Following the Dragon Ball Super manga's most contemporary arc, we are introduced to several new power-ups for the main cast. The first, being the wrathful Ultra Ego for Vegeta; and the second being a new "Ultra Instinct" for Goku. These developments are made following their training and progression alongside their tutors, Beerus and Whis.

In this blog, I will analyze the function of Goku's new powers, contrast them to his previous forms, and compare them in strength.

Ultra Instinct?

First referred by Whis prior to the Tournament of power, Ultra instinct is an ability allowing its user to freely move their bodies unconsciously. Thus, allowing the user to flow in their combat based on fluid, incognizant efforts. Ultra Instinct is one of many abilities which Goku has been shown to train in order to get stronger; under the tutelage of Merus, as well as the Angel Whis. Additionally, Goku has shown three distinct forms of the ability; which I will elaborate further on later in this blog.

Gallery

Beerus has been presented to showcase this ability, as seen in his bout with Vegeta; as well as in the exhibition match alongside his fellow destroyer gods. Although his Ultra Instinct is imperfect; he displays an impressive refinement of the ability; allowing him to best his fellow gods. It is worthy to mention that Goku has surpassed Beerus in terms of mastery of this ability.

Gallery

Omen

The most rudimentary form of the Ultra Instinct transformation, Ultra Instinct Omen is the state Goku takes prior to the full "mastery" of this ability. Forwarding with the bells and whistles of the ability, it is still a far cry from the original ability. This is attributed to the experience the user lacks, the stamina which Omen leeches from the user, as well as the misunderstanding Goku has regarding the technique; being the equation of the technique to a transformation. Tolling immense stamina from the users body, it is no wonder why this transformation has suffered from a negative win-to-loss ratio.

Gallery

Silver-Hair "Mastered" Ultra Instinct

Being the most iconic of the Ultra instinct transformations, this form grants the user silver hair, akin to the aforementioned angels. Superior to Omen by any justifiable strength-based criteria, this transformation has helped Goku overcome many an opponent. Ranging from Jiren to Moro and even the "strongest warrior in the universe" Granolah, he had successfully mastered this ability prior to the fight with 7-3 Moro; and the transformation has only gotten stronger since then.

Gallery

Unfortunately, this transformation is anything but a fallacy to the true nature of ultra instinct. "Mastered" ultra instinct with the silver hair is a false prototype Goku had transformed into in order to replicate Whis's function of the same ability. In short, the equation of the technique into a transformation is the limiting factor in the strength of Ultra Instinct.

Gallery

"True Ultra Instinct"

After his defeat by the atrocious Gas, Goku realizes that the silver haired instinct is a false transformation. The realization leads Goku to the fact that his equation of the ability to a transformation was wrong all along, and that he should instead be using the technique as a natural way of fighting, rather than a Trump card. Culminating into a new fighter, Goku has truly made use of the technique: Ultra Instinct. This is the peak of the ability known as Ultra Instinct; and it is borne of Goku's own talent and skill as a fighter rather than a replication of another.

Gallery

Additionally, we have word from interview excerpts confirming that this is the best usage of the ability.

things are about to get heated

@darkrealm: How? This is shit everyone already knew and it has no effect on the power levels of previous characters who were surpassed.

Completely agree, this is a great explanation, one actually far better than the one the manga on it's own was capable of providing in a clear cut manner for the average reader, considering the amount of nonsense posts I've seen initially equating this form to UI Omen itself or weaker than MUI.

This was a good read and it's what I interpreted goku's new(old) form to be

Good read.

TUI is definitely stronger than silver IU whether people like it or not. SUI's performance against Gas proves it, and it doesn't matter if he was "hindered by emotions" or not.

Yeah pretty much

Facts it’s far beyond Sign as well

Tf is “true ultra instinct”

I only saw a plot boosted Sign

That's what people are calling it rn.

Good read. I hope the silver UI form doesn't get put on the sidelines forever even though TUI is stronger, I was digging the look

Whis said Goku should put aside the Silver haired form till a battle demands he surpasses his limits. So Full Power PUI is still above TUI

The performance of MUI against similar opponents makes this extremely unreasonable to say, couple this with the fact that TUI occurred after this statement and we have a clear conclusion. Additionally, power isn't the actual strength of ultra instinct.

