Dragon Ball Super Saiyan 3 Tier List Guide (2024)

Akira Toriyama’s original reveal of the Super Saiyan 3 transformation dates back to 1994, and for a long stretch it stood as the strongest “canon” Saiyan upgrade in Dragon Ball. Later entries complicated that picture: Dragon Ball GT gave fans Super Saiyan 4, and Gohan’s Ultimate form also proved there was more than one peak. Still, for a long time, Goku’s most feared transformation in the mainstream story was SSJ3. That dominance shifted when Battle of Gods introduced Super Saiyan God, even if Super Saiyan 3 continued to pop up occasionally afterward.

Even with Super Saiyan 3 being overtaken by God-aligned forms—and even by the canon Super Saiyan 4 from Dragon Ball DAIMA—SSJ3 remains an idea with a lot of “ceiling.” That ceiling is often tapped most fully in spin-off material, where the form is treated less like a balanced upgrade and more like a power spike characters can lean on. The strongest Super Saiyan 3 users are often framed as rivals to Dragon Ball Super’s God-level threats, pushing past SSJ3’s built-in drawbacks—especially its vulnerability to the form’s limitations—so they can overwhelm and even erase enemies that stand in their way.

Of course, Goku’s current status is different from the SSJ3 era entirely. With Perfected Ultra Instinct mastered, he’s now positioned as a multiverse-scale threat. At the same time, the story focus has shifted, and he’s fallen behind several other major characters across the wider Dragon Ball ecosystem.

8 Honorable Mention: Majin Duu Created His Own Version of Super Saiyan 3

Majin Duu isn’t a Saiyan, so he can’t naturally use Super Saiyan 3. But during the final clash in Dragon Ball DAIMA against Gomah, he gets inspired by Goku and tries to build his own equivalent of SSJ3. The “Majin Duu Super Saiyan 3” isn’t just cosmetic: as his Ki rises, he receives a noticeable power jump. Teaming up with Goku, Duu is able to drive Gomah into a corner.

The problem is control and conditioning. Duu isn’t accustomed to how his version of “Super Saiyan 3” behaves, and he quickly loses momentum before he can keep it going. In raw output, Majin Duu’s SSJ3 appears to sit around the same ballpark as “Super Saiyan 3 Mini Goku.” Yet, just like the familiar SSJ3 formula, the transformation’s strain is too severe for Duu to maintain beyond a brief window.

7 Gotenks’ Fusion Can’t Handle the Power of Super Saiyan 3

In Dragon Ball Z, Super Saiyan 3 was used to challenge how players expected transformations to work. Instead of offering an immediate “win button” boost that would solve the Majin Buu situation, SSJ3 comes packaged with severe drawbacks that make it a risky battlefield choice.

When Gotenks transforms into Super Saiyan 3, he does become stronger than Super Buu. However, the fusion’s stamina and Ki consumption are so brutal that Gotenks’ time limit collapses from thirty minutes down to only five. With how fast enemies scale toward the end of Dragon Ball Z, those five minutes aren’t enough for a Z-Fighter team to reliably beat someone like Super Buu—even with Gotenks involved. Dragon Ball Super suggests Gotenks has corrected some of the Ki troubles, but by then his overall relevance has slipped behind the rest of the cast, so the fix doesn’t matter as much.

One of Akira Toriyama’s final franchise decisions also matters here: the author crowned Vegeta as the victor in his and Goku’s rivalry, and that’s treated as a detail Dragon Ball needs to honor.

6 Super Saiyan 3 Was Goku’s Signature Form By the End of Dragon Ball Z

Goku first uses Super Saiyan 3 during his fight with Fat Buu in Dragon Ball Z. Since Goku is already deceased, he avoids the usual Ki and stamina penalties that would normally come with the transformation. Still, SSJ3’s sheer Power Level creates a different constraint: even without the typical drain, it limits how long he can remain on Earth before he has to go. By the end of the story, Goku returns to SSJ3 again to face Kid Buu, but his living body finally can’t tolerate the transformation’s physical burden.

When Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods arrives, it’s presented as though Goku has refined Super Saiyan 3 enough to leak less energy. Unfortunately, Beerus completely shuts him down in their first encounter—SSJ3 doesn’t even manage to land a hit. Still, SSJ3’s best moment outside of that is in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, where Goku is singled out as the only Z-Fighter strong enough to defeat Hirudegarn permanently.

5 DAIMA Vegeta’s Mastery of Super Saiyan 3 Surpasses Goku’s

Super Saiyan 3 Goku and Vegeta from Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball DAIMA is set in a different timeline from Dragon Ball Super, and the show’s divergence is highlighted by two major points: Goku can reach Super Saiyan 4, while Vegeta can reach Super Saiyan 3. After the conclusion of the Kid Buu arc in Dragon Ball Z, DAIMA Vegeta secretly starts training with the goal of unlocking SSJ3. The important part isn’t just that he triggers the form—it’s that he trains until the stamina problems that plagued Goku are removed.

