Roy (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Roy's attributes give him a different playstyle from Marth, as well as bringing him an array of advantages. Roy's attacks generally have quick start-up, and his high speed allows him to get in close to his opponent. His neutral aerial is perhaps his most versatile move. Its low start-up, 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 start-up, low end 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 jab, dash attack, forward tilt, neutral aerial, and [[Double-Edge Dance]]. Roy's neutral air is also a great combo tool, complementing his high speed by comboing into itself and his other aerials. His reversed sweetspot also helps with this. Since it is much larger than Marth's sweetspot, he gets the same amount of damage from his combos than Marth, who requires careful spacing for the same effect. As such, Roy has a much easier time closing in on the opponent and racking up damage compared to Marth.   

Roy also boasts excellent KO power, with almost all of his sweetspotted attacks capable of KOing below 150%. However, he does not suffer from the penalties other characters with powerful movesets have, namely the generally slow start up of their moves. His attacks are also  easier to sweetspot than Marth's, and so Roy does not require precise spacing to reliably land a killing blow. Onstage, his main KOing options are his forward tilt, forward smash, up-tilt and [[Blazer]], due to their fast start-up and high power. Blazer is additionally an excellent out of shield option as it gives him access to super armor on start up. His disjointed hitboxes grant him an effective offstage 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]], with its charging ability, incredible power, huge hitbox, and deceptively low cool-down, is deadly against opponents who try to sweetspot the ledge. Roy's average weight and fast falling speed give him strong endurance, and he can make great use of [[rage]], improving the knockback of his already powerful moves.  

However, Roy is held back by a number of flaws. Most notably, while his reverse-tipper mechanic is one of his greatest strengths, it forces him to fight extremely close to his opponent, and his shorter [[range]] compared to Marth prevents him from spacing effectively. A whiffed move on Roy's part leaves him heavily open to [[punishment]]. Most of his moves, despite their quick start-up, have high ending lag, exacerbating the issue brought up by his relatively short range. He also suffers from a predictable approach. Though he has high speed, he has no quick options with which to close in and pressure the opponent outside of his neutral aerial, and this problem is made worse by his lack of a projectile. While his combo game is much better than Marth's it has it's flaws as well. Roy has a low amount of combos outside low to mid percents due to his ending lag and his down throw having sub par [[hitstun]]. His forward throw is good for combos, but after mid percents, enemies can tech or DI away from it easily. This forces him to rely on reads for combos above mid percents, especially on floaty characters.

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 send him too far to recover. Roy's high falling speed leads to another problem: he is very susceptible to [[combos]]. None of his moves are generally reliable enough to break through combos, and this can lead to characters dealing huge punishment off of a small mistake. Many characters can thus rack up large amounts of damage and easily force him offstage, where he could potentially lose his stock.  

Overall, Roy has as many strengths as he has flaws. He boasts excellent speed and power, with a good combo game, but suffers from his vulnerability to combos, poor recovery, sub-par [[approach]], and ironically short range for a sword character, making him a glass cannon. He can end a stock as quickly as an opponent can end his own. Despite initially being viewed as a threat, he has failed to gain significant tournament representation, as most of the professionals who play him use him only as a secondary, and thus he lacks noteworthy results. However, some professionals such as {{Sm|ZeRo|Chile}} believe he has the potential to be a high tier character if played effectively.