Roll

This article or section may require additional technical data. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Rolling distances for Brawl and Ultimate. Rolling frames and distances for SSB may also be added. You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Wii Fit Trainer does a rolling dodge backwards.

A rolling dodge, or simply roll (called EscapeF and EscapeB internally in Melee's debug menu and Brawl's files, depending on which direction the character is rolling) is a maneuver that moves the character left or right on the ground and allows them to dodge attacks for a brief window of time. It is performed by pressing the control stick left or right while holding a shield button.

Characters experience intangibility frames while rolling, though the duration and timing of these frames varies from character to character. It is advantageous for a character to have quick and long-distanced rolls because slow rolls are easier to react to and short rolls are easier to punish. Most characters use a rolling, somersaulting or spinning animation for this technique, hence the name, though others without an acrobatic physique (such as Zelda or Mewtwo) will instead simply step back, slide or even teleport (the latter being the case for Palutena and Rosalina) into the direction the control stick is flicked, and some such as Kirby and Mr. Game & Watch use a cartwheeling animation. Yoshi and Samus have particularly unique rolling animations: Yoshi rolls while in his Egg, and Samus rolls while in Morph Ball mode, though both rolls are considerably slow.

After rolling, characters will always end up facing the direction they came from. That is, characters that roll backwards will remain facing the same way, while characters that roll forwards will turn around. This lets characters close enough to an opponent roll to the opposite side of the foe and always end up facing them, which allows for easier punishment of laggy attacks or grabs. However, this property reduces their utility as an approach option. Additionally, characters cannot roll off edges; should they roll towards an edge, the character's movement will instantly halt at the edge while the remainder of the animation continues.

Computer players, especially high-leveled ones, often use rolls to evade attacks. Due to rolls' trait of moving the character while dodging attacks, most casual players tend to over-rely on them by using them preemptively even when not in range of any of their opponents' attacks, sometimes even preferring them over walking and dashing to simply move across the stage. However, due to their short duration and vulnerability frames at the end, excessive rolling can leave the user vulnerable against attacks by a more competent player, as the opponent can read their reaction and throw an attack into the direction they are going to roll into to punish them, or use attacks that hit at both sides and/or have long-lasting hitboxes, such as down smashes and neutral aerials. Additionally, simply faking a rush can threaten and condition such a player into rolling, allowing the rusher to punish them.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, rolling multiple times within a short timeframe causes each subsequent roll to be executed slower (thus increasing its lag) and grant less intangibility frames, leaving the player far more open to punishment. This trait, known as dodge staling, also applies to spot dodges and air dodges, such that overusing any type of dodge also affects the others.

Rolling vs. wavedashing (Super Smash Bros. Melee)

Many casual players believe that rolling and wavedashing play the same role and that the wavedash is just a superior version of the roll. This misconception exists because top players wavedash in most situations in which casual players would roll. In fact, rolling and wavedashing play very different roles: rolling provides intangibility and generally more distance than a wavedash, but has a determined length and is more easily punished; it is generally used to get behind an attacking opponent or avoid attacks that cannot be wavedashed away from. On the other hand, wavedashing allows a character to act faster and attack while moving sideways at the expense of intangibility; it is generally used to quickly alter spacing or move towards an opponent while standing without turning around (like a forward roll would cause). If the wavedash did not exist, competitive smashers would replace the wavedash with a dash dance in most situations, not a roll.

Rolling frames in Smash 64

All fighters are vulnerable for 3 frames at the start of a roll, then are invulnerable until frame 19 (except for Samus, who is invulnerable until frame 23).

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames	Vulnerable End Frames
Fox	4-19	31	12
Jigglypuff	4-19	31	12
Kirby	4-19	31	12
Luigi	4-19	31	12
Mario	4-19	31	12
Ness	4-19	31	12
Pikachu (back)	4-19	31	12
Link (forward)	4-19	34	15
Yoshi (forward)	4-19	34	15
Pikachu (forward)	4-19	35	16
Donkey Kong	4-19	37	18
Link (back)	4-19	37	18
Yoshi (back)	4-19	37	18
Captain Falcon	4-19	41	22
Samus	4-23	45	22

Rolling frames in Melee

These lists show the intangibility and the total lag frames of the rolls, but not the distance travelled or the size of the character while rolling.

