Roy (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Roy's attributes give him a different playstyle than Marth/Lucina, as well as bringing him an array of advantages. His higher weight allows him to survive blows that would KO Marth/Lucina, giving him better survivability, especially vertically because of his higher falling speed. He also possesses two throws that have guaranteed followups: down throw can lead to many attacks until mid percents, and can be used with his forward air or neutral airs to create a long string of aerial attacks. He also has his forward throw which is useful for racking damage at low to mid percents as its low base knockback allows it to combo into any ground attack or a dash attack at 0%, or into a neutral air that can lead into even more aerial strings. Roy's faster ground and air speeds are among the best in the game, and exacerbate these advantages even more, giving him a much better combo and damage racking game compared to Marth/Lucina. His combo game is made better even further thanks to his reversed sweetspot, which is much easier to land than Marth's tipper while still hitting as hard. This makes the reward for landing a blow as Roy much easier than as Marth, who requires careful spacing for the same effect. Roy also has a great amount of strength in his moveset, as almost all of his standard sweetspotted attacks having considerable KO potential. In addition, his specials are also powerful: [[Flare Blade]] has very high knockback and scaling at almost all charge levels and can even [[OHKO]] when fully (or almost fully) charged. It additionally has very low ending lag, being relatively safe to use. [[Double-Edge Dance]] can KO reliably as well when the last hit is aimed forward, although connecting all the hits before it at higher percentages can be difficult. [[Blazer]] is an excellent out of shield option as it gives Roy [[super armor]] on start up and can kill reliably when all hits connect at around 100%. His Counter activates somewhat slowly and does not last long but it can also OHKO if it counters a strong enough attack. Additionally, his decent weight makes him an effective user of the rage mechanic, making his already powerful moves even stronger. All of this gives Roy arguably the best KO options of any swordfighter in the game, especially when considering his decently quick attacks. This makes Roy's punish game phenomenal, as it is very rewarding, while not being particularly risky.

Roy isn't without flaws, however. Like many other melee fighters, Roy cannot properly deal with [[projectiles]], as he has no reflector and no projectile of his own. Because of his fast falling speed, Roy is more susceptible to combos than many other fighters, and this also decreases his survivability if he is sent offstage with a semi-spike. His reversed sweetspot, while one of his biggest strengths, is also one of his more significant flaws. While it is powerful, it forces Roy to essentially fight at point blank range for maximum effect. This makes it risky when fighting against an opponent that can punish his mistakes severely like {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}, or that can overwhelm him with faster moves than his at close range like {{SSB4|Sheik}}. Roy's moveset is also mostly based on Marth's, meaning that he has to deal with attacks that have wide arcs yet short-lasting hitboxes which can make it punishable if he misses attacks. Additionally, Roy's range was reduced, with most of his attacks having shorter range than Marth's, which is only made worse by his reverse tipper effect. This gives him less reach compared to the rest of the cast. Roy's biggest flaw however, is his recovery. While it is not that predictable due to Blazer being able to angle horizontally, it does not gain much vertical height, which is made even worse by Roy's fast falling speed. This makes Roy very vulnerable off stage, as most spikes will be a guaranteed KO on him at most percents, and strong attacks may send him too far off stage to recover, even horizontally. Regardless, Roy's pros outweigh his cons, and he is considered by some professionals such as [[Smasher:ZeRo|ZeRo]] to be the best swordsman in the game.