is able to easily defeat Android 20 (Dr. Gero in Android body) and Imperfect Cell. He is able to go toe to toe against Android 17 and fight him to a draw. It's not revealed at the time, but Android 16 is the only character stronger than Piccolo in the series at this point.

7 Super perfect sale

He simply refuses to die

• Dragon Ball Z (Anime, 1989-1996)

Cell Saga is the point in the series where it officially stops using power levels, so here, it's ideal to gauge power-ups based on the achievements they achieve. But the super perfect cell is its strongest cell. After self-destructing near King Kai's planet he regenerates from a single cell (Goku teleports him there). After the resurrection, his achievements are incredibly impressive.

He grows genkai from his Saiyan biology, learns Goku's instant transmission ability, and returns to Earth, where a stray ray kills Future Trunks. He also has a lightning effect around his aura, similar to Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 transformation, indicating that he is potentially at that level in terms of power.

6 Super Saiyan 2

Gohan's magnum opus

• Dragon Ball Z (Anime, 1989-1996)

Super Saiyan 2 is first introduced in the Cell Saga, with Gohan transformed into a ruthless warrior after Cell pushes him too hard. Official sources state that it is twice as powerful as the original Super Saiyan form, making it a 100x power-up over the base Saiyan form.

In this format, Gohan is able to defeat Super Perfect Cell despite having only one arm, with the help of Goku's inspiration, destroying the android once and for all with the Kamehameha wave.

5 Super Saiyan 3

When Goku blows out his lungs

• Dragon Ball Z (Anime, 1989-1996)

Super Saiyan 3 is one of the most iconic changes Dragon Ball series. Much to the point where the transformation has carved itself into anime folklore by turning into a meme on the internet, mainly due to Goku's visceral screams as he transforms. Canonically, Goku is the only non-fused character to have achieved this form, but Vegeta has abandoned it entirely and gained a much stronger form.

According to official sources, the Super Saiyan 3 transformation has a 400 times increase in power to the base Saiyan form, making it twice as powerful as the Super Saiyan 2 transformation. Unfortunately, it can't really be very useful and is rendered obsolete very quickly.

4 Super Saiyan God

Goku finally becomes a god

• Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Anime, 2013)

This power-up is introduced after a major time skip, signaling the end Dragon Ball Z and the beginning of Dragon Ball Super. first seen in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods In the film, it takes the power of six pure-hearted Saiyans to transform one of them into a Super Saiyan God.

This power-up is far beyond the scale of previous Super Saiyan transformations. However, it still isn't close to defeating the God of Destruction, Beerus.

3 Golden Frieza

Still not his final form

• Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F (Anime, 2015)

Frieza's final form was not his final form. in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection fFrieza trains and travels to Earth and gets revenge on Goku for losing him on Namek. The reasoning was that he was so powerful that he never had to train in his life. After a few months of training, he takes on this new form called “Golden Frieza”.

As such, he is even stronger than Super Saiyan Blue, who is considered a stronger form than Super Saiyan God. The only reason he loses is because his stamina drains quickly in this form, causing him to lose to Vegeta in his Super Saiyan Blue form after defeating Goku. He would still go on to have another appearance in the manga, as Black Frieza.

2 Ultra Instinct

The One With Epic Theme Music

This is the most popular power-up Goku has received Dragon Ball Super. Unconventionally, this power-up is not referred to as a “transformation” but instead allows Goku's body to act autonomously without having to think in battle.

During the Tournament of Power, Goku is defeated by Jiren in this state, as he partially gained this power initially. When he later manages to fully achieve this state, he finally defeats Jiren, only for his body to drop him before he can finally strike him.

1 Animal Gohan

Cell Max vs. Deja Vu

The latest and greatest Dragon Ball In the series the transformation goes to Gohan Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. During his battle against Cell Max, Gohan unlocks this transformation. Until the last chapter it is not clear if this form is stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku Dragon Ball Super Manga.

Gohan fights Goku in his Mastered Ultra Instinct state using Beast Form and is able to easily hold up against Goku's strongest form, indicating that Gohan is at least on par with Ultra Instinct, if not stronger than Beast. What's incredible is that Gohan gets this power-up from his Ultimate Gohan form, which is stronger than Super Saiyan 3. He overcomes all of Goku's power-ups in one battle.