Power Up Your Attack Type Beyblade Burst Combos With the New Kerbeus DB Core & Fortress Disc (B-198 Chain Kerbeus Review)

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As Burst Ultimate’s first full-fledged Random Booster, B-198 Random Booster Vol. 29 features the potential to pull one of a trio of Beyblade Burst Dynamite Battle Layer re-releases alongside a remake of the plastic generation Driger V2 or the brand new Chain Kerbeus.

In this review, we will be focusing on the Rare #1 Beyblade of Random Booster Vol. 29: Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard’-6!

If Beyblade Burst Ultimate is all about continuing the Beyblade series without the anime to go along with it, Volume 29 gives us a great “what if?” product by bringing back the Kerbeus line in Dynamite Battle style. The last Kerbeus released by Takara-Tomy was in the Beyblade Burst Cho-Z era, with Hazard Kerbeus 7 Atomic, first released in the B-121 Cho-Z Triple Booster Set. So, it has been a long time coming!

Although Kerbeus has always officially been known as a defense type, read our part-by-part breakdown below to learn how the new Kerbeus DB Core and Fortress Disc can power up your attack type combos!

Product Details

• Brand: TAKARA-TOMY
• Product Code: B-198
• Product Contents (1 of 6 Randomly Inserted):
  • B-198 01 Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard’-6
  • B-198 02 Chain Ragnaruk Tapered Accel’-10 
  • B-198 03 Driger V2 Over Wedge’ (with V Gear)
  • B-198 04 Dynamite Kerbeus Legacy Moment-9 
  • B-198 05 Roar Spriggan Fortress Kick-2
  • B-198 06 Cyclone Valkyrie Giga High Eternal-3
• System: Dynamite Battle Layer System
• Series: Beyblade Burst – Burst Ultimate

Part Weights

• Chain BU Blade: 14.72g
• Kerbeus DB Core: 8.15g
• Fortress Disk (2 Star): 31.03g
• Yard Dash Driver: 7.41g
• 6 Armor: 13.38g

Additional Notes

• All matches in this article were done in the B-09 Burst Standard Stadium using one Blader.
• The results of each match that ended with an outspin were ruled based on the WBO’s June 2022 spinning definition update.
• Stamina matches saw both combos switch out Discs and Drivers at the half-way point to account for Star discrepancy and Driver wear.
• This article was written in collaboration with WBO user Dan. He drafted the article structure, intro, and physical descriptions of each part. Thank you, Dan.
• Finally, if you buy something through some of the links on this post, you won’t pay any extra, but I’ll get a small commission. This helps me keep things running. Thanks for your support!

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Chain BU Blade Review

The Chain BU Blade is a circular yet rugged design that features six prominent chains that can extend or retract based on the DB Core being used or mode the Beyblade is in (High or Low). There are also two firmer, silver chains that are permanently extended on either side of the Blade.

The extended shape of all other DB Cores released up until now press down on the chains that peek through on the interior of the BU Blade, forcing them outwards. The Kerbeus DB Core with its unique, narrower, more circular design avoids pressing them.

This gimmick is new for Dynamite Battle, but not dissimilar to what we have seen in the past, with Beyblade Burst GT’s Tact Layer Base.

In Tact’s case this gimmick was a bit more nuanced since Layer Weights provided a few different extension combinations whereas Chain’s gimmick is either activated fully or not. However, it is possible that newer DB Cores could be released in the future with differing diameters at different points along their perimeter in order to activate only a select number of the chains.

Is the Chain BU Blade good for stamina type Beyblades? 

Chain BU Blade Stamina Type Testing (Opposite Spin)

To test the opposite spin performance of the Chain BU Blade, we put it up against a few different combinations using the Vanish Blade.

Vanish has been the de facto left-spin Blade since it was first released, so we can use the performance of the Chain BU Blade against it and compare it with several different benchmarks that were conducted for previous releases:

Chain’s performance here is respectable. The wins for both Beyblades were often clear, and didn’t always come down to minute fractions of a rotation.

