Wolborg 4
AKA: Wolborg IV
Weight: 4.3g
Large, 6-pointed star shaped Attack Ring (to the point of "Sheriff Badge" jokes).
Right Spin:
Strong smash attack in Right Spin due to protruding "nose" contact points being acceptably angled, alongside the size of the AR and their acceptable exposure.
The other triangular protrusions only add recoil, weakening the Attack Ring compared to something like Triple Beak.
Suffers from significant recoil as a result.
Overall, not quite competitive in this direction, but legitimately usable.
Left Spin:
In this direction, the AR has no useful contact points.
Overall more recoil than Right Spin for significantly less power.
Not useful in this spin direction.
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.
Weight: 6.8g
Generic Engine Gear with prongs which only fit Circle Survivor.
Generally Rock Bison's Right Engine Gear (Circle Defenser) is more useful due to the additional height it provides, which moves the weight disk out of reach of lower combinations, removing one of the combos main weaknesses.
Still an effective choice however, and may be more useful for lower centre of gravity if not aiming for a compact-on-top Circle Survivor build.
Overall still a competitive part, and quite convenient for Circle Survivor Defense as it comes with Circle Survivor itself.
Weight: 5.4g
Relatively small and light, being a "Normal" Engine Gear Base
Small, round base which sets engine gear to "always on" - it activates as soon as it is wound enough either by being manually wound or wound from hits during the battle.
Lack of a clutch means the Engine Gear is engaged as soon as it is wound, meaning that it sometimes needs to be held in place when launching to avoid early discharge. This also means that with Circle Survivor and other large CEW Parts, the EG is charged up through hits as well as pre-battle and can activate throughout the battle.
Most of the perimeter is perfectly round, which makes it an excellent choice for Circle Survivor Defense, though Final Clutch Base (Desert Sphinxer Version) can be used for similar performance with extra weight.
Also a decent choice for Attack if you have to use an Engine Gear for it, as it keeps out of the way (as none of the EG bases have effective Smash Attack themselves).
LAD by itself isn't great but it does expose the Weight Disk well, allowing use with Wide Survivor for LAD purposes, making it an effective choice for Right Customize Gear (Free Shaft Version) combos.
Weight: 4.5g plus 0.23g Clip
Large bowl attached to EG shaft (thus semi-free spinning) and protecting the base of the Beyblade.
Top part of the Beyblade generally continues spinning after Circle Survivor itself topples, providing an unusual form of life after death, the inverse can also happen and circle survivor can keep the Beyblade teetering upright at very low RPM.
As it becomes the main contact point yet is not connected to the weight of the Beyblade, this makes it an incredible protective barrier.
Tip is quite close to Change shape, but sharper even than Customize Metal Change Base, so fairly immobile by itself, but more aggressive with use of the Engine Gear.
Sharpness wears down quickly, increasing aggression and lowering survival. The increased aggression does make it somewhat easier to KO, as much of Circle Survivor's defense comes from how hard it is to push far enough to get it out of the stadium - being closer to the edge reduces the distance required.
Free spinning protective bowl protects against low hits (especially right spin Upper Attack), greatly redces the ability of opponents to steal spin, helps disperse force of Smash Attacks which hit it, and its size and shape mean it often traps less stable opponents below itself.
Rim does allow it to be force smashed to an extent, allowing certain Weight Based Defense and Force Smash combos which can also outlast its LAD to win by OS.
Main weakness, though, is combinations which avoid it entirely by hitting the other parts of the Beyblade. This allows some combos to have very obscure bad match-ups against things like tall Flying Defense (Hasbro) combos.
While very powerful against less stable combinations which are easily caught under it and ground into the stadium, more stable Zombie and even Defensive Zombie combinations can outspin it.
Its unique properties result in an entire type based around it, Circle Survivor Defense being one of the most imposing types of modern competitive plastics - to the point that prior to the legalisation of Storm Grip Base tip inversion it had managed to wipe Traditional Upper Attack clean off the competitive landscape.
Also the heaviest CEW part and part of one of the heaviest SG/BB/Tip setups possible (with Right Engine Gear (Circle Defenser) and First Clutch Base (Zeus Version)), allowing for Circle Survivor/Weight Based Defense hybrid combinations and generally adding 'additional bulk' to the list of the parts strong defensive properties at the cost of some hit absorption.
Overall, a complete Defensive titan, and one of the most obscene and scariest parts of the generation being a total wall to a lot of Attack combinations and warping the Attack meta towards only the most brutal setups, a plastics equivalent of something like MFB's BD145. Circle Survivor is something that every Blader should be prepared to stare down at a tournament.
Overall
Circle Survivor's ridiculous properties alone make Wolborg 4 a must-have, especially as it is relatively inexpensive to turn into one of the most powerful types of combination in the game, which is significantly more expensive to counter. As such, Wolborg 4 is an essential purchase for the competitive (or aspiring competitive) blader.