Snake's Worst Enemy

[markus96]

R.O.B.

Yep.

My friend, he uses Wolf, I beat him. He uses Sonic, I beat him. Lucario, I bea -- you get the point. But lately, he's been using ROB, and he actually puts up a fight. Sometimes he can actually beat me. I just can't help but to fall into ROB's stupid moves... and I don't know why! I'm very familiar with all of snakes moves, they're KO potential, etc, but I just don't really know exactly what strategy to use on ROB!

I'm heading off to work now, but advice would be apreciated!

 

[Covenant]

Which moves? R.O.B. is a suprisingly thick character, so you gotta treat him like a heavy. Rob has a projectile which does damage but is not nearly as aimable as yours, so you can certainly stay away and lay down 'nades or nikitas. ROB likes to hover so you can ignore the down smash some, but C4 is useful because it has some vertical.

Also, ROB has some very shoddy reach as well as lousy running speed--you should be able to box him in with dashes somewhat up close and far away can pepper him with strikes. Snakes air moves are also devastatingly powerful, but slow. ROB is also one of the absolute slowest air guys in the game, especially when he's using booster rockets. I'd say, alternate between dashing in to land some hits, and running away to toss grenades.

Can you give us a better idea of what the game feels like? Is he staying away and peppering you with eyebeams and gyros, or is he in your face flailing his robot limbs?

 

[bman in 2288]

...I was totally expecting "A surveillance camera?!"

But anyways, what Covenant said. That, and as long as you keep him off the floor when he's recovering, you're set. How to do this?

Below the ledge: Try the box. Or Nikita if you don't think you can pull off a box edgeguard.
Level with the ledge: Fair will work here, or a RAR'd bair. If you think you can hit him with a Nikita, try that.
Above the stage: ...Uair or bair him towards the ledge? Or try mortars, but I really don't know how to work with this scenario.

 

[abit_rusty]

My brother mains ROB...and yes he's quite a tough character. His slow speed can be decieving, but any Snake who faces a good ROB will realize how much ROB can just harass you terribly. Lasers and top are good enough to keep slow-moving Snake away, and to deter any prolonged grenade spam. Of course they dispose of mines easily. You can toss the top back, but I tend to not mess with it because it has a weird little hitbox of its own when it's just lying there on the ground. Just plain annoying.

ROBs also tend to laser you as they recover, and the reach and angle is enough to deter nikita follow ups (or else force you to move farther back, and by then ROB recovers). Nair totally blows you out of cypher, or anytime in the air for that matter. His dair is a bit tricky to predict too, since it pops him up, as is his bair that pops him forward (and has a hitbox on both sides -.-)

My strategy for him is a lot of patience. He can tack on damage from afar, but it's not enough to kill you. Crouch/Jump/dodge laser, shield is alright but ROB can keep the pressure long enough to wear down your shield pretty quickly if you use it often. Never put yourself in a position directly above or above-front of ROB, his fair is much faster and his uair combos Snake badly. Crouch and crawl if you're approaching him while he's trying to recover so that you can avoid lasers/top, and use mortar edgeguarding in his laser cooldowns.

Mortar slide and grab to get in as much damage as you can, and tilts are your best assets that lead to KOs. Be precise with your uair and bair, because getting punished by a bair/nair of ROB's due to your lag is painful. Cooked nades are usually your most useful special in this match, unless it's a platform stage that allows for more camping. As much as I hate it, a good ROB will probably force you to be more aggressive. Ugh.

 

[markus96]

Hey Covenant, thanks for replying.

He uses the beam a lot. Like, every time I try to get away, he uses that **** beam. In fact, the last game we played, I lost because I pulled out a grenade, he shot me with the beam, and the grenade blew up in my hands and KO'd me (embarassing).

But yea, he rolls (well, whatever it is that ROB does) around a lot, so that I have to approach him, because if I don't he just spams that spinning top thing and the laser. Then, when I approach him, he sometimes gets me with that windmill move that combos you then tosses you into the air. I've realized I need to start using the Nikita on him more when he's using his up B, and my mortars as well, but I guess I need a better strategy for getting him in the air in the first place. My aerials never work (dair, nair) because he sees them coming from a mile away, rolls, and fsmashes me or something of that sort.

