Post by m0th64 on Aug 27, 2015 7:09:21 GMT
I suppose before I make this thread, I should introduce myself, since this is my first post. I'm m0th64, founder of the SSS community here in Atlanta (unless there was already a scene here that I'm unaware of). My crew and I have been working to establish a community among the local colleges, and so far we've had a lot of success. So much so, in fact, that in the near future we will likely be hosted and sponsored by the e-Sports team at my university.
I've been playing Robin Hood, at least as a secondary, since I started getting into the game. I feel this character has a lot of unexplored or overlooked tech and I don't recall ever seeing him brought up in competitive discussions, so I thought I would go ahead and post a basic guide to the character, as well as some Robin Hood-specific tech that I've found. I'll start with a moveset breakdown, and I'll also include a discussion of stages, since Robin Hood's game relies on "playing to the stage" more than almost any other character, for reasons I'll explain later. (I'll be using the stage list from the "General Rules" thread. I know it's a few months old but I'm unsure what the official stagelist is at the moment.)
Robin Hood is a character who relies heavily on zoning, with his combo enders, special, anti-air and wall attack all being projectiles with various properties. He has relatively powerful and safe combos, but lacks the mobility of characters like Luna, Human Fiona, and Dronkey. However, his movement options aren't completely abysmal, and he has the best range of any character in SSS, so this is only a partial setback. I could also see Robin Hood being a great utility in a hypothetical doubles metagame.
Moves:
Jabs/Stock Combos:
Robin Hood's main combos are A-A-B and A-B-B-B.
A-A-B is a flurry of kicks, followed by three arrows which fly at different directions. The arrows travel relatively fast and are difficult to miss, as well as have shieldbreaking properties, making the second input the riskiest part of the combo, as Robin Hood is forced to commit to the full set of kicks at that point. The kicks have decent range and the combo itself fills a solid amount of slam, making this a useful zoning tool. This combo can be souper grabbed into. When souper grabbed, only the third hit connects, but all three arrows land simultaneously, filling more than two letters of Slam.
A-B-B-B unleashes two kicks with decent range, a backflip which has extreme knockback and a good sized hitbox, and then ends with a flaming arrow that locks onto the opponent on firing (Note: The arrow doesn't follow the opponent, so small, quick characters like Gingerbread Man may still avoid it). The flaming arrow also lock onto opponents in the air, meaning that, ironically, this combo ender is arguably better against airborne opponents like Luna than Robin Hood's anti-air. This combo fills a large amount of Slam and the arrow is extremely fast and sends the opponent into knockdown, making this combo Robin Hood's most rewarding. Since the backflip moves Robin Hood away from the opponent, it's also a relatively safe option. This combo can be souper grabbed into. When souper grabbed, only the third and fourth hits connect, filling two letters of Slam and leaving the opponent in knockdown at the exact distance Robin Hood's horizontal Slam arrows appear, making this a useful setup. If the opponent is able to mash out of souped A-B-B-B, Robin Hood is also able to throw the opponent between the second and third hits without interrupting the combo (known as a m0th throw), leading to a throw -> flame arrow setup. This still fills a third of a Slam meter and leaves the opponent in perfect position for a Slam.
Note: Robin Hood also has an A-B-A-B combo, but it has no projectile and deals less damage than his A-B-B-B, making it completely outclassed from a practical standpoint. It also cannot be souper grabbed.
Special:
Robin Hood launches an arrow at the opponent. Uncharged, the move has very low startup and cooldown and decent range, but travels somewhat slow and is difficult to hit. Charging the move increases the speed of the arrow, damage output and accuracy of the move. Fully-charged, the attack also sends the opponent into knockdown, as well as being extremely fast and accurate. Useful for setups and zone control. Fully-charged arrows hit opponents in knockdown, as well, but doesn't guarantee due to charge times. It's important to note that the charged arrow also locks on to the opponent and travels at low angles, meaning that Robin Hood can hit opponents with it while standing on a platform.
