Power of Imperfect Cell

[Piramid]

What power do you think Imperfect Cell has when he faces A17 and Piccolo? Considering that Cell tanks Piccolo's Light Grenade without any problem and then accidentally breaks Piccolo's neck with a punch.

It’s generally considered that in Dragon Ball, to tank an attack, you need to be at least twice as powerful as the attack itself. Considering this, Cell must be at least 4 times stronger than either of them.

[Hugo Boss]

The idea that a character needs to be at least twice as powerful to "tank" an attack is common among fans, but Dragon Ball doesn't consistently follow a strict mathematical formula for this.

It's evident that Cell was significantly stronger than Piccolo and No.17 at this point, but stating that he was exactly four times more powerful oversimplifies the situation. Sometimes, the series highlights a character's superiority to emphasize their growth or the opponent's desperation. Cell breaking Piccolo's neck, for example, is more of a narrative tool to show his dominance rather than a calculated power difference.

[Piramid]

Dragon Ball is really inconsistent in a lot of ways, but we can still debate this just for fun.

[Koitsukai]

But was Recoome 4x stronger than Vegeta on Namek, when he tanked his super attack?
I imagine a similar gap here, perhaps a little wider, with Cell oneshotting Piccolo because he was already exhausted.

Goku was 90k, Recoome was 40k-ish. That's a little bit over 2x, I wouldn't go past that gap for Cell and Piccolo.

[Piramid]

But was Recoome 4x stronger than Vegeta on Namek, when he tanked his super attack?
I imagine a similar gap here, perhaps a little wider, with Cell oneshotting Piccolo because he was already exhausted.

Goku was 90k, Recoome was 40k-ish. That's a little bit over 2x, I wouldn't go past that gap for Cell and Piccolo.

In the case of Recoome and Vegeta, the difference between them was about 50%, but in that case, Vegeta did manage to do some damage to Recoome.

Anyway, it also depends on the type of attack and how much it boosts the power of whoever's doing it. Plus, Recoome seems to really stand out for his physical durability.

Regarding Piccolo and Cell, being very conservative: if we assume that Piccolo had only half of his power and that his attack doubled his power, and if we also assume that Cell only needed to be 50% stronger than that attack to tank it, this leaves us with the following:

Piccolo: 10
Piccolo (tired): 5
Light Grenade: 10
Cell: 15

But realistically, I’d say Cell would need to be about 2 times Piccolo’s power for this to work well. 4 times might indeed be an exaggeration.

[Koitsukai]

But was Recoome 4x stronger than Vegeta on Namek, when he tanked his super attack?
I imagine a similar gap here, perhaps a little wider, with Cell oneshotting Piccolo because he was already exhausted.

Goku was 90k, Recoome was 40k-ish. That's a little bit over 2x, I wouldn't go past that gap for Cell and Piccolo.

In the case of Recoome and Vegeta, the difference between them was about 50%, but in that case, Vegeta did manage to do some damage to Recoome.

Anyway, it also depends on the type of attack and how much it boosts the power of whoever's doing it. Plus, Recoome seems to really stand out for his physical durability.

Regarding Piccolo and Cell, being very conservative: if we assume that Piccolo had only half of his power and that his attack doubled his power, and if we also assume that Cell only needed to be 50% stronger than that attack to tank it, this leaves us with the following:

Piccolo: 10
Piccolo (tired): 5
Light Grenade: 10
Cell: 15

But realistically, I’d say Cell would need to be about 2 times Piccolo’s power for this to work well. 4 times might indeed be an exaggeration.

I'm not sure if it could make a difference, but Cell has Freeza's cells, meaning he is more durable. When it comes to tanking an attack, that could make up for the gap not being that much. Of course, I doubt Toriyama thought about it when he came up with that scene.

[Piramid]

I'm not sure if it could make a difference, but Cell has Freeza's cells, meaning he is more durable. When it comes to tanking an attack, that could make up for the gap not being that much. Of course, I doubt Toriyama thought about it when he came up with that scene.

We also gotta remember that Piccolo was left paralyzed by Cell’s power. The gap between them can't be that small.

[theherodjl]

If you think back to the Saiyan arc, Piccolo technically tanked a full power blast from Nappa, who was stronger than him by just over 14% in terms of PL. While it did ultimately lead to him slowly dying afterwards, the fact that Piccolo's body could withstand a blast from someone stronger and not get outright disintegrated or even suffer any perforation to his body, kinda throws a wrench in the idea that you need to "X" times stronger than anyone to tank their attacks.
For an even crazier example, Vegeta remained mostly unharmed by Goku's Kaio-ken x4 Kamehameha blasting him high into the sky, despite it having 77% more power than him.
PLs are nonsensical when it comes to being consistent.

[Piramid]

That's true. Many times it's simply due to plot needs.

Another example is when Vegeta survived the Genki Dama. Even if that Genki Dama only had half the power needed to defeat Ozaru Vegeta, it should have been enough to obliterate a Vegeta who was so weakened.

But in the case of Cell vs Piccolo, I don't think it was as much a plot necessity. Cell doesn't even show a scratch. There's a clear intent from Toriyama to portray Cell as an absurdly superior enemy.

[Hugo Boss]

I guess a logical conclusion is that Cell wouldn’t stop getting stronger unless he believed he could take both No.17 and No.18 at the same time if needed, so he was probably at least twice as powerful as them when he decided to chase them.

