Is Piccolo Really Smart?

[Meshack]

Will someone explain to me why fans believe Piccolo is smart? I’ve been baited to believe it but I think people give Piccolo too much credit for being the smartest of the Dragon Team. Is he really the smartest? By Piccolo, please talk about Piccolo-Daimaoh and Piccolo Jr.

[KBABZ]

I think he's mainly smart by comparison to the other fighters. His main smarts are shown in the Buu saga and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where he sends Goten and Trunks into it to train up for Buu whilst he stalls him for time; every minute is six hours in the Chamber. Similarly, he also has the clever idea to trap Buu there by destroying the door. He also lets Cell absorb part of his arm and goad him into explaining his motives, using his regeneration to grow his arm back (although this would bite Vegeta in the ass much later), and with Frieza he lets himself be revived with the Namekian Dragon Balls first, which restores Kami and allows Kaio's gambit later to work (however that bit was surely not intentional). Daimao also had the bright idea to swallow the Dragon Balls and kill the dragon after he got his wish.

I don't think it's that Piccolo is abjectly smarter than everyone else (I always figured Goku to be a great battle tactician), it's that he usually has the most moments for himself.

[Lionel]

It's become an accepted mental conception to think that Piccolo is somehow this multi-dimensional expert strategist of a character who has managed to outshine all other competitors in the intellectual department. When you subject Piccolo's actions to scrutiny, however, very little about it speaks to someone who is ingenuous or shrewd. In the transpiring of arc events, Piccolo's conduct outside of a few moments like his step by step sequence of wishes advice during the Namek arc and hampering Buu by leading him around Kami's palace has been generically uninspired. Other characters have proven to be just as clever as Piccolo. Throughout combat, Piccolo's actions have been very poor in trying to reflect ingenuity or smartness. No, I don't consider some minor ambush tactics against Nappa and surrounding #17 with sphere attacks to be indicative of some profoundly wise martial artist. If you want to examine other characters performances, Yamcha and Krillin have arguably managed to do more by successfully landing attacks against stronger opponents. They both came close to defeating considerably superior opponents through wits (Mummy Man and Jackie Chun respectively); that really can't be said of Piccolo when his best performance against Frost was depicting him to be strong enough to avoid attacks and even restrain his opponent with a limb.

[Captain Strawberry]

If we're talking about Piccolo when he became whole, he did observe the Earth for millions to thousands of years (when he was separated) so he has to be pretty smart.

[floofychan333]

He briefly spoke formally in the English manga and doesn't do as many stupid things as Goku or Vegeta.

[Melee_Sovereign]

I don't know about him being tactically smart or having the intellect of that of a genius in combat, but he's probably one of the more level-headed characters and probably has the least amount of intellectual flaws. If you compare him to Goku and Vegeta for instance, he may not necessary be tactically smarter than them or even necessarily have the combat ingenuity of them, but on the flipside, he also doesn't have the flaws that Goku and Vegeta have.

For instance, let's compare him to Goku. Piccolo doesn't have the keen ability to decipher an opponent's style or find holes in in the way Goku does. On the other hand, Piccolo doesn't have a bad habit of letting his guard down or not taking his opponent too seriously. This is what I mean by him being the more level-headed of the cast.

You can compare him to Vegeta too. Again, probably does not have the overall combat intelligence of Vegeta, but on the other hand, he also never gets blinded by rage or emotions or his own pride the way Vegeta does, making him a more rational and level-headed person than Vegeta.

Piccolo also does have all the wisdom he inherited from Kami when they fused. So yeah, I think Piccolo is probably one of the smarter characters in Dragon Ball, but I also think his intellect is exaggerated quite a bit.

[Whatever]

Depens on how and what you define smart because if we are honest all the dragonball team are kinda dumbasses in a way.
He makes mistakes just like all db team does but you could say he makes the least mistakes out of all the db team and he is the one who is less likely to act on emotion.
So yeah you could make a point about him being the smartest of the db team(not like he has much competition)and in terms of fighting skill he seems to up there as well.

