All of Goku’s Forms in Dragon Ball

Goku is the main character from the manga adaptation of the Dragon Ball anime series released in the year 1986. Though the manga is ongoing with various arcs, the original anime of Dragon Ball has stopped with a total of 153 episodes. This show is renowned for its lead character transformations throughout the series. Considering all the arcs released throughout the years, Goku has mastered around 20 transformations, and here are the top 10 transformations starting from the weakest.

Best Goku Forms in order of Strength in Dragon Ball

10. Oozaru (Great Ape)

• Appearance: Gorilla-like, is attained after looking at a full moon
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 12 (Dragon Ball)
• Power level: 500

It is like a giant gorilla-like creature that Goku transforms into when he is a kid. He happens to have the tail on the night of the full moon that helps him transform into the Great Ape. It is similar to werewolves in this aspect. He then loses control and wrecks havoc causing danger to those around him. It even causes him pain when he later finds out the disaster he caused during this form.

9. Goku Base Form

• Appearance: Tall with spiky black hair, is attained after a fight (Frieza Saga)
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 1 (Dragon Ball)
• Power level: 3,000,000

By birth Goku’s base form was weak at the level of 2. But,during the Frieza Saga, when Goku fought Frieza his power level was around 200 to 500,000, but it increased to 3 million which even he couldn’t believe at first. But, throughout the series it is shown that power levels can fluctuate based on emotions. He spends most of his time in this form and readily changes to another form if the situation demands. But, this doesn’t mean that this form is not strong. This is simply Goku’s born form and gives an identity to him.

8. Super Saiyan

• Appearance: Blonde spiky hair and more muscles, attained when watched Krillin die
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 95 (Dragon Ball Z)
• Power level: 150,000,000

After Frieza killed Krillin (Goku’s childhood best friend), it set off Goku to transform into Super Saiyan. There is a legend that says Super Saiyan comes only when in need and does not answer to desire. This transformation led to a huge upgrading to the whole series of the anime. This was 50 times stronger than the base form. Soon Frieza was defeated by this epic transformation of Goku. Super Saiyan will remain as a legendary transformation for fans of dragon ball.

7. Super Saiyan 2

• Appearance: More golden and rigid hair, aura becomes more violent, is attained when training in after life
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 223 (Dragon Ball Z)
• Power level: 6 billion

Goku trains hard to enhance his Super Saiyan during the Cell arc. While Gohan achieves his Super Saiyan 2 during Cell games, Goku dies during the games. After his death, he attains his super Saiyan 2 in the afterlife. By the time Goku attained this form, it was late and could participate in only one fight. It is similar to its previous form but there is a huge difference in speed, strength and energy. It lasts only for a few seconds because the amount of energy used is far greater than before.

6. Super Saiyan 3

• Appearance: Users golden hair grows down till waist and flows smoothly, is attained when training in afterlife
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 245 (Dragon Ball Z)
• Power level: 12 billion

Goku’s transformation of Super Saiyan 3 shaked the cosmos and planet and also left the viewers as well as characters in awe. Unlike other transformations, Goku unlocked this form way before in the afterlife but did not release it. Goku states that this transformation is something which can only be used in other worlds and if used in a place where time flows, like Earth, it uses too much energy which exhausts the body. He first uses this form in a battle against Majin Buu.

5. Super Saiyan 4

• Appearance: Hair color is back to black and the body and tail is covered in red fur, attained when his Golden Oozaru form was controlled.
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 34 (Dragon Ball GT)
• Power level: 24 billion

This form is different from others because Goku’s hair remains black and a red coated fur is covered all over the body. This transformation appears in the Dragon Ball GT series and is the best transformation in the whole series. This also changed Goku to an adult resulting in a more hoarse voice. Before completely transforming into Super Saiyan 4, he first transformed into Golden Ape form and with the help of Pan, his granddaughter, he gained control over Golden Ape and finished the transformation of Super Saiyan 4.

4. Super Saiyan God

• Appearance: Not much difference from base state but hair color becomes wine red and eyes become bright red, attained when he carried out a ritual.
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
• Power level: 300 billion

By performing the Super Saiyan God ritual, Goku attains this form during the Battle of Gods. This was not attained on his own but with the help of others. Though Goku doesn’t like this form much he understands that he needs it for the fight ahead. Before the ritual his power level along with the Saiyan is around 70 billion but reaches 300 billion after the ritual. This helps him to defeat the corrupted God Beerus.

3. Super Saiyan Blue

• Appearance: Identical to first Super Saiyan form, only difference is blue hair and also aura is much darker, attained when training with Whis.
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
• Power level: 75 trillion

Goku masters Super Saiyan during the training period with Whis on Beerus planet. Whis trains Goku and Vegeta in the art of God Ki. Fortunately, this form doesn’t take as much energy to transform as other Super Saiyan forms and is similar to the first form of Super Saiyan in this basis. The only difference is the blue hair. Throughout the Dragon Ball Super series this serves as the base form for both Goku and Vegeta. They call this power Beyond God Form, which outdo the Super Saiyan God Form.

2. Ultra Instinct

• Appearance: Eyes and hair change to a unique silver color, aura remains crystalline, is attained when he surpasses his limits.
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 110 (Dragon Ball Super)
• Power level: 5 Sextillion

In the Universe survival arc, Goku triggered the Ultra Instinct form during the Tournament of Power in the midst of the battle with Jiren. This form is considered as the most powerful form in the history of Dragon Ball series. It is more of a technique than transformation as far as the fandom is concerned about. It is known as the “state of Gods” as it is a difficult technique to master, however angels like Whis have mastered it. Whis first introduced this technique to Goku, but he had a long way to master it.

1. Mastered Ultra Instinct

• Appearance: Similar to ultra instinct, aura is covered in bright white, and is attained when he further surpasses his limits.
• Created by: Akira Toriyama
• Episode appearance: 129 (Dragon Ball Super)
• Power level: 12 Sextillion

Ultra Instinct was not enough to defeat Jiren so he further pushed himself to limits to master the incomplete Ultra Instinct. This is the peak level that the transformation can obtain.It is by so far the most powerful transformation that Goku has achieved in the manga or anime series. The limitation of this form is that when used beyond limits it breaks down the body leading to danger of the user. As it is a technique used by Gods, the mortal body cannot sustain it without divine training. To gain this technique, the user must avoid distractions and thoughts and solely focus on their body.

Conclusion

Although there are many transformations throughout the series, with each transformation Goku has become stronger. It is difficult to choose a favorite transformation and rank them. But these 10 transformations hold the majority of liking across the fandom. The fact that each transformation holds its own uniqueness is a big achievement for the Dragon Ball series.