Highlights
- God Ki is a unique, pure form of Ki that belongs to divine characters and can only be sensed by those who possess it.
- Mortals like Goku and Vegeta can learn to harness God Ki, allowing them to achieve powerful transformations like Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue.
- Ultimate Technique Transformations, such as Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, unlock new abilities and enhance offensive and defensive capabilities using God Ki.
As Dragon Ball kept progressing, one thing always remained the same; the increasing strength of the enemies. Whenever a character achieved a brand-new transformation that was more powerful than anything else that came before it, the story would eventually introduce a new villain that was powerful enough to turn even that new transformation obsolete. This new power took a unique form in Dragon Ball Super.
With the release of the Battle of Gods movie in 2013, fans were introduced to an entirely new facet of power in Dragon Ball with the introduction of God Ki. While this worked almost identically to regular Ki, the implications of having this power were great, as well as the many ways that it can manifest within different characters according to what kinds of powers they favor. So, let’s break down what God Ki is!
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What is God Ki?
Since the enemies that the Z-Fighters had faced ever since the beginning of Dragon Ball Super were beings that were on the divine level and were far more powerful than any other villain they had ever faced before, they needed something to bring themselves up to that level of power. This was done with Goku and Vegeta using God Ki, a unique type of Ki that is unique to the Gods of Destruction and the Angels.
This is a unique, rare and exceptionally pure form of Ki that belongs to divine characters and those with ordinary Ki cannot even sense it, though there are some exceptions to this rule, such as Hit. While this is a divine characteristic that is native to the Gods and Angels, mortals can also learn to harness God Ki, as is shown with Goku and Vegeta. When mortals are able to use their own God Ki, they can then sense it as well.
God Ki generally comes in different forms; when used by Gods of Destruction it appears to be purple while those used by Saiyans appear to be red or blue. However, if a Saiyan of ‘divine origin’ uses God Ki, it appears to be pink, like it is when used by Goku Black. Despite the different colors it takes, the unifying trait of God Ki is that it has a tranquil and flame-like aura, contrasted by the jagged and erratic nature of the aura used by mortals.
Another noteworthy trait of this type of Ki is that it is very dense and heavy, in a way that gives it a lot of pressure that can even be felt by those who do not possess God Ki themselves. This was noted by both Frieza and Goku, and the latter admitted that it is very difficult to stabilize and use at first for mortals. So, with that out of the way, let’s see the various forms God Ki has taken for mortals!
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Super Saiyan God
The first and most basic form by which God Ki has manifested itself in a mortal is through the Super Saiyan God transformation. This form was first shown in the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie, where Goku had to find new power to fight against Beerus due to how much more powerful the God of Destruction was for anyone to handle. The first time Goku fought against Beerus was in Super Saiyan 3 where he got completely outclassed.
However, transforming into such a powerful form was something that proved to be too great to do alone, even for Goku. So, Shenron told the Z-Fighters of a ritual to perform where 5 pure-hearted Saiyans would power up a sixth. In doing so, the sixth would achieve God Ki and would unlock a form that was stronger than any other form of theirs. After Goku achieves the transformation, he has a much better showing against Beerus than before, even though the latter has more experience with God Ki and is still able to defeat Goku.
Super Saiyan Blue
Super Saiyan Blue is the official default form of Goku and Vegeta in the current setting of Dragon Ball Super. The form itself is very powerful for many reasons, chief among them being the fact that after unlocking the Super Saiyan God transformation, the Saiyan’s base form becomes strengthened and even more powerful than before. On top of that, the further addition of the God Ki transformation multiplies their power by a great degree.
Super Saiyan Blue offers the role that the default Super Saiyan 1 transformation had in Dragon Ball Z. Once a Saiyan has reached the Super Saiyan God transformation, they can power up to the Super Saiyan form much like they do in their base form. This adds a power multiplier and leads to the new form, which they first used against Golden Frieza but very regularly ever since against all other main villains.
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Super Saiyan Blue Evolution
This is a transformation that is unique to Vegeta. The reason that Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken is not included here is that, unlike the Super Saiyan Blue Evolution, it is not a form, merely an addition of a technique to an existing transformation. With SSBE, Vegeta’s hair adopts a darker blue color and his aura does so as well, now also including sparkling bits of Ki that float upwards. This form also makes his muscles denser and increases his strength greatly, acting as the Super Saiyan Grade 2 evolution from the Cell Saga but with God Ki. Vegeta becomes much more powerful in this form because he takes out the God of Destruction Toppo.
Super Saiyan Rosé
This form is unique to Goku Black and while it has a different color and aura about it, this form is essentially just Goku Black’s version of Super Saiyan Blue. After taking over Goku’s body and making himself invulnerable, Zamasu was able to tap into Goku’s power reserves and Super Saiyan transformation as well as his own God Ki, mixing them into a form he calls Super Saiyan Rosé, which had pink hair and a pink aura. However, there is a discrepancy as in the anime, this form is achieved by a ‘divine’ Saiyan merely going Super Saiyan whereas in the manga, this is the result of going Super Saiyan Blue with the Ki of a divine being.
Ultimate Technique Transformations
The Tournament of Power introduced fans to Goku’s Ultra Instinct transformation in his fight against Jiren the Grey. This form is essentially the result of what God Ki can do for a character if they choose to go down the path of the Angels as it unlocks the Divine Technique, Ultra Instinct. This is a state that the Angels are always existing in by default which allows for the perfect defense for the one using the technique, as they can dodge attacks without wasting even nanoseconds thinking about it.
This makes the body operate on what is essentially autopilot, as it dodges and avoids danger on its own. To use the technique to its utmost abilities, one has to discard all emotion from the fight and be of a tranquil mind. The form was first shown off against Jiren in the Tournament of Power but has been used regularly since in the manga, with the most recent iteration seen in the Granolah arc where Goku tailors the technique to suit his specific fighting style.
Ultra Ego, on the other hand, is all about offense. Being the exact opposite of the Ultra Instinct technique, Ultra Ego is the form that is used by the Gods of Destruction where their God Ki forms a dense purple aura around them, allowing for them to use Hakai and all other destructive powers that only they have the power to. While Ultra Instinct is the perfect defensive tool used by the Angels to avoid attacks, Ultra Ego prioritizes offense above all else by having a unique feature to the form where taking damage actually makes the user stronger.
This is the state that Destroyers exist in by default as their minds are constantly on Destruction and nothing else. It has been seen in the Granolah arc with Vegeta’s fight against the titular character, where he was outright stated to be stronger and more resilient than even Ultra Instinct Goku at that point. Still, though, the form is not without its drawbacks and Vegeta still has to master it fully before it reaches its full destructive potential.
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Funimation and Amazon Prime.
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