RhinoHorn 3-60P

Note: I do a pretty thorough write-up here. If you are only interested in the test results and my overall thoughts, please skip ahead to the bold text below.

Hey everybody,

Not too long ago I made a big post sharing my tests on the at-the-time new Bit, Point. Based on my tests, I concluded that it was a niche-use part that required high skill or a new part in order to be consistently useful. Luckily, since its release, Point has found a bit more use, and even recently placed 1st in zankye's deck on HellsChain 4-60P. As for myself, I think I have found a new part that synergizes great with Point - RhinoHorn.

RhinoHorn initially excited me, namely with how compact it was. It immediately had such a unique presence in the stadium against any of the other Beys, and I thought that it would definitely make good use of its small size. However, it was very disappointing at first. In pure defensive combos, it missed the mark, as it was not nearly as evasive as it needed to be, as well as just being so easy to knock around. Despite its decent weight, it was just too small to take heavy hits like that, and it did not seem to boast the evasiveness that its small size would suggest. I figured that, in order to make use of its compactness, a RhinoHorn combo would need to be mobile. Initial tests on Flat and Taper did not go well, as it did not possess enough oomph to have attack capabilities, nor did it possess enough stamina to win in AVA matchups.

Finally, I landed on using Point, and after some initial battles, I decided to fully test RhinoHorn 3-60P as a potential anti-attack combo. I'll let the results speak for themselves.

RhinoHorn 3-60P Tests

Tests were done with a friend, so both Beys in each test were launched simultaneously. Standard winder launchers were used. All Beyblades were launched parallel to the stadium floor. Due to the volume of tests and time constraints, each test went for 10 rounds.

RhinoHorn 3-60P v DranSword 3-60F
RH - 70% winrate, 4SF, 1BF, 2XF
DS - 30% winrate, 3OF
1 Draw

RhinoHorn 3-60P v KnightLance 3-60T
RH - 80% winrate, 4SF, 2OF, 2XF
KL - 20% winrate, 1SF, 1XF
1 Draw

RhinoHorn 3-60P v DranDagger 5-60R
RH - 50% winrate, 3OF, 1BF, 1XF
DD - 50% winrate, 3SF, 1OF, 1XF
1 Draw

RhinoHorn 3-60P v ViperTail 5-60R
RH - 60% winrate, 1SF, 2OF, 3XF
VT - 40% winrate, 2SF, 1OF, 1XF
No Draws

RhinoHorn 3-60P v SharkEdge 3-60LF
RH - 70% winrate, 5SF, 1OF, 1XF
SE - 30% winrate, 2SF, 1OF
No Draws

RhinoHorn 3-60P performed very well as an anti-attack combo. The Point bit gave it exactly the type of movement that RhinoHorn needed to succeed - slightly erratic, shifting from aggressive to docile, making it difficult to hit, and often needing to be chased down in order to hit it. While RhinoHorn could definitely be knocked around quite hard, it often managed to escape killing blows even when weakened, and Point's extra stamina helped it survive in dire late-game situations. The late game was where Rhino shined, as it always managed to be in the opposite spot of where the Attack type wanted it, either circling it or standing still in the center as the Attack type petered out and failed to get in the last hits it would need to win. Rhino also did a great job putting up a fight in its own right, being able to consistently score over finishes and xtreme finishes during the early game while it was still aggressive (although this is less to do with Rhino's raw attack power and more so to do with the volatile state pure Attack types find themselves in in the early game). Still, Point allowed the combo to capitalize on that weakness with its early game aggressiveness. 

Rhino's main weakness is that, even though it is difficult to hit, when it DOES get hit, it gets hit hard. Ensuring that Rhino is constantly running is key. The one combo that did seem to wall Rhino was DranDagger, and currently the reason is unclear, aside from the fact that Dagger Rush is simply a great attack combo. This combo is also completely walled against more defensive combos, and definitely only shines in AVA situations. I won't post them here since they aren't relevant, but I did run the combo against HellsScythe 4-60B, KnightShield 3-80HN, and WizardArrow 4-60N and it did very poorly. Even though it is very specialized, with attack being so naturally prevalent in the X metagame, I do think that this combo could have a worthwhile place in a deck, after more testing is done.

Overall thoughts: RhinoHorn 3-60P succeeds as an anti-attack combo due to its versatile movement and compact form allowing it to counter-attack in the early game, survive in the late game, and (most of all) consistently evade attacks from the opposing Beyblade. While great for this use, Rhino is walled outside of AVA matchups and therefore should only be considered for that purpose.

As always, these are just my tests and observations, so do not take this as gospel. If you have your own tests and observations to contribute about this combo, please share - it takes a village to reach a consensus. If you have any questions regarding how I conducted my tests, please ask. I hope to follow up each test with another 10 rounds, as well as doing tests against SharkEdge 3-60F and ViperTail 3-60F in the near future.

Thanks for your time!