[UNDER CONSTRUCTION] Literally Everything I can say about Robin.

Hi. I'm doing a thing again. If you're reading this right now, I'm NOT DONE YET! Chances are I'm barely even started. Please refrain from rating/reviewing the guide until I finish the whole thing. I'm basically just getting it started so I can chip away at each section gradually.

Please be patient!

Foreword & About the Author:

Hello (again, possibly) Tacticians, and prospective Tacticians! I'm Raziek. I'm one of the mods of the Robin boards here, and I've put a toooon of time into Robin as a character. Have been solo maining since 3DS release. I'm an experienced tournament player. I've been entering tournaments since 2009 as a Brawl Marth player, and achieved some minor repute for my skill with that character. Problem is, I live in the corner of Canada, so it's hard to get to big tournaments. At any rate, enough about me!

This guide is intended to serve as an all-purpose Robin tome containing everything you could possibly need to know about the character. I will be covering every topic I can think of, and though I will be making sure I go over every concept in great detail, I will not be teaching you how to play the game. I will be teaching you Robin. As such, there won't be much of me telling you how general Smash concepts work, etc. If I cover them, it will be in reference to specifically how they apply to Robin.

Ask Your Doctor: Is Robin Right For You?

<Put a pic of Doctor Mario w/ Robin here>

So, you might be here because you're already maining Robin and want to know all of my secrets. Or you might be a new player who likes Fire Emblem and has no idea how to approach getting good with the character. Or you might just like lightning swords! Either way, if you're considering maining Robin, there are some things to consider:

How much do I care about tier placement?

Robin is an upper mid-tier character. Not quite high tier (but very close), so Robin is certainly not a short-cut to success in tournaments. You will have to work hard, and you will need to know match-ups inside and out.

How much effort am I willing to put in?

Robin has a steep learning curve. As a very specialized character, Robin has the tools for most situations, but rarely does one single tool cover every situation. It takes a lot to learn how and when each of her tools should be used to maximum effect.

Robin also has some notable weaknesses. Her primary weakness is a weakness to strong rush-down gameplay, like that of Diddy Kong, Sheik, or Falcon. These match-ups are not unwinnable, but are certainly difficult, so if you're not prepared for that, Robin may not be the character you're looking for. Her lack of strong out-of-shield options limits her ability to deal with offensive mix-up, requiring that she choose her spots to counter-attack very carefully, and focusing on keeping her opponents out of her space.

Robin is an extremely versatile character with a lot of options at her disposal. Having access to a Bronze/Levin version of most of her attacks and having a multi-level neutral special in Thunder (and its variants) gives her a larger toolbox than a lot of characters have. She possesses powerful zoning options and projectiles, and boasts exceptional kill power with her Levin Sword aerials & smash attacks.

In short, if being a Spellcaster with a Lightning Sword sounds like your kind of thing, read on! I shall do my best to tell you everything about this character.

Vitals
(Credit to http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Robin)

[Size comparison goes here]

Weight: 95 [25th-27th]
Run Speed: 1.15 [52nd]
Walk Speed: 0.891 [43rd]
Airspeed: 1 [26th-28th]
Fall Speed: 1.5 [26th-30th]
Fastfall Speed: 2.4 [26th-30th]
Jumps: 2
No wall-jump, wall-cling or crawl.
Jumpsquat: 7 frames
Soft/Hard Landing lag: 2/4 frames.

What do these numbers mean to you?

Mostly, the answer is that Robin is extremely average. She is slightly lighter than Mario (98), and her Air/Fall speeds are dead-center of the cast.

The stand-out things to be aware of are her poor Run speed, Walk speed and Jumpsquat. As the in-game tips will tell you, Robin is the slowest runner in the cast. Yes, slower than Ganondorf and Jigglypuff.

However, this does not mean that Robin is functionally the slowest character. Although her run/walk speed is bad, her airspeed is fine! As such, most of the time Robin will be jumping around to position herself and leverage her strong aerials. The only time you should really ever feel SLOW playing as Robin is when you have to dash across the stage to try to punish something, like Flare Blitz or Fox Illusion. Then you'll feel it. Otherwise, Robin (in the air) feels functionally identical to the likes of Marth or Lucina (1.02 airspeed vs. our 1).

