Burning Kerberous
AKA: Howling Spirit (Hasbro), Cerberous (Hasbro again, Dub Anime), Burning Cerberus/Kerberous (Mistranslation/Error), BK (abbreviation).
Performance of Bearing-compatible parts assumes Shielded Metal Ball Bearings are used in all available positions
Weight: 5.8g
Right Spin:
Multiple types of attack: Smash/Force Smash, Upper Attack, and Spike Attack – on wings with heads based on Flash Leopard 2, Wolborg 2 and Voltaic Ape respectively
Angles are similar to Triple Wing, however the sharpened contact points, rather than improving the Smash Attack, instead result in hits being made with the outer diagonal of each contact point, reducing their power compared to that AR. They are still fairly effective, but this creates a less focused hit and additional recoil.
The Spike Attack contact point hits very hard but suffers a lot of recoil.
The Force Smash slope could be interesting, however being on only one ring makes this hugely inconsistent and difficult to measure the efficacy of, and any use it does have is spoiled by the recoil of the AR as a whole.
Generally, it requires good recoil control, and even then is outclassed.
Tier 2 Smash Attack AR.
Left Spin:
Smash only in this direction, provided by heads and in some cases the front of the wing tips
Contact points are small, but well exposed and quite well angled, however the Smash Attack wing is somewhat less exposed, reducing consistency
Surprisingly effective, while not top-tier, a viable tier 2 option for Left Spin Smash Attack.
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 (Double Bearing 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.
Weight: 0.79g each (1.58g total) plus 2 Bearings
Able to hold two bearings (comes with 1x Metal and 1x Shielded Ball Bearing)
Only compatible with Neo SG Shells
Two compatible shafts are regularly used with it: Neo SG (Double Bearing Version) Shaft and SG (Bearing Version 2) Shaft.
When used with SG (Bearing Version 2) Shaft, provides better Defense for the Defensive Zombies the shaft is used for thanks to the use of two bearings (assuming the use of two Shielded Metal Ball Bearings), at the cost of a usually insignificant (i.e. irrelevant unless using a Metal Bit Chip) amount of stability, making it usually a better choice over SG (Bearing Version 2) itself.
It is also the only useful casings for its own Neo SG (Double Bearing Version) Shaft, which is generally considered the most practical Zombie Shaft, again making it an important part for this type.
Can also be used to fix SG (Full Auto Clutch Version) Shaft in place (depending on the thickness of the bottom bearing), allowing it to be more aggressive. Generally free spin is preferred so SG (Free Shaft Version) is superior, however this can be somewhat useful for an aggressive Driger V2 custom.
Overall, a very important competitive part.
Weight: 1.1g
Tip shape is similar to Metal Fight Beyblade's Defense Tip, but shallower, resulting in a wide, plastic Change style tip. This makes it somewhat aggressive for a Survival tip, but this can be useful at time for KOing defensively poor opponents such as Spiral Change Base Zombies if the opponent doesn't opt to Weak Launch, which can largely negate this strategy.
The tip surrounds a metal bearing that is welded to the shaft, so in addition to the two Bearings of Double Bearing Core (the only casings the shaft works with) it has third point of free spin, albeit a less effective one, and this combined with the tip shape allows it to take hits slightly better than other Zombie setups.
Has very good stability for a zombie setup, giving it a better chance against Circle Survivor Defense compared to the other Zombie shafts, which is very important given how common Circle Survivor Defense combinations are.
Customize Grip Base provides additional precession via its lower rim, which assists as the narrower diameter of this tip compared to other zombie bases limits its natural precession ability somewhat. This does help against Circle Survivor Defense, and can make same-spin match ups with other Zombies significantly closer.
Overall, generally the best standard Zombie shaft, but users should keep in mind that the moderate defense, stability and small attack gains do come at a cost to stamina, even though this is only really relevant in stamina specific match ups - most notably being against other Zombies using lower friction Shafts such as Bearing Base Shaft, and that SG (Free Shaft Version) Shaft in Customize Grip Base offers similar LAD but some additional offensive ability depending on the Attack Ring used.
Lastly, while the legality has not been determined, on many shafts (some are fixed together, most notably all of Hasbro's released) the tip part can be swapped out for those of Hasbro's Jumping Base. While mostly a novelty, in Customize Grip Base the Ball tip is quite competitive, being a more predictable but slightly less stable version of the original, and the Flat tip has some relevance to Spin Stealing Attack though it is usually outclassed.
Support Parts: Cross Attack
Weight: 0.79g
Two-part SP with two large triangular protrusions on each, together making up a square.
Turning it upside down only changes the stickers that are visible from above/below, not the shape, despite the different attack styles mentioned on the stickers (Smash Attack and Spike Attack)
Suffer from high recoil, poor LAD, and very little attack power, making them completely useless.
The least useful of the very limited number of SP designs Takara released - kind of a waste, really.
AKA: CBB
Weight: 4.2g
Smooth (and thus somewhat Upper Attack resistant), Support Part-compatible Blade Base able to hold a decent range of casings and shafts.
Good stamina and LAD (with Defense Ring), but Defense Grip Base 2 performs similarly and often better, and Customize Grip Base gives better LAD than either with most tips, though is more prone to skipping the ridge and scraping on lower SG setups.
Overall has competition from Customize Grip Base and Defense Grip Base 2, but still a very competitive part.
Setup Options:
Double Bearing Core and Neo SG (Double Bearing Version) Shaft: Free Spinning. With Defense Ring, Customize Bearing Base generally outperforms Defense Grip Base 2, however Customize Grip Base generally works better thanks to additional precession from the lower rim of the shaft section. With other SP, Defense Grip Base 2 can become more effective overall. However, the difference between all three is small, and rarely relevant outside of rare opposite spin Zombie vs Zombie match-ups. Generally, while Customize Grip Base is preferred, Customize Bearing Base is a very capable part here.
SG (Free Shaft Version) Casings with SG (Full Auto Clutch Version) Shaft: a viable option though no better than Defense Grip Base 2, much like that base it exposes the tip enough to alow it to catch the Tornado Ridge reliably, something the higher-LAD Full Auto Clutch Base and Customize Grip Base struggle comparatively more with.
SG (Bearing Version 2) with SG Grip Change Base Tip: One of the best bases for this setup, which is generally considered the one of the best SG setups for Smash Attack, as the additional weight helps control the recoil of the Aggressive AR's commonly used with the tip, while maintaining an edge-focused weight distribution and allowing the placement of weight behind contact points through the use of SP (especially Survivor Ring and Cross Survivor) or enhancing LAD or contact point exposure slightly through Defense Ring (though Customize Grip Base and Defense Grip Base 2 should be considered here). The shape also helps prevent tip from flying out if it catches on something during launch, giving it a practical advantage over any other alternative. However, Attack Rings that prefer lightweight combinations aiming for maximum speed (most notably Triple Tiger) generally benefit from the use of Defense Grip Base 2 or even SG Bearing Base. In addition, while it requires a fresh tip and more careful launching to avoid scraping, Customize Grip Base adds very significant LAD ability which Customize Bearing Base does not provide, allowing occasional outspins against opposite spin Compacts and Weight Based Defense combos.
Overall
With an excellent SG and BB, as well as a useful-if-common weight disk and interesting if not particularly useful Attack Ring, Burning Kerberous is another excellent entry from the deservedly acclaimed V2 era, and all competitive Bladers should have it on their buy list.