Is Base Kaido > Zoan Kaido?

[SSJ2]

Is Base Kaido stronger in combat than his dragon form? His dragon form obviously allows incredible travel speed, and has the very haxed hyper beam mouth beam, but his performance against Luffy was pretty terrible. Once Base Kaido got serious, he one shotted Luffy with ease. Why wouldn’t he just remain in Dragon form?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Depending on the fruit and the user, it sometimes seems that Hybrid form > Base form > Full animal form for Zoans, Lucci being a prime example. A giant dragon doesn't seem like the best form for traditional combat either. Even if full Dragon Kaido is as strong or stronger than his base form, it still wouldn't be the best form to manoeuvre in against an opponent as such a large body with small limbs isn't easy to defend.

 

[SSJ2]

Given how fast he flew to Oden Castle compared to Luffy and Law running to his position, his movement speed is much faster it seems. With that and his hyper beam, shouldn't that make him superior?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Movement speed and travel speed definitely don't seem to scale linearly in OP. For instance, Kalifa displayed the combat speed against Nami was capable of dodging lightning, yet aside from Enel, the only other characters capable of covering such a distance instantly from what we've seen are Kizaru and and a few Yonko tiers such as Shanks and Kaido. Hell, Big Mom seemed slower than this when riding Zeus.
Also, Kaido's hyper beams destroying some buildings in a town isn't that impressive for a Yonko when we've already seen far more impressive feats from the likes of Alabasta Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Storm or Wiper's Reject Dial destroying the beanstalk. His hyper beams probably provide Dragon Kaido greater range than his base form, but we have yet to see them provide the same level of firepower.

 

[SSJ2]

Could Kaido being wasted be a factor for his poor performance as Dragon? In Ashura Doji’s flashback, we see Dragon Kaido taking on him and one of the other powerful Samurai, not to mention Oden.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

It could be, though that still begs the question of why he didn't just oneshot Luffy in his dragon form?

 

[SSJ2]

Well, he was forced out of the form due to his own incompetence. I think a sober, bloodlusted Dragon Kaido would have done fine...

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I agree he was done fine and it's true he was forced out of the form. It's still questionable why he wouldn't immediately go back into the form, though I guess winning in his base form alone may have been better for his crew's morale if his dragon form was indeed superior.