Most of the early numbers (up to end of Frieza Saga) are taken from Japanese Manga or Shonen Jump (Manga being definitive source, and Shonen Jump being basically definitive). Some numbers were estimated, and will not be listed as a hard number if that is the case. Also, there was an error in the original few runs of Vegeta's power level vs the Ginyu Force (originally stated to be 20,000, which didn't make any sense, and was fixed to be 30,000).
The multipliers I used were from Daizenshuu 7 (Super Exciting Guide) and are not debatable unless otherwise noted (in which case, I gave a formula/multiplier that gave acceptable numbers). I did a fairly large amount of research on this crap, and regardless of how crazy some of the later numbers may seem, it's much more legitimate than other lists because of the fact they couldn't accept relatively smaller gaps in power levels to lead to large differences in actual combat abilities.
I take 80% as a somewhat one-sided but lengthy fight (Goku vs Frieza)
70% to be clear domination (Gohan vs Buu)
90% to be a damn close fight (18 vs Vegeta, but 18 has infinite energy, Vegeta doesn't)
60% to be pretty much a beatdown, can win with 2 clean punches (Gohan vs Cell, Goku vs Recoome)
Enjoy, rage, discuss!
I'm actually fairly surprised the SEG formula for Fusion actually turned out somewhat decent. You'll understand when you get there and read what the formula actually was.
Note: Everything post-Frieza (aside from Trunks being at 5) is purely fan-made, but is done with a fair bit of analysis and the math is correct. ALSO NOTE THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST CONSERVATIVE POWER LEVEL LISTS YOU WILL EVER FIND (and possibly the only one you'll ever find that got the SEG numbers to work)! Everything before that point however, has been through pretty harsh screening before I let the numbers in on this list, which is why you may not see some characters you want to see at some point of the list. I can give you my estimate, or the most recurring reasonable number I've seen (might be an average of several reasonable numbers in the same ballpark). Whichever you prefer.
Saiyan Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Radditz: 1500
Farmer: 5
Goku: 416
-Wearing Weighted Clothing: 334
-Kamehameha: 924 (and rising)
Piccolo: 408
-Wearing Weighted Clothing: 322
-Charing Special Beam Cannon: 1,020-1,030 (and rising)
-Firing first SBC: 1,330
-Firing second SBC: 1,480
Gohan: 1
-Random spike inside Saiyan Pod: 710
-Attacking Radditz: 1,307
Roshi: 139
Krillin: 206
Tien: 250
Yamcha: 177
Saiyan Saga Round 2:
+ Show Spoiler +
Saibaiman: 1,200
Nappa: 4,000
Vegeta: 18,000
-Oozaru (Giant Monkey): between 40,000 and 180,000 (unlikely to be close to those boundaries, maybe around 60-70k)
Goku: over 8,000
-Surpressed: 5,000
-Kaioken xN = ~8,000xN (up to N=5 theoretically, though he only went up to 4 and demolished his body)
Gohan: 981
-Firing Masenko (angry): over 2,800
Piccolo 3,500
-Surpressed: 1,220
Krillin 1,770
-Surpressed: 1083
Tien: 1,830
Yamcha: 1,480
Chiaotzu: 610
Yajirobe: 970
King Kai: 3,500
Namek Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Kui: about 18,000
Dodoria: 22,000
Zarbon: 23,000
-Transformed: very likely around 27,000
Ginyu Force (except Guldo and Ginyu): Between 30,000 and 60,000; generally accepted around 42,000-45,000
Ginyu: 120,000
-in Goku's Body: 23,000
Gohan:
-about 1,500 upon arrival
-14,000 after Guru unlocks potential
Krillin:
-about 1,500 upon arrival
-13,000 after Guru unlocks potential
Vegeta:
-upon arrival: 24,000
-after Zarbon: ~30,000
-After fighting Recoome: 250,000 (according to V-Jump, which I guess is considered a good source)
Nail: 42,000
Goku: 90,000
-Surpressed: 5,000
-Kaioken x2: 180,000-Kaioken x10: 900,000
Frieza Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Frieza: 120,000,000
-First Form: 530,000
-Second Form: over 1,000,000 (generally accepted as 1,060,000-~1,500,000, pre- and post-Piccolo's arrival)
-Third Form: around 2,000,000 (generally accepted as 2,120,000, though can easily be wrong)
-Final Form, 50%: 60,000,000
-Final Form, 70%: 84,000,000
-Final Form, 100%: 120,000,000
Goku: 3,000,000
-Kaioken x10: 30,000,000
-Kaioken x20: 60,000,000
-Super Saiyan: 150,000,000
Piccolo: generally accepted as around 1,200,000 to just over 1,500,000 (post-fusion, arrival unknown)
Vegeta: over 2,000,000 (2,400,000 is a good approximation)
Gohan: probably close to 1,000,000 when he's really mad
To all of those who disagree with SS Goku's and Frieza's 100% power level, I'll solve this problem with commonly used magic I call analytical comparison and basic math.
