R.O.B. Matchup Analysis #7 - Villager

[GwJ]

Something something tree something

 

[PUK]

It's bad really. We can't force him to approach. But we don't have safe approach. And if we finally manage to get in, we don't have many tools to push our advantage very far. It's pretty much unwinnable i would say.

 

[asmodeus]

Such a special match up !

Prepare to time-out ! Personnally, I had my longest games against Villagers.
Gyro is almost useless. Maybe you'll hit with, but be sure that he will pocket it some times. You need to be prepared to not play
with your Gyro.
Funny thing is that you don't necessarily want to approach him because of his disjointed hitboxs and stuff.

- Patience is the main order here.
- NEVER roll in.
- Use your laser A LOT.

Don't be predictable with your jump because he will stop you easily.
Nair is good (as always), it breaks Fair, Bair and Nair. It's hard for villager to punish it if you space it well (even Nair oos isn't guaranteed).
ROB's Nair animation is good because even if it's slow, villager has some trouble to punish it on reflex, his Fair/Bair goes under ROB. In other words, if ROB shNair then Villager needs to FullHop Fair/Bair or esle his shFair/Bair whiff.

Side-B is really useful, don't forget it, it can punish his bad jumps and side-Bs.

Villager has better combos and might be able to steal ROB (like Fsmash or tree)

Avoid BF, maybe SV, I don't like the random stuff with Villager's Fsmash since ROB is tall. Unless you're comfortable with LC, don't pick it.
T&C is a good starter, Halberd for CP.

Maybe I don't encounter good villagers considering I live in a city (luul), but in my opinion, the match up is pretty even

 

[FalKoopa]

3 words: Goddamn Gyro Grabbers.

Seriously, most Villagers pocket the gyro for the entire match preventing you from having any degree of stage control, and limiting you only to the laser.

Lloid Rocket can be reflected, but the tilting needs to be a little precise.

If he plants the tree, I try to keep him away from it while trying to destroy it as well. I don't how practical it is though.

It is in Villager's favour, as he can neutralise ROB's stage control and force him to play more defensively than usual.

 

[zephyrnereus]

it's definitely an uphill battle for ROB, so here are a few tips:

• use gyro very rarely. it's safe to throw it out when you see him pocketing a laser. and if he has your gyro, then spam lasers. he can only keep one thing at a time after all.
• be sure to reflect his Rocket whenever you can. and if he ever uses it as a recovery, punish it by reflecting it.
• ROB's Dair can go through the up B balloons if spaced correctly and still spike.

if customs are included, ROB's side B 2 utterly tips the matchup in ROB's favor. throwing one out on reaction when you expect a villager Fair or Bair will force villager to approach, and those moves can kill when reflected point-blank. this leaves villager to use only Nairs, Uairs and Dairs to approach, where Nair can be out-spaced, and Uair and Dair are better when directly above or below him. side B 2 also renders the falling tree, dash attack, and a pocketed laser useless. be sure to take this move if customs are allowed.

 

[PUK]

If you reflect the gyroide, he can pocket it and throw 2 in a row right after. He can pocket the falling tree too (and this is absolutely disgusting).
Also a good villager will not be caught by Dair and will go under the stage to recover on one side or the other.
I don't see the matchup better than 6-4 in his favor. Even with custom on, he has too many tools we can't handle.

 

[GwJ]

To further explain why reflecting the rocket is probably not a good idea, Side-B is laggy. They're definitely gonna have a followup after throwing the rocket out and you're just falling right for it.

 

[Ze Diglett]

Ohhhhh boy...
From my personal experience, this is ROB's worst matchup by far, only contested by Sheik. Killager can neutralize your gyro completely for the entire match if he grabs it, so you'll have to use it extremely sparingly, and only if he's offstage to be safe. However, if he has your gyro, you can harass him with laser for days. The Lloid is like a hydra; if you reflect one, two will grow back in its place. Even if he already has your gyro in reserve, Arm Rotor is super laggy and can easily be punished after baiting it out by tossing a Lloid. Only reflect Lloid is if he's trying to recover with it (even though Villager's Up-B is pretty much better for recovery anyway). Otherwise, just powershield. As for matchup ratio, I'd say 65:35 in Villager's favor, if not worse for us.
TL;DR Villager can neutralize one of our most important tools, lloid reflects are unsafe in general, and he's just a prick for us.

 

[Jams.]

This matchup is pretty awful because of pocket. Without gyro, ROB doesn't really have great mid range zoning tools that can compete with Villager's bair and fair. That said, I think gyro can still be situationally useful in this matchup as a read or edge trap. Lloid is punishable on reaction by laser, which can help chip damage on Villager. Villager also has a pretty bad grab, so powershielding his fair and bair to get in can often work; it might be possible to spotdodge his grab on reaction at sufficient range. Don't shield Lloid at mid range though, he'll just trap you in shield and wreck you. I usually try to fall to the ledge with either nair or airdodge while recovering. Villager can go just as low as ROB to edgeguard, and trading 3 turnip dair for an uair hit is not worth. I do think ROB has better kill options in this matchup, but Villager can always go for a timeout win and he can kill much earlier than ROB off a hard read or edgeguard.

I'd say the matchup is around 65:35 in Villager's favour.

 

[asmodeus]

This match-up isn't that bad. It's difficult at the beginnig because we have to adapt hard our gameplay.
Playing without Gyro is really a miss. But, somehow, we need to unlearn what we learned.

Side B isn't a spamming move but it can be used some times (just enough to say "don't use your giroide like that")
Spaced Nair, lasers and Fair are important here.

I thought the same when I began to play against villagers, but it's just about practice. I watched several games of this match up to confirm my thoughts.

The match up can be at 55:45 villager, maybe 60:40 if we want to be generous, but not worse.

 

[Lizard_Buttock]

Reviving this thread a bit just to ask if anyone has any tips on customs-on villager, specifically the annoying campy one. I feel like Gyros could be useful here if we just hold back on firing them until Villager's in proper planking mode. We could also consider going under the stage with custom up-B, but that takes time, and the Villager could react to that. It could scare him out of his ledge for a tiny bit, at the very least, and allow us to attack them a bit to get the % lead back. I need some more professional opinions on it, though.

 

[DJ3DS]

Eurgh... Just had my first game against a proper Villager; on Anther's Ladder. First game I got 3 stocked I couldn't approach at all, everything I was doing was being punished, and I just couldn't lay a hand on him at all. He was incredibly patient and campy and I had no chance, especially as he had my Gyro the entire game.

Which is when I realised I had to play Villager at his own game. The next game I didn't approach at all. I used lasers whenever he laid down a Lloid to tack on a few percent, I rarely shot out a Gyro (and never left any lieing on stage) and just generally ran away. Brought that match to a time-out tied on both stock and percent after choking badly in the last minute, but then used the same strategy and won the tie-breaker. For the final match he CPed a much smaller stage and was much more aggressive because I'd outcamped him the previous game - at which point I had a much easier time of it, and won with two stocks left at the end.

There's no way around it; this is a horrible matchup for ROB if you're not prepared to slow down the game massively. If you slow it down then it feels like it becomes winnable, though still uphill.

 

[1FC0]

Yeah I have played against a very campy Villager too and I was glad that Robo Beam pierces the Tree. Basically you can get a free laser on him every time that he pulls out a Lioid. You can also crouch to avoid the slingshot which can be nice sometimes.