Rock's Bad Matchups: Characters/Grooves

[Hellion]

I have gotten to a point with P Rock where I can stand up to either one or two characters on my brothers team now. He even says of my whole team Rock's the only one that gives him problems.

However..
When he brings in his old A-groove team, I find myself victim to many CC's, unless I hold on to that meter, the threat of his supers is usually enough to keep him at bay, but the game then drags on until one of us makes a mistake.

It made me think for a moment, most of us think of a properly played Rock as a control character, zoning an opponent out with his moves and pounding them hard when they make mistakes.

Which characters in the game, and which grooves, do you all think make his game that much harder?

[UCRJesse]

Originally posted by Hellion
I have gotten to a point with P Rock where I can stand up to either one or two characters on my brothers team now. He even says of my whole team Rock's the only one that gives him problems.

However..
When he brings in his old A-groove team, I find myself victim to many CC's, unless I hold on to that meter, the threat of his supers is usually enough to keep him at bay, but the game then drags on until one of us makes a mistake.

It made me think for a moment, most of us think of a properly played Rock as a control character, zoning an opponent out with his moves and pounding them hard when they make mistakes.

Which characters in the game, and which grooves, do you all think make his game that much harder?

Rock is actually best when he's rushing people down and guard crushing... he gets outpoked by most of the top tier characters, thats your problem right there... plus, you're playing p groove against a groove. you're being counter grooved so it really wouldn't matter who you are using. Rock is played at his very best when he knockes the opponent down and mixes up from there.

[ShinNeosnake]

::Sigh:: Rock is not a rushdown character, ANYONE will tell you that, he CAN rush, but his MAIN or PRIMARY strength is in zoning the opponent out.

He is a control character, He needs meter to dictate the pace of the match, and YES he is scary when he has stored meter, because of his very useful supers.

But your main question, what chars and grooves are problematic for P-Rock?

A-Sak, obvious reasons, CC, her s.HK and c.HK reach the same length so you're playing a guessing game everytime you try to crack counter it.
CPK-Cammy, if she has meter, watch out, because she can combo into it by many ways, if she doesn't she is still scary, because she can poke you all can with s.HP and s.HK and lk Spiral Arrows
and I'd stretch on a limb and say:
PK-Rock, It depends on who has the better game plan, better execution, better tactics, etc. because Rock is hard to get in on, he CAN get in on you and deal some damage and then zone your ass up when you eaten that 360 thorw breaked inot a Shine Knuckle. But Rock without meter isn't as scary as Rock with meter though, nonetheless, Rock is hard to beat with Rock.
C-Sagat, His High Tiger shots (obviously) travel over your repukkens, and probably travel faster (HP Tiger Shot vs MP Repuken) and he has many ways to get to you, and when he does get in, he can take off a chunk of life with a simple combo and then he can force you to make your own moves, which is not a position that Rock wants to be in, but he can do fairly well in.
I'm forgetting many people but I dont have time to post them all now.

[DeadlyRave619]

Originally posted by ShinNeosnake
::Sigh:: Rock is not a rushdown character, ANYONE will tell you that, he CAN rush, but his MAIN or PRIMARY strength is in zoning the opponent out.

He is a control character, He needs meter to dictate the pace of the match, and YES he is scary when he has stored meter, because of his very useful supers.

Amen to this. Rock virtually lacks the offense to rush. His moves aren't highly damaging like Terry's so guard crushing is out of the question. As Neosnake says, Rock is all about control.

BTW, Neosnake don't forget to mention the infamous Bison on your character list :lol: !

[ShinNeosnake]

C,A Bison. His c.HK has a HELL lot of range (obviously) so always be aware of that never stand up doing nothing, Also, in the air, he'll try to mp you into Mega Psycho Crusher/ Custom. so the air is not as safe to get in on him.

Feel free to ask about any other characters but I'm telling you now, I'm not the best person to explain Matchups (although I know them, hard to put down on paper)

[Jinjifra]

Im a rock player too, not a very good one, and i have always had a lot of trouble with Bison for obvious reasons but i also have had some trouble with vega too is there something im just doing wrong there?

[ShinNeosnake]

ahhh.. Vega, I hate playing against him, his j,HK will beat out your s.HK, the only way to counterattack that is high crack counter or ragin storm. He has good ground pokes in s.MP and s.HP, and he has a slide, and they rolling attack, so he can keep you guessing how he'll attack so Crack counters are out of teh question. I dont do well against Vega myself, so I can't say how to beat him, But in general You have to rush Vega down, to lose his claw and mask, but Rock isnt Rushdown....

[Jinjifra]

heh thanks those are the same problems i've been having but there is no arcade with c v s 2 where i live and my friend got bored with vega so the problem kinda solved itself.

[Hellion]

Originally posted by UCRollerblader


Rock is played at his very best when he knockes the opponent down and mixes up from there.

I like this, because it's the truth.
Some favorites of mine
-The s.lk to 360 is particularly one of my new favorite weapons
with Rock after a knockdown (actually got this off you).
-s.hp shift to 360 is nice
-c.hk corpse dash c.hk.
-dash 360.

I'll list some matchups in a moment...

[ShinNeosnake]

Originally posted by Hellion


I like this, because it's the truth.
Some favorites of mine
-The s.lk to 360 is particularly one of my new favorite weapons
with Rock after a knockdown (actually got this off you).
-s.hp shift to 360 is nice
-c.hk corpse dash c.hk.
-dash 360.

I'll list some matchups in a moment...

It plays well into his zoning game well also, he knocks down, mixes up, then zones you into making another mistake and knocks you down again.

[Hellion]

Vega

His strengths are his normals, and his speed.
His poking patterns can get repetitive, and you can punish him if you have small jump roundhouse. Rocks isn't as fast as Vega's, but it's no less effective.
Air to air, use Rock's lk or mk. It should beat Vega thereabouts just beware that Vega has a fast air grab.
You can duck the claw super.
If he does a wall hop, you can Rising tackle him out of whatever he does, or Hard Edge your way out of his path, or Hard edge towards him before he gets to the wall, then he won't get there.

His wakeups suck, so take advantage of any of Rock's mixups on a waking opponent. Rock can manage to knock Vega down in a match fairly well, so this shouldn't be too difficult.

[Hellion]

Bison

He has a strong ground game.
His scissor kicks are fast and have seemingly faster recovery. Beware of tickthrows off this move.
Punish blocked Psycho Crushers with the s.hp. I think you can use a hard edge or shine knuckle.
His slide is easily punished if blocked.

His headstomp is too good for the s.rh. If you can raising storm or high counter. If you block and go for a s.rh for Bison's dive, you'll both trade, but I think in Bison's favor.
After all you're the one in purple flames.

Feel free to do Rock's knockdown mixups on him, but watch if Bison's got super stored.

Think to remember is that the opponent will be just as intimidated by Rocks supers as you are by his.

[50mOrEcEnTz]

)against vega, the only thing i know to do (i play k-rock) is to do counters, jd for a knockdown or throw which leads to a short period of time where i can play mixup, and when i get raged break his guard (since he has to respect my rage, or else he gets raging stormed and loses life and claw and maybe mask:lol:)....vega is a touch matchup due to RANGE and QUICKNESS, especially if it is an vega with small hop...gawd...good luck

[Hellion]

A-Sak

I know that for some out there this is a hard one. Can Rock maintain a flawless defense game against her? Or should he rush that ass down and finish her as early as he possibly can?

[Wires]

Originally posted by ShinNeosnake
Rock without meter isn't as scary as Rock with meter though, nonetheless, Rock is hard to beat with Rock.
[/B]

I think this is true for any character :lol: