Roy (SSBU): Difference between revisions

*{{Sm|alice|Japan}} - The second best Roy player in the world during 2023 and 2024, peaking at 41st on the [[LumiRank 2024.1]]. His breakout tournament was at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 5}} where he placed 25th, and continued to place highly at other events with a 4th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 14}} and 7th at {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 10}}. He notably took a set over {{Sm|acola}} at {{Trn|Maesuma Offline (Shikoku)}} and {{Sm|Sonix}} at the {{Trn|Smash World Tour 2021 Championships}}.

*{{Sm|Flow|p=France|France}} - The best Roy player in Europe who has placed top 8 at several large European tournaments, including 5th at {{Trn|Ultimate Fighting Arena 2023}} and 7th at {{Trn|VCA 2021}}. Overseas, he also placed 17th at both {{Trn|Collision 2023}} and {{Trn|Kagaribi 11}}, the latter being one of the largest Japanese tournaments of all-time and defeating {{Sm|ProtoBanham}} and {{Sm|Jogibu}} along the way, as well as 25th at {{Trn|GENESIS X}}. His best placement was 67th on the [[OrionRank 2019]].

*{{Sm|Goblin|USA}} - The second-best Roy player of all-time who was the definitive best in 2019, being the highest ranked Roy main in that year with his 42nd placement on the [[Fall 2019 PGRU]]. He had supermajor placements such as 13th at {{Trn|2GG: Kongo Saga}} and 17th at {{Trn|Shine 2019}} with wins over {{Sm|Tweek}} and {{Sm|Samsora}}. He has continued to do well at offline tournaments after the pandemic, placing 5th at {{Trn|Riptide}} and {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves 2022}}, but began to decline in mid-2022.

*{{Sm|HIKARU|Japan}} - Known for his other characters such as {{SSBU|Donkey Kong}}, but picked up Roy in post-pandemic tournaments and became best Roy player in Japan until his retirement, peaking at 38th on the [[OrionRank 2022]] with Roy as his primary character. He won {{Trn|Maesuma TOP 5}} with solo Roy, as well as {{Trn|Sumabato SP 27}} and {{Trn|KOWLOON 2}} with Roy as one of his characters.

*{{Sm|tk3|Japan}} - Co-mains Roy with Chrom and is considered one the best Roy players in Japan. Prior to 2022, he was considered the best Roy in the country with major placements such as 5th at {{Trn|Kagaribi 3}}, 9th at {{Trn|Kagaribi 4}}, and 13th at {{Trn|EVO Japan 2020}} with {{Sm|Yoshidora}}, {{Sm|Atelier}}, and {{Sm|Akakikusu}} being some of his most notable Roy wins. After 2021, he has been inconsistent with his placements, but can still make decent bracket runs seen with many Sumabatos.

When ''Ultimate'' was released, Roy looked promising in the metagame due to the universal decreased landing lag on aerials and ability to use tilts out of a dash, which drastically fixed one of his biggest weaknesses. Along with his excellent mobility and some of the strongest KO power in the game, many professionals believed that Roy could potentially be a top-tier character. However, people also noticed that his [[Echo Fighter]], {{SSBU|Chrom}}, despite having less power and a significantly worse recovery than Roy, was more consistent due to his lack of sourspots, making him better at spacing than Roy. Chrom also had a notorious sacrificial KO move from his forward aerial to Soaring Slash. Although the latter was eventually removed, Chrom was still widely agreed to be one of the best characters in the game and was considered to be better than Roy in the early metagame. Despite this, Roy has achieved many noteworthy results thanks to players such as {{Sm|Goblin}} and {{Sm|Flow|p=France}}, and is still thought to be significantly improved from ''Smash 4'', with many players ranking him as a high-tier or even top-tier character.

Roy's reputation improved dramatically during and after the end of the online metagame. {{Sm|Kola}}, a rising star prior to the pandemic, made waves during the online metagame and ultimately placed 1st on the [[Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5]]. He maintained this momentum after offline play returned with consistent top 8 placements at majors, eventually winning {{Trn|CEO 2021}}. Other Roy players such as Goblin and {{Sm|HIKARU}} also saw strong results during this period, leading to an increase in Roy's representation, especially in the United States: Roy had the second-highest character usage by the end of 2021,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zTKrF1HOv70Pp8xdJKrRQy3QiMYKLTCstoVNgxymt0o/edit#gid=0|title=OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse character usage}}</ref> and continued to be a top 10 character representation-wise in the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gRlzy4z_dpqb2ZRhGoqtbDcuvUKz_ROsMZHGegon53M/edit#gid=329450080|title=OrionRank 2022 character usage}}</ref> With Chrom's decline as a result to a shrinking playerbase, many players such as {{Sm|Dabuz}} and {{Sm|Tweek}} consider Roy to be one of the best, if not the best, Fire Emblem characters in the game. As such, Roy was ranked 8th on the first tier list as a top tier character.

Following the first tier list, Roy's representation saw a sudden decline at the top level, attributed to Kola's declining performances and months-long hiatus, Goblin's severe decline, and HIKARU's retirement from competitive ''Smash''. Although Roy remained a popular character overall, on the other hand, there were few Roy players that could match the three's performances, as {{Sm|alice}} remained rather inconsistent while Flow did not become more prominent until the latter half of 2023. Finally, Kola's results following his return were better than his results right before his hiatus; however, they were still worse than his results at his peak. This decline led to Roy dropping out of the top 10 in terms of representation by mid-2023, the first time he was outside the top 10 since the early metagame, and this drop, alongside many players questioning how effective Roy's rushdown playstyle was in a slower, campier metagame, led players to believe he was overrated on the first tier list. This view was reflected in the second tier list, where he dropped 11 spots to 19th in the A-tier, tied with Chrom and {{SSBU|Ken}} as the largest drops from the first tier list.