Smash Attack is the most simplistic and consistent styles of Attack a Beyblade can generate. Simply put, Smash Attack is the force generated when a Beyblade collides with one of the opponent's pronounced points of contact. Finer points can typically generate enormous force, and therefore Smash Attack. Beyond being pronounced, these points of contact also have to be effective and easily exposed in battle. 

The more refined and exposed contact points on a given Attack Ring are, the more likely it is to exhibit exceptional Smash Attack.

Relevant Attack Rings: Metal Upper (Either Spin), Circle Upper (Left-Spin), Samurai Upper (Left-Spin).

In general, because there is a lot of force being generated by these Attack Rings, rubber-based RCs are recommended to provide them with the most grip and speed possible. Kinetic energy, as well as friction with the stadium, make for a dangerous combination with precise points of contact. 

One of the most exciting forms of Attack that can exist in Beyblade. This form of Attack is fostered by extended upward slopes on a Beyblade's Attack Ring. Coupled with a low height, Beyblade's with long upward slopes can sometimes have the taller opposing Beyblades briefly 'ride' these slopes when making contact with such force that they go up (and ideally out of the stadium).  Rather than scoring knockouts through blunt force alone, the Upper Attack-focussed Beyblade aims to lift the opponent and propel them outward. Upper Attack is most easily found in opposite-spin matchups, where there is the best chance at the opponent making ideal contact with an Attacker's ramp and actually riding it upwards. 

Relevant Attack Rings (Opposite-Spin): Slash Upper, Circle Upper, Samurai Upper

Easily the most contentious position here is distinguishing this classical form of Attack with "Upward Smash".  Upward Smash is a form of middle ground between general Smash Attack and Upper Attack. Legitimate Upper Attack is quite specific (spin direction specific) and not particular common in high RPM Metal-on-Metal Beyblades, meaning that despite certain ARs having the necessary ingredients for consistent Upper Attack, they aren't always able to exhibit it.

What they do exhibit with more frequency is Upward Smash, something that can happen in either spin direction where, with a ramp or angled contact point, a Beyblade can send its opponent up and out with a lot of force. Rather than having the opposing Beyblade ride a ramp and get sent flying high, angled Upward Smash hits result in the Beyblade being propelled farther horizontally, and with  some verticality.  While technically many different Attack Rings could, by chance, display Upward Smash, it is the to-be Upper Attackers that best display this form of Attack best. While riding a ramp with HMS' RPM and material is difficult, getting clean hits on angled points that generate Upward Smash is much more common, and provides a similarly exciting battle and reason to use these types of "Upper" focussed Attack Rings.

Relevant Attack Rings (Either Spin): Circle Upper, Samurai Upper.

Rubber-based RCs are not as required to enable these forms of Attack, but they are greatly appreciated and will more often than not give you a better chance of winning since you will have a lot of grip and speed in the stadium.

Our final type of "Attack" is a relatively undocumented form - Rotational Smash Attack. While it may be informally known, because the parts that exhibit it in each generation are well-known, it is not often discussed. Essentially, not many people talk about how or why these Attack Rings are so formidable. More often than not, Rotational Smash attackers are just placed into the "high in Smash Attack potential" category, which an imprecise understanding of what makes them unique and so powerful. "Rotational Smash Attack" provides that precision. This type of Attack is characterized by Attack Rings that feature heavy weight on opposite sides of a symmetrical design. Rather than being spread evenly across, weight is focussed on two well-exposed sides that act as bludgeoning tools when spun. High friction, refined contact points or elongated slopes are simply not necessary when you have weight swinging from side to side at high speeds. Things get sent flying, plain and simple. Because the design is symmetrical, either spin direction can be used effectively, but opposite spin typically sees a reduction in Rotational Smash as the opponent is no longer going against the grain of your swinging, but with it.

Because it is so rare, yet so effective, most of the Attack Rings that conform to this design are instantly top-tier in their generation. If anything, the HMS iteration of this design is the weakest, with Jiraiya Blade not exhibiting consistent enough power on every Attack RC in the same way that Square Edge or Flash do on their respective rubber and metal RC counterparts. 

Relevant Attack Rings: Jiraiya Blade.

Recoil is a general term that has come to be closely related to the idea of being "bad" or ineffective in the Beyblade community, for good reason. In general, high recoil is not what you're looking for in a Beyblade of any type, and can be considered to be more like botched Smash Attack. High recoil is usually the abundance of contact points that are either imprecise (design-wise), inadequately exposed, or even just overabundant. In some cases high recoil can be mitigated by rubber-based RCs that can counteract the force applied to the Beyblade with high friction. In many cases, however,  even with grip on the stadium, recoil-laden Attack Rings suffer more damage than they can dish out. This means each time contact is made, there is some Smash Attack, but it either isn't strong enough to generate a knockout, or it is so unrefined that it leads to self-knockout easily. Essentially, a Beyblade with high recoil is one that cannot effectively harness its potential Smash Attack for one reason or another, meaning it will cause more harm than good to itself on collision. 

In some cases, a given AR may have small. recoil-laden contact points that produce similar amounts of Smash Attack as they do recoil, resulting in a whittling away of opponents in a match of endurance. In these cases, the relatively higher recoil AR is more than capable of winning because its minute Smash is enough to overcome its own self-harm. This type of high recoil, slightly higher Smash is typically present in ARs that feature minute, spaced apart contact points that can slowly grind or push around opponent's and achieve victory over time.

Relevant Attack Rings (Either Spin): Advance Survivor (protrusions facing outwards), Metal Defense, Metal Ape.

Life After Death, or LAD, is a concept that made a name for itself during the formative years of Beyblade's Plastic generation through "Zombies". That moniker was created because specific Beyblades had the ability to not only precess to a great degree - wobble back and forth for extended periods of time, as well as continue to spin even while toppled to one side. Life After Death is the combination of these two things - of which Bearing Core can deliver in spades. Bearing Core, and by extension Bearing Core 2, are both capable of enabling most HMS combos to perform LAD.  The reason is two-fold, firstly because they are free-spinning, allowing for the tip that makes contact with the stadium to remain stationary while the top-half of the Beyblade continues to spin (this process is complimented by smooth Weight Disks like Circle Wide that don't hinder this toppled spinning). Secondly, because it is tall enough to allow for ample room to wobble, further increasing the Beyblade's life span beyond just directly entering the toppled-spin state when reaching low RPM.

Paramount to ideal LAD is, in the end, a taller free-spinning base with a smooth underside (in this case the Weight Disk) that can precess well, and when finally toppled, it can continue to spin on its side for a decent while.

Relevant Attack Rings: No Attack Ring is wide enough to hinder the LAD process. Technically any HMS AR is acceptable to perform LAD.

Relevant Weight Disks: Circle Wide, CWD Reverse Defenser, CWD God Ring, CWD Free Survivor. Others may be similarly effective, but in general these are the Weight Disks you'll be using in a competitive setting.

Relevant Running Cores: Bearing Core, Bearing Core 2.