Jumpsquat is the other important one here. Robin's jumpsquat is 7 frames, compared to most characters' 5 frames. This means she takes just a TINY bit longer to get into the air than most, which slows her down slightly. Not a huge deal.

[Maybe a gif of Robin next to Mario jumping?]

Finally, Robin has no fancy bells and whistles like Wall-jumps or Wall-clings, which means no fun stuff like wall-jump Bair.

Let's move on to her move-set.

Move-set Overview

Note: FAF stands for "First Actionable Frame", which is the first frame you can do something after using the move.

Jab 1: 3%. Hitbox Active 4-7f, FAF: 32.
Jab 2: 3%. Hitbox Active 4-8f, FAF: 35.
Fire Jab: 5%. Hitbox active 10-11f, FAF: 36.
Wind Jab: 1% per blade, 2% finisher. Hitbox active frame 9, 2 frames between blades. FAF: 41.

[Insert gifs of Jabs]

Ok, so let's talk about Jab. Jab is without a doubt Robin's strongest grounded option for basically any situation. It comes out on Frame 4, which is the fastest sword-based Jab in the game. (Roy, Marth, Pits are frame 5) Though it is slower than many fist-based jabs (often frame 2 or 3), it's impressive disjoint and swing arc mean that Robin's Jab can be used to stuff a ton of moves, including careless non-disjointed jump-ins. It stands out as her best out-of-shield option as well. Though her standing Grab is slightly faster OoS at 7 frames, it has poor range. So her effectively 9-frame Jab is usually a better choice OoS (5 frames to drop shield, 4 for Jab.)

However, Robin's Jab stands out from the rest of the cast because both of her Jab finishers are reliable kill moves. Fire Jab for killing horizontally, and Wind for killing vertically. Fire Jab will kill extremely early on walk-offs or near the edge due to its incredible base knockback (70 BKB), and will start killing reliably mid-stage around 130 or so. (Your mileage for kill percents may vary due to the existence of rage & varying attributes of your opponents & the stage)

Wind Jab can kill even earlier, as it is a vertical kill move. With rage, I have killed light characters as early as 90-95% (This is common on light fast-fallers like Sheik or Fox). Some characters are more difficult than others to connect the finisher on. The fast-fallers are extremely easy, while the floaty characters like Kirby or Jigglypuff usually pop out unless you jabbed them extremely close to the ground.

Jab is also exceptional as a frame trapping tool.

What is a frame trap?

A frame trap is a deliberate gap in a blockstring designed to get your opponent to try to press a button, when in reality the gap is small enough that no button they would press actually works. Frametraps are extremely common in Smash because it has almost no actual gapless blockstrings.

How do I use Jab to frame trap?

Jab plays the role of the punish tool in the frame-trap, so you will use other moves to set it up. Due to the hitlag on Levin aerials, frametraps are impractical with them if you actually hit a shield. Instead, Robin wants to WHIFF her Levin Aerial just in front of her opponent (who is usually in their shield), using the low endlag on her aerials to land and quickly jab them as they try to drop shield and punish.

This is most effective with a SH Fair, though can also be done using a reverse Uair into Pivot Jab. On the ground, the option of choice is D-tilt, and is used to try to catch an opponent who wants to run in and grab you after the D-tilt.

[Insert gifs showing SH Fair -> Jab, SH Reverse Uair -> Jab and D-tilt -> Jab]

I can never seem to hit the finisher on jab! My opponent always airdodges or jumps out! Help!

9/10 times this problem stems from completing your Jab combo too quickly. If you mash as quickly as possible through the slashes, the Fire finisher will often whiff vertically, or Wind will allow them to be high enough in the blades to pop out the top.

Make sure you put a slight gap inbetween the first and second slash. The hitstun is sufficient that you can almost always hit-confirm the fact that you have landed Jab1, allowing them a slight amount of time to fall further into Jab2, then the finisher. Do not delay between Jab2 and the finisher, otherwise they will be able to airdodge the Fire jab, as it is only active for 2 frames and will not catch the landing lag on an airdodge into the ground.

