Roy (SSB4)

For information on the playable Koopaling, please see Bowser Jr. (SSB4).

Roy in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearance	in Melee
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	F (32)

“	Roy Seals the Deal!	”
—Introduction tagline

Roy (ロイ, Roy) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Initially leaked through data mining of the 1.0.6 update, Roy was formally revealed and released alongside Lucas and Ryu on June 14th, 2015, making him the third downloadable character released and the final downloadable veteran. Jun Fukuyama reprises his role as Roy's voice actor, as he both mimics some of his voice clips from Melee and provides some new ones.

Roy currently ranks 32nd on the SSB4 tier list, placing him at the top of the F tier and thus making him the highest ranking low-tier character. This is a substantial improvement from his previous placement in Melee, where he was ranked 20th out of 26. Roy has been refined and polished from Melee to provide a more defined playstyle and has been given new attributes and characteristics that complement it well. His ferocity can be attributed to his mobility, now among the best in the game with among the fastest ground and aerial speeds. But his biggest draw is his inverse tipper mechanic, which emphasizes the power of his sword attacks near the hilt of his blade and results in his sweetspotted attacks being relatively easy to land. His attacks also have relatively quick startup and terrific power overall, as the majority of them are capable of KOing at realistic percents and grant him decent edgeguarding and punishing potential. He possesses a highly versatile attack in his neutral aerial, as it can function as an approach, spacing, and combo option; this in turn contributes to an effective combo game at low to medium percents, as well as a few KO setups, like neutral attack to Blazer.

However, Roy does retain some of his weaknesses from Melee, some being more noticeable. He suffers from a relatively poor neutral game, since he has very few safe approach options. This is due to a combination of the removal of wavedashing and dash dancing from Melee, and the removal of L-cancelling, while still lacking autocancels in a short hop, which leave his approaches predictable and punishable. He also lacks a projectile, and thus, must approach himself, which as stated before, he can be punished for, if he makes the wrong choice or the opponent is fast enough. He has poor combo ability past low percents, largely due to the high knockback of his moves when sweetspotted, preventing follow ups, and the poor hitstun on his sourspots, enabling opponents to escape easily, meaning he cannot use his sourspots effectively to combo, unlike Marth for example, who's sourspots have better hitstun for comboing (and are also in a better position; due to the position of Roy's sourspots, he cannot chain them together because to they are further away from him). This results in him having risky KOing potential, as most of his finishers have high ending lag, and therefore easily punishable and make it harder to land (which are easy in general), as he requires sweetspots and has almost no guaranteed setups into his KO moves. He is also an easy combo target himself due to his falling speed and tall stature. This is exacerbated by his hilt mechanic, which forces him to fight very close to his opponents, offering them many opportunities to punish him should Roy mess up a desired attack (however, the high shield stun on his sweetpsots makes it slightly harder to do if the opponent is shielding). Despite his high air speed, Roy's recovery is among the worst in the game, as Blazer is his only recovery option and does not grant enough distance. Overall, Roy's current tier position is a subject of debate among top players, as he has essentially no results or representation in competitive play. This has lead top players such as Abadango to believe that Roy could be amongst the bottom 5 characters in the game.

Attributes

Roy's moveset design is mostly based off of his base character Marth, but with a number of differences and other fine components, the most notable of which is his inverse of Marth's tipper mechanic: his Sword of Seals deals more damage and knockback near its hilt and much less at the blade's tip compared to Marth's Falchion. Roy's attributes are also very different: he has better mobility overall, with an above average walking speed, a fast dashing speed, the fourth fastest air speed, and the fifth fastest falling speed, along with average weight. However, Roy is tied for the longest initial dash animation (17 frames), giving him a poor shield buffer out of his dash, and his air acceleration is among the worst in the game. In addition, many of his attack animations were changed from Melee and now properly align with their hitboxes. These changes have resulted in him becoming a semi-clone of Marth rather than a true clone.

Roy's attributes give him a different playstyle from Marth. Roy's attacks generally have quick startup, and his high speed allows him to get in close to his opponent. His neutral aerial is perhaps his most versatile move. Its low startup, decent-lasting hitbox, and low landing lag make it an effective approach option, as well as a quick way to clear space, and it can start combos. His down tilt, with its quick startup, low ending lag, and deceptive range, is useful for poking at the opponent and pressuring shields. Once Roy finds an opening, he has several ways in which to rack up damage. His jab is quick and can easily lead into other moves, including his throws. His down and forward throws send opponents at favorable angles, and can combo into his neutral attack, dash attack, forward tilt, neutral aerial, and Double-Edge Dance. Roy's neutral aerial is also a great combo tool, complementing his high air speed by chaining into itself out of short hops and following up with his other aerials. His inversed sweetspot also helps with this. Since it is much larger than Marth's sweetspot, he on average gets much more damage from his combos than Marth, who requires careful spacing for the same effect. As such, Roy has an easier time closing in on the opponent and racking up damage compared to Marth.

Roy also boasts an array of KOing options, with almost all of his sweetspotted attacks capable of KOing below 130%. However, he does not suffer from the penalties other characters with powerful movesets have, namely the generally slow endlag of their moves. His attacks are also less polarizing than Marth's, as most of them include an additional hitbox in the center of the blade that is stronger than the sourspot but weaker than the sweetspot, and so Roy does not require precise spacing to reliably land a KO blow. While on the stage, his best KOing options are his forward tilt, forward smash, up tilt and Blazer, due to their fast startup and high power. Blazer is additionally an excellent out of shield option as it gives him access to super armor on startup. His disjointed hitboxes grant him an effective off-stage game as well. His forward and back aerials are quick, and cover wide arcs, and his down aerial is a moderately fast and powerful meteor smash. Flare Blade is deadly against opponents who try to sweetspot the ledge, courtesy of its charging ability, incredible power, huge hitbox, and deceptively low ending lag. And finally, his Counter scales with the power of the countered attack and can kill at absurdly early percents due to its higher multiplier than Marth's (dealing 1.35x the damage absorbed along with the flame effect), making it a feared finishing move if used properly. Roy's average weight and fast falling speed give him strong on-stage endurance, and he can make great use of rage, which further enhances the knockback of his already powerful moves.

However, Roy is held back by a large number of flaws. While his hilt mechanic is one of his greatest strengths, it also forces him to fight extremely close to his opponent in order to be utilized to its fullest. This is further compounded by his range being shorter than Marth's, but also results in a whiffed move on Roy's part leaving him heavily open to punishment. His moves have high ending lag, and so when combined with his need to fight close, Roy cannot space out his opponents as effectively as other sword characters, while also being unable to safely rush-down his foes. He also suffers from a predictable approach despite his good mobility, since he has no quick options with which to close in and pressure the opponent outside of his neutral aerial, and this is made worse by his lack of a projectile. His high air speed is offset by his poor aerial acceleration, making his aerial approach highly committal in general, in a similar line to Ryu.

Roy's combo game functions slightly differently to Marth's, and excels and suffers in different areas; Roy's follow ups at lower percents are generally better than Marth's, but due to Marth's sourspot having use for combos and Roy's not, Marth can combo a few moves together at mid/high mid percents when Roy cannot. Like Marth's combo game, Roy's combo game has it's flaws. Roy's moves have high ending lag, his down throw has low hitstun, and his forward throw follow-ups can be teched out of. His reverse tipper mechanic can hinder him here, as the sourspots of his sword strikes have rather low hitstun; his jab is the best example of this, as its sourspot has low hitstun while sending the opponent at a horizontal angle that is unfavorable for combos. These factors give Roy a relatively poor combo game past low percents and often force him to rely on reads for follow-ups, especially on floaty characters, and can give him trouble KOing despite his fearsome power, as outside the predictable first hit of his neutral aerial, he has no guaranteed setups into his KO moves.

Roy's most glaring flaw is his recovery. Though Blazer offers excellent protection, can be angled, and grants decent horizontal distance, it gives little vertical recovery. Combined with his high falling speed, this leaves him helpless against meteor smashes, and even a solid semi-spike can launch him too far to recover. Additionally, players unaccustomed to his falling speed will quickly find that any misused aerial off-stage will send him too far down to recover. These two flaws hinder his off stage and edgeguarding potential, making them average at best. Roy's high falling speed leads to another problem: he is very susceptible to combos while onstage. None of his moves are generally reliable enough to break combos. Many characters with reliable combo moves can thus rack up large amounts of damage and easily force him off-stage, where he could potentially lose his stock if dealt with accordingly. Finally, due to his status as a DLC character, Roy does not have any custom moves, significantly limiting him in tournaments allowing custom specials; while this is a problem shared with other DLC characters, it affects Roy the most due to his weaknesses remaining intact, especially compared to the other DLC characters' weaknesses.

Overall, as in Melee, Roy's weaknesses still objectively outweigh his strengths. He boasts excellent speed and power, with a decent combo game and threatening finishers, but suffers from his own vulnerability to combos from several characters like Fox and Captain Falcon, as well as a poor recovery, predictable approach, difficulty KOing, and ironically short range for a swordsman, making him akin to a rushdown and/or glass cannon fighter archetypes. Despite initially being viewed as a viable high-tier character and possibly the best swordsman in the game, he has become infamous for having the worst tournament representation of all DLC characters, as well as the second worst among the entire cast, as he has little to no use from professional players other than All Might or Sethlon, and thus lacks noteworthy results. However, Roy's standing relative to the cast is among the most contentious of all characters, as while some players believe he could have the potential to compete in tournaments, many others, such as Abadango and Dabuz state that he is still among the worst characters in the game. This highly contrasts the early views on his viability, as many people (including smashers like ZeRo) initially considered him a viable character. As such, Roy's placement remains a topic of significant debate among players.

Changes from Melee

Roy is one of the few characters to have received some of the most noticeable changes in his transition to SSB4 (alongside Charizard, King Dedede, Pit and fellow Melee veteran Dr. Mario), with several of his moves being de-cloned from Marth, to the point he is now considered a semi-clone rather than a clone. Roy has also got a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to SSB4, despite being a low tier character in Melee, though while he was objectively buffed overall, the changes to game physics and his other nerfs are more than enough to make up for the buffs he has received, making it hard to determine whether he was overall buffed or nerfed.

First of all, Roy has received several noticeable buffs. His mobility has been greatly improved, now having a faster dashing speed and one of the fastest air speeds in the game. His moveset is notably more rewarding than in Melee: most of his moves are different from Marth, such as his new neutral attack, forward and up tilts, dash attack and down aerial, all of which improve his up-close and combo games. His moves also deal more damage, and his sweetspotted attacks are considerably more powerful, which gives him many more KOing options, and generally alleviates his main weakness from Melee. His attack speed is overall faster, with his aerials in particular having significantly reduced ending and landing lag. As a result, his improved air game benefits his combo game. Lastly, the addition of rage, along with his heavier weight, boosts his KO power even further.

However, Roy has also received significant nerfs. Roy now stands at Marth's height, which increases his hurtbox, though despite this change, his attacks have much shorter reach and hitbox durations, enforcing him to fight even closer to the opponent, exacerbating one of his other weaknesses in Melee. For the most part, Roy is also severely harmed by gameplay changes: the loss of wavedashing and L-canceling noticeably worsens his approach, along with the weakening of dash-dancing, and they also compound his decreased reach. Most characters have also had the reach on their attacks increased, like Donkey Kong, Bowser and Marth. Roy's already poor recovery has also been worsened: while his air speed is higher and his falling speed is slower, and while Blazer gives more horizontal distance, it also covers less vertical distance, and Double-Edge Dance can no longer be used to slow his falling speed. And since the cast falls generally slower, Roy's slower falling speed does not really provide a noticeable benefit. Along with the removal of meteor cancelling and the improved recoveries of the rest of the cast, Roy is arguably easier to edgeguard than in Melee. Finally, despite the slower falling speeds in the game compared to Melee, Roy is still easy to combo, though since he is heavier than in Melee, as well as a large portion of the easier to combo characters falling slower or being lighter than him, he is now one of the easiest characters to combo in the game relative to the cast, while he still does not possess a reliable move to break a combo. As a result of the previous two changes, Roy is arguably frailer than in Melee, despite his stronger on-stage endurance.

Overall, Roy's strengths and weaknesses are more pronounced than in Melee. While his sweetspotted attacks are more rewarding, he has to fight even closer in order to rack up damage due to his decreased reach, while his sub-par survivability further compounds this issue. Due to this, it is difficult to say how much Roy has improved from Melee, if at all, considering most of his fellow veterans were also buffed to varying degrees.

Aesthetics

• Roy's design is now a combination of his appearance as a Master Lord in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and his appearance as an Einherjar in Fire Emblem Awakening. His eyes are also smaller, a slightly more muscular physique, and slightly shorter hair.
• The Sword of Seals's trail now clearly indicates its sweetspot, similarly to Marth's Falchion. In Roy's case, the Sword of Seals' sweetspot is near its hilt.
• Most of Roy's sword swings aesthetically appear "heavier", as he now swings the Sword of Seals in a reverse grip or with both hands. As a result, Roy's Sword of Seals behaves like a heavier broadsword compared to Marth and Lucina's "lighter" Falchion and Parallel Falchion, which they appear to swing with less effort.
• Jump, sidestep, and shield break animations have been changed.
• Roy now has an on-screen appearance, where he arrives on via warp magic with the Sword of Seals stuck in the ground as he pulls it out.
• Roy has completely unique idle poses, instead of having variants of Marth's, though he has the same stance as Marth while holding a light item.

Attributes

• Roy is heavier (85 → 95), improving his endurance, but making him more susceptible to combos.
• Roy walks slower (1.2 → 1.15).
• Roy dashes faster (1.61 → 1.95), giving him the eleventh fastest dashing speed in the game.
• Roy's air speed is faster (0.9 → 1.24), giving him the fourth fastest air speed in the game.
• Roy falls slower (2.4 → 1.8), though he still has the fifth fastest falling speed in the game. Despite his slower falling speed, his aerials are still incapable of autocanceling from a short hop.
• Due to the aforementioned alterations to his sword swings, many of Roy's attacks have altered hitbox placements compared to Marth's and smaller hitboxes.
• Roy now stands at Marth's height, which makes his hurtbox bigger. Despite this, he still has less range than Marth due to altered hitbox placements.
• The removal of wavedashing and the weakening of dash-dancing have hindered Roy's neutral and approach games.
• The removal of chain grabbing both helps and hinders Roy. While it has hindered his damaging racking potential, it also means that he is no longer susceptible to being chain grabbed himself. Additionally, his high falling speed results in him no longer being susceptible to pseudo-chain grabs.

Ground attacks

• Roy has a new neutral attack, a reverse gripped upward slash. Compared to the previous neutral attack, it deals more damage (3%/5%/6% → 4.8%/7.5%/7.5%), has more base knockback (30/5 → 40/32), less ending lag (interruptibility frame 26 → 23) and it has a different angle (361° → 62°/32°), making it better for combos.
• Neutral attack has increased start-up and a shorter duration (frame 4-8 → 5-7) compared to the previous neutral attack.
• Roy has a new forward tilt, a reverse gripped inward slash. Compared to the previous forward tilt, it deals more damage (12%/10%/7% → 12.5%/9%/8%), has more knockback (60/30 (base)/70 (scaling) → 30/40 (base)/100/80 (scaling)), less start-up (frame 9 → 8) and less ending lag (interruptibility frame 40 → 32), making it better for KOing.
• Forward tilt's hitbox duration is 2 frames shorter (5 frames → 3) compared to the previous forward tilt.
• Roy has a new up tilt, a reverse gripped overhead arcing slash. Compared to the previous up tilt, it deals more damage (6%/8%/9%/10% → 7%/12%), making it much stronger than the previous up tilt despite having less knockback scaling (120/118/116/100 → 103). It also has less start-up (frame 7 → 6), less ending lag (interruptibility frame 40 → 39) and its sourspot has more base knockback (20 → 30).
• Up tilt lasts 2 frames shorter (7 frames → 5) compared to the previous up tilt.
• Sweetspotted down tilt deals 1% less damage (12% → 11%).
• Sourspotted down tilt deals 0.5% more damage (6% → 6.5%).
• Down tilt has faster start-up (frame 8 → 7) and its angle has been altered (80° → 30°), granting it the ability to semi-spike and improving its edgeguarding and tech-chasing potentials.
• Down tilt has decreased base knockback (90/70 → 50/40), increased ending lag (interruptibility frame 20 → 22) and its hitbox lasts 1 frame shorter (3 frames → 2). Additionally, its new angle has almost completely removed its combo potential.
• Roy has a new dash attack, an inward sweeping slash. Compared to the previous dash attack, it deals more damage (12%/6% → 13%/9%), has more knockback (70/35 (base)/55/60 (scaling) → 65/60 (base)/82/60 (scaling)) and its sweetspot has a different angle (110° → 52°), making it better for KOing.
• Dash attack has more start-up (frame 12 → 13) and ending lag (interruptibility frame 40 → 50) compared to the previous dash attack.
• Due to the damage multiplier for fully charged smash attacks being increased from Melee to SSB4 (1.3671x → 1.4x), fully charged forward and up smashes deal more damage (27.324%/16.4052% → 28%/16.8% (forward), 22.639176% → 23.8% (up)).
• Roy has a new forward smash, a turning two-handed slash based on his regular attack animation as a Master Lord in The Binding Blade. Compared to the previous forward smash, its sweetspot has decreased base knockback (80 → 70) and it has a "medium-spot" that deals 3% less damage (20% → 17%), giving it a smaller sweetspot. Its also has more start-up (frame 12 → 14), more ending lag (interruptibility frame 54 → 55), less vertical reach and its hitbox lasts 1 frame shorter.
• Forward smash has more knockback scaling (65 → 70), making it better at KOing compared to the previous forward smash.
• Due to the changes to stale move negation, up smash deals 0.44% more damage (16.56% → 17%). It also has decreased start-up and a longer duration (frame 15-24 → 12-23) while its spike hitbox now properly keeps opponents in place for the other hits. Roy's arm is also intangible during the move.
• Up smash has increased ending lag (interruptibility frame 46 → 59) and its last hit has decreased base knockback (73 → 70).
• Up smash's animation has slightly changed. Roy leans further back and the Sword of Seals now emits fiery graphical effects and an explosion on the last hit.
• Down smash's front hit deals less damage (21%/14% → 15%/10%). Both of its hits last 1 frame shorter (3 frames → 2).
• Down smash's back hit deals more damage (16%/8% → 17%/11%). It also has decreased ending lag (interruptibility frame 72 → 63) and its angles have been altered (75°/361° → 50°/47°/361°).
• Down smash's knockback properties have been reversed, making the back hit being stronger than the front hit.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have decreased ending lag (interruptibility frame 50 → 46 (neutral), 35 → 30 (forward), 43 → 36 (back), 49 → 42 (up), 64 → 52 (down)).
• Due to the removal of L-canceling, all aerials' landing lag were not fully compensated and increased all of them as a result (20/10 (normal/L-canceled) → 11 (neutral), 20/10 → 13 (forward), 24/12 → 16 (back), 18/9 → 14 (back), 32/16 → 23 (down)), hindering his neutral game.
• Neutral, forward, back and down aerials deal more damage (4%, 8%/5% → 4%/6% (neutral), 8.5%/5%, 8%/5% → 11%/7% (forward), 9%/6% → 12%/9% (back), 6%/9% → 10%/15% (down)).
• Neutral, forward, and up aerials autocancel later (frame 32 → 47 (neutral), frame 30 → 33 (forward), frame 30 → 38 (up)), with forward aerial no longer being able to autocancel at all.
• Neutral aerial's second hit has increased knockback scaling (80 → 100) and its angle has been altered (361° → 50°), improving its combo potential. Its hits also come out earlier (frame 7-8 → frame 6-7 (hit 1), frame 17-20 → frame 15-21 (hit 2)).
• Forward aerial deals more knockback (30/10 (base)/70 (scaling) → 50/80).
• Forward aerial comes out later (frame 5 → 10).
• Forward aerial's animation has slightly changed. Roy's legs are now positioned differently and he leans forward with his right side more exposed while he slashes.
• Back aerial has increased knockback scaling (70 → 100) and autocancels earlier (frame 34 → 32).
• Up aerial's hitbox lasts 2 frames longer (5 frames → 7 frames) and its sweetspot has increased knockback (20 (base)/70 (scaling) → 40/80), improving its juggling potential.
• Roy has a new down aerial, a two-handed downward slash, similar to Ike's down aerial. Compared to the previous down aerial, it has longer vertical reach, its sweetspot is easier to land and its sourspot is able to KO grounded opponents around 160%, making it better at KOing. Its increased damage output and the removal of meteor canceling also make its meteor smash considerably stronger than the previous down aerial's.
• Down aerial has decreased diagonal reach and comes out later with a shorter hitbox duration (frames 7-10 → 16-17) compared to the previous down aerial.
• Down aerial has different knockback (40 (base)/70 (scaling) → 20/30 (base)/90 (scaling)) compared to the previous down aerial.

Throws/other attacks

• All grabs have significantly decreased range.
• Dash grab comes out 2 frames earlier (frame 10 → 8).
• Pummel deals 1% less damage (3% → 2%).
• Pummel is faster.
• Up throw deals 1% more damage (5% → 6%).
• Up throw has decreased knockback scaling (130 → 100), hindering its KO potential.
• Down throw deals 1% less damage (6% → 5%).
• Down throw's angle has been altered (361° → 80°), improving its combo potential.
• Front and back floor attacks deal 1% more damage (6% → 7%).

Special moves

• Flare Blade has decreased ending lag. It can also be charged up to deal more damage before the full charge without receiving recoil damage (41% → 45%).
• Flare Blade has increased start-up, a shorter duration (frame 16-21 → 23-26), a smaller hitbox, and its takes slightly more time to fully charge. Additionally, it has received a sourspot at the edges of the attack that deals 15% less damage (50% → 35%) and significantly decreased knockback scaling (83 → 70).
• Flare Blade has a different sound effect while charging. When fully charged, the sound vanishes before the move's explosion. All stages of the attack now unleash a minor explosion, with most of the higher stages unleashing the original large explosions from Melee. Its fiery effects are also more intense.
• Double-Edge Dance requires less technical precision. Aside from the first and fourth downward hits, every other hit has decreased start-up. Double-Edge Dance's third downward input no longer consists of multiple hits and launches at a lower trajectory, improving its reliability to connect with the fourth hit.
• Double-Edge Dance deals less damage, decreased knockback, has decreased vertical reach and increased ending lag. Its first hit no longer slows Roy's falling speed, removing recovery potential, while its third upward input is no longer a meteor smash, removing its KO potential.
• Double-Edge Dance now has transcendent priority. This means it can no longer cancel non-transcendent projectiles, but improves its reliability at close range.
• All variations of Double-Edge Dance's third hit have lost their KO potentials, but connect better into the fourth hit, improving their combo potentials.
• Double-Edge Dance's animations have been changed. They now use Marth's Dancing Blade animations from Brawl.
• Blazer deals 2.82% more damage (13.18% → 16%), its last hit deals significantly more knockback (10 (base)/100 (scaling) → 40/130), and it has received lasting hitboxes near its peak, improving its KO potential. It has also received more intangible frames on start-up if used from the ground, improving its safety. Additionally, it now grants much more horizontal momentum near its peak, and can be tilted left or right before start-up, improving its recovery potential.
• Blazer covers less vertical distance, hindering its recovery potential.
• Blazer's first hit has significantly decreased set knockback (200 → 160/120). This allows every hit to connect together, but removes its ability to one-hit KO the lightest characters.
• Blazer's animation has slightly changed. Roy now performs it while wielding the Sword of Seals in a reverse grip. Roy also has a new helpless animation upon using it.
• Counter's multiplier has decreased (1.5x → 1.35x), slightly hindering its KO potential.
• Counter has received 7 more counter frames (13 frames → 19) and has increased knockback (30 (base)/90/70 (scaling) → 35 (base)/100/70 (scaling)), giving it KO potential when countering smash attacks at lower percents. The move's horizontal range is also longer.
• Counter's animations have been changed. Roy's parrying stance now sees him hold his hand out and point the Sword of Seals downward instead of upward, while his counterattack is now a low-angled, one-handed outward slash.
• Roy now has a Final Smash, Critical Hit. Unlike Marth's and Lucina's Critical Hits, which propel them at high speed in a straightforward line, Roy's Critical Hit is stationary and sees him swing the Sword of Seals around himself (which can trap opponents), before unleashing a short-ranged explosion in front of himself. Unlike Marth's and Lucina's Critical Hit, Roy's Critical Hit is not a one-hit KO.

