Beating roll spammers

[Javea1]

Sup guys.

I'm having trouble beating those **** L and R roll spammers who just roll back and forth until you're in cool down phase after an attack, and blindside you in the back leading to a combo.

I've noticed a lot of professional players don't heavily roll spam, and there must be a reason for this. Because of this, I haven't exactly gotten the opportunity to watch a decent player's approach to stopping a roll spammer, thus not allowing me to learn how to to win against this type of player.

So, any tips for me on beating these types of players? I'm having a lot of trouble doing so.

Thanks!

-Jav

 

[kidbu916]

So they're roll spammers becuase they don't let you hit them, hmmm...

 

[Undyingz]

Multi-hit moves such as Link/Wolf/TL/etc smash attacks or you roll with them lol

 

[WastingPenguins]

I have a scrub friend whose prime tactic is camping by a ledge until someone rushes him, then he rolls to the other side and spams smashes. Y'know what you do? Realize that he rolls every time, realize that his rolls are super laggy, and don't just charge in. Anticipate the roll, stop where his roll will end, and punish the **** out of him.

If you stay in control of your character and don't blindly charge your opponent, you start to realize how punishable rolling can be (albeit rolling is safer in Brawl so this phenomenon is not quite as pronounced as it was in Melee). That's why experienced players don't do it.

 

[WKx7x]

I hate roll spammers >_>. What I do is I just get to a higher point on the stage, and when they decide to come up and roll spam where I am, I hit them in midair. Repeat 'till dead

 

[Javea1]

So they're roll spammers becuase they don't let you hit them, hmmm...

Get out of this thread if you're not going to contribute or post anything worth reading.

To the rest of you, thanks for the replies.

-Jav

 

[VerTex]

most roll spammers usually roll in the same direction. try to predict it

 

[Kazuya]

hah, Kidbu you just got served hommie.

Anyway, Jav - I've got lots of friends who like to spam roll and camp-block-grab/attack.

You gotta anticipate where they're gonna dodge next, or when they're gonna block - either try an attack where they're gonna stop, or try an run and grab them and beat them heavily for it.

Best option would be to try and main a projectile character, I've began maining Pit becuz of his good offensive air abilities and that nice little directional arrow of his :D

 

[Nitoheilapine]

I main Lucas and Alt Ice Climbers and Diddy Kong. Those three I only know the best.

Ice Climbers's Squall Hammer / Short Hopped Blizzard
Seriously, The Squall is the best approach. A SH'd Blizzard, if dodged, is punishable.

Lucas's PK Fire / Ness's PK Fire
PK fire spamming is where i feel at home. Seriously now. Ness's PK fire has an added bonus of making a pillar when it strikes, this makes for a good guard.

Diddy Kong requires a set up. Lay down a banana behind you and wield the second one. The roller should roll around you into the laid down banana, and if they roll in front, toss the one you have. They will slip either way.

The rest, I just thought up on the spot.
Yoshi's Tongue?
Pikachu's Thundershock
Pit's Arrows
Zelda's Din Fire (If you can aim decently)
Luigi / Mario's Fireballs
Wario's Bike
Link and Toon Link's Up B are nice

 

[hoopspr226]

Almost any characters downsmash will work

 

[xnightninjax]

I have a scrub friend whose prime tactic is camping by a ledge until someone rushes him, then he rolls to the other side and spams smashes. Y'know what you do? Realize that he rolls every time, realize that his rolls are super laggy, and don't just charge in. Anticipate the roll, stop where his roll will end, and punish the **** out of him.

If you stay in control of your character and don't blindly charge your opponent, you start to realize how punishable rolling can be (albeit rolling is safer in Brawl so this phenomenon is not quite as pronounced as it was in Melee). That's why experienced players don't do it.

haha nice man. i like how you said punish the **** out of them. that cracked me up.

 

[TwinkleToes]

If someone is predictably rolling and successfully punishing you with an attack right afterwards it's because YOU are acting predictably and ASKING to get punished. That's really the only way someone could consistently do that to you without you having an answer for it.

 

[R. Olivaw]

like hoopspr said, couldn't you just anticipate the roll spammage and then down smash. Most of the D+smashes in the game have a wide radius.

