Through the Ph1r3 and the Ph14m3s: The Young Lion's Primer

I am a 17-year old smasher from upstate New York, USA who began Smashing since the first entry. I play Melee, Brawl, PM, and SSB4 to this day. While Roy isn't my main in any of the three games he stars in, this most recent incarnation of Roy (and the lack of text guides) inspired me to write this guide on my impressions and beginner's tips for players looking to try Roy.

Roy is a very aggressive character. Without proper spacing and care, however, Roy is easily vulnerable to counters/shieldgrabs. The Young Lion does not fare well against hyper-defensive players, but has amazing options against those who like to rush you. If you want to play Roy, keep the pressure on. Forcing your opponent to make bad decisions and capitalizing on those is the name of the game here. There are more suitable (read: lamer) characters for turtles. But if you want to land that elusive Flare Blade OHKO, or want to get that sick-looking meteor on your enemies, Roy is your boy.

Dthrow is Roy's BnB combo starter. It floats the opponent right in front of Roy and applies heavy hitstun. Welcome to Tilt City, population Our Boy. Dtilt at low %s, Utilt at moderate %s, even Smashes at high %s. The key here is to mix up your grabs with a late Dash Attack or SH aerial. If your opponent dodges back, you can chase and punish. If they spotdodge, Nair and Bair beat that. Worst case, they roll towards you and the situation resets.

Nair is your best bet in the neutral game, and is great as a pressure tool. If you're being pressured back, this will get them off you. If spaced properly (with the opponent near the END of the blade) then they usually can't punish even on shield. It also has decent damage and knockback. Not much else to say, except when short hopped, DON'T fast fall. The second hit doesn't come out, and leaves you vulnerable.
Edit: Nair actually CAN hit-confirm into Blazer, among other moves, BUT only if hit 2 misses/is canceled by landing. Thanks to HalcyonDays for this info!

Comes out fast, and has great knock back. Use this if the opponent tries to punish and whiffs, or against aggressive enemies. It's a surprisingly great move along with Dtilt and Nair, and should be your "speed move". You will win games if you use this properly.

A great poke tool. Roy quickly does a low stab. This is both a combo move and poke, especially against aggressive dashers. At low percents, it can combo into Double-Edge Dance (DED) and Blazer. When you don't know what to throw out, choose this or SH Nair.

The move that gets stuff done. This attack is monstrously powerful, and comes out fast for its power...unless you sourspot it. Mainly used as a big punish or a read. Try not to just throw it out, or you will get punished. Try to read rolls with this; oftentimes you will hit an opponent trying to flee behind you...right into your waiting blade!

A very quick move while uncharged, and a good edgeguard against high recoveries. Fully charged, it's an instant KO, no questions asked. Use this as a "fear" move on the ground. Jump backwards, charge it for a random amount of time and release to scare them into making mistakes, like jumping in and getting hit by your semicharged sword. It has surprisingly little lag, so flame away. Just be wary against the Villagers and Links, they can ignore this tactic and just projectile you.
Edit: I actually can't seem to find a real use for this outside of a shield break punish. If anyone else has advice, let me know.

This is mainly a combo move. It deals a good amount of damage and is easy to execute, with some practice. The Down variant is the most damaging, and the Up and Side versions deal more knock back. Up is almost useless, so stick with Side. Ultimately this will follow a tilt more often than not. One more thing: the Down variants inflict great shield damage, but not enough to outright break a shield on its own, so if your enemy likes to shieldgrab, try doing some max range SH Nairs, then SH forward, Nair, and go right into DED (SSDD variant.) This will usually pop the shield, and if you're fast with charging Flare Blade, that's one stock up in flames (pun intended).

Roy's main combo ender. It has light armor when executed standing, and travels a great horizontal distance. Don't be afraid to go a bit deep with Roy in the edge game, because his Blazer can be used from very far away to ledgegrab, as long as you don't fall too far. It's used in the infamous Dthrow > UpB combo primarily. Practice proper ledge grabbing with this, first instinct is to use it directly BELOW the ledge, but you should ideally use it DIAGONAL from the ledge. Roy has a fast fall speed, but Blazer has ridiculous horizontal range, so this will aid your recovery greatly.

You will not be relying on this too often, unless your opponent gets greedy. The number 1 bad habit I see is players mashing out a counter when being comboed, which is easily exploited. The number 2 bad habit is offstage counters. DO NOT counter offstage UNLESS you would be level or higher with the ledge upon the whiff animation ending. Otherwise, you WILL SD. Yes, even if the opponent goes for the meteor. You CAN use Counter effectively, but you have to use it sparingly. If, for instance, you're fighting Falcon and he wants to try the stupid Dthrow > Fair not-even-a-combo combo, just Counter. Watch what your enemy does and interrupt it with a well-placed Counter and you will seal some stocks. Just remember: it's usually a BAD idea to try and counter attacks from below; the momentum change from the animation will usually cause your opponent to whiff and punish.

Roy has a good edge game, but you have to follow a couple ground rules. Here they are:

1. DON'T go low. Roy's vertical recovery is mediocre at best.
2. DON'T get flashy. Dair is super fun to land, but outside of a hard read it is difficult to land at best, and suicide at worst. Use it mostly from level/close to the stage.
3. DO go deep, at least horizontally. As long as Roy has his midair jump, he can recover from any distance level to the stage. When chasing, after you use that, maybe use a quick Fair for good measure during the ascent, then quickly hold Back and make your way back onstage.
4. DO use Blazer higher up than usual. It has a shocking amount of horizontal movement (just hold Forward or even Back) that must be understood to play a good Roy.

That said, Fair is your best friend offstage. It's not Shulk Tier, but it'll get the job done. Dair should be used to interrupt recoveries while they are happening (i.e. while the hitbox/ascent is still happening), not as a move to just throw out. Otherwise, you'll probably fast fall to your death way too often. Lastly, Bair is a GREAT ledge trump option, mainly because you will almost always get the sweet spot. Either hit Up to ledge jump, or hit Back, then Up to detach from the ledge and jump, and smack them with that Bair. Then land onstage and chase as normal.

The meat of the guide. Roy's combo game is great, and Dthrow combos into Blazer until well past death %s.
Dthrow is your bae. Dthrow > Jab > wait a beat > Jab > Neutral Jump > SSSD DED or Nair is your opener combo and Dthrow > Nair > Blazer or simply Dthrow > Blazer later on. His jab can also lead into an Instant Dash Attack (IDA). Roy also has a non-true meteor combo, but I haven't tested this.
Tl;Dr Dthrow into Blazer for days.