Update history

Roy has been slightly buffed as of update 1.1.4. Update 1.1.0 gave Blazer additional hitboxes, making it easier to land. However, the same update reduced the damage outputs of its first and last hits, which slightly weakened its KO potential. The changes to shield mechanics brought about by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 have made Roy's sweetspotted attacks much safer at the cost of his sourspotted attacks being less safe, to the point where his semi-clone, Lucina, has safer attacks than both him and Marth. Lastly and most prominently, 1.1.4 decreased the landing lag on all of his aerials and improved Double-Edge Dance's start-up and ending lag.

1.1.0

• Blazer has received additional hitboxes.
• Blazer's first and last hits deal 1% less damage: 6%/5% (sweetspotted/sourspotted hit 1) → 5%/4%, 9%/8% (sweetspotted/sourspotted hit 5) → 8%/7%, hindering its KO potential.
• Roy performs his down taunt instead of his fist pump idle pose after a player chooses a path in Classic Mode.

1.1.4

• Neutral aerial landing lag: 13 → 11
• Forward aerial landing lag: 15 → 13
• Up aerial landing lag: 16 → 14
• Back aerial landing lag: 19 → 16
• Down aerial landing lag: 28 → 23
• Double Edge Dance improved. The first hit hits one frame earlier (7 → 6), has one frame less of endlag both grounded and in the air (IASA: 42/32→ 41/31).

