Gaia Dragoon G

Attack Ring: Dragon Saucer 

Weight: 6.5g total

• •  Aggressive Left-Spin Core AR with large, full circle gear shaped Sub-AR. Together, the two completely counteract each other, with the Core AR being too aggressive to avoid recoil when tilted and the Sub AR blocking its contact points, reducing offensive ability.

Core AR: Dragon Saucer

Weight: 4.5g

• Large contact points mean it is purely Attack-focussed

• Not useful in Right Spin

• In left spin, with an SAR like which exposes it, has a decent amount of power coupled with troublesome recoil.

• By itself, not a competitive part.

With War Lion SAR (and other Sub ARs which expose the contact points):

Right Spin:

• Largely useless in this direction due to lack of effective contact points and recoil issues.

• Not worth using

Left Spin:

• High recoil limits the efficacy of the otherwise reasonably powerful Smash Attack.

• Overall outclassed in this direction, directly so by Dragon Breaker.

• Nonetheless, a usable setup.

With Screw Zeus:

Right Spin:

• Dragon Saucer doesn't make a big difference to the Combo here, the primary place it takes effect is covering the sloped area with its own flat protrusion.

• Nonetheless a top-tier competitive option.

• Arguably a safer choice than left spin setups on taller bases, due to the lack of inverted slopes that could cause the combo to "upper" itself, though this is marginal. 

• Overall one of the best Smash Attack AR setups as long as you have the right parts, and one of the best choices for Defense Grip Base (Tip Inverted), due to the weight and Weight Disk-overhanging contact points.

• Primary contact points are the rear heads of Screw Zeus, the flat protrusions of Dragon Saucer, and the corners of Screw Zeus' sloped section. The overhanging contact points do make some contact with lower opponents sometimes, but a lot of work is put in by the corners and rears of the head. These contact points provide powerful Smash Attack.

• Overhanging contact points of Screw Zeus allow better performance against low opponents but can cause some issues against Circle Survivor Defense, largely relying on a strong launch and weight to bludgeon such combinations out of the arena..

• Weight allows it to be a little "safer" than alternatives such as Square Edge due to being harder to push back or counter-smash.

Left Spin:

• Dragon Saucer adds Smash Attack in this direction, as well as additional heft, and reinforces the leading contact points.

• Somewhat of a middle ground between Dragon Breaker and Great Dragon in terms of weight, but stands out on its own for lining up nicely with Screw Zeus' contact points, though Dragon Breaker's additional weight is often preferred (or Great Dragon's lighter weight on slower tips).

• One of the most powerful AR setups in the game, though the fact this is also very heavy means that it requires a very fast tip with good traction, such as SG Grip Change Base Tip or Defense Grip Base (Tip Inverted) to really hit hard.

• Primary contact points are the foreheads of Screw Zeus which are compounded with the spike contact point of Dragon Saucer, as well as the unobstructed second section of Screw Zeus. This makes for consistent, powerful hits.

• Compared to Right Spin, Screw Zeus doesn't have any effective overhanging contact points in this direction, and the inverted slope it does have results in severe destabilisation of the Beyblade using it when hit. As such, taller bases can struggle slightly more against low opponents though generally this is negligible. The overhanging section can also still interfere with efficacy against Circle Survivor Defense however, and a very strong launch is needed to basically use weight and momentum to bludgeon these combinations out of the arena.

Sub AR: Dragon Saucer SAR

Weight: 1.9g

• • Pretty much the only SAR which fulfils the point of a free spinning sub ring, able to help disperse force from Smash Attack and aid spin stealing, due to its relatively round shape and low recoil.

  • Can be used to compensate for the use of Eight Wide/Ten Wide/Magne Weight Disk instead of Wide Defense/Wide Survivor, albeit due to the weight distribution this is still not as effective as the real thing, nor as effective as Spiral Change Base with the same Weight Disk (though its defensive characteristics mean combinations using it can be more versatile than combos using SCB). 

  • It is also able to allow War Monkey to be used in Right Spin and can compensate for other slightly too recoily ARs such as War Bear to make them usable for Zombies, however they do remain outclassed as once the combo tilts their recoil is exposed.

  • It is also worth noting that height dynamics come into play quite heavily with this SAR. It does struggle if it is caught under things, and due to its width has some issues with destabilization on Tips that don't move away from opponents when hit (primarily Defense Grip Base 2's Tip which already has issues righting itself after tilting). 

  • However, it is notable for being very effective against Circle Survivor Defense as it allows for more contact with the top part of the Beyblade, allowing for better Spin Stealing, and helps prevent Circle Survivor's usual ability to grind and Force Smash opponents to the dish by deflecting it - this is a rare case where the SAR actually prevents destabilisation quite a lot.