I don't know about him being tactically smart or having the intellect of that of a genius in combat, but he's probably one of the more level-headed characters and probably has the least amount of intellectual flaws. If you compare him to Goku and Vegeta for instance, he may not necessary be tactically smarter than them or even necessarily have the combat ingenuity of them, but on the flipside, he also doesn't have the flaws that Goku and Vegeta have.

For instance, let's compare him to Goku. Piccolo doesn't have the keen ability to decipher an opponent's style or find holes in in the way Goku does. On the other hand, Piccolo doesn't have a bad habit of letting his guard down or not taking his opponent too seriously. This is what I mean by him being the more level-headed of the cast.

You can compare him to Vegeta too. Again, probably does not have the overall combat intelligence of Vegeta, but on the other hand, he also never gets blinded by rage or emotions or his own pride the way Vegeta does, making him a more rational and level-headed person than Vegeta.

Piccolo also does have all the wisdom he inherited from Kami when they fused. So yeah, I think Piccolo is probably one of the smarter characters in Dragon Ball, but I also think his intellect is exaggerated quite a bit.

Actually finding holes in the opponent's fighting style and punishing them for it is what Piccolo does the most out of all db members as shown against Nappa and 17(since Gohan got cold feet it did not amount to anything,or 17 because of his barrier).
I think you got it confused with something else Goku does,what Goku does is adapt to his opponent's style and he is the best out of all the db team at this kind of thing.

If we are being honest Vegeta is not fighting smart,he is street smart,his fighting style is very simple and straightforward than Goku's or Piccolo's.

[KBABZ]

what Goku does is adapt to his opponent's style and he is the best out of all the db team at this kind of thing.

I've actually always admired how much Goku is what I call a battle tactician, in that he can very quickly suss out a situation and adapt to it. The most famous example of this is when he bested Frieza not because he was outright more powerful (which he was), but because he was prescient to the fact that Frieza's energy was dropping like a rock and he didn't need to punch him to death to win; he just let Frieza exert himself. Similar thing with Super Saiyan in the Cell Arc; he finds the base form to be optimal and works on being in that state effortlessly, which prepares him and more importantly Gohan for SS2; if Vegeta or Trunks were to do that at that time they'd probably pop a blood vessel trying to maintain it! And then that ties into the rematch with Golden Frieza; Goku and Vegeta know Frieza well enough that he wouldn't have spent any time getting used to his new form, and so are able to use the exact same strategy of letting Frieza use up all his energy.

[Michsi]

What I find funny and ironic is that the fight in which Goku shows the most how battle smart he is the one against Piccolo himself. Tricking Piccolo to grow even larger so he could fit inside his esophagus, shooting a kamehameha from his feet to propel himself, using Piccolo's tracking projectile against him (still one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise) and choosing not to reveal that he had learned to fly until the very end. Piccolo, on the other hand, did nothing noteworthy as far as battle smarts go and was far from level headed. My guess is that he learned his lesson here.

[Melee_Sovereign]

What I find funny and ironic is that the fight in which Goku shows the most how battle smart he is the one against Piccolo himself. Tricking Piccolo to grow even larger so he could fit inside his esophagus, shooting a kamehameha from his feet to propel himself, using Piccolo's tracking projectile against him (still one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise) and choosing not to reveal that he had learned to fly until the very end. Piccolo, on the other hand, did nothing noteworthy as far as battle smarts go and was far from level headed. My guess is that he learned his lesson here.

Hey, give him a break. Piccolo was like only 3 years old at the time

[Muffin Man]

I don't know about him being tactically smart or having the intellect of that of a genius in combat, but he's probably one of the more level-headed characters and probably has the least amount of intellectual flaws. If you compare him to Goku and Vegeta for instance, he may not necessary be tactically smarter than them or even necessarily have the combat ingenuity of them, but on the flipside, he also doesn't have the flaws that Goku and Vegeta have.