Based on this, our impression is that there would basically be no measurable difference between the two in a competitive setting where matches are typically to 3 or 5 points. Where we can start to see some differences is when we look at the following benchmarks from our Dangerous Belial review and Divine Belial review:

The sample size differs between these benchmarks, but we can see that the amount of wins is always neck-and-neck and accompanied by a surely high amount of draws. The distinction comes when we start to look at those draws. The Divine Blade produced a draw 70% of the time, Dangerous Blade did it 50% of the time, and the Divine Blade did it 70% of the time.

The Chain BU Blade produced draws 35% of the time, which might indicate that it is technically inferior to each of the above Blades in this matchup given that he battles which produced wins was basically 50/50 like the others.

However, a key point worth noting here is that the benchmarks were done before the WBO implemented it’s revised spinning definition in June 2022. All of the matches in the set for the Chain BU Blade above were done based on the new definition, which may have influenced the number of draws called and explain why a higher number of definitive calls were able to be made.

Overall, when considering all of the above it is difficult to assert that Chain is any better or worse than Devil, Dangerous, or Divine in opposite spin battles using Drivers like the Bearing Dash Driver.

What we can say for sure however is that Layers such as Greatest Raphael (and also the Prominence Blade) still have an edge over Vanish that the Chain BU Blade and the others above do not. Check this benchmark:

Next up was testing out the Mobius Driver on the Chain BU Blade. As a relatively bulky, wide BU Blade, our hope was that it could maybe perform similarly to the Greatest Raphael Layer and the Prominence Blade on this Driver. Here’s what happened:

It wasn’t even close. Chain lost balance far too easily in every battle.

Just to be thorough, we also tested out Vanish on High Mode. Chain still couldn’t compete. It and Layers like Greatest Raphael are simply in different universes when it comes to excelling on tall Drivers like Mobius in opposite spin battles. The following benchmark from our Greatest Raphael review illustrates this:

Chain BU Blade Stamina Type Testing (Same Spin)

Ever since the release of F Gear with Vanish Fafnir, the Dynamite Blade has sat at the top of the same-spin stamina tier list in Beyblade Burst.

The Chain BU Blade comes in at a respectable weight–​​14.72g–which is over 3 grams heavier than Dynamite (F Gear). That might contribute to helping its stamina potential, but weight isn’t always everything as we have seen when testing the stamina of the similarly heavy Prominence Blade.

The shape of Chain is overall quite circular, but this shape comes paired with the trademark bumpy design typically seen in Kerbeus Layers, so our thought was that it would be unlikely to be able to retain spin as efficiently as something like the Dynamite Blade.

To find out if the Chain BU Blade has good same-spin stamina we tested it against a mixture of high- and low-tier same-spin Layers and Blades:

In our review of the Greatest Raphael Layer’s same-spin stamina, we discovered that not only did it have less stamina than high-tier same-spin Blades like Dynamite and Astral, it also could not defeat the Prominence Blade even once.

With that fact in mind, seeing that the Chain BU Blade won less than 50% of the time against it was concerning and a sure indication that it would also perform poorly against higher tier opponents.

As expected, Chain performed slightly worse here. However, it did benefit from being able to knock the armor off Prominence two times.

Again, not surprising that as we continued down this path and reached the current king of stamina–Dynamite (F Gear)–that Chain performed progressively more poorly. Strangely, it is also worth noting that all six of Chain’s wins occurred within the first 11 rounds; Dynamite won 9 of the last 10 rounds.

Finally, just to be slightly more sure that Chain’s performance was not being affected by its purple chains being forced to extend by the other normally shaped DB Cores, we tested it using the Kerbeus DB Core instead. 

The win rate ended up being the same, but to be fair this test would have been better if we had two Kerbeus DB Cores available; one for Chain and one for Dynamite. The reason is because –as you will see later in this review–the Kerbeus DB Core has poorer stamina than the Belial 2 DB Core.

Is the Chain BU Blade good for defense type Beyblades? 

The Chain BU Blade is marketed as a defense type, but quite often these classifications do not translate to reality. Defense as a type is not particularly distinct in Beyblade Burst, so we tested it again with Bearing’, one of the most popular and actually somewhat defensive Drivers in the game (especially in opposite spin).

