How do you deal with pressure as Robin?

[Rikke]

Hello everyone! I'm Rikke a Robin Main looking to be that best at Sm4sh (It's a weird dream amirite?), and I want to give a little back story.
So yesterday I went to my first to my first tourney and I had a blast met some really cool people in my area, learned matchups with my subs, and I even WON FIRST! AS ROBIN NO LESS!!
However I noticed a problem in most of my matches that involved Robin specifically. I was noticing that I was generally able to keep up/take over in the neutral, but the instant my opponent broke that momentum I had I would have to play with the constant pressure.
So really I want to ask 3 questions

1. How are you suppose to stop your opponent from making you play Their game?

2. As Robin when I am backed into that wall, whether it be trying to recover or even in the neutral, what are some good ways to get my momentum back?

3. What are my options for coming back down on the ground?

As always Feedback is welcome, and to all my Robin Mains out there, I'll be doing my best to give out little Tactician a Bigger name in the future

P.S. The Characters I fought at the tourney with Robin were Diddy,Kirby,Yoshi,Luigi,and Toon link. As a final side note my Robin went undefeated, but I'm not gonna say my matches weren't rough.

 

[Zareidriel]

First of all, I'd like to congratulate you! Winning a tournament with Robin is no easy feat. A tournament victory for any Robin player is a victory for all of us.

1. Achieving the "initiative" as Robin can be tough. Her playstyle is not very aggressive due to the trap-like nature of Arcfire and, of course, charging Thunder. The enemy will be trying to keep on non-stop pressure to prevent you from getting set-up. What you can do is recognize when they are looking for an opening, and trying to counter it with some quick ground-play of your own. Even one grab or landing an attack with significant knockback can be enough to set the flow back in your favor. It's all about countering their approach with Nair, Ftilt, Dtilt, grab, or even Nosferatu. Trying to retreat to look for an Arcfire cast or charge time is playing right into their hands.

2. See above. Also when trying to recover, mixing up your ledge recovery is really the most important thing you can do. Drop down and do a jumping SUPAIR. Roll recover. Jump recover and alter your DI. It's all about finding that little opening in your enemy's offense and using their over-eagerness to knock them away from you. Like judo or akido.

3. Coming back from the ground is hard, and with Robin, can be really hard. When landing, look for an opportunity to use SUPAIR or Sfair. If you don't think that will be viable, predict whether their attack will hit you in the air or once you've landed, and airdodge, shield or spot dodge appropriately. Occasionally you can use Elwind to knock them away and finish landing with a fastfall. Landing is kinda like rock-paper-scissors, and really there's no magical tip for doing so, it's just @#$%ing hard.

 

[Rikke]

First of all, I'd like to congratulate you! Winning a tournament with Robin is no easy feat. A tournament victory for any Robin player is a victory for all of us.

1. Achieving the "initiative" as Robin can be tough. Her playstyle is not very aggressive due to the trap-like nature of Arcfire and, of course, charging Thunder. The enemy will be trying to keep on non-stop pressure to prevent you from getting set-up. What you can do is recognize when they are looking for an opening, and trying to counter it with some quick ground-play of your own. Even one grab or landing an attack with significant knockback can be enough to set the flow back in your favor. It's all about countering their approach with Nair, Ftilt, Dtilt, grab, or even Nosferatu. Trying to retreat to look for an Arcfire cast or charge time is playing right into their hands.

2. See above. Also when trying to recover, mixing up your ledge recovery is really the most important thing you can do. Drop down and do a jumping SUPAIR. Roll recover. Jump recover and alter your DI. It's all about finding that little opening in your enemy's offense and using their over-eagerness to knock them away from you. Like judo or akido.

3. Coming back from the ground is hard, and with Robin, can be really hard. When landing, look for an opportunity to use SUPAIR or Sfair. If you don't think that will be viable, predict whether their attack will hit you in the air or once you've landed, and airdodge, shield or spot dodge appropriately. Occasionally you can use Elwind to knock them away and finish landing with a fastfall. Landing is kinda like rock-paper-scissors, and really there's no magical tip for doing so, it's just @#$%ing hard.

Woah, I've read your guide (well made might I say), didn't think you'd be the first one to give me advice!
I'll start trying to apply what you told me tomorrow when I'm playing friendlies.

 

[Zareidriel]

Thank you for the compliment, I'm glad you like it. 8] If you like the guide, I'd appreciate a review/rating when you have the time. I always enjoy helping out my fellow Robins. I'm open to answering any Robin-related questions or concerns at any time, just shoot me a PM. Good luck with your evolution!

 

[Drazerg]

I'm not sure of "How to regain neutral" but I have done crazy things to attempt to get it, which dosen't always work but sometimes if you do it as hard reads, they will regain temporary neutral for you.

Short hop side b while backing up help
Shield into DSmash or Upair
(If fighting VS Sonic) Full Jump towards their spin dash/dash attack into B reverse or side B
Grab the ledge, try jumping back on with upair or side-b
Pivot smash (run away, tap opposite direction and about 5 frames later tap smash in same direction
Constant Nairs, sometimes land with a dair

This is what I normally try, maybe these will help you out, good luck mastering the arts of the Tactician!

 

[Silverfox117]

1. A good way to stop the opponent from making you play there game is to be mobile. Yes Robin is slow(too slow), but that doesn't mean you should stand in place and allow yourself to lose control of the neutral. However, its tough to say one thing about this, because every character has there own play style and you would have to do different things to compensate per character. I will talk about top tier threats about this. When playing against a good shiek, good diddy, or a good sonic. The best thing I can tell you is to throw out fast and safe hit boxes between you and them. Keep them at arms length and punish them when they do that one thing that is unsafe. Unlike those characters baring Sonic we can kill early, and we just need one good read. Also don't let yourself be predictable at all costs. Be mobile and don't roll.

2.This one is easy, due to Robin being great at recovering. If they are edge guarding try throwing an Arcfire on the edge. Or do a Rising Up-air hitting them. If they go off the ledge to gimp you read where they are going to attack and jump and airdodge, then elwind when you are above them(You will be able to smell the salt after that). For the most part try mixing it up, and keep your opponent guessing. Just don't be predictable.

3.This is A HUGE WEAKNESS of Robin. It is no easy feat for her to reset the neutral. A good tip is to mix up your landings with every trick you know(just don't be that guy who uses elwind on stage)B-reverse, fast fall airdodge, B-reverse-roll if they are waiting for you to land, Dair(if you can), Fast fall up air is a great tip. It really all depends on what your opponent likes doing. Just don't become predictable, and don't let yourself take unnecessary damage. When I am in the air, I like to think of it as a way to tactically retreat and try to come down in a spot that favors me and disfavors the opponent.

In conclusion, don't be predictable. I wonder if I sound like a broken record at this point.

Also congrats on winning a tourney as Robin. You shall join me as the Robin's who has tasted gold :D.

 

[Lukred]

1. Pretty much what silverfox was saying, constantly throwing out fading (pulling back in the air)sfair/ nair and sbair's is pretty safe, these are good to either catch their approach, which will emidiatly change neutral, or following up with arcfire/ ftilt / jab or thunder (any variant) to predict an incoming approach. Mix this up with fading towards and fading away from the opponent as well as switching between short hopping and fullhopping sfair or sbair's (depending on which direction you're facing)

This kind of spacing is brilliant because it gives you enough moves to stay unpredictable but also gives you breathing space to catch a tome/sword. spamming smash aerials allows you to quickly get the sword as an item, which if caught and thrown accurately, pretty much sets up neutral in your favour. Oh and if they shield arcfire, sh arcfire is a brilliant follow up pressure too, this chains into a sh sfair (obviously) which usually stuns them out of shield, and can occasionally break shields.

2. Kinda covered with one, and what
Zareidriel was saying.

3. Yea, this one kinda sucks, also what other people are saying, it's just mixups and reads, just understand all your options and pick the one you think will not get you juggled. Only thing that's really going for robin in this case are his amazing aerials and reading incoming attacks, airdodging and retaliating with a supair (killed a few people this way) oh and if you can fake out an enemies aerial, fading back into arcfire works well.

Hope this helps!