20 Strongest Dragon Ball Characters, Ranked By Power

The late, great Akira Toriyama's most globally beloved manga/anime franchise is "Dragon Ball," a classic anime that's better than its legacy suggests. The saga centers on Goku, a martial artist who discovers he was sent to Earth as part of a conquering warrior race of extraterrestrials, known as Saiyans. Instead, Goku becomes Earth's greatest defender, with him and his allies steadily growing stronger and achieving higher levels of combat transformations. Toriyama's popular story has expanded into several anime series and movies, each showcasing new levels of its main characters' power.

With a story so concerned with its characters' combat strength and raw power levels, fans have been arguing who are the strongest throughout its entire history. From the franchise's merciless villains to its planet-shattering heroes, there are plenty of characters to choose from. To clarify, we're sticking with the various "Dragon Ball" anime depictions of the characters, with the manga and other media making power levels hard to define. 

Here are the 20 strongest "Dragon Ball" characters ranked by power.

Some of the last work by Akira Toriyama prior to his death in 2024 was writing the anime series "Dragon Ball Daima." Set between the climactic fight in "DBZ" and the start of "Dragon Ball Super," the show introduces the villainous Gomah, King of the Demon Realm. After upgrading himself with the mythical Third Eye, Gomah is able to wear down Vegeta and Goku in separate skirmishes, while both are in their strongest forms at the time. With Gomah taking on Super Saiyan 4 Goku directly, it can be estimated that he's stronger than any villain in "DBZ."

It's still unclear how the Super Saiyan 4 form in "Daima" is compared to its "DBGT" counterpart, but the transformation wasn't enough for Goku to stop Gomah on his own. Given the approximate timeline placement of "Daima," it can be assumed that Super Saiyan God is likely stronger than Gomah's final form, along with Super Saiyan 4. But given his upgrade with the Third Eye, including a near limitless healing factor, Gomah wins his fights through sheer endurance, rope-a-doping a fully powered Goku. That long game approach earns Gomah a spot, if only just making the cut.

With it lacking the direct involvement of Toriyama, there has been an ongoing debate if "Dragon Ball GT" is canon to the franchise's presumed mainline continuity. Regardless of its canonical status, the 1996 series brought memorable new transformations and villains into the mix. The first major enemy confronting Goku and his friends was Baby, who swore revenge on the Saiyans for destroying his race, the Tuffles. Baby had the ability to possess different host bodies, combining their strength with his own, selecting Vegeta as his primary host.

While possessing Vegeta, Baby is far stronger than Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form, making him more powerful than any villain "Dragon Ball Z." It's only when Goku finally achieves his Super Saiyan 4 transformation that he gains an edge. Even then, when Baby uses Vegeta's physiology to turn into a Great Ape, he's on relatively even footing as a Super Saiyan 4. The first real threat for our heroes in "DBGT," Baby's silly name betrays how formidable he is.

At the end of "Dragon Ball GT," it's revealed that the characters have overused the Dragon Balls, resulting in the malevolent Shadow Dragons being unleashed. The show's final battle has Goku and his friends confronting Syn Shenron, the last Shadow Dragon standing. While Goku is initially able to combat the villain as a Super Saiyan 4, Syn grows significantly stronger when he absorbs Dragon Balls and transforms into Omega Shenron. who overpowers Goku and Vegeta simultaneously, even with both fighters powered up to Super Saiyan 4.

Omega Shenron is easily the strongest villain in "Dragon Ball GT," only destroyed by a Universal Spirit Bomb created by life energy from the entire universe. Omega completely heals himself after taking on Goku's Dragon Fist special move full-on and only grows more powerful from there. Channeling all the energy from his absorbed Dragon Balls, Omega is capable of launching negative energy attacks with untold destructive potential. Having said this, there is someone stronger than Omega Shenron in "DBGT," but we'll get to him later.

The big bad that "Dragon Ball" keeps coming back to is Frieza, who is, admittedly, one of the best anime villains of all time. Frieza is also a villain who is constantly killed (or apparently killed) twice in "DBZ" alone and once at the start of "Super." In the case of the latter, Frieza trains after his resurrection, obtaining a powerful new transformation known as Golden Frieza. In this form, Frieza can fight against a Super Saiyan Blue, one of the strongest Saiyan transformations in the franchise.

The problem is, as with his final form in "DBZ," Frieza has trouble with regulating his stamina, burning through his energy quickly while transformed as Golden Frieza. He overcomes these issues by the Tournament of Power at the end of "Super" but still hasn't surpassed Goku, Vegeta, and other participants. The "Dragon Ball Super" manga introduces a new transformation in Black Frieza, but it has yet to appear in the anime. In the meantime, Frieza remains a reliably threatening presence but nowhere near the strongest antagonist in the anime.

"Dragon Ball Z" saw the franchise shift from fantasy to science fiction, including the debut of villainous androids halfway through the series. This included the identical twins Androids 17 and 18, who both were eventually reformed and settled down separately to raise families. However, while working as a park ranger, 17 also quietly trained and increased his power steadily. When 17 resurfaces in "Dragon Ball Super," he is shown to be roughly on par with Goku when the latter was transformed as a Super Saiyan Blue.

What gives Android 17 a considerable edge over many characters on this list is that, thanks to his cybernetic enhancements, he has limitless stamina. This advantage is showcased in "DBZ" that, despite being equal to Piccolo at the start of their fight, the Namekian warrior eventually began to tire. A deadlier version of 17 emerges in "DBGT," fusing with a duplicate of himself turning him into Super 17, who overpowers Super Saiyan 4 Goku. Surpassing his twin sister and Cell, Android 17 has become the strongest of Dr. Gero's creations.

"Dragon Ball Super" introduced combat transformations and enemies presumably stronger than the franchise had ever seen before. This scope expanded to an entire multiverse, with warriors from every universe duking it out, battle royale-style, in the series' climactic Tournament of Power. This includes Universe 11, including Top, who is training to become his reality's God of Destruction. In his base form, Top is able to fight against Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta on relatively even footing, though the Saiyan Prince maintains an edge.

What really propels Top over several on this list is when he taps into his divine power from his God of Destruction training. Growing visibly more violent and uninhibited, Top easily overpowers Golden Frieza in this form and gains the advantage over Vegeta. It's only when Vegeta taps most of his energy into his last-ditch Final Explosion technique that Top is defeated, nearly at the cost of Vegeta's life. Anyone who possesses God of Destruction energy stands as a cut above, exemplified by Top.

In addition to featuring a multiverse, "Dragon Ball" also contains branching timelines, including a dystopian future defended by an alternate version of Trunks. In "Super," Trunks' timeline is invaded by Zamasu, the evil Supreme Kai from Universe 10, obsessed with eradicating mortals. Witnessing Goku's raw power, Zamasu seizes control of a different timeline version's body, combining his divine power with Goku's Saiyan physiology to become Goku Black. Frustrated by how resilient Goku and Vegeta are, Goku Black recruits a version of himself from a different timeline, fusing with him to grow significantly more powerful.

Even before the fusion, Zamasu was strong enough to force Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta to retreat and train quickly to match him. Fused Zamasu proved stronger than Goku and Vegeta on their own, forcing them to use the Potara earrings to fuse themselves, only the second canonical time they've done so. The big thing holding Zamasu from a higher spot is that his fusion is unstable, a result of merging Goku Black's mortal body with Zamasu's divine one. That means, if pushed to his limits, Zamasu's fusion begins to visibly break down, making all power come at a steep price.

If it wasn't for the 2022 anime movie "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," Piccolo wouldn't have stood a chance of making this list. "Super Hero" added new transformations for several returning characters, including Piccolo, who gained two new forms. The stronger of the two transformations is the aptly named Orange Piccolo, with the Namekian not only changing colors but growing visibly more muscular. The strongest form that Piccolo's enjoyed to date, Orange Piccolo form allows him to physically restrain the movie's big bad.

By the final storylines of "DBZ," it felt like Piccolo had fallen far behind his Saiyan allies' strength. The Orange Piccolo transformation catapults the Namekian fighter among the most powerful heroic characters in the franchise. In promotional materials for "Super Hero," Toriyama estimated that the orange upgrade put Piccolo on the same relative tier as Goku and his similarly powered friends. This is rarefied air for the Namekian, but there are other characters that still edge him out.

The aforementioned big bad of "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" is Cell Max, a vastly upgraded form of Dr. Gero's bioorganic synthetic villain. The movie reveals that Gero has a grandson named Hedo, who is also a technological genius. Recruited by the Red Ribbon Army, Hedo improves upon Gero's designs for the original Cell and creates the vastly superior Cell Max. Activated before completion, Cell Max quickly proves to be not only stronger than the first Cell but any other of Hedo's creations.

With a stature rivaling the franchise's Great Apes, Cell Max possesses immense brute strength, even though he's technically incomplete. Cell Max has a virtually impenetrable exterior, with a vital weak point only exposed by chance when the collected Z-Fighters confront him. Even in his orange form, Piccolo proves unable to stop Cell Max, only barely able to hold him in place for a limited time. It's a good thing for the heroes that Cell Max never saw completion or the synthetic villain could've become truly unstoppable.

A perennial fan-favorite is Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans and a longstanding frenemy of Goku throughout the franchise. Participating in some of the top anime fights of all time, Vegeta periodically closes the power gap between himself and Goku. Driven by his constant desire to be the mightiest warrior in the universe, Vegeta achieves many of the same combat transformations as Goku. During the Tournament of Power, Vegeta breaks the normal limits of Super Saiyan Blue, developing a stronger variant of it referred to as Super Saiyan Blue Evolution.

Even if more powerful characters than Vegeta are introduced, it's never wise to count out the Saiyan Prince. Through sheer force of will, Vegeta consistently pushes himself to grow stronger and find new plateaus of power within himself. The "Dragon Ball Super" manga even introduces more techniques and transformations for Vegeta, though these haven't been seen in the anime yet. Never one to let himself fall too far behind, Vegeta is always training diligently, looking to claim his spot as the strongest in the multiverse.

"Dragon Ball Super" establishes the main universe seen throughout the franchise as Universe 7, while the neighboring Universe 6 also has its own Saiyan race. Among the most powerful fighters from this reality are Kale and Caulifa, who use the Potara earrings to fuse into Kefla. A composite Saiyan so powerful that even the normally disinterested Jiren takes notice, Kefla is the strongest warrior from Universe 6 by a considerable margin. Fused, Kefla was capable of transforming into a Super Saiyan 2, significantly augmenting her already incredible power output.

Kefla proved more than a match for Goku who was previously handling Kale and Caulifa with relative ease before their fusion. The stress of facing Kefla forced Goku to trigger his Ultra Instinct Sign transformation, a powerful form he could only assume reflexively under pressure. Though Kefla continued to hold her own against the upgraded Goku, his martial arts mastery caught her off-guard resulting in her defeat. But in terms of sheer power, Kefla is easily one of the strongest characters in the franchise, let alone Universe 6.

One of the strongest participants in the Tournament of Power is Jiren, one of the warriors representing Universe 11 in the competition. Jiren doesn't mask his contempt for those he feels are below him, including initially dismissing Goku with a fraction of power that left the Saiyan speechless. As such, Jiren spent a significant portion of the Tournament of Power meditating away from the combat, only resuming battle towards the end. Even with Vegeta at Super Saiyan Blue Evolution and Goku at Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken, Jiren was able to fend both warriors simultaneously.

It isn't until Goku begins to use the Ultra Instinct transformation that Jiren's stoic demeanor begins to falter. Even then, it isn't until Goku taps into the full power of his divine form, referred to as Autonomous Ultra Instinct, that he begins to gain an advantage. Jiren isn't so easily defeated, however, and the ensuing fight is so prolonged, Goku's body breaks down. Only defeated through exhaustion and the simultaneously coordinated efforts of three opponents, Jiren is the strongest antagonist in the "Super" anime series.

Ever since the start of "Dragon Ball Z," it was suggested Gohan was stronger than Goku, surpassing his father from an early age. This concept has been handled inconsistently in the years following, with Goku often reclaiming his top position in the family due to Gohan's lack of training. "Dragon Ball Super" showcased Gohan reaching an Ultimate level on par with Goku's Super Saiyan Blue, with "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" taking this one step farther. Tapping into his latent potential, Gohan unlocks a new Beast form making him stronger than Cell Max, destroying the upgraded villain.

The full limit of Gohan's Beast form has yet to be shown, with no opponent able to withstand it so far. As per Toriyama's comments in the previously mentioned "Super Hero" promotional materials, Gohan's new transformation puts him on par with where Goku currently is. This is underscored in a friendly sparring match in the "Super" manga, though the fight results aren't conclusive. Gohan certainly has the potential to become the strongest Saiyan in the franchise, but he hasn't quite lived up to that potential yet.

Though "Dragon Ball" has brought in temporary replacement protagonists before, most notably with Gohan during certain periods of "DBZ," the franchise really is told from Goku's perspective. The overarching story covers different ages for Goku during each "Dragon Ball" series, including the enormous leaps in power he achieves. This carries into "Super," which has Goku take on his strongest form to date, Autonomous Ultra Instinct, during the Tournament of Power.

In this silver-haired form, Goku is virtually untouchable, able to evade incoming attacks on, as the form's name suggests, instinctively. Goku's strength is also significantly increased in Ultra Instinct, with each of his blows visibly hurting Jiren in a way he couldn't as a Super Saiyan Blue. Even in death, Goku grows stronger after every time he's died in "Dragon Ball," showcasing techniques and forms like Kaio-Ken and Super Saiyan 3 upon his return. That kind of dedication and improvement from beyond the grave is unmatched, demonstrating why Goku is the hero of "Dragon Ball" all along.

"Dragon Ball" has actually featured two different versions of Broly, a non-canonical iteration during the "DBZ" era and a canonical one in the "Super" anime movies and manga. We're focusing on the "Super" version of Broly, debuting in the 2018 movie "Dragon Ball Super: Broly." This Broly grows stronger rapidly as he fights, eventually overpowering both Vegeta and Goku at Super Saiyan Blue, despite his relative lack of training. When an enraged Broly transforms into a Legendary Super Saiyan, it takes Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta to defeat him, the first time Gogeta needs that power level.

Akira Toriyama had one rule for Broly's redesign in "Dragon Ball Super," which was to not make him overly macho. Even with his more realistic build, Broly is an absolute force of nature, especially when he loses his temper and powers up out of control. Even working together, Goku and Vegeta couldn't slow down the Legendary Super Saiyan, leading to more desperate measures. "Dragon Ball Super: Broly" is one of the best anime movies ever, and a big part of that appeal is how scaled-up in power its formidable Saiyan has become.

Akira Toriyama never expected to create something like "Dragon Ball Z," including its concept of warriors fusing into stronger composite characters. "DBZ" introduced several different ways for characters to merge together, including with the divine Potara earrings. Goku and Vegeta used this technique to fuse together into the composite warrior Vegito, first to fight Majin Buu towards the end of "DBZ." In "Super," Goku and Vegeta merge to create Vegito again, transforming into a Super Saiyan Blue to fight against the similarly fused Zamasu.

