So if we were to rank the characters based on skill, how would that look like?
*I'm mixing some of the Anime Super stuff and the Manga Super stuff, and I know I should do them separate but I'm lazy, and I don't think the difference would be THAT big (I might be wrong though).
So, by the 22nd Budokai I think the list would look something like:
1- Roshi
2/3 - Goku/Tien (Either could be argued to be above the other, I think overall they are even)
4 - Krillin
5 - Tao (I think Tao could be debated to be above Krillin, but his last fight with Goku, compared to Krillin's fight with Goku in 22nd give me the impresion of Krillin being more skilled)
There were fewer fighters and skill was actually displayed regularly in combats back then, so it feels like a decent base to start with. However, as the show goes on skill takes a back seat to massive power, skill showings become rarer, though some of the displays themselves are often much more impressive in nature than the ones seen during the DB era.
For instnace, while Tien used to be portrayed as one of the most skilled fighters, and had accolades and displays that cemented that back then, I don't think I've seen a display of skill from him since... his fight with Goku in 22nd dare I say? Maybe learning the Mafuba? So, IDK ho to rank him nowadays, but he doesn't feel like he's near the top anymore.
While Goku keeps getting better and better skills displays, like beeing able to read Hit through time well enough to block and land hits, and being able to learn UI, even if he still hasn't mastered it, he is managing to enter that state in base, both feats putting him probably at the top of the list for me. Goku is also likely the best combat analyzer of the series.
Roshi was shown to be skilled in most(all?) of the serious fights he was relevant in (everything before 23rd Budokai), managing to pull off an old man's Ultra Instinct, I consider to be a top tier showings of skill, and his ability to analyze combat during the ToP filler was not necesarilly a skill feat, but skill-adjacent I guess. Probably #2 for me.
Beerus hasn't been able to master UI and has been "learning it" longer than Goku, however he hasn't ever tried since we've been introduced to him, meybe if he put himself to it he'd master it within an arc. From what he's shown I think he's very skilled, but I'd definitely put him below Goku, and probably also below Roshi. He's very likely top 5 though.
Hit may seem to be skilled because of how he is portrayed, but the thing is he's so hax for most of the Dragon ball characters that skill doesn't come into play. during U6vU7 arc, IIR it was commented that he kept his hands in his pockets cause he wasn't hard to read, Dyspo figured him out almost instantly (he had prior knowledge of Hit's timeskip though). OTOH, Hit learns absurdly fast, being able to change his strat pretty fast and execute it well enough to adapt to Dyspo. And he's had to hold back during his most important fights since he can't use his "assassination techniques" which are likely the ones he's honed the most, the only time we saw him using them, Goku was having trouble sensing him, and Hit eventually one shots Goku with an "unsensable" ki attack. Overall I think he's very skilled but hard to rank, he has some lows along with his highs, and there's too much ambiguity, most likely top 10, maybe even top 5.
Krillin is pretty combat saavy (maybe the most combat saavy in the show along with Roshi), but that doesn't necesarily translate to skill, outsmarting Gohan in the spar is cool, but Idk if I'd consider that skill, he's usually able to adapt to whatever situation he's in but I think that's smart tactics more than anything. Developing taiyoken x100 though, I think shows a good degree of ki mastery. He's also rarely outskilled by an opponent, but that may be because 95% of his opponents dwarf him power-wise. Probably the 3rd Z fighter after Goku and Roshi, and likely in the top 10 overall.
Gohan was always mostly a stats/rage amps beast, rarely displaying skill at all (he is likely the most gifted, but that doesn't mean the most skilled), skillwise, outside of assumed skill while trading blows, I think his better feat is his fight against Lavender, where he is blinded and can't sense his opponents ki, and goes around it by... sensing his opponent through his hair? Idk, its a strange showing, Idk how to judge it.
Cabba's capacity to understand how SSJ works better than any U7 saiyan had ever done before, and Caulifla's ability to master SSJ2 in 5 minutes with said understanding are incredibly impressive, but I think those are feats of talent more than skill. Aside from that I don't think any U6 saiyan showed any impressive display of skill.
Cell should logically be extremelly skilled, as he should be on par or above in his fighting skills with the most skilled Z-fighter at least up to end of Saiyan Saga (when the samples were collected, IDK why cells would carry fighting skill but I think that's the implication since Cell never had martial arts or ki training).
Vegeta doesn't usually display skill, he is decent at analysing combat (when he's not involved in the combat in question, as he usually gets clouded by his ego), and he does seem to have a knack to learn techniques like Kienzan which he incorporated within minutes of seeing, and the Yardrat energy fission technique which he learned realtively fast (about 1 to 3 months IIRC) and he even figured out Shunkan Ido while learning energy fission, it took Goku 3 years to master that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Trunks like Gohan is usually touted with accolades about talent, similar to Gohan's accolades though not as many. However not a single display of skill from him I can think of besides learning the mafuba in 2 minutes from watching a recording of Goku in a cellphone practicing it, which is Dr Slump levels of bonkers (again not sure how much technique learning tells us about a given character's skill), and managing to make a pseudo Genki Dama and form the energy into a sword, but again, hard af to judge (I think this is better than learning a skill, because he isn't being given the knowledge of how to, he just did it)
Piccolo while a good strategist, and one of the best combat analyzers, I don't think has many displays of skill. Not any I can think of right now.
Frieza was able to master his Golden transformation by image training in hell, which I think is decent, but not much beyond that.
I don't think we've seen enough about the angels to rank them, but Daishinkan is probably the most skilled, and Meerus probably the least skilled, and the only one we could reasonably include in a list. And they are all probably above everyone else, with the possible exception of Meerus being below Goku (I don't remember his fight with Moro well, but I seem to remember he had some anti skill feats there, if I'm remembering wrong the he's also probably above Goku).
So, what are your opinions on the subject??
Log in to comment