Brief Introduction to Beyblade X

Hello community

It has been brought to my attention that it might be a good idea to make a beginner's guide to Beyblade X especially for a lot of new players or returning older players from previous generation. It was a valid point so I decided to make a beginner's guide. This is not a buyers guide because each individual has their own play style AND prices fluctuate since these Beyblades are being bought from Japan.

Let's start with the basics: The stadium

Unlike stadiums of the past that usually had 3 different zones for KO on 3 different sides, the new Beyblade X stadium has 3 zones but all on only 1 side. Additionally, there is a possibility of rebound. A rebound is when a Beyblade is knocked into a KO zone (or the extreme zone) but then comes back into the region of play. This rewards aggression because:

1) you do not have to worry about self KO as much because there is only one direction where the KO zones are located 

2) There is a possibility of a highly fast moving aggressive Beyblade to rebound back into the area of play after being KOed into the KO zone itself 

Additionally, there are addition of a Dash rail system which is a new gimmick. This allows a Beyblade to take advantages of the Dash rail line and speed up. However, this also has a downside. The rail line does sacrifice the speed of the Beyblade to leverage the impact of the momentum. So the more a Beyblade takes the Dash rail line, the slower it will eventually get. 

Blades:

Blades (previously also called attack ring, metal wheels) are the part of the Beyblade that will actually make contact with the opponent. Depending on the shape of the blade, it might be very aggressive and hit hard with bigger recoil, or it might be passive and have less recoil. More recoil tends to drain stamina quickly. It trades that with the ability to KO the opposition. However we have to keep in mind that the Beyblade can always hit the wall and come back. Generally this ability to rebound is more common with lighter Beyblade (like Dranzer) who can hit the wall or be in a KO pocket and come back.

from left to right: Shark Edge, Dran Sword, Rhino Horn, Dran Dagger

Most Aggressive: Shark Edge, Dran Sword, Rhino Horn, Dran Dagger

from left to right: Knight Lance, Viper Tail, Hells Scythe, Leon Claw

Aggressive: Knight Lance, Viper Tail, Hells Scythe, Leon Claw

from left to right: Wizard Arrow, Hells Chain

Slightly Aggressive: Wizard Arrow, Hells Chain

Knight Shield

Least Aggressive: Knight Shield

Ratchets:

Ratchets (previously known as weight disk or defence rings) are the part of the Beyblade that connects the bit with the blade. It is what holds the Beyblade together. The main role on Ratchets in Beyblade X it to give a Beyblade height and balance. You can call them balance rings in some aspects as the amount of sides will change the balance of the Beyblade. Ratchets can be found in 2 heights: 60 and 80. On average, 60 will ALWAYS be better than 80. Keeping everything the same, the 60 ratchet will always beat 80. As such, 80 ratchets should always be used as a last resort or in cases where you want to use the same side ratchet due to balance, but cannot use the 60 because it is being used on a combo that you value more. The 80 ratchets tend to lock more tightly than 60 but because they are taller, they are more prone to get hit under and thus burst. The more damage a ratchet takes, the looser they become. I have had 60 ratchets with significant damage that are almost unusable.

As of right now, there are some ratchets that tend to provide balance to a more variety of blades than others. A link to that testing is here: Taking sides 

So far the ratchet that usually does well with most blades is 5, followed by 3 and then lastly 4.  

Bits:

Bits (previously known as spin tracks, performance tips, blade base etc) are the part of the Beyblade that controls the behavior of the Beyblade in the stadium. This also varies from being aggressive to passive. However we also have stamina which will play a big deal here. Whenever you choose a bit, you have to realize that you can only accomplish what you want to accomplish, if you have more chances to do so. For example, lets say you want to KO an opposition. You have a higher change of KOing them when you hit them more often. And how do you hit them more often really? You can only hit them more often if your Beyblade is spinning. But the higher the stamina, the lower the aggression on average and the lower the amount of hits your Beyblade will land during the fight. It is a balance which can only be completed with a blade. 

For bits my rating is as follows (Note: I do not have Orb) 

Low Flat

Most Aggressive: Low Flat (LF)

 

From left to right: Flat, High Tapered, Rush

 

Aggressive: Flat (F), High Tapered (HT), Rush (R)

from left to right: Point, Tapered

 

Balance: Point (P), Tapered (T)

from left to right: Ball, High Needle

 Passive: Ball (B), High Needle (HN)

from left to right: Needle, Spike

 Very Passive: Needle (N), Spike (SP) 

How to get points?

Now that we know what bits, blades and ratchets are, lets see how we can get points. There are 4 ways to get points: Extreme zone KO, KO, Burst and outspin. Extreme zone KO gives 3 points, KO and Burst rewards 2 points and lastly, outspin rewards 1 point. 

The game of Beyblade X (or sport for those gear sports enthusiasts that Takara Tomy wants us to be) is basically a game of consistency vs game of chaos. It is upto to the user to decide if they want to join forces with consistency, or embrace the shadows of chaos. Let me elaborate. 

Consistency means you might not always get the highest points, but you will have a higher probability of getting smaller points. These are generally achieved by passive combos that limit risks. Their passive bits preserve the stamina of the spin, and their passive blade designs ensure that they do not bleed speed with each hit they take or dish out. In these combos, ratchet choice is based on balance as choosing a ratchet that upsets the balance will cause the Beyblade to lose stamina. A lot of these combos will get 1 point per battle as they happily outspin their opposition, but are prone to heavy attack because they lack the ability to fight back for themselves. In terms of probability they might win 3/5 battles but it is upto the user to make a decision if they will take 1 point each time, while risking 4-6 points in the 2 battles they lose. On the flip side, the chaotic aggressive Beyblades will use they speed and recoil heavy blades to KO opposition out of the playing zone or to drain their stamina. These hits require a bit of luck because the opponent can always bounce back into the playing zone (while the attack Beyblade already sacrificed its speed for that unsuccessful KO hit). However if the risk pays off, it can reward with points equal to 3 passively won games.  
 

Strategies to implement

In Beyblade X, the strategies for consistent win strategy completely relies on combo building. However for aggressive Beybladers I can give some tricks that might help them. 

Always use the 60 ratchets whenever possible and use the ratchet that provides the best balance. This is because since attack bits do not have the best stamina, you want to leverage the stamina from any other place as much as possible. 

Against an opposition that is using LF, it has been generally advised to angle the launch. From my observation in tournaments, an angled launch counters the lower height of LF and since it has such a low stamina, it cannot keep up the intensity of its attacks. 

Certain matchups will really reward you for using the Dash rail system to KO an opponent (For instance, Leon Claw). When facing opponents with Needle or Spike, a flat launch on aggressive bits would allow you to use the Dash rail gimmick for a hard hit. This is also true if you are using High Tapered or Tapered. The flatter your launch will be, the higher the probability of your Beyblade to take advantage of the Dash rail. 

Since Beyblade X is a new system, new strategies are learnt and new combos are made every tournament so keep an eye out and do some testings to see what type suits you.