Battle Power Guide
Databooks
This page details all known battle powers from various official (or presumably official) sources outside of the manga and anime. They are listed roughly in order of the official status of their source. So the daizenshuu, which are official guides endorsed by Toriyama, are listed at the top, and after them are the Super Exciting Guides, another pair of official guides. Meanwhile, the battle power section in a 1989 issue of Weekly Jump, which has no seal of approval from Toriyama, is placed beneath it, as is a 1990 issue of V-Jump. Finally, several supposed issues of Jump and V-Jump whose existence we have not been able to fully confirm are listed at the bottom; essentially, the source for these listings is Japanese Wikipedia.
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Of all the ten daizenshuu, Daizenshuu 7 is the only one that touches on battle powers in any significant way. It devotes two pages, 82-83, to a chart showing the growth of Goku's battle power throughout the series, with other characters added for comparison purposes. Daizenshuu 7 was published in 1996, a year after the end of the series, and this battle power chart provided battle powers for characters from both before the concept of battle powers were introduced into the story, and after they basically dropped out of the story mid-way through the battle with Freeza. An odd thing about this chart is that it's placed right in the middle of the character dictionary, right after the pages with the biographies for Goku and the other members of the Son family.
The later guidebooks DragonBall: Landmark and Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume reused Daizenshuu 7's battle power chart (Landmark even credits Daizenshuu 7). Though all the battle powers are essentially the same (see below for one minor difference), these reprints are both only a single page, and contain shortened versions of Daizenshuu 7's explanatory notes.
Here's my (Herms) personal translation of this section, with commentary.
TRANSLATION BEGINS
Son Goku: Trajectory of Battle Power Growth |
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Disclosing Son Goku's battle power up until the battle with Freeza
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At a very young age, Goku demonstrated the power of a martial arts master. However, the blood of the fighting race, the Saiyan, pushed Goku on towards even further battles. The increase in his and the other warriors' battle power readings knew no end, and before anyone knew it their battles surpassed the mere limits of martial arts, reaching the point where the fate of the world itself was riding on them.
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Note
As this introduction shows, the main purpose of these pages is to track Goku's battle power over the course of the series, rather than provide a complete list of any and every battle power throughout the series. As such, several battle powers stated in the series are not included.
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First Appearance: 10
He already has twice the power of an ordinary person. What's more, his body is tough enough to repel a gun bullet.
Oozaru: 100
With his battle power becoming ten times its usual, he can even pulverize a 30 cm-thick steel wall. He now has the destructive power of a battleship's main gun.
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Note
This is the first time these battle powers were ever printed, as far as I know. Goku being twice as powerful as an ordinary person is clearly a reference to the farmer who Raditz encounters, whose battle power was given as 5. The battle power for Oozaru Goku is taken from the rule that an Oozaru Saiyan has ten times their usual battle power, as Vegeta says in the manga.
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22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai: 180
After experiencing many battles and lots of training, his ability has substantially increased. Losing the championship to Tenshinhan was merely a twist of fate.
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Note
This battle power was originally printed in a 1989 issue Weekly Jump (more about this later).
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Kame-sennin (Jackie Chun): 139
He powered up with training that he kept secret from his pupils. He did his best to build a bridge to the new era.
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Note
This is taken from Kame-sennin's battle power when Bulma measures him with her converted scouter. It's worth pointing out that this is specifically supposed to be his battle power after he got stronger training for the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, meaning it would be lower during his first appearance in the series, and his fight with Goku at the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai.
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Tsuru-sennin: 120
He's the man who had previously held a competitive rivalry with Kame-sennin. However, it seems that in actual ability, Kame-sennin has a slight lead on him.
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Note
This is another battle power that was originally printed in Weekly Jump. It most likely stems from the fact that when fighting Jackie Chun, Tenshinhan says that Chun is even stronger than Tsuru-sennin.
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Tenshinhan: 180
He attacks Goku with superhuman high-level techniques and power, and their contest is nearly even.