With Xtreme Dash Drivers at a bit of a premium due to their tendency to wear down, we conducted this first test with a very worn (circular indent almost invisible) one primarily to try and conserve our new ones, but also because it might help to better represent what performance many Bladers who cannot afford to buy multiple copies of Xtreme’ can expect in this type of matchup.

Despite the Xtreme’ used being very worn down, Guilty was still able to score some huge hits and even a couple outspins despite it being an opposite spin battle. Nevertheless, Chain was still clearly in control overall and demonstrated a strong ability to resist being KOed, even after taking some nasty recoil and absolutely massive hits from Guilty.

Next, we used a slightly less worn X’ (circular indent still visible). Guilty performed noticeably better and was able to KO Chain with far more consistency. It illustrated to us how important speed is in these situations; the newer your Xtreme’, the better KO power you’ll have.

Like so many other Layers/Blades, whether you’re using Chain or another Blade, you are sort of at the mercy of both your opponent’s skill and the wear on their Xtreme Dash Driver.

In terms of how this compares to other Blades, this comparison from our tests of the Prominence Blade’s defense against left-spin attack does indicate a significant difference in ability between Chain and it:

However, because the sample size is small and attack type testing is skill and practice-intensive we would caution players against assuming it is absolutely accurate. We also regrettably don’t have the data regarding the wear on the Xtreme’ used for this test.

This was a landslide victory for the Savior Blade.

It KOed Chain with absolute ease–even on the very worn Xtreme’ Driver–and was also able to burst it on one occasion (a double burst finish, but notable as the only burst finish we encountered throughout all of our testing with the Kerbeus DB Core). In only one of the ten battles did the Kerbeus DB Core not reach the mid-way point towards being bursted.

The Ultimate Blade’s performance was a bit more average.

It did not feel as explosive as Savior against Chain which led to it inflicting less KOs, and did not strike the Kerbeus DB Core hard enough to get it to at least the mid-way point towards being bursted as often (only 5 of 10 times). This result was due in part to scraping of the Nexus+S Disk in a couple rounds, so as we indicated in our Ultimate Valkyrie review when Ultimate Perseus Nexus+S Xtreme’-9 was used, the launch technique is of great importance.

In any case, Chain seems like it may offer a marginal improvement defensively over some other Blades against attack types. But further testing would be required to more definitively claim this.

The Verdict: Chain BU Blade is very average and likely only worth using if other top tier options for stamina and defense are unavailable

The Chain BU Blade demonstrates just below average stamina when compared to other top tier Blades and Layers, and just above average defense against attack types. On the whole, this makes it feel like a very average part. Not bad, not great.

Considering that it is locked behind a Random Booster currently, situations where a player would have this and not another stronger Blade are unlikely to exist. As such, it is difficult to conceive of many players who would benefit from going out of their way to use this Blade.

But ultimately, it’s usable. It appears to perform best against opposite-spin stamina and attack type Beyblades.

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Kerbeus DB Core Review

The Kerbeus DB Core is a right-spin DB Core that features the Cerberus motif we have come to expect from the Kerbeus line. In the center there is a rubber chain that adds a bit of weight but mostly plays into the gimmick of the DB Core itself, which we will get to in a moment.

How Is B-198’s Kerbeus DB Core Different From Others?

As alluded to, the Kerbeus DB Core has a rubber element to it.

Exactly like the Bahamut DB Core, the Kerbeus DB Core has two durable rubber Burst Stoppers that serve as a single high friction ramp that Drivers will have a very difficult time overcoming. What this means is that the Kerbeus DB Core has incredibly high Burst resistance, only to be compared to the likes of Bahamut. 

It should also be noted that the perimeter of the Kerbeus DB Core is rounded and smaller in diameter than any other DB Core. As a result, when it is paired with the Chain BU Blade, each of the six protrusions will be slightly retracted unlike any other DB Core.

How Burst Resistant Is the Kerbeus DB Core?

The similar Bahamut DB Core is well-known for its incredible burst resistance thanks to its rubber burst stoppers and Hasbro-esque sloped locking mechanism, but until now there has been no right-spin DB Core with the same gimmick.

Because the Kerbeus DB Core has these gimmicks, it presumably is going to be quite burst resistant. But, just how burst resistant is it?

We have previously tested the burst resistance of the Phoenix DB Core along with six other right-spin DB Cores in our review of Prominence Phoenix. Then, in our review of Ultimate Valkyrie we tested the burst resistance of the Valkyrie 2 DB Core.

Following the same conditions as those tests for the sake of being able to benchmark Kerbeus against everything else, we conducted the following test: 

The only wrinkle here is that because Kerbeus does not have teeth, we cannot precisely calculate a “clicks lost percentage” as we did for each of the other right-spin DB Cores. 

However, if we define the above scale as four “clicks” to burst (slight, mid, high, complete), it means that there were a total of 80 potential “clicks” for Kerbeus to lose during this test. Slight represents 1 click, mid 2 clicks, high 3 clicks, and complete 4 clicks.

With this in mind, Kerbeus lost a total of 28 “clicks” out of 80, making its rough “clicks lost percentage” an impressive 35%.

And it never bursted once. In our previous testing, the only DB Cores that did not burst even once were Perseus, Belial 2, and Phoenix. In the case of those three DB Cores, their “clicks lost percentage” was as follows:

• Perseus DB Core Clicks Lost Percentage: 43.8%
• Belial 2 DB Core Clicks Lost Percentage: 43.8%
• Phoenix DB Core Clicks Lost Percentage: 46.8%

While the comparison is not precise due to their differing locking mechanisms, when normalized as above to a 35% clicks lost percentage, that makes the Kerbeus DB Core the most burst-resistant DB Core overall in Beyblade Burst to date.

Is the Kerbeus DB Core Good for Same Spin Stamina?

As of this release, the Kerbeus DB Core is the heaviest right-spin DB Core to date by a slight margin over the Belial 2 DB Core.

We learned when we tested the same-spin stamina of the Phoenix DB Core in our Prominence Phoenix review that the Belial 2 DB Core was the best right-spin DB Core for stamina (and pretty much anything else too thanks to the burst stopper gimmick), with the Valkyrie DB Core close behind.

Later on, we learned that the same-spin stamina of the Valkyrie 2 DB Core was a step below Belial 2 and Valkyrie in our Ultimate Valkyrie review.

With this in mind, we set out to gauge if the Kerbeus DB Core roughly falls anywhere near the top of the same-spin stamina tier list for DB Cores:

Not an impressive showing against Belial 2, but that by itself was not particularly concerning. It doesn’t need to be the best to be useful.

… However, it followed the performance against Belial 2 with a slightly better, but still poor showing against Valkyrie 2, a DB Core which by our estimations is the third-best right-spin stamina DB Core.

While we did not dive deep enough to place Kerbeus precisely on the tier list, it feels at least safe enough to say that you should not depend on it to boost the same-spin stamina of your Beyblades more than the many other options out there.

The Verdict: Kerbeus DB Core has unimpressive stamina, but makes up for it with top tier burst resistance

Until now, players constructing right-spin Beyblade Burst Dynamite Battle or Beyblade Burst BU combos were limited to the Belial 2 DB Core if they wanted something that would feel truly ‘safe’ when it comes to burst resistance.

The Kerbeus DB Core solves this issue, giving players more options when playing multiple Beyblade match types such as 3on3 or WBO Deck. Belial 2 can be reserved for the combinations that will benefit the most from a boost in stamina, while Kerbeus can be used for those which care more about boosting their defensive capabilities.

Like the Bahamut DB Core, it also benefits from a stability perspective thanks to using the slope locking mechanism system versus the teeth locking mechanism system; with teeth, Beyblades have a tendency to rattle a bit more. It is more difficult to balance tune your combo with normal DB Cores because of this. The Kerbeus DB Core is more stable due to there being less wiggle room between it and the parts attached to it; this results in more stable spin and less erratic movement generally speaking.

However, while this stability is a nice-to-have for defensive purposes, as the tests demonstrated, it doesn’t appear to have a significant effect on its same-spin stamina.

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Fortress Disc Review

This prize Beyblade’s release also brings along with it a new Disc for us to examine! Rather than reusing now-common Discs like Over or Giga, Chain Kerbeus comes with the all-new Fortress Disc.