“Ultra Vegeta 1” is the label given to this version by the Prince of All Saiyans himself. Vegeta’s SSJ3 is framed as superior to Goku’s because Vegeta achieves the form while mortal status is still intact by training for only a single year, while Goku supposedly took multiple years in the afterlife to access SSJ3. Just as crucial, Vegeta also finds a way around the form’s weaknesses. There’s even a claimed alternate history detail tied to Dragon Ball Super: Beerus, where Vegeta is granted Super Saiyan 3 instead of SSJ2 when he fights Beerus in a Battle of Gods remake.

4 Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Bardock is Ultra Instinct Tier

Bardock doesn’t stand out much in the main Dragon Ball continuity, but in Super Dragon Ball Heroes he becomes an absolute monster. Xeno Bardock originates from the Xeno timeline, where the Z-Fighters experience a variation of Dragon Ball GT. His background stays mostly recognizable, but the big difference is that he survives the encounter that would normally end his story with Frieza. From there, he briefly serves as a Time Breaker before being released from that control and joining the heroes.

Across Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Xeno Bardock unlocks transformations that his canon counterpart never gains, including Super Saiyan 3. A boost from the Dark Dragon Balls elevates his SSJ3 state enough that he can trade blows with characters like Ultra Instinct Sign Goku. And even that isn’t portrayed as his full ceiling—Xeno Bardock can also transform into Super Saiyan 4.

3 Xeno Broly is the Only Legendary Super Saiyan 3

In one of Dragon Ball Heroes’ many branching timelines, Broly—specifically the Dragon Ball Z version—advances beyond standard Legendary Super Saiyan forms and reaches additional iterations as Xeno Broly. He’s depicted as one of the most frightening and dangerous Saiyans across the multiverse, with a Power Level that far exceeds what he demonstrated in the DBZ movies. The next step is Legendary Super Saiyan 3.

Unlike Kefla, who can use both Legendary Super Saiyan 1 and Legendary Super Saiyan 2, the text frames Xeno Broly as the only one who can transform into Legendary Super Saiyan 3. In terms of Power Level, LSSJ3 Xeno Broly is implied to be stronger than Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta. In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Legendary Super Saiyan 3 Xeno Broly is so threatening that only CC Goku and CC Vegeta can defeat him when they work together.

Fu has already become strong enough to rival Zeno in Super Dragon Ball Heroes, and the emergence of his new Ultimate form is portrayed as a threat that could tear at the multiverse itself.

2 The Crimson-Masked Saiyan Killed 99 Versions of Goku & Unlocked Super Saiyan Rosé 3

In an alternate Dragon Ball Super timeline within Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Fu warns Goku Black that he will eventually die while fighting Goku, Vegeta, and Future Trunks during the Zamasu Saga. Fu then gifts Goku Black a Time Breaker Mask. Rather than follow Zamasu’s plan—or his own timeline—Goku Black abandons that origin and wanders the multiverse in search of strength.

During these travels, Goku Black transforms into the Crimson-Masked Saiyan and kills 99 different versions of Goku. Each time he murders another Goku, his strength increases further. Eventually, this version of Goku Black reaches a point where Super Saiyan Rosé mutates into Super Saiyan Rosé 3. By mixing Kai Ki, Saiyan Ki, and God Ki, the Crimson-Masked Saiyan becomes a brutal opponent who requires both CC Goku and CC Vegeta working together just to be beaten.

1 Cumber is the Most Powerful Super Saiyan 3 of All Time

Cumber is presented as an extremely powerful Ancient Saiyan imprisoned by Fu on Prison Planet in Super Dragon Ball Heroes. He’s framed as pure evil, radiating a dark Evil Aura capable of infecting opponents and turning them into Berserk Saiyans. Fu initially tries to manage his power by locking him in a Restraint Jacket, but it’s not enough: Cumber eventually breaks free, wreaks havoc across the multiverse, and forces everyone to react.

Cumber’s strongest transformation is Super Saiyan 3 Full Power, described as a form unique to him. In power terms, SSJ3FP Cumber is stated to rival Jiren and Legendary Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Broly, placing him above most characters in Dragon Ball Super. At full strength, CC Goku is said to need Perfected Ultra Instinct to fight SSJ3FP Cumber—and even then, he still needs assistance. Since Capsule Corp Goku is portrayed as the strongest version of Goku in the entire multiverse, the inability to end Cumber effortlessly becomes the key evidence that Cumber is, effectively, the most powerful Super Saiyan 3 user of all time.