Hello, I’m Foxy, and I’ve been maining Roy for about 2 years now.
Over the course of those 2 years, I’ve become very committed to Roy, and I’ve been determined to figure out how to utilize all of his moves to the best of their abilities.
When reading other guides on Roy, I felt like they were more so “move overviews” than actual guides on how to utilize each move. As such, the purpose of this guide will be to inform you on how Roy can apply each move to combo, space, mix up, and a few other things.
Movement:
So, I said that this guide is going to go over each of Roy’s moves, but to utilize Roy’s not so amazing moves, you need to utilize his surprisingly good movement.
Roy has the 11th fastest dash in the game, so he’s not exactly speedy in that regard. however, with the 6th longest wavedash, the 4th fastest fall speed, 7th fastest fast fall speed, and the 5th "longest" dash dance, Roy can make things work with tricky movement to manipulate his opponent into messing up, and take advantage of the situation.
To begin, lets look at Roy's-
(I'd like to quickly talk about this, so it's clear what I mean when i say "good spacing" through this guide)
Roy's attacks have some of the strangest properties in the whole game. Roy is the type of character can can kill you at 40% one stock, then kill you at 200% the next.
Many people claim that Roy is counter productive because he needs to be so close to be effective despite having a sword. One positive, when compared to Marth, is that his sweet spot is much easier to hit. However, despite popular belief, Roy's hilted f-smash is less powerful than Marth's tipper f-smash, and Roy's sour spots are much worse than Marth's.
Despite all of this, you can utilize Roy's sour spots in some situations to mix up your opponent, jab reset, or even combo at percents that you wouldn't normally be able to with other characters.
Let's begin!
Over the course of those 2 years, I’ve become very committed to Roy, and I’ve been determined to figure out how to utilize all of his moves to the best of their abilities.
When reading other guides on Roy, I felt like they were more so “move overviews” than actual guides on how to utilize each move. As such, the purpose of this guide will be to inform you on how Roy can apply each move to combo, space, mix up, and a few other things.
Movement:
So, I said that this guide is going to go over each of Roy’s moves, but to utilize Roy’s not so amazing moves, you need to utilize his surprisingly good movement.
Roy has the 11th fastest dash in the game, so he’s not exactly speedy in that regard. however, with the 6th longest wavedash, the 4th fastest fall speed, 7th fastest fast fall speed, and the 5th "longest" dash dance, Roy can make things work with tricky movement to manipulate his opponent into messing up, and take advantage of the situation.
To begin, lets look at Roy's-
Dash Dance:
For a bad character, Roy has a pretty good dash dance. However, the thing about dash dancing is that it's only as good as a characters options out of it, so what does Roy get from using his long dash dance to weave in and out of his opponents range? he has his grab!
Being a clone of Marth has it's advantages, and Roy's grab is one of them. Roy has the 2nd longest (non-tether) grab in the game, which means that you can dash dance around somebody approaching and quickly grab them from a good distance (more in depth information about Roy's grab in the grab section)
Roy also has his dash attack, but it's a much more situational move to use due to its bad hitbox placement and end lag (more in depth information about Roy's dash attack in the dash attack section overview)
You can also use Roy's dash dance to intimidate opponents in shield. By dash dancing around their shield, you can quickly dash out of distance of shield grabs and aerial, then dash back in for a grab. if they choose to roll, you can try to cover that space and grab them.
Roy's dash dance also makes him a surprisingly good tech chase character! You can dash dance around where you think they're going to roll, while also evading a potential get up attack, and get a grab.
Try mixing up long strides with very tight dash dancing to throw off your opponents and never quite give them a solid idea of where you're going to be next.
Wavedash:
Roy has an excellent wavedash! He both gets good distance and gets good options out of it, the only problem is that Roy has 5 jumpsquat frames. Keep in mind that 5 frames isn't terrible, it's simply not the fastest.
Roy's wavedash is great because you can set up a lot of stuff using it, and it's especially good for spacing d-tilts and f-smashes. Both Roy's dash dance and wavedash can be used to evade an opponents predictable approach.