Anti-Air:
Robin Hood launches an arrow straight up. This attack travels a high vertical distance, but the small hitbox makes it impractical in many situations. An option against airborne opponents, but don't expect Black Knight or Dronkey's anti-airs. By souper grabbing into this move, however, Robin Hood throws the opponent straight up and shoots them with an arrow, dealing a full letter of Slam and leaving the opponent in knockdown right beside himself, leading to a guaranteed followup.
Dash/Airdash:
Robin Hood's grounded dash causes him to slide forward with a kick. Does decent damage for a dash but isn't particularly significant. Robin Hood's airdash, on the other hand, is his best movement option while he's not platform-camping. Robin Hood's crumpet dash isn't great, but his physics allow him to transfer airdash momentum into grounded moves more effectively than most of the rest of the cast, and let's face it, it doesn't take much to beat Robin Hood's ground speed. This same idea applies to his walldash (same input as Wall Attack but performed at the base of the wall) which does a lot of damage as well.
Air Attack:
Robin Hood drops straight down and hits the opponent. This is Robin Hood's worst move, as it's laggy, deals low damage, and doesn't shielbreak like many other characters' airdrops. The only redeeming quality to the move is that it hits opponents in knockdown, but so do several of Robin Hood's projectiles, so even this is worthless in most instances.
Grab:
Robin Hood's grab has decent range and gets a huge boost from momentum-transferring. Use grabs to set up for guaranteed projectiles. I don't see there being much more to say on this one.
Wall Attack:
This moves is the sole reason I think Robin Hood is viable. By far Robin Hood's best attack, and the second-best projectile in the entire game (after RRH's apples). Robin Hood jumps onto the wall, shoots an arrow, then leaps away. By double jumping or airdashing, Robin Hood can use several wall attacks without landing. The arrows from this attack come out fast, travel extremely quickly, cover the entire stage, and have homing properties, meaning the only way to stop them is by perfect shielding. They also fill up around a fifth of Robin Hood's slam meter with each hit. Wall Attack also hits opponents in knockdown, making this a guaranteed followup from grab. (Remember how I said Robin Hood's air attack was outclassed by his other moves?) It also hit opponents out of the air. There is also a small window with this move where Robin Hood can shield drop and actually fire homing arrows from within his shield, increasing the move's safety that much more.
A more advanced technique I discovered recently involves the use of this move on ledges. If Robin Hood triggers his ledge-hop animation at certain heights he can actually shoot homing arrows out of his ledgehop animation. This allows for some crazy mobility options on stages like Fat Boy, Beanstalk, Romeo Drive and Dragon's Hall. Additionally, by shield cancelling a ledgehop wall attack perfectly, Robin Hood will not lead away from the ledge and can actually ledgehop again without using a jump, which allows for rapid-fire wall attacks at double the speed they can be fired off normally. It also means Robin Hood can fire even more homing arrows without landing, potentially even firing them off indefinitely if he inputs perfectly and the opponent doesn't shield.
Similarly, Robin Hood can also utilize ledges to fire homing arrows without jumping at all. If Robin Hood is on top of a high ledge, like the castle on Fat Boy, cen can simply run off the ledge, then hold toward the platform to ledgehop back on and fire homing arrows. It's because of this ledge tech that I consider Robin Hood one of, if not the best camping character in the game.
Slam:
Robin Hood has access to two different slams, both of which are unreliable without setups. By quickly tapping B, Robin Hood gets a horizontal Slam that takes up a large area but has holes in it and gets stopped by items. There are two waves to this Slam, and Robin Hood can change the direction of the attack between them. Try to face away from the opponent while starting the attack so that the arrows appear beside the opponent. Set this up with either a throw or ABBB arrow on flat stages like Romeo Drive. By holding B, Robin Hood gets a vertical Slam that has even more holes for the opponent to slip through, but is also more unpredictable and hits more reliably ontalk stages like Beanstalk and Dragon's Hall.
Stages:
Romeo Drive:
In my opinion, one of Robin Hood's best stages. The openness of the stage allows Robin Hood to throw projectiles without interference and all the ledges and platforms along the left half of the stage are perfect for Robin Hood to arrow camp on.
