How do you counter roll spam as Lucina?

[Duzzzyy]

I just played against a Sheik that only roll spammed from edge to edge and after a while it got so frustrating I just self destructed.
No matter what I did I couldn't land a hit and my approaches went to hell and it was generally not fun at all to play against, I just wanted the game to end.

I want to be able to counter this and be able to beat it, so, how do I do it?

 

[Robertman2]

DSmashes work pretty well.

 

[Wintropy]

D-smash, d-tilt and Dancing Blade. The latter comes out practically instantly and can be strung together for a potent combo. Rolling is incredibly open for punishment as soon as you figure it out - the second you learn to adapt to and exploit your opponent's tactics, you've got the advantage over them.

If you're feeling gutsy, maybe charge a f-smash as they're beginning to roll and then release it as they enter recovery animation, though this is only a contingency in case the former two moves aren't working or you're just feeling brave about it.

 

[Locuan]

First of all, do not intentionally self destruct. Keep pushing through and keep your anger in check. I do get frustrated too, but the time that you spend being frustrated or self destructing can be used to try new techniques out and discover things that will work to your advantage. Remember to get better you will lose a lot! They should be used as learning experiences.

Now, I will explain rolls a little bit. You can punish rolls at the beginning and at the end of the animation. Lets take Lucina's roll animation as an example. It has a total of 30 frames. The roll's invincibility is only active during frames 4-20. This means that from frame 1-3 and frames 21-30 Lucina will be vulnerable. That's when you strike! Now you could technically punish with any move if you have the dexterity. However, there are some moves that are better than others. For example, dsmash covers both your front and back so it is good to punish those opponents that are rolling behind you.

 

[LIQUID12A]

Dsmash covers both sides; use it more if roll spam is truly a problem.

 

[vato_break]

If they roll in I try to upsmash them or do a standing pivot grab. If they roll away i usually sideB or do a walking ftilt. I think it just depends if i'm catching on to any habits and i try to remain as safe as I can if i try to punish; no over-commitments.

 

[eshu125]

Some people are telling you to downsmash but unless you have a perfect read on which direction he is going to roll (in which case if you did you probably wouldn't have trouble with his rolling patterns in the first place) it's generally not a good idea. Rolling is purely a defensive option and it accomplishes nothing in racking up dmg on you towards a kill, but by going for a dsmash you are creating a free punish for him that just made all of his rolling rewarding because you committed too hard.

Your best option is run and grab. It's not as broken as earlier iterations but lucina/marth still have some pretty decent grab range and if you're fast enough you can easily get a run and grab for a roll punish. If you read it and you notice that he is rolling your direction as you are already running, do a pivot grab. It can rack up damage pretty quickly if you can get out your pummels and it will lead you into dthrow which will accomplish a lot for you against players that like to spam defensive options. By grabbing and dthrowing you not only accomplished beating the roll and racking up dmg for it, but now you have him in the air with a great juggler and more likely than not he will have habits in the air similar to what he has on the ground. d-throw to up-air works up until about 50% or so, ff u-air into u-air is a true combo if she's pretty close to the ground, which can happen quite often if sheik decides to air dodge (which she will, because if she's obvious enough that she just spams rolls all day, she is obvious enough to start spamming airdodge (or one, singular option that you can punish) after getting d-throw to u-air combo'd at earlier percents).

The most important thing is to be patient. Use shield to keep yourself safe, and while doing so instead of focusing on how you're gonna hit the sheik, pay attention and see where the sheik is rolling. Is she rolling towards you when she's cornered? does she roll away after throwing out (e.g.) a dash attack? Even top players have patterns (very few) so you will find that, against players that can only rely on spamming rolls to avoid you, there will be plenty of patterns to be found and it's something that you have to work at to get good at.

 

[Daybreak]

Try walking and f-tilting, you would be surprised what it catches. SH and F-Air is great too, if you can space it properly you can keep them out of rolls. You have more options when jump and such. Experiment since it will vary from character to character!

Edit: Also. If you're walking you can make you D-Smash slide a bit. It can be a great way to push people of their rolling game. Running can be canceled out with a Shield Breaker, which is another great poke if it's not being used with SHs and such

 

[ChivalRuse]

The answer is simple: side-b. It is one of your most damaging moves at low percent and can easily be used in either direction (thus hits forward and back roll); it also is very fast and can be hit confirmed.

 

[theONEjanitor]

dancing blade bruh.
roll spammers are easy to predict
just learn the situations in which they roll and just put your side-b out there

 

[EternalFlame]

Everyone covered the bases here really xD All of the options mentioned above are every tool you use against roll spam. Suppose the other piece of advice I can give is a followup on Locuan128's point, which is the frames an opponent is open to an attack. Typically I don't bank on hitting them before they roll, as after they nearly complete their roll animation is my favorite time to strike. When you see the animation going, throw your attack where you expect them to finish, and consider your own reaction time into the mix so you don't throw it too quickly or too late. Compensating for your own reaction time is important for getting punishes among other setups and such, so do keep it in mind and you'll get the roll spammers in no time.