All of Goku’s Forms from Weakest to Strongest
Goku is the poster boy of the Dragon Ball franchise, and the strongest there is. Over the past 30+ years of the series, Goku has taken on dozens of forms. By surpassing his limits and growing stronger as a fighter, he has shown us that there is always room to grow and improve.
Be it a shapeshifting pig, a Saiyan Prince, or even a God of Destruction; he overcomes every new opponent that stands before him, never backing down. From every series, game, and spin-off Goku has taken many different and exciting forms. In this list, however, we’re going to focus on all of Goku’s canon forms from weakest to strongest.
14. Kid-Goku
We are starting our list with the Goku that started it all, Kid-Goku. We are first introduced to him at the very beginning of his martial arts journey, so this is the weakest form of Goku. Granted, his Saiyan biology gives him a natural talent in combat as well as boosts in power occurring after surviving brushes with death.
He learned the Kamehameha minutes after watching Master Roshi, which took him 50+ years to perfect, mind you. It makes me wonder; do you think Goku received a Zenkai boost when he hit his head as a baby?
He was able to take bullets to the head, destroy tanks with ease, defeat creatures dwarfing him in size (he was already a pretty short kid) and completely demolishing an entire army single-handedly by the time he was 13. It makes you ponder these kinds of things. This might’ve been Goku’s weakest form, but he was far from weak.
13. Great Ape (Oozaru) Goku
The Great Ape is one of Kid-Goku’s stronger forms but is a form he has only ever used twice. Both times were by accident. He first transformed into The Great Ape after he looked at the Full Moon in the cell Pilaf trapped he and his friends in. He transformed from Kid-Goku completely, leveling Pilaf’s castle with no effort.
Consequently, he had no control over the form. It took Yamcha and Puar cutting off his tail to change him back. Goku’s second time transforming was during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. During his fight with Jackie Chun, he transforms and begins destroying the stadium. It wasn’t until Jackie Chun destroyed the Moon that Goku reverted to normal.
In Saiyan Biology, Saiyans transform into The Great Ape form under the Full Moon. This form grants them immense power without hindering their movement speed. The downside to this is that only Saiyan Elites retain their sentience in this form, being able to truly harness its power, while lower-class Saiyans lose all sense of self. This form itself might be strong, but with no control or skill to harness it, it remains pretty weak.
12. Ultra-Divine Water Goku
Too weak to fight King Piccolo in his current state, Goku saught out Korin for help. Korin proceeded to tell Goku about the water and its potential unlocking properties. Six hours after drinking the water (manga), he writhed in pain and agony as the venom coursed through his body.
Finally overcoming the poison, Goku’s potential was unlocked. This hinted that he could be as strong as his Great Ape form without transforming. He potentially could have received a Zenkai boost as the waters poisonous properties nearly killed him (Saiyan Physiology am I right?). In this form, Goku was able to defeat King Piccolo and avenge his friend and master.
11. Teen Goku
Next, we have Teen Goku. After defeating King Piccolo, Goku trains in The Lookout with Kami for three years to prepare for his fight against Piccolo Jr. in the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament. Now 18,
Goku has retained all the power he had acquired before training with Kami. By this point, he had gotten fairly strong: learning how to fly, being strong enough to defeat both Piccolo Jr. and Annin, all before Dragon Ball’s Conclusion.
10. Adult Goku
Transitioning into DBZ (which takes place four years after Dragon Ball) now 23 years old, Goku is an adult with a wife and son. His strength had increased in those four years, but he had neglected his training after becoming the world’s strongest and focused more on his family.
Becoming complacent came back to bite him where his tail used to be when Raditz arrived at the start of the Saiyan Arc. Goku’s fight with Raditz made him realize once again that there is always someone stronger. Along with the expansion of the series universe into space, Goku’s pursuit of power was kicked into overdrive.
9. Kaio-Ken Goku
After Goku died and traveled along Snake Way to train with King Kai, Goku learned the Kaio-ken technique along with several others. This increased his power exponentially. However, this form does take out a massive toll on the user rendering their body useless after extended use.
In this form, he was able to battle on par with Vegeta matching his power. As well as disorienting a Final Form Frieza, and increasing his limit to Kaio-ken x20. This form is a good last resort, but crippling the body after use does more harm than good.
8. Super Saiyan Goku
For 1,000 years the myth of The Legendary Super Saiyan stayed just that, a myth. Until Goku achieved the form after witnessing the death of Krillin at the hands of Frieza. In this form, his power skyrockets being able to square up against a fully powered Frieza (and mop him).
He even gave Android 19 a run for his money before the heart disease kicked it. While this form is incredibly strong it does have some drawbacks, such as consuming large amounts of stamina. In contrast, it’s boost far exceeds that of the Kaio-ken form, with fewer consequences.