As an example, if you're playing against a Ganon that always approaches with Fair, you can wavedash back and d-tilt, or dash dance backwards to evade it, then back forward again to grab him!
Roy's wavedash is also really good to cover space quickly to d-tilt or f-smash that his initial dash is too long to actually use. I'd say the best example of this is when somebody just missed a tech (a good position for Roy to be in), however, they're laying just far enough away that your f-smash/d-tilt won't sweet spot. This is an optimal position to wavedash forward and do your attack, as Roy's initial dash is too long to cover that short space efficiently.
Roy may have a good dash dance and a good wavedash, but you'll need to use them together to fully utilize Roy's amazing movement, the best Roy's can slip and slide across the stage using his great dash dance length and wavedash.
Along with his wavedash, Roy can use his waveland on platforms to mix up his options and catch his opponents off guard. This is a great example of where I think his fall speed is very helpful, because you can come down from platforms very quickly with an attack. If you're already on the platform, you can run off, fast fall, and Fair to cover decent space while throwing out a hitbox. It's a fairly common tactic, but be careful, because if you're too predictable with how you come down, you can be punished hard. When on the ground, I personally like to dash forward, then waveland backwards off a platform while doing Roy's up-air. It's quick, tricky, and it's great for starting up combo's! (more in depth information on Roy's up-air in the up-air section overview)
Fall speed:
It's hard to tell if Roy's fast fall speed helps him or hurts him more, however, since he's a fast faller and there's nothing we can do about that, we have to utilize the advantages.
Whereas Marth can throw out two Fair's in one short hop, Roy can SHFFL his aerials much faster than Marth can. This simply means that Roy can short hop, do an aerial, and fast-fall-L-cancel it quicker than Marth can. In general, you're going to be using Roy's fast falling speed to quickly land with your aerials so you have the least chance of getting punished. Typically, you wanna use Roy's aerials as close to the ground as you can so you can either follow up as soon as possible, or recover from the lag as soon as possible.
However, one of Roy's best mix ups is actually to not do an aerial at all! You can short hop fast fall without doing an aerial to get back onto the ground quickly, while making your opponent think you're going to attack. This is an extremely important mix up to throw into your Roy play, as it will make your opponent question whether or not you'll be attacking or not.
An example of when this is extremely useful is when your opponent is shielding your aerials a lot, and you keep getting shield-grabbed. Jump into the air, and while they're in shield, instead of attacking their shield, simply try fast falling and grabbing them! This will force your opponent to adapt and reconsider trying to shield-grab you. Another option is to short hop and land just outside of their shield-grab range, so when they try to shield-grab you, they're left vulnerable. This will give you a great opportunity to counter attack.
Overall, Roy's fall speed plays a great role into why he's such a fast character. He can move around very quickly with all of these tools.
Approach:(I'd like to quickly talk about this, so it's clear what I mean when i say "good spacing" through this guide)
If you main Roy, you know that his sweet spots are located on the hilt of his sword, not the tip. This wouldn't be as big of a problem as one may think if not for the fact that his sour spots are absolutely terrible.
Roy has some of the worst sour spots. They send his opponent absolutely nowhere, do abysmal damage, and have little to no hitstun. This means that to space your sword well and out range your opponent doesn't do nearly anything for Roy.
Roy has some of the worst sour spots. They send his opponent absolutely nowhere, do abysmal damage, and have little to no hitstun. This means that to space your sword well and out range your opponent doesn't do nearly anything for Roy.
Because of this, Roy would be more akin to a rush down character. The problem with this, However, is that Roy doesn't have "rush down" characteristics.
With Roy, you're gonna be forced to make an unsafe approach fairly often.
Attacks:Roy's attacks have some of the strangest properties in the whole game. Roy is the type of character can can kill you at 40% one stock, then kill you at 200% the next.
Many people claim that Roy is counter productive because he needs to be so close to be effective despite having a sword. One positive, when compared to Marth, is that his sweet spot is much easier to hit. However, despite popular belief, Roy's hilted f-smash is less powerful than Marth's tipper f-smash, and Roy's sour spots are much worse than Marth's.
Despite all of this, you can utilize Roy's sour spots in some situations to mix up your opponent, jab reset, or even combo at percents that you wouldn't normally be able to with other characters.
