Summary

  • Ki is central in Dragon Ball, with fighters like Goku Black mastering powerful attacks like the Spirit Scythe.
  • The Spirit Scythe, a deadly move, creates dimensional slashes and clones that make it one of the strongest in the series.
  • Goku Black taps into limitless anger to enhance his power, making the Spirit Scythe a lethal force in Dragon Ball lore.

Ki is the central point of the Dragon Ball power system, with every notable fighter having the ability to manipulate it in one way or another. Fans of the series have seen many different kinds of Ki manipulation, but the most common one takes the form of Ki Blasts as a way to deal damage to an opponent through the sheer power of their energy output.

Goku Black was a character who used his Ki masterfully. Not only was he able to mimic Goku's signature moves, but he was even able to come up with his own that proved to be incredibly deadly attacks that really put the heroes on the back foot. Chief of these attacks was his iconic Sickle of Sorrow or, as most fans call it, the Spirit Scythe. Let's take a look at what this attack exactly was and why it was one of the strongest moves in Dragon Ball.

Next Dragon Ball Game Should Be Focused On Multiverse
Dragon Ball: The Strongest Mortal From Each Universe

The Dragon Ball multiverse was shown in all its glory in the Tournament of Power arc, so let's go over the strongest mortal from each universe.

3

The Violent Fierce God Slicer

The first form of the Spirit Scythe

vegito-spirit-sword
Vegito's Spirit Sword

First Appearance

Dragon Ball Super, Episode 56, "Rematch with Goku Black! Enter Super Saiyan Rose!"

Debut Date

August 28, 2016

Story Arc

Goku Black Arc

When Goku and Vegeta first came across Zamasu, they saw that he had a powerful attack known as the God Split Cut which he used to kill Gowasu. Once he took over the body of Goku and gained an incredible amount of power due to his Saiyan nature and God Ki, he evolved this attack and made it far deadlier than it had ever been before. It was dubbed the Violent Fierce God Slicer, and it was used while Goku Black was in his Super Saiyan Rose form.

I am justice. I am the world! You are a mere insect compared to my power.

By concentrating energy into his hand, he manipulates his Ki and forms a sharp blade of it that is capable of slicing through pretty much anything. It works exactly the same way as Vegito's own Spirit Sword in terms of lethality, as it took Vegeta out of the fight instantly and had similar success against Goku and Trunks as well. As Goku Black gets stronger, so do his techniques, as the attack's second usage was even larger and could fire blasts of Ki.

The Spirit Scythe

The strongest variant of the God Slicer

goku-black-scythe
Goku Black's Scythe from DBS

First Appearance

Dragon Ball Super, Episode 64, "Worship Me! Give Praise Unto Me! The Explosive Birth of a Merged Zamasu!"

Debut Date

October 30, 2016

Story Arc

Goku Black Arc

As the fight against the Saiyans raged on, Goku Black and Zamasu eventually found themselves getting overpowered due to the substantial boost in strength the heroes were able to get in a short amount of time. However, due to this, Goku Black was able to understand how the Saiyans and their bodies worked and how they used rage to power themselves up even more. Though he had overlooked how it could have benefitted him due to how crude it was, he later understood that he needed to use his anger as a weapon to make full use of Goku's body.

By realizing this anger, Goku Black manifested the God Slicer with his right hand. However, instead of using it on Vegeta, who he was fighting at the time, he turned the blade on himself, stabbing his left hand with the sword while finally realizing his rage. This formed the God Slicer into a long and far more powerful scythe that had incredible feats and abilities.

I shall use my anger. Anger toward the mortals who defiled the universe. Anger toward the other gods who have tolerated such behavior. But most importantly, the white-hot rage I now feel toward myself for letting you get the upper hand on me during our battle!

The power of the Spirit Scythe:

This variant of the God Slicer is, by far, the most powerful of them all, mainly because of its powerful ability of dimensional slashes. Despite its relatively slow speed, the scythe is able to create rifts in the fabric of space, seemingly leading to an entirely different dimension. The strength of this dimension is a complete mystery, even to Goku Black himself, who states that even he doesn't know what power it holds.

With the Scythe, Black can create crescent-shaped blasts of Ki that are incredibly powerful. Moreover, once this mysterious dimension is created by the slashes of the Spirit Scythe, it exudes a lot of energy which can form various clones of Goku Black, each of whom is seemingly close to his own strength. What makes them even more deadly is that when they're attacked, they just dissipate into the gas from the dimension, meaning they can't be harmed in the traditional sense.

A split Image of the Strongest Demons in Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball: 5 Strongest Demons, Ranked

The Dragon Ball series is home to a variety of demons, but some are arguably more powerful than others.

However, they're fully solid when they have to attack someone else, so each time they punch Goku or Vegeta, the Saiyans actually feel each blow! Even when the heroes successfully took out each of the clones that surrounded them with their Ki blasts, the mysterious dimension would simply let out more energy to replace the lost clones.

Though there hasn't been any concrete evidence behind it, Goku Black stated that his anger is essentially limitless, and seeing how Saiyan bodies get much of their power from the rage and emotions they feel, his power is essentially limitless too! This makes the Spirit Scythe one of the most deadly moves in the entire Dragon Ball franchise.

Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image
0334028_poster_w780.jpg
Dragon Ball Super
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget
Release Date
2015 - 2018
Display card main info widget end Display card media widget start Display card media widget end
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info
Creator
Akira Toriyama
Number of Episodes
131