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Social Roy Social - R O Y B O Y Z

Croph

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This might be a placebo, but I'm pretty sure Roy got 1% more hotter in this patch~

Nerfs to some of the high tiers like Cloud, Sheik, and ZSS will indirectly buff all characters. Makes life a little more tolerable for us at the very least. I guess this also means we might see more balance patches down the road. Nice to see Samus getting some love at any rate. And yeah, idk why Corrin got speed nerfs.
 

DarkDeity15

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Roy seems to be unchanged.

Only thing they could really add for Roy is for any of his aerials a decent auto cancel.

Biggest nerfs are Sheik (finally) Cloud and Corrin. Think they went over board on Corrin though. Expect more Bayos if she doesn't see a nerf.
Bayo's Dair (end lag increased) and witch time (end lag increased when wiffed) were nerfed.
 

The Merc

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Bayo's Dair (end lag increased) and witch time (end lag increased when wiffed) were nerfed.
Nice if that is true.

Also, I personally think they went to far with Corrin's Mobilty nerf. If it's not major then that's fine, but if makes a significant difference, I will feel bad for the mains.

:135:
 

Schnizzle Fits

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Because they decided Roy can be the only fast FE rep, by a larger gap. #FASTBOYZ

Funny enough I was starting to lab Corrin last night.

Edit: So are we back to having the best counter in the game. I don't count Smash Shulk because it's lack of fire.
 
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Vipermoon

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Because they decided Roy can be the only fast FE rep, by a larger gap. #FASTBOYZ

Funny enough I was starting to lab Corrin last night.

Edit: So are we back to having the best counter in the game. I don't count Smash Shulk because it's lack of fire.
Roy's counter still relatively sucks. It has start-up (with no compensation for it) and a sourspot (lol)
 

Vipermoon

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Meh, Ike's is probably stronger due to base knockback. Also Roy can't edgeguard well with it due to his really high gravity, fall speed, and how slow he gets back on stage
 

Zoramine Fae

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Nice if that is true.

Also, I personally think they went to far with Corrin's Mobilty nerf. If it's not major then that's fine, but if makes a significant difference, I will feel bad for the mains.

:135:
It's about a 4% difference for grounded and even less for aerial, if what I can tell from the spreadsheet is correct. Basically, uncharged but you will move just a wee bit slower. Compensates a bit for that, uh, side special.

god i hate that move


Edit: Corrin probably got nerf hammered to movement, despite lightly, because they couldn't come up with better ideas for nerfs.
 
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Vipermoon

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I still think ours is stronger. The Damage/Knockback co-relation in this game is too damn high.
The knockback formula is the same.

My point is, Roy's has a sourspot and less base knockback makes it kill worse as an edgeguard especially with most recoveries not doing much damage. Edgeguarding is one of the only uses for a Counter
 

Schnizzle Fits

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I honestly never found Roy's counter hard to use, mostly because I got used to his narrow Melee timing. Also I should of reworded that but hey sleep is for chumps. I meant strongest since Corrins counter was nerfed. I know most other counters have more active frames but in terms of kb and damage multiplier. And as we learned with Corrin and Witch Time, counter attacks shouldn't be a reliable KO move.
 
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Pay-to-win newcomers and top tiers got hit hard.
The game's braindead punishes that kill at like 0 or 14 or whatever were hit really hard, ZSS and MK took a hit from this.

Sheik, Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta are only getting hit harder and harder as time goes on, they're still not completely tested.

Roy's either unchanged or buffed.

Good.

Hopefully now people will start hyping up a good DLC Fire Emblem character again.

MEWTWO RUNS AS FAST AS A CHEVY SILVERADO NOW.

I may be up for Discord matches tonight, depends how much I feel like playing Revelation or doing other things.
 

The Merc

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I honestly never found Roy's counter hard to use, mostly because I got used to his narrow Melee timing. Also I should of reworded that but hey sleep is for chumps. I meant strongest since Corrins counter was nerfed. I know most other counters have more active frames but in terms of kb and damage multiplier. And as we learned with Corrin and Witch Time, counter attacks shouldn't be a reliable KO move.
Unless you counter a smash attack at decent percents. Man, the number of times I've kill people at 80% when counter they're smash attacks (even with the sourspot)

It's about a 4% difference for grounded and even less for aerial, if what I can tell from the spreadsheet is correct. Basically, uncharged but you will move just a wee bit slower. Compensates a bit for that, uh, side special.

god i hate that move


Edit: Corrin probably got nerf hammered to movement, despite lightly, because they couldn't come up with better ideas for nerfs.
Oh, so not really that much, but still a difference. I alright with that then. Not that i really cared. Was never interested in maining Corrin.

:135:
 

EnGarde

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Well, I didn't know >:I

:135:
Sorry, I didn't mean that in a mean way, but rather in a joking, "when does Ninty ever keep us peons in the loop" sort of way. :p I wish they'd give us patch notes too. </3

The knockback formula is the same.

My point is, Roy's has a sourspot and less base knockback makes it kill worse as an edgeguard especially with most recoveries not doing much damage. Edgeguarding is one of the only uses for a Counter
While the timing is stricter, Roy can use his counter offstage and onstage for edgeguarding. I've been edge-guarded by Roy's counter, so it is definitely a tool in his arsenal. It also has more knockback growth than Marth's on both sweet and sourspots, so it has more kill power at higher percents.
 

Tahu Mata

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I don't know how many of you are going to read this, but I'll put it here anyways.

So school has just begun for me, and as expected, it's a pain. I unfortunately won't be able to be as active as I was before, but I'll try my absolute best to keep in touch with you guys, both here and in Discord.

As for the patch, sucks that Roy didn't get any buffs (and well, my two secondaries getting nerfed), but we gotta stay strong and keep supporting our character.
 
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I don't know how many of you are going to read this, but I'll put it here anyways.

So school has just begun for me, and as expected, it's a pain. I unfortunately won't be able to be as active as I was before, but I'll try my absolute best to keep in touch with you guys, both here and in Discord.

As for the patch, sucks that Roy didn't get any buffs (and well, my two secondaries getting nerfed), but we gotta stay strong and keep supporting our character.
I'm happy he was unchanged because I already thought of him as a solid mid with high or top potential. Now it's more likely than ever with his biggest threats losing several core strengths that made things more difficult for Roy. Especially MK and ZSS's uairs.

Btw guys, use nair OoS more. Fantastic option that covers space well.
 

Login_Sinker

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Hey Roys, where do you put your character in the meta? Factoring in potential as well. I'm curious because the character doesn't seem that good to me, but I don't know a whole lot about him, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some insight.
 
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Hey Roys, where do you put your character in the meta? Factoring in potential as well. I'm curious because the character doesn't seem that good to me, but I don't know a whole lot about him, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some insight.
I'd like to know exactly why you're curious first, it seems like a "just because" at best. I don't like giving insight to people who likely wouldn't do anything productive with it.
 

The Merc

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I'd like to know exactly why you're curious first, it seems like a "just because" at best. I don't like giving insight to people who likely wouldn't do anything productive with it.
Oh, I have a question.

What type of play style do you think best suits Roy?

I personally think he plays an aggressive play style well, but I'm not sure if that is the best

Sorry, I didn't mean that in a mean way, but rather in a joking, "when does Ninty ever keep us peons in the loop" sort of way. :p I wish they'd give us patch notes too. </3



While the timing is stricter, Roy can use his counter offstage and onstage for edgeguarding. I've been edge-guarded by Roy's counter, so it is definitely a tool in his arsenal. It also has more knockback growth than Marth's on both sweet and sourspots, so it has more kill power at higher percents.
Yeah, I kind of guess that :p

Plus, the endlag on Roy's counter both Hit and Whiff really isn't that bad tbh

:135:
 
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Oh, I have a question.

What type of play style do you think best suits Roy?

I personally think he plays an aggressive play style well, but I'm not sure if that is the best

:135:
He's pretty well-rounded on both offensive and defensive options. I tend to prefer aggression since it's more fun and natural for me.

A lot of his safe, great poking and combo tools for being aggressive on something like someone's shield (plus their defensive options and habits coupled with shield) or landings are also fantastic defensive tools.

For example, you can jab someone's shield and punish how they react, or you can jab someone to clip their approach (what EnGarde EnGarde and I do to each other a lot when playing) or box them out.

You can be the aggressor with nair and use it to cover their defensive options, such as spacing nair onto their shield or moving towards them with it to cross them up or just invade their space to enter a potential weak point or blindspot, or you can use it while rising and/or retreating into yet another defensive option.

I could give endless examples, those are just two.

It depends on the other player's style and character, as well as where they are onstage or offstage. There's a lot of matchup variables you just have to feel out and take note of, and a lot you have to figure out and apply. You have to play Roy differently for every matchup, you need both a game plan and solid adaptation.

I think, one excellent thing about Roy, is that he is great at controlling the pace of a match if he wants to. You have to have fluid, unpredictable changes between offense and defense to take advantage of that.

You have to decide whether being aggressive or defensive is better for each situation, Roy loses a lot of that potential on autopilot and weaker fundamentals. Get rid of those two, and suddenly he applies his tools 100 times better. You have to be very reactive, you have to be constantly thinking, you have to always plan and make a lot of decisions between your offensive and defensive options. If you get all of those down, his tools in neutral become very threatening to anyone, and his punishes become absolutely ridiculous, both through true combos and strings where you remain in an advantageous position and cover options correctly as long as possible.

