Gaia Dragoon V
AKA: Gaia Dragoon Vast (Full Name), Gaia Dragoon Vurst (Full Name Alternate Translation- Katakana can be translated as either but generally Vast should be the intended translation), Strata Dragoon V (Hasbro), GDV (Nickname)
Weight: 7.5g total
Aggressively designed AR with free spinning Sub Ring. Like Great Dragon and Dragon Saucer, the Attack Ring is designed to attack in Left Spin despite being from a Right Spin Beyblade.
The Core AR is the heaviest of all Core ARs. When used with Screw Zeus (the heaviest Sub AR), the combined weight is enough to slow down slower Attack tips, which can be detrimental.
Core AR: Dragon Breaker
Weight: 5.3g
Heaviest Sub-Ring Compatible AR in the game.
Very aggressive design in both left and right spin.
Not useful with its own SAR due to the deficiencies of the latter.
Right Spin:
With War Lion SAR:
War Lion's SAR doesn't protrude past Dragon Breaker's contact points, and is merely used to fill the Sub AR spot.
Suffers from heavy recoil, but once controlled is surprisingly powerful, albeit not enough to be competitive in its own right.
Nonetheless comfortably Tier 2 for Smash Attack.
With Screw Zeus:
This is the heaviest AR setup possible - usually not an ideal thing for Attack but on fast tips this gives it a significant edge against Weight Based Defense compared to other ARs, and makes it somewhat harder to push around.
While not as much as in left, Dragon Breaker nonetheless brings some additional smash to the setup even in right spin, and still exposes the important contact points of Screw Zeus
Works about as well on SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version) as conventional Smash AR's, perhaps a little more power at the cost of a little more recoil.
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 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 of the heads of Screw Zeus, the corner of the sloped section, and the ridges of Dragon Breaker, and against lower opponents the overhanging protrusions also make contact. All of the parts of Screw Zeus pack 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.
Left Spin:
With War Lion SAR:
Again, War Lion is only used for legality and the fact it keeps out of the way.
Fairly severe recoil, once controlled enough to work (this being the limit of what is possible), produces very powerful Smash Attack, due to well exposed contact points, however it is just short of making the competitive combinations list as War Bear is directly superior.
Nonetheless, a usable, viable setup.
With War Bear SAR:
Combined with the right weight disk (any Wide Weight Disk will usually work) and a relatively fresh War Bear SAR, fixes the SAR in place, allowing its excellent range and aggressive, well angled contact points in this directions to be used for attack, while Dragon Breaker provides additional Smash Attack to boot.
Suffers from fairly high rotational recoil, but surprisingly moderate regular recoil, allowing it to work on SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version), though like Mountain Hammer, controlling the rotational recoil results in a dramatic improvement in power.
War Bear SAR's ridges wear down over time (the mold with raised circles as seen in Hasbro's Hyperblade version wears down much faster and is looser to start with), allowing it to shift on contact, reducing its power dramatically. While some shifting on hard hits is normal, after a certain point, replacement is required - and this is in addition to moderate breakage issues. Luckily, Galzzly is relatively cheap and easy to find.
It is worth noting that Great Dragon can provide arguably more powerful performance with higher speeds and more exposed primary contact points and focussed weight, though that setup only works on rubber tips.
With Screw Zeus:
Dragon Breaker is an effective AR in its own right in this direction, and adds additional power to Screw Zeus.
One of the most powerful AR setups in the game, though the fact this is also the heaviest AR setup of the generation 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.
However, Great Dragon also adds to Screw Zeus without being as heavy, which means it does carry some advantages on more worn tips.
The additional weight however means on a fast combo, Dragon Breaker will do better against heavy, low-recoil opponents, and thus is perhaps a slightly better choice here. It also makes the combo much harder to knock out than some other options.
Also a better choice on SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version), probably thanks to the extra weight. However, not really significantly better than conventional Smash ARs here.
War Bear SAR works better with Dragon Breaker on slower bases due to the lighter weight being easier to move fast. It does however have more wear and breakage issues, and overall is less effective (and should be considered for use with Great Dragon instead of Dragon Breaker)
Primary contact points are the forehead of Screw Zeus, the rear spike protrusion and the mass behind it, as well as the serrations of Dragon Breaker. All of these provide very effective Smash Attack, with Dragon Breaker mostly taking up dead space on Screw Zeus (as the spikes it covers are not great contact points). It is worth noting however that it does even out the weight distribution quite noticeably, rather than focusing it.
Compared to Right Spin, the inverted slope on Screw Zeus results in 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 Breaker Sub AR
Weight: 2.2g
Aggressive Sub Attack Ring that cannot be fixed in place by any extant AR.
Angles are quite recoil laden.
Size creates leverage for opponents, giving it some vertical recoil issues.
Tends to obstruct contact points of offensive ARs.