This friend of mine, he did the same thing in Melee with Falco. Roll, roll, laser some until you approach. He never made a move until you made a mistake, and then he would do something. Very defensive, I suppose.

Edit: Oh, and I've actually meteor stuck him a few times, but his booster jets get him back onto the map somehow...

Edit2: Thanks Rusty. That actually makes sense. I usually like the slow, strong characters, and I like being able to plan out my attacks and such, you know? But with ROB, he forces me to attack him, which is tough for me. I've started playing Peach as a secondary, and it seems I had a bit more lucky against him with her, probably because she's quicker and can float around his laser.

 

[bman in 2288]

The most important thing is to keep him off the ground after he recovers so that he can recharge his jets. An auto-RAR bair will do the trick if you time it right.

 

[B1ah]

yeah good robs can be a pain, he has as much air recover as yours, whats worse hes much more movable and his attack can quickly kill you on your hovering machine, his lacer can be proned, I noticed if hes doing his spin on the ground(not the side+b one) you cannot roll into it. And I disagree, I find pit to be the most annoying one to face with snake, especially on a huge non FD map.

 

[PsychoMidget]

But ROB teams up with Snake in that one event match, how can they be enemies

 

[zeionut]

wat do u guys mean by box him in?

 

[Oscular]

IDK how well your friend plays R.O.B, but my bane is definitely Wolf. I can't stand it. My friend rolls and spams forward A way too much, although I am getting better at predicting his rolls. But his aerial attacks are so annoying, especially when I try to recover.

 

[markus96]

Oscular, my friend does the same thing with Wolf, but for some reason he can only beat me with Rob. Against wolf, I do a lot of dash diving, and A combos. I also pepper him with grenades if he tries to roll away, since his laser is so slow and short ranged. You also have to take advantage of the fact than Wolf is terrible in the air, especially when coming back onto the map, because he's so heavy and hard to control. I can usually score a good meteor smash or two on him, or just sit there waiting with mortars. I guess I also use my Nair and Dair, Nair more than Dair though.

 

[SK8orDIE]

My bane is MetaKnight. PsychoMidget, etc., what do you recommend for fighting a really good MetaKnight?

 

[markus96]

Update:

I played him again today. I can beat him, but he can still beat me also.

See, he rolls a lot. A lot. He rolls from one end of FD to the other, over and over, and spams his top/laser. I know I should be able to beat this predictable form of playing, but for some reason I have troubles, because he always predicts my dash attack and either rolls past me to the other side and starts up with his projectiles again, or he shields and catches me in that dumb spin move. Also, I have a hell of a time edge guarding against him. My rockets aren't fast enough to get him when he's boosting... I should maybe start using my BAIR more, now that I start thinking about it. My rockets and grenades are basically useless, because in a projectile battle the laser wins any day.

 

[Eternalfire]

Pit. Pit is my worst enemy so far.

His arrows are so quick that I cannot pull out my nikita or lob a grenade. Sometimes the arrows blow up thrown grenades. Snake jumps so low that it's hard to escape the stun.

Pit has punishing upward attacks. Snake has trouble hitting people below him so if I am in the air, it's punishing time for me. Airdodges work, but it is sometimes tricky to avoid him.

Pit's down B and forward B both reflect projectiles. Forward B can also create an infinite wall combo or just annoy you.

 

[Froth]

All you have to do is watch out for R.O.B.'s aerial and projectile attacks.

Usually, R.O.B. is a character that will always miss you in terms of physical combat.
But his laser is one of the quickest, maybe even the quickest, in the game.

Use Snake's C4 and his down smash for a good strategy. Then use forward B to blow him up. Or, dash into his up smash, getting 2x hits.

Also, to avoid R.O.B.'s laser, I think you can just duck/crawl if you're using Snake.