Picking Up An Interesting Piece of Metal

[Comet Knight]

Hello, ROBs. I'm a Villager main here and I'd like to join the ranks of you lovely hunks of metallic awesomeness. Thanks to AceStarThe3rd, I've picked up an interest in you guys. I'd like you all to tell me general tips and tricks for playing ROB, as well as what type of character he is (zoning, campy, technical, etc.) and general tactics and playstyles you guys use while playing this interesting robot. What are you main approach options, and what are the things I want to practice if I want to play ROB, etc. Tell me all of that good stuff. I thank all that comment for taking time to help me out.

 

[Crome]

You'll get his basics very fast, but to be good you have to start working on the little things. He's really one of those black and white characters. Either you like him, or you don't. If you've been playing him and you enjoy him, try putting more work in. If he's too weird for you, it's probably best to invest your time into something else.

 

[Zegend]

Crome has the right idea. ROB is generally a pretty marmite character, but if you play Villager then you should be used to zoning gameplay. I think it's definitely a good character to switch from.
In terms of tips, there's honestly too much stuff I could tell you that would just turn this post into a wall of text, so I'm just going to help you out on basic stuff for now, especially recovery because ROB's recovery is very gimpable if you do it wrong so it's one of the first things you should practice getting used to.

• When you do upB, don't just hold B down: you should be mashing the B button instead, so that you're rising and flailing your arms around at the same time. This is very useful, not only does it throw your opponent off, it also allows you to recover a much bigger distance because you don't use as much fuel. Also, take into account the fact that you can use your aerials during upB, as ROB's recovery is pretty slow and a lot of people with often try to spike you or stage-spike you. Your aerials allow you to defend yourself to a certain extent.
• PLEASE DON'T USE SIDE-B TO RECOVER
• Bair is very good, because not only is it a powerful KO move, it also gives you great horizontal momentum in the air. If you are near the left or right blast zone and trying to recover, it's good to bair away from those blast zones a couple times before using your upB. This way, you conserve as much fuel as possible while covering a huge distance.
• Dthrow to upair
• Nair is a fantastic spacing tool, and it also has combo-starting potential and auto-cancel properties, don't ignore it. Also KOs at higher percents, which is pretty funny.
• Upthrow is a killthrow in the 100+% territory, so take full advantage of that. Plus, on stages with platforms, that percent territory becomes even lower as you can actually lift them onto the platforms if you get lucky enough to grab them underneath one.
• Gyro and laser is a great projectile combination, and ROB is lucky to have it. Get used to abusing cool stuff you can do with the Gyro, such as Smash Throwing it, as well as z-dropping it onto the ledge as an opponent is recovering to limit getup options. and z-dropping in general, I guess. In some matchups, the gyro should be out at all times, but in others you should be extremely careful in using it (I guess the only character this applies to is Villager and his pocket shenanigans, though)
• Dthrow to upair
• Don't wait until your laser is fully charged, it's honestly not worth it. Your pink, thin laser is the one you should use a lot. It only takes about 1 second for it to recharge, while the super laser takes 20 seconds to completely charge. Also, practice angling your laser, as it's a good sniping tool when your opponents are offstage, or are trying to make an aerial approach.
• Dthrow to upair
• Dthrow to friggin upair

In terms of playstyle, ROB is extremely versatile. Coming from villager, you'll probably be used to camping opponents out, which ROB is good at, but please don't neglect his offensive capabilities.
That's about all I can be bothered writing for now. Hope this helped!

 

[Comet Knight]

These tips are very helpful! I'm not switching from Villager to R.O.B I'm really wanting to add him to my secondaries. He seems a little awkward right now but I do like his playstyle and tools like gyro and lazer. And suprising enough, I don't really use Villager to camp all too often, I'm more about keeping up pressure then camping when I really need to. How well do you think R.OB.'s approach options are? Also any tricks with gyro I should practice?

 

[Crome]

These tips are very helpful! I'm not switching from Villager to R.O.B I'm really wanting to add him to my secondaries. He seems a little awkward right now but I do like his playstyle and tools like gyro and lazer. And suprising enough, I don't really use Villager to camp all too often, I'm more about keeping up pressure then camping when I really need to. How well do you think R.OB.'s approach options are? Also any tricks with gyro I should practice?

Rob doesn't have to approach much, he is more of a punishment character. Cheese out the other character with laser/gyro pressure until you get an option to move in, then do dash grab > dthrow> upair. If you never get that oppurtinity, and instead just op to knock them off the stage, make sure you use laser on opponents recovering high. If they're recovering low, use Gyro.

If neither of those things happen, uthrow is a kill move. It's pretty reliable once they're around 100%+ (Assuming no platforms are involved).

 

[Zegend]

These tips are very helpful! I'm not switching from Villager to R.O.B I'm really wanting to add him to my secondaries.

Thanks, bud! And no problem. Those were just some tips to help you out, even if you weren't deciding on maining him.

How well do you think R.OB.'s approach options are?

Like Crome said, ROB really relies on the opponent messing up after being pressured by laser + gyro. His grab doesn't have the best range in the game, and very occasionally I've had it whiff on tiny characters like pikachu and kirby (Can any other ROB mains confirm this? I swear it's happened before lol), but he has a throw which allows for easy but solid aerial followups (dthrow) and an amazing kill throw (uthrow). Sometimes if I catch them with a grab when they are at mid percents where they can escape from the deadly dthrow upair (70%-100%) I just back throw or forward throw them off the ledge and try to snipe with laser or gyro. His dash attack is also pretty mediocre, but I'm pretty sure you can follow up with a fair at lower percents. It's really unsafe if the opponent has their shield up though, so watch out.

Also any tricks with gyro I should practice?

The stuff in my original post covers it really, but a mindgame I like to play is zdropping in the air, then fastfalling and catching it before it lands, using nair or fair. Throws the opponent off if they aren't expecting it.
Also zdropping it right on the bit of ground in front of the ledge when the opponent is hanging on the ledge, or about to grab the ledge really forces them to either do a jump getup (where you can try to catch them with the super-powerful upsmash), or attempt a roll/attack/regular getup and get hit by the gyro. It's really solid.

Would any other ROB bros like to share any other unmentioned cool gyro stuff with the thread?

 

[Crome]

I've had it whiff on tiny characters like pikachu and kirby (Can any other ROB mains confirm this? I swear it's happened before lol)

This happens to me all the time

The gyro sends opponents whatever direction you're facing when you throw it, so if you are facing the stage and z drop it (assuming they're recovering low) It'll stage spike them at high percents.

 

[Zegend]

The gyro sends opponents whatever direction you're facing when you throw it, so if you are facing the stage and z drop it (assuming they're recovering low) It'll stage spike them at high percents.

Really? That's pretty cool, I legitimately didn't know that.

 

[1FC0]

Really? That's pretty cool, I legitimately didn't know that.

I did know that though. I am pretty R.O.B.

 

[Crome]

I did know that though. I am pretty R.O.B.

What does this even mean