Lucario (SSBU)/Forward roll

Lucario's forward roll

Overview

Leaning forward, Lucario pushes off with the right foot while looking back as it evades any oncoming attack. Eventually, Lucario gets its footing again while closing its eyes briefly, opening them before returning to its idle animation with its left paw and leg in front.

Forward roll's merits are as what anyone would expect. It's an option with plenty of reasons and usage, such as:

• getting up from ledge and rolling toward center stage to escape corner pressure
• evading a frontal attack, getting behind the opponent and looking for an opportunity to punish
• potential technique usage in the form of Roll Canceled Item Toss, or Roll Cancel Grab

To Lucario, though, forward roll specifically benefit a couple of things. While grounded, Lucario can roll forward to cancel Aura Sphere charging, but the roll itself cannot be canceled into anything except a RCIT in any desired direction, or, a simple item z-drop. Otherwise, the other merit is that it's already good even at low levels of aura. Since neutral air is –2 on block even at just 0%, this means the higher aura grows will only make a Neutral Air → Forward Roll sequence better and safer. Pressuring shield or simply witling a shield bit by bit promotes more forward roll usage. Pressuring with neutral air on block from behind Lucario especially leads to forward roll being generally safe to use. As a result, Lucario can reset to neutral game more reliably, even when getting close enough to poke shield with neutral air, back air, or from cross-ups like forward air and back air.

As already mentioned, forward roll comes with innate benefits with techniques such as RCIT and RCG. It's not normally possible to forward roll and RCG with a turnaround initial dash.. yet, it is possible with RCIT or just the item z-drop. The Roll Cancel Grab itself may not be particularly special, however.. Lucario has one of the best initial dash speeds in the game. So in just those few frames(2-5), Lucario's initial dash in combination with RCG is surprisingly nifty. Otherwise, both RCIT and RCG aren't as noteworthy for their prowess. These cancelable techniques don't provide Lucario with much boost to their respective movement. Roll Cancel Grab is possible and helpful when it counts, but it's not as beneficial to Lucario as it is to other characters.

Timing

Fresh use

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	4-15
Interruptible	30
Animation length	36

Staled x1

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	4-14
Interruptible	32
Animation length	39

Staled x2

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	5-14
Interruptible	33
Animation length	40

Staled x3

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	6-14
Interruptible	36
Animation length	43

Staled x4

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	7-14
Interruptible	37
Animation length	45

Staled x5

Item toss window	2-3
Intangibility	8-14
Interruptible	39
Animation length	47

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Vulnerable

Intangible

Continuable

Interruptible

Trivia

Punishing a forward roll's 'backside'

• From a ranking, Lucario's forward roll is in the upper echelon when it comes to frame data (startup, intangibility, and ending lag.) In terms of distance, it's approximately 31.8 units, which is tied with Fox ranked the 44-45th best.
  • Compared to back roll, Lucario very slightly travels more distance from a forward roll.
• Lucario can forward roll during a forward-facing initial dash, but only during frames 2-5. Afterwards, Lucario can make use of some advanced techniques. On the other hand, it's currently impossible to forward roll and RCG from and during a turnaround initial dash. RCIT can work, however.
  • With or without a dash, forward roll can progress further with an advanced technique called Roll Cancel Item Toss, or RCIT for short. RCIT cancels the initial frames of forward roll by throwing an item with very precise timing. Cancelation is only possible between frames 2-3.
  • With only a dash, forward roll can progress further with another advanced technique called Roll Cancel Grab, or RCG for short. RCG cancels the initial frames of forward roll with a grab input with precise timing. During frames 2-5 of the dash, input forward roll. During the roll, time the grab between frames 2-4.
    • Additionally, a pivot grab input is an alternative.
• Despite that Lucario moves in a forward direction while rolling, Lucario's hurtbox can be susceptible to Shulk's Back Slash by hitting its 'backside'. (Back Slash can do this to any character's forward roll as well.)
  • For example: Lucario's close to and in front of Shulk. Both are facing to the right. Lucario uses a forward roll to get away from Shulk.
    • Even when rolling away from Shulk, his Back Slash can hit the 'back' of Lucario's fresh forward roll between frames 16-19. When staled, the window extends. When forward roll is used five times or more, it reaches max staling, and the 'backside' is further susceptible between frames 15-25. Ouch!

Lucario's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Floor getups (trip)
Edge attack · Edge getups
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash