While it is well known within the Dragon Ball fandom that Frieza inadvertently helped Goku unlock Super Saiyan for the first time, the intergalactic dictator is also responsible for another one of Goku’s god-tier powers–one that has absolutely nothing to do with his Super Saiyan form.
Frieza and Goku first faced off during Dragon Ball’s Frieza Saga in which Frieza attempted to steal the Dragon Balls of Planet Namek and use their wish-granting magic to make himself immortal. However, the Z Fighters weren’t about to let that happen, and they made it their mission to thwart the villain’s evil plot no matter the cost. While the Z Fighters were successful in keeping Frieza from making his wish, there was still the matter of dealing with the insanely powerful villain himself, something Goku was happy to handle alone. During the fight, Frieza killed Krillin right in front of Goku, which angered Goku enough to unlock Super Saiyan. With his newfound power, Goku seemingly killed Frieza and left Planet Namek before it exploded as a result of their fight–though even in ‘death’, Frieza was still able to help Goku reach another level of power beyond that of the Super Saiyan.
In Dragon Ball chapter 336 by Akira Toriyama, Trunks has traveled back in time from the alternate future that he calls home. The reason he did so was to help the Z Fighters prepare for the incoming threat of the Androids, hoping to change his future in the process. After he arrives in the past (and after Trunks soundly kills Frieza), Trunks meets with Goku to discuss the details of the Android threat, but first Goku shares a new power he learned after defeating Frieza: Instant Transmission.
Goku learns Instant Transmission–the power to teleport somewhere by locking onto the energy level of someone in that location–after he boarded one of the Ginyu Force’s ships following the explosion of Planet Namek. The Ginyu Force pod automatically brought him to Planet Yardrat as the Ginyu Force planned on conquering that world after helping Frieza get the Dragon Balls on Planet Namek. This subsequent mission was clearly green-lit by Frieza himself as the Ginyu Force conquered worlds in his name, meaning Frieza was responsible for Yardrat’s location being programmed into the ship Goku boarded, which thereby makes him responsible for Goku being brought there in the first place. While on Yardrat, the life forms there taught Goku the Instant Transmission technique, which ends up being the most useful move in Goku’s arsenal from that point forward.
In Dragon Ball Super, Goku proves that Instant Transmission allows him to move across the universe faster than a literal angel–making that move a god-tier power that surpasses anything Goku has been able to do before or since. Not only that, but Instant Transmission’s usefulness in battle speaks for itself, especially during Goku’s fight with Gas, the strongest fighter in the universe at that time. Basically, Instant Transmission is a move Goku learned relatively early in his Dragon Ball career, and it still holds up to this day as one of his most powerful and useful techniques, arguably more so than Super Saiyan–and he owes it all to Frieza.