He has a great, long disjoint, an incredible amount of mobility both on land and in the air, an incredible amount of power behind his moves, and pretty decent frame data for what he is. That's part of why I feel he's more rounded than just one or the other, he can use those tools to play how he wants (provided the player is already approaching the game correctly).
 

The Merc

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He's pretty well-rounded on both offensive and defensive options. I tend to prefer aggression since it's more fun and natural for me.

A lot of his safe, great poking and combo tools for being aggressive on something like someone's shield (plus their defensive options and habits coupled with shield) or landings are also fantastic defensive tools.

For example, you can jab someone's shield and punish how they react, or you can jab someone to clip their approach (what EnGarde EnGarde and I do to each other a lot when playing) or box them out.

You can be the aggressor with nair and use it to cover their defensive options, such as spacing nair onto their shield or moving towards them with it to cross them up or just invade their space to enter a potential weak point or blindspot, or you can use it while rising and/or retreating into yet another defensive option.

I could give endless examples, those are just two.

It depends on the other player's style and character, as well as where they are onstage or offstage. There's a lot of matchup variables you just have to feel out and take note of, and a lot you have to figure out and apply. You have to play Roy differently for every matchup, you need both a game plan and solid adaptation.

I think, one excellent thing about Roy, is that he is great at controlling the pace of a match if he wants to. You have to have fluid, unpredictable changes between offense and defense to take advantage of that.

You have to decide whether being aggressive or defensive is better for each situation, Roy loses a lot of that potential on autopilot and weaker fundamentals. Get rid of those two, and suddenly he applies his tools 100 times better. You have to be very reactive, you have to be constantly thinking, you have to always plan and make a lot of decisions between your offensive and defensive options. If you get all of those down, his tools in neutral become very threatening to anyone, and his punishes become absolutely ridiculous, both through true combos and strings where you remain in an advantageous position and cover options correctly as long as possible.

He has a great, long disjoint, an incredible amount of mobility both on land and in the air, an incredible amount of power behind his moves, and pretty decent frame data for what he is. That's part of why I feel he's more rounded than just one or the other, he can use those tools to play how he wants (provided the player is already approaching the game correctly).
Oh, so very similarly to Pit then from my understanding of what you said?

Play aggressive if you want to but learn to go defensive at any minute.

Though I notice you mention Roy's Neutral to and I remember reading a few times that Roy really doesn't have that good of a one. Is that true in your opinion?

:135:
 
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Oh, so very similarly to Pit then from my understanding of what you said?

Play aggressive if you want to but learn to go defensive at any minute.

Though I notice you mention Roy's Neutral to and I remember reading a few times that Roy really doesn't have that good of a one. Is that true in your opinion?

:135:
I honestly feel like "bad neutral" is just a label people slap onto characters incorrectly very often, and people follow the trend.
I've seen a lot of people (mainly random people I don't know and people who aren't really competitive players anyways) say RELEASE CLOUD had bad neutral in a similar manner.
Roy has so many great tools in neutral and diverse ways to apply them, I think his neutral's potent and able to contend with any or almost any character.

He has a great, long disjoint, an incredible amount of mobility both on land and in the air, an incredible amount of power behind his moves, and pretty decent frame data for what he is. That's part of why I feel he's more rounded than just one or the other, he can use those tools to play how he wants (provided the player is already approaching the game correctly).
^That can also be applied to how I feel about his neutral, both his ground and air mobility are very, very key things that set him apart from others.

Yeah, I feel Roy's pretty similar to Pit and Captain Falcon, an underdeveloped Pit or Falcon is how I'd describe him since he's really similar to those two in many regards.
 

Schnizzle Fits

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The big problem why people harshly hate Roy, or why they may talk bad about him, is because how he was hyped, even by top players. Also because of the nature of DLC characters people would move on to the next character and ignore the last, so now we have the faithful. Most people I've noticed outside this Thread know jack all about how Roy actually works.

Example being like "Roy? Who cares Cloud is better"

If you read anything from r/Smashbros, character advice shouldn't be taken seriously (unless its Praxis, or a known name). Seriously if you ever see any threads there with "What Character counters Bayonetta" the comments look like it was a kid that beat a crappy Bayo in GF, I read the comments for entertainment value. And that sub reddit seems to hate Roy for almost no reason. Honestly I should of made an account here years ago, and I did because I really wanted to take Roy seriously as I did in Melee and I knew this time he had more potential and like I said, you almost cannot talk about Roy anywhere else.

