Time to post the obligatory AP and skill scaling chains
First of all, AP...
Dante could have easily killed Mephisto if he chose to, who is above Blackheart (to the point where Blackheart only feels comfortable opposing him with the Infinity Gems), who could defeat several fighters at once (those being Ryu, Spider-Man, Chun-Li, Captain America, and Zangief), with Spider-Man have defeated Onslaught, who was stated to be the most powerful enemy in history up to MvC1, which would place him above Thanos, who was stated to have sheer power that dwarfed Galactus (who scales to
1.64552679 Quettatons)
Galactus < Thanos < Onslaught ≈ Spider-Man < Blackheart < Mephisto < Dante
So Dante heavily upscales
1.64552679 Quettatons
Meanwhile, BoZ Goku scales to
4.215 Quettatons
Due to the scaling chain, I honestly don't think the power difference between these two is too crazy, but in their bases, Goku has the greater AP. Though Devil Trigger and X-Factor can definitely close that gap more. Keep in mind, Devil Trigger allowed Dante to easily defeat a guy who
one-shot his base. So that isn't anything to sneeze at
Second of all, skill...
Mephisto claims Dante could have killed Blackheart. Blackheart had the prowess to defeat Ryu, Spider-Man, Zangief, Captain America, and Chun-Li at the same time.
Ryu and
Spider-Man (Ryu views Spider-Man as a rival) in particular are capable of really defeating Apocalypse, who is a nearly 5000 year old mutant who has spent much of his time alive in combat. But perhaps more significantly, Ryu is considered more skilled than the mercenary known as
Taskmaster, who can replicate any physical movement/fighting technique simply be looking at it without the need for practice, no matter how complex it is. Additionally, his analytical abilities allow him to predict attacks and tell if opponents have hidden weapons with a glance. So consider that and the fact that Dante also heavily upscales those greater than someone who can pull off the classic Goku trope of replicating techniques just by seeing them. What I'm essentially getting at here is that Dante's more than skilled enough to keep up with Goku here. I'd outright say Dante's more skilled, especially since this is BoZ Goku
With that in mind, I'm gonna cover the advantages the two have
Dante:
-LS (Dante's at Class Y, so any grabs he lands on Goku aren't to be taken lightly)
-More skilled
-Greater arsenal
-More versatile (Goku doesn't have as many abilities at this point in the series, whereas Dante has a wide variety of unique abilities/weapons at his disposal, which he easily switches to on the fly)
-Regeneration
-Healing (via X-Factor or Devil Trigger, or both at once)
-Speed (Whether he activates X-Factor, Devil Trigger, or both at the same time, he'll gain the edge in speed due to how these abilities operate)
-Self-Sustenance (This is more of a Freeza argument, but I'm bringing this up anyways. If the fight somehow causes the Earth to explode, Dante can operate/breathe in space just fine and Goku can't)
-Mobility (When taking into account his insane agility, platform creation, teleportation, and methods of flight, he has much more mobility than Goku here)
-Stat Buffs (X-Factor, Devil Trigger, or both at the same time allow him to make the AP/Durability gap less of an issue here. Given the degree to which Devil Trigger buffs Dante, that might even be enough to render that advantage null)
-Attack Reflection (Dante can reflect energy projectiles and missiles, so this'll be incredibly handy against ki blasts)
Goku:
-AP/Durability
-Range
-Resistance to Ice Manipulation (will be useful against Cerberus)
-
Somewhat Resistance to Electricity Manipulation (While I won't deny he does have this as a resistance, his instances of resisting it aren't ones outright no-selling it like with Ice Manipulation. So I think continued exposure to any of Dante's electricity-based attacks are ultimately gonna hurt)
Overall, I'd have to give this one to Dante. Goku might start off stronger and certainly isn't a slouch as a martial artist and ki user, Dante's greater skill, mobility, amps, and versatility are ultimately much more favourable. Even Goku's range advantage isn't too effective given how Dante can just reflect those back easily. On top of all this, he's got Regeneration and Healing at his disposal, so Goku isn't outlasting him here
Voting Dante
