Best Dragon Ball Z coaches

105 ELO points separate Goku from King Kai at the top of the Dragon Ball Z ranking, after 1980 duels.

Goku dominates with 1465 ELO points and a 77% win rate across 248 duels, establishing a commanding lead over his celestial mentor King Kai, who sits at 1360 points. Piccolo claims third place with 1331 points, while Vegeta and Master Roshi round out the top 5 at 1273 and 1257 points respectively. The 105-point gap between ranks 1 and 2 marks the sharpest divide in the ranking, suggesting voters see a clear difference between the Saiyan warrior and his former teacher. At the bottom, Bubbles struggles with just 858 ELO points and a 20% win rate, trailing Master Shen by 137 points. The monkey's position at rank 12 indicates the community draws a hard line between serious martial arts instruction and comedic training companions, no matter how memorable King Kai's planet may be.

This ranking emerges from 1980 duels cast by 72 players across 12 contenders, updated on 11 October 2026. Whether you favor the proven champion or believe an unconventional master holds the key to tournament victory, the question remains open. Cast your vote and shape the debate over who would forge the next world martial arts champion.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →