The Basics
Rufus' divekick, the Falcon Kick, is the tool around which his game was built. With no height restriction - meaning it can be performed at any point during his jump arc - and excellent hit- and block-stun properties, it is commonly considered to be the best divekick in a game where divekicks are extremely useful (partly due to the mind game that has developed around using "crouch tech" as an effective defensive tactic, which tactic can be easily exploited by Rufus' divekick). His other key tool is his ultra combo 1, and he has a wide variety of ways to safely land it to boost his damage output.
Where Rufus struggles is in the ranged game - his normal attacks are limited and don't cover different ranges as well as many other characters - and on defence. He has an invincible reversal in EX messiah kick which is highly effective at low levels of play but extremely risky to use against skilled opponents (and which costs one bar of EX meter to execute), his backdash is not good and his focus attack lacks range. He also has no 3 frame normal attacks.
Rufus' basic goal in most matchups, then, is to work his way in close to his opponent and persuade them to press buttons (or otherwise stop blocking) in order that he can connect with a divekick and convert that opening into a combo, after which he will continue to apply pressure. Many of Rufus' basic combos can be modified to make use of his ultra combo 1 once it's available, which not only boosts his damage output but provides him with a nice setup for further pressure afterwards.
Ultra combos
Ultra combo 1 is the traditionally recommended ultra selection for Rufus, however in matchups against fireball characters he might opt to use ultra combo 2 (or w-ultra) instead, giving him a damaging fireball punish and anti-air. W-ultra can also be useful against certain rushdown/mixup characters, for example C. Viper and El Fuerte, in order to discourage their airborne approaches with ultra combo 2 but also allow the option to use ultra combo 1 to boost combo damage should the opportunity arise.