Frieza form 2 is over 1 million. (Not debatable)
Piccolo is stronger than Frieza Form 2, therefore, Piccolo is also over 1 million. (Not debatable.)
In Goku's initial fight versus Frieza's final form, Piccolo states this is a fight outside of our league/realm of understanding. Also, at this point, Goku has yet to use Kaioken (the art's pretty noticeable), therefore, any number short of 1 million can't be debated to be true unless you live in a world where math doesn't exist.
Goku uses Kaioken x20, and blows a Kamehameha at Frieza. Frieza blocks it with his hand, while claiming to be at 50% the entire time. Goku says he wasn't bluffing after all. This means, even if Frieza was wrong, he's not far off from being at 50% of his actual power. Ergo, 1+ million x 20 <= 50% Frieza, meaning Frieza's strength exceeds 40 million (and that's being on the absolute minimal side, his number is much higher).
If you believe Frieza is anything below 40 million for any reason whatsoever, and you believe Goku is below Frieza, I'm not even going to respond to you, cause you can't read, you can't think, and you're just so freakin' wrong there's no point trying to explain basic math to you. (Yes, bit harsh, but I'm TIRED of bitches nitpicking at THAT of all things. Even worse is when they cite another power levels list because that means NOTHING unless they cite their sources, which almost none of them do properly! I didn't do it properly either because most of the numbers I have ARE cited properly in the kanzenshuu.com link I posted below.)
Now comes the fun part where we have to use math and come up with reasonable estimates (more than before)
Trunks Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Frieza: 120 million
King Cold: 100 million
Trunks: 3 million
-Surpressed: 5 (only known power level post Frieza Saga)
-Super Saiyan: 150 million
Vegeta: 2.5 million
Piccolo: 2.2 million
Goku: 4 million
-Super Saiyan: 200 million
Androids Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Android 19: 90 million
Android 20: 100 million
Android 18: 285 million (keep in mind, 17 and 18 don't lose energy, so an "even battle" still favors them)
Android 17: 295 million
Android 16: 415 million
Goku: 5.1 million
-Super Saiyan: 255 million
-Super Saiyan (energy drained+heart virus): 60 million
-normal+energy drained+heart virus: ~500,000
Vegeta: 5.3 million
-Super Saiyan: 265 million
Trunks: 3.9 million
-Super Saiyan: 195 million
Piccolo: 125 million
Cell Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Cell:
-Imperfect Form: 250 million
-Imperfect Form, more humans absorbed: 420 million
-Semi-Perfect Form: 715 million
-Perfect Form, surpressed: 1,000 million, 1 billion
Vegeta: 14 million
-Super Saiyan: 700 million
-Ascended Super Saiyan: 910 million
Trunks: 13.8 million
-Super Saiyan: 690 million
-Ascended Super Saiyan: 897 million
-Ultra Super Saiyan: 1,255.8 million, 1.2558 billion
Piccolo: 320 million
Cell Games Saga:
+ Show Spoiler +
Goku: 40 million
-Super Saiyan, 50%: 1,000 million, 1 billion
-Super Saiyan, 100%: 2,000 million, 2 billion
Gohan: 35 million
-Super Saiyan: 1,750 million, 1.75 billion
-Angry Super Saiyan: 2,500 million, 2.5 billion (when Cell Jrs are attacking)
-Super Saiyan 2: 5,000 million, 5 billion
Vegeta: 25 million
-Super Saiyan: 1,250 million, 1.25 billion
-Ascended Super Saiyan: 1,625 million, 1.625 billion
Trunks: 20 million
-Super Saiyan: 1,000 million, 1 billion
-Ascended Super Saiyan: 1,300 million, 1.3 billion
-Ultra Super Saiyan: 1.820 million, 1.82 billion
Piccolo: 600 million
Cell:
-Surpressed warm up: 1,000 million, 1 billion
-Surpressed vs Goku/Gohan: 2,250 million, 2.25 billion
-100%: 3,000 million, 3 billion
-Revived: 4,000 million, 4 billion
Cell Jr.: 1,500 million, 1.5 billion
Buu Saga: (I'm going to be lazy and say 1 kiri/kili=1 million in scouter power level units, this approximation was made by someone else)
+ Show Spoiler +
Pui Pui: 20 million (maybe even less)
Yakon: 800 million
Dabura: 4.2 billion
Fat Buu: 16 billion
Evil Buu: 20 billion
Goku: 60 million
-Super Saiyan: 3 billion
-Super Saiyan 2: 6 billion
-Super Saiyan 3: 24 billion
Vegeta: 55 million
-Super Saiyan: 2.75 billion
-Super Saiyan 2: 5.5 billion
-Majin Super Saiyan: 3 billion
-Majin Super Saiyan 2: 6 billion
Gohan: 30 million
-Super Saiyan: 1.5 billion
-Super Saiyan 2: 3 billion
Goten: 1.25 million
-Super Saiyan: 62.5 million
Trunks: 1.35 million
-Super Saiyan: 67.5 million
Gotenks: 10 billion (the ball breaker on numbers, you'll see why soon enough)
-Super Saiyan (if he did it at this point): 500 billion
Fusion Saga: (I'm going to do this chronologically so you can understand where the numbers get wonky and would be difficult to follow otherwise)
+ Show Spoiler +
Goten (After going into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber/Room of Spirit and Time): 2.5 million
-Super Saiyan: 125 million
Trunks (After HBTC/RoSaT): 2.5 million
-Super Saiyan: 125 million
Gotenks: 20 billion
-Super Saiyan: 1 trillion (and now you see why Gotenks is the nut cracker)
-Super Saiyan 3: 8 trillion
Super Buu: 8 trillion
Ultimate Gohan: 11.5 trillion (oh how insignificant SS3 Goku has become)
Super Buu (SS3 Gotenks and Piccolo Absorbed): 16 trillion (and 900 million on top of that, but nobody cares)
SS3 Goku: 24 billion
-normal: 60 million (remember when this SEEMED like a big number?)
Super Buu (after Gotenks defuse inside of him): 8 trillion
Super Buu (Gohan Absorbed): 19.5 trillion (gg)
Vegeta: 55 million
Vegito: 3.3 quadrillion
-Super Saiyan: 165 quadrillion
-Super Saiyan 2: 330 quadrillion
-Super Saiyan 3: 1,320 quadrillion, 1.32 quintillion
(The above numbers comes from the Potara fusion formula F=C(AxB) where C = 1)
Vegito (C = 1/100): 33 trillion (base Vegito>Super Buu with Gohan absorbed)
-Super Saiyan: 1,650 trillion, 1.65 quadrillion
-Super Saiyan 2: 3.3 quadrillion
-Super Saiyan 3: 13.2 quadrillion
Kid Buu: 24 billion (somewhere around SS3 Goku)
Just for fun:
+ Show Spoiler +
Supreme Kai (Kaioshin): 150 billion (if you believe the English-dubbed anime, which was an exaggeration)
-Actual: 500 million
Kibito: 250 million
Kibito Kai (Kibito Shin): 1.25 billion (why is this so relatively small when the numbers were bigger? Rival bonus, they don't have it; meaning C for these two is a REALLY large number like 100,000,000)
Movie Characters:
Gogeta has no information to base off of, but if I were to guess,
4000(55x2) = 440,000 million = 440 trillion in base form.
22 quadrillion in SS
44 quadrillion in SS2
176 quadrillion in SS3
(This is using the values he should approximately be at during the Fusion Reborn movie; he only went as far as SS but he's assumed to be capable of SS2 and likely SS3, I have no numbers/comparisons with which to calculate his SS4 form in GT)
Broly in his first appearance (in LSS form) should be about 2.8 billion (so around 2.6-3 billion, which ever end you prefer to lean on at the end of this paragraph). You may ask why he's weaker than Gohan, and here's my argument:
Broly takes down a ton of Super Saiyans, but he doesn't 1 shot them and he loses to SS Goku. Cell spawns a bunch of Cell Jrs (6 or 7), each of which were STRONGER than the aforementioned Super Saiyans. What did SS2 Gohan do to those little tykes? Yeah... He... one... shot... every... last... one of them... Gohan's feat is more impressive, ergo SS2 Gohan is superior. Also, Cell was pretty superior to the Cell Jrs, which makes me feel he's stronger than Broly (which is true looking at the number range anyway). Might turn out a bit differently when I finish reviewing the numbers, but these are their relative strengths.