Let's begin!
Jab:
Coming out at frame 4, this is your quickest option for putting out a hitbox. because this move is a single swipe that knocks your opponent away, it's typically used as a "get off of me" option, meaning that often times you can use it to push your opponent back when they're getting too close to you.
Most commonly, this move is used after hitting your opponents shield in an attempt to stop them from acting out of shield.
Common examples include:
- d-tilt, jab
- Fair, jab
- jab, jab
unless spaced well, none of theses are truly safe on shield, but they're Roy's best hope for not being punished after attacking shield.
Roy's jab is also frequently used after his tech rolls, mostly commonly tech in place, jab. This tactic is surprisingly good at catching your opponent trying to tech chase you, because of it's unexpected speed. Of course, much like all other things, you shouldn't rely on this tactic too heavily, or you'll become predictable and be punished.
When you're in a pinch, and need a quick move, it's up to your own judgement to decide what's more important:
Jab: hitbox comes out sooner (frame 4), but takes longer to act out of (frame 26)
D-tilt: hitbox comes out later (frame 8), but is quicker to act out of (frame 20)
I'm not saying that jab is as good as d-tilt, but I am saying that there's times to use jab instead of d-tilt, even if d-tilt is one of Roy's best moves.
F-tilt:
If Roy's jab is his "get off me" move, then f-tilt is his "get out of here". Jokes aside, Roy's f-tilt is a commonly forgotten move, and I feel like this is the case for many characters, but Roy might be able to get a little more use out of f-tilt that you may think.
Roy's f-tilt is commonly referred to as a "stronger version of his jab", and that's understandable. When you use Roy's f-tilt, you're sacrificing the speed of his jab for a bit more range and power.
With a hit box coming out at frame 9, and the move itself lasting a total of 40 frames, Roy's f-tilt isn't the fastest, but what it lacks in speed it makes up for in good range, and good power.
Roy's f-tilt is a good spacing move at mid to high percents (about 40% and up). It's most useful for quickly knocking you opponent offstage to set up an edge guard situation, where Roy can use many of his moves to scare the opponent into recovering a certain way, or even net an early kill with a well placed attack at the edge.
So, how should you use Roy's f-tilt effectively without getting punished? I think it's best application is when used defensively, with wavedashes. You can wavedash backwards with this move to retreat, or to try stuffing your opponents approach.
Scenario:
Say you're playing against a Falcon who really likes to short hop in with Fair's and Nair's. The next time you see them about to short hop in with another Fair/Nair, try wavedashing back and throwing out your f-tilt to swat them out of the air. In this situation, f-tilt is a great move to counter your opponents approach, as it reaches far in front of Roy, and the arc he swings it in catches opponents out of the air well.
Lastly, I'd like to mention what might be the most important use for Roy's f-tilt.
Roy's f-tilt may be situational, but it's actually his best anti-projectile weapon. Roy's f-tilt allows him to move forward and hit projectiles out of the air, which is extremely important because Roy struggles against projectiles.
If you have to play against Samus, you're going to need to use this move by walking forward and f-tilting her missiles out of he air, otherwise, you're going to have to either power-shield them, or find another option to avoid them while not leaving yourself vulnerable.
Up-tilt:
Up-tilt is one of Roy's strangest moves, and can only be fully utilized if you understand the strange properties of it. One good thing about Roy's up-tilt having strange properties is that if you don't know what it's gonna do, your opponent won't either. However, it's even better if you understand how the move functions while your opponent does not.
With this hitbox for this move coming out at frame 7, up-tilt actually puts a hitbox out faster than any of Roy's other tilts. However, you can only act out of the move by frame 40, making it a bit slow, and hard to follow up.
In general, there are gonna be 3 directions this move will send your opponent:
Front hit (sweet spot): Knocks your opponent up and behind you.
This hit can be used to mix up somebody who frequently DI's away from Roy to avoid his combos. If your opponent tries DI'ing away from this move, it will cause them to fly straight upwards, setting Roy up for some follow ups like grab, d-tilt, f-smash, or another up-tilt.
