How do I fight a Rosalina player?

[ChikoLad]

Also on a side note Who said bomb cancel was getting removed?

Has been confirmed by people who have the Wii U version. Same way we know about Luma's respawn timer being extended.

 

[Warlock*G]

Has been confirmed by people who have the Wii U version. Same way we know about Luma's respawn timer being extended.

Hope they don't remove all of the interesting techs that way...

 

[InfinityZERO]

N-Air is actually great for coming down if you use it while moving to the side of your opponent. It shifts her hurtbox to dodge the attack, and swings back on top of the opponent.

In general, I disagree with her having a tough time coming down, it's not that hard if you play smart. Her air dodge is an amazing asset for this because of the warping effect, you can play some serious mind games with it.

Also GP is totally fine against all of the characters you listed there (sans ZSS). With ROB in particular, using GP on his Gyros makes Rosalina the owner of them. Even if you don't pick them up he can still take damage from them, and if you catch them with GP the moment he's firing them, he will take damage from them then too. GP forces an approach if people are trying to zone you too, no matter the projectile, and you can plan around that. This tactic is especially effective when Rosalina is a stock above or there is a huge damage percent gap in Rosalina's favour (since the opponent has to act in the former or else they will lose to time, and in the latter, it's easy to draw them in for a KO).

Toon Link is probably the most solid character in general against her though. The match up is completely even in my opinion. Toon Link can counter all of Rosalina's strengths, and vice versa.

If you're opponent is playing smart as well, IE chasing you down, she's going to have a tough time coming down. There is now an internal counter to Rosaluma's invis dodge, you tap your opponent's faceplate while playing them it puts a red box around the opponent. You're talking about a Rosalina player that isn't playing against a competent opponent. Try a competent ROB with you coming down from being laucnhed? He's got Uair to juggle and launch you. A competent ROB uses their Gyro at medium distance where if you use GP you stop the Gyro, it doesn't become yours (like a Pokeball that has been GP, you have to claim it), and they punish the end lag of GP. The Gyros stop like T/Link's bombs or Pac-Man's fruit, they don't damage the original owner.

 

[icraq]

A competent ROB uses their Gyro at medium distance where if you use GP you stop the Gyro, it doesn't become yours (like a Pokeball that has been GP, you have to claim it), and they punish the end lag of GP. The Gyros stop like T/Link's bombs or Pac-Man's fruit, they don't damage the original owner.

Ah, that's false, gyro does become yours and continues to spin and no longer hurts you, only ROB. Tested earlier this evening. It can be far enough away or late enough in the GP animation to not even pull the gyro towards you and it still can become Rosalinas. Same w/ mecha koopas. You can airdodge rob's uairs, he could read the airdodge but you could read his delayed uair and dair him...mindgames to the max.

 

[Kinslayer]

Hope they don't remove all of the interesting techs that way...

Same here smash U is gonna suck if they did.

 

[Kinslayer]

Ah, that's false, gyro does become yours and continues to spin and no longer hurts you, only ROB. Tested earlier this evening. It can be far enough away or late enough in the GP animation to not even pull the gyro towards you and it still can become Rosalinas. Same w/ mecha koopas. You can airdodge rob's uairs, he could read the airdodge but you could read his delayed uair and dair him...mindgames to the max.

I don't think you can dodge through robs up airs beacuse robs up air hit box is actually active for quite some time and even if you did rob recovers pretty fast from up air and can probably hit you with something before you touch the ground

 

[ChikoLad]

I don't think you can dodge through robs up airs beacuse robs up air hit box is actually active for quite some time and even if you did rob recovers pretty fast from up air and can probably hit you with something before you touch the ground

But the active hit box goes upwards. Rosalina can just dodge through it at an angle.

 

[Kinslayer]

But the active hit box goes upwards. Rosalina can just dodge through it at an angle.

The rob player can float that way right along with you. There are variables to everything, but all im saying is don't underestimate the rob options!

Also as a just so you know. It's above and under rob's arms not just above. The hitbox is basically wherever his arms are.lol

 

[ChikoLad]

The rob player can float that way right along with you. There are variables to everything, but all im saying is don't underestimate the rob options!