I will not argue with people about HOW people got to be however strong they ended up being (like why Piccolo's growth rate is bull, aside from saying AT designed him that way). I WILL however explain how I got a number for a certain character at a certain point in time. I'll put whichever power levels I'm reviewing in the changelog section, so if you're question about levels in those points in time, discussion is more welcome than for other sections. I'm not saying discussion for other sections isn't unwelcome if you have good reasoning for it (though most don't), just saying it's easier to stick with what I'm currently looking at, since it'll be more organized that way and I'm going to constantly be reviewing these in a chronological order until it feels perfect or I get very tired of doing all the math, research, and analysis (I like doing math on trivial things, so it's mostly down to research and analysis, and I don't like reading when I can avoid it).
Multipliers: (only * are debatable: ASS, USS, and Fusion Dance)
+ Show Spoiler +
Kaioken: 1.5x
Kaioken xN: Nx
Super Saiyan: 50x (combined with Fusion, leads to REALLY messed up numbers)
Ascended Super Saiyan: 65x*, or 1.3x Super Saiyan
Ultra Super Saiyan: 91x*, or 1.82x Super Saiyan, or 1.4x Ascended Super Saiyan (Note: Speed decreases)
Super Saiyan 2: 100x, or 2x Super Saiyan
Super Saiyan 3: 400x, or 4x Super Saiyan 2
Fusion Dance: 4000(Ax2)*, where A is the weaker of the 2 (they match power levels to fuse; this is the only formula I could come up with so that Gotenks is stronger than SS2 Vegeta and weaker than Fat Buu by acceptable amounts)
Potara Fusion: C(AxB), where C is the compatability constant, or "Rival Bonus". Note that this is not debatable except for what the actual value of C is. It was stated to be "more of a multiplication than addition". And THAT is why Vegito is the strongest character in DBZ.
If you want, I've also done the math on Super Saiyan God. I warn you now though, the numbers for that is a bit insane...
+ Show Spoiler +
Billis: 100 trillion
-70% vs Goku: 70 trillion
Whis: (likely even stronger than Billis; he basically 1-shot the guy) 250 trillion???
Goku: 70 million (has to be lower than 120 million, by at least a noticeably amount, so 100 million max)
-Super Saiyan: 3.5 billion
-Super Saiyan 2: 7 billion
-Super Saiyan 3: 28 billion
-Super Saiyan God: 70 trillion (multiplier of 1,000,000, or 2,500x Super Saiyan 3; has to be stronger than Super Buu)
No matter how you look at it in all seriousness though, the math strongly implies that Vegito>Billis (even if the Super Saiyan God multiplier was any bigger than it currently is).
Before you argue something, make sure you read the number right. (It gets tricky in some parts where million, billion, and trillion are all thrown in; might reformat the numbers and lists later if this thread is remotely popular.) And no, the magnitude of the numbers is NOT off. I COULD'VE been more conservative with some of the numbers at some parts, but I went with the general implications of the storyline, and the numbers ended up way bigger than I would've liked. :/
Amount of power required to blow up an object in space (planet/star/black hole/etc, in 1 shot).
http://dbzf.co.uk/topic/8329561/1/
In his math, he used the conservative conversion of 150 million - 3000 kili, which we all know to be false, since SS Goku during Buu Saga>>>SS Goku in Frieza Saga, but he admits that and says he used it as a definitive starting point. To use the numbers I gave, simply multiply his required power levels by 20, and to covert kilis to power level in the list I gave, 1 kili = 1 million power level (yeah, it's an easy conversion, the actual number, if one should ever exist, likely won't be this convenient, but should be fairly close).
Sources:
http://www.kanzenshuu.com/battle-power/list/ (list including very detailed citations of each number, which allowed me to select only manga-cited numbers_
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/36558/731745-yehbiatch7zt.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/hollow-ichigo-vs-ss-goku-29840/?page=3&h=1116&w=750&sz=316&tbnid=3Dvd-uNtaveJWM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=60&zoom=1&usg=__daYuawaiPww20Erh7sjUA-YcVY4=&docid=4B_IPFmSpefVVM&sa=X&ei=emc_UoKYKsewjAK2zIHgCg&ved=0CDgQ9QEwAQ (picture of Goku's base and SS power levels in the Frieza Saga, as well as Frieza's full power)
http://www.kanzenshuu.com/battle-power/databook/ (If you scroll to around the middle, it shows the multipliers for the Super Saiyan forms SS, SS2, and SS3)
Lit Trans: SS: Battle Power becomes 50 times!