This is, however, effectively a mix-up. If they try to air-dodge Wind Jab (expecting Fire), they will get caught by the vortex and take a lot of damage, also allowing you to land the finisher. If they try to jump out of Fire (expecting Wind), they will usually get hit by Fire and lose their double-jump, while being sent off-stage.

At low percentages (especially against fast-fallers), stick to Wind-jab, as there is less of a gap. At high percentages, Fire is often more reliable against floaties. Take note of your opponents percentage and how high off the ground they are when you connect with Jab1, and make your decision accordingly.

F-tilt: 7.5%. Hitbox active 9-10f. FAF: 33

[Insert gif of F-tilt]

F-tilt is a useful move, but Jab does its job better in almost any situation. F-tilt has 2 major situations in which it should see use:

1) You need a tiny bit more horizontal range to punish something. If Jab won't quite reach, and Dash attack or F-Smash would be too slow, F-tilt is the move you are looking for. It has just a little bit more reach (particularly towards the bottom of the swing), allowing it to reach foes just outside of Jab's range.

2) Pivots. F-tilt really shines out of a retreating pivot.

[Insert gif of Retreating Pivot F-tilt]

Unlike Jab, F-tilt does not force you to remain stationary. As such, when used in a retreating pivot, F-tilt allows Robin to continue to slide backwards as she swings, creating a great deal of additional safety. From that distance, F-tilt's recovery is fast enough that it is difficult to punish with anything meaningful. Only certain characters (those with extremely fast dashes or projectiles) such as Falcon, Sheik or Little Mac can reach Robin in time to do any significant damage.

Outside of those 2 scenarios, F-tilt does not have a strong reason to be used due to its low reward and somewhat lackluster start-up. However, it does its job in those scenarios exceptionally well.

U-tilt: 6%. Hitbox active 6-13f. FAF: 36.

[Insert gif of U-tilt]

U-tilt is probably the move you will use the least besides U-throw. The reason for this is that its hitbox is very small, covering only the area immediately above Robin's head, and a small but functionally useless hitbox behind her head at the back of the swing arc. It is also very low reward, doing only 6%, and occasionally leading to an additional U-tilt at low percents.

However, that does not mean U-tilt is a USELESS move. It is useful, but only in extremely specific situations. The issue it has is that almost every situation in which you would consider using U-tilt, either SH Uair, JC U-Smash or SH retreating Fair would perform the job better.

It's not a juggle tool, as Uair does that job much better.
It's not really a standing anti-air, as U-Smash does that job much better.
It's not really an anti jump-in (horizontal) as SH Fair or SH Bair do that job much better.

So when DO I use U-tilt?

1) After Down-throw in the 35-55% range (roughly). At that percent, Robin has to start worrying about some characters escaping from D-throw Jab, so she can instead use U-tilt for a safer follow-up, albeit lower reward.

2) To pressure someone on a platform immediately above you. U-tilt's main niche is clipping at the feet of someone just above you, such as on a Battlefield platform. At that distance, it becomes impractical to use SHUair to put pressure on them, as doing so will allow them to jump out before the second Uair. Similarly, U-Smash has too much recovery time to allow Robin to threaten them afterwards if they shield it.

Instead, Robin can use U-tilt to pressure them to leave their shield, and if they do, she can react accordingly, taking advantage of U-tilt's faster recovery time.

Outside of those 2 situations, the move is not very useful, but it has a function that it performs adequately, which makes it better than U-throw.

D-tilt: 6%. Hitbox active 7-8f. FAF: 22.

[Insert gif of D-tilt]

If you've been paying close attention to the frame data so far, you may already notice the crazy number here. FAF: 22. To put into perspective how quickly that recovers, Little Mac's Jab is also FAF: 22. So D-tilt recovers extremely quickly.

Unfortunately, this doesn't make D-tilt the god button you think it might be because of 2 major drawbacks. D-tilt is very short range, and it has very little shieldstun or pushback. So despite its quick recovery, it is functionally unsafe on shield (from the front) at all but the maximum distances or against the characters with the shortest grab range.