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			7.5% (sweetspot), ≈4.65% (sourspot)	A reversed gripped upward slash in a diagonal arc. Easily chains into itself, a grab, and forward tilt at low percents and his forward and up aerials at higher percents. A great spacing and combo tool and one of Roy's most useful attacks.
Forward tilt			12.5% (sweetspot), 9% (near), 8% (far)	A reverse gripped downward slash in a diagonal arc. Hits very hard for a tilt when sweetspotted, usually KOing around 120% from mid-stage, making it a viable KO option. However, it has noticeable ending lag, making it punishable even if shielded.
Up tilt			12% (sweetspot), 7% (sourspot)	A reverse gripped, overhead arcing slash. Very strong like his forward tilt, usually KOing at around 110% sweetspotted. However, it has rather low horizontal range and long ending lag, which makes it very punishable on shield.
Down tilt			11% (sweetspot), 6.5% (sourspot)	A crouching thrust, similar to Marth's. Much weaker than Roy's other tilts due to using the Sword of Seals' tip, but it has the lowest amount of ending lag and is good for edgeguarding or starting tech-chases.
Dash attack			13% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	A low-angle, inward horizontal slash. It has good KO potential for a dash attack, KOing when sweetspotted around 130%, however it has moderate start-up and high ending lag, making it very unsafe on shield.
Forward smash			20% (close), 17% (mid), 12% (far)	Rotates his body to perform a forward-leaning, two-handed downward crescent slash. It is one of the strongest forward smashes in the game if sweetspotted and has become somewhat infamous for KOing at percents as low as 40% with rage. It additionally has a decently large sweetspot, very long disjoint as Roy leans forward while performing it, and hits on frame 14-15, which is rather fast for a forward smash of its power. However, it has high ending lag and its hitbox does not last long, leaving him very vulnerable to attacks if the swing misses. The animation is taken from his regular attack as a Great Lord in The Binding Blade, to the point where the freeze frame upon hit has Roy modeled after the exact frame as the ending blow of said attack.
Up smash		Flame Sword	1% (hit 1), 2% (hits 2-4), 10% (hit 5)	An upward thrust, which results in the Sword of Seals' tip igniting and then exploding. Powerful enough to KO middleweights around 100% while uncharged. Good for juggling opponents in the air, as Roy's arm gains invincibility during the attack. If the initial rising stab connects, the attack's multiple hits are much slower than if the opponent is only caught in the explosion. If it hits someone that is not on the ground (with all hits), it does additional damage and knockback. High ending lag like his other smash attacks.
Down smash			15% (front, sweetspot), 17% (back, sweetspot) 10% (front, sourspot), 11% (back, sourspot)	A sweeping slash toward the front outward then toward the back. Weaker than his other smash attacks, but it comes out the fastest, and is useful for punishing rolls. Can KO uncharged in the 120% range if sweetspotted with the front hit and around 100% sweetspotted with the back hit. However, while it has very quick start-up, it has the longest end lag of all his smashes making it extremely punishable when whiffed.
Neutral aerial			6%/4% (first hit, sweetspot/sourspot), 8.5%/5% (second hit, sweetspot/sourspot)	An inward horizontal slash followed by a spinning, outward horizontal slash. The second hit is capable of attacking behind him. A useful spacing and combo option due to its quick start-up and low landing lag.
Forward aerial			11%/7% (sweetspot/sourspot)	Slashes forward in a diagonal arc. If sweetspotted, this move deals decent knockback which can KO opponents early near the edge. Good for air-to-air combat because of its low ending lag, but unsafe to overuse in the neutral game, as it has 13 frames of landing lag. However, it is possible to jump out of one from a short hop.
Back aerial			12%/9% (sweetspot/sourspot)	Rotates his body to perform an upward swipe. Good KO potential when sweetspotted, and can get early KOs when used off-stage. Covers good vertical and horizontal range. Like with Marth and Lucina's back aerials, it has the interesting property of turning Roy around when used. It has 16 frames of landing lag.
Up aerial			9%/6% (sweetspot/sourspot)	A backflipping, upward arcing slash. The weakest of Roy's aerials in terms of damage and knockback, making it suitable for juggling and/or combos.
Down aerial			15%/10% (sweetspot/sourspot)	An overhead, downward two-handed slash, similar to Ike's down aerial. Meteor smashes powerfully when hit with the Sword of Seals' hilt, while it launches opponents upward if not hit with the hilt. KOs around 130% when sweetspotted on-stage, but has considerable ending and landing lag.
Grab			—	Lunges and reaches out with his free hand.
Pummel			2%	A knee strike. Fairly fast.
Forward throw			5%	A one-handed body slam. Has low ending lag, allowing it to combo into a neutral attack or forward tilt at low percents and a dash attack at medium percents. It sometimes combos into up smash if the opponent does not react. Also works very well as a set-up to his neutral aerial, which when hit, can lead into even more combos.
Back throw			5%	Trips the opponent over his leg. If the opponent does not expect it, this can lead into down aerial at low percents or a back aerial for a KO at high percents near the ledge, though the latter requires good timing.
Up throw			6%	Flings the opponent upward with his free hand. His strongest throw, it can KO at very high percents, starting at 180%.
Down throw			5%	A one-handed body slam. Good combo potential, as it launches the opponent above Roy. This is made better by the fact that it has low base knockback and low knockback growth. However, its hitstun is lackluster making it unreliable on floaty characters and other characters above low percents. True combos into Blazer on most characters until medium percents. At low percents it combos into up tilt, forward tilt, and neutral attack. If the opponent does not react, stringing a combo into neutral attack may lead into another grab.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Slashes to the left and then the right as he gets up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Gets into a kneeling position and then does a spinning slice as he gets up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Hops briskly to his feet then does a stab to the left and a slash to the right.
Edge attack Edge getups			8%	Does a handstand and flips himself onto the stage, then slashes horizontally to the right.
Neutral special	Default	Flare Blade	6%-45%, 50% (fully charged sweetspot), 36%( fully charged sourspot)	Charges the Sword of Seals with flames, similarly to Ike's Eruption. It can be charged for a maximum of five seconds before unleashing an explosion, with the explosion's size growing as it charges. With high base knockback at almost all charge levels and very high knockback growth, a barely charged Flare Blade is one of Roy's most viable KOing options. Fully charged, it is capable of one-hit KOing every single character in the game, except Bowser and Shulk with Shield active, from the center of Final Destination. A fully charged explosion deals 10% recoil damage to Roy. Despite its power, the move has surprisingly little ending lag, with Roy being able to act out of it almost immediately. The attack also has a sourspot at the edges that deals much less damage and knockback and is not a OHKO, instead KOing at 41%. It is possibly Roy's best option to use to punish a dazed opponent because of its OHKO potential when fully charged, especially considering Roy's good shield pressuring capability.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Side special	Default	Double-Edge Dance	3%-5% (first hit), 2%-3% (second forward hit), 2%-3% (second upward hit), 1%-3% (second downward hit), 2%-3% (third forward hit), 3% (third upward hit), 4% (third downward hit), 6% (last forward hit), 5% (last upward hit), 2% (last downward hits 1-4), 6% (last downward hit 5)	A combination of sword slashes, similarly to Marth and Lucina's Dancing Blade. The type of slashes can be influenced by directional inputs, the attacks being no different in animation from Marth and Lucina's, though the attack is slightly slower and the knockback is slightly stronger on Roy's end. The very last hit of each variation deals flame damage.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Up special	Default	Blazer	5%/4% (hit 1, sweetspotted/sourspotted), 1% (hits 2-4), 8%/7% (hit 5, sweetspotted/sourspotted)	A jumping, reverse gripped fiery slash. Hits multiple times, which can also be angled diagonally. Grants super armor at the beginning of the move. If all of its hits connect, it KOs at around 110% on the ground. A viable out of shield or KOing option because of the super armor frames at the beginning of the move, but rather mediocre if used for recovery.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Down special	Default	Counter	1.35x (min 8%)	Parries and then counterattacks against any incoming attacks with a fiery slash. Damage and knockback dealt depends on the move that is countered, with a damage multiplier of 1.35x. Roy may additionally say "いまだ!" ("Now!") or "そこ!" ("There!") if successful.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Final Smash		Critical Hit	1% (hits 1-10), 35% (last hit)	Swings the Sword of Seals in a fully circular arc before slamming it downward, generating a powerful explosive slash that engulfs the attacked area in flames. Unlike Marth's and Lucina's Critical Hit, Roy's is not a one-hit KO. The circular trail can connect up to four times from the front; if the move is performed with an opponent behind Roy, it can hit up to ten times, which traps the opponent until the last slash is dealt.