Giant rant aside, I think Roy's fair and jab are amazing options that some characters would love to have. Those two and down tilt are my go to neutral options and work for me so far. I'm still trying to get up air in there somewhere.
 
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The big problem why people harshly hate Roy, or why they may talk bad about him, is because how he was hyped, even by top players. Also because of the nature of DLC characters people would move on to the next character and ignore the last, so now we have the faithful. Most people I've noticed outside this Thread know jack all about how Roy actually works.

Example being like "Roy? Who cares Cloud is better"

If you read anything from r/Smashbros, character advice shouldn't be taken seriously (unless its Praxis, or a known name). Seriously if you ever see any threads there with "What Character counters Bayonetta" the comments look like it was a kid that beat a crappy Bayo in GF, I read the comments for entertainment value. And that sub reddit seems to hate Roy for almost no reason. Honestly I should of made an account here years ago, and I did because I really wanted to take Roy seriously as I did in Melee and I knew this time he had more potential and like I said, you almost cannot talk about Roy anywhere else.

Giant rant aside, I think Roy's fair and jab are amazing options that some characters would love to have. Those two and down tilt are my go to neutral options and work for me so far. I'm still trying to get up air in there somewhere.
This. This this this.

Now you see why I become vehement about r/circlejerkbros when people bring it up here.
It's a massive pretentious cesspool of the absolute worst personalities and opinions in the smash community, and Reddit is horribly, horribly, horribly designed for Nintendo communities. I find obscure indie subreddits much better, so I'm not sure whether it's horribly designed for gaming as a whole or not.
For Glory kids, stream monsters, neckbeards, you name it. It's their playground, and thanks to the upvote system, it doesn't matter how good an argument or post is. It's wrong as long as enough salty basement dwellers find it, and you just get a post that looks bad and a hurt reputation on your account permanently even if you work hard to be a good community member. Then you can't comment quickly enough due to having to wait between comments, making defending yourself in a timely manner impossible.
I get angrier and angrier the more I type and remember my experiences there.
Smash 4 Discussion Group on Facebook is just as horrifying to look at, too, but at least Facebook lets you defend yourself, and doesn't have an awful reputation system that's good for nothing.
Why I fundamentally hate how quickly you can post comments on Reddit is partially because censorship never empowers the oppressed, only the oppressors.
Even my favorite series, Fire Emblem, has a subreddit that's pretty horrible and has warped the minds of several friends into horribly typical Reddit mindsets when discussing Fire Emblem. I know someone here who has given into the hate of their own favorite characters, and it's so depressing to see. I almost want to smack it out of them, because a lot of what has influenced them is untrue, and they now have negative thought patterns that evolve into slippery slopes about how nobody likes Roy or how his future's bad. I hate it. I hope they see this and realize how bull**** it is.

The Roy hate's always been on there. It was difficult rallying support on Reddit pre-DLC, because of the upvote/downvote system and how muh Shovelware Knight (it's a great game, I just need a clever name) or King Cruel or whatever were dickridden for the longest time, and how even logical, unassuming and non-hostile arguments defending Roy and justifying him as DLC would be downvoted to oblivion, because Sceptile and indies and snot-nosed inklings with spliddy spladdy shoot guns and dumb little kid haircuts and all sorts of stupid **** and whatnot people masqueraded as "unique." Reddit's the only place where my declone arguments and ideas were ignored entirely, since Roy does have potential to be one of the most unique characters in Smash. I sold a lot of people otherwise, thanks to every single other social media site out there being infinitely better, and those people were still happy with his Luigification.

Luckily Reddit's just a small, small minority of ****ty people. Sometimes people give into the negativity and act like Reddit's the majority or deciding factor of literally anything besides donations.

**** Reddit. I'm so glad it's as weak as it is.

Luckily it wasn't hard to gather tens of thousands of emails and fighter ballot votes personally through literally all other social media out there and a convenient to link website.

People have created lies about Roy for ages, or have been in denial about an overwhelming amount of positive factors for his inclusion and denying that he's one of the main faces of Fire Emblem, so it's only natural some would hang onto that and do their best to pretend he's not in the game. Including by making people think he's an unviable or low-tier character when he's not, doing anything they can in desperation when they've lost long ago.
He's loved by the majority of Fire Emblem and Smash players in the world, I had to really dig and ask for help on statistics in the DLC campaign to prove it, and some people are able to make negativity prominent, fooling people into believing a minority is a worldwide plague, or making them too shy to speak for themselves.
GameFAQ's and r/smashbros are the biggest offenders.

Wow, that got my anger out really well.

TLDR: Reddit sucks, don't browse r/circlejerkbros or any Nintendo subreddits ever, don't do drugs.