  • Destabilisation issues with SG (Bearing Version 2) Shaft mean it can result in Defensive Zombies struggling more than they otherwise might against Driger V2 customs or other customs that have some level of Destabilization (eg defensive Upper Dragoon combos), for which they are usually the safest answer, thus the use is somewhat questionable here. Customize Grip Base assists with this, making it a better choice than Defense Grip Base 2 for Defensive Zombies using this part, but Defense Grip Base 2 is still usable.

  • The defensive boon it offers against horizontal Smash should not be understated however, and it remains a fantastic choice as the stability issues are not really enough to outweigh this benefit.

  • Overall a competitive option for Spin Stealing and Defense Combinations, in particular a nice choice for Defensive Zombies.

  • It should be noted that it does not work well with Holy Despell due to the gaps in the perimeter of each being able to catch on each other, resulting in severe recoil.

Weight Disk: Ten Heavy 

Weight: 16.1g

• Heaviest legal Weight Disk.

• Compact size and weight distribution makes it excellent defensively but not useful for Attack

• Excellent for sustaining RPM – helps with defense, grinding, force smash, upper, and also defending against the last three.

• Primary choice for Compacts, Traditional Upper Attack, Weight Defense, Circle Survivor Defense, and a competitive choice for Force Smash and Driger V2 combos.

• With faster Attack Blade Bases (i.e. Defense Grip Base (Tip Inverted) and SG Grip Change Base Tip setups), Ten Heavy can be used without loss of speed, and its high weight becomes quite useful with Attack Rings such as Square Edge and Hayate Attack Ring, improving their rotational Smash characteristics however the reduction to the flywheel effect otherwise provided by Wide Defense or Ten Wide tends to result in more recoil KOs. It is nonetheless an acceptable option.

• Overall a very versatile Weight Disk and a must-have part, outclassing both Heavy and Eight Heavy in all aspects, as well as being generally superior to Heavy Attack.

Spin Gear: Right Engine Gear (Metal Flat)

Weight: 10.9g

• • Engine Gear with a wide metal tip, similar in width to SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version).

  • Requires fairly deep banking to flower, but can flower quite well.

  • Until recently was considered "okay" but not exceptional - the best offensive Engine Gear and most practical due to a good tip shape but overall being outclassed by SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version) due to the apparently useless, pattern breaking gimmick, and the poorer Blade Base options.

  • To that end it was usually used for normal Smash Attack often unwound and using a small Blade Base like Normal Base (Wolborg 4 Version) and an overhanging Attack Ring like Triple Tiger.

  • More recently, WBO member Broyeeto discovered that with Final Clutch Base (Gaia Dragoon G Version) the EG has additional use, providing a late burst of engine spin as the Beyblade topples creating a unique type of Life After Death. Further experimentation found Final Clutch Base (Dranzer G Version) is able to do the same.

  • Using it in this setup (dubbed "V8 Combo") produces a unique type of Right Spin Spin-Stealing Attack which both gets a decent boost from the Engine Gear for late game KOs and the aforementioned late game Burst for LAD.

  • The LAD is quite significant - allowing V8 Combos to OS some Defensive Zombies in opposite spin - a major sticking point for other Right Spin SSA. 

  • Alongside the additional bulk, this makes them arguably the best Right Spin SSA option, though they struggle somewhat with Circle Survivor combos and can be knocked out by Driger V2 Customs.

  • By far the best standard Engine Gear and the only one to make competitive use of the Engine Gear gimmick - and of course, it was the only one that Hasbro didn't release a CEW version of.

Blade Base: Final Clutch Base (Gaia Dragoon G Version)

Weight: 7.4g

• • Engine Gear compatible Blade Base with Final Clutch.

  • Clutch activates late in the battle, on most combinations this is an issue leading to instability or just not very useful as the overall RPM has dropped too far to effectively KO, but for this particular Blade Base as well as Final Clutch Base (Dranzer G Version), this has notable use.

  • Alongside Final Clutch Base (Dranzer G Version), one of two Blade Bases which work with Right Engine Gear (Metal Flat) to create strong Life After Death properties due to post-topple firing of the Engine Gear.

  • Dranzer G's Base tends to be slightly better due to heavier weight and an overall better shape, but is also generally not worth the overinflated cost of upgrading to, given this Base comes alongside the EG required to make either viable and Dranzer G suffers from an extremely severe case of Kai Tax (the phenomenon where people will pay and charge ungodly amounts of money for anything associated with Bakuten Shoot's resident Edgy 00's Antihero) while the other releases of that Blade Base are rare Hasbro exclusives.

  • Overall surprisingly good, which is quite extraordinary given the actual shape of the part. 

Overall

• •  Gaia Dragoon G has over time gone from a questionably useful and rather odd release to a release in which every part has some sort of competitive use - in fact, it isn't a terrible stock either. It can be a little overpriced, but is a recommended purchase for those looking to become serious competitors.