The Frieza saga of Dragon Ball Z ended with the ultimate battle between the intergalactic tyrant himself and Goku, who had transformed into a Super Saiyan - a legendary form thought to be lost to history. This was easily one of the most important and game-changing moments in Dragon Ball history, but as time went on, the Super Saiyan form became less and less important, both because stronger forms came out and because even a few non-Saiyans began to surpass the so-called “legendary” form. This is to say that Super Saiyan is no longer the greatest power up in the franchise.
It seems obvious when we put it that way, given the existence of Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3, but we’re not talking about those. We’re talking about the forms that completely replaced or surpassed Super Saiyan or any of the subsequent ascensions thereof. Then again, some forms are still second tier when compared to Super Saiyan, putting the golden-haired form somewhere in the middle of the power scale of Dragon Ball transformations. If all that was a bit confusing, then here is the simplified version: there are ten forms way better than Super Saiyan, and ten forms that are much worse.
Here are 10 Transformations Better Than Super Saiyans (And 10 That Are Worse).
BETTER: SUPER SAIYAN GOD
Let’s start with the first new form we got since Dragon Ball Z ended: Super Saiyan God. This one is pretty interesting for a lot of reasons, the biggest one being the ceremony that goes into it. Instead of being achieved like other Super Saiyan forms, Super Saiyan god can only be used when five Super Saiyans put their power into a sixth Super Saiyan, which in turn gives them the temporary power of a god. The power changes the Saiyan’s appearance as well, making them seem younger and slimmer and turning their hair and eyes red.
As for the power of Super Saiyan God, it is pretty obvious, it puts the user on the same level as an actual god, specifically a Destroyer god like Beerus. However, Beerus was still able to beat Goku in this form, even while holding back, meaning that it still takes training and dedication to improve the strength granted by the godly ki that the form imbues the user with. That said, it is very clear that Super Saiyan God is much more powerful than regular Super Saiyan, which puts it in the “better” category on this list - though maybe not in terms of design.
WORSE: GREAT APE
When Goku was still a kid in the original Dragon Ball, he had this little, shall we say “condition,” that flared up whenever there was a full moon. Every time that Goku looked at the moon, he would turn into a giant ape-like monster who was super strong and had no control of his actions. Fast forward a bit and we eventually learned that the reason for this was that Goku was a Saiyan, who were evolved from giant apes and could still transform into their Great Ape forms on a full moon, that is, if their tails are still attached.
However, the last time we saw a Great Ape was way back in the Saiyan Saga, both when Gohan turned during a full moon and later when Vegeta used an artificial moon to turn the tide of his fight against Goku. Since then, Great Apes and the concept of Saiyan tails have been pretty much erased from the Dragon Ball lore.
The Great Ape form is essentially obsolete by this point.
The form has far too many drawbacks to ever be useful, including the lost of sanity while in use (without proper training) and the glaring weakness of their tail.
BETTER: SUPER SAIYAN BLUE
The next step up from Super Saiyan God is Super Saiyan Blue - sort of. It is honestly kind of hard to gauge the power of Super Saiyan Blue and whether or not it is stronger than Super Saiyan God. Regardless, it is very clear that the form is better than regular Super Saiyan forms since Goku and Vegeta use it a lot more.
What exactly is Super Saiyan Blue? It’s a bit confusing, but, weirdly enough, the form’s original name actually helps explain its power. The original name was “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan,” meaning it is what happens when a Saiyan turns into a Super Saiyan god, then channels that power into their base form, and then goes Super Saiyan once more.
The result is a Super Saiyan with godly ki, which is represented by the blue hair of the form. The full extent of godly ki is never really explained, even throughout the over 150 episodes of Dragon Ball Super, but the basic idea is that godly ki functions similar to regular ki. You have to train to increase your energy which in turn makes you stronger — but because it is the same ki given to those of divine origin, it is much more, shall we say, “potent.” Because of this, a Saiyan who has gone Super using godly ki is much stronger than a normal Super Saiyan.
WORSE: KAIOKEN
The Kaioken technique was first introduced in the Saiyan saga of Dragon Ball Z, and it was an incredibly useful transformation in Goku’s fight against Vegeta. The skill was taught to Goku by King Kai. Goku used the Kaioken to increase his power temporarily, pushing the technique farther and farther as needed.