D-tilt is also comparatively low reward compared to Jab, dealing only 6% damage and having virtually no knockback to speak of.

So when do I use D-tilt?

1) If you want to pressure the BACK of someone's shield and DO NOT have time to use Arcfire or Nosferatu to do so, D-tilt is your best option. If they are facing the opposite direction, they cannot shield-grab you. They must first drop their shield to take an action, making D-tilt a completely safe option in most situations. The exception to that rule is against characters who have a special move or an Up-Smash that they can both jump cancel AND pivot (or hit behind them) out of their shield (this is almost always Up-B).

That list includes, but is not limited to:

There may be others that are applicable, but by far the most threatening/practical ones (for either retaliation or escape) are listed above.

2) At certain low percentages, Robin can do D-throw D-tilt -> Re-grab. I have not tested this extensively and would consider it much more unreliable than simply doing D-throw Jab or D-throw U-tilt, but it is an option against some characters. I suspect many can simply jump out of this trap, would mainly be useful against fastfallers, where I would prefer to windjab anyway due to their difficulty escaping it.

3) D-tilt does have a uniquely useful angle for gimping certain characters. It sends them down and away from Robin, much like Nair. Against characters like Little Mac, Ganondorf, Roy, Yoshi (without his double-jump) or Bowser Jr. (outside of his Klown Car), you may actually be able to gimp them with it. In general I would consider off-stage edge-guarding, Elwind, or Arcfire ledgetraps more effective edge-guarding tools, but the option is there.

4) As part of a frame-trap. As mentioned previously, D-tilt recovers extremely quickly. As such, a whiffed D-tilt is often useful for baiting an opponent into attempting to punish you, allowing Robin to Jab quickly before they can do so.

5) As a timing mechanism. What???? (You might be thinking) Ok, so when you break a tome or the Levin Sword, the game employs a 'queue' of events of sorts to decide when the item will eject. Most notably, it allows you to buffer an action to come out BEFORE an item is ejected. This is to prevent Robin from becoming locked into her idle discard animation, where she manually tosses the item behind her.

As such, you can use D-tilt after an eject has been queued to buffer grabbing the ejected item on the first frame it ejects. Credit goes to Mr. II of Japan for first documenting this technique.

[Insert Mr.II's vines demonstrating said technique]

F-Smash: 16% (early), 5% (late), 9% (Bronze). Hitbox active 16-18f (early, Bronze), 19-27f (late). FAF: 58.

[Insert gif of F-Smash]

Ok, so at this point we're into the meaty moves. F-Smash is your primary punish for when someone makes a serious mistake. F-Smash has excellent horizontal range and surprisingly good vertical range ABOVE the sword. However, it's range UNDER the sword is actually really bad. I have whiffed it over characters who are low to the ground, like Kirby, or Luigi (after Green Missile). If you're swinging at someone low to the ground, use D-Smash instead, it is much more reliable for hitting the ground.

F-Smash hits HARD. 50 BKB, 87 KBG on top of 16% damage means you're looking at killing people around 75 pre-hit, depending on where you are on the stage.

Bronze F-Smash is bad. Bad KB, bad hitbox, bad angle. It's just strong enough that you MIGHT kill someone with it if you lack the Levin Sword or Thoron to punish harder, but otherwise you should probably stick to Bronze D-Smash for its incredibly horizontal angle.

So when should I use F-Smash?

1) Any time you have a hard punish where you can hit it for free. F-Smash is your best, most consistent punish tool in terms of damage and raw kill power.

2) As a whiff punish and spacing tool. Occasionally, it's worthwhile to use F-Smash to attempt to punish a whiff (because of its insane reward). This is best done out of a dash backwards, as F-Smash has surprisingly good horizontal reach.

3) Out of D-throw at 65-85%. So, lots of people get super scared of the checkmate. (D-throw Uair) Justifiably so. However, some either don't know the percentages that it actually true combos at, or tend to airdodge reflexively to try to avoid it.

