Roy (SSBU)/Side special

Overview

Roy performs a series of sword swings to form a natural combo, also known as a rekka. The player can input up or downward inputs while executing the move to perform different swings. This can be used to position the opponent in a manner that can confirm a sweetspotted 4th hit, which has high KO potential. The attack is notoriously powerful due to its amazing consistency, rarely dropping without the player making a huge mistake. The attack can carry opponents closer to the blast zone, improving the already high kill power. This is a particularly popular maneuver when used in tandem with neutral attack on Town and City. The sweetspots having higher hitbox priority also greatly assists with the move's consistent kill power. The lowered SDI and Hitlag multipliers are also crucial to its success, with the latter effectively increasing the already amazing input windows for the rekka. However, it does technically make it easier to SDI, albeit made worse by the lowered multipliers.

However, the attack does have issues, namely its extremely poor safety on shield. The lowest possible shield safety is -16 from an aerial hit, while the rest ranges from -29 (2nd neutral hit) to -46 (4th downward hit). In a similar manner to how neutral attacks work, however, Roy players tend to make use of the large input window for the multiple hits. This allows the player to bait out of shield options and get the rekka anyway. Considering mental frame data as a result of reaction time, the hits can effectively be safe. The low 4th hits can also be used to poke through damaged shields, which is improved by the extra shield damage that each hit of Double-Edge Dance deals; almost every hit deals some bonus shield damage.

The first hit can be used with wavebouncing for safe movement and mindgames, as well as crossing up opponents on shield. This can bolster Roy's approach, though the safety on shield makes it a bit difficult to use properly.

Hitbox visualizations

Type	First	Second	Third	Fourth
Up
Forward
Down

Hitboxes

First hit

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
0	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	25	30	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0	8.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	2.0%	0		Forward	25	30	0		6.5	top	0.0	9.0	13.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	2.0%	0		Forward	25	30	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0	16.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All

Second hits

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Up
0	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	30	30	0		5.0	top	0.0	9.0	8.5	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	2.0%	0		Forward	30	30	0		4.5	top	0.0	6.0 to 16.0	12.5	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	2.0%	0		Forward	30	30	0		3.0	top	0.0	6.0 to 18.0	16.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
Forward
0	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	30	25	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0	8.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	2.0%	1.0		Forward	30	25	0		6.5	top	0.0	9.0	13.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	2.0%	1.0		Forward	30	25	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0	18.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All

Third hits

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Up
0	0	0	4.0%	1.0		Forward	35	40	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0 to 11.0	4.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	40	30	0		4.5	top	0.0	6.0 to 15.0	9.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	35	30	0		3.0	top	0.0	6.0 to 16.0	12.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
Forward
0	0	0	4.0%	1.0		Forward	35	25	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0	8.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	40	25	0		6.5	top	0.0	9.0 to 11.0	12.5	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	35	25	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.0 to 11.5	16.5	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
Down
0	0	0	4.0%	1.0		Forward	40	30	0		4.8	top	0.0	5.6 to 7.0	14.0 to 10.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	40	30	0		3.0	top	0.0	4.0 to 7.0	19.0 to 10.0	0.7×	0.8×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All

Fourth hits

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Up
0	0	0	7.0%	1.0		Forward	80	40	0		3.5	top	0.0	6.0 to 21.0	10.0	1.4×	0.8×	0%							Fire		All	All
1	0	0	5.0%	1.0		Forward	65	40	0		3.5	top	0.0	6.0 to 21.0	14.0	1.4×	0.8×	0%							Fire		All	All
2	0	0	7.0%	1.0		Forward	80	40	0		3.5	top	0.0	21.0 to 24.0	10.0 to 3.5	1.4×	0.8×	0%							Fire		All	All
3	0	0	5.0%	1.0		Forward	65	40	0		3.5	top	0.0	22.5 to 26.5	14.0 to 4.0	1.4×	0.8×	0%							Fire		All	All
Forward
0	0	0	6.0%	5.0		Forward	80	123	0		7.0	top	0.0	9.0	7.5	1.8×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All
1	0	0	4.0%	5.0		Forward	70	105	0		8.0	top	0.0	9.0	11.7	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All
2	0	0	4.0%	5.0		Forward	70	105	0		7.0	top	0.0	9.0	15.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All
Down, hits 1-4
0	0	0	2.0%	1.0		Forward	2	20	0		5.0	top	0.0	6.0	11.0	0.5×	1.1×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	2.0%	1.0		Forward	2	20	0		4.0	top	0.0	6.0	16.0	0.5×	1.1×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	2.0%	0		Forward	2	20	0		4.5	top	0.0	6.0	6.0	0.5×	1.1×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
Down, hit 5
0	0	0	5.0%	1.0		Forward	55	120	0		4.5	top	0.0	6.0	5.0	1.5×	1.0×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	1.0		Forward	40	120	0		5.0	top	0.0	7.0	11.0	1.5×	1.0×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All
2	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	40	120	0		3.0	top	0.0	8.0	18.0	1.5×	1.0×	0%							Roy Hit		All	All

Timing

First hit

Hitboxes	9-11
Earliest continuable	12
Continuability window	2-32
Interruptible (grounded)	40
Interruptible (aerial)	30
Animation length	66

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Second hit

Upward

Hitboxes	4-7
Earliest continuable	8
Continuability window	2-37
Interruptible (grounded)	39
Interruptible (aerial)	41
Animation length	51

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Forward

Hitboxes	5-7
Earliest continuable	8
Continuability window	2-38
Interruptible (grounded)	39
Interruptible (aerial)	41
Animation length	48

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Third hit

Upward

Hitboxes	5-7
Earliest continuable	8
Continuability window	2-37
Interruptible (grounded)	44
Interruptible (aerial)	47
Animation length	51

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Forward

Hitboxes	4-6
Earliest continuable	7
Continuability window	2-37
Interruptible (grounded)	44
Interruptible (aerial)	47
Animation length	53

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Downward

Hitboxes	5-7
Earliest continuable	8
Continuability window	2-37
Interruptible (grounded)	44
Interruptible (aerial)	47
Animation length	53

Grounded
Aerial
Continuability

Fourth hit

Upward

Hitboxes	6-10
Interruptible	45
Animation length	66

Forward

Hitboxes	7-9
Interruptible	59
Animation length	75

Downward

Hits 1-4	7, 10, 13, 16
Hit 5	19-21
Interruptible	72
Animation length	87

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Continuable

Earliest continuable point

Interruptible

Parameters

Horizontal speed multiplier on startup	0.8
Added vertical speed in the air	1.2

Trivia

• Despite being a forward-angled attack, the second hit's standard variant is named "SpecialS2Lw" (or "SpecialAirS2Lw" in the case of the aerial version) within the game's files, using the suffix of the downward-angled attacks instead.

Roy's moveset

Neutral attack · 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
Floor attack (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Edge attack
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash