Goku's Power Level in Every Dragon Ball Z Saga (In Chronological Order) (2024)

Goku has always been seen as the bar to reach in terms of power in anime. Everyone knows Goku is one of the strongest, but determining just how powerful he really is in Dragon Ball can sometimes be a challenge. DBZ sought to rectify that by creating the concept of Power Levels: a numerical value that objectively measures how strong the warriors of Dragon Ball really are. The main means of measuring a Power Levels (also known as Battle Power) is by using a Scouter, first shown used by saiyans like Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta.

Unfortunately, by the time Goku became a Super Saiyan and the Frieza Saga ended, Power Levels had already become irrelevant, with them hardly being measured at all from the Future Trunks Saga until the end of the series. Nevertheless, by analyzing additional Dragon Ball media like the Daizenshuu guidebooks, and applying known transformation multipliers can help fans calculate power levels for characters in the later arcs, making it possible to devise estimates of what Goku's Power Level might have been throughout the entirety of DBZ.

Goku's Power Levels Against the Saiyans

Dragon Ball Z: Raditz Saga

In early Dragon Ball, pure feats of strength were the only ways to identify how powerful a character was, but the Saiyan Saga of DBZ introduced a new method. The arrival of the Saiyans brought with them the Scouter technology, which gave the first numerical values to Goku and his allies' power. Raditz, Vegeta and Nappa took the power levels of their enemies very seriously, because it was the one objective indicator of how powerful their opponent was. After all, if Vegeta is any indication, looks can be deceiving in Dragon Ball.

The fight with Raditz shows Goku's power level for the first time. Unfortunately, at that point in the series it's nothing special, even by lower-class saiyan terms. However, this is the first definitive proof that a person's battle power rises substantially when using energy techniques such as the Kamehameha.

Dragona Ball Z: Vegeta Saga

Goku doesn't arrive at the battlefield until the fight with Nappa has already hit its climax. However, Goku's training with King Kai gives him a substantial power level increase that not only allows him to easily defeat Nappa, but also puts him on par with the Prince of all Saiyans when using his Kaioken technique.

Goku's Power Levels Against Frieza and the Ginyu Force

With the saiyan's scouter technology being actually from the Frieza Force, it makes sense that the Frieza arc would continue measuring the heroes' power levels. The Frieza arc also introduces the concept of Zenkai boosts to the saiyans, giving Goku the greatest power-ups of his entire life in an extremely short period. Of course, this inevitably leads to the Super Saiyan transformation, which itself gives Goku his greatest power multiplier in the entire series at that point.

Dragon Ball Z: Namek Saga

Goku doesn't appear much during the Namek Saga because he is still recovering from the battle with Vegeta. However, he got a huge Zenkai Boost which only increased even further after he trained in low gravity for six days.

Dragon Ball Z: Captain Ginyu Saga

Upon arriving in Namek, the results of Goku's low gravity training quickly become apparent. Goku's power level is measured multiple times by the Ginyu Force, though he has gained such control over his Ki at this point that they're unable to get a faithful reading of his true strength at first.

Notably, Ginyu also switches bodies with Goku during their fight, giving another unique power level measurement for Goku during this period. Of course, Ginyu Goku's power level is far lower than it should be due to Ginyu's inability to properly control Goku's saiyan powers.

Dragon Ball Z: Frieza Saga

The Frieza saga is the last canonical mention of Goku's power level, but that doesn't mean he stops growing in power. The only way to measure his power level from that point on, however, is to calculate it manually using the multipliers of his subsequent Super Saiyan forms. As a Super Saiyan, Goku's power level raises from the already staggering three million to an unprecedented 150,000,000. For context, Frieza's power level in his Final Form according to the Daizenshuu guidebook is 120,000,000.

Dragon Ball Z: Garlic Jr Saga

During the Garlic Jr Saga, Goku was still traveling to Earth in a space pod and wasn't part of the action. Additionally, the Garlic Jr Saga isn't canon to the manga, making the odds of receiving official power levels for Goku even less likely.

Goku's Power Levels Against Cell and the Androids

After Goku became a Super Saiyan on Namek, the concepts of power levels and scouters become entirely irrelevant. After all, scouters were only able to read up to levels in the hundreds of thousands, and Goku's power level in his basic SSJ form was already one hundred fifty million. However, it's still possible to measure Goku's power level by considering alternative media such as guidebooks, as well as by applying known multipliers to his power that all saiyans achieve in certain forms such as in the Ascended Super Saiyan state.

Dragon Ball Z: Trunks Saga

After arriving on Earth after the fight with Frieza, Goku is still likely to be the same power level he was on Namek. Though he did some brief training on Yardrat during which time he learned the Instant Transmission technique, there's no indication that he would have gotten much stronger during that time.

Dragon Ball Z: Android Saga

During the initial fights of the Android Saga, Goku's strongest form is still the original Super Saiyan form he used on Namek against Frieza. This would have theoretically been enough to defeat Androids 19 and 20 had it not been for the onset of the heart virus, which dramatically affected his health and fighting capability.