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Note
This is the same battle power that is given for Goku up above. In Daizenshuu 4, Toriyama said that Goku and Tenshinhan's battle was his most favorite Tenkaichi Budoukai fight because "their ability was almost exactly equal".
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Versus Piccolo Daimao: 260
After drinking the Super God Water and awakening his hidden power, Goku's power is now on par with Piccolo Daimao. Tenshinhan assists him in his death-match with Piccolo.
Piccolo Daimao: 260
He has become even more powerful now that he has his youth restored. Easily capable of blowing away a city, his power rivals that of a small nuclear bomb.
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Note
Piccolo Daimao's battle power was another one originally given in Weekly Jump. Goku's battle power was presumably then derived on the idea that the two were equal.
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Versus Raditz: 416
Goku joins forces with Piccolo when an unprecedentedly strong opponent appears. However, they're no match for their opponent in a series battle, and Goku loses his life in exchange for victory.
Piccolo: 408
Unfastening his training equipment, he stands ready to fight at full power. The Makankosappo that he fires from his fingertips has a power equivalent to 1,330.
Son Gohan: 1~1,307
Although it changes greatly based on his emotions, his hidden power already surpasses his father Goku. He is still only four years old.
Krillin: 206
Through straightforward training and first-rate talent (for an Earthling), he has surpassed his master Kame-sennin. Afterwards, he holds his own on the battle's frontline.
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Note
These are all taken from the manga. Gohan's fluctuating battle power is the only point of difference between the Daizenshuu 7 battle power list and those in DragonBall: Landmark and the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume. In Landmark, it is given as simply "1" (with a note that it changes with his emotions), while in the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume it is given as "1~?". Nothing too significant, but again, that's the one and only difference between the numbers on these different lists.
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Raditz: 1,500
He toys with Goku and Piccolo with incredible power and speed. Despite this, he is still merely a low-level warrior.
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Note
This was originally given in 1989 in Weekly Jump, as far as I know. It's also been used in numerous video games, including Super Saiyan Densetsu for the Super NES and the recent Saiyan Shuurai for the Nintendo DS. As noted in the manga section, Raditz is not actually said to be equal to the Saibaimen, only close to them, and Toriyama has written that Raditz had a higher battle power than them.
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Versus Vegeta: 8,000
Receiving training from Kaio, Goku's ability has revolutionarily increased. From this time onwards, the Kaio-ken and Genki-dama become dependable weapons for Goku.
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Note
This is taken from the manga, but there Vegeta said Goku's battle power was "over 8,000". Daizenshuu 7 has rounded this down, which I guess makes sense, since if Goku were over 8,000 to any significant extent, Vegeta would have told Nappa this.
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Note
Another battle power originally given in Weekly Jump. Like Raditz's, it has been used in many video games, including Kyuushuu Saiyan for the NES, and Saiyan Shuurai for the Nintendo DS.
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Saibaiman: 1,200
Vegeta: 18,000
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Note
These are both from the manga. Nappa said that the Saibaiman were all at 1,200 (enough to rival Raditz, going only by power), and Dodoria says that Vegeta was "barely 18,000" just before going to Earth.
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Krillin: 1,770
Yamcha: 1,480
Chaozu: 610
Tenshinhan: 1,830
Piccolo: 3,500
Son Gohan: 2,800
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Note
These are all originally from a 1989 issue of Weekly Jump. Gohan's 2,800 is taken from the battle power reading of his Masenko attack, as given in the manga (though Gohan would have been much lower than this during most of the fight, according to Vegeta's statement that Gohan's power had radically changed when he fired the attack). In Weekly Jump, Gohan's battle power was given as "over 2,800".
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Note
This is calculated by multiplying Goku's regular battle power of 8,000 by 4. Going by this, Goku would be at 16,000 while using Kaio-ken x2, and 24,000 using the Kaio-ken x3.
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Arrival on Planet Namek: 90,000
Training under gravity 100 times that of Earth, he breaks through the limits of previous Saiyan. In addition, he is now able to endure the Kaio-ken up to x10.
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Note
This would be derived from the fact that Goku's battle power while using the Kaio-ken at this point was said to be 180,000 in the manga. Since Kaio-ken was said to double Goku's battle power, normally he would be 90,000. This fits in with Ginyu's statements in the manga. Before Goku used the Kaio-ken, Ginyu estimated that Goku was at about 85,000.
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Son Gohan: 14,000
Krillin: 13,000
Vegeta: 30,000
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Note
Gohan and Krillin's battle powers are based on the pair being described as "over 10,000" during their fight with Gurd. Vegeta's battle power was originally given as "close to 20,000" in the manga, but this was changed to "close to 30,000" in the anime, Daizenshuu 7, and ultimately the Kanzenban re-release of the manga.
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Versus Freeza: 3 million
As a result of having his wounded body healed in a medical treatment machine, Goku achieves a super power-up that astonishes even him. His Saiyan pride now awakened, he faces the decisive battle.
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Note
As far as I know, Daizenshuu 7 is the first place that the battle powers for the battle with Freeza were printed. In the manga, Freeza says that his battle power in his second form is over 1 million (he thinks), and after reaching his third and final forms he gets much stronger each time. Goku is then able to fight evenly with Freeza without using the Kaio-ken, so 3 million seems a reasonable figure for him. Using Kaio-ken x10 would put him at 30 million, and Kaio-ken x20 at 60 million.
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Freeza 50%: 60 million
Freeza 100%: 120 million
After reaching his final form, Freeza overwhelms Goku with only half of his true capabilities. However, he unleashes his full power after the appearance of the Super Saiyan.
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Note
This puts 50% Freeza as twice as strong as Goku using the Kaio-ken x10, and equal to Goku with Kaio-ken x20. Goku says in the manga that his Kaio-ken x20 attack hardly damaged Freeza.
Daizenshuu 7's battle powers for both Freeza's full power and Super Saiyan Goku are commonly said to be only 12 and 15 million, respectively, while normal Goku is given as 300,000 and Freeza at 50% as 6 million. This misconception most likely traces back to the Ultimate DBZ Information Site, a very influential English DragonBall fan site in the 90s that was run by Greg Werner. On the "Little Known Dragon Ball Z Facts" page, item 26 provides a list of all battle powers from the manga or daizenshuu, and it gives these numbers for Goku and Freeza.
Werner prided himself on creating all of his site's content, and much of his site consisted of things he took from Daizenshuu 7, so it's unlikely that he relied on someone else to make his list. Countless other fan sites relied on Werner's site for information (and often flat-out stole his content), so this mistranslation spread throughout the English-speaking DragonBall fan community. In particular, the popular site Planet Namek also used 12 and 15 million in their power levels list, color-coding them as being from the daizenshuu. It is possible that SkullMac, the man responsible for maintaining Planet Namek's power list, made the same translation mistake as Werner, but it's more likely that he relied upon Werner's site for these numbers.
At any rate, how would someone mistranslate these numbers? Well, this is the way those battle powers are written in Daizenshuu 7:
Goku: 300万
Super Saiyan Goku: 1億5000万
Freeza 50%: 6000万
Freeza 100%: 1 億2000万
"万" (man) is the kanji for 10 thousand, while "億" (oku) represents 100 million. So if you do the math, "300 man" is 3 million and "1 oku, 5 thousand man" is 150 million. But it's easy to see how someone not too experienced with the Japanese number system could make a mistake converting them, especially since all the previous battle powers in this section of Daizenshuu 7 are written purely in Arabic numerals, with no kanji or mathematical conversion required. For additional information on the Japanese number system, view the "Battle Powers in the manga" page.
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Super Saiyan: 150 million
The warrior of legend, the Super Saiyan, finally awakens. In addition to having battle power 50 times that of his normal state, he now overwhelms even Freeza.
