Roy (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Roy is currently ranked 44th out of 58 on the [[tier list]], placing him in the E tier and making him the lowest ranking DLC character. Roy boasts good overall mobility and attack speed, owing to high [[dash]]ing and [[air speed]]s, alongside fast-starting attacks that allow him to quickly react to openings. These traits, in particular, combine with the [[fireemblemwiki:Binding Blade (weapon)|Sword of Seals]]' highly damaging sweetspots, which are close to its hilt, and thus grant him a number of highly potent KOing options. Roy also benefits from gameplay changes brought about by ''SSB4'': the [[rage]] mechanic supplements his strong sweetspotted attacks, while the updated edge mechanics improve his recovery. Roy also has a varied combo game that is difficult to predict and grants him above average damage racking potential, with reliable combo starters from low to medium percents including down throw, neutral attack, neutral aerial, and [[Double-Edge Dance]].

Roy, however, is strongly held back by a poor approach, due to his slow [[air acceleration]] alongside unsafe, endlag-heavy aerials that cannot [[autocancel]] in a [[short hop]]. Furthermore, despite having access to a [[disjoint|disjointed hitbox]], Roy is ineffective at spacing due the Sword of Seals having poorly effective sourspots, forcing him to space his sweetspotted attacks dangerously close to opponents and negating the benefits of his disjoint. Roy's combo game is also flawed, due to his throws focusing on [[tech-chase]] combos, while his KO potential also becomes inconsistent at medium percents, as the knockback of his sweetspotted moves prevent him from following-up, making him heavily reliant on reads for KOs. Finally, Roy also suffers from a very poor recovery; [[Blazer]] is predictable and grants low distance, and his high falling speed not only harms his recovery, but also makes him susceptible to combos.

Unlike in ''Melee'', Roy is a [[semi-clone]] of {{SSB4|Marth}}, with remarkably different attributes to further separate the two in ''Smash 4''. Compared to Marth, Roy sports the eleventh fastest [[dash]]ing speed, the fourth fastest [[air speed]], and the fifth fastest [[falling speed]] (7, 23, and 30 spots higher, respectively), alongside being 5 units [[Weight|heavier]] than Marth. Conversely, Roy [[walk]]s significantly slower, being only above-average compared to Marth (who sports the fastest walk), while his [[air acceleration]] is among the game's bottom five (compared to Marth, who holds the 17th spot). Finally, Roy's long [[dash-dance|extended dash-dance]] allows him to read and punish opponents accordingly; however, his laggy initial dash (17 frames) and turnaround animations give him a poor shield buffer out of his dash and turn. Overall, this places Roy's archetype as a speedy fast-faller with polarized, linear movement: Roy's mobility is considerably faster than Marth's in regard to movement speed and air-to-ground transitioning, but his aerial fluidity is significantly limited, preventing him from easily using retreating aerials like Marth, and makes his aerial approaches committal.

Much like his overall mobility, almost all of Roy's attacks have quick start-up, and his aforementioned speed allows him to easily close the gap between himself and his opponent to make effective use of his inverse tipper. Coupled with his sweetspot's high damage, Roy has an above-average damage racking game once he finds an opening. His most versatile combo initiators are his neutral aerial (which has quick start-up, low landing lag, and a long-lasting hitbox) and his neutral attack (which starts at frame 5 and launches at a favorable angle), both of which can start combos into his throws and tilts. His up aerial starts on frame 5 and has a deceptively long-lasting hitbox that lasts until the sword trail ends, allowing a reverse sweetspotted up aerial to start medium percent combos into neutral aerial, back aerial, or [[Blazer]], or a sourspot into [[Double-Edge Dance]] depending on the enemy's reaction. Finally, forward aerial has very early [[interruptibility]], allowing it to be used as a retreating aerial while jumping backwards, can chain into itself up to two times if Roy moves at full speed and uses his second jump, and can be used for frame-trapping against air dodges if followed up with an up aerial. His down tilt is also a good spacing option, and is useful for [[shield stab]]bing and [[edgeguard]]ing due to its semi-spike trajectory.

Tying in with his damage racking game are his throws, which launch at favorable angles for low-percent combos. Down and forward throws can chain into his neutral attack, dash attack, forward tilt, neutral aerial, Blazer and [[Double-Edge Dance]]. As Roy's combo-initiating moves can often lead straight into a grab, it is common for Roy to deal high amounts of damage through precise [[read]]s at low percents, either from an attack into a grab, or through chaining a throw into an attack, then re-grabbing. While the low [[hitstun]] of his throws prevent true follow-ups at higher percents, they also force opponents into [[tech-chase]] and air dodge scenarios, allowing Roy to condition opponents into reacting. Up throw is also able to KO outright at very high percents.

Roy's combo game, while powerful at low percents, become inconsistent from medium percents and onward. Although possible, Roy's sourspots are very unreliable for creating combos unlike Marth's, as they require extreme precision and only work at specific percents. His sweetspots are similar, due to them sending opponents too far for actual combos and only being effective for outright KOing at high percents. His throws also lack any true followups due to their very low hitstun: his forward throw can be easily teched, while his down throw can be air dodged out of. Overall, this makes Roy potent at damage racking, but his lack of KO setups puts him at a significant disadvantage when trying to end stocks, as it leaves him only with hard punishes.

