Dealing with Squirtle's side B?

[swiftwinter]

My friend started playing Squirtle and my main, if not only, issue is dealing with his side B which my friend does a lot. I can block it but have no idea any good ways to follow up after the block. And Squirtle has some sort of armor when he's doing it, like my Fair and Dtilt don't work. What other ways can I stop or punish his side B?

 

[CyberZixx]

I'm not familiar with the matchup but I know Squirtle's armor can be beaten with strong enough attacks. You could try a well timed Fsmash. You could always counter if they are predictable with their patterns. You may be able to grab him out of it too.

 

[YaBoy]

I like wide/fast moves oos are your go to's here. Specifically fair or nair. I suggest nair. im like 80% sure shffled nair beats squirtles everything.

 

[RoyDestroyer01]

I know the matchup, just try using forward tilt, but make the direction of the forward tilt downwards (you can tilt it diagonally up, straight, and diagonally down). If it's in the air, just make it diagonally up. If you are in the air when he does it, then use Nair and you should be fine.

 

[TFerg]

I actually use dair a lot in this matchup. Most good squirtles can deal with your fair wall but dair baits are a great mixup option.

 

[skwaag5233]

Counter.

/Kappa

 

[menotyou135]

I play both characters. You can grab squirtle when he is coming at you. You can also F-smash (or N-B) him and D-smash him. F-tilt at a downward angle is probably the safest option because of it's range, but a good squirtle can get around it. If you shield, you can follow up with a grab, a SH Dair, or a backwards wavedash into some attack depending on where he goes.

 

[-Se7en-]

When I went to my first local I had to adapt to the matchup, and that Squirtle player loves side b. Whether it's retreating and coming back or covering one of my short hop landings.

I got around this by abusing grab. Once I grabbed Squirle, he couldn't run and I could combo him.

Be wary of him using it to recover, I think Fsmash or fair sent him spinning the other direction so it's a free gimp if you time the ledge grab.

 

[G13_Flux]

I actually use dair a lot in this matchup. Most good squirtles can deal with your fair wall but dair baits are a great mixup option.

as much as dair looks like a great move to cover space, its actually terrible to use from neutral or on grounded opponents. its high end lag coupled with its small sweetspot makes you terribly susceptible to CCing when using it. even at high percents opponents can CC it.

 

[TFerg]

as much as dair looks like a great move to cover space, its actually terrible to use from neutral or on grounded opponents. its high end lag coupled with its small sweetspot makes you terribly susceptible to CCing when using it. even at high percents opponents can CC it.

Dair is an incredible cross up move if spaced well and L-cancelled (duh), but especially out of shield.
In many of Sethlon's sets he will cross up Dair out of shield, or simply cross up dair period, it's really effective.

Sweet spotting it is quite easy as well, (I've personally never had problems landing the sweet spot>sweetspot>sweet spot>bair combo, just try to aim Roy's shoulder at their body) and cannot be crouch cancelled.

Obviously like anything, don't overuse it. And yes, if you space it improperly like a dope you will get CC'd and punished hard. That being said, that's only on heavier characters. Against floatier matchups Dair on ground is much more safe.

 

[Ghetto Blush]

Crouch cancel D-Tilt wrecks withdraw approaches; I am not sure how you are coming to the conclusion that you can't D-Tilt it. Roy has so many tools against Squirtle it is not even funny. Just using Flare Blade when your opponent tries to approach you withdraw is a simple and effective answer to the move.

Also just a general match-up thing...if the Squirtle does not sweet spot the edge when recovering with Waterfall, you can punish the huge hitbox the move has with counter. Generally if they are at a medium percentage, they will not be able to recover.

 

[Brim]

First of all, counter is usually a good way to stop the B-sideways. Just remember if you miss, you're wide open.
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Other suggestions are: Fair. Dair. Nair. Also, the first hit of your dancing fire blade (DED I call it Dancing Fire Blade though) usually works.
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Also, since you're talking about squirtle be careful about edge-guarding him because the end hitboxes of Squirtle's recovery reaches really far out. It's really good.