Anyways, try approaching with lower fair angles, as in slashing as close to the ground as possible and sweetspotting. Forward momentum really helps too. You can open crazy combos with it, I'll still combo into something at mid-high percents if spaced properly, and it leads to much more at lower percents.

With uair you want to retreat after a whiff or shield hit with Roy's mobility. Know when sweetspot uair and know when sourspot uair lead into things, use them interchangeably.
 
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Croph

Hold Baroque Inside
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I noticed the more time I spend offline, the happier I am. Most people I meet at tourneys are really encouraging anyway.

Except for Smashboards. ;) That's one community I can't seem to get away from I've been sucked in, halp

Re: Best playstyle for Roy?

There's no right or wrong way to play Roy imo. If how you're playing him is working out, keep at it; do whatever works for you. Or maybe you think he's more fun to play aggressively, then go for it. Like most sword wielders, I feel that Roy strives on fundamentals and is pretty flexible in terms of playstyles. Helps if you know how and when to play aggressive or defensive.

I'm trying to learn how to be more aggressive myself. There are times I could have close a stock but I was too scared to do anything for some reason lol. I kinda like to hit and run (thank goodness for Roy's great mobility specs), doing chip damage when I can and retaliating based on how my opponent reacts. I love retreating Fairs (have my C-stick set to tilts) and I've been getting better at 1st hit of Nair > Dsmash.

Honestly, you should be fine as long as you're throwing out safe moves and your spacing's good. I've seen some Roys just randomly throw out Fsmashes, Utilts, Dairs, etc., with poor spacing. Like, what's the use in charging an Fsmash or falling with a Dair when you're like 10 feet from your opponent?
 

Login_Sinker

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I'd like to know exactly why you're curious first, it seems like a "just because" at best. I don't like giving insight to people who likely wouldn't do anything productive with it.
Well, I was wondering because I'm considering playing the character more seriously and just wanted to know the opinion of people who know him well. Like, is this a character who has a legitimate shot at doing well at a high level, or would he be my go-to pick for a low tier tournament or friendlies? All I ever hear is people saying he's freaking awful, and I want to know if that's true.
 

Schnizzle Fits

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Well, I was wondering because I'm considering playing the character more seriously and just wanted to know the opinion of people who know him well. Like, is this a character who has a legitimate shot at doing well at a high level, or would he be my go-to pick for a low tier tournament or friendlies? All I ever hear is people saying he's freaking awful, and I want to know if that's true.
Well, as the giant rant pointed out, people say he's terrible, that lovely and well though out tier lost placed him terribly (and im taking both versions of terrible), and we where just addressing "Roy Hate". I seriously don't blame you if you didn't read all of it.

Roy's mobility alone is why I cannot see him bottom tier. He has access to some good combos, set ups and tech chase options. Roy's recovery is not as bad as "people" say. Captain Falcon's is worse and Mario's operates in a similar fashion so take it what you will from that. Also his neutral was called bad because he was underdeveloped and he requires proper use to take advantage of his mobility. Characters like Cloud are basic and Mewtwo and Lucas didn't nearly change as much as Roy did so we got to deal with an all new and improved Roy. his formed rather quick since people here been able to prove that Roy has solid options. He's a solid mid-tier at worst.

Playstyle wise its agreed on that you want to be close at all times in neutral and be aggressive when you can apply it. Roy is fast enough to mirror and react accordingly if you use safe moves in the neutral. His speed alone gets people off as I'm able to punish a Pikachu or Mario using their neutral b when they think they should be safe. A Nice thing about Roy is that he has his KO moves but if you cannot seal the deal most of his moves can KO later on naturally. It isn't anything like Corrin upair but anything over 130% should die to a tilt or a few of his airs.
 

The Merc

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I honestly feel like "bad neutral" is just a label people slap onto characters incorrectly very often, and people follow the trend.
I've seen a lot of people (mainly random people I don't know and people who aren't really competitive players anyways) say RELEASE CLOUD had bad neutral in a similar manner.
Roy has so many great tools in neutral and diverse ways to apply them, I think his neutral's potent and able to contend with any or almost any character.
Yeah, that what my thoughts were. Just seems weird that Roy has all these good options, safe (or relatively) and yet it's been called 'bad'. It's just weird. I mean, just look at his jab.

^That can also be applied to how I feel about his neutral, both his ground and air mobility are very, very key things that set him apart from others.

Yeah, I feel Roy's pretty similar to Pit and Captain Falcon, an underdeveloped Pit or Falcon is how I'd describe him since he's really similar to those two in many regards.
100% agree with you.

Thanks for the advice anyway :). I just asked cause I just want to make sure I'm playing Roy the best way I can.

Re: Best playstyle for Roy?