And if you play against friends who roll spam, you should be able to adapt and learn their weakness quickly. They'll probably stop roll spamming after realizing that you're whooping them cuz you've learned their dirty tricks.

 

[Ultimatum479]

As has been stated a lot now, just anticipate the roll. Specifically, I suggest stopping your dash (if that is how you're approaching) with a shield so that you can quickly smash in either direction whether they roll or sidestep.

 

[JesiahTEG]

Um, you don't beat rolling in Brawl. Rolling is broken, since it's faster than running speed. You should start rolling too.

 

[garrR]

dsmash is your best friend against rolls if you're playing a char with a double sided dsmash. everyone is vulnerable as they come out of a roll. as soon as you see him roll through you, dsmash or fsmash behind you. you'll hit them as they come out.

 

[Krain0971]

.

With Falco I run toward him/her on his roll and A.

 

[theONEjanitor]

Um, you don't beat rolling in Brawl. Rolling is broken, since it's faster than running speed. You should start rolling too.

don't listen to this guy.

listen to everyone else. stop being predictable and start doing more predicting. Here are some common situations in which people roll:

out of shield when their back is facing you
when they miss an attack they usually immediately roll backward to get out of dodge.

 

[Mercury]

Click down on the C stick.

/thread

 

[shadydentist]

People who roll generally are going to roll behind you. A fun thing to do is walk up to them and forward smash backwards. In the old days, punishing rolls was easy because you'd just wavedash backwards, or dashdance to grab. Since both of those options are gone, your only real option is either walking so you can smash in any direction, or try shield cancelling your run on a character with a fast forward smash.

 

[SsjDave3]

All you have to do is anticipate their rolls. Usually after the 1st few times they do it you can learn their pattern..and also learn where their lag begins once they get out the roll, which is the best way to hit them with a smash.

 

[fkacyan]

Click down on the C stick.

/thread

Smart people b-stick. Also, characters like ZSS have a directional down smash.

/fail

If they're rolling, just predict the movements. It's not hard. Learn the patterns and punish them / grab combo them.

 

[Mama]

Smart people b-stick. Also, characters like ZSS have a directional down smash.

/fail

If they're rolling, just predict the movements. It's not hard. Learn the patterns and punish them / grab combo them.

Noobs who don't know what they're talking about say dumb shiet like "smart people B-Stick" Not every character utilizes B-sticking to its fullest which is why it makes sense to have different settings for different characters. Just because you discovered a technique before your nub friends doesn't make you a pro and give you a right to talk like you know what you're talking about. I hope you were joking....


On topic, don't be mad at the people for not letting you hit them or falling for their tricks. Thats something that you have to overcome yourself. The way to do that is to think more. Rather than run in and attack think it through. If you know the ******* is just going to roll shield cancel your dash where his roll ends and punish him. Another thing you can do is fake him out by running toward him jumping and then B-sticking so you move back enough to still punish him. Though that really depends on your character. When dealing with this sort of tactic its really who's got the better mind games.

 

[TickleMePick1e]

Almost any characters downsmash will work

not true they are usually still in invinsiblity frames

 

[Enoch-Fox]

just smash the other side from where they are

they'll roll into it because they're dumber than bricks and conditioned to respond that way.

 

[FlashGearz]

For some characters, it's extremely important to roll. Take Dedede for example. His roll is used as the quickest safest, way to get around you, and throw you. If he didn't he would have to jump, or move back, which are much more punishable. Anyway, with him, youre throwing out of the shield so much, Rolling is his most viable movement form when having to fight.

 

[FlashGearz]

For some characters, it's extremely important to roll. Take Dedede for example. His roll is used as the quickest safest, way to get around you, and throw you. If he didn't he would have to jump, or move back, which are much more punishable. Anyway, with him, youre throwing out of the shield so much, Rolling is his most viable movement form when having to fight.

 

[hoopspr226]

not true they are usually still in invinsiblity frames

Actually, it is true.

I realize there are invincibility frames. However, some characters have downsmashes which delay for a moment before hitting behind them (they strike in front first, then whip around behind them). This delay makes many downsmashes perfect for countering rolls. For example, if you really want to destroy a roller, choose pikachu and downsmash.

If you don't happen to have a downsmash that punishes roll that way, use your smarts. Predict the roll, and Fsmash behind you. It's that easy. This is especially effective with characters with very strong, reasonably quick fsmashes (think Marth). This tactic will really make them think twice before rolling.

 

[Patsie]

I think I could shed some light on the problem you might be having; I've been tearing my hair out since release since my friend (who plays Pit) has used roll-spam in his strategy.

His strategy depends on where I am. If I'm anywhere on the ground, he'll shoot an arrow over and over until I go airborne. Once I go airborne, he either approaches with his uair or fair OR sits on the ground and waits for me to approach. As soon as I do, he rolls, and I miss, and he runs up and grabs me. It's really annoying to always be approaching with a big character like Dedede.

Just now, though, I realized I'm a ****ing idiot, and I should've done what I had been doing in Melee against the same scrub strategy: just land. He'll do the same thing, but you won't have starting lag. You can easily grab him, combo him, or whatever you want; lag is on your side when you just land (because rolling is extremely punishable with bad ending lag, which is why good people don't rely on it).

Basically, if you find yourself on the ground, use your dsmash and he'll get hit in the roll. If he's rolling to avoid your aerials, however, just don't attack and land, you'll have a ton of time to attack him as he's rolling. It helps a lot.

 

[Psyflame]

As a rule, just stay in control of your character, predict the roll and punish. If you like you can mindgame by rolling with them... Or hell just use your downsmash, 90% of the time that will work

 

[shaquille502]

one thing i always do is use the down smash attack to get them off of me

 

[LavisFiend]

You know, during the early stages of melee, they did this frequently...

and what did you do then?

 

[Nixis]

im guessing the videos you saw were pros in melee. they dont roll because they can just wavedash out, then back in.

it really depends on what attack you used. if you used a smash or another move with a lot of lag, ur pretty much screwed (unless u use link's second smash), cuz u wont be able to recover fast enough. any other move, i would just roll behind them and grab/smash them

 

[pyro363]

The only real tips is to keep attacking the roll spamer until they get tired just hope you don't get tired.

 

[DSM01]

My friend is like that, where he just rolls all day long, and then eventually yells triumphantly when he lands a F smash on me. I hate cowards like that who just camp or roll, because they suck the fun out of the game. Anyway, an easy was to beat roll spamers is to figure out which way they tend to roll, and then throw them and keep tech chasing. They're usually so wrapped up in their rolling that they won't figure out what happened, and I find this technique is very effective against certain people.

 

[Dash_Fox]

Dash attack? That works for me. Or predict and GRAB or smash his face into his hollow head. Like if he roll spams one way just run past him and dash attack.

 

[Tritan]

Sum it all up into one word? - PREDICT

 

[Taymond]

If you know he's going to roll when you approach, then instead of running up and immediately using a smash attack, just start charging the attack instead. Release it when they roll behind you, instead. If they roll away, then just release and try again. Also, as someone mentioned, since people love to roll behind you, so that they're still in reach of an easy attack when you miss, just start charging an attack facing the wrong way, then release once he's there.

Once they see you've figured them ought, it should prompt them to change their strategy. If not, then you can just land free hits all day by attacking behind you instead of in front.

 

[KamiNathan]

I don't know how reliable just attempting predicting their roll and intercepting it will be. I play Meta Knight and my brother plays Pit, and he loves to spam his arrows. The arrows are a big problem because they stun and he can aim them very well. I've tried to dodge my way to him in many different fashions, but he's always one step ahead of me and punishes me once I get close.

About rolling, I'm not used to using my down-smash because in Melee I mained fox (my brother mained Marth) and I never found any real use for it. I'll have to learn it because I've heard that Meta Knight's down smash is one of his few killing moves.

Still, my problem was resolved yesterday once I discovered that Meta Knight's tornado attack dispells his arrows, so now I can fight on equal grounds. (I think some of it might be psychological, but w/e it doesn't matter now)

I guess my main point is not to try to

sum it up in one word - PREDICT!

which may result in you getting punished, but instead to figure out a fail-safe method to counter these situations (and improve your game).

Spoiler

w00t first post!

 

[the656]

I try to predict where there going to move they will usually near behind me for a smash or roll away if they are camping. Either way I try to grab them