Also as a just so you know. It's above and under rob's arms not just above. The hitbox is basically wherever his arms are.lol

Rosalina's air dodge is too long and unpredictable for that to be more than a hard read situation, though.

The hitbox does not reach under ROB's...bottom (he doesn't have feet, so IDK what to call it), so Rosalina can dodge under that.

ROB's a fine character but I've never found him to be particular trouble against Rosalina.

 

[Kinslayer]

Rosalina's air dodge is too long and unpredictable for that to be more than a hard read situation, though.

The hitbox does not reach under ROB's...bottom (he doesn't have feet, so IDK what to call it), so Rosalina can dodge under that.

ROB's a fine character but I've never found him to be particular trouble against Rosalina.

No one said feet.... Errrr rockets.lol

I said its above and under his arm. His move animation is him flipping his arms in a circle. And that circle or horizontal box in this case is where it hits. So basically his arm is the hitbox.

If it wasn't I wouldn't be able to hit kirby off the ground with it because the hitbox would be to high to hit his small body. (Doing this in the lab right now)

 

[ChikoLad]

No one said feet.... Errrr rockets.lol

I said its above and under his arm. His move animation is him flipping his arms in a circle. And that circle or horizontal box in this case is where it hits. So basically his arm is the hitbox

I'm aware, but said hitbox doesn't stretch all the way below his entire body. Rosalina can pass through his entire body with a fast fall air dodge with ease.

 

[Kinslayer]

I'm aware, but said hitbox doesn't stretch all the way below his entire body. Rosalina can pass through his entire body with a fast fall air dodge with ease.

You're not comprehending the part about long active frames and hitting above and below him. Rosalina can only flaot a certain distance away from rob is she is just free falling her way to the ground. I'm sure the rob player can stay on top of her if she air dodges which won't even move her far.

 

[ChikoLad]

You're not comprehending the part about long active frames and hitting above and below him. Rosalina can only flaot a certain distance away from rob is she is just free falling her way to the ground. I'm sure the rob player can stay on top of her if she air dodges which won't even move her far.

My last post explained exactly the opposite of this. ROB's arms do not reach below his thrusters when using Up Air, but Rosalina can dodge through his arms and becomes "hittable" again only at some point after getting below the thrusters, provided she fast falls.

 

[Kinslayer]

My last post explained exactly the opposite of this. ROB's arms do not reach below his thrusters when using Up Air, but Rosalina can dodge through his arms and becomes "hittable" again only at some point after getting below the thrusters, provided she fast falls.

I don't know if rosalina's height will allow for her to be that fortunate. That would have to be an amazingly perfectly perfect timed dodge because while yes they don't extend the low the thrusters, the almost extent the full length of rob's body. I would imainge a character as tall as rosa would still be inside that hitbox. That would be interesting to see

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Next weekend, I will be implementing changes to the match-up discussions. You can argue about the Rosalina vs. R.O.B. match-up even further once I've gotten everything all set up.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Next weekend, I will be implementing changes to the match-up discussions. You can argue about the Rosalina vs. R.O.B. match-up even further once I've gotten everything all set up.

And I look forward to seeing what you have planned.

 

[icraq]

I don't think you can dodge through robs up airs beacuse robs up air hit box is actually active for quite some time and even if you did rob recovers pretty fast from up air and can probably hit you with something before you touch the ground

if you're interested we can test this online, i think her air dodge lasts slightly longer than his uair hitbox and she can recover quicker. but you could be right, i'd just need to test.

 

[Kinslayer]

if you're interested we can test this online, i think her air dodge lasts slightly longer than his uair hitbox and she can recover quicker. but you could be right, i'd just need to test.

I'm interested in this myself. I'm not a rob main myself, but knowing this tech will be important for more than just rosalina mains

 

[AetherStorm]

Same thing here. Can any Rosalina bash my face in already?

Not against a good Falcon player... I consider that to be my worst matchup.

 

[Warlock*G]

Not against a good Falcon player... I consider that to be my worst matchup.

Well I don't know how "good" I am really. Care to try me?

Edit: I likewise consider Rosie to be my worst MU.

 

[AetherStorm]

Well I don't know how "good" I am really. Care to try me?