There's no right or wrong way to play Roy imo. If how you're playing him is working out, keep at it; do whatever works for you. Or maybe you think he's more fun to play aggressively, then go for it. Like most sword wielders, I feel that Roy strives on fundamentals and is pretty flexible in terms of playstyles. Helps if you know how and when to play aggressive or defensive.

I'm trying to learn how to be more aggressive myself. There are times I could have close a stock but I was too scared to do anything for some reason lol. I kinda like to hit and run (thank goodness for Roy's great mobility specs), doing chip damage when I can and retaliating based on how my opponent reacts. I love retreating Fairs (have my C-stick set to tilts) and I've been getting better at 1st hit of Nair > Dsmash.
Ah okay. Yeah, just over the time I've played Roy, since he is similar to the likes of Lil Mac and Falcon, I've just learn to try to play aggressively (particular you already need to be up close to the opponent to get the best results from Roy). And this further transitions to my off stage play. Since I also main Pit and Robin, characters who are extremely strong off stage (particular Pit, who can just hang around the edge for days and still recover from anywhere) that sort of think as come across in my Roy playing as well. Though if I'm honest, this has lead to some recklessness of pushing myself to far, forgetting about Roy's recovery and often killing myself at low percents.

Honestly, you should be fine as long as you're throwing out safe moves and your spacing's good. I've seen some Roys just randomly throw out Fsmashes, Utilts, Dairs, etc., with poor spacing. Like, what's the use in charging an Fsmash or falling with a Dair when you're like 10 feet from your opponent?
Yeah, I think I have a tendency to do that sometimes. But often I feel like it's me just trying to not to be predictable or just seeing "what would happen if I did this?"

Again, thanks for the advice! Really helping me see just a bit more how I should be playing Roy.

It isn't anything like Corrin upair but anything over 130% should die to a tilt or a few of his airs.
Why is it since Corrin came out, everyone has seem to have forgotten about :4robinm: amazing Uair?
:135:
 
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Well, I was wondering because I'm considering playing the character more seriously and just wanted to know the opinion of people who know him well. Like, is this a character who has a legitimate shot at doing well at a high level, or would he be my go-to pick for a low tier tournament or friendlies? All I ever hear is people saying he's freaking awful, and I want to know if that's true.
None of us truly know how good he is. I believe in him though. My tournament performances have improved drastically ever since dropping characters like Ike and Captain Falcon competitively for him, but that might be more dedication vs. previous soulsearching and wondering if I really want to invest in Smash 4, before patches and DLC made it a game I wanted to stick with. I do feel he has better tools overall than Ike after going to roughly a year of tournaments mainly with Ike and roughly a year of tournaments with Roy, namely a better matchup spread, and if Ike manages to be a solid mid-tier (high-tier to some like ZeRo, who said that he believed Roy's in high-tier next to Ike AFTER admitting he could have overhyped Roy) then I see Roy as the same as wherever Ike is or better.

Roy has the tools to consistently win neutral vs. just about anyone with solid fundamentals and decisions due to his range, power, speed, and disjoint, but you have to work hard for it and avoid autopilot or any fundamental blindspots, along with reacting and making good decisions to everything. His punish game is absolutely nuts, you have to work with tight timings, learn reaction tech chasing since some of his best moves force opponents into a tech situation, innovate footstooling after things like a sweet uair at lower percents, and be creative with combos since he has a lot of throw situations where he can only combo into one or two tight, niche options. His throws in general are pretty flexible though. A lot of his typical punishes are 20 or 30 percent off of a few good hits from relatively safe moves, and his punishes can be pushed beyond 50 in some scenarios.

I feel he's a great choice to take anyone to the top, but only if they play him for the right reasons. If they get discouraged from not performing well with Roy to the point of dropping the character as soon as they don't place immediately, or don't want to invest in anything that's not tried and true when there's other proven, easier options out there, then he's not someone who should be picked up.


What drives you to play the game? That will help most in deciding if you want to play Roy or not.

You need a lot of investment into Roy. You need months of specifically focusing on the character, learning specific matchups, and tightening fundamentals to start doing anything with him. A lot of people think he's awful because they put no real time into learning the character, playing him for a week or maybe on-and-off for a month and then dropping him as soon as they don't do as well as they set themselves up to expect, instead opting for easier characters that gain quicker results. No players who were/are already notable Smash 4 competitive players have invested in Roy so far, which I rarely see brought up when discussing his potential, and it's the main reason why people think he sucks.

My ranking: Solid mid-tier, with high or even top potential in the right hands.
You have some uphill matchups, but imo nothing worse than 40-60 with investment and the tools to handle all matchups. Kinda like Pit or Falcon. You need a lot of dedication to do well. I'd say Roy's the most similar to Falcon.
If you want to invest in Roy as a project, you could, but you might be better off with at least Sonic since he's one of the best characters and proven to be a solid tournament pick many times.