Mine Cart:
This stage works reasonably well for Robin Hood. If both players strike wisely, this is a likely stage to end up on, as it doesn't allow the ledge camping that Romeo Drive does, but doesn't shut down Robin Hood's options like Gepetto's Workshop. The angled wall of this stage allow Robin Hood lots of places to fire wall attacks from, while still having good vantage to hit the opponent. The only platform Robin Hood can really take advantage of here is the frog statue, though.
Gepetto's Workshop:
One of Robin Hood's worst stages. There are no platforms for Robin Hood to camp on here, as the only one at the right height is the bookshelf in the corner, which is blocked off from the rest of the stage by a barrier. All of the small objects scattered around will get in the way of Robin Hood's arrows, as well. I almost always ban this stage.
Medieval Chef:
The other stage I usually ban. The one has most of the same problems Gepetto's has, with the tables and food blocking projectiles (good luck landing Robin Hood's slam through a pile of barrels and meat). The tables along the walls also make wall attacking extremely difficult, and the only platform conducive to camping on this stage is the barrel-shaped furnace on the left side of the stage.
Far Far Away Tower (A.K.A Trophy Room):
A solid stage if you can avoid all the trophies, which can interfere with landing a Slam. All the platforms and corners allow for decent camping. All in all, this is a pretty neutral stage.
Beanstalk:
Another one of my favorite stages to play Robin Hood on. All the platforms and the honey-bombs make for excellent camping game, and the closeness of everything makes for plenty of chances to get to the wall.
Dragon's Hall:
This stage has gone from being a stage I hated to one that I love, thanks to the discovery that the landing at the top of the left stairway is the best ledge for Robin Hood in the entire game, aside from possibly the Fay Boy castle. Robin Hood can actually ledgehop wall attack on it twice consecutively without even shield-cancelling, then cancel and ledgehop up to either the landing, top platform, or drop back to the ground. The vertical height and horizontal confinement of the stage also makes it easier for Robin Hood to find the wall when he needs to, and he can wall attack off of most of the stairways as well.
Giant's Table:
A relatively neutral stage for Robin Hood. He can ledgehop wall attack on the cereal box and the stage is relatively open, but it doesn't outright favor him as there are obstacles scattered around for Robin Hood to shoot around.
Fat Boy:
Robin Hood likes this stage a lot. The castle gives him absolutely incredible camping game and the only real problem is that sometimes the cart gets in the way of his projectiles.
I've been playing Robin Hood, at least as a secondary, since I started getting into the game. I feel this character has a lot of unexplored or overlooked tech and I don't recall ever seeing him brought up in competitive discussions, so I thought I would go ahead and post a basic guide to the character, as well as some Robin Hood-specific tech that I've found. I'll start with a moveset breakdown, and I'll also include a discussion of stages, since Robin Hood's game relies on "playing to the stage" more than almost any other character, for reasons I'll explain later. (I'll be using the stage list from the "General Rules" thread. I know it's a few months old but I'm unsure what the official stagelist is at the moment.)
Robin Hood is a character who relies heavily on zoning, with his combo enders, special, anti-air and wall attack all being projectiles with various properties. He has relatively powerful and safe combos, but lacks the mobility of characters like Luna, Human Fiona, and Dronkey. However, his movement options aren't completely abysmal, and he has the best range of any character in SSS, so this is only a partial setback. I could also see Robin Hood being a great utility in a hypothetical doubles metagame.
Moves:
Jabs/Stock Combos:
Robin Hood's main combos are A-A-B and A-B-B-B.
A-A-B is a flurry of kicks, followed by three arrows which fly at different directions. The arrows travel relatively fast and are difficult to miss, as well as have shieldbreaking properties, making the second input the riskiest part of the combo, as Robin Hood is forced to commit to the full set of kicks at that point. The kicks have decent range and the combo itself fills a solid amount of slam, making this a useful zoning tool. This combo can be souper grabbed into. When souper grabbed, only the third hit connects, but all three arrows land simultaneously, filling more than two letters of Slam.
