If you’re looking for the Roy that is part of Bowser Jr.’s character slot and wound up here instead, please follow this link to be directed to the correct training guide.
Welcome to our Roy amiibo guide! Super Smash Bros. 4 was a sad era for Roy. In fact, he didn’t even make the cut at first! He was brought back as a DLC fighter, but was considered an inferior clone of Marth and Lucina (who were top-tier). Plus, Roy’s reverse tipper mechanic was kind of dangerous: it forced him to get up close and personal with fighters you really don’t want to get up close and personal with. Things are looking up for Roy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and if you’d like to learn more about his metagame history, you can read up over at his corresponding wiki page. Otherwise, let’s jump right into today’s training!
Special thanks to Riparo for contributing Roy’s training information!
Spirits
If you’re going to equip your Roy FP with a Spirit team, try to figure that all out before you start its training routine. Keep in mind that Spirits – when inherited – scramble a Figure Player’s training data and shift around their individual move priorities. It’s been years since the release of Ultimate and we still don’t know why the developers decided to do this. For more information, please refer to our full Spirits guide; in the meantime, here are Roy’s best equipment builds:
- Banned bonuses: Roy is neither light nor heavy, so the five best Support skills are just about average on him. Super Armor helps Roy stand his ground and stay on-stage, while Armor Knight plus Trade-Off Ability ↑ turns him into a defensive juggernaut. Great Autoheal isn’t as useful given that Roy needs to be up close for maximum power; that being said, it functions just fine on a Raid Boss!
- Tournament-legal bonuses: Roy uses a weapon for his entire moveset, which means the Weapon Attack ↑ Spirit effect boosts everything he’s got. You can even use a second Weapon Attack ↑ skill for extra power! Move Speed ↑, Trade-Off Ability ↑, and Floaty Jumps all help improve Roy’s recovery, so you can take your pick of the lot. Air Defense ↑ is viable on just about every character, and Roy is no exception.
- Raid Boss bonuses: Each of the Support skills listed above applies to a Raid Boss as well. You can also try out a setup including Weapon Attack ↑, Move Speed ↑, and Landing Lag ↓. Your choices don’t end there, though: Shield Damage ↑, Air Attack ↑, Critical Healing & Metal, and Giant are all worth considering too.
As usual, your FP’s exact stat distribution doesn’t matter too much, but if you’re looking for a specific benchmark to shoot for, try a balanced build (2100 / 2100). You could also lean more into attack power if you’d like Roy’s sweetspots to hit harder. Make sure your FP’s Spirit-type is Neutral before you continue with our training guide, by the way!
Competitive Training
Roy’s optimal playstyle is a grounded one. As you raise your FP, stick to walking wherever you can, and shield some of its attacks before responding with a move of your own. It’s important to let your FP get some good hits in on you so that it becomes more aggressive at later levels, too. Keep Roy on-stage at all times, and refer to the following move list during the matches you play:
- Forward smash is Roy’s main move, and it’s what gets him almost all of his KOs. Sweetspot this attack as often as you can. You can also mix in forward tilt at close range; find a healthy balance between both forward smash and forward tilt and you’ll be off to a great start!
- Up tilt should be used to intercept your FP’s landings. You could go for an up smash instead if you like, but up tilt is much more consistent and thus should be given higher priority.
- When your FP is launched off-stage, walk up to the ledge and poke at its recovery with down tilt. At later levels, Roy’s AI will automatically charge up a Flare Blade in most instances; as long as it uses some down tilt, though, you’re good.
- Roy’s variant of Dancing Blade, Double-Edge Dance, can be used for KOs; however, there is no guarantee that the AI will use the attack’s most powerful finishing hit. Mix in Double-Edge Dance infrequently during your training sessions.
- If your FP launches you upward with an up tilt, you can use a forward air or back air to secure a safe landing. This should be the only time you use aerials, and as a side note, don’t ever willingly jump while training Roy.
Counter moves were great in Super Smash Bros. 4, but they’re no good in this game. You’ll need to avoid attacking with Roy’s down special; while you’re at it, keep away from Flare Blade too. If you’d like to learn more about amiibo training, we’ve got a general guide that will help introduce you to all the basics!
Raid Boss Training
If you’re new to amiibo training and just read the previous section, you might be totally confused. No off-stage? Smash attack spam? Walking?! These behaviors are optimal against other FPs, but they don’t work against human players, so Roy’s preferred Raid Boss training routine is much different. You’ll still want to keep your FP on-stage at all costs, as Roy’s recover is rather short and can leave him open to attack. Here’s the move list, then:
- Neutral attack, forward tilt, and down tilt are solid neutral tools. Forward tilt is the worst of the three, but it can KO out of nowhere at high percentages, so it’s worth prioritizing at close range.
- Roy’s grabs aren’t as useful as other fighters’, but should still be sprinkled in every so often. His down throw can combo into a neutral air or up air for extra damage.
- Up tilt works fine as an anti-air, but up air generally serves this purpose better. In fact, try landing as many consecutive up airs as you can. When you do, you’re going to want to try to land the move while you’re falling — otherwise the FP will register an empty jump. It’s strange, but true.
- Forward air, neutral air, back air, and falling up airs all make for good landing options, but you’ll have to place a higher emphasis on landing neutral airs. You can also include a tiny bit of forward smash if you like.
- Double-Edge Dance is excellent, especially if your FP has the Shield Damage ↑ Spirit effect equipped. If it doesn’t have Shield Damage ↑, keep your usage of Double-Edge Dance low.
Other than Double-Edge Dance, Roy’s special moves are more trouble than they’re worth. Stay away from Flare Blade, Counter, and Blazer (other than to recover, of course). As we mentioned in the previous section, Roy’s AI is hard-coded to charge up a Flare Blade at the ledge. There’s not much you can do to change this behavior, so if you notice it, it isn’t your fault!
Wrap-Up
Thank you very much for reading! You’ve probably figured out that optimally-raised competitive FPs are lame… and yes, that’s correct! That’s sort of the fun of training amiibo, though, as just about anybody can get lucky and wind up with a super-strong tournament contender. Please direct any and all questions to our Discord server, and refer to our tour setup guide if you want to start competing! We’ve also got a Patreon page and a donation box if you liked what you read today. Until next time — happy training!
If you would like to read more amiibo training guides, please follow this link.