 

[NIFOFD]

My typical strategy to counter side b spam is to abuse the massive range on Roy's f-tilt. If the normal ftilt isn't cutting it, angling it downwards may help solve the issue. While Squirtle does seem to have armor on side-b, I haven't had much trouble with it using this tactic (I'll admit I don't understand the armor mechanic at all). I might suggest trying to bait out the side-b (if they are fond of it) and then doing some form of wavedash back -> ftilt/fsmash/dtilt etc.

I know a lot of people have suggested using the counter, but I feel this must be done with great caution. The counter window is small and more often than not I find that Roy counters in the direction of Squirtle's approach while Squirtle has already moved behind him. However, the counter would act as a powerful tool if you can make it work.

While Squirtle has many movement options, I think Roy has the necessary tools to deal with them if played right. Make use of Roy's mobility in the form of dash dancing, wave dashing (and WDooS should you have to shield the side-b, though be aware of a possible aerial coming out after the side-b). I find that often if going for the kill I have to resort to decent kill moves with lower start up (most notably the risky but fast dsmash), but I have personally always struggled with setting up combos that lead into a kill against such a slippery character.

I hope something in here helps you out.

 

[G13_Flux]

Dair is an incredible cross up move if spaced well and L-cancelled (duh), but especially out of shield.
In many of Sethlon's sets he will cross up Dair out of shield, or simply cross up dair period, it's really effective.

Sweet spotting it is quite easy as well, (I've personally never had problems landing the sweet spot>sweetspot>sweet spot>bair combo, just try to aim Roy's shoulder at their body) and cannot be crouch cancelled.

Obviously like anything, don't overuse it. And yes, if you space it improperly like a dope you will get CC'd and punished hard. That being said, that's only on heavier characters. Against floatier matchups Dair on ground is much more safe.

well, its an ok cross up if youre coming from a platform above or something like that, but its usually going to be more of a defensive maneuver when you have literally no other option to cover that angle other than bair. the sweetspot isnt hard to land if you combo into it, but if youre actually landing it from neutral then your opponent probably isnt very good. it is -2 on shield, which is decent for staying safe, but again, its probably not going to come from an offensive manuever while approaching out of neutral. all of the uses that dair has comes from when you have your opponent at a disadvantage already, or as a last resort to cover your backside. in terms of using this against squirtle, i think it has very few uses, because his side b is going to go right through it, and he is one of the smallest targets in the game, making the already small chances of landing a sweetspot even smaller. its also just too CCable. sethlon may use it to cross up, but the situations he uses it in are when theres no other better option and hes forced to use it. if you use it too offesnively, youre going to get punished against anyone remotely competent.

 

[NIFOFD]

well, its an ok cross up if youre coming from a platform above or something like that, but its usually going to be more of a defensive maneuver when you have literally no other option to cover that angle other than bair. the sweetspot isnt hard to land if you combo into it, but if youre actually landing it from neutral then your opponent probably isnt very good. it is -2 on shield, which is decent for staying safe, but again, its probably not going to come from an offensive manuever while approaching out of neutral. all of the uses that dair has comes from when you have your opponent at a disadvantage already, or as a last resort to cover your backside. in terms of using this against squirtle, i think it has very few uses, because his side b is going to go right through it, and he is one of the smallest targets in the game, making the already small chances of landing a sweetspot even smaller. its also just too CCable. sethlon may use it to cross up, but the situations he uses it in are when theres no other better option and hes forced to use it. if you use it too offesnively, youre going to get punished against anyone remotely competent.

I frequently use dair in the neutral game and subsequently get completely destroyed. It's like I have to lose a stock at least once a match before realizing that dair is not actually a viable approach option. I do sometimes try to use it oos with moderate success, but I feel like my options are so restricted by that point that I'm already in an unfavorable situation.