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames	Vulnerable End Frames
Captain Falcon	4-19	31	12
Donkey Kong	4-19	31	12
Dr. Mario	4-19	31	12
Falco	4-19	31	12
Fox	4-19	31	12
Ganondorf	4-19	31	12
Ice Climbers	4-19	31	12
Kirby	4-19	31	12
Luigi	4-19	31	12
Mario	4-19	31	12
Ness	4-19	31	12
Peach	4-19	31	12
Pichu	4-19	31	12
Pikachu	4-19	31	12
Sheik	4-19	31	12
Zelda	4-19	31	12
Yoshi (forward)	4-19	34	15
Jigglypuff (forward)	2-18	34	16
Jigglypuff (back)	4-19	34	15
Mr. Game & Watch	4-19	35	16
Marth (forward)	4-19	35	16
Marth (back)	4-23	35	12
Roy (forward)	4-19	35	16
Roy (back)	4-23	35	12
Mewtwo (forward)	4-21	37	16
Link	4-19	37	18
Mewtwo (back)	4-19	37	18
Yoshi (back)	4-19	37	18
Young Link	4-19	37	18
Bowser	4-19	39	20
Samus*	4-23	44	21

* Samus' morph ball shrinks her body until frame 30.

Rolling distances in Melee

This list shows the overall rankings for how far the characters roll in Melee, taken from Mew2King's Melee information dump.

Average of forward and back rolls

Ranking	Character
1	Mewtwo
2	Marth
3	Samus
4	Pichu
5	Sheik
6	Falco
7	Roy
8	Ganondorf
9	Luigi
10	Donkey Kong
11	Link
12	Pikachu
13	Ice Climbers
14	Captain Falcon
15	Fox
16	Zelda
17-18	Dr. Mario
17-18	Mario
19	Jigglypuff
20	Ness
21	Kirby
22	Yoshi
23	Peach
24	Young Link
25	Mr. Game & Watch
26	Bowser

Forward rolls

Ranking	Character
1	Mewtwo
2	Marth
3	Sheik
4	Pichu
5	Samus
6	Falco
7	Donkey Kong
8	Ganondorf
9	Roy
10	Luigi
11	Pikachu
12	Link
13	Ice Climbers
14	Captain Falcon
15	Fox
16	Zelda
17-18	Dr. Mario
17-18	Mario
19	Jigglypuff
20	Kirby
21	Yoshi
22	Peach
23	Ness
24	Bowser
25	Young Link
26	Mr. Game & Watch

Back rolls

Ranking	Character
1	Mewtwo
2	Marth
3	Samus
4	Falco
5	Pichu
6	Roy
7	Sheik
8	Ganondorf
9	Luigi
10	Link
11	Ness
12	Donkey Kong
13	Ice Climbers
14	Captain Falcon
15	Fox
16	Pikachu
17-18	Dr. Mario
17-18	Mario
19	Jigglypuff
20	Zelda
21	Kirby
22	Yoshi
23	Peach
24	Young Link
25	Mr. Game & Watch
26	Bowser

Rolling frames in Brawl

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames
Meta Knight (forward)	5-12	23
Lucario	4-19	27
Pit (forward)	4-17	27
Zero Suit Samus (forward)	4-15	27
Diddy Kong	4-19	29
Squirtle	4-19	29
Kirby	4-20	31
Captain Falcon	4-19	31
Donkey Kong	4-19	31
Falco	4-19	31
Fox	4-19	31
Ganondorf	4-19	31
Ice Climbers	4-19	31
Luigi	4-19	31
Lucas	4-19	31
Ness	4-19	31
Peach (forward)	4-19	31
Pikachu	4-19	31
Sheik	4-19	31
Sonic	4-19	31
Wolf	4-19	31
Zelda	4-19	31
Peach (back)	5-20	31
Jigglypuff (forward)	3-19	32
Ivysaur	4-19	32
Jigglypuff (back)	4-19	32
King Dedede	4-19	32
Mario	4-19	32
Olimar	4-19	32
Pit (back)	4-17	32
Ike (forward)	4-19	33
Snake (back)	4-19	33