Strangely enough, this technique has not been taught to any of the other Z-fighters, even though the non-Saiyans could definitely benefit from a power up transformation like this. Regardless, after Goku achieved the Super Saiyan form, he didn’t have a need for the Kaioken.
Despite the fact that the Kaioken has found recent usage when Goku is using Super Saiyan Blue, it is still a lesser form compared to the rest of the series.
Again, it could be a useful technique if anyone else knew how to use the form, but due to how underuse it is, the Kaioken is pointless and useless next to Super Saiyan and its subsequent forms. In fact, why didn’t Goku think to use the Kaioken with his other Super Saiyan forms? Why did he only use it with Super Saiyan Blue? He could have been increasing his power like crazy at multiple points throughout the franchise.
BETTER: SUPER SAIYAN ROSE
At the very top of all the god-related Super Saiyan transformations is Super Saiyan Rosé, which was introduced in Dragon Ball Super during the Goku Black saga. See, Goku Black was actually Zamasu, a Supreme Kai from another universe who used the super dragon balls to switch bodies with Goku. Because he is a kai in the body of a mortal, his godly ki was transferred over into his new form, and when he used the Saiyan body of Goku to go Super Saiyan, it resulted in a new form that had never been seen before.
Whereas Super Saiyan Blue was what happens when a mortal Saiyan uses godly ki to go Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan Rosé, on the other hand, is essentially a form unique to Goku Black that answers the question of “what if Saiyans were born into divinity?” By this we mean: what if, instead of being mortals, Saiyans were like the Kai, and as a result, their Super Saiyan forms resulted in an even stronger transformation.
Because of how much more pure godly power goes into this transformation, it’s easy to say that Super Saiyan Rosè is stronger than regular Super Saiyan forms.
WORSE: SHAPESHIFTING
This one isn’t actually a form, it’s many forms. The art of shapeshifting that was introduced way back in Dragon Ball. This was a technique that both Oolong and Puar learned from the shapeshifting academy and it allows them to change their form into just about anything. Both characters ended up using this power for criminal purposes, however, which is just one of the many reasons it is inferior to the Super Saiyan form. Oolong used his shapeshifting to scare the people of Aru Village into giving him money, power and women. Puar was almost as bad, using his shapeshifting to help Yamcha rob people in the desert.
We’re not saying that shapeshifting isn’t useful, just that it has not been used much since the original Dragon Ball series.
Sure, there was a point in Super in which Puar helped Master Roshi get over his perverted ways by using his shapeshifting, but other than that, it is almost been completely forgotten about. Furthermore, it doesn’t really have any combat applications, and there is absolutely no way that a shapeshifter could beat a Super Saiyan. It might have provided some fun stories in Dragon Ball, but this transformation technique is definitely worse than a Super Saiyan.
BETTER: ULTRA INSTINCT (TRANSFORMATION)
Dragon Ball Super introduced a lot of new forms into the lore of the franchise, the final one being Ultra Instinct. Prior to actually achieving the form, Goku only showed signs of the technique (which we will get to next), but when his hair actually turns silver, he kicked a ton of butt.
See, Ultra Instinct is not like Super Saiyan forms. Instead of being a power multiplier or even a power increaser, Ultra Instinct is more like the ultimate reflex; a technique that even the gods have trouble mastering.
By allowing his body to react naturally without thinking, Goku was able to achieve Ultra Instinct, resulting in what is essentially perfect offense and defense.
Goku does not have to think about his actions and is thus his movements are almost instantaneous. He can block, dodge, or counter any and all attacks with little to no effort. This technique was used to battle Jiren in the Tournament of Power.
Jiren was an opponent so strong that none of Goku’s other forms stood a chance against him - not Super Saiyan, not Super Saiyan 2 or 3, and not even his godly ki forms. If that’s not enough evidence to prove that Ultra Instinct is the ultimate form, we don’t know what is.
WORSE: ULTRA INSTINCT (SIGN)
As great as the final and definitive version of Ultra Instinct was, the more “watered-down” version we saw leading up to the full on silver haired Goku was definitely a let-down. Sure, the Ultra Instinct Sign was functionally the same as the full form, but there were a ton of drawbacks that occurred after each use, including Goku losing all of his energy and stamina and his body being left completely sore. Though some of these occurred after Goku used the full version of Ultra Instinct, they almost cost Universe 7 the Tournament of Power whenever Goku was affected by the after-effects.