Fortress Disc’s design is hexagonal with six chunks of metal extending out, joined by a rugged symmetrical ring, where much of its weight is focussed. Unlike previous releases where Discs have been mostly unending slabs of metal, these holes make it so weight is primarily focussed on the perimeter of the Fortress Disc.

Is the Fortress Disc a Good Disc for Stamina Types?

Because of its decent weight and potentially high outward weight distribution, both highly useful traits, we think it’s important to first see how it stacks up against the staples of Stamina Discs in the DB meta:

Same Spin Stamina Testing

The winner in both of these sets seemed to be determined by which Bearing Driver the combo was using, despite alternating which one was launched first. Whenever they were swapped halfway through, the winners were reversed with just one exception each time.

The exception in both sets was Over, which is what put it ultimately at the 60% win percentage.

Knowing that there can be such a variance between Bearing Drivers makes this a difficult comparison to make, but if there is anything to be gleaned here, it is that Over seems to still be slightly superior, but Fortress is not bad by any means.

If we proceed with the assumption that Over does have a slight edge over Fortress and Giga, the next question becomes: is Fortress better than Giga for same-spin stamina?

We switched to Revolve here because it was a slightly fairer matchup than using Over on Revolve due to how wide it is. And Revolve is a bit easier to test stamina with.

However, the results indicated yet again how close these three Discs are.

Opposite Spin Stamina Testing

In the opposite spin realm, the Over Disc remains king. If anything, the Fortress Disc is slightly worse than even Giga in this situation due to both winning and drawing less.

The only DB Disc which can overcome Over at times is the Tapered Disc. Knowing this, let’s find out if Fortress can at least be compared to Tapered:

Unfortunately, Fortress is also clearly worse than Tapered for opposite-spin stamina combos.

Does Fortress Disc Add Any Burst Resistance to Combos?

Testing the burst resistance of Discs has become less important over time in comparison to the early days of Beyblade Burst where improvements could be observed when using parts like the Armed Disc.

But nevertheless, for the sake of fully understanding the effects of each part and the small role burst resistance can play in some matches, we conducted the following tests:

This is an impressive showing for Fortress when it comes to burst resistance, but the lack of KO defense was painfully obvious here.

In comparison, the Over Disc appeared to have poorer burst resistance, but better KO defense. 

Worth noting however is that half-way through this set the launcher we were using for Savior–a Long Sparking BeyLauncher R–tragically broke. We made the switch to the Power Custom BeyLauncher LR for the last half, but this made the set feel a bit unfair, so we repeated the set using only the Power Custom BeyLauncher LR:

This set just demonstrates how other external variables like the launcher can also influence the result of a match. As well as a player’s comfort level with that launcher.

There were definitely a few rounds here where SBL2.Gg.Qc’-2 was robbed of a victory, though. One in particular where Over took four massive hits, but somehow ended the battle with 0 clicks lost.

Nevertheless, we can see that even after repeating this test the Over Disc displayed a marked improvement in KO defense despite its slightly poorer burst resistance.

Is the Fortress Disc good for attack type Beyblade combos?

In most cases, the Giga Disc is the ideal choice for attack type Beyblade combos.

However, because Giga is also often very important for stamina combos, players resort to using parts like the Legacy Disc and Karma Disc on their attack types when playing multiple Beyblade match types like 3on3 or WBO Deck.

We’ve previously assessed how good the Legacy Disc is for attack type Beyblades and how good the Karma Disc is for attack type Beyblades and found that overall, Karma was the best choice.

But despite being the best choice, it has always felt a bit like a compromise to have to use Karma because its stamina is relatively poor all around. We’ve discovered in this review that while the Fortress Disc struggles in opposite-spin stamina matchups with the best-of-the-best like the Over Disc, it can compete in same-spin with them.

This automatically makes it potentially a great option for attack types. All it has to do is be better than Karma in same- and opposite-spin, which is not much to ask of it.

Let’s find out if that is the case by putting it up against Giga, which is even better than Karma. All combos were launched lightly:

To find out, we tested two popular left- and right-spin attack types against each other. While these matchups will often end with a knockout, there are certainly times when they don’t. Smart players will recognize this and place importance on optimizing their combos to win these types of ‘stamina’ matches when possible.