Edit: I likewise consider Rosie to be my worst MU.

Sure, It should be interesting. I'll add your code when I get home from school.

 

[Watulio]

I use DK, Cap falcon and Ganondorf the most and they're no match for rosalina. Their lack of projectiles really hurt them bad. Rosalina will let her luma shield your well aimed hit while she just grabs you and throws you away or combos you with her luma who barely reacts to the +20% hit. You'll be killed at 100% most of the time even being a heavy character as she throws you down while her luma comes rushing back to her to combo you with 2 hits (Rosalina's up smash and luma's up smash hit you, you're dead)

She's ridicolous. Oh, once you get rid of her luma she's still a pain to fight. She'll run, dash attack and throw you away from her as she cowardly waits until the next luma arrives (captain falcon gets an edge here, but DK and Ganondorf can never catch a fleeing rosalina.)

The least pleasant matches after ZSS. My only advice for anyone who is against a Rosalina main is to search for another player.

 

[Warlock*G]

I use DK, Cap falcon and Ganondorf the most and they're no match for rosalina. [...]

I can't speak for the two gorillas, but as for the Falcon-Rosalina MU, here's what I wrote on the Falcon boards:

Spoiler

Falcon vs Rosalina MU: tips for Falcon players

When:

Falcon is on the ground + Rosie and Luma are on the ground and close together:
Here, any attacks that can hit them both at the same time or quickly go through Luma will work wonders. Gentleman, Falcon kick and running A come to mind among other attacks, but beware the timing! If you miss, you'll be (of course) wide open. And keep it varied! Show Rosalina more than 2 of your moves.

Falcon is on the ground + Rosie and Luma are on the ground and far apart:
At this point, it's all a matter of either:
- killing Luma with an attack that won't leave you open (depends on your distance vis-à-vis Rosie; judge and act accordingly)
or
- getting past that little star and in Rosie's face quickly before she can call it back (maybe for a running grab and d-throw...).
Also note that, whenever Rosalina is on the ground, occasional, well-timed and well-spaced f-smashes are your best friends. Land them and watch Rosie fly.

Falcon is on the ground + Rosie and Luma are in the air:
Time to try and juggle Rosie with uairs! However, note that it is preferable to approach Rosie, not from the straight bottom, but diagonnally -- either down to her left or down to her right. That way, her aerials won't hit you as easily.

Falcon is in the air:
This is not a good position to be in. From above, none of your aerials beat Rosalina's attacks. The best thing to do here is to dodge and/or be unpredictable with your landing.
(If you're really close to Rosalina, an aerial Falcon kick can work and will get both Rosie and Luma if they're not separated; however, a Falcon kick from afar is so predictable it's not even funny; don't do it).

Also, you say:

Their lack of projectiles really hurt them bad.

However, projectiles are easily absorbed by Rosalina's down-B anyway. Falcon's speed is more of a boon to him than any projectile could be.

 

[Watulio]

However, projectiles are easily absorbed by Rosalina's down-B anyway. Falcon's speed is more of a boon to him than any projectile could be.

Her projectile animation usually lives her vulnerbale and most rosalinas will just try to air dodge unless you spam big stuff like charged shots from wii fit, samus and lucario. Pressuring rosalina with mario by throwing fireballs at her while she or her luma get stunned for a bit allows for you to press on.

 

[-Se7en-]

I've played a few Rosalinas and they hate it when I interrupt Luma charge with a long range projectile. If they start spamming down b many times I punish.

If she shoots Luma past me I either

A) Attack Luma until it falls offstage.

B) Run in and punish Rosalina until Luma comes back.

Don't get above her! A good Rosalina will juggle you to death. Her Uair is ridiculous (the hitbox comes out above her hurtbox).

Her Grab game isn't too good at high Percents but at low Percents she can Uthrow > Utilt > follow up.

 

[Iron Kraken]

A Rosalina player who shoots Luma past you on a consistent basis is probably not a very experienced / good player.

The only time I'll ever shoot Luma is with a "get out of my face" tap of the B button which doesn't send Luma very far, a tap of the B button to set up a Luma barrier, or I'll hold the Luma charge for edge guards. In an edge guarding situation, if the Luma Shot misses, I still force my opponent to recover to the stage at an awkward angle - if they go very low, I'll try to spike them with Dair, and if they go high I'll try to punish with U-Air or Up-Smash.

So yeah, if you play a Rosalina who is shooting Luma past you on the stage, by all means take advantage of that... but again, that's not something a good, experienced Rosalina player would do.

 

[-Se7en-]

A Rosalina player who shoots Luma past you on a consistent basis is probably not a very experienced / good player.

The only time I'll ever shoot Luma is with a "get out of my face" tap of the B button which doesn't send Luma very far, a tap of the B button to set up a Luma barrier, or I'll hold the Luma charge for edge guards. In an edge guarding situation, if the Luma Shot misses, I still force my opponent to recover to the stage at an awkward angle - if they go very low, I'll try to spike them with Dair, and if they go high I'll try to punish with U-Air or Up-Smash.

So yeah, if you play a Rosalina who is shooting Luma past you on the stage, by all means take advantage of that... but again, that's not something a good, experienced Rosalina player would do.

The Rosalinas I've played seem to have this mentality that they always have to send Luma out if I'm far away. I think Rosalinas need to think heavy every time they want to send Luma out.

Most just throw Luma out in reaction, then what? I get a free punish usually around 20-40% everytime they don't have Luma close.

Forgot to mention, Rosalina can't really do anything on her own. So when she doesn't have Luma I go in.

 

[warionumbah2]

Pick Diddy Kong or some other OP/Top tier/Most hated character.

Dunno about her current form, if she can still hit you when she's grabbed or in hit stun then top level kek, Puppet characters are either garbage or the best in a lot of fighting games.

 

[Phenomiracle]

Forgot to mention, Rosalina can't really do anything on her own. So when she doesn't have Luma I go in.

This is...so, so wrong; I don't even know where to begin.

I'm not of the camp that believes that Rosaluma's insanely overpowered, but that statement is simply not true. Her approach options, stalling techniques, even her vanishing shield roll, there's plenty Rosalina could do on her own.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Rosalina is far from helpless without the Luma, but her approach options become very limited as a result. Depending on the player, Rosalina may just stall for the next Luma to appear, but she can still take advantage of any mistakes that the opponent does.

 

[Mindles]

advice i can give based on my experience with RL players is to do what i call the in n' out strategy

 

[PoptartPresident]

Can you guys give me some information about how to fight Rosalina & luma? What are her biggest weaknesses? I feel like I'm always losing to R&L players. What moves should I watch out for? I know you guys won't wanna give away your strategies and stuff but I want to stand Toe to Toe with Rosalina players.

Hi Gabukin, I am a Rosalina and Luma main.


So one of the many reasons I love Rosalina&Luma and Wii Fit Trainer is because literally no one knows how to fight against either of them. It seems people either give up at the start because they don't know what they can do, or they don't like playing against "weird" characters.

But obviously you want to know how to beat Rosalina. So I'll let you know how through my experiences.

Before I begin, I would like to start off with saying I was super hyped when Rosalina was confirmed for ssb4. I immediately said "**** yeah I'm gonna main her and Wii Fit"
And I did. It just so happened that Rosalina ended up being a Top-Tier character. But I didn't care all that much. Same for Wii Fit.
I don't like thinking Rosalina is a "cheap" character because just like anyone else on the roster list, she has qualities you will like and will not like. Now, on with the strategy guide.


------------
First off, try your best to ignore Luma. A lot of people fail of do this...
Always focus on Rosalina. Taking down her Luma is hard to do in the first place, provides no real reward other than disabling Rosalina's standard and side B (neither of which are good), and he'll come right back after 13 seconds anyway, so focus your attention on the space princess.
Something you should keep in the back of your mind is that Luma is only good for knockback (KOing at about 80%) while Rosalina is only good at damage building. Luma is only a threat if the player knows how to use them (and most don't).
You see, I prefer separating Rosalina and Luma because you can do fun "pinball" combos between them if I can get the timing right. Meanwhile a lot of players just like keeping Luma close by at all times to "add" to attacks. (But again, Luma ain't gonna add much other than an extra 5-8%) or use him as a meat shield (which is not that useful to be honest). You have down B, so it's not like it's necessary.

But anyways, you're greatest strength against any Rosalina player is always:

Up-in-your-face combat.
All projectiles can be absorbed and turned agaisnt you (if you're extremely close enough to touch the absorbed projectile) with her down b, so it's pointless to try using projectiles unless you want to use them to make her waste a second being vulnerable.

The reason I have a hard time fighting characters that are up-in-my-face is because Rosalina is very light weight. A lot of attacks send her flying further than normal, and she's usually KOable once she gets to about 70-80%.
Now I'm not gonna lie. She is top-tier for a reason. So it's not like she's easy to hit. She's really good at fast-dodging and can play a few mind games because she gives the illusion of "teleporting" when she dodges.
But again, she's lightweight. So any form of damage, no matter how small, is going to be better than nothing at all. And to top it all off, she is one of the tallest characters in the game, thus, she has a large hit box. So don't give up!!

Up-in-you-face combat is the best strategy because Rosalina fails to have good attacks that can reliably KO without Luma (usually gotta wait till about 120-130% to KO within Rosalina alone).
Camping doesn't works because you can send Luma to fight for you, and when you are focused on taking down Luma, Rosalina can quickly reassure you who the true fighter is in combat. So try not to keep a distance away from her.
She also is very iffy with her air attacks. Once you do her frontward A or standard A in the air, there's no going back. So you might wanna find a way to exploit that.
But air attacks are also great against Rosalina because her air attacks don't necessarily do anything to "protect herself" like most characters. (Like Villager's cartwheel and Marth's standard A. She doesn't have anything like that for air) If you can get a projectile to hit her in the air, it might be worth your while, but again. Beware the Down B.
Another GREAT thing you have on your side is her recovery. Her recovery is extremely far and ranged, however, she is ridiculously vulnerable during it. If you can find a way to edge guard her/ruin her recovery, I can almost guarentee you a KO because while it is nice recovery, it's so exploitable. And to top it off, it's hard to control. A have felt shame on several occasions because Rosalina's projection is hard to control because you can't input her direction too harshly, but not too lightly, and in the heat of the battle, I occasionally end up screwing up and accidentally KO myself because I didn't aim at the edge correctly.
But to compensate, I have recently started doing mind games where I lean toward the off-stage blast line, and when my opponents try to meteor smash me, I blast Rosalina right above them sideways, that way, I fly right past their heads, and land on the center of the stage. I don't need to always aim for the edge ya know.

ALSO. BE CAREFUL WHEN IN THE AIR.

Rosalina's Up A in the air (her planetary ring attack) has high range, and vertical knockback. That's one of her best KO attacks because there is very little you can do to prepare for it because it lasts just long enough to bypass your dodge, and it has just enough range to throw most people's dodging calculations off. The best thing to do if you find yourself directly above Rosalina is to lean your character away from her, and try to reach ground level safely from there.
She is also really good at meteor smashing because while she has a weak planetary ring attack going downward, it is, none the less, ranged, and if it doesn't meteor smash you, it will likely ruin your recovery anyway. So try your best to avoid being directly above or beneath her, as that makes you vulnerable to her Planetary ring attacks.


-----
Overall strategy:
Try to fight Rosalina in a manner where you can "separate" Luma from Rosalina, and then focus on getting melee attacks on Rosalina when she's alone. But not necessarily KO Luma. Try your best to not focus any attention on Luma unless he's next to you. If you can do that, you're already halfway there.

Try to trick Rosalina players into falling for harsh blows, as she isn't really good at being combo'd thanks to her lightweight attribute.
And finally, try ruining her recovery.

-----
Summary:

Overall, while Rosalina and Luma is a tall and lightweight character that can't take too many hits herself, she possesses great power in doing pinball combos and "team work" with her companion, and avoiding attacks.
Your best bet against Rosalina is anyone you know that has ranged Melee attacks. So people like Cloud, Ike, and Corrin can be great characters against the mysterious space princess.

I hope my advice helps not only you in your battles, but people who hate fighting Rosalina too.
And remember, don't EVER give up!