Story-wise, the sign of Ultra Instinct was kind of dumb too. Goku purposely putting himself in danger just to achieve the form, which is something he does all the time and which has had disastrous result. That’s not even the worst part of the transformation. There’s also the fact that the Ultra Instinct sign occurred exactly when Goku needed it. Though the moments were cool, they also felt like deus ex machinas.
Plus, Goku heard about the technique and then achieved it later, which some might call foreshadowing, but we think it was like Goku had ultimate power handed to him.
BETTER: DESTRUCTION GOD
When Goku used the power of his fellow Super Saiyans to turn into a Super Saiyan God, all that power and godly ki was still not enough to take on Beerus, a god of destruction. In fact, Beerus was holding back in his fight with Super Saiyan God Goku, which means that no Super Saiyan from is a match for a destroyer god - at least not one who has trained for centuries to hone their power. Heck, even an untrained god of destruction proved to be too much for some of Universe 7’s strongest fighters.
We are, of course, talking about Toppo, a warrior from universe 11 who was a candidate to be said universe’s next god of destruction. A member of the Pride Troopers of Universe 11, a group of heroes who fight for and protect justice across multiple galaxies, Toppo had a strong sense of justice that did not waiver - until he decided to throw it all away to give in to his destroyer god power.
This transformation buffed up his body and gave him access to destruction energy.
Its power made him one of the toughest opponents that Frieza and Vegeta faced, taking a self-destruction technique to finally take him out.
WORSE: FRIEZA’S FINAL FORM
Frieza was the first villain in the Dragon Ball franchise to have multiple forms. Even in his first form, the galactic Tyrant was incredibly powerful, capable of destroying planet Vegeta without even having to transform. As the Frieza saga unfolded, we found that the villain had multiple forms.
There was his second buffer form, his third Xenomorph-looking form, and his fourth and final form, which, while powerful, was overpowered by a Super Saiyan not just once, but twice. In fact, the whole reason that Frieza destroyed planet Vegeta and most of the Saiyan race was because he feared the legend of the Super Saiyan and that, one day, the race he had enslaved would surpass his power.
Frieza’s final form might have had the highest power level we had seen at that point in the series, but it still could not beat a Super Saiyan.
Frieza’s fears were confirmed during his fight with Goku who, after seeing his best friend’s defeat, flew into a rage that ignited his first-ever Super Saiyan transformation. The rage he felt gave him the power to transform and multiply his ki levels time fifty, which allowed him to take on the intergalactic tyrant.
If that’s not enough to show that this transformation pales in comparison to a Super Saiyan, then just look at Frieza’s defeat at the hands of the franchise’s second Super Saiyan, future Trunks.
BETTER: GOLDEN FRIEZA
Where Frieza’s final form was a bit of a letdown when faced against a Super Saiyan, his Golden form was a major upgrade, making him stronger than all the subsequent Super Saiyan forms, including Super Saiyan 3, and possibly even Super Saiyan Blue.
What exactly is Golden Frieza? See Frieza is kind of lazy, being from a race of aliens with the ability to transform into stronger forms. Having been being born with naturally high power levels, he had no reason to train. He was already as strong as he needed to be.
However, when he was resurrected in both Resurrection F and the Dragon Ball Super adaptation of the story, he found that Goku had become much more powerful than when he first defeated him. He learned that the Super Saiyan defeated Majin Buu and battled a god of destruction. For the first time in his life, he began training in order to become powerful enough to take his revenge on the Saiyan who humiliated him. Golden Frieza was a form that resulted from his training.
It outclasses most of Goku’s forms and is even powerful enough to defeat Super Saiyan Blue.
However, the transformation is only temporary, leaving some room to beat it if handled correctly.
WORSE: PERFECT CELL
This one might be a surprise and it might even anger some fans, but let us explain. First off, this form is better than the first level of Super Saiyan, yes, but it was completely annihilated by Gohan when he achieved Super Saiyan 2, and since we are grouping together all the basic Super Saiyan forms (levels 1-3), then Cell’s final transformation was still less powerful, and thus worse, than a Super Saiyan. Second, Perfect Cell, unlike most Super Saiyan forms, was not achieved through hard work or training. It was taken by force.