Even if it could be fixed in place, the angles would make it too recoil prone.
It is quite competent on Great Dragon, with decent synergy in Left Spin making it able to land some solid hits. If a small SAR is unavailable, Dragon Breaker Sub AR is a fair option.
It is not entirely bad specifically on Gyro Engine Gear combinations due to its large size and the exposure these give the underside of SARs. While still too recoil prone to be a top-tier choice, it is quite acceptable in a pinch.
Weight: 14.0g (Takara/Hasbro) | 14.3g (SonoKong G-Blade)
Moderately light weight
Outward weight distribution, though less so than Wide Defense and Wide Survivor.
Recoil means it is far less effective for spin stealing and survival than those weight disks
Still has plenty of use for Smash Attack, particularly with Attack Rings which are obstructed by Wide Defense.
Can still be used for spin stealing to decent effect with parts that compensate through LAD (Spiral Change Base/Full Auto Clutch Base etc) or by providing a buffer (Dragon Saucer SAR), but is still outclassed.
A number of SonoKong Ten Wide WD's from their G-Blade series have been recorded as being slightly above the average weight of Wide Defense, see the Ten Wide page for details.
Spin Gear: Neo Right Spin Gear (South Magne Version)
Weight: 1.15g ea (total 2.3g)
Generally preferred to regular Right shells due to being compatible with all SG-Compatible bases, in particular for being compatible with Neo SG Cores and the Heavy Metal Core.
This means they are a necessity for Compacts, Weight Based Defense, Force Smash, Traditional Upper Attack and Driger V2 Combinations, at least aside from the rare occasions Left Spin is desired for one of these types, in which case Neo Left Shells are preferred.
Overall a crucial competitive part, but thankfully exceedingly common.
Note: When used in an SG, any Magnecore is listed as "Magne Version" with no specification of the polarity or variety. These are listed in PlasticsDB part section names for clarity.
Weight: 3.3g
Only compatible with Neo Right Spin Gear Shells and Neo Left Spin Gear Shells.
Main attribute is its specific weight, resulting in a distribution not as centrally-focused as a Heavy Metal Core, yet with enough weight to help a little with recoil, Magnecores tend to be a decent choice if trying to control recoil on Attack types which care about stamina such as those using SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V Version). They usually tend to be a slightly better balance here than Metal Weight Core as the extra weight does not cause losses against any notable opponents but does provide slightly better rotational recoil control, while providing better stamina and faster movement than a Heavy Metal Core.
Only noticeable effect of the magnetic gimmick for regular play is when using a magnetized tip (Customize Grip Base Tip, Magne Flat Base Tip), which are attracted to South Magnecores, or Magne Weight Disk (which can be flipped over as needed anyway), and even here the effect on performance is negligible - the only actual impact is in terms of assembly difficulty.
Defensively, and for rotational recoil control, it is outclassed by the significantly heavier Heavy Metal Core, however it is the next best thing, and still works okay for Defense/Compacts, albeit not nearly as well as an HMC due to the significant difference in weight. It has some use on Driger V2 combos for certain outspins, but generally an HMC is superior, and always preferred when using Wide Defense.
In Magne Stadia, South Magnecores are intended to be offensive (by being repelled by magnets, thus moving around erratically).
AKA: SG Metal Flat 2, SGMF2 (Fan names)
Weight: 5.4g
Metal tip of average width at a mid to low height
Very good speed, good manipulability, and fairly good control of regular recoil thanks to ability to catch the tornado ridge.
Low friction tip means ARs with heavy rotational recoil tend to bounce backwards (ie rotational recoil becomes regular recoil), resulting in lower power but less spin loss from hits (and therefore more hits over the course of the battle). In plastics this is largely detrimental (in MFB, Flash on Metal Flat uses this to situational advantage.)
Better survivability than plastic and rubber tips due to low friction design, meaning it can win via outspin after knocking opponents around enough to make them scrape or topple.
Lower height allows it to get under some opponents, but does mean combos using it have trouble hitting over Circle Survivor.
Properties combine to make it a competitive base for Smash Attack, and the only real option for a non-rubber tip Smash Attack Beyblade.
Can also be used for Compacts but is largely outclassed by Metal Change Tips, which offer better survival and defense ability, and the additional speed and aggression the metal flat tip offers rarely worthwhile for what is a relatively defensive type, and it tends to have poorer stamina than Metal Ball Base and SG Semi-Flat Base, relegating it to tier 2.
Also viable for Traditional Upper Attack, though it faces some competition here the additional stamina assists with outspinning after destabilisation.
Overall
With a powerful if somewhat difficult to use Attack Ring, a great Blade Base and useful if common Weight Disk and Spin Gear, Gaia Dragoon V is very good purchase for bladers of any level, particularly fans of Attack Types.
Related Beyblades
RC Beyblade Gaia Dragoon V - Exceedingly rare prize exclusive RC release.