Fierce Achilles A8 Competitive Testing & Discussion

The first wave of the Beyblade Burst QuadStrike toyline has started making its way to Canadian retail, and Fierce Achilles A8 is 1 of 2 Booster Packs to be released in wave 1. The night before a Burst Limited tournament, I impulse bought the Fierce Achilles A8 Booster Pack, intending to use it in the tournament. Its performance at the tournament impressed me enough to warrant further testing. Due to time constraints, testings were 5 rounds each instead of the usual 10, with alternating launches. The Takara Tomy Burst BeyStadium Standard Type was used, and the Launchers used were both the Power Custom BeyLauncher LR. Testing was done entirely in Low Mode (Core Mode), as I forgot to do High Mode. And I'm currently 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from my Beyblades at the time of writing.

Gravity Ring Choice

The 4' Gravity Ring was used for testing with the Fierce QS Blade. 4, 4', 10, and 10' (1.7 grams) are the heaviest "regular" Gravity Rings besides the "Greatest Armor" (G13) (3.2 grams). G13 has mainly been used to increase the Burst Resistance of QD/QS Blades, as it slightly increases the distance between the Chip and the Driver, due to the way it sits underneath Blades. G13 also provides weight and stability, as it compensates for the hollow undersides of Blades. However, for these testings G13 was not used with Fierce, as during initial tests using G13 did not lead to any large performance increase. Like Gambit, Fierce lacks a hanging underside and there is little to no Burst Resistance increase from G13.

Although G13 does seem to slightly improve performance, I thought it was more worthwhile to consider Fierce's performance without G13, as most players will be using G13 for their Attack Type Blades, such as Xiphoid. Some players may also not have access to G13, and so it is with this reasoning that 4' was used.

Comparisons

At first glance, Fierce is very similar in shape to both the Roar (QD) and Gambit (QS) Blades. Hasbro's Roar QD Blade largely failed to gain traction due to its light weight and the prevalence of better left-spin Stamina Type Layer options such as Fafnir F3. Comparing weights between Roar and Fierce:

Roar (6.8 grams) + Achilles Strike Chip (4.7 grams) + 4' Gravity Ring (1.7 grams) = 13.2 grams Layer total
Fierce (8.8 grams) + Achilles Strike Chip (4.7 grams) + 4' Gravity Ring (1.7 grams) = 15.2 grams Layer total

Roar and Fierce side by side:

Fierce is in a sense the left-spin equivalent of the right-spin Gambit QS Blade. They have a similar diameter, shape, and weight, with only a 0.8 grams difference (Fierce is lighter). Notably however, Fierce lacks a heavy Chip - the best left-spin Chips in terms of Burst Resistance, Bazilisk and Helios, are both underweight at 4.8 and 4.6 grams respectively. The heaviest left-spin Chip, Spryzen S8 at 5.2 grams, has poor Burst Resistance.

Gambit (9.6 grams) + Dragon Strike Chip (5.0 grams) + 4' Gravity Ring (1.7 grams) = 16.5 grams Layer total
Fierce (8.8 grams) + Achilles Strike Chip (4.7 grams) + 4' Gravity Ring (1.7 grams) = 15.2 grams Layer total

Gambit and Fierce side by side:

Testings

Here are a few matches between Gambit and Fierce:
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Bearing-10
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 2 wins (2 OS)
Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Bearing-10: 0 wins
Ties: 3
Fierce winrate: 40%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-10
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 4 wins (4 OS)
Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-10: 1 wins (1 OS)
Fierce winrate: 80%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4' vs Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Bearing-10
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4': 0 wins
Gambit Dragon D8 Tapered-Q Bearing-10: 5 wins (5 OS)
Fierce winrate: 0%

Fierce tied or won every match in the Bearing mirror matchup, while the Layer running the Revolve Armor Tip lost; due to the Opposite Spin matchup and the similar round shapes, this was more or less the expected result. Based on previous Fierce testings by others, it seems that Fierce is better suited for Same-Spin matchups. Here's some tests against Geist Fafnir, one of the top left-spin Layers in the Burst Limited format:

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4' vs Geist Fafnir Tapered-Q High Xtend+'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4': 4 wins (4 OS)
Geist Fafnir Tapered-Q High Xtend+': 1 wins (1 OS)
Fierce winrate: 80%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4' vs Geist Fafnir Wheel-SP Bearing Drift
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4': 2 wins (5 OS)
Geist Fafnir Wheel-SP Bearing Drift: 3 wins (3 OS)
Fierce winrate: 40%

On a tall Driver like Orbit-Q+Revolve/Kick, Fierce was an excellent Destabilizer against shorter left-spin opponents such as Geist Fafnir. On Bearing however, this effect is much less prominent:

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Geist Fafnir Tapered-Q High Xtend+'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 2 wins (2 OS)
Geist Fafnir Tapered-Q High Xtend+': 3 wins (3 OS)
Fierce winrate: 40%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Geist Fafnir Wheel-SP Bearing Drift
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 0 wins
Geist Fafnir Wheel-SP Bearing Drift: 5 wins (5 OS)
Fierce winrate: 0%

Fierce's ability to Destabilize Geist Fafnir reminded me of the performance of Arc Bahamut. It seems launching Fierce at an angle, which I had been doing with Arc Bahamut, allows Fierce to Destabilize better. However, it is noticeably more difficult to Destabilize a Geist Fafnir combo that is using a Drift Driver variant. Speaking of Arc Bahamut, here are some matches of Fierce against my go-to Arc Bahamut combo, that I use against left-spin Stamina Combinations:

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Arc Bahamut 00Cross Atomic'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 3 wins (3 OS)
Arc Bahamut 00Cross Atomic': 3 wins (3 OS)
Fierce winrate: 50%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4' vs Arc Bahamut 00Cross Atomic'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4': 0 wins
Arc Bahamut 00Cross Atomic': 5 wins (5 OS)
Fierce winrate: 0%

On Bearing, whoever was launched first lost; the performance was close between the two. However, Fierce on Orbit-Q+Revolve Armor Tip lost hard to Arc Bahamut, and was unable to secure a single win in 5 rounds. I finished my testings with some rounds againt Flame Sagittario, a top tier right-spin Layer. Due to its shape, I was not expecting it to equalize against Fierce:

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4' vs Flame Sagittario Wheel-SP High Wave'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Bearing-4': 1 win (1 OS)
Flame Sagittario Wheel-SP High Wave': 1 win (1 OS)
Ties: 3
Fierce winrate: 20%

Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4' vs Flame Sagittario Wheel-SP High Wave'
Fierce Achilles A8 Tapered-Q Orbit-Q+Revolve-4': 0 wins
Flame Sagittario Wheel-SP High Wave': 5 wins (5 OS)
Fierce winrate: 0%

On Bearing, matches were surprisingly close. However, when the Revolve Armor Tip was used, it was no contest; Fierce cannot compete in Opposite Spin matches, especially at the same height as its opponent.

Overall

My overall conclusion is that Fierce is a solid purchase for the Burst Limited format. You can pick it up in a cheap Booster Pack with the Achilles chip, which is decent. If you want more Burst Resistance without hunting for Komet Helios' Helios Chip, you can also consider buying the Fierce Bazilisk Dual Pack, which includes the Bazilisk Chip, which is the second best left-spin Chip in terms of Burst Resistance. In terms of overall power, I would rank Fierce in the same tier as Geist Fafnir: a strong left-spin Stamina option that primarily finds use in Same-Spin matchups.

---

Currently fan translating the Beyblade X manga. Beyblade Wiki Administrator and occasional manga scanlator.

Video from February that was supposed to go with this thread but I had forgotten to upload: https://youtu.be/fxHit0__TnU

---

Currently fan translating the Beyblade X manga. Beyblade Wiki Administrator and occasional manga scanlator.