On-screen appearance

• Warps onto the stage using warp magic while crouching as the Sword of Seals is stuck in the ground when he appears, which he then pulls out before assuming his idle stance.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Triumphantly holds the Sword of Seals above his head pointing towards the side. Based on the cutscene illustration from The Binding Blade where Roy draws the Sword of Seals for the first time.
• Side taunt: Winds back before posing, holding the Sword of Seals backhanded toward the screen while saying "僕 は 負けない!", which translates to "I won't lose!" This line was one of his victory quotes in Melee.
• Down taunt: Kneels and twirls the Sword of Seals behind him while yelling "Heee-ya!" This taunt returns from Melee and the yell is one of his attacking lines when using moves.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Pumps his fist while grinning. While technically an idle animation, this is actually the end of his standing animation, and can be seen on the customization page, unlike other idle poses.
• Swipes his hand lightly against the Sword of Seals while holding it in front of himself.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Roy's our Boy!	Roy! Roy! Roy!
Pitch	Female	Female

Victory poses

This victory theme is a small orchestral cover from the title theme of the first Fire Emblem game, which has since become the main theme of the series.

• Swipes the Sword of Seals once over his shoulder, then swipes it down and behind him while facing left, saying "真の戦いは、これからだ。", which translates to "The true battle, is yet to begin."
• Spins the Sword of Seals one and a half times and then sheaths it, saying "苦しい戦いだった。", which translates to "It was a painful fight." Replaces his old victory animation from Melee, where he sheathed the Sword of Seals.
• Flourishes the Sword of Seals and poses with it by his side, saying "守るべきもののために、負けられない!", which translates to "For those whom I must protect, I will not lose!"

In competitive play

Notable players

Active

•  All Might
•  Sethlon
•  Neath

Inactive

•  NEO
•  ZeRo

Trophies

Roy

Roy, the main character of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, returns for the first time since Melee! In The Binding Blade, Roy led the troops of Pherae into battle in his ailing father’s stead, and now he brings his speed and talent for short-range combat into this game. His sword, the Sword of Seals, is uniquely powerful at the base of the blade.

: Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Roy (Alt)

His sword, the Sword of Seals, is uniquely powerful at the base of the blade. Flare Blade creates an explosion in front of Roy that can be charged by holding down the button. Take care, though, because at the highest levels of charge, Roy himself will catch fire and take damage! His side special, Double-Edge Dance, changes for each strike after the first depending on whether you hold up or down while attacking.

Flare Blade creates an explosion in front of Roy that can be charged by holding down the button. Take care, though, because at the highest levels of charge, Roy himself will catch fire and take damage! His side special, Double-Edge Dance, changes for each strike after the first depending on whether you hold up or down while attacking.

: Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Critical Hit

For Roy’s Final Smash, he traps enemies in a circular swing of the blade, brings it up behind him, and then, in a blast of fire, brings the blade down for a powerful finisher! The downward attack is powerful on its own but doesn’t have much range, so make sure you’re close enough to hit your enemies with the full combo and really seal their fate!

For Roy’s Final Smash, he traps enemies in a circular swing of the blade, brings it up behind him, and then, in a blast of fire, brings the blade down for a powerful finisher! The downward attack is powerful on its own but doesn’t have much range, so make sure you’re close enough to hit your enemies with the full combo and really seal their fate!

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  Classic (3DS)

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  Alt. (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

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  Critical Hit (Roy)

Alternate costumes

Reveal trailer

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Gallery

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  Roy's splash art.

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  Roy's amiibo.

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  Taunting in front of a wall of fire on Norfair.

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  Roy attacking Captain Falcon.

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  Roy attacking Lucario.

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  Critical Hit.

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  Roy and Roy Koopa.

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  Roy with Zero Suit Samus and Wii Fit Trainer.

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  Flare Blade.

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  All of Roy's alternate color schemes.

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  Performing Double-Edge Dance.

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  Roy posing with both female and male Robin.

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  Roy and Marth performing their forward smash attacks. Note that the sweetspot is highlighted by the trail left by their swords. Marth's Falchion's strongest part is at its tip while Roy's Sword of Seals' strongest part is at its hilt.

Trivia

• Roy's pose in his official artwork is nearly identical to his Melee official artwork, as with Mewtwo.
• Aspects of Roy's sound design carry over from Melee.
  • All of Roy's sourspotted attacks make a punch/kick sound effect instead of a slashing sound effect.
  • Roy uses different voice clips when using battering items.
  • When Roy is dizzy, his corresponding voice clip loops constantly instead of playing only once.
  • Roy uses more than one voice clip for his smash attacks.
  • Roy only has one voice clip for being KO'd.
• Roy's up smash, Flame Sword, shares the same name as Mega Man's forward aerial.
• Roy, Marth, and Cloud are the only characters to speak Japanese in every regional release of SSB4.
• Roy is the only DLC character that does not possess a projectile attack.