Match Up Discussion: R.O.B. ~

GO!

Hit his on/off switch to the off position.

When it comes to R.O.B. your timing and spacing needs to be PERFECT. Just like as if you were up against MK.

To me ROB is like some cross between Snake/D3 and MK. With better recovery and better projectile game. And similarities to range and his dodging/defense is up there with D3.

To play one effectively you must amalgamate your strategies in beating the other three together to counter this evil fiend.

Protips though:
Never be in his short hop nair range. (i.e. its nice to be BEHIND HIM)
never be in his d-smash range. (try to stuff him up with your range at A GOOD RANGE, or go for the air, but make sure you understand proptip #1)

Against his projectiles and ****? Well... I don't know, god I hate ROB.

Also more protips:

Never be in his ftilt, running attack, utilt range.
Never be in the air above him.
Never walk towards him
Never run towards him
Never rely on dancing blade
Never spam f-smash.
Don't juggle him, because his dair hurts.
Don't bother using your ftilt, he'll roll behind you and own you.

Hell FINAL PROTIP:
JUST STAND STILL AND KEEP TAUNTING, HOPEFULLY YOU'll DODGE A COUPLE OF HIS PROJECTILES AND YOU'LL LUCKILY GET A TIPPED FSMASH THAT KILLS HIM AT 19%

uhhh, here we go. I'm sure we all know this, but I'm just putting in noob tips and things I experience.

I think in some senses fighting ROB is a lot like fighting Snake. As soon as you knock him off the edge, then B upping back will allow for some punishment, and hopefully the opportunity to spike.

Also, yeah, spacing, like Shaya said does really need to be good, and imo his B over B is a good reason to stay away a little bit, probably fairing is safer than d tilts, f tilts, etc. I did not test the exact range between his over B to the f tilt, but i'm assuming ROB can break through, so I can easily be wrong.

I also think Marth's counter can work, but in the air more so than on the ground, just because there seems to be more of a stall in his air moves except perhaps his Uair.

So by all means, agree or disagree with me. I'm just trying to contribute, but I don't wanna hurt anyones game haha.

Shaya said:

Hell FINAL PROTIP:
JUST STAND STILL AND KEEP TAUNTING, HOPEFULLY YOU'll DODGE A COUPLE OF HIS PROJECTILES AND YOU'LL LUCKILY GET A TIPPED FSMASH THAT KILLS HIM AT 19%

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That's how I win every major tournament.

This is some really bad advice..

I'm not going to lie I need to work on my matchup vs. ROB... which vet around here owns ROB regularly? We need the neo-metaknight of ROB :/

JunkInTheTrunk said:

This is some really bad advice..

I'm not going to lie I need to work on my matchup vs. ROB... which vet around here owns ROB regularly? We need the neo-metaknight of ROB :/

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Hey within my sarcasm is a grain of truth.

His tilts are god **** annoying, his nair and dsmash must be avoided at all costs. His projectiles are also god annoying and need to be avoided so one can at least GET NEAR ROB to damage him.

Vsing ROB I find sneaky dtilts and quick dash nairs are two reasonbly okay approaches. ROB is kind of slow, so going for shock is the best option you have. The problem is he is both godly and crap in the air at the same time.

Copy and Paste from my match-up thread.

R.O.B - He outranges Marth with his tilts and has a good keep away game. His laser is unpredictable, but you can tell how much of a charge he ash by looking at the light on top of his head. If it's dark then he can't use the laser. If it's flashing a bit then he has a normal charge. If it's blinking alot and it's bright then he has strong charge. he can use his gyro in conjunction with his laser for some good camping. Gyro makes it hard to approach on the ground and if you jump he's got you covered with his tilts and his laser. In this case you can pick up or shield his gyro to approach on the ground or SH airdodge to avoid the laser/tilts and jump over the gyro. He can charge his gyro so it has greater knockback and use it for edgeguarding so be aware of that. Although is tilts outrange you he is very weak hit for hit and his smashes aren't good at all. You can easily outrange them and you can do repeated smash DI a.k.a Tap DI to get out of his D-smash. You could also just hold up and that would do it about half the time. Since he really has trouble killing, he must rely on gimping. When you are off the stage be ready with your airdodge to avoid a laser or a gyro. You CAN gimp him if he is close to the stage. If you grab the ledge and force him to recover high, you can go for a spike if he is at the right angle for it. You can also run out and fair him for damage racking if he is close enough. Alot of his best moves telegraph themselves, so you can avoid alot of them with ease. When fighting on the ground, rely more on your rush down and play safe. Punish with Dancing Blade and if he starts sitting in his shield alot just grab him or use shieldbreaker. You may find yourself using Shieldbreaker more so that you can compete with ROB's range a little better. Just don't over use it since he will get wise to it and start predicting you.


Ok, so this is match-up is about smart rushdown. Get in close so he can't camp you. If you block an f-tilt shield drop to Dancing Blade is in order. If you block D-smash then again it's time for a shield drop Dancing Blade. If you shield D-tilt just shield grab or up b.

When ledge guarding R.O.B it will prove difficult. His ledge attack has alot of range so you have to back away pretty far from the ledge. But you can still do it if you pay attention and just play smart. He may try to ledge camp, but if he does you can close in and fair him or shield then retaliate.

R.O.B's love to D-smash after spot dodge so always expect that. Be ready to DI it if you know you're going to take the hit.

While recovering R.O.B's like to do rising Nairs sometimes during their up b. You can counter it or just F-smash them.

You can juggle R.O.B if you want. His aerials are sluggish in comparison to yours. Also you will live to fairly high percents vs R.O.B as long as you DI correctly and space well. His kill moves while decent usually have some weakness. Usually they are a little too weak or they telegraph themselves.

When being edgeguarded, you will want to be ready to DI correctly since a laser will be coming right after you once you are off the stage. If you can airdodge and you are high up enough then I suggest you do so. Generally your up b can plow through any aerial, but a good R.O.B will Dair at same level of the ledge so you get spiked. In this case you will want to stall with a forward B before using your up b. It's just a matter of paying attention and being able to adjust your plans according to your opponents actions.

If Marth is forced to come in low and R.O.B has a gyro then R.O.B can go down and shoot the gyro to force an action. If Marth airdodges then he will probably be too low to recover. If he up b's then there is the chance R.O.B can hit him with an aerial as he comes out of his invincibility. R.O.B can really only do this when you you don't have your jump. So make sure to save it and always DI well when knocked off the stage to avoid this scenario.

If you get your hands on a gyro then glide toss that thing. Marth's glide toss is nasty and it can lead to pretty much any ground option. To deal with glide tosses you can shield then roll or up b. But if you really want to not deal with R.O.B's glide toss be sure to shield any gyro's he tosses out so they disappear. Usually a R.O.B will glide toss to grab or F-smash. Keep this in mind.

Although R.O.B outranges you he has no approach game. So once you get past his camping and you set up your zoning try to keep your spacing so you keep control of the match.

That's all for now. I'll post more later if anything else comes to mind.

Also here is a link to a Marth vs R.O.B debate I had way back when the game first came out.

http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=162016

Well I guess that is the match that I actually have a good experience since I already mained ROB in the past and most of my opponents were Marth.
Anyway I want make clear that I haven't fight a good ROB with my actual Marth.
So if anything that I write is incorrect, please correct me.



The major posture for ROB in this match is defensive.
ROB can't be too offensive against Marth, some attacks from Marth outranges him well except for his tilts.

ROB usually advances into Marth with a walking F-Tilt, a Fair, or a Grab.

The key of this match-up is spacing, shielding and punishing dodges and rolls correctly.
Marth shouldn't be too far, or too close from ROB or he will eat attacks in his face.
It is basically the same tactic against Snake, be in the posture that the situation demands.
Stay in a distance where ROB can't gyro or laser safely, this will make he seek for more space or attack you. Rush smart into him.

ROB is a big character, and juggling him isn't difficult.
Marth's set ups work a lot well in him due that.
Uair to Nair, Uair to Fair, B-sticked Dancing Blade to Fair, etc.

ROB also tends to evade a lot, instead of shielding.
Shielding Breaking won't work too much, unless you really makes he shields with you attacks.
You can punish him with some tactics; for example a Fair, then a retreating Uair.
This punishes rolls pretty well and set ups for a Usmash, Nair, Fair, Dancing Blade.
You also can punishes his spot and air dodges with Nair.

