Roy (SSBU)/Down special

Hitbox visualization showing Roy's down special, Counter.

Hitbox visualization showing Roy's down special, Counter, when attacking.

Overview

Roy enters a defensive stance before letting loose a counterattack. The counter has a 1.35× damage multiplier, putting it a step above the usual swordfighter counters. This gives it slightly more KO potential as well. As with most counters, it is reserved to reads in terms of usage, resetting the neutral game or breaking out of a disadvantageous position.

However, the counter is quite slow, being frame 8 with frame 7 intangibility. In terms of FAF, it's 3 frames slower than King K. Rool's Gut Check, one of the slowest counters in the game. Roy also falls much faster and removes any horizontal momentum when the counter is used, sometimes even causing an SD if used after a midair jump. As a result, the move is generally considered to be poor.

Hitboxes

The move's true base damage is equal to 1.35× of the countered attack's damage, with a minimum of 8% and a maximum of 50%. Additionally, the hitboxes ignore any kind of armor, and they play an additional sound effect on hit if an attack that deals at least 13% is countered, which is shared with Roy's Final Smash.

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Sound	Hit bits	Hit part
Grounded
0	0	0	8.0%	0	Forward	60	90	0	7.7	top	0.0	8.0	13.0 to 3.0	1.9×	1.0×	0%	Roy Hit	All	All
1	0	0	8.0%	0	Forward	50	80	0	7.5	top	0.0	8.0	18.0 to 2.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Roy Hit	All	All
Aerial
0	0	0	8.0%	0	Forward	60	85	0	7.7	top	0.0	8.0	13.0 to 3.0	1.9×	1.0×	0%	Roy Hit	All	All
1	0	0	8.0%	0	Forward	50	65	0	7.5	top	0.0	8.0	18.0 to 2.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Roy Hit	All	All

Timing

Counter

Intangibility	7-9
Counter	8-29
Interruptible	68
Animation length	70

Attack

Upon countering an attack, Roy immediately transitions to the first frame of this state, in which he freezes for 21 frames alongside the opponent before the counterattack proceeds.

Intangibility	1-6
Hitboxes	5-6
Interruptible	42
Animation length	65

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)
Lag time	Hitbox	Vulnerable	Counter	Intangible	Interruptible

Parameters

Horizontal speed multiplier on startup	0.5
Air friction	0.0025
Gravity	0.06
Fall speed	1.4
Counter hitlag on activation	21 frames
Counter damage multiplier	1.35
Counter minimum damage	8%
Counter maximum damage	50%
Counter bubble size	9.7u
Counter bubble bone	top
Counter bubble offsets	[0, 8.2, 0]

Trivia

Oddly enough, the additional sound effect for countering a powerful attack does not apply to the aerial version of the move. This is also the case for Chrom's down special.