Garou: Mark of the Wolves/Kevin Rian/Strategy

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Hitboxes and Attack Notes

Hell Trap

Qcf.png + Kick.gif (Break)

Kevin will move forward with a low attack, followed by a grab.

This move is going to be important for corner lock downs as its his break, and he recovers very fast from it.

The first hit goes low, and if blocked can be canceled with the break input. If it does hit, the grab will automatically grab them.

The second hit of this move is a grab, but it registers as a normal attack. Since its an attack, it can be JD and punished.


Hell Rotor
Qcb.png + Punch.gif

This move has 3 levels.

The Snka.gif version hits mid, while the Snkc.gif is an overhead.

The Snkc.gif version comes out a bit slower, but can be worth it for mix ups as many would expect Kevin to do his Qcf.png + Kick.gif attack.

The Snka.gif version is the best follow up to his break, but it must be timed correctly, other wise it will whiff.

This move has three levels, a level 2 must be done in order to hit after break.

Doing this move by itself isn't the best thing to do, but it can be done every now and then to throw off your opponent.

This move also leads into all of his advanced tricks with cancels.

For more about his cancels read Kevin Cancel's


Hell Arrest
Hcf.png + Punch.gif

Close range command grab that will throw them away from Kevin.

This is a great move, especially since many people never see it coming.

Throw it in with your mix ups, empty cancel into it, tick into it.


Creeper
Qcb.png + Snkb.gif

Kevin crawls on the ground like a commando and can follow up with an overhead, or a low attack.

Since's hes on the ground, attacks that don't hit low-mid or low will not touch him. He also has some invincibility frames which allow him to get out of bad situations.

His Snka.gif follow-up will got low on the opponent. It doesn't come out very fast, but it can be affective at times.

The Snkb.gif follow-up is an over head, which comes out slower that his Snka.gif follow-up.

If blocked Kevin is in trouble, but if it hits, he scores a knockdown.

Use both of these moves sparingly, and remember to mix it up with them, don't stick to one follow-up.

You can also do a Snkc.gif follow-up which will get Kevin off the ground, and is another trick to build meter with him, but not anywhere near as fast as doing it with his cancels.


Abide Mine
Qcb.png + Snkd.gif

Kevin will do a roll that takes him about two character lengths ahead of where he was.

This move sounds great since its a semi invincible roll, but its recovery isn't the best, and once used a few times, it becomes quite obvious to a seasoned player when it will be used again.

Many people tend to use this move to escape from the corner, but if the opponent predicts it, Kevin can get punished.

Try not to abuse this move or rely on this move too much. This move can lead to a decent wake up game, but you will be thrown more often than anything else. Use this move wisely.


Hell Snipe
Dp.png + Punch.gif

An arching air attack.

This move can be a decent anti-air if the opponent is at the right height, but its best not to rely on this.

Its a great follow up after his Qcf.png + Kick.gif break.

It doesn't require any special timing, and as long as you are close enough the Snka.gif version will hit them 100% of the time.

The Snka.gif version is also -1 on block, so it is very hard to punish.

The Snkc.gif version travels higher and further, and it will not hit grounded opponents, which makes it a pretty useless version.


Lucky Strike
Qcf.png, Qcf.png + Punch.gif

This will go through some moves, has a fair amount of invulnerability frames.

Mostly used after a D.png+Snka.gif+Snkb.gif or in combo and has to be timed right, otherwise the super will whiff the last few hits. Can be used as a high risk high reward reversal.


Gatling Freeze
Qcf.png, Qcf.png + Kick.gif

Damage on this super is very low, but this is easily one of the best supers in the game.

When hit, the opponent will be frozen for a couple of seconds, which allows Kevin to continue with his onslaught.

The Snkb.gif version comes out slow, and should never be thrown out randomly as it doesn't have a good hit box and can be stuffed out easily.

Two can be connected in the same combo, or one followed by an Snka.gif super.

The Snkd.gif version comes out instantly and is easily the best move for juggling.

The overall best option is for Kevin to sit on his meter until he can throw out a Snkd.gif version in a combo.


T.O.P. Notes

Kevin's T.O.P attack is a charging roll which has 10 frames of start up and is -5 on block (unsafe).

On guard it has huge Guard Crush potential (taking out about 40% of an average guard meter).

When used to Guard Crush, Kevin has the ability to combo after the Guard Crush.