When Cell first appeared, he was incomplete in his imperfect form, since he was built to absorb previous androids created by Dr. Gero - Androids 17 and 18. Once Cell absorbed Android 17, he obtained his semi-perfect form, and when he later absorbed Android 18, he became complete as Perfect Cell.
Cell did not work for his strength, he was both built with it and later obtained it through villainous means.
This is another reason why we think Perfect Cell is worse than Super Saiyan transformations, since, unlike Goku, Gohan and the other Saiyans, Cell doesn’t know the value of earning power after hard work and training.
BETTER: ANGRY SUPER SAIYAN
This is a bit of a weird one, both because it encompasses two different iterations of Super Saiyan forms and also because there isn’t that much of a difference between these forms and other Super Saiyan forms, at least on the surface.
There are quite a few variations on the Super Saiyan form, and two of them have to do with the Saiyan’s emotional state when they transform. The two iterations of an angry Super Saiyan are called “Rage Mode” and “Super Saiyan Anger,” both of which were introduced in Dragon Ball Super, though the first was also in Battle of Gods.
Though they have different titles, Rage Mode and Super Saiyan Anger are essentially the same thing: a massive power up induced by anger.
The only real difference is that Rage Mode can be used even by non-Saiyans. Regardless, both angry Super Saiyan forms have resulted in massive increases of power, allowing Vegeta to battle with a destruction god at 10% power just by the fact that he was angry (the infamous “my Bulma!” scene) and transformed into Super Saiyan 2.
Though there might not be much of a visible difference between regular Super Saiyan transformations and angry ones aside from all-white eyes, the power behind this form beats a regular Super Saiyan any day.
WORSE: FUSION DANCE
This is another one that might come as a surprise, but hear us out, because the fusion dance has a lot of drawbacks. While it does result in a warrior stronger than the sum of the two fusees who perform the dance, there are a lot of factors which make it an inefficient tool that Goku should not have put his trust in to protect the world.
Right off the bat, the fusion dance has a ton of parameters, including being able to perfectly perform the positions and keeping your power level close to that of your fusing partner.
It is because of this complicated process that there was a few failed fusion attempts before Gotenks was created. Sure, Goten and Trunks have the process down by now, but it seems like a very easy thing to mess up and they have to wait out the time limit to try again.
Speaking of the time limit, that’s another drawback since, as powerful as a fusion dance fusion can be, the fact that the transformation only lasts about 30 minutes means it is not a reliable technique when it comes to long-term battles, or even battles that require a massive amount of power since that affects the time limit as well.
BETTER: SUPER NAMEKIAN
A Super Namekian isn’t exactly a form or transformation but it is a state that must be achieved, more or less. Unlike a Super Saiyan, a Super Namekian is just what you call a Namekian who has reached a power level far greater to that of any average Namakian, be it a warrior type or a Dragon Clan type.
As mentioned, this form doesn’t come with any sort of special transformation or change in appearance, it is just a state of being that Piccolo achieved after fusing with Nail and gaining his power. He was further solidified as a Super Namekian when he absorbed Kami into his body and gained power as well.
While the power that Piccolo had when he was first considered a Super Namekian was not greater to that of Goku’s Super Saiyan form, when he later absorbed Kami, or rather when he and Kami returned to one being, his power level surpassed that of Super Saiyan Goku -sort of. While we will still count a Super Namekian as better than a Super Saiyan, the Super Saiyan transformation is a power multiplier, so as long as Goku keeps increasing his base form’s power, his Super Saiyan form increases, but that’s besides the point.
WORSE: GREAT NAMEKIAN
Piccolo has another form that is not as great as being a Super Namekian, let alone coming close to being better than a Super Saiyan. We are, of course, talking about his ability to increase his size and become what is known as a Great Namekian.
This process is accomplished by energizing his nerves and using his regenerative and stretching abilities at the same time, allowing him to increase his size to tower over and out-muscle his opponents. For some reason, this ability also allows Namekians to magically keep their clothes in-tact as they grow, but that might be a result of their magical abilities.
Strangely enough, Piccolo has not used this technique since he first fought Goku during the World Martial Arts Tournament. Why exactly is that?
It might not be as strong as Super Saiyan, but it is still a useful ability to be able to more than double his size and strength, but Piccolo has yet to breakout this technique once since the final saga of Dragon Ball. Still, all that said, the Great Namekian transformation is, at the end of the day, not a very powerful technique in the larger scale of things, and it doesn’t even compare to a Super Saiyan.