To ensure that the Blade in use wasn’t affecting the results, we did the same set twice and swapped the Disc each combo was using.

Overall, the Guilty Blade by itself has an advantage over the Savior Blade as we can see by the fact that it won the majority of the battles each time regardless of the Disc it used.

This made this particular test basically inconclusive, but it is a positive for Fortress that it was able to win as much as it did when Savior used it.

We tried the Ultimate Blade next, but this just demonstrated how dangerous it is to use Ultimate against Guilty in this situation. Still, Fortress earns some credibility here for not deterring Guilty in any way.

Because the first few sets with Savior, Guilty, and Ultimate were a bit difficult to evaluate we made the switch for this final set to the Dynamite Blade (F Gear) and Vanish Blade.

Our hope was that their more conservative shapes would allow for an unbiased representation of how good the opposite-spin performance of the Fortress Disc is on attack type Drivers like Xtreme.

Unfortunately, we discovered that similar to Guilty over Savior, Dynamite has a clear advantage in this matchup. The reason is likely because Dynamite (F Gear) has a smoother underside than the Vanish Blade. Normally, this doesn’t come into play because of parts they are commonly used with like the Bearing Dash Driver keep the two Beyblades upright for much longer.

Nevertheless, if we look at the minutia of these two sets we can see that Vanish was able to overcome this disadvantage when using the Fortress Disc and there was also two additional draws compared to the second set.

This indicates to us that by the slightest of margins, the Fortress Disc may be better than the Giga Disk for attack type combos.

The Verdict: The Fortress Disc has average stamina, but is an excellent choice for attack type combos

The Fortress Disc’s same-spin stamina is great, but at the same time it seriously falters in opposite-spin situations compared to other top tier stamina Discs like Giga and Over.

This makes it a poor choice for stamina combos. But thankfully, due to decent weight, solid burst resistance, and superiority over the Karma Disc–which previously was one of the go-to Discs for attack types–the Fortress Disc is able to insert itself into a well-defined, specific niche for competitive players with their attack type combos.

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Yard Dash Driver Review

The Yard Dash Driver, like the original Yard, is marked by a low height and rotating ball tip with a wide ring that forms a “base” around the free-spinning ball. Like Kerbeus, this is another piece of Beyblade Burst history that has come back for BU with only a variation of Yard, Yard Metal, making an appearance in the GT era.

In its heyday the Yard Driver was a decent enough alternative to Drivers like Orbit and Atomic, though not being able to edge them out in either raw same-spin stamina or opposite spin performance.

With the Burst metagame having progressed so much since then, it is safe to say that in all likelihood, it does not have any legitimate place among the other top tier parts used in the standard Beyblade Burst Format. Particularly when it comes to Dynamite Battle and BU due to its low height causing combos that use it to scrape the stadium floor earlier than other regular or tall height Drivers.

That being said, if there is any place it could succeed it might be in an alternative format such as WBO Burst Classic Format, which by and large dismissed left-spin Beyblades, making the poor opposite spin performance of Yard’ a non-issue.

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Should You Buy the B-198 Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard’-6?

Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard Dash-6 is a release that we would recommend hardcore competitive players seek out. For more casual players, it is difficult to recommend for a few reasons:

The first being that it is difficult to obtain due to being a random booster rare Beyblade. But perhaps more important is the second reason: none of the parts are type-defining in the same way that something like the Guilty Blade is for attack or the Bearing Dash Driver is for stamina.

While not strictly ‘bad’ parts, the Chain Blade, Yard Dash Driver, and 6 Armor offer nothing of particularly high or unique value in any area. But the brand new Kerbeus DB Core and Fortress Disc introduce solid alternatives for players to choose from across all types of combos.

The increased flexibility offered for stamina, defense, and attack type combos thanks to these parts is particularly important in multiple Beyblade match types like 3on3 or WBO Deck. In that sense this release is highly recommended for players looking to optimize their selections when playing formats like this. It could be the difference between winning and losing a match.

Final Score: 7/10

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What Do You Think of B-198 Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard’-6? Comment Below!

If you’re thinking of picking up the Chain Kerbeus Fortress Yard Dash-6 or already have, comment below as we’d love to hear about your thoughts and testing experiences with it!

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