ROB players really love to do the spot dodge to Dsmash or Grab.
You have two options to DI out of the Dsmash.
One is hold up all the attack since its beggining or keep Smash DI up.
Anyway this doesn't cover angled surfaces.

While grabbing, ROB have two options: send you out to try to gimp/kill or set up with his Dthrow to a Uair/Nair. His Uthrow isn't very good and you can avoid these more easily than the others.

Marth can gimp ROB in lower damage zones with Dair, because his recovery doesn't cover above him well.
Also while edgeguarding with Marth, don't try to edgehog too much unless ROB is recovering from downside. When ROB is recovering from above, he will try to throw a gyro or back with Nair or Bair usually. If he does his gyro catch it and use against him (see in the end of this post more about the gyro).

Keep in mind that ROB can't Air Dodge unless he do an attack before.
But don't try to went out of the edge too far or you'll be punished.

ROB also can gimp Marth very well.
While recovering, don't waste your midair jump mindlessly, you will lose it if you get hit by a laser or gyro. Instead of that watch out for ROB actions.

He'll try to gimp that since he have problems KOing, because all his finisher moves have a weak point.
Play carefully when you are in high damage, for example ROB's Bair punishes rolls, his Nair lasts very long. Just DI correctly and think.


ROB does have a very good camping spam game, but Marth can avoid it pretty well.
His lasers have 3 levels of power.
Everytime that he shoots one laser he went back to level 1 (no laser).
One second later he charges into level 2 (weak laser).
And 20 seconds to charge into level 3 (strong laser).

He needs to recharge, so he'll mix up the laser with his gyro.

If you shield his gyro it will vanish, and ROB will be able to throw another.
Evade the gyro to keep it on the stage without hitting you.

Also catching the gyro is very easy, just run towards it and hold that direction until you get hit. Once you get hit by, press A. Also if ROB doesn't throw the gyro on the ground, you can catch it with a air dodge.

One thing important to do is Upsmash Throw the gyro, so ROB can't throw another until that one vanishes.
ROB doesn't have speed like Marth to catch the gyro in the air. This makes his camping game get worse and he will need to be more offensive.

When upsmash throwed, the gyro will be airborne for like 3 or 4 seconds before hitting the ground, and also Marth is able to do a Glide Tossing with it.


Eh I guess I'll stop here, my post isn't very well organized because I just write the things in the order that had came in my mind. Also sorry any english errors, since I'm barely sleeping here. I'll write more if I forgot something.

Just saying, if you get caught in robs d-smash just hold up to DI out of it

That thing comes out faster than most characters jabs T_T

edit: beat to it =P

hey ulevo. i just wanted to say that i have a very similar matchup thread going on in the pika forums(kinda strange how similar). what seemed to work the best was create a central thread that has a link to all of the other matchups. So far i am on my 8th character. when they are all done, anyone can go to the central thread and click on the link to the character of choice. just trying to help out because i love using marth and you are doing a **** of a job here(not sarcastic). keep up the good work.

**edit** heres a link if you want a good visual

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=174335

feel free to post on my marth matchup guys. you are more than welcome to post your idea. thanks for everything!

how do you stop that dodge? Marth's attacks don't stay out long enough. He can dodge everything marth throws at him, and then follows up with that down smash or a throw. It's gay. Is there any method for stopping this?

Dancing Blade.

If your only issue is his good dodging then that's great.

I have noticed that it is possible to spot dodge dsmash, but doing so in a match could be difficult. Also ROB is tall enough to Nair, so I could see that as an important aerial in this match-up. I find an effective way to spike ROB is a ledgehopped dair, if he is coming up below the stage.

Kill Percents (Tippered; Level 9; Center of Final Destination; Training Mode)

Fsmash - 81%

Usmash - 129%

Dsmash (first hit) - 111%

Fully Charged Shield Breaker - 46%

JunkInTheTrunk said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24i6umjRJ-U

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Junk you win life.



And on a real note, does marth's sword stop ROB's laser, because that could be helpful i guess...

just a quick advice usually when you approach a rob they usually or at most time think you will attack so if you run up to them and sheild. You can make them spot dodge and dsmash you'll survive the dsmash and just grab after wards dont tihnk it will work every time but it does make the rob change his game up a bit.

For rolls and dodges I just throw out a d-tilt to force an action then react to w/e it is they they did.

If they rolled I chase them down with a grab or a Dancing Blade. If thy spot dodge then it's an easy Dancing Blade or another d-tilt.

But no...you can't "stop" someone from rolling or dodging. >_>

grandmaster192 said:

how do you stop that dodge? Marth's attacks don't stay out long enough. He can dodge everything marth throws at him, and then follows up with that down smash or a throw. It's gay. Is there any method for stopping this?

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Yeah, what EL said. Stick with quick moves you don't have to dedicate to (as in, moves you can quickly switch to another action), such as Dtilt. From there, you can react to what he tries to throw out. There's not quite another way to avoid this. If he gets the habit of rolling behind, use Dsmash.

For his Dsmash, it seems tapping up then back gets you out of it (Smash DI).

If he throws the Gyro, you can throw it up to prevent him from using it for a while as Kizzu said, or you can glidetoss accordingly for an offense or to space away. If you punish rolls, they'll be conditioned to shield very likely (especially if you throw Gyros back at them).

From there...I'll...no..should I?...but...

Yeah, just Glidetoss into Shield Breaker. Gyro takes 1/4 of a shield away, and SB ***** everything else. If you're a sadist, you will surely laugh in their dismay as you charge another SB in their face. <_<

For the laser, your sword doesn't negate it, but you can Counter it (err, not really recommended), or shield it. Once you get the timing down, you can perfect/power shield it.

If you're forced into the air with ROB, learn the timing of his Nair. It has a split second delay before it activates, allowing you to Counter or airdodge. Same with Bair.

Gimping ROB is difficult and you need not force yourself to do so or you'll gimp yourself. He can survive a perfect spike at Smashville at 80% and below if he uses Up+B (apply damage before knockback from Dair). His fair is similar to a "fence of pain," similar to Kirby's aerials and Toon Link's. His Dair doesn't kill his vertical spacing as it pauses. It doesn't even matter for him though because his recovery is hax. It is, however, a good gimp move for him, and should not be underestimated.

However, if you can force him offstage long enough through Fairs and effective edgeguarding, his fuel will run out and he can't make it back.

He can aim his Fsmash so mix up approaches. Its range is in no way bad, so do be weary.

Also, keep up the pressure. You don't have to be recklessly aggressive, but make it so you're always on ROB's tail. However, do know when to space yourself away. His Dtilt has a high chance of tripping and seems to have IASA frames similar to yours. If you trip, either roll toward him if you conditioned him to rush you, or back or just stand up.

For a good stage against him, I'd say Yoshi's Island Brawl. Its curved sides near the ledge and the ever-moving platform screw up ROB's offstage laser game (which he will usually try to play to get him a safe back-on-stage. The bottom is completely covered so he can't go to the other side. Shyguy's also disrupt his lasers and gyro. The sides of the stage aren't too bad so you can kill him horizontally rather well. I'd say ROB kills better vertically, and the ceilings here are pretty high. You'll probably survive a little higher here than say, Battlefield.

So, I guess space well, play safe, and don't try anything too flashy. Do what works.

Gah, ROB caused me to be depressed, but then I went back in anger to **** it with much satisfaction.

Good thing OS is no where near me. =P

Was this okay? I don't want to be inaccurate.

Eh, I find that R.O.B. LOVES to roll dodge behind me, but annoyingly, he likes to spot dodge a lot as well.

I think of way back when, when I had problems with Lucario roll dodging behind me, so I threw Dsmashes and Reverse Fsmashes, but since R.O.B. likes to spot dodge too, both of these options are highly punishable.

What I'll experiment in doing is finding out what makes R.O.B. tic. When does he like to spot dodge, and when does he like to roll? If you can figure this out, then you can begin to punish R.O.B.'s spot dodge with DB, and punish the roll with techniques mentioned above.

Or . . . I guess it's time for me to experiment with charging a Dsmash (rofl). Popping R.O.B. into the air is usually a good thing.

Counter pick brinstar if it's available. The chords and gooey stuff interrupt his gyros and lasers while the lava prevents him from gimping you.

This was almost on the second page.. We aren't done yet are we?

Is Rainbow Cruise a good counterpick? Also it looks like Rumble Falls is starting to be considered a CP, so are there any thought on that one? It goes without saying that Battlefield is a good CP.

Think about it.

Rainbow Cruise.

How in the world is that going to be a good counter pick vs someone with awesome recovery?