Lastly, Roy's offstage endurance is notoriously poor. His very quick falling speed makes him extremely susceptible to [[combo]]s, and as none of his moves are generally reliable enough to consistently break combos, many characters with reliable combo moves can rack up large amounts of damage and easily force him off-stage. To add to this issue, Roy's only [[recovery]] move, Blazer, is notoriously ineffective despite his impressive mobility: although it offers excellent protection, can be angled, and covers a decent amount of horizontal distance, it covers little vertical distance and is predictable. When coupled by his very quick falling speed, he is highly susceptible to meteor smashes, and even a sufficiently strong [[semi-spike]] can launch him too far away to recover. Additionally, players unaccustomed to his falling speed will quickly find that any misused aerial off-stage will send him too far to recover.

Overall, Roy's strengths are on par with his weaknesses. While his character archetype is commonly viewed as being in the rushdown and/or glass cannon categories, he cannot effectively function in either role due to his poor recovery, unimpressive range for a swordsman, and vulnerability to combos. Instead, his optimal playstyle consists of limited aggression: capitalizing on enemy openings with his excellent mobility and pressuring them with the danger of his powerful sweetspots and effective combo game, but approaching cautiously and spacing his sweetspots safely enough to prevent his flaws from being used against him. As a result of these traits, Roy has sparse tournament representation and results at high-level play, although he has nevertheless achieved some competitive success, thanks to players such as {{Sm|Hyper Kirby}} and {{Sm|Captain Levi}}.

*{{change|Roy's design is now a combination of his appearances in ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade}}'' and ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Awakening}}''. His taller height, more muscular physique, slightly smaller eyes, and Turkey red hair are from ''Awakening'', whereas his facial structure and hairstyle are from ''The Binding Blade''. Roy's {{s|wikipedia|cuirass}}, {{s|wikipedia|pauldron}}s, and boots are also from his attire as a {{s|fireemblemwiki|Great Lord}} in ''The Binding Blade'', whereas his {{s|wikipedia|vambrace}}s, {{s|wikipedia|poleyn}}s, and gloves are from his attire as an [[fireemblemwiki:Downloadable content in Fire Emblem Awakening#Characters|Einherjar]] in ''Awakening''.}}

*{{change|Roy is more expressive. He smiles during his fist pumping idle pose, and either scowls or sternly clenches his teeth during some attacks.}}

*{{change|Roy now has an [[on-screen appearance]], an up [[taunt]], and a down taunt. His up taunt is based on the cutscene from ''The Binding Blade'' where he draws the Sword of Seals for the first time. Roy's taunt from ''Melee'' is now his down taunt, whereas his side taunt is entirely new.}}

*{{nerf|Roy is taller. This makes his hurtbox larger. While this would also improve his overall [[range]], this is largely mitigated by the aforementioned alterations to his sword swings making many of his attacks have smaller hitboxes and altered hitbox placements.}}

|fsmashdesc=Rotates his body to perform a lunging, two-handed downward slash. It is one of the strongest forward smashes in the game when sweetspotted, as it can KO as low as 40% with [[rage]]. It also has very long disjointed range due to Roy lunging while performing it, and it comes out on frame 14, which is rather fast for a smash attack of its power. However, it has high ending lag and its hitbox does not last long, which make it very punishable when whiffed. It is based on his regular attack as a Great Lord in ''Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade''.

|dsdefdesc=[[fireemblemwiki:Counter|Parries]] and then [[counterattack]]s against any incoming attacks with an outward slash that ignites the Sword of Seals' blade. It has the highest damage multiplier of any counterattack in the game by default, with only [[Vision]] surpassing it while the [[Monado Arts|Buster Art]] is active. However, its counter window is relatively short, and it is tied with [[Double Team]] for having the third highest amount of start-up lag out of every counterattack in the game. Roy may also say "{{ja|いまだ!|Imada!}}" (''"Now!"'') or "{{ja|そこ!|Soko!}}" (''"There!"'') if successful. Its counterattack is based on his long-ranged basic attack with the Sword of Seals.

|fsdesc=Swings the Sword of Seals in a circular motion, which ignites its blade, before performing a two-handed, downward slash that generates a powerful explosion. Unlike Marth and Lucina's Critical Hit, Roy's is not a one-hit KO. The circular swing can hit up to four times from the front, though it can hit up to ten times if performed on an opponent behind Roy. It is based on the Sword of Seals' {{s|fireemblemwiki|range}}d attack in ''The Binding Blade''.

*{{Sm|Captain Levi|Mexico}} - The best Roy player in Mexico. Placed 3rd at [[Smash Factor Toluca]] and 9th at [[Smash Factor 6]]. He has wins over {{Sm|Kameme}} and {{Sm|Mr.R}}.

*{{Sm|Hyper Kirby|USA}} - The Roy player in the world. Placed 17th at [[MomoCon 2017]].

*{{Sm|Neath|France}} - The best Roy player in France before switching to {{SSB4|Diddy Kong}}.

*{{Sm|Ryo|USA}} - Placed 9th at Super Smash Con 2016, 33rd at [[2GGT: ZeRo Saga]], and 49th at [[GENESIS 4]]. He also helped advance Roy's metagame.

**All of his sourspotted attacks emit a punch/kick sound effect, instead of a slash sound effect.

**When he is [[dizzy]], his corresponding voice clip loops constantly, instead of playing only once.

*Roy, {{SSB4|Marth}}, and {{SSB4|Cloud}} are the only characters to speak Japanese in every regional version of ''SSB4''.