DI'ing in will send them much farther backwards behind Roy, which can still be useful for knocking your opponent into a less desirable position.
Back hit (sweet spot): Knocks your opponent straight up.
Very useful if you mix up between this and the front hit. You can scare you opponent into DI'ing up-tilt inward, then use this hit to catch them by surprise and knock them right back in front of you. If they don't DI it at all, you can follow it up just as well, but you have to turn around before you can try to follow up.
If they DI away from you, the only follow up you're usually gonna be able to get is grab. Typically, Roy's up-tilt is used when up-throw chain grabbing fast fallers.
Front/Back hit (sour spot): Knocks your opponent away in front of or behind you.
Not much use to this hitbox, as expected. Generally this is going to be the hit you don't want, and can't even really be used for mix-ups. At best, you may get lucky and knock your opponent offstage with this, but honestly, the only thing this hit's gonna kill is your combo.
Roy's up-tilt (as previously stated) is most often used in his up-throw chain grabs on Fox, Falco, and Falcon. This is the best time to catch your opponent with the move, and the best way to manipulate their DI, as they're gonna be trying to DI any possible way they can to escape your grab.
You can use Roy's up-tilt in other combo situations, but they're much less likely than using it during his up-throw.
D-tilt:
Here we are, the mighty Roy Down tilt. This move is undoubtedly Roy's greatest asset. No matter who you play against and how unfamiliar with the Roy match-up they are, they will know this move.
If you play Roy, you probably already know how great this move is, so lets cut to the chase, utility and combos.
Here we are, the mighty Roy Down tilt. This move is undoubtedly Roy's greatest asset. No matter who you play against and how unfamiliar with the Roy match-up they are, they will know this move.
If you play Roy, you probably already know how great this move is, so lets cut to the chase, utility and combos.
Frame data:
D-tilt comes out on frame 8-10, and and can be interrupted as soon as frame 20. If you ever find yourself wanting to instantly interrupt this move with shield, you'll find that it can't be done conventionally. The easiest solution is to hold back along with shield, this will make the game register you as turning around, but you can interrupt this with shield. Trust me, it's a lot simpler than it sounds.
D-tilt comes out on frame 8-10, and and can be interrupted as soon as frame 20. If you ever find yourself wanting to instantly interrupt this move with shield, you'll find that it can't be done conventionally. The easiest solution is to hold back along with shield, this will make the game register you as turning around, but you can interrupt this with shield. Trust me, it's a lot simpler than it sounds.
Approach:
If you watch any Roy match, you'll be sure to notice how often Roy players will approach with this move, and for good reason, it's Roy's only low risk - high reward move. If you connect with the move, you're guaranteed some kind of followup, but if you miss, you can quickly dash back and retreat. Even if the move hits shield, you have a good chance of being able to get out safely, assuming you had good spacing.
If you watch any Roy match, you'll be sure to notice how often Roy players will approach with this move, and for good reason, it's Roy's only low risk - high reward move. If you connect with the move, you're guaranteed some kind of followup, but if you miss, you can quickly dash back and retreat. Even if the move hits shield, you have a good chance of being able to get out safely, assuming you had good spacing.
Combos:
d-tilt is going to be your main combo move in general, and for good reason. It pops your opponent up right in front of you and allows for easy followups. However, don't squander this opportunity!! Just because your opponent may doubt Roy's combo ability, doesn't mean you should too.
D-tilt to F-smash, while it does occasionally have its uses, shouldn't be your go to combo, especially if you're playing against a fast faller.
while I can't sit here and tell you every combo you can get, I will tell you great moves to throw into your combos to extend them and make them as powerful as possible. As well, this is going to theoretically be against fox on FD, and you can apply it to other stages or mix up what you must.
D-tilt to F-smash, while it does occasionally have its uses, shouldn't be your go to combo, especially if you're playing against a fast faller.
while I can't sit here and tell you every combo you can get, I will tell you great moves to throw into your combos to extend them and make them as powerful as possible. As well, this is going to theoretically be against fox on FD, and you can apply it to other stages or mix up what you must.
i'm still working on this and haven't gotten around to finishing it, i got kinda sidetracked