Robotic Operating Buddy: Yes, it's R.O.B.

[Deleted member]

R.O.B. is the only Smash character who can stand against the AVGN.

 

[Crome]

Hey everyone! Any chance I can get a link to this ROB discord?

I'm kind of a weirdo in that the only other game in the series I've really played is PM, so I've had to relearn him a little bit and I have no frame of reference for what he's like compared to Brawl/Sm4sh. And the last time I played that was probably 2-3 years ago - I now live on the other side of the country where I don't know any other Smash players, so I figured I'd try and find other ROB players to talk to.

So far I love ROB in this game, short-hop nair'ing has proven to be insanely good at messing people up.

https://discord.gg/784Y3P

 

[MERPIS]

So I did some counting on ROBs aerials and I came to a conclusion that Nair comes out on frame 14 down from that disgusting 18 frames it had, with only 8 frames on landing lag, and fair comes out on frame 6 with 9 frames of landing lag down from that WHYYYY 15 frames it had before, bair is still frame 19 but now it has 13 frames of landing lag, AND it demolishes shields now too, which makes it painfully safe on shield, actually all of these are now painfully safe on shield provided you space them out and land with them

EDIT: Nair is actually 7 frames(!!), we ike levels of safety now, I can actually see ROB being middle high tier now

 

[MERPIS]

Also uh, what is the use of side b now? I know it got buffed a lot and that its now an amazing kill move but isn’t still the laggy thing it always was?

 

[Crome]

what is the use of side b now?

it got buffed a lot and that its now an amazing kill move

 

[MERPIS]

Dude, its still punishable as hell youre not helping me out much

 

[Flyboy]

Watch some WaDi play from today's Xanadu tournament. His ROB crushed it with a ton of side-B play.

 

[MERPIS]

Watch some WaDi play from today's Xanadu tournament. His ROB crushed it with a ton of side-B play.

Is it on VGBootcamp's channel?

 

[Flyboy]

Is it on VGBootcamp's channel?

Yeah, that's where I watched it. Don't know if it's on YouTube yet but I caught it live on Twitch. I didn't see the final though.

 

[MERPIS]

Yeah, that's where I watched it. Don't know if it's on YouTube yet but I caught it live on Twitch. I didn't see the final though.

So I watched it and I think the hype is in its right to be where it is, but I just wanna point out that dair at ledge looks so stupidly broken

 

[Deleted member]

Dumb theory time:

R.O.B. worked for Tabuu during the events of SSE to finally succeed on its mission of destroying every game that isn’t Gyromite or Stack-up, after the notorius defeat in the hands of the AVGN.

He still fights in Smash to destroy the opponents and their respective games, and put Gyromite and Stack-up on every part of the world.

 

[MERPIS]

Can anyone give me some good kill combos/kill moves? I find that killing with rob before 130% is nigh impossible without going offstage to heavily edgeguard.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

According to the patch notes, you can do more multiple hits with the side special.

It's like they thought "Should we make ROB even more stronger than he already is?...Yes, we should".

 

[ROBnWatch]

According to the patch notes, you can do more multiple hits with the side special.

It's like they thought "Should we make ROB even more stronger than he already is?...Yes, we should".

Good. He gets too little attention anyways. Good to see he’s getting good attention this time.

Also I thought the buff was that the hits are easier to connect now, not that there are more of them...

 

[DJ3DS]

The Side B buff makes it more difficult to fall out of and ensures the move connects properly on the likes of Pichu. That's it.

 

[Crome]

this is the first post launch buff ROB has ever gotten

 

[Flyboy]

I'm so pleased they're buffing my boy. I was once foolish enough to believe I'd main the Belmonts when Ultimate released but as soon as I got ROB I remembered he fit like a glove and feels better than ever.

 

[PassePopinjay]

Saw this meme and thought you guys might enjoy

 

[NintenRob]

Gave R.O.B. a stage, and it might be the best stage I've ever made

 

[1FC0]

Nice stage. It would be nice if Port Town Aero Dive would stop at the R.O.B..

 

[Ze Diglett]

A custom Gyromite stage is definitely on my to-do list. I mean, think about how easily adaptable something like this would be to Smash:

 

[1FC0]

I made a Gyromite stage way back in SSBB. I'd like to play on one someone else made.

Right now I am making a R.O.B. related stage too and I will post it after it is finished. I think R.O.B. mains might like it.

 

[1FC0]

So I cannot finish the stage I wanted to make because the stage builder won't allow me to use enough objects. However it is still partly finished and still decently fun to play in. It is a target test stage for R.O.B.! Originally planned to have 10 targets, only 3 of them made it in.

R.O.B. is one of the best few characters for Break the Targets, maybe the best. While many other characters can do nothing but basic movement, melee attacks, and maybe a basic projectile; R.O.B. has great movement options and a very versatile set of projectiles that is full of special properties.

- I want the stage to be be hard so that it really tests the player's R.O.B. skills.
- I also wanted it to be exclusively beatable by R.O.B. because I like the idea of R.O.B. being the only one that can beat it.
- And I wanted it to show off a lot of R.O.B.'s cool special talents.

I succeeded in the first 2 criteria as far as I know (however if you can beat it with someone else or think that it is too easy then let me know). However the last one I did not succeed in because of the object limit. R.O.B. has many special talents that make him a fun character for Break the Targets and in order to make use of most of them I need more objects!

Here is the ID: PRVKVG6P

 

[ROBnWatch]

Still in the process of using Stage Builder, Gyromite is something I’ll need to do. Currently in the middle of building some EarthBound stages though, and gotta start studying for Finals. Might have one by next weekend, but for now I’m just using the best one I’ve found online.

 

[1FC0]

Gave R.O.B. a stage, and it might be the best stage I've ever made

View attachment 210150

I just played this stage and it is really great. I love that the R.O.B. actually moves the blocks. I love stacking up my opponents' bodies while another R.O.B. stacks up Robot Blocks™.

What bothers me though is that his shoulders do not move with his hands. The real R.O.B. moves his shouders up and down along with his hands and this R.O.B. moving only his hands while his shoulders stay stationary makes it look weird.

 

[MERPIS]

Hello, I need some advice on killing outside of torturing the opponent off stage? What're some good setups or kill moves?

 

[MERPIS]

Oh ye also I need some help using projectiles cleverly instead of just throwing them out to be shielded. Anyone have any tips cause that always happens with me, they just get shielded over and over and its really pissing me off.

 

[1FC0]

For killing you can try Gyro combo's, Beep Boop sometimes works and Upthrow kills if the opponent has really high damage. All R.O.B.'s Smashes are kill moves as well as Arm Rotor.

For opponents shielding projectiles, if the opponent gets really predictable with their shield then you can also mix up with grabs in order to grab an opponent that is shielding for a projectile. But both projectiles are spammable low risk / reward moves so it is often not bad if the opponent shields it. This goes especially for the Gyro which returns to you as soon as it gets shielded. I sometimes even commit to firing Gyro before the opponent shields the Gyro that is flying his way so that I fire the next Gyro as soon as the previous one disappears instead of as soon as I can react to it disappearing. It is a small detail but makes for significantly faster Gyro spamming by cutting out reaction time.

 

[MERPIS]

When is the best time to use robo beam I often times use it only to have the opponent shield it because I constantly run away to use it. That and what is the best way to escape juggling situations? I usually use FF nair for that but against any sword it gets utterly walled out. Speaking of nair I can hardly ever use it right, I usually just spam it due to its low landing lag, which leads me to possibly my biggest problem and that is getting cornered way too easily, especially by bigs like...Incineroar...It's that bad.

 

[MERPIS]

https://twitter.com/drolossb/status/1130567939088945153?s=21
Hes broken

 

[Ijigen]

Robo beam timing: it’s grest to force an option when opponent is offstage. I often opt for f/bthrow when opponent is past upthrow combo percent so I can try to get a laser or top or read a jump. Also it can be used when you are recovering to harass ledge. Work on the timing to make it sail over the stage perfectly paralle for maximum effect. Kind of cheeky option but zero risk and it actually catches a decent portion of people or at least forces shield. If they are shielding they are not actively trying to stuff your rrcovery so it’s a plus. Top off stagr serves a similar role and if you get it charged five to eight times without maxing the charge it travels quite fast and far. You can charge cancel into dj top to fake out the timing. Other than that robo beam can be used in neutral as a free but not amazing pressure tool only when you have a lot of stage. Its huge windup clearly makes it a stage control tradeoff so you have to use it when you think it will actually hit. It’s good to elicit a response with though. If they start jumping it you can angle laser straight up to catch that in the future. If they shield you can start conditioning shield in the future which honestly at far range doesn’t help you do anything much but at least it makes them hesitate wuichh means you can retake stage control more easily in thr future.
I was going to write more and address all your points but I’m on mobile, will get to the rest eith better formatting later

 

[MERPIS]