A-B-B-B unleashes two kicks with decent range, a backflip which has extreme knockback and a good sized hitbox, and then ends with a flaming arrow that locks onto the opponent on firing (Note: The arrow doesn't follow the opponent, so small, quick characters like Gingerbread Man may still avoid it). The flaming arrow also lock onto opponents in the air, meaning that, ironically, this combo ender is arguably better against airborne opponents like Luna than Robin Hood's anti-air. This combo fills a large amount of Slam and the arrow is extremely fast and sends the opponent into knockdown, making this combo Robin Hood's most rewarding. Since the backflip moves Robin Hood away from the opponent, it's also a relatively safe option. This combo can be souper grabbed into. When souper grabbed, only the third and fourth hits connect, filling two letters of Slam and leaving the opponent in knockdown at the exact distance Robin Hood's horizontal Slam arrows appear, making this a useful setup. If the opponent is able to mash out of souped A-B-B-B, Robin Hood is also able to throw the opponent between the second and third hits without interrupting the combo (known as a m0th throw), leading to a throw -> flame arrow setup. This still fills a third of a Slam meter and leaves the opponent in perfect position for a Slam.
Note: Robin Hood also has an A-B-A-B combo, but it has no projectile and deals less damage than his A-B-B-B, making it completely outclassed from a practical standpoint. It also cannot be souper grabbed.
Special:
Robin Hood launches an arrow at the opponent. Uncharged, the move has very low startup and cooldown and decent range, but travels somewhat slow and is difficult to hit. Charging the move increases the speed of the arrow, damage output and accuracy of the move. Fully-charged, the attack also sends the opponent into knockdown, as well as being extremely fast and accurate. Useful for setups and zone control. Fully-charged arrows hit opponents in knockdown, as well, but doesn't guarantee due to charge times. It's important to note that the charged arrow also locks on to the opponent and travels at low angles, meaning that Robin Hood can hit opponents with it while standing on a platform.
Anti-Air:
Robin Hood launches an arrow straight up. This attack travels a high vertical distance, but the small hitbox makes it impractical in many situations. An option against airborne opponents, but don't expect Black Knight or Dronkey's anti-airs. By souper grabbing into this move, however, Robin Hood throws the opponent straight up and shoots them with an arrow, dealing a full letter of Slam and leaving the opponent in knockdown right beside himself, leading to a guaranteed followup.
Dash/Airdash:
Robin Hood's grounded dash causes him to slide forward with a kick. Does decent damage for a dash but isn't particularly significant. Robin Hood's airdash, on the other hand, is his best movement option while he's not platform-camping. Robin Hood's crumpet dash isn't great, but his physics allow him to transfer airdash momentum into grounded moves more effectively than most of the rest of the cast, and let's face it, it doesn't take much to beat Robin Hood's ground speed. This same idea applies to his walldash (same input as Wall Attack but performed at the base of the wall) which does a lot of damage as well.
Air Attack:
Robin Hood drops straight down and hits the opponent. This is Robin Hood's worst move, as it's laggy, deals low damage, and doesn't shielbreak like many other characters' airdrops. The only redeeming quality to the move is that it hits opponents in knockdown, but so do several of Robin Hood's projectiles, so even this is worthless in most instances.
Grab:
Robin Hood's grab has decent range and gets a huge boost from momentum-transferring. Use grabs to set up for guaranteed projectiles. I don't see there being much more to say on this one.
Wall Attack:
This moves is the sole reason I think Robin Hood is viable. By far Robin Hood's best attack, and the second-best projectile in the entire game (after RRH's apples). Robin Hood jumps onto the wall, shoots an arrow, then leaps away. By double jumping or airdashing, Robin Hood can use several wall attacks without landing. The arrows from this attack come out fast, travel extremely quickly, cover the entire stage, and have homing properties, meaning the only way to stop them is by perfect shielding. They also fill up around a fifth of Robin Hood's slam meter with each hit. Wall Attack also hits opponents in knockdown, making this a guaranteed followup from grab. (Remember how I said Robin Hood's air attack was outclassed by his other moves?) It also hit opponents out of the air. There is also a small window with this move where Robin Hood can shield drop and actually fire homing arrows from within his shield, increasing the move's safety that much more.
