Dragon Ball has always been known for its incredible roster of powerful characters, but no race has been more associated with power than the Saiyans. Saiyans are known for their innate fighting abilities and their ability to grow stronger through battle and near-death experiences, also known as Zenkais. Thanks to their unique physiology, Saiyans are more often than not some of the most powerful characters around.
Throughout the long and storied legacy of Dragon Ball, many Saiyans have risen to become the strongest warriors in the series, with some even achieving god-like power levels. Aside from a few exceptions in order to keep the list focused on specifically independent Saiyans relevant to the main timeline (no Fusions or Dragon Ball Heroes), in this article, we’ll be taking a look at the ten strongest Saiyans in Dragon Ball history.
10 10. The Original Super Saiyan God / Yamoshi
The legend of the original Super Saiyan, Yamoshi, is all but confirmed to be the same legend of Dragon Ball’s original Super Saiyan God. Legend tells of a valiant Saiyan warrior who rallied a group of pure-hearted Saiyans to fight back against evil plaguing Planet Vegeta. With the combined power of his comrades, the leader of those righteous Saiyans became a Super Saiyan God and managed to defeat the evil Saiyans temporarily. As it happened, the power was too great for his body to handle, and his life was extinguished soon after- thus evil and barbaric ways returned to Planet Vegeta. Though his power is only known through myths, seeing the power granted to Goku when he first ascended to Super Saiyan God and challenged Beerus in a battle that threatened to destroy the entire Dragon Ball universe, it seems reasonable that Yamoshi himself would have held comparable power. This is purely speculative, however, as it isn’t known if it was solely Goku’s access to God Ki that granted him such an enormous power increase, or if it was his decades of training that culminated in the ability to tap into even a fraction of the power of a god.
9 9. Future Trunks
As most Dragon Ball fans know, Future Trunks is a recurring character who first appeared in the Android Saga. He comes from an alternate timeline where Goku died of a heart virus, and Androids 17 & 18 managed to decimate the world. While Future Trunks never unleashed his true power in Dragon Ball Z, as he was arguably the weakest of all the Saiyans during the time he was introduced, his return to prominence in Dragon Ball Super made sure he could face the universe’s biggest threats. Though Trunks’ infamous Super Saiyan Rage form is often disregarded as a contrived one-off transformation, it nonetheless granted him the ability to spar with characters who were far beyond the level of power it took to tear open holes in dimensions and potentially threaten the fabric of the universe.
8 8. Cabba
Though some Dragon Ball fans might be surprised to see such a recent addition to the roster so high up the list, Dragon Ball Super’s Cabba deserves recognition. He is one of the few Saiyans in the series who is more interested in saving his universe than fighting for personal gain. In his initial appearance, Cabba was stated to be equal in strength to Vegeta’s Super Saiyan form, which at the time had already absorbed the essence of Super Saiyan God and God Ki. Dubious writing and Toriyama theatrics aside, this means that Cabba’s initial introduction already placed him at a high enough power level to rival the likes of Super Saiyan God Goku in his clash with Beerus.
7 7. Caulifla
In a series rife with so-called prodigies, Caulifla might just be one of the greatest. Her introduction made her out to be far more powerful than Cabba, and seemingly far more intuitive when it came to battle and ki as well. She was able to grasp the concept of transforming into a Super Saiyan upon just seeing it be done- similarly to Goku and the Kamehameha in original Dragon Ball. Caulifla even manages to become Super Saiyan 2 minutes later, setting what is quite possibly the record time for such an abrupt leap in power. Even Goku complimented her abilities in the Tournament of Power and found himself eager to train her, identifying her as a potential future sparring partner.
6 6. Kale
Kale is undeniably the strongest Saiyan from Universe 6. Her latent power is through the roof and she was designed to mirror the infamous Broly. Her power is said to rise continuously when in her berserker state, and she was strong enough to ignore a Super Kamehameha from Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Kale’s rampaging power was so great in Dragon Ball Super it even drew attention from Jiren. Kale was then later capable of harnessing her berserker power in a state that even Dragon Ball Super’s Broly has yet to achieve- a Legendary Super Saiyan with mind intact.
5 5. Goku Black
Though he may be quite literally a shell of his former self, Goku Black is undoubtedly one of the strongest Saiyans ever seen in Dragon Ball history. Even without counting his fusion form with Zamasu, Goku Black himself ripped through dimensions, summoned clones of himself, and created deadly ki constructs. Unlike Captain Ginyu in Dragon Ball Z, it seems as though many of Goku Black’s attempts to draw out Goku’s latent power were met with success. Dragon Ball Super even implied that stealing Goku’s body may have ‘reset his potential,’ allowing Goku Black to ascend to never before seen heights of power.
4 4. Goku
Goku is the main character of Dragon Ball and thus has always remained in the upper echelon of martial artists. Most recently he has demonstrated extraordinary levels of stamina and resolve in the Tournament of Power where he likely grew hundreds of thousands of times more powerful thanks to constant Zenkai boosts and breaking his limits. Goku’s philosophy as a martial artist has always been about self-improvement, and thus he has always managed to keep up with the series’ most powerful warriors, if not outright exceed their power in the span of a single arc. Goku’s newfound power in the various stages of Ultra Instinct has surely put him on a track to contest the title of ‘Universe’s Strongest Mortal.’
3 3. Vegeta
Despite constantly playing second fiddle to Goku at what seems like every turn in the story, Vegeta is placed above him here for good reason. Narratively speaking, Vegeta has dealt with the consequences of his own selfishness and being blinded by arrogance for decades of his growth as a martial artist. Nevertheless, he seems set to turn a new leaf in Dragon Ball Super, and there has been a pattern of Vegeta consistently outperforming Goku at key moments in the story. In the anime, it was Vegeta who figured out how to damage Jiren even without the use of Ultra Instinct and his Final Flash clearly exceeded the power of Goku’s Spirit Bomb. In the manga, Vegeta’s imperfect Ultra Ego is still fighting side by side with Goku’s Mastered Ultra Instinct, and his new mastery of Spirit Control has provided him with an enormous level of ki control. At the end of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Vegeta was also declared the winner of a sparring match between Goku and himself, which only further solidifies his position here.
2 2. Broly
Broly is easily one of the most popular characters in Dragon Ball, with his incredible strength, ever-growing ki reserves, and absolutely raw power-up sequences. His demonstration of power in Dragon Ball Super: Broly was utterly phenomenal and required two of the most powerful characters in the series multiplying their power by several magnitudes to even stand a chance against him. With the power enough to shatter dimensions and tear the world as we know it apart, Broly’s inherent potential far outstrips almost every other Saiyan in the series…except one.
1 1. Gohan
Longtime fans of Dragon Ball will find it no surprise that at the top of this list lies Gohan- a prodigy among prodigies. From fighting alien invaders at five years old to unleashing never before seen power in order to fight the combined might of every warrior that preceded him in Cell, there is little that Gohan hasn’t already accomplished in Dragon Ball. Though his power and standing within the series may have declined in the past few years, his level of strength has reached alarming levels recently. Gohan’s newest transformation, Gohan Beast, was capable of effortlessly stopping a rampaging Cell Max, a being whose power uterly eclipsed that of Orange Piccolo. With recent statements confirming Piccolo’s new power to be completely equal to Goku and Vegeta’s current level, Gohan stands alone above the rest of the Saiyans.
The Saiyan race has clearly produced some of Dragon Ball’s most powerful characters to date. From the legends of Yamoshi to fan favorites like Gohan and Future Trunks, many of these proud warriors have cemented their legacies as some of the strongest martial artists the series has ever seen.