Robo beam timing: it’s grest to force an option when opponent is offstage. I often opt for f/bthrow when opponent is past upthrow combo percent so I can try to get a laser or top or read a jump. Also it can be used when you are recovering to harass ledge. Work on the timing to make it sail over the stage perfectly paralle for maximum effect. Kind of cheeky option but zero risk and it actually catches a decent portion of people or at least forces shield. If they are shielding they are not actively trying to stuff your rrcovery so it’s a plus. Top off stagr serves a similar role and if you get it charged five to eight times without maxing the charge it travels quite fast and far. You can charge cancel into dj top to fake out the timing. Other than that robo beam can be used in neutral as a free but not amazing pressure tool only when you have a lot of stage. Its huge windup clearly makes it a stage control tradeoff so you have to use it when you think it will actually hit. It’s good to elicit a response with though. If they start jumping it you can angle laser straight up to catch that in the future. If they shield you can start conditioning shield in the future which honestly at far range doesn’t help you do anything much but at least it makes them hesitate wuichh means you can retake stage control more easily in thr future.
I was going to write more and address all your points but I’m on mobile, will get to the rest eith better formatting later

thank you holy heck, I await the rest of the addressing.

 

[Ijigen]

Here you go. Just the thoughts of a rob main since s4.

Killing:
I actually really like ROB's kill potential in this game but it isn't any one thing.
I will say his strongest place to secure stocks is at the ledge. Though ledge isn't as punishing as it was in smash 4, ROB can still do his neat little "cover everything except stall" thing which is executed by facing toward the stage, short hopping and z dropping top right at the edge, then landing and using up smash to cover roll up. If timed properly even if they neutral getup or jump getup the top will launch them into the up smash which true combos. If they attack up they may or may not hit the top out of the way, it's inconsistent. Either way they can't punish up smash then (In s4 you used to be vulnerable before attackup so the top would hit you anyway... good times).
Anyway that's really the ideal setup when the opponent has to take a long time to recover, usually you can't get that set up. In that case ROB still has some potent options at ledge. Arm rotor is one example, use it so it will cover a roll, jump and neutral getup and make sure to do the input away from stage (the direction of the initial input determines which way they get launched, nothing else). It is extremely committal though so I recommend learning the kill% range and only using it when it can net a stock.
Other areas on stage, ROB does have to work a little more for a kill. I usually just try to convert to an offstage situation with top, because onstage it's like... spot dodge down smash usually? And close range isn't exactly ROB's strongest area so it's less than ideal.
ROB also has that neat kill setup but I've only actually executed it in a match a handful of times. Anyway it ends in arm rotor offstage and that even when used on its own is not a bad idea. ROB will recover anyway and hopefully if you're good at recovery mixups (since he has so many of them) you can do it safely so it's pretty low risk. You have to read their recovery path pretty hard but hopefully some projectile conditioning helps things there.
Also regarding offstage recovery reads, people will often double jump back to stage against ROB and if they're past like 90% you can just hard commit with a dj up air where they will be since that's a long lasting move that doesn't require too much timing precision to use.
Speaking of up air, another key way ROB kills is with dthrow, as much as people (like me) hate it. Opponents do really have a "mash" stat that you have to get a feel for and it will determine what you can try with dthrow. Anyway, even if they're a god level masher, dthrow -> uair will kill above 150% or something. Obviously just use uthrow if you start getting them to that percent though. If the opponent stalls in the bury you can call it out with a dsmash or if they're big enough, usmash (smaller characters' grounded profiles just completely get missed by usmash if they stay in the ground the whole time... someone should make a list of that some time)
Anyway yeah overall the way I mainly secure kills as ROB is to force a ledge situation by landing stray projectile hits and using ledge trapping. There are other ways to do it obviously but I think he's strongest here.

Projectile usage:
This is an art, not a science. It all has to do with watching how the opponent reacts to your options. If they jump over things to try to get in you can punish it hard with sh top throw forward. If you throw it almost instantly it will sail right at most character's jump height and also hit platform, a very good option and generally why top in the hand is better. However against shorter characters you definitely want to put the top back on your base since they can run below thrown top. This is something you need to be consciously aware of and switch based on matchup, don't get burned by a tiny pichu running under top throw too much. Anyway if they shield it's more of a wash as I said before, but it conditions shield at least so if you use landing top a lot you can tomahawk grab at a later time, maybe when it would secure a kill.
Speaking of landing top, it's good. Particularly to cancel hitstun so you don't have to tech when hit by low angle attacks. Teching is bad and slow, no matter how cool it looks. But anyway even in neutral you can b-reverse top to shuffle around and shield cancel it. Run off battlefield side plat to b reverse top is a good way to both land safely and agress. Also remember that you never have to actually fire top when you start charging it, it's as free to cancel as samus neutral b or whatever so you should use it for movement mixups too.
Anyway you're going to be just firing these things off throughout a match, it happens. I'd recommend using them when the opponent is landing or you have tons of stage between you though. Especially laser, there is approximately one year of lag before that move fires. But the top actually does kind of put ROB in a bad spot if it's used poorly since it has decent lag. I like to use retreating jumping tops and lasers so at least my opponent can't directly punish me if they jump in or try to roll through. And once you hit with top you can usually pick it up which is when you can do fun stuff. If you watch WaDi play you'll see he likes to go for top down throw above the opponent into imagination. It's a slow traveling projectile that guards you and can lead to combos, so that's a fun use but maybe a bit impractical to set up most of the time. Throwing the top upward and using it as a "safe zone" since the opponent won't want to be there when it lands is another fun tactic, but perhaps most practical is just keeping it as a threat and approaching with z drop recatch nair and so on. ROB can really play pretty aggressively with a top in hand. And of course you can always bet it all and throw it, but don't throw it willy nilly or at the same time in the same situation over and over or you'll be forfeiting ROB's most powerful tool.
Overall I think if you play against Rosalina a lot she will teach you the right and wrong times to use projectiles. You do still want to use them against her, even the top but especially laser since it can launch luma pretty consistently and if you mess up she can't get it in her hands like top, but if you just use either in neutral all the time you won't get anywhere. She will punish you super hard for any top usage even. But I've played whole matches with rosa players where they never got the top in hand once and I still used it semi-regularly. It's about selecting the right time use them. They should be used when you've already applied pressure e.g. when she is in a landing situation or cornered. In these cases it's not "free" for her to use down b since you can theoretically punish it if you go for a normal attack. You can apply this logic to people without reflectors or her thing too, whenever it's not "free" for your opponent to just shield or avoid your top or laser, that's the perfect time to strike. So yeah you need to mix them in with nair approaches and so on for them to really come alive as true pressure tools, not just free damage since they won't be that except against really inexperienced players.

Juggle escape:
This has long been one of ROB's big weaknesses and it really pairs badly with his huge frame. There is no easy escape option for ROB truly. Yes nair is the best but it doesn't win all the time and it needs some time to wind up. The best part of nair to actually try to land with is the last portion of it when the active hitbox is right below ROB actually since it hits a nice range and lasts surprisingly long. It also happens to be near the autocancel window and be good to combo into since it has more frame advantage so there you go. But if the opponent has some big burst option nair can't contest like Joker up air then you should probably try one of ROB's many alternate recovery options.
One of my favorites is to save double jump but upb/bair several times way above stage height and beyond where they can reach then fast fall neutral airdodge after you've sufficiently confused them about when you will land. A lot of players expect an immediate or double jump then immediate attempt at falling so if you can confuse their timing you will generally have a better time making it through. This is also true on the ledge btw, don't ever get up with the same timing twice!
Anyway you can also use ROB's dair to stall yourself and punish your opponent if they try to hit you where you would fall. It's mostly useful to also drift during the animation though so you can land out of their reach while your opponent is trying to get back to the ground to follow you. If you do this any more often than "rarely" you will just get read on it and it's very laggy so yeah, don't do that.
If you have some horizontal distance between you and your juggler, both fair and bair have uses in helping you land. If you can find the time to execute a bair aimed away from your opponent from fullhop height or lower, they'd need to be really on point to catch a landing after that. Fair is all about covering your landing and it's pretty long range, you just throw that out of a fast fall to hopefully beat or at least trade with their aggressive option.
And then directional airdodge is a thing but kind of a big mixup that can get punished hard. Sometimes against pichus who hold forward and try to fair you off the level, DADing into them just gets you through them and gives you stage control pretty safely though. Or they will combo you so you can't airdodge or hit the endlag of your airdodge with drift in bair. No one said it was easy. Anyway airdodge to platform ("waveland") is also a good option if you can execute it properly so that you minimize lag by landing cleanly on it.
Also don't be afraid to just retreat to ledge. Yeah ROB is big but ledge jump nair is a thing and all those top setups on ledge are also important. And you can still neutral getup and roll too, which might just be your best bet against people who can juggle all day.

Nair:
Yeah, it's good. Don't even get shook if your opponent manages to parry it once or twice. As long as you have confidence that you can mix up the timing you use it in, which is fairly easy to do when you just alter your fast fall timing, no opponent can consistently parry it no matter how good they are and that's more of a cheeky option that might work some times. Beyond that you have to try to space nair so you can't get hit by their burst option of choice, maybe it's sh nair for most chars though. This can be tricky since good opponents will run in and put their shield right below you. In those cases you need to think about mixing in tomahawk grabs so they can't shield for free or just using dair and getting out of there every now and then. Anyway have confidence in nair and use it in neutral. Nair is like Ike's nair in that you hit more often with it the better you are at eliminating all your opponent's other options. I mean, when do they get hit by nair? When they try to roll, attack, or jump. When do they do that? When they're afraid of projectiles or grabs. So obviously you need to give them a reason to be afraid of those options, and in turn the potency of those options feed off fear of nair. Nair is more free than the other options so it tends to be your "spam" option but you can't rely solely on it.

Stage control:
If you find yourself getting run down by an incineroar you are not challenging their space enough. ROB has a pretty quick dash attack and a nice short hop fair. Yeah he doesn't want to be super close to the opponent but it's not the end of the world for him either. Use those burst options to make the opponent afraid of just chilling near you and they will be forced to give you more stage to work with. But they're strictly mixups. No good ROB will just dash attack all day. It's all about putting the possibility in your opponent's mind and punishing them with it when they DON'T have that possibility in their head. Also putting up a nair bubble generally wins you some stage. That is to say just using nair so it might hit if they approached into it, not actually trying to hit with it directly. Top also creates stage control if used from far away since they have to try to catch it or jump over it. Both can be punished. If they like to dash attack to pick up top you can just shield, that's a really low level play after all. If they try to go over top you can anti-air. I guess if they catch it with a retreating aerial or something you actually have to start watching out for top placement more and not leaving it where they can grab it, depends on the opponent though. Also just top in the hand is good, throwing it down to protect yourself deters like, pretty much any approach your opponent can think of. Only has a hitbox for a short time though, but good if they're coming in hot. Anyway if you do find yourself in CQC against anyone don't forget that dtilt is blazing fast. You can use that to get out of a situation where you find yourself cornered usually, and if you get the trip it true combos into top so that's fun.

Okay that's enough. Hope it helps.

 

[MERPIS]

Thank you for the information it helps a ton
However, friends, I now would like to know, what are Rob's strengths and biggest weaknesses?

 

[1FC0]

His mayor strength's are probably his camp game, his Gyro, his survivability and he has a few insanely good combo's. Mayor weaknesses are probably being juggled or comboed, and fighting rush down characters.

 

[MERPIS]

His mayor strength's are probably his camp game, his Gyro, his survivability and he has a few insanely good combo's. Mayor weaknesses are probably being juggled or comboed, and fighting rush down characters.

What about his offstage presence?

 

[Ijigen]

Rob’s offstage/gimp game is decent since you can place a fastfall fair basically anywhere and still recover. Arm rotor offstage is also good.

But yeah rob’s major weakness is rushdown. Top and laser are his best tools and they are unsafe up close. Rob is huge and gets nicked easily in CQC and his range, while good, can be beat out. Rushdown specifically has another way to get in if you preempt him (most of his tools are slow to start like nair, so they can simply hit him first)
I ran into Zinoto on QP who was working on a Lucina and definitely saw this stuff get exploited. Rob struggles to keep stage if the opponent plays a certain bait and punish style. I did sneak out one win though... let’s just not mention how many games we played!

 

[1FC0]

R.O.B. IMO has one of the best recoveries since the distance that he can fly is almost unbeaten in every direction and characters who come close to R.O.B. in distance that they can recover often either have to damage themselves to get it or leave themselves open because they cannot attack freely out of their recovery without having a huge penalty (like having to completely stop the recovery instead of being able to resume it). Though Robo Burner is slow you almost always at least get a chance to recover by using good tactics and strategy.

Many other characters often face situations where they are "as good as death" either due to having an extremely predictable and thus gimpable recovery or because they cannot cover the distance needed to get back. I think that R.O.B. rarily is "as good as dead" until he either gets hit hard enough to directly hit a blast zone, or failed a recovery that could have succeeded had he played better. One of the things I hate when playing with some other characters is getting knocked past my recovery range and just having to let myself die. With R.O.B. this never happens unless I just blew a chance to recover.

 

[MERPIS]

Rob just has one of the best recoveries in the game period. Its easily top 10 possibly top 5 or 3 and is by far the most versatile recovery in the game

 

[MERPIS]

Does some one mind telling me what makes dtilt so amazing for rob's kit? Or just what makes it one of the best moves in the game in general? I see it be talked about all the time when people talk about broken or amazing moves and I just kind of think of it as a good "get off me" option.

Also, what is everyone's opinion on forward air? Is it a good move in general or is it just something rob has to take up space?