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Smash Ace
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Rosalina and Luma
Space Elsa and Ristar's cousin are optimally played (as far as we know so far) as a brickwaller duo: Constantly using their plethora of low commitment disjoints to beat out approaches and open up punish opportunities. Unlike their S tier sister, they doesn't have many options for zone breaking and rely a lot more on spacing and their respectable options to stay ahead. While Rosalina herself isn't too strong up close, it's important to understand that Luma does, and they work as a team not unlike the Ice Climbers. Forgetting this very simple concept is the easiest way to give them a free win as the way they play apart from each other is very different and influences the states of game play. So if you take nothing else from this discussion, take the mindset that you are fighting two characters in one. Rosalina is a far weaker character without Luma, and Luma is much less of a threat without Rosalina to back her up. Respect their team and develop strategies with them both in mind.
So let's make this clear immediately: Rosalina is not afraid of WFT's SS camping in any shape or form. While pecking away at Luma would usually be a reliable strategy that forces her to approach, Gravitational Pull is one of the 3/4 specials like this, that are fundamentally broken in design . So to keep it from turning into a rant: camping is useless here. If you're to use SS it must be up close like a poke, or with the intention to have it eaten in order to open up opportunities for header setups. Which brings me to header. While in and of itself, you won't get a lot of use from it as default has a really unfortunate design that puts you in either a bad state(full jump height above the stage for a good angle) or it will sail over head using SH header. While SH headers can bait GP occassionally it's nothing we should be relying on. Instead, it's much more effective to use SS to setup for jab headers in order to give yourself a better zoning tool. Luma deals with it fairly easy enough as does GP obviously, but those are ways in for burst options and aerials. What's more is that GP does not keep header active, rather it places it in a neutral state and even extends it's life slightly, meaning that if baited, you'll have header waiting at her feet to make dash attack even stronger.
For reference, dash attack and pivot ftilt are great burst options for punishing them both, and immediate backthrow is your go to throw when Luma is around as it'll put her tumble if the hitbox overlaps with her, and it has a lot of invincible frames compared to the others making it pretty good against Luma retaliation. For aerials fair is best for crossups, nair is the all around Shia Lebouf, and uair/dair are sub-optimal but can lead to some strong followups. Dair in particular can be pretty effective if you want to play aggressive and call Rosalina out on not being able to anti air you, while uair is best used when you expect a shield so you can attack Luma in the meantime.
Outside of this, Rtacc is essential as it lets you instant crawl which is fantastic for going under Luma's jabs and any nair attempts, chasing after her in and out dashes for spacing, confusing her spacing, throwing out safe ftilts which will put Luma into tumble, and most importantly approach in shield with your back to Rosalina so you can bair out of shield. Finally, while I prefer to use this against approaches, you also have WFT's option selects(I'll be doing a thread on this soon) in dash to shield>ftilt/roll which can catch the duo out of hitlag for double punishments.
Elaborating a bit further on that in it's most practical environment, Rosalina on the approach isn't nearly as strong but the willingness to do so serves as a good mixup between walling and runaway which can catch players approaching recklessly offguard. Dash attack with Luma has a lot of range and by virtue of Luma and the double hitboxes from both characters, can be very dangerous to challenge--option selecting against it works well as it allows you to punish on hit or crossup roll if she goes for a grab/late option. Nair is the main one you'll see but dair comes out occasionally too. Treat them like you do every other SH aerial approach. Crouch and utilt. Utilt v nair is a good trade but will beat it most of the time, utilt will clank out dair (so gdlk) and give you time for a punish.
For reference, dash attack and pivot ftilt are great burst options for punishing them both, and immediate backthrow is your go to throw when Luma is around as it'll put her tumble if the hitbox overlaps with her, and it has a lot of invincible frames compared to the others making it pretty good against Luma retaliation. For aerials fair is best for crossups, nair is the all around Shia Lebouf, and uair/dair are sub-optimal but can lead to some strong followups. Dair in particular can be pretty effective if you want to play aggressive and call Rosalina out on not being able to anti air you, while uair is best used when you expect a shield so you can attack Luma in the meantime.
Outside of this, Rtacc is essential as it lets you instant crawl which is fantastic for going under Luma's jabs and any nair attempts, chasing after her in and out dashes for spacing, confusing her spacing, throwing out safe ftilts which will put Luma into tumble, and most importantly approach in shield with your back to Rosalina so you can bair out of shield. Finally, while I prefer to use this against approaches, you also have WFT's option selects(I'll be doing a thread on this soon) in dash to shield>ftilt/roll which can catch the duo out of hitlag for double punishments.
Elaborating a bit further on that in it's most practical environment, Rosalina on the approach isn't nearly as strong but the willingness to do so serves as a good mixup between walling and runaway which can catch players approaching recklessly offguard. Dash attack with Luma has a lot of range and by virtue of Luma and the double hitboxes from both characters, can be very dangerous to challenge--option selecting against it works well as it allows you to punish on hit or crossup roll if she goes for a grab/late option. Nair is the main one you'll see but dair comes out occasionally too. Treat them like you do every other SH aerial approach. Crouch and utilt. Utilt v nair is a good trade but will beat it most of the time, utilt will clank out dair (so gdlk) and give you time for a punish.
Customs on makes things a lot easier for the most part. You gain access to much more efficient zoning tools with huge header and weighted header allowing you to space in ways that are both safe and a legitimate threat to the duo. Weighted is ideal here as it, does the most damage, travels the fastest, hits from a general deadzone, can be used to approach or deny the approach, and the same baits generally work against GP only from SH auto cancel height. Huge header is a more honest zoning tool, and can turn into a tennis match with her disjoints and Luma Bit, but is really good for baiting out reactions you can punish if sent from on high. Both send Luma into tumble. Honestly because of GP any sun projectile is good. Enriched gives you default huge suns for zoning and landing traps, default gives you the huge size with power, and sweeping can't be body blocked by Luma forcing shield or GP. It also eats Luma Bits meaning she can't force you to approach ever. DB is still the best breathing imo but I could see some steady shenanigans coming about. Jumbo Hoops is the recovery of choice for onstage utility as this move alone means Rosalina can't play the spacing game as easily anymore. Being so tall and having no real OoS options, means you can throw this out pretty often to get rid of Luma and put on massive shield pressure, building up damage on shield pokes and over-extensions which never existed before.
On their side, they gain access to Shooting Star bit--essentially a Falco laser that does good shield damage forcing approaches unless you crouch or counter with sweeping. As well as Luma Warp which would be godlike if not for it's set distance. Learn where she can warp to and stay outside of it. Treat the area she can warp to like an active hitbox and you shouldn't get caught off guard. Be especially wary of it in the air where a warp to uair can take your stock by surprise. The best way to get past that area on the ground is to either bait the warp and punish Luma, go in high where you can challenge her aerials with weighted header, bair and nair, running behind a projectile to discourage the trade, Rtacc sliding in either crouch or shield or Yoloing through with dash shield or Jumbo Hoops.
Again the gameplan doesn't change here.You still want to get rid of or around Luma, you just get much better options for doing so and lose the ability to charge for free at mid range and fullscreen so be sure to play just as safe while occasionally weighing random Jumbo Hoops to get rid of Luma. Also if Luma warps behind you, she can't warp back so be sure to hit her with SS.
On their side, they gain access to Shooting Star bit--essentially a Falco laser that does good shield damage forcing approaches unless you crouch or counter with sweeping. As well as Luma Warp which would be godlike if not for it's set distance. Learn where she can warp to and stay outside of it. Treat the area she can warp to like an active hitbox and you shouldn't get caught off guard. Be especially wary of it in the air where a warp to uair can take your stock by surprise. The best way to get past that area on the ground is to either bait the warp and punish Luma, go in high where you can challenge her aerials with weighted header, bair and nair, running behind a projectile to discourage the trade, Rtacc sliding in either crouch or shield or Yoloing through with dash shield or Jumbo Hoops.
Again the gameplan doesn't change here.You still want to get rid of or around Luma, you just get much better options for doing so and lose the ability to charge for free at mid range and fullscreen so be sure to play just as safe while occasionally weighing random Jumbo Hoops to get rid of Luma. Also if Luma warps behind you, she can't warp back so be sure to hit her with SS.
Rosalina is probably the 2nd scariest character for default WFT to be above. Doubly disjointed on every front with Luma killing crazily early especially with Rosa's uair comboing and setting up for Luma is simply not a good place for a floaty character with no get out of jail free special to be. Luckily Rosalina's air mobility isn't the greatest and doesn't have any absurd cool down on her uair like prepatch Diddy so while she certainly can kill you off the top, it's much harder for her than setting up landing traps. That said, if you are caught in a juggle pay attention to where Luma is, because that's where the knockback is. Rosalina's uair is decent but if you stay out of Luma's range you've a much better chance to survive. Usual tactics apply otherwise with DB to bait players looking for airdodges/jumps and slow your descent, b reverses and header to alter momentum, ect ect. Small tip I 'll probably go into depth more on in another thread soon-- you can't fast fall while in tumble, so if you've got a good distance between you and a juggling opponent, return to neutral with any option, and then fast fall imeddiately airdodge to the ground, canceling the lag with fair or nair.
When recovering be mindful of your projectiles to discourage any over aggressive tactics as she will look to intercept you with her own disjointed dair or strategic Luma placement. Both are dealt with by smart projectile play and not needlessly expending your jump. Once you get to the ledge Rosalina retains a lot of dangerous stage control as they can both cover getup option fairly well and jumping will obviously put you into a bad position. Ledgedrop header can be effective, but it's an option that gets adapted to very fast and one familiar players will look to punish. Rising into the ledge with header can place one in a good spot to make ledge attack safer, but not so much that it should always be used. Your best bet will be to look for over extensions as they try to position Luma and Rosalina to cover your most likely option. Instant ledge hop is always good to mix in as players look to punish 1 frame vulnerability during ledge climbs. Rosalina in particular has very safe options to try it as well as long active frames on some of her aerials in case she just wants any sort of punish. Respect her range and push in slowly to regain stage control, her burst options are pretty subpar outside of their range so you don't have to worry about taking it slow or calling her bluff just out of range with SS charges.
When recovering be mindful of your projectiles to discourage any over aggressive tactics as she will look to intercept you with her own disjointed dair or strategic Luma placement. Both are dealt with by smart projectile play and not needlessly expending your jump. Once you get to the ledge Rosalina retains a lot of dangerous stage control as they can both cover getup option fairly well and jumping will obviously put you into a bad position. Ledgedrop header can be effective, but it's an option that gets adapted to very fast and one familiar players will look to punish. Rising into the ledge with header can place one in a good spot to make ledge attack safer, but not so much that it should always be used. Your best bet will be to look for over extensions as they try to position Luma and Rosalina to cover your most likely option. Instant ledge hop is always good to mix in as players look to punish 1 frame vulnerability during ledge climbs. Rosalina in particular has very safe options to try it as well as long active frames on some of her aerials in case she just wants any sort of punish. Respect her range and push in slowly to regain stage control, her burst options are pretty subpar outside of their range so you don't have to worry about taking it slow or calling her bluff just out of range with SS charges.
The threat of weighted header can be strong while getting juggled, but because of her disjoints and it's properties of being hit back you should be careful with your timing and keep things safe and smart only challenging her from angles you're sure uair can't deal with. Choosing the other headers also means you may have a harder time dealing with an aggressive Rosalina, which in turn becomes more likely as she can warp Luma out to catch you slipping. If you've saved your jump don't be afraid to go low, you can get enough height on all three UpB's to survive dipping into the magnifying glass as long as you keep your jump. Mainly however you'll want to avoid Luma's warp zone by coming in from high with weighted header, or going low before jumping up to weave in and out of challenges with Jumbo Hoops. If you chose huge header, keep in mind that you can uair the ball to cover your way up after following it low. The obvious changes from the ledge stand, but in exchange you get the threat of jumbo hoops to challenge her, as well as weighted header from ledge jump. Huge header can work from the ledge too but isn't nearly as effective and would probably serve you better from a wall jump to follow behind with an airdodge>bair.
Rosalina's biggest assesst available while in the disadvantage is that she has very good disjoints. Outside of that she's pretty free lacking in air mobility and frame data which we're accustomed to seeing on high tier and above characters. Your juggling formula is pretty simple, if you're less than a character's length away--challenge her with uair, if it's less than that bait the airdodge and punish with header, if it's about a character length away, challenge her horizontally from the back with bair, or from the front with projectiles. Keep the distance to the ground in mind always once she returns to a neutral state(and thus can fast fall) as you want to look for landing traps then and force her to challenge utilt and usmash. Otherwise use this opportunity to get in range and setup a jab header to continue with your pressure. Baiting SS with charge cancels can prove effective too.
Offstage Rosalina's strategy is very similar to Ness. She more than anything wants to avoid using her upB as it's very gimpable, arguably more so than Ness' due to the lack of a hitbox. Challenge her offstage occasionally by staying in her deadzone between her fair and dair, so that if she goes for one you can bair her out of it and if she goes high with UpB be sure to punish her with SS and start all over again(you should have an SS charge since it won't be used much in neutral). More effective however is establishing stage control at the edge where you can fair her back out going high or catch her landing and punish her just as hard with nair combos or RAR bair. Keep an eye out for the uair if she starts drifting towards the stage, and especially if she still has her jump. Once she goes low enough, simply run off and wait for the UpB so you can punish with header or an upB stage spike. If you she upB's before you can get level with the ledge use fair, bair, or nair instead. All of these options except for nair can reliably hit the ledge vulnerability, just be sure to chase her down and finish her if you stage spike, because she will more than likely be able to recover. Alternatively, grabbing the ledge early can give you the same results with less effort against going low and more against going high. Jab headers and ledge headers are also great ways to bait out options you can punish. Last but not least, you can always play it safe and keep your stage control by waiting for her to return to the stage. It might prove worth it by just letting her ledge stand and bopping Luma as she gets up.
Offstage Rosalina's strategy is very similar to Ness. She more than anything wants to avoid using her upB as it's very gimpable, arguably more so than Ness' due to the lack of a hitbox. Challenge her offstage occasionally by staying in her deadzone between her fair and dair, so that if she goes for one you can bair her out of it and if she goes high with UpB be sure to punish her with SS and start all over again(you should have an SS charge since it won't be used much in neutral). More effective however is establishing stage control at the edge where you can fair her back out going high or catch her landing and punish her just as hard with nair combos or RAR bair. Keep an eye out for the uair if she starts drifting towards the stage, and especially if she still has her jump. Once she goes low enough, simply run off and wait for the UpB so you can punish with header or an upB stage spike. If you she upB's before you can get level with the ledge use fair, bair, or nair instead. All of these options except for nair can reliably hit the ledge vulnerability, just be sure to chase her down and finish her if you stage spike, because she will more than likely be able to recover. Alternatively, grabbing the ledge early can give you the same results with less effort against going low and more against going high. Jab headers and ledge headers are also great ways to bait out options you can punish. Last but not least, you can always play it safe and keep your stage control by waiting for her to return to the stage. It might prove worth it by just letting her ledge stand and bopping Luma as she gets up.
No big changes to your juggle game outside of the increased damage from header in traps and air to airs. Offstage however gets tons easier. Chase her off and send death from above with weighted header, or create aerial traps with huge header following you in. Maintain stage control and throw headers below while you get ready to use jumbo hoops to stage spike them or hit her with the sun for going high both customs outdo the default here as their knockback angles are lower or in the case of sweeping not really knocking them back so much as carrying her back offstage. You could also call her airdodge on your approach and jumbo hoop her into the blastzone. All are honestly good means of dealing with her offstage. Letting her back on stage, all of your options are better now so it's even more dangerous and Jumbo Hoops is a new one letting you bop Luma, shoot for the 1 frame vulnerability on stand or do massive shield damage all in one option. I still recommend just baiting an UpB you can spike, but knowing your options never hurts.
Some interesting notes to keep in mind!
- Rosalina is very tall and has a wider hitbox than most so you can hit her with things like the sourspot(15%) on usmash without too much effort which can make for a reasonably strong pseudo-counter
- Her height also makes her subjective to header spikes from the ground which can be useful against ledge stand and combos into dair and SS
- As Luma's health goes down she becomes easier and easier to send into tumble
- Tumble is based on knockback not damage, but because some knockback is based on damage using DB can make a wider range of moves work
- While sending her into tumble or more is what you really want, Luma can't act out of hitstun so small hits can throw off her ability to retaliate immediately.
- Separating the duo is a good way to fish for SS snipes as players will look for opportunities to call Luma back to her side.
- Luma adds hitlag to your attacks so nair>usmash combos won't work unless she's gone. This also means however that header>fsmash setups may get extended multiple frames and further wreck the getup option from the ledge.
- Any stage Rosa's good on, WFT does well on too, but if you're going to come out on top of counterpicks like Halberd you need to get rid of Luma first
All in all you'll be looking at Rosalina seeking to use safe Luma pressure with jabs and dtilt to wall you out and apply pressure safely while using her decent ground speed to move in and out of what little range you have. When Luma is gone she loses a lot of her safety as her upclose options aren't particularly fast or powerful and will most likely try to use similar in and out spacing to stall for Luma while also threatening a burst option. As you can't rush her down with Luma, your goal is to remove him from the picture to open up an avenue for pressure and back off when he returns, while picking away at her with singular punishes in bursts and option selects to push her off the stage one step at a time where you can capitalize. Always keep in mind that when Luma is gone, the ability to soft nair into kill setups becomes available, and as a light character that goes into panic mode without Luma, you'll see plenty of opportunities to end her stock below 60% if you play it smart. Treat Luma like a team mate in doubles, respect her, but understand her limitations as a puppet and you'll find you have everything necessary in your kit to win.
I actually haven't seen many WFT's complain about this MU even less so with Customs on, but it never hurts to share perspectives on what does and has worked for everyone so we can optimize our play.
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