In those situations, you can wait and charge F-Smash to catch a falling air-dodge for a huge punish. This is a risky play, however, as any opponents who try to jump out or use a fast Nair (Luigi, for example) will escape for free and usually punish you for it. I prefer to go for the Uair-> Regrab trap (where they airdodge the SH Uair, but get regrabbed after we land).

[Insert Dath's Check. Check. Check. Mate. video]

U-Smash: 15% (Early Sweetspot), 10 (Early Sour), 5 (Late), 9 (Bronze). Hitbox active 12f (Early), 13-17 (main hitbox), 17-25 (late), 12-16 (Bronze). FAF: 53.

[Insert gif of U-Smash]

U-Smash is very very good at what it does. And what U-Smash does is put out a gigantic, disjointed anti-air hitbox with solid speed and reward. I have almost never seen this move get stuffed. Robin leans down before thrusting upwards, and the hitbox is active before her head rises back up. For this reason, you will almost always win cleanly as long as you get the move out in time.

U-Smash is the move you go to when you need to get a hitbox out above you and do not have the time to do a SH Uair (7+10 frames for Uair, 12 frames for U-Smash). It is excellent against characters who want to fall down onto Robin with an active Nair/Dair due to its disjoint.

It is not an exceptionally strong punish, but can start finding kills around 110-125 depending on the character. Anti-airing Jigglypuff with it might kill her as early as like, 80.

Bronze U-Smash is awful. It lacks the hitbox that Levin U-Smash boasts, has pathetic damage and KB. You're better off just U-tilting instead.

D-Smash: 15% (Levin, Early), 12% (Levin, Late), 8% (Electric Sparks), 8% (Bronze). Hitbox active 16-17 (Early Levin & Bronze), 20-23 (Levin, Late), 24-28 (ground sparks). FAF: 62.

[Insert gifs of D-Smash, multiple variants]

D-Smash is a great multi-purpose punish tool. It is Robin's best 'coverage' Smash in terms of how much area it covers. It hits deceptively far above her on the down-swing, and has great horizontal range (and hits behind her) thanks to the sparks. The sparks also have the added benefit of making the move deceptively safe. If the opponent is at the right distance, it is possible to hit them with both the sword swing AND the sparks, dealing a huge amount of shield damage and pushback.

D-Smash is also exceptionally strong, like F-Smash. It is a little weaker as a horizontal killing tool, but is a stronger option on stages with lower ceilings, like Halberd. If you're not 100% sure you'll land the F-Smash, D-Smash is a very safe option.

D-Smash is ALSO Robin's best tool for punishing a predicted spot-dodge or ledge-stand due to how many active frames the move has. (Levin D-Smash is active in total from frame 16 to 28, making it her most meaty move outside of Thoron.

Bronze D-Smash is her best Bronze Smash if you absolutely have to get a punish and don't have Thoron loaded. It sends at a very horizontal angle (28 degrees), allowing it to grab kills in a pinch.

Nair: 7% (either hit), Hitbox Active 9-12 (Hit 1), 22-25 (hit 2). FAF: 50. Landing lag: 20. Autocancels after Frame 34.

[Insert gif of Nair]

Nair is a difficult move to explain. It has many purposes and uses, but it is rarely the best button for any given situation. Its reward is not crazy high unless off-stage. It really shines in some match-ups, and finds itself practically useless in others.

Nair's main advantages stem from its unique combination of speed and reach. It is tied for Robin's fastest aerial with Bair, at frame 9. Bair, of course, requires you be facing backwards (thus telegraphing it a bit) and does not have quite the range that Nair does. Robin's Nair has very similar range to her Fair, but trades reaching upwards for reaching downwards, due to the swing arc.

Nair is also a potent gimping tool in certain match-ups. It has a very horizontal KB angle (30 degrees) that can outright destroy characters with limited recovery. This includes, but is not limited to:



Some of the characters above have tools to avoid or trade with Nair, but these are nonetheless the matchups where I have seen success actually gimping the opponent with Nair.

Rising Fair, Falling Nair.



[WORK IN PROGRESS]