7. Mastered Super Saiyan Goku
Goku realized while in preparation to fight Cell, and the Androids, that Super Saiyan was not enough. Using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he and Gohan trained to harness the full power of Super Saiyan; instead of trying to power-up like Vegeta and Trunks. After one day (one year) inside the chamber, Goku mastered Super Saiyan suffering no power or stamina loss. This effectively made it his base form and allowed him to overcome even greater feats through it.
What makes this form strong is that unlike Grade 2 (Ascended) and Grade 3 (Ultra), is that those forms of Super Saiyan consume a large amount of the users’ stamina. What they might see in a power increase will be a great negative effect to speed rendering it useless in a fight. Goku became stronger than both grades simply by mastering it, receiving all the boosts without any of the consequences.
6. Super Saiyan 2 Goku
Goku spent 7 years in Other World after his death during the Cell Games. It is only natural that Goku spent his time training, and for the 25th Budokai, no less. Super Saiyan 2 is a large boost in power from Mastered Super Saiyan.
It is enough for Goku to be an even match with Majin Vegeta, but nowhere near strong enough to beat Majin Buu. Impressive to say the least.
5. Super Saiyan 3 Goku
Unveiled during the Majin Buu Saga, Goku kept this form hidden from Majin Vegeta during their fight. Realizing that Majin Buu was too dangerous to keep roaming around, he had to stall him before he could teach Goten and Trunks the Fusion Dance. This form has more of a visual difference than the previous form of Super Saiyan, with long glowing spikey golden hair extended all the way down to Goku’s legs.
This form was strong enough to take on Majin Buu, but the drawbacks are too great as it is incredibly unstable. Drawing too much stamina and Ki from Goku, he was only able to use it at the time because he was dead, even then it was giving him trouble. This is because the more he used it the shorter it would make his time on earth. As strong as this form might be, the drawbacks are crazy.
4. Super Saiyan God Goku
Next, we have Super Saiyan God. This form is the turning point in the franchise from Ki, to God Ki. With Super Saiyan 3 being too weak to take on Beerus, Goku needed something even stronger to take on the God of Destruction.
In this form, Goku was able to go toe-to-toe with Beerus using 70% of his power (in the movie). He was also able to hold his own against Broly for a bit before Broly adapted and overpowered him. There is a catch, however, to receive this form the user must either perform a ritual with 5 other good-hearted Saiyans or go through divine training to achieve God Ki.
Surrounded by a fiery red aura, the skin turns a pinkish color, and hair maintains its normal style while becoming more refined and turning a magenta kind of red, Super Saiyan God is one of the most visually appealing forms Goku has had to date.
3. Super Saiyan Blue
Introduced in Resurrection F, next up we have Super Saiyan Blue (Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan). Mixing Super Saiyan Ki and God Ki perfectly achieves this form.
There isn’t much else to say about this form as it’s just Super Saiyan on literal God Mode. It can go blow-for-blow with most of Dragon Ball Super’s baddies and get the job done.
2. Ultra Instinct -Sign- Goku
As we are closing in, next, we have the first phase in Ultra Instinct. This is Goku’s most recent form showcased in the Tournament of Power Arc. At the brink of death, Goku was able to use this form giving him immeasurable power nearly on par with Whis.
Unfortunately, Ultra Instinct -Sign- has its major flaws. In such an imperfect state, it lasts only 1 minute. It takes insane amounts of concentration, does little damage, and it can only be used when the user is virtually unconscious. After doing it, Goku spent the rest of the ToP trying to master it.
1. Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku
Finally, the strongest form on this list is the Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku. This is easily Goku’s strongest form in the entire franchise so far. His power puts him in the same category as Whis and Beerus. He mops the floor with Jirn in this form completely turning the tides of the battle.
Much like when Goku masters any of his forms, Mastered Ultra Instinct has all the insane power of -Sign- but with practically no drawbacks. The only one is that it eats away at his body after extended use. Even with that slight drawback, the form is so strong Goku nearly achieved victory against Jiren with great ease if not for the time limit.
That concludes all of Goku’s canon forms, from weakest to strongest. The reason I went with his canon forms is that collectively from spin-offs, games, manga, and anime, Goku has over 30 forms. Toei likes to give Goku forms that he’ll never use again, for some reason.
Also, the manga and anime are two different timelines with their canon since Akira Toriyama doesn’t want to reveal which one is the true canon (f**king confusing I know). I am also aware that I did not include the fusions as they aren’t technically Goku or Vegeta (since fusions create an entirely new warrior).
Well, that wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I did writing it. Maybe you agree with me, or maybe you don’t. That’s the best part about these types of things, as they spark discussions amongst the community. My name is Sym, and I will catch you guys later, stay you!
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