SS2: 2 times the strength of SS!
SS3: 4 times the strength of SS2!
http://www.animeultima.tv/dragon-ball-z-movie-14-kami-to-kami-episode-1-english-subbed/ (most recent movie, subbed)
Changelog:
+ Show Spoiler +
9/23/13
Changed Trunks' power level vs Frieza to 3 million. Gohan says it's the same power Goku had on Namek.
Changed Goku's power level vs Trunks to 4 million.
Added mathematical explanation for why Frieza is NOT 12 million. If you argue Frieza's power level to be less than or equal to 40 million, your argument will instantly be ignored and treated as sheer stupidity (or talking out of the ass without any evidence like everyone else on the internet, whichever you prefer).
9/24/13
Noticed calculation error on Vegito (was redoing a bunch of numbers starting from the Androids Saga). He's actually in the quadrillions, not quintillions. I didn't write it out, and in my head at the time, I thought the conversion was (#0's-3)/3 (it's actually (#0's-6)/3 obviously, I don't often work with numbers over the millions zone). My bad. >< Guess he's not all that strong after all. I'm super sad now cause I can't call Vegito "Sexy Sextillion Vegito". :/ He won't hit the sextillion mark unless the SS4 multiplier is 1000xSS3. At least he still breaks the quintillion mark.
9/25/13
Added movie characters (Gogeta and Broly's first appearance) under the Just for Fun section.
At this point, rereading through some sections of manga where I feel more uncomfortable about, mainly the Cell Saga (Androids were the stickiest part for me, more than anything else). Expect at the very least the strengths of Androids 17 and 18 to likely take a big leap on the next update (everything else might get bigger as a result). If anyone would care to give their thoughts on how strong the androids are relative to Future Trunks, it would be helpful.
Facts on Trunks in comparison with Androids:
-In Trunks' future, he is weaker than Gohan.
-The previous time Gohan fought the Androids, 17 wasn't even using 50% of his abilities (so he'd be at 40% or 45%) and still beat Gohan. Trunks at the time is comparable, but weaker. This puts Gohan around 35% of 17 (this estimation is irrelevant to any and all future calculations, but throwing it out there).
-Gohan had gotten stronger to the point that he believes he could beat 17 (yes, people are always like this and are often wrong, but let's say this is true), meaning he's around 45% or 50% of 17's abilities.
-Trunks' fight with the androids, he's at the save level as Gohan, or a bit stronger, so 50-55%?
-Trunks is the same level as Goku on Namek. (Do we consider a Zenkai boost? Meaning at this point he could be at 60% of the Androids?)
-The nutcracker: After losing to the present Androids with Vegeta, Piccolo, and Tien, he says, "The Androids I faced weren't this strong. I could at least give them a decent fight." (English version, anyone with the Japanese version could shed some input on the second statement, since it's more important). What this means is the following:
-*Present Androids are a lot stronger.
-*Trunks was remotely comparable to the future Androids 70-75% of 17, which contradicts the earlier statement of him being around half his strength, which can still be true if Trunks trained a lot (that's a 50% increase on his part) or got some Zenkai bonuses, which don't seem to be happening post Frieza arc. I doubt it was Zenkai bonuses because that'd mean he was crazy enough to risk his life fighting the Androids multiple times to increase his power level (more likely that he did it to try to protect innocent civilians).
Key Question:
Where should we put Trunks in relation to the Future/Present Androids? 75% of past Androids (17 is roughly up to 2x Namek SS Goku's power)? Or somewhere around 60%? 75% would be better since his performance suggests he's at 60% or below compared to the Present Androids (60% means 25% increase compared to Future Androids, and 50% being 50% increase). From there, Cell simply has to be stronger by a notable margin, and probably just add the strength of 17 to his power, then ASS Vegeta has to be stronger (and SS Goku has to be over twice that strength, with Gohan somewhere in that area and Cell's max being notably stronger, but not to the point where he's comparable to SS2 Gohan; this is how the system works by the way, I just choose the smallest number that fits the situations and round it to the prettiest looking number).