There’s no shortage of increasingly powerful characters in Dragon Ball continuity, far beyond the scope of just the main characters alone. The series has a bit of a controversial reputation for introducing a super-strong villain in any given arc, only for them to be beaten by Goku soon afterward. While that unarguably does happen, the series has grown beyond that trope, as it’s no longer earthbound warlords or intergalactic conquerors the Z-Fighters are facing, but literal gods, as well as those who wield power the likes of which the familiar Dragon Ball heroes could barely comprehend.
The current continuity of Dragon Ball takes place in the series Dragon Ball Super by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou. This series has taken a number of characters from the original, and elevated them to new heights – not just Goku and Vegeta. Not only that, but Super has introduced fans to all-new characters, most of whom are so powerful, the familiar Saiyan warriors may never rival them. That being said, the series is also notorious for rapidly changing and/or fluctuating one’s power level depending on the story, making a concrete power-ranking almost impossible. However, in the current state of Dragon Ball Super, it can be confidently asserted that these Top 10 characters are Dragon Ball’s strongest.
10 Piccolo
Specifically Orange Piccolo from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (as well as the current manga), this character channels god ki that was given to him by the eternal dragon Shenron. It’s been widely accepted (and confirmed by Akira Toriyama) that this transformation has put Piccolo on-par with the likes of Goku and Vegeta, though no matter how official that source may be, nothing to that effect can be known until fans see their power levels matched up during training/battle.
9 Gohan
Like Piccolo, Gohan got a major upgrade in the film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in the form of Beast Gohan (or Gohan Beast). Also like Orange Piccolo, Beast Gohan is believed to be on-par with Goku and Vegeta, with his full power supposedly even surpassing them. The reason Gohan is one point above Piccolo on this list, however, is due to the fact that he put the final nail in Cell Max’s proverbial coffin where Piccolo did not, though it’s still safe to assume a fight between them would be impossibly close.
8 Vegeta
No stranger to sudden spikes in power following years of hardened training, Vegeta has broken the barrier of Super Saiyan numbering and even god ki transformations like Super Saiyan Blue, as he’s found a way to harness the very power of Destruction itself – just like a Destroyer God. This is known as Ultra Ego, a state of being where every hit he takes only makes him stronger, and he doesn’t have to channel ki to destroy things, Vegeta can simply will them to be destroyed with Hakai. However, Vegeta has not mastered this state in the slightest, and has a long way to go before he can rival some of the other entries on this list.
7 Goku
Just as Vegeta has unlocked Ultra Ego by channeling the power of a Destroyer God, so, too, has Goku unlocked power normally reserved for divine beings: Ultra Instinct. Ultra Instinct is an angelic state that allows one’s body to move autonomously, making the warrior wielding it absolutely untouchable. This is an angelic power taught to Goku by Whis himself, just as Lord Beerus taught Vegeta Ultra Ego. However, Goku has a bit of a leg-up on Vegeta, since he’s far better with Ultra Instinct than Vegeta is with Ultra Ego. Though beyond that, the two are remarkably close in terms of power-scaling – perhaps the closest they’ve ever been.
6 Broly
While Goku and Vegeta are exploring alternate avenues of power beyond that offered by their Saiyan heritage alone, Broly quite literally surges with the power of his people. As the Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly has access to primal Saiyan power Goku and Vegeta do not, and that power makes him practically unstoppable. Not even Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta were enough to beat Broly, it had to be SSJBlue Gogeta to finally take Broly down – as shown in Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Broly is so powerful, in fact, that Lord Beerus is reluctant to let him train on his world, for fear of the damage he’d do. A literal Destroyer God is nervous around Broly, which is perhaps the most telling aspect of his strength.
5 Frieza
A relatively new transformation for the classic DBZ big-bad, Frieza debuted his ‘Black Frieza’ form in Dragon Ball Super chapter 87, and he immediately proved his superiority. In this chapter, Black Frieza one-shotted both Goku and Vegeta when they were in the divine states of Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, respectively. Not even Broly could pull something like that off. In fact, the whole reason Goku, Vegeta, and Broly are currently training on Beerus’ world is to get strong enough to challenge Black Frieza, and based on the events of this chapter, it’s uncertain if they will. Frieza achieved this form by training in a time-displaced pocket dimension akin to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for ten years. Unless the Saiyans can do something similar, they may never surpass him.
4 Lord Beerus
While the mortals that have taken up the prior entries on this list are impressive in their rapid elevation of extreme power, they still can’t defeat the might of the strongest God of Destruction himself, Lord Beerus. In Dragon Ball Super chapter 28, Lord Beerus is forced to battle every other God of Destruction from across the Dragon Ball multiverse, and comes out on top – but that’s not all. Lord Beerus is the master of Destruction – or, Hakai – and can will things out of existence by simply raising his hand. Vegeta is slowly learning this power, but no mortal can match the might of a Destroyer who can simply decide to erase one from existence – and Beerus is the toughest Destroyer of them all.
3 Whis
Whis is an angel who’s charged with not only guiding Lord Beerus in his cosmic purpose to maintain order in the universe through destruction, but also training him. In a way, Whis is Lord Beerus’ martial arts master, who’s teaching the God of Destruction the ways of Ultra Instinct (something Beerus still hasn’t mastered). This means that Beerus cannot touch Whis, while Whis can inflict any level of punishment he wants on Beerus if the two were ever in a serious bout. However, that’s not something an angel would ever engage in, and is purely hypothetical. Plus, angels are seemingly eternal while Gods of Destruction are not (with the Tournament of Power proving that terrifyingly true), implying angels are simply of a higher plane of existence, and thereby justifying Whis’ position on this list.
2 Grand Priest
If Whis is above Lord Beerus, then it only makes sense that the Grand Priest is above Whis, as he is the father of all angels and the right-hand person of the Omni-King himself. Grand Priest enforces the divine decrees of the Omni-King(s), and is the one who assigns angels to their Gods of Destruction. It could be argued that Grand Priest is the true mastermind behind how the entire multiverse functions in Dragon Ball canon, and it’s more than implied that he can deliver personal and harsh punishments to any who dare challenge him or the Zenos. However, like with Whis, Grand Priest isn’t aggressive in the slightest. In fact, he’s too powerful to be. At this point, characters start to enter a state of power so incomprehensible, that fighting isn’t even necessary.
1 Omni-King(s)
Indeed, the perfect example of a being (or beings) so strong that they don’t have to fight is the Omni-King(s). This character (who’s also known as Grand Zeno) is the ruler of the cosmos, someone who can eliminate an entire universe with a mere thought. Not only was this shown multiple times over during the Tournament of Power, but Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks Saga showed the Omni-King wipe out the universe in which Zamasu had taken over, at which point Goku invited that version of Zeno (known as Future Zeno) back to his original universe, where Future Zeno could rule alongside his alternate self. While the idea of two Zenos ruling the cosmos may seem terrifying, it’s no more so than if just one was sitting on the throne, as the Omni-King is the pinnacle of what true power is in the Dragon Ball universe.
While the main characters of Dragon Ball have, indeed, seen some massive power-ups – again, with their comparable status ever in flux – they have a long way to go if they want to breach the veil of true omnipotence. But, no matter what lies ahead of them, it’s safe to say that in the current state of the ongoing canon, these are the Top 10 strongest Dragon Ball characters of all time, ranked.