Dragon Ball Z: Imperfect Cell Saga

Throughout the Imperfect Cell Saga, Goku was bedridden due to the heart virus. This kept him out of the fight for some time and stunted any growth he might have had during that period.

Dragon Ball Z: Perfect Cell Saga

In preparation for the fight with Cell, Goku began training with Gohan in the hyperbolic time chamber. This was the first time he was able to train in quite some time, and in the process he would go on to master ascended forms of Super Saiyan, though he was unable to reach the SSJ2 formthat his son would later go on to achieve.

Dragon Ball Z: Cell Games Saga

Goku perfectly mastered the initial Super Saiyan form during his training in the hyperbolic time chamber to such an extent that he and Gohan remained Super Saiyan for days leading up to the fight with Cell. He also had full knowledge of Vegeta and Trunks' ascended SSJ form, but chose not to use it due to the loss of speed it imposed on the user. It's safe to say that Goku at least has the power of an ascended SSJ during this period, even if he chooses not to tap into it.

Goku's Power Levels Against Majin Buu and at the End of Z

The Buu Arc intruduced multiple new levels of SSJ into Goku's reperture, and therefore even greater power levels. As with the Cell Saga, power levels ceased to be measured in the traditional manner after the Frieza arc, so most of Goku's power levels from then on have to be manually calculated based on his SSJ multipliers.

However, one interesting new form of power level measurement is briefly used during the Buu arc: that of the Kiri. Kiri is a method of detecting power levels used by the Demon Clan, and it’s used extremely sparingly in the series. Luckily, one of the few times it is used is on Goku, giving a concrete measurement of his battle power as a base Super Saiyan.

Dragon Ball Z: Other World Saga

While not canonical to the manga, the anime-only Other World saga does mark a new level of strength for Goku. That's because it details Goku's training in the afterlife, which ultimately leads to him reaching the SSJ2 form. SSJ2 Goku is never explicitly shown during the Other World Saga, but the next time he's shown on Earth he has mastered the form, proving that he did first learn it at some point around the time of the Other World Saga.

Dragon Ball Z: Great Saiyaman Saga

Goku doesn't take part in the Great Saiyaman saga, but it's likely during this period that he has begun flirting with the idea of the SSJ3 transformation.

Dragon Ball Z: World Tournament Saga

At some point before the World Tournament, while still in the Other World, Goku mastered the SSJ3 form, giving him a brand-new multiplier to add on to his previous three billion power level. While he doesn't put it to use quite yet in the World Tournament, there's no other point where he trains enough to reach this new form.

Dragon Ball Z: Babidi Saga

The Babidi Saga is the first time in quite a while that DBZ gives fans a new canonical power level reading. Unfortunately, the 3,000 Kiri reading only measures what fans will already have known about Goku's SSJ1 form, which is that it has a power level of 150,000,000. However, this does at least help in measuring subsequent forms that require multipliers, such as his SSJ2 form against Majin Vegeta and SSJ3 against Majin Buu.

Dragon Ball Z: Majin Buu Saga

There are no power level readings in the Majin Buu Saga, but Goku nonetheless reaches new transformations which inform his power level. In particular, Goku achieves the SSJ3 form, which gives him yet another additional SSJ multiplier of 400x, ultimately proving why power levels had long since become obsolete in DBZ.

Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Saga

Goku doesn't do much in the Fusion Saga on his own, and doesn't reach any new levels of power. Goku's main role during the Fusion Saga is as Vegeta's partner, and inevitably, as one half of Vegito.

Dragon Ball Z: Kid Buu Saga

Goku's strongest form against Kid Buu still remains the SSJ3 form. His most powerful attack, the Genki Dama, is extremely powerful in its own right, but it doesn't give Goku any individual power-ups of his own. Unlike the Kamehameha, which at least raises Goku's power level when used, the Spirit Bomb gathers the energy of other beings and combines them before being thrust by the user towards their opponent.

Dragon Ball Z: Peaceful World Saga

Goku's power level is enigmatic during the Peaceful World Saga because no one actually knows what new forms or powers he achieved in the ten-year interim between the Buu Saga and the end of Z. If Dragon Ball Super's continuation is taken seriously, then Goku's SSJ God forms and Ultra Instinct will have to be considered despite the fact that they weren’t yet created by the time Toriyama wrote the Peaceful World Saga.

Even taking Dragon Ball Super as the final word on the matter, there’s no way of knowing what Goku's power was at the end of Z because Super is still an ongoing series. All fans can really know for certain is that Goku has become the strongest in the universe, and no matter what power level he measures at for now, it's bound to be surpassed somewhere down the line.

Dragon Ball Z (1989)

TV-PG

Anime

Action

Adventure

8

10

With the help of the powerful Dragonballs, a team of fighters led by the saiyan warrior Goku defend the planet earth from extraterrestrial enemies.

Release Date

September 30, 1996

Cast

Sean Schemmel , Brian Drummond , Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

9

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Akira Toriyama

Number of Episodes

291