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By Riparo, Guest Contributor.
So… Roy’s a pretty trash amiibo, right? But somehow, my Roy, Vyse has managed to come away with 2 tournament wins, one of them being a Major, along with several consistent results whenever he’s sent. I suppose that makes me qualified to talk about how to train him.
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AI Issues
Roy’s main problem is that his AI just seems to be addicted to using his Up-Special just a bit too high, so that he doesn’t snap to ledge… EVER. You will only see a Roy properly recover if he’s forced to go low, like if he air dodges to avoid an opponent’s edgeguard. This leaves him getting gimped almost all day by certain characters, and can cause nothing but pain for the trainer.
Overall Playstyle
With Roy, your goal is to keep him grounded at all times, pulling out powerful and fast options to land early KOs with his insanely powerful Forward Smash. Roy tends to get gimped extremely hard if trained to go offstage, so it’s much better to keep him on-stage, with a more reserved Musket style*.
What to Do
As with any amiibo you’re training, you’re going to want to ditto your Roy amiibo to get the best training possible. I personally use 5-minute Time matches to train, but you’re free to use whatever you wish.
First off, you’re going to want to walk, and not run. This lets Roy space his kill moves better, and works out better defensively in the long run. You’re also going to want to let your amiibo come to you. A more defensive, passive-aggressive Roy will survive much longer than a hyper-aggressive Roy.
Roy’s neutral will consist of 3 main moves.
Forward Smash – This is your primary option, and greatest kill move. Use this more than anything else, but make sure not to kill with it too much, as Roy’s AI is very fragile, with how early and often his AI dies from this move.
Forward Tilt – This will be your secondary option, and another perfect kill move. Use it often, but make sure to prioritize Forward Smash over this.
Up Tilt – This is your anti-air option. Do not use this move a lot, as you want his Forward moves to be prioritized. Simply use it enough whenever your amiibo is above you, and he should get the idea by the time he’s hit the level 40 range.
Other smaller options include:
Down-Throw to either Neutral Air or Up Air (use this sparingly)
Using Forward Air and Back Air as landing options
Side Special – An excellent alternate kill option, but he tends to use the upward and downward variants over the forward variant.
Why It Works
Roy is meant to be an up close, in your face fighter, due to his insane power at the hilt of his sword. He is meant to punish an opponent’s rushdown with huge hits, and wait patiently for them to make mistakes. Going too aggressive or too risky with his playstyle can get results… but they won’t be as consistent as a more defensive playstyle. Sure, it’s boring. But it gets you results.
Pushing Roy Amiibo Farther
Ever since the recent patches for Steve & Sephiroth, nearly every amiibo that has a Counter seems to be a lot smarter in their usage of the move. Roy easily has one of the most powerful Counters in the game, so if we can take the current best Roy amiibo strategies, and just add in a strong Counter game, it just might be enough to push Roy a few spots higher on the tier list.
Optimal Spirits Loadout
An optimal Roy Amiibo should almost always run both Weapon Attack & Hyper Smash Attacks, to give Roy the destructive power he needs to end stocks quickly. But, his recovery has always been his biggest flaw… adding in Floaty Jumps fixes that problem almost instantly. Alternatively, you could use Move Speed to capitalize even more on his on-stage game, but I feel Floaty Jumps is the much safer bet for Roy’s survivability.
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