Given the merger time limit with the Fusion Dance, Gogeta is normally listed as slightly weaker than Vegito. However, "Super" unveiled a fatal flaw behind the Vegito fusion, with the merger unable to withstand the combined power of two Super Saiyan Blues for long. The resulting instability caused Vegito to defuse much earlier than expected, inconveniently before he could defeat Zamasu. That said, Vegito is still one of the strongest characters in "Dragon Ball," so long as the fusion is maintained long enough for him to get the job done.

The most recognized fusion method is from the Fusion Dance, a technique Goku learned in the afterlife. When two fighters of similar stature match their power levels and complete the synchronized dance, they fuse together for 30 minutes before the merger wears off. Goku and Vegeta use this technique in a handful of anime movies and "DBGT" to create Gogeta. In "DBGT," Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta easily outclasses Omega Shenron before the fusion expires prematurely while, in "Dragon Ball Super: Broly," Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta overpowers Legendary Super Saiyan Broly.

As evidenced in "Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn" and "Broly," Gogeta can usually finish a fight before hitting his time limit. In "Fusion Reborn," Gogeta destroys Janemba, a foe stronger than Super Saiyan 3 Goku, in a matter of seconds while in the standard Super Saiyan form. "DBGT" suggests that Gogeta suffers from the same power instability as Vegito, but this limitation is dismissed by "Broly." Goku and Vegeta's ultimate fused form, Gogeta can level any enemy that previously outmatched Goku or Vegeta separately.

"Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods" establishes that every universe has its own God of Destruction and a Supreme Kai. Universe 7's Destroyer is Beerus, a feline-like being who emerges from a lengthy slumber in the 2013 anime movie. After handily defeating Super Saiyan 3 Goku, Beerus accepts a rematch against him on Earth, with Goku transforming into a Super Saiyan God for the first time. The subsequent "Super" anime series reveals Beerus was holding back significantly against Goku, even at this form, though quietly impressed by his performance.

Akira Toriyama was unusually involved in "Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods," including Beerus after his pet cat. That stereotypical feline disinterest carries over into Beerus' demeanor and fighting style, but the Destroyer God can certainly back up his hubris. Beerus erased Zamasu from the primary timeline with a single technique while he regularly annihilates entire planets without a second thought. A deity of untold power, Beerus lives up to his divine role and has yet to be matched by a mortal.

Every God of Destruction is accompanied by an angelic attendant who is significantly stronger than the deity they are partnered with. In the case of Universe 7, Beerus' attendant is Whis, often by the Destroyer's side holding his large staff. Whis' cheerful demeanor conceals the full extent of his power, with the angel able to knock Beerus unconscious with a single light blow. In "Super," Whis spars with Goku and Vegeta simultaneously, taking the time to observe and appreciate the surrounding nature while dodging and blocking all incoming blows.

Really, any of the angelic attendants, including Whis' father, the Grand Minister, could fill up this list. For the sake of variety, we're lumping in Whis' siblings and father with him, but the franchise's angels are that strong. Even as a Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly can't land a single hit on Whis, who casually dodges all of the intended attacks without ever losing his cool. Whis' full potential is still unknown but, given how handily he can stuff Beerus and Broly, he's definitely in a different league.

Speaking of not underestimating a character by their physical appearance and demeanor, there's Grand Zeno. Also known as the Omni King, Zeno presides over the entire multiverse, accompanied by the Grand Minister. "Super" reveals that the multiverse once contained 18 universes, but Zeno erased six of them on a whim. This power is witnessed firsthand later in the series, with Zeno instantly obliterating an entire timeline conquered by Zamasu and with Zeno casually erasing universes during the Tournament of Power.

Zeno is another one of those characters whose full potential has yet to be unveiled. However, given what we have seen from the childish deity so far suggests he can reshape reality with a thought. This is underscored by how utterly terrified Beerus becomes whenever Zeno appears, deferring to the Omni-King. While appearing innocent and cute, Grand Zeno is capable of destruction on a scale no other "Dragon Ball" character can rival.