BETTER: ULTIMATE GOHAN
This is another transformation that actually doesn’t come with a change in appearance, unless you count a confident scowl and slightly spikier hair as a transformation. Regardless, Gohan’s Ultimate form was easily one of his coolest moments in the franchise, standing right up there with his defeat of Cell.
After having his power unlocked by the Old Kai, Gohan was able to access all the power his body could potentially produce, all without having to go Super Saiyan and drain his stamina and ki quickly.
With this power, Gohan was able to take on Super Buu with ease, completely dominating the villain.
Funnily enough, it is easy to prove that Ultimate Gohan is much stronger than a Super Saiyan. In fact, it is overtly stated that he is stronger than the strongest warrior at the time, which would be Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks.
Gohan’s Ultimate form kicked total butt and outranked every other warrior at the time, only having his power surpassed by Vegito. Now we’re starting to get why people were so disappointed by tracksuit Gohan. How could someone so powerful fall so far? Luckily, he seems to have gotten his Ultimate form (and the power that comes with it) back by the time of the Tournament of Power.
WORSE: FORMATION
The Tournament of Power was one of the most interesting arcs of the entire Dragon Ball franchise for a lot of reasons, one of which was that it had such a variety of different types of warriors with different types of power.
Instead of the tournament being strictly about who had the highest power level or who had done the most training. There were some combatants who had unique powers, strange abilities, or alien physiologies that gave them the upper hand against opponents like Goku and Vegeta, who literally had the power of a god on their side. Amongst these interesting opponents were the magical-girl-styled warriors of Universe 2, the Kamikaze Fireballs.
The Kamikaze Fireballs claim to gain their power from love, be it love between each other, love from the people they protect, or the love they have in their own heart. All these forms of love power their transformation from ordinary people to the Kamikaze Fireballs, a transformation known as “formation.” However, as cool as this technique is, and though it might have thrown some new and interesting powers into the mix, the powers of the Fireballs were ultimately gimmicky. They weren’t very strong fighters at the end of the day.
BETTER: SUPER BUU
Super Buu’s power to absorb others and gain their strength, power, appearance, and intelligence meant that he, being a transformation himself, had several subsequent forms after each person he absorbed. Each of these forms were stronger than the last, and each become better and better than a Super Saiyan. For example, when he absorbed Ultimate Gohan, he became stronger than any other warrior on Earth.
The reason that Super Buu is so much better than a Super Saiyan is that his ability to absorb others and gain their strength means that he can become infinitely stronger as long as he is able to trick his opponent into being absorbed.
That didn’t seem to be a problem in most instances, as he was able to take Ultimate Gohan’s power, Piccolo’s power, Gotenks’ power and, of course, Vegito’s power, though the last one ended up costing him all of his power ups. Still, Super Buu proved to be such a threat, and thus much stronger and better than a Super Saiyan, because he could surpass any opponent simply by absorbing their power.
We’d also like to mention that Vegito’s transformation into candy was definitely one of the funniest, and one of the worst transformations in the series.
WORSE: SUPER SAIYAN THIRD GRADE
Last, and definitely least, we have a form of Super Saiyan that was more of a stepping stone to Super Saiyan 2 than anything. When Goku was trying to push past Super Saiyan, he achieved a form that Trunks and Vegeta also managed to gain: Super Saiyan Second Grade. If he pushed even further, he was able to go Super Saiyan Third Grade. Both forms would inflate a Saiyan’s muscles using ki to more fully utilize their strength. However, where Super Saiyan Second Grade was a useful, but eventually obsolete technique, Super Saiyan Third Grade was practically useless.
This is because Super Saiyan Third Grade inflates the muscles so much that the Saiyan’s speed is almost cut in half due to the limited mobility and increased weight caused by their enlarged muscles.
Goku and Vegeta learned right away that this form was not useful and found other ways to use their strength.
Future Trunks, on the other hand, learned the hard way that this form had drawbacks, losing against Cell despite the fact that he was fully utilizing his strength. Because of how slow the form made him, Trunks could not keep up with the bio-android, eventually learning that the form was not as useful as he initially thought.
Did we miss any super powerful Dragon Balltransformations? Let us know in the comments!
