Optimizing play off stage and at ledge?

[MERPIS]

Hello, everyone who plays rob knows by now that he has an incredible ledge and offstage punish game with gyro, beam, that horrendously powerful side b, heck even some things like forward and down air. However here is my personal problem, I don't really know what move to use in which situation, like if the opponent is recovering high or low, and what to punish them with. Which projectile to throw out first and which move cover which ledge options. If anyone could help that would be amazing.

 

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

I try and deploy the gyro near the edge when the opponent is recovering and I know they will grab the ledge. In the event that the opponent climbs back on stage and hits it, I then move in for an attack. Decent coverage, side B is a great follow up. Otherwise, it opens up the possibility of the opponent jumping off the edge and over the gyro. That helps predict the opponents next movement to follow up with an attack.

If they are very far back off the ledge I attempt to shoot the gyro at them straight away, to push them further away from the stage. An odd angled beam works at times too. Depends on the character the opponent is using as well.

 

[Ijigen]

There are phases to his edgeguarding and depending on MU you can really get some mileage from some of them.

• Opponent was just hit offstage: here you can and should use laser and top as Chalmers noted, aimed to force either a double jump or an airdodge. Against people with mobility specials used for recovery (e.g. zss) it's better to aim the top/laser to catch where the special would take them so they can't recover for free and remove the rest of ROB's ledge/edge opportunities. Sometimes you don't have enough time to do this though. Also backthrow into up angled laser right near the edge can catch people when they're sleeping and due to laser's decent base knockback it can start killing around 70
• Opponent is trying to recover: How much you can harass them really depends on the MU. Good luck disrupting Snake at all when fair/arm rotor don't break his Cypher. But against others those are just the tools to use, dropzone fair puts them in the worst position and is the easiest move to hit offstage. (Well maybe nair is a bit easier but it pops them up and that can often remove further gimp opportunities). Arm rotor against people who always double jump predictably or directed into the stage to catch recoveries without a hitbox is good, too. You do have to start it kind of high up to not die from it yourself though, which limits options with it. Honestly given ROB's good recovery you can place a dropzone fair pretty much anywhere quickly so this is the option I recommend you pick against anything but a bonkers recovery (like K Rool or something, even then I try it sometimes)
• On the ledge without top: Honestly without top setups ROB's ledge trapping isn't insane, the most remarkable option is a well-spaced arm rotor that can hit both neutral getup and roll on some characters, but I wouldn't use that before it kills. Beyond that spamming short- or full-hop nair is a good way to cover neutral getup, roll, jump, and sometimes even beat out aggressive double jumps back with attacks or getup attack, depending on spacing and matchup. If the opponent does have something to deal with nair (say, Ivy up b ledge regrab) I'd play a more stage-control centric style and give them the ability to neutral getup or jump while trying to still cover roll. Then you can try to hit them when they inevitably try to take more stage from you.
• On the ledge with top spinning: To set up the top at the ledge you probably need to skip doing any of the other edge guarding strategies and just focus on using your time to get it set up. Or you're lucky and it was already there before you hit them offstage, not likely though. Anyway, supposing you have the top covering neutral getup things can get nasty. It will cover jump as well and you just have to worry about roll, or your opponent trying to catch the top with dj aerial. Both can be covered from a safe-ish distance. The objective should be to get a d-tilt and start a top setup.
• On the ledge with top in hand: Here there are really many options, if you have the time to set it up I'd say to face toward the stage and d-throw the top right at the ledge. Like, right at the ledge. If you time it right, the top can actually hit opponents on ledge if they hang too long. And if they pick an option immediately, both neutral getup and jump will get hit by the top and since you faced inward before throwing it, they will get sent inward (rethrown top always sends opponents in the direction the thrower was facing). This is where you charge upsmash to also cover roll, and then react to roll or them hitting the top. This strategy is effective but it loses to any double jump recatch or loses if mistimed because the top, when rethrown, does not last for very long. Also this setup is probably the hardest to get, you have to put the top in a specific place at a specific time without getting hit by your opponent who's recovering. You have to be wary of mario/lucina players who will up b high to disrupt you while you try to down throw top, for example. I'd only go for this if you definitely have the time.