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Note
Since Goku was unable to beat Freeza with Kaio-ken x20 while Freeza was only using half his power but was then finally able to defeat Freeza as a Super Saiyan, we can infer that Goku as a Super Saiyan must be over 40 times as powerful as he is normally. This rule of Super Saiyan yielding a 50-fold increase in power is also mentioned in Daizenshuu 7's glossary entry on Super Saiyan, and in its attack dictionary entry for Super Saiyan as well. It also turns up in the first volume of the DragonBall GT Perfect Files (where it's said to be "according to one theory"), DragonBall: Landmark, and the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume, which simply reprints Daizenshuu 7's battle power list. In the entry for "Battle Power" in Daizenshuu 7's terms glossary, Super Saiyan Goku's battle power is given as "over 150 million".
Also in the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume, Toriyama revealed in an interview that he thought a multiplier of 50 was rather large, and that he had originally drawn it with the sense of being a 10-fold increase in what Goku had been "up until then". It's unclear how this would put Super Saiyan in relation to Goku's regular use of Kaio-ken x10 to gain a 10-fold increase in power, and the "up until then" bit muddies things further. Since Goku had already multiplied his power 10 and 20 times with the Kaio-ken as he fought Freeza, did Toriyama mean that he thought of Super Saiyan as being 10 times stronger than that, meaning it would make Goku overall 100 or 200 times stronger than he normally was? If so, it's hard to make sense of Toriyama saying that a 50-fold increase is too large. But if Toriyama meant that it only made Goku 10 times stronger than he was without using Kaio-ken, then Super Saiyan Goku is only half as strong as he was when using the Kaio-ken x20, at which point he was unable to significantly harm Freeza. Perhaps the answer is that Toriyama is being his usual forgetful self, since he himself admits in the same interview to have forgotten much of DragonBall's story himself, and that we shouldn't take these numbers he throws out too seriously.
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What about the change in Goku's battle power after that?
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Even after the battle with Freeza, formidable enemies surpassing human knowledge appeared one after the other to face Goku. Though the power-ups received after having wounds healed became small, Goku and co. began using transformations and fusions to increase their battle powers, to the point where they could no longer be measured numerically...
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Note
The ending paragraph seems to mostly be a way of explaining why no battle powers are available after the battle with Freeza, saying that past this point battle powers become simply immeasurable. The way the note about near-death power-ups becoming "small" is phrased in Japanese (sukunakunatta), it could either mean that they became small, infrequent, or simply insufficient.
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TRANSLATION ENDS
Besides the two pages devoted to battle powers, there are several other battle powers given throughout Daizenshuu 7's character dictionary. Several of these are ones given in the series, like Ginyu's and Nail's. The new ones are as follows, given in the biography of each character:
Kui: 18,000 [p.63]
Zarbon (normal form): about 23,000 [p.69]
Dodoria: 22,000 [p.91]
Piccolo (merged with Nail): over 1,000,000 [p.102]
Freeza's Reconnaissance Team: less than 1,500 [p.105]
In addition to these regular battle powers, Daizenshuu 7 has a bit of extra information on Babidi's system of measuring energy, the kiri. On p.46 it says that with 200-300 kiri, it is possible to destroy 1-2 planets. This was also stated in the anime.
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As mentioned above, the Super Exciting Guide: Story Volume features a reprint of Daizenshuu 7's battle power list. But in addition to this, in the training section, it contains some information on the relative strengths of the various levels of Super Saiyan.
On p.62-63, it says that Super Saiyan 2 is twice as strong as regular Super Saiyan, and that Super Saiyan 3 is four times as strong as Super Saiyan 2. It also repeats Daizenshuu 7's statement about regular Super Saiyan increasing the battle power by a factor of 50. Somewhat interestingly, the comment on regular Super Saiyan is the only one that uses the term "battle power", while for 2 and 3 it simply says "strength". This may be to go along with Daizenshuu 7's statement that the increase in the character's strength past the battle with Freeza cannot be measured in battle powers.
 
On p.63 it describes the Potara fusion as being closer to multiplication rather than simple addition in the way it increases power. Supposedly, Vegetto's battle power is equivalent to Goku's battle power multiplied by Vegeta's. Also according to the introduction of the Super Exciting Guide's training section, all the information in it is based on data that was supervised by Toriyama, though we have no idea how extensive this supervision was.
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In 1989, the 31st issue of Weekly Jump featured a special section on battle powers, along with a quiz-based DragonBall contest and a feature on the Jump Anime Carnival, which was where the Toriyama anime Kosuke-sama premiered. All three of these special sections were in the form of pull-out posters. The battle power section is called "Final Warriors-Great Collection!! Cards". The introduction is in the form of Bulma with her scouter. She explains that each of the characters are given a number indicating their strength, as well as a symbol showing what martial arts school they belong to (such as the Turtle school or Crane school). These numbers are referred to as daitai no sentou-nouryoku ("approximate battle ability"), rather than the usual sentou-ryoku ("battle power"). It should be noted that the term "battle ability" is actually used in the manga a few times as a synonym for "battle power", like when Vegeta reads Goku as being 5,000.
However, no source for these numbers is mentioned. With the exception of Kame-sennin, all of these battle ability numbers given for the characters here match those given for them in Daizenshuu 7 (1996). Since this issue came out seven years before Daizenshuu 7, it seems that this was either a source for the Daizenshuu 7 list, or they share the same source. The game DragonBall Z: Kyoushuu Saiyan (1990) and DragonBall Z: Super Saiyan Densetsu (1992) also use several of these battle powers.
When this issue came out, the battle with Vegeta was still in progress (the issue itself contains the struggle between Goku's Kamehameha and Vegeta's Gyarik-ho), so all battle powers were intended to be for the battle with Vegeta and Nappa, unless otherwise noted.
Son Gohan: over 2,800
This is taken from his battle power while firing the Masenko. In Daizenshuu 7 his battle power for the battle with the Saiyan is given as simply "2,800", with no clarification that is "over" that number.
Son Goku (15 years old): 180
This was reused in Daizenshuu 7.
Son Goku (18 years old): 910
This would be Goku during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai. It's much higher than 416, his regular battle power during the fight with Raditz five years later, but it is slightly lower than his battle power while firing the Kamehameha then ("924 and rising"). So this would work if it's his battle power while firing the Super Kamehameha during his fight with Piccolo, but nothing like that is mentioned.
Son Goku (24 years old): over 8,000
In Daizenshuu 7, this is rounded down to simply 8,000.
Kami-sama: 220
This one is original to this chart, as far as I know. It's lower than Piccolo Daimao's, even though Kami-sama is supposed to be stronger than Daimao. Since all these figures are supposed to be during the battle with Vegeta, this number would only work if Kami-sama had gotten much weaker between Goku's battle with Piccolo Daimao and the battle with Vegeta.
Piccolo Daimao: 260
Piccolo Daimao/Ma Junior: 3,500
Raditz: 1,500
Nappa: 4,000
All of these figures are the same as in Daizenshuu 7.
Vegeta: Impossible to Measure
It notes that "his strength is unfathomable...!!". As mentioned earlier, this was all printed while the Vegeta fight was still going on.
Chi Chi: 130
This is her battle power during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai. The Japanese Wikipedia page for Chi Chi claims that a 1990 special issue of V-Jump gives Chi Chi's battle power as 137, noting that she's on par with Kame-sennin (more on this below).
Chaozu: 610
Tenshinhan: 1,830
Yajirobe: 970
Krillin: 1,770
Yamcha: 1,480
Yajirobe's battle power is the only one not in Daizenshuu 7. Again, these would all be from during the fight against Vegeta and Nappa.
Tao Pai Pai: 210
This would be Cyborg Tao Pai Pai, to be exact (going by the picture).
Tsuru-sennin: 120
This is another one which was reused in Daizenshuu 7.
Kame-sennin (Muten Roshi): 180
The picture would seem to indicate that this is from his stand against Piccolo Daimao. Daizenshuu 7 lists Kame-sennin as being at 139 during the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai. The text says that "he fires the original Kamehameha", so maybe this is supposed to be his Kamehameha's power, or perhaps indicate that he was stronger during his fight with Daimao than he was at the tournament?
Karin: 190
Another original figure that wasn't reprinted in Daizenshuu 7. In the manga, Karin tells Goku that he has "almost surpassed him (Karin)" after the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, so this fits with Goku being at 180 during the tournament.
Mister Popo: 1,030
This is extremely high, considering that Kami-sama is given as being only at 220, and Kami-sama is stronger than Mister Popo by his own admission. Since these numbers are generally from the battle with Vegeta and Nappa, perhaps Mister Popo became more powerful after training the Earthling warriors for a year? Or since neither this battle power nor Kami-sama's were reused for Daizenshuu 7, maybe both were later deemed simply mistakes?
Kaio: 3,500
This figure is original to this issue of Jump and wasn't reused in Daizenshuu 7. It puts Kaio as being equal to Piccolo during his fight with the Saibaimen and Nappa. Now there's a fight I would have liked to see.
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Shortly before the premiere of DragonBall Z Movie 5 in 1991, Weekly Jump published a special section on this movie, which featured elaborate background information on Coola's three henchmen from the movie. Among this information is supposed to be their battle powers, according to the Japanese Wikipedia page for this movie. While we have unfortunately been unable to locate this specific issue of Weekly Jump, all of the other background information on Coola's henchmen that it is supposed to be contained has been confirmed in various official guides, so it seems reasonable that these battle powers are also official.
Sauzer: 170,000 – Neiz: 163,000 – Dore: 185,000 |
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The very first issue of V-Jump (released December 12th, 1990) featured a page on the battle powers of the characters during the early portion of the battle with Freeza. At this time, the manga was up to the point where Freeza transforms into his third form. Besides listing some of the battle powers stated in the manga, like Freeza being at 530,000 in his first form, the page gives a few new battle powers. Vegeta is pegged at 250,000, making him almost ten times as strong as he was before recovering from his fight with Recoom. Meanwhile, Gohan is said to be 200,000 normally, but it notes that he can get far stronger, so it give his overall battle power as simply "?".
Krillin is said to be 75,000, much stronger than during the fight with Gurd when it was only "over 10,000". This touches on an unresolved issue from the manga: before beginning to fight Freeza, Vegeta says that both Gohan and Krillin's battle powers are steadily rising. As a half Saiyan, Gohan gets stronger each time he recovers from the brink of death, but why would Krillin be getting constantly stronger? Does he improve that much simply by fighting with strong enemies, or does the power-up he received from the Eldest take awhile before it takes full effect?
In addition to the battle powers, at the bottom of the page is a section where Tenshinhan and the others at Kaio's give their comments on the battle with Freeza. Tenshinhan says that he's gotten much stronger. Yamcha asks Bulma to wait for him, the poor sap. And Chaozu wants to know if Krillin is doing well. Also of note on this page is that it incorrectly gives Nail's battle power as 4,200 rather than 42,000.
Vegeta, after fighting Recoom: 250,000
Gohan, normal: 200,000
Gohan, emotional: "?"
Krillin, after fighting Gurd: 75,000
Also according to Japanese Wikipedia (needless to say, take all this with a grain of salt), there was a 1990 special issue of V-Jump which contained a section on battle powers.
Tao Pai Pai, when he first appeared: 110
Gyuumao: 97
Chaozu (unclear when; probably the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai): 84
Chi Chi: 137
Obviously Wikipedia is far from infallible in any language, but since Japanese Wikipedia was what initially tipped me off to the 1989 issue of Weekly Jump, I'm tempted to believe it is correct on these counts as well. Though, only time will tell.
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Information by: Herms Images by: Hujio Jump Images by: Outer Z |
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