[theherodjl]

Regarding the Recoome fight, if Vegeta was at 30,000 and Recoome was 42,000(we'll just say he is equal to Nail), then the fight confirms that a 40% difference is enough on that occasion to hardly take any damage from an opponent, and completely dominate them.
Case in point:

Chapter: 275 (DBZ 81), P12.4
Context: Vegeta attacked Recoom all out, but it had little effect.
Gohan: “H-he hardly took any damage…”

Chapter: 276 (DBZ 82), P12.2
Context: after Vegeta blasts him in the face
Recoom: “Goody! Just what I was hoping for!”

Chapter: 276 (DBZ 82), P13.1-2
Recoom: “Don’t you have any techniques with more zip than that? ‘Cause if you don’t, how about I just kill ya?”
Vegeta: “Th…that rotten monster…Da-dammit…To think that he’d be so strong…I’m being treated…just like a baby…”

Assuming this fight's example is proportionately applicable to Piccolo vs Cell, there absolutely doesn't need to be exactly a two-fold difference for Cell to remain undamaged from Piccolo's attack. Cell could be 50% stronger than Piccolo, and that really wouldn't be inaccurate or low-balling him. Recoome was just humoring Vegeta when they fought, willingly taking several of his attacks in succession, and he still had more than enough gas in the tank to handle Krillin & Gohan after beating Vegeta. If Cell had a little more power to him than that and only took one hit as opposed to many, it's totally within the realm of possibility that Cell was under a two-fold difference from Piccolo.
You could make the argument that Cell was 60, 70, or even 80% stronger than Piccolo, but a two-fold difference isn't required.

[Piramid]

- Recoome probably stood out in terms of endurance.
- Recoome, being 40% stronger, still had injuries after the attack.
- Cell knew he was heading towards Piccolo, 17, and 18. And he knew he would be stronger than the three of them combined.

I think it’s possible that he was at least twice as strong as Piccolo.

[theherodjl]

- Recoome probably stood out in terms of endurance.
- Recoome, being 40% stronger, still had injuries after the attack.
- Cell knew he was heading towards Piccolo, 17, and 18. And he knew he would be stronger than the three of them combined.

I think it’s possible that he was at least twice as strong as Piccolo.

1. He may have been, as Recoome did seem more hardy than Burter & Jeice, but he also got one shotted by an opponent a little over double his strength while prepping an attack. Who can say really?
2. Recoome was not all that injured actually. Even after all of Vegeta's attacks connected, he just had a few bleeding welts on his body and was missing some hair, but most of all, his energy doesn't seem to have dropped. Toriyama clearly demonstrates that any fighter who is truly injured will suffer a power loss ranging from low to high, but Recoome didn't appear to lose any strength. His "injuries" were totally superficial.
3. As shown with Recoome, a 40% boost can allow a fighter to toy with & dominate another, and Cell only needed to incapacitate the Androids & Piccolo. If he was 50% stronger than Kamiccolo, Cell could certainly have done that given that his power, abilities, and repertoire of techniques would allow for certain possibilities. He ended up needing to use trickery to absorb the Androids anyways, so it seems that gaining loads of power wasn't what he required, just cunning. If Cell really was stronger than the three combined, why not just speedblitz them all with knockout shots and go through the trouble?

[Piramid]

3. As shown with Recoome, a 40% boost can allow a fighter to toy with & dominate another, and Cell only needed to incapacitate the Androids & Piccolo. If he was 50% stronger than Kamiccolo, Cell could certainly have done that given that his power, abilities, and repertoire of techniques would allow for certain possibilities. He ended up needing to use trickery to absorb the Androids anyways, so it seems that gaining loads of power wasn't what he required, just cunning. If Cell really was stronger than the three combined, why not just speedblitz them all with knockout shots and go through the trouble?

He doesn’t knock out the androids because he doesn’t want to harm them. Notice that the only one he actually attacks is Piccolo, and he practically kills him without effort.

I think Cell went in with the idea that he was already stronger than the three of them combined, and on top of that, he was surprised to realize he had absorbed more people than necessary, meaning he had become stronger than he thought. In other words, Cell was more powerful than he needed to be to face Piccolo, A17, and A18 without any risk.

[Vhanos]

3. As shown with Recoome, a 40% boost can allow a fighter to toy with & dominate another, and Cell only needed to incapacitate the Androids & Piccolo. If he was 50% stronger than Kamiccolo, Cell could certainly have done that given that his power, abilities, and repertoire of techniques would allow for certain possibilities. He ended up needing to use trickery to absorb the Androids anyways, so it seems that gaining loads of power wasn't what he required, just cunning. If Cell really was stronger than the three combined, why not just speedblitz them all with knockout shots and go through the trouble?

He doesn’t knock out the androids because he doesn’t want to harm them. Notice that the only one he actually attacks is Piccolo, and he practically kills him without effort.

I think Cell went in with the idea that he was already stronger than the three of them combined, and on top of that, he was surprised to realize he had absorbed more people than necessary, meaning he had become stronger than he thought. In other words, Cell was more powerful than he needed to be to face Piccolo, A17, and A18 without any risk.

17 and Piccolo were worn out in their fight. Would Cell have been able to do the same thing if that wasn't the case?

[Piramid]

17 and Piccolo were worn out in their fight. Would Cell have been able to do the same thing if that wasn't the case?

The androids don’t get tired. Piccolo does, but he was still holding an even fight against A17.

But that doesn’t matter because Cell wasn’t taking that into account to attack them. He went after them as soon as he detected Piccolo’s energy.

He knew he was already stronger than all of them at 100%, and then he realized he was even more powerful than he thought.

[p-hyvo]

X4 Is definitely a stretch
We saw Vegeta being immune to kyui with just a x1.33 difference, so I think that cell is good at x1.5 17 and piccolo. We don't need hugs gaps, db has never been a series needing those