How much does skill matter in Dragon Ball?

How much does the concept of Skill (Martial Arts, etc) matter in the DBZ series?

Skill is needed, but truthfully you need power to back up your skill.

Hercule and Videl, for example, in a world without Ki and the aliens and demons the Z-Fighters face, would probably be the greatest martial arts masters on the planet, since Hercule beat regular humans and Videl was probably even better than her father.

However, that skill goes out the window when you're hitting someone who wouldn't flinch at your best punch square in the face. Skill is needed to learn things like how to harness your Ki, which may or may not play into durability in DB, and to learn the techniques that would put an average human on par with Earth Warriors like Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin.

Basically, if you're fighting a regular person, it essentially does come down to skill for the most part, I'd say. If you're fighting a Saiyan or even anyone with even a basic knowledge of Ki, you're probably better off relying on brute strength, but a combination of the two would be preferable.

Very little, almost entirely about power.

Everyone is expert martial artist already so because of that only thing matters is power.

I think Beerus put it pretty good in bog

'' Prince Vegeta is highly skilled but lacks the power to match me ''

Skill is massive in Dragon Ball. Much less in DBZ. The reason for this is that by DBZ almost everyone is a complete and total master of martial arts. Examples i can think of when it did make a difference were.

in DB Goku vs Tien, Tien won even though Goku was physically more powerful

When Goku fought frieza as a super Saiyan their Strengths were not too far apart, the biggest difference was their techniques and skill.

In DB Special Trunks and Goten were stronger than Abo/ Cado but because they hadn't trained in so long they were originally getting crushed.

I think to sum it up best would be that technique is incredibly significant, and the difference if the strengths are close. However that said Roshi and Korrin are the epitome of martial arts masters but would still get stomped because they physically just cant compare.

So i would say it matters if the powers are close, but if they arent someone is gonna get Yamcha'd.

Massively, but you need the power to back it up.

For example, Vegeta was keeping up with Recoome (IIRC Recoome was 2-3x more powerful) on skill alone, but he fell behind due to the power gap

Well, considering that in DBZ Ki manipulation is actually a skill for which you need to train a lot.

Beerus can finger tap a table to destroy half a planet.

DB-Mattered a lot, until the last bits like Pic jr.

DBZ-Didn't play a really important part.

It did a lot in DB

In anything post-Raditz strategy, numbers and skill have proven absolutely useless.

Just raise your power level and you should be just fine.

@stahlflammePretty sure that was not the case agains't freezer:

@beholdy: Freezer got beaten by Goku alone, after he got more powerful but not more skilled. Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo teaming up and with an healer as support proved ultimately pointless. The earlier parts of DBZ still have fights of groups against single powerful opponents, but it never works.

Power matters most but skill plays a big part, anyone who is slightly less powerful but much more skilled should win.

@stahlflammeYea but goku used stragedy, like firing 2 kamehamehas under the water to distract him and then hitting him from above:

Db ki blasts are martial art techniques.

In Dragon Ball, skill mattered. The heroes weren't the strongest beings on the planet and often they needed to retreat, or think of a clever way to win. Goku vs the Jiggler in Muscle Tower is the perfect example. His attacks had no effect, but upon being frozen, he shattered his enemy.

In DBZ, just fire a big enough energy blast and everything gets killed.

you can be as skilled as you want, but you can't beat someone who's 10 times stronger, faster and more powerful all around than you... it's just not possible!! so basically in DBZ skill matter as much as in any other universe... you wouldn't even ask this question for DC for example, like with superman vs batman, h2h only, skill is irrelevant here... and so it's the same with any other universe.

POWER!!!!

YOUTH!!!!

Disregarding the inconsistencies; Among most of the mediums (comics/manga/movies) I've seen Dragonball actually does one of the finest jobs of capturing the relationship of skill/tactics vs stats - power, speed and durability.

Vegeta vs Zarbon:

Stats were close - though zarbon had the edge in power and speed, skill and tactics took the match.

Frieza vs vegeta:

Notable combat speed gap present. Regardless of how skilled or experienced vegeta is, he can never win this match - even if he had the skills of batman, karate kid and goku combined. No kidding.

This is properly portrayed speed gap. Hats off.

A lot I think. If you pit Goku against Goten or Vegeta against Trunks at equal power levels. Goku and Vegeta would easily massacre them. Why? Because they have more skill, experience and technique. DBZ isn't just about mindless screaming and Ki attacks. Skill is also a big part, even though it isn't really focused on or given the spotlight. As others pointed out above me with the examples of Recoome and Vegeta or Beerus and Vegeta.

Because Broly vs someone as powerful as him who also knows fighting disciplines means Broly loses horribly. Although somehow Goku vs Frieza was a close match for some reason.

Skill is only necessary when you fight like a normal person, in the DB universe, it takes like 2-3 freakin episodes to start one fight and it only lasts 8 seconds tops before trying again, even in those situations, you literally don't need to Learn skill because your power does pretty much everything for you

@kaijukinggojira: because frieza was toying with him, if he wanted to, one hit was all was needed before goku went ssj.

In db as well as in real life skil matters as long as opponents are fairly comparable. And since almost every enemie in dbz dwarfs z team power wise at the beginning, skill does not really matter any more.

As much as it does in comics.

Some of the skills in DBZ blurred the lines with power.

Kaioken is a technique but it only helped Goku dominate Vegeta because it increased his power level. Neo Tri-Beam is a technique but it only locked Cell into place because it increased Tien's power level. Special Beam Cannon is a technique but it only pierced Raditz because it increased Piccolo's power level increased from 408 to 1330 etc. Of course even these techniques won't work if a gap is large enough due to raw power and speed.

Still there were a couple of even fights in DBZ like Piccolo vs 17, Goku vs Supressed Perfect Cell, and Goku vs Vegeta (Rematch) where gaps were mostly comparable.

The only instances in DBZ where I can recall a massively weaker opponent being able to beat far stronger fighters due to techniques that don't boost power levels are Guldo vs Krillin and Gohan, and most theoretical Krillin with Solar Flare + Destructo Disk vs non-regenerating opponents.

@cgoodness: what is "youth"

you always talk about it, but it seems its something only you know about

@stormshadow_x: Well UUb had power but apparently didn't know what to do with it. Ginyu had Goku's body, but didn't know how to utilize the power

They have super strength and all that, but it comes down to control and power flow as well. In the shows case though if you are stronger you usually automatically win for that time being.

Gohan went from one of the greats to being a rusty loser. He is there and should serve as a reminder to show what happens when you stop training.

Everyone here is talking about power but in DBZ you gain power through skill. Look at krillin a normal human who has the power to destroy planets. Infact beerus hole fighting style is due to skill using pressure points amped by ki to 1 shot people.

Its important when fighting with someone who are on similar levels, but if character A couldn't even make character B flinch, B wont need better skills to best A.

Wasn't that Vegeta's main argument for why they should make him immortal instead of Gohan when they were freaking out about the Ginyu force arriving? That Gohan didn't have the combat experience he did so they should use the wish on him?

@blade_r: Pretty much. Vegeta was right as wel.

@spider-manwins: you're the only one who doesn't know about the power of YOUTH!

If the power gap is minimal, then skill is very important. However, if it's a massive gap in power, than there is no chance in hell that the weaker opponent would win, even if they've been practicing martial arts for hundreds of years (e.g. Roshi) and their stronger opponent only knows how to hit things and blow them up (e.g. Broly.)

@midnightdragon18: nah, no one knows about that weaboo concept

@spider-manwins: you obviously lack the power of YOUTH!

skill matters about as much as in any other series

honestly after you pass street level it becomes less about skill and more and about stats and how much "hax" you have.

@etheral_dreams: As much as I think Broly is a worthless character, his wrestling style of fighting at the very least stands out in the crowd.

In Dragonball it mattered a whole lot and in Z up until Frieza. There was such a difference in Gokus fighting from the martial arts tournament before he went a trained with kami. The first three seasons of DBZ Goku/Vegta/Piccolo all were relying on strategy to beat their opponents, not just there strength

When 2 characters with similar power levels are fighting, the one with better skills will win.