Don’t let his losses fool you: Frieza has an undeniably impressive track record in getting what he wants. Having inherited a vast intergalactic empire and planet trading business from his father, Frieza reigned for roughly 30 years through sheer ruthlessness and power. Other than beings long sealed away like Majin Buu and Moro, no mortal matched Frieza’s might before Goku came along.
Yet Frieza’s resume has faltered in recent years. While still a force to be reckoned with, Frieza’s faced defeat multiple times, and he largely has himself to blame. He could reclaim his full glory, however, if he avoided repeating the same mistakes throughout the Dragon Ball franchise.
10 Underestimating His Enemies
For many years, Frieza was used to being the most powerful being in the universe. Because so few people could actually oppose him, he rarely took real challenges seriously. In his first battle with Goku, he began the fight using only a modicum of his power and even spent part of the fight using only one hand.
While losing to Goku was a massive wake-up call for Frieza, he still struggles to identify actual threats to him. He mistakenly believed he could handle Top’s Energy of Destruction sphere the way he had Sidra’s before the anime’s Tournament of Power, only to be completely overwhelmed.
9 Not Training Enough (Especially His Most Powerful Forms)
Being so naturally powerful and gifted as a fighter, Frieza never found a need to train before fighting Goku on Namek. This backfired horrendously on him when he tried fighting at 100 percent of his power, as his body was unaccustomed to combat at that level for prolonged periods.
Frieza made the exact same mistake in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F.' Though he had actually trained before heading to Earth to exact his revenge, he spent very little time practicing in his new Golden form. Consequently, he ran into the same problem, rapidly losing energy the longer he stayed as Golden Frieza.
8 Killing His Underlings For Even Minor Reasons
Questioning Frieza can have unpleasant results, as Tagoma learned the hard way in the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F' movie. Failure has similar consequences, as seen later when Frieza killed his soldiers for not defeating Earth’s fighters.
While Frieza’s ruthlessness is undoubtedly what keeps his underlings from rebelling, it can also be a hindrance. Dragon Ball Super, for instance, showed how keeping Tagoma alive not only helped Frieza’s training but also made Tagoma into one of his strongest soldiers. Moreover, Frieza cost himself an entire army of superwarriors when he destroyed Planet Vegeta, then did so again when killing off the new Frieza Force in Resurrection ‘F.’
7 Not Listening To Tagoma’s Advice And Leaving Goku & Vegeta Alone
In both the Resurrection ‘F’ movie and Dragon Ball Super adaptation, Tagoma gave Frieza the best suggestion he’d likely received in years: set aside his vendetta against Goku and Vegeta to instead rebuild and grow his empire. Frieza reacted badly in both cases, sending Tagoma flying into space in the movie and torturing him in the Super anime.
Frieza would likely be much more successful and happier if he simply steered clear of Earth’s Saiyans and focused on dominating the rest of the universe, though he might still attract Goku and Vegeta’s attention eventually.
6 Using Underlings Vastly Weaker (Or Vastly Stronger) Than Him
Frieza understandably avoids working with those who could legitimately challenge his power. Yet he arguably takes that to the extreme. The most powerful members of the original Frieza Force were much, much weaker than he was, making it easy for Goku and Vegeta especially to defeat them. Even the Ginyu Force, originally Frieza’s strongest warriors, didn’t come close to Frieza’s weakest form.
The Frieza Force in Resurrection ‘F’ was much stronger after Frieza trained with them, but still were leagues below Frieza himself. In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, however, Frieza went too far in the opposite direction, trying to manipulate Broly without understanding his true power.
5 Ruling Through Fear, Instead Of Trust
Other than Saiyan elites, Frieza’s underlings tend to be pretty loyal to the Emperor of the Universe--mainly because they’re afraid of what he’d do if they went against his wishes. In all fairness, fear has mostly worked well for Frieza, as the level of loyalty among most of his soldiers was quite high, even when he wasn’t around.
However, he might have inspired greater loyalty still if he’d given his troops more reason to trust him. Goku’s friends, for instance, stand by him because he’d do the same for them, and he rarely deals with betrayal. Conversely, Frieza has dealt with numerous rebellious Saiyans who resented his iron fist.
4 Refusing To Admit Defeat
Frieza is the definition of a sore loser. Even when Goku lent him energy to escape Planet Namek’s destruction, Frieza still tried to eliminate his foe, unable to accept he’d lost in battle. Consequently, Goku retaliated with an attack that nearly blasted Frieza into nothingness.
Similarly, if Frieza had simply acknowledged early on that his Golden form was losing power, he could have avoided being killed by Goku and escaped. Goku and Vegeta might have still been able to stop him, but he could have easily distracted them (e.g. by firing an energy attack at their friends) long enough to flee into space.
3 Delegating Tasks To Others That He Could've Done Much Better & Faster Himself (Including Collecting The Dragon Balls)
Despite having tremendous power, Frieza normally has others do his work for him. This tactic does have a certain value, as it both makes Frieza appear stronger (as he has vast armies on his side) and makes foes underestimate him by mistakenly believing he actually needs bodyguards and soldiers for protection.
However, having others do his dirty work is also less efficient and time-consuming when Frieza could do the job on his own with incredible ease. He could have collected the Dragon Balls and wished for immortality long before the Z Fighters (a.k.a. the Dragon Team) even set foot on Namek.
2 Toying With Others When He Can Just Destroy Them (Including Enemies Who Get Stronger Quickly)
Killing enemies outright is too boring for Frieza. Rather than immediately kill off Nail, he instead took his time, torturing Nail before leaving the Namekian warrior to die. Similarly, he kept treating his first fight with Goku as a game, prolonging their battle by fighting only at half-power.
Ultimately, these actions would cost him. Because Nail survived, Piccolo was able to fuse with him into a much more powerful warrior. Moreover, if Frieza had fought at 100 percent against Goku from the beginning, the pure-hearted warrior would have never become a Super Saiyan.
1 Never Asking For Beerus’ Help In Destroying Goku
Admittedly, Beerus has a vested interest in Goku and Vegeta—or more precisely, Whis does, as he’s training them both to become new Gods of Destruction. Yet Goku in particular has gotten on Beerus’ bad side at times, particularly due to his unpredictability and lack of formality.
While Frieza currently seeks to overtake Beerus in strength, the two have had a somewhat working relationship before, as it was Beerus who gave Frieza permission to destroy Planet Vegeta. Should Frieza convince Beerus that training Goku has more cons than benefits, perhaps Beerus would destroy Goku for him, assuming Whis doesn’t intervene.