I've placed 1st or top 3 in many small or medium-sized brackets against solid players (a lot of midwest PR upsets), and I have good results at 100+ tournaments as well with Roy. I don't play the game to win tournaments, I play it to innovate Roy and have fun doing so. If I do well competitively, I want to do well competitively with my favorite character. Everyone plays the game for different reasons, which is why it's a great idea to pick him up for some, or a terrible idea to pick him up for others.

Well, as the giant rant pointed out, people say he's terrible, that lovely and well though out tier lost placed him terribly (and im taking both versions of terrible), and we where just addressing "Roy Hate". I seriously don't blame you if you didn't read all of it.

Roy's mobility alone is why I cannot see him bottom tier. He has access to some good combos, set ups and tech chase options. Roy's recovery is not as bad as "people" say. Captain Falcon's is worse and Mario's operates in a similar fashion so take it what you will from that. Also his neutral was called bad because he was underdeveloped and he requires proper use to take advantage of his mobility. Characters like Cloud are basic and Mewtwo and Lucas didn't nearly change as much as Roy did so we got to deal with an all new and improved Roy. his formed rather quick since people here been able to prove that Roy has solid options. He's a solid mid-tier at worst.

Playstyle wise its agreed on that you want to be close at all times in neutral and be aggressive when you can apply it. Roy is fast enough to mirror and react accordingly if you use safe moves in the neutral. His speed alone gets people off as I'm able to punish a Pikachu or Mario using their neutral b when they think they should be safe. A Nice thing about Roy is that he has his KO moves but if you cannot seal the deal most of his moves can KO later on naturally. It isn't anything like Corrin upair but anything over 130% should die to a tilt or a few of his airs.
This is what I've been trying and wanting to say, but phrased a lot better. Thank you.

What are you talking about?

The move is still amazing with the Levin Sword.

:135:
WHICH IS WHY I

 

EnGarde

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Hello, welcome to the Roy social forum. Under normal circumstances, I would just link a copy of Together We Ride (a greeting that someone started before I was watching this thread lol), and move on, but one word of caution. When you posted here, you opened with... (emphasis added)

Hey Roys, where do you put your character in the meta? Factoring in potential as well. I'm curious because the character doesn't seem that good to me, but I don't know a whole lot about him, so I was wondering if you guys could give me some insight.
...which forced us on the defensive in the discussion; forced us in a position where we had to defend our main. :-/

Roy has a lot of potential in the current meta, but he's pretty under-explored atm, and a lot of the people most dedicated to playing him are still working to build fundamentals as players as well as building the character, so progress here is slower than in other character sub-forums. He isn't an easy character, where you can learn a uair uair up+b death combo percents chart, nor does he have any one move that dominates any gameplay states (i.e. Sheik needles, Ness bthrow), or guaranteed quick kills. As Mason stated earlier, Roy relies on creativity and reading your opponent in order to maximize combo damage. Roy has to adapt to the play-styles of other characters in order to weave around the opponent's space and punish accordingly, meaning it takes time to build up sufficient character knowledge to use Roy as your main. Food for thought if you're going to pick him up seriously.

Either way, welcome, and I hope you enjoy your time with us. :)


Oh, so very similarly to Pit then from my understanding of what you said?

Play aggressive if you want to but learn to go defensive at any minute.

Though I notice you mention Roy's Neutral to and I remember reading a few times that Roy really doesn't have that good of a one. Is that true in your opinion?

:135:
Pit <3

The one thing considering the Falcon comparisons I saw posted earlier, would say two things. I would argue that Roy's MU spread is more balanced than Falcon's, due to his disjoint. Roy might not dominate his positive match-ups as hard as Falcon dominates his, but in exchange, he doesn't have any borderline unwinnable match-ups either. Considering Falcon's worst MUs, he struggles heavily against short characters like Kirby and pikachu because he doesn't have disjoint/range to space around them (has to get into their effective ranges, allowing them to force trades), while they have a small frame that makes it very hard for Falcon to hit them, since many of his moves don't really hit low targets very well. Roy doesn't have that issue, since his worst MUs typically involve being spaced out, camped, or getting combo'd heavily (something we should be able to mitigate with practice) on disadvantage. We don't have the same level of coverage gaps that leave blind spots for our opponent's to exploit. We also don't have any unuseable moves in our kit, like Falcon Punch (as stylish as it is). That's just my perspective on it, at least.
 

TheSpnBrm

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This interaction isn't related to the most recent patch but has anyone else been annoyed at Roy's Uair visual ? I've been in the lab trying to find the most consistent method of confirming into tilts and Roy's other kill options using reverse sourspot upair (because that side is easier to hit with the sourspot due to it's size) and i've found the hitbox and swing trail don't match up which is really saddening and it can whiff in the later half of the swing which limits it's uses. I'm aware of Nair 1, but both of these options are really tricky to land regardless so it isn't really a viable kill set up. Hoping we can spread word of this and see what can be done. Roy has the tools to pull results in tourney, I just wish sourspot upair was a bit more consistent to land so my tilts kill power could be better utilized in Neutral. Other than that I feel Roy is pretty much perfect in all regards,
 
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TheSpnBrm

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Btw guys I had also found a kill set up off of jab into Jcanceled here's the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyMains/comments/49ktkz/kill_set_up_for_roy/

It's a true combo but the reason I don't state it's a kill confirm is because I'm not sure how DI changes it. (I only have the 3DS version atm and can't test it.)
If you could test out how it does change this I'd be grateful. Because it if it still true then looks like we'd have our first reliable kill combo out of neutral.

(If this does stay true I will take a second and say that this set up is called The Tengen Toppa) Lol
 

Lady Kuki

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Speaking of the Smash subreddit (and YouTube), I don't know about any of you guys but does the Roy bashing in those communities seem a tad fishy to you?

Not going to name names, but I remember I saw one user state that they would have preferred X character over Roy, and X character was their least favorite character in Smash. Then they would go on writing lengthy posts to people convincing others why Roy is bad. They do make good analyses sometimes; the analyses are well written and are organized. However, I feel that part of the reason why they're so hostile to Roy is because they don't like him period. I feel like this applies to a good percentage of people who think Roy is low/bottom tier. They may not like him as a character and they're probably unhappy to see that he has been added back in the game. Doesn't apply to everyone who thinks Roy is low/mid tier, but I feel it applies to quite a few people.

What's also fishy is the seemingly lack of people who use Roy. It CAN'T be because he's low/bottom tier. Samus, Dedede and Shulk mains are very dedicated to their character. I'd see so many combo vids of these characters and these characters don't seem to get nearly as much flak as Roy does. They even have bigger player bases, and it seriously cannot be because they're absolutely amazing characters. I have a theory that those characters may have bigger and more dedicated fanbases because they're not controversial characters within their own series. Xenoblade fans like Shulk, so they main Shulk. Metroid fans like Samus, so they main Samus. Kirby fans like Dedede, so they main Dedede. Fire Emblem fans, however, have mixed opinions on Roy, and in my experience I feel that most FE fans either don't like or don't care for Roy. Many classic fans prefer powerful lords, and the Awakening/Fates fans probably aren't as attached to the older games. Add that with the fact that Roy wasn't in the initial roster and you have an unpopular character in the meta. Unpopular even compared to other "low tiers" like Zelda, Ganon and Jigglypuff.

I could be wrong. Maybe Samus (1.1.5 of course), Dedede and Shulk aren't really that bad? I mean, I don't main Shulk anymore, and I haven't been keeping up with the current meta of these characters. I could be wrong about them being low tier. What I'm trying to say is this: How come some of the other so-called "low tiers" have more dedicated players than Roy? And before you say "because DLC", keep in mind that even Lucas has one or two notable mains and a few 'results' (whatever that means).

One more thing I want to add: I remember during the Ryu/Roy/Lucas patch, Roy was barely being labbed despite the hype at the time. People had put more focus into labbing Ryu I believe. Don't even remember Roy placing in a tournament. In fact, aside from Static Manny, I don't think anyone even mained Roy, let alone used him as a secondary. No wonder people probably think he's bad, lol. His meta didn't even start when there was hype.

I apologize if my wording sounds a little... unrefined? I'm trying to get some sort of discussion here. I'm spotting out a few patterns here and there and such patterns make me suspicious of the whole "Roy's low tier" thing. Granted, I'm suspicious of the "Roy's high tier" belief too ("I have to see it to believe it" kinda thing), but the "low tier" belief seems to have a few more egregious flaws here and there.
 
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TheSpnBrm

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Speaking of the Smash subreddit (and YouTube), I don't know about any of you guys but does the Roy bashing in those communities seem a tad fishy to you?
It's pretty much what you've described, Roy in the US isn't looked at as greatly as the more powerful Lords, a lot of FE fans here do hate him.
To be fair he doesn't show as much emotion as his smash rep in his original game but still retains his and stoic and idealist nature. Japan loves all the lords but I think the meta greatly influences the lack of Roy play, They prefer defensive and consistent play patterns which isn't how Roy does things.
(Small rant incoming) Also people really fanboy over Marth due to his days in Melee.

Overall we can get Roy in the competitive scene and do well, I believe we just need to lab it up and be vocal over our findings.
Bring Deh Ph1r3 Boyz
 
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