A more advanced technique I discovered recently involves the use of this move on ledges. If Robin Hood triggers his ledge-hop animation at certain heights he can actually shoot homing arrows out of his ledgehop animation. This allows for some crazy mobility options on stages like Fat Boy, Beanstalk, Romeo Drive and Dragon's Hall. Additionally, by shield cancelling a ledgehop wall attack perfectly, Robin Hood will not lead away from the ledge and can actually ledgehop again without using a jump, which allows for rapid-fire wall attacks at double the speed they can be fired off normally. It also means Robin Hood can fire even more homing arrows without landing, potentially even firing them off indefinitely if he inputs perfectly and the opponent doesn't shield.
Similarly, Robin Hood can also utilize ledges to fire homing arrows without jumping at all. If Robin Hood is on top of a high ledge, like the castle on Fat Boy, cen can simply run off the ledge, then hold toward the platform to ledgehop back on and fire homing arrows. It's because of this ledge tech that I consider Robin Hood one of, if not the best camping character in the game.
Slam:
Robin Hood has access to two different slams, both of which are unreliable without setups. By quickly tapping B, Robin Hood gets a horizontal Slam that takes up a large area but has holes in it and gets stopped by items. There are two waves to this Slam, and Robin Hood can change the direction of the attack between them. Try to face away from the opponent while starting the attack so that the arrows appear beside the opponent. Set this up with either a throw or ABBB arrow on flat stages like Romeo Drive. By holding B, Robin Hood gets a vertical Slam that has even more holes for the opponent to slip through, but is also more unpredictable and hits more reliably ontalk stages like Beanstalk and Dragon's Hall.
Stages:
Romeo Drive:
In my opinion, one of Robin Hood's best stages. The openness of the stage allows Robin Hood to throw projectiles without interference and all the ledges and platforms along the left half of the stage are perfect for Robin Hood to arrow camp on.
Mine Cart:
This stage works reasonably well for Robin Hood. If both players strike wisely, this is a likely stage to end up on, as it doesn't allow the ledge camping that Romeo Drive does, but doesn't shut down Robin Hood's options like Gepetto's Workshop. The angled wall of this stage allow Robin Hood lots of places to fire wall attacks from, while still having good vantage to hit the opponent. The only platform Robin Hood can really take advantage of here is the frog statue, though.
Gepetto's Workshop:
One of Robin Hood's worst stages. There are no platforms for Robin Hood to camp on here, as the only one at the right height is the bookshelf in the corner, which is blocked off from the rest of the stage by a barrier. All of the small objects scattered around will get in the way of Robin Hood's arrows, as well. I almost always ban this stage.
Medieval Chef:
The other stage I usually ban. The one has most of the same problems Gepetto's has, with the tables and food blocking projectiles (good luck landing Robin Hood's slam through a pile of barrels and meat). The tables along the walls also make wall attacking extremely difficult, and the only platform conducive to camping on this stage is the barrel-shaped furnace on the left side of the stage.
Far Far Away Tower (A.K.A Trophy Room):
A solid stage if you can avoid all the trophies, which can interfere with landing a Slam. All the platforms and corners allow for decent camping. All in all, this is a pretty neutral stage.
Beanstalk:
Another one of my favorite stages to play Robin Hood on. All the platforms and the honey-bombs make for excellent camping game, and the closeness of everything makes for plenty of chances to get to the wall.
Dragon's Hall:
This stage has gone from being a stage I hated to one that I love, thanks to the discovery that the landing at the top of the left stairway is the best ledge for Robin Hood in the entire game, aside from possibly the Fay Boy castle. Robin Hood can actually ledgehop wall attack on it twice consecutively without even shield-cancelling, then cancel and ledgehop up to either the landing, top platform, or drop back to the ground. The vertical height and horizontal confinement of the stage also makes it easier for Robin Hood to find the wall when he needs to, and he can wall attack off of most of the stairways as well.
Giant's Table:
A relatively neutral stage for Robin Hood. He can ledgehop wall attack on the cereal box and the stage is relatively open, but it doesn't outright favor him as there are obstacles scattered around for Robin Hood to shoot around.
Fat Boy:
Robin Hood likes this stage a lot. The castle gives him absolutely incredible camping game and the only real problem is that sometimes the cart gets in the way of his projectiles.