You pick that stage because it's easy to set-up gimps and screw over characters with poor recoveries.

If anything R.O.B would counter pick this against you.

Which reminds me...you might want to ban this stage vs R.O.B.

Eh, I get annoyed while I'm in the process of trying to deplete R.O.B.'s fuel, and he lands on the dumb moving platform in Smashville. If you gotta ban a neutral, maybe that one.

As always, you love Battlefield.

Also, retreating SHNair is a good tool to own people that like to roll dodge behind you as well (I always forget to mention this one but I use it the most because it's safest.) It stops a forward rush, as well as a roll dodge behind you (since they'll roll right into the second slice) and can help with resetting the spacing.

I do this very often vs R.O.B.

I also find that R.O.B. KOing R.O.B. is a pain, since he has such a good recovery. I often spam the crap outta Dancing Blade, in an attempt to keep my the rest of my moveset fresh, because I can't have my Fair, or Nair getting too stale.

Like Snake, I save the Fsmash for the finish, in case there's an opening. I want that move completely unstale until it's time for a K.O.. The only other time I use it is maybe in the opening throw combo.

Eh, I just figured it would screw up his camping, and that you could get him in the air, but whatever, I guess you're right.

Bump, are we done here? Should we move onto Falco or Dedede? Do we still have more to add?

R.O.B really is one of the most annoying characters to play against. The one absolute must is to keep **** near perfect distance. Luckily, Ftilt and FSmash tips are right out of R.O.B's ftilt range IIRC, so that makes things a bit easier. Whatever you do don't let him camp, the laser and gyro can really **** Marth. Also, be sure punish mistimed spot dodges with DB.

R.O.B's angled upwards f-tilt beats everything Marth has in range except Shieldbreaker.

Pro knowledge FTW.

What? Really...? I was pretty certain ftilt and fsmash outranged it as well. Guess I'm wrong though.

Pierce7d said:

Eh, I find that R.O.B. LOVES to roll dodge behind me, but annoyingly, he likes to spot dodge a lot as well.

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Marth's dancing blade is, what, 4 frame on startup? How is this an issue. Abusive rolls are punished by any character, but Marth probably does it the best. Play more ROBs if you're having trouble with roll/spotdodge whoring <.<

@BengalsRZ: ROB ftilt has a greater range than Marth's anything, excluding shieldbreaker.

ike is solid said:

Junk you win life.



And on a real note, does marth's sword stop ROB's laser, because that could be helpful i guess...

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You watch way too much Star Wars.
V.V

I find that Shieldbreaker is less useful in this match-up due to the fact ROB usually doesn't shield camp.

TKD+ITA+Mar= said:

I find that Shieldbreaker is less useful in this match-up due to the fact ROB usually doesn't shield camp.

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It can still be used as a range tool, since it outranges anything Rob has.

True, it still works, but I find it I use it less here than other match-ups.

For me, SB is one of my favorite tools. Even if blocked, it prevents my opponent from shielding Dancing Blade. I use it in many situations (I have ******** mindgames with this move) but it's most common usage is SHFair -> shield breaker because EVERYONE ALWAYS shields the second Fair, lol. Even if the Fair hits, SB still follows up, has good knockback and range.

Sh fair + sb on ROB is not a good idea.

Spotdodge/roll to Dsmash will make that combo useless.

Not even a well spaced SB.

I'm really bad at ROB. Here are the problems I've had:

- His fair is beating mine too often due to bad spacing on my part
- I can only gimp occasionally
- He punishes everything with spotdodge -> dsmash
- My dtilt attempts get predicted and countered by SH nair for early kills. Am I just really slow with this or something?
- I can't follow up fthrow with anything, throws in general seem useless with rob. Uthrow is probably a better choice, but I don't have much confidence in juggling him either.
- He survives everything & my moves get stale so I have to refresh them all the time
- I get walled out by tilts on the ground
- I get camped to hell if I don't stay aggressive
- Marth is light, ROB is heavy

I noticed OS was saying ROB has a good matchup with marth at first, but eventually it was agreed to call it even, but only at a very high level of play. I personally think ROB has an edge in this fight, but maybe it's just because I'm not there yet. The other thing I noticed is that rushdown is one of the weaker parts of my game, and everyone's saying it's the key to beating ROB. Can anyone give me some tips?