MUI being affected by emotions is one of the pitfalls of the transformation, and it would fare the same against similar opponents regardless of whether or not his heart is calm. Although Goku's goal is to maintain a composed state at all times, in the current timeframe this is simply not feasible; and he is subject to the loss of stamina and emotional disturbance at any point in the transformation. I suspect this is why TUI is a more reasonable approach to fighting Gas.

Gallery

@enviid: Agreed, Sign is still fodder to the Granolah arc and TUI is far superior.

Black Hair version > Silver hair.

Terrible post.

Of course it does. Him being filled with emotions and not being calm/tranquil exactly means he can't utilise the full power of MUI. He pretty much also agreed that MUI is Goku's strongest form.

@noobsnowman said:

Terrible post.

@takenstew22 said:

Good read.

TUI is definitely stronger than silver IU whether people like it or not. SUI's performance against Gas proves it, and it doesn't matter if he was "hindered by emotions" or not.

Of course it does. Him being filled with emotions and not being calm/tranquil exactly means he can't utilise the full power of MUI. He pretty much also agreed that MUI is Goku's strongest form.

Is it tho.

@takenstew22: Its not whether you agree, its whether Goku agrees. And Whis stated that MUI is the perfect, true, completed and mastered form of Ultra Instinct.

I mean it's common sense at this point. Goku stated that for MUI to work, his heart needed to be calm and tranquil. Then he stated that his heart was not calm - which by the way has been an issue for him throughout the entirety of the Granolah Arc unlike the previous two arcs. What does that tell you about his use of MUI against Gas?

@enviid Thoughts?

@takenstew22: Oh and by the way, Goku has been struggling with getting his heart calm and tranquil throughout the majority of the Granolah Arc:

Unlike the ToP and Moro Arc

Gallery

So when you say that being hindered by emotions does not matter, you're capping. There's overwhelming evidence that being filled with emotions instead of being calm and tranquil is definitely a problem for Goku in being able to use MUI effectively. It is exactly why MUI Goku in the Granolah Arc is pathetic compared to Moro Arc and even ToP Arc MUI Goku.

MUI is evidently not the best usage of Ultra Instinct, I've thoroughly shown why it's an incomplete transformation; with Whis describing the equation to a transformation is an incorrect way of utilizing it. Additionally, power isn't the true strength of Ultra Instinct. He's a much better, skilled, and efficient fighter in a form that doesn't leech his stamina and lets him fight with his true intentions. The end goal for Goku in his journey with the development of this technique is to use it in his base form without the usage of transformations, not to limit himself with a transformation as a maximal power level.

Goku has also been distressed situations which would put an imbalance on the calm nature of UI much prior to his fight with Gas. The form itself, MUI is at its strongest within the context of the Granolah arc, as it followed several months of training and has since then been perfected.

Makes sense for now. But just you wait 6 months, we'll get something brand new that completely shits on everything we know so far. 'Tis the nature of dragon ball at this point.

TUI>MUI>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ToP Omen

Agreed

The main characters of this series have a linear progression in strength, and are stronger after every arc. This goes without saying, of course.

You are the outlier in a thread of praise. Do you mind informing me why you disagree? Or are you going to continue with your sophistry?

Good read 😊

At this point in time Goku's UI is undergoing a much needed revision to make his combat more effective. Hopefully this leads to him actually taking people down definitively with it in the future

We need True UE

Impressive analysis.

i have it like this

mui when calm> tui> mui when not calm> ui omen

@itsyourboi34: You cannot activate MUI if you are not calm. So not exactly.

There are levels to calmness.

TUI is > Goku's normal usage of MUI

On paper tho, Silver Haired form is stronger than Black Haired form

Silver Haired form should be used as a last resort when the battle demands him to surpass his limits when it comes to Goku, not in general combat

Well yeah thats what meant lol, but thanks for going in more detail

@itsyourboi34: Good. Cuz the way u said it would imply that Goku was nerfed which is just not true.

He gets better using the form and command it. Also gets closer to mastering it eventually

He uses the forms in different ways to eventually reach that