For instance, let's compare him to Goku. Piccolo doesn't have the keen ability to decipher an opponent's style or find holes in in the way Goku does. On the other hand, Piccolo doesn't have a bad habit of letting his guard down or not taking his opponent too seriously. This is what I mean by him being the more level-headed of the cast.

You can compare him to Vegeta too. Again, probably does not have the overall combat intelligence of Vegeta, but on the other hand, he also never gets blinded by rage or emotions or his own pride the way Vegeta does, making him a more rational and level-headed person than Vegeta.

Piccolo also does have all the wisdom he inherited from Kami when they fused. So yeah, I think Piccolo is probably one of the smarter characters in Dragon Ball, but I also think his intellect is exaggerated quite a bit.

Yeah I think "wise" is a better description for Piccolo than "smart".

[Jigurashi]

I've noticed that as well. Piccolo is claimed to be incredibly smart and intelligent. He is very level headed, but he hasn't really displayed anything I'd call genius or brilliant for the most part. He honestly fits into a similar problem that Vegeta and Gohan (in the the current saga) have somewhat of a problem with: We more so get told they're very intelligent and strategical geniuses in battle, but we don't really often get to see that. We see Goku, Kuririn, and Roshi's battle smarts quite often, as well as them putting some decent showings against opponents stronger than them beforehand and either winning or nearly winning. Piccolo is a smart guy, and is very observant, but he hasn't really done enough for me to say he's by and far the most strategical or tactical fighter of U7. None of the U7 fighters really plan out everything all from the start of the fight, and as far as tactics are concerned, you can make some pretty convincing arguments for guys like Goku or Kuririn for being the most tactical fighter of U7.

I'd say Piccolo overall is a fairly smart fighter, but he's more wise and just all in all level-headed more so than intelligent.

[Zoeyvalentine]

I think piccollo is very smart but he is "LAZY" and he is not starved for increase his power level like Vegeta or Goku, i think if piccollo "want" he would be do something like this. Also Toriyama always want give all the credit to goku sadly

Freezer Saga

Piccollo should understand about the x10 gravity training in the Kaioshin planet, he would learn the "Kaio-Ken" and the genkidama understanding these two abilities are the "KEY" to increase his power, in addition he would fight vs Ten, Yamcha and Chao full time instead of lose the time


After of the fusion with Neil, I'm sure piccollo should be able to use Kaio-ken x1 , but with the insane power he obtain after the fusion, he should be able to use Kaioken x5. He could be able to stand a chance vs Freezer level 2 a bit more.

Androids SAGA

Piccollo should wish to try the x100 gravity machine after goku tell him.at least x10 days the same amount of time goku took in arrive Namek, then with the kaioken x20 a, x10 days of gravity x100 and the 100 KG kami clothes Piccollo should be at level of Goku SSJ1.

Cell Saga

I'm sure he will bring the "Gravity x100 machine" inside of the time chamber, knowing the power of perfect cell and Super-Vegeta could not do anything. Piccollo training 1 year in the time-chamber using the x100 gravity machine and kaioken x20 I'm sure he will be at level of Goku Full Power SSJ1.

Boo Saga

Piccollo Should be training the 7 years using the gravity machine like Vegeta and probably master Kaioken X40. He should be at level of full Power SSJ2.

Beerus-Saga

He should go to time-chamber at least 2 days to catch SSJ3 power, using gravity machine to 200 - 300 Times and Kaioken Mastered to x60. I'm sure he will ask the Old-Supreme-Kai to unlock his power like Gohan.

After of see the diference of power of God-Ki vs Mortal-Ki having Mystic-Gohan power he would ask Wiss get him to the beerus-planet to unlock the Gods-Ki. Then Piccollo maybe should be able to use kaioken x100 with God Ki