Being unsafe, the TOP shouldn't be used on guard when it won't crush.


Basic Strategy

Kevin is the most versatile character in the game.

Builds meter really fast with his special cancels.

He can play offensively or defensively and still control the match.

He has some of the longest combos in game.

Once Kevin has P super, the match becomes his to control.

The opponent must fear and respect Kevin with full super, even if its an inexperienced Kevin.

Even without meter Kevin can still be scary with his command grab, guard crush corner loop and high/low options.

This is why most players consider him the best in the game.


  • Guard Crushing :

When Kevin has his opponent cornered he can go for a Guard Crush loop (full blockstring on guard) : Right.gifRight.gif > Snka.gif xx Qcf.pngSnkb.gif (break) > Right.gifRight.gif > Snka.gif xx Qcf.pngSnkb.gif (break) > repeat ...

This is probably one of the easiest guardcrush loop in the game, however it has a weakness : your opponent can stand up, making the Hell Trap hit (it hits low).

The Kevin player should look at the animation of his opponent to see if he is standing up and be ready to confirm.


Advanced Tactics

Kevin Cancel's

SNK added a cancel to Kevin's Qcb.png + Punch.gif.

If you press Snkd.gif anytime during the move, it will canceled.

If you press it right as you preform the move, you will get Qcb.png + Snkd.gif, later in the move will produce a s. Snkd.gif.


This leads to a few things, the main being meter building.

Canceling the move into a s. Snka.gif builds meter very fast, and is the easiest way to build meter with the cancels.

You can also cancel the move into itself (Qcb.png + Snka.gif into Qcb.png + Snkc.gif or vice-vera), but its a bit tricker to do it consistently, but we'll get to that later, for now we'll show how to do the simple and safer cancel.


When doing the Qcb.png + Punch.gif you can hit any button with Snkd.gif and it will cancel into the button that was pressed with Snkd.gif, for instance, if you were to do the move then press Snkb.gif+Snkd.gif you will get a s. Snkb.gif.

So the easiest option for building meter in this situation is to cancel the special with Snka.gif+Snkd.gif or D.png+Snka.gif+Snkd.gif. These will result in a s/c Snka.gif which comes out and recovers the fastest.


The more complex way of building meter isn't too hard.

You do Qcb.png + Snka.gif then piano Snkc.gif, Snkd.gif, this will lead one special into another special, and Kevin will never leave his charge animation but build twice the meter in the same amount of time.


The meter build can continue from there, for example: Qcb.png + Snka.gif, Snkc.gif, Snkd.gif, Qcb.png, Snka.gif, Snkd.gif... and so on.

If done right, Kevin will never leave his hunched anymation.

This has to be done right, otherwise it will lead to Kevin being open for an attack.

Once you have this down, the safest thing to do would be to cancel into one special, then a s/c. Snka.gif.

It may seem tempting to keep going and build your meter, but it isn't the safest thing to do since the opponent can rush in during the middle of the cancels.


His cancels can be used for more than just meter building. Combos, mind games, and more can be done with the cancels.

Many people seem to have trouble doing his cancels in T.O.P mode, especially anything involving Snkc.gif+Snkd.gif.

People usually get his T.O.P attack to come out instead of a Snkc.gif attack. The way to fix this is to throw in an extra button when you do the cancel.

So if you wanted to do two s. Snkc.gif's using the cancels in top, you would have to do it like: s. Snkc.gif, Qcb.png +, Snka.gif, Snkb.gif+Snkc.gif+Snkd.gif.

Adding the extra button will make it so the T.O.P attack doesn't come out, and instead you get the Snkc.gif input you wanted.


Building meter (the rotor dance):

Kevin has the fastest meter building tool in the game thanks to this cancel, however it requires a bit of execution.

The rotor loop to build meter is : Qcb.pngSnka.gifSnkd.gif~Snkc.gif(karacancel) > repeat


To understand how it works, let's break it down

Qcb.pngSnka.gifSnkd.gif => stand Snka.gif will come out,

because in this game pressing 2 buttons at once prevents specials from coming out.

Qcb.pngSnka.gifSnkd.gif~Snkc.gif => pressing Snkc.gif

will kara cancel the stand Snka.gif (cancel it before it is active), and since a Qcb.png was buffered, the C rotor will come out (the usual input being Qcb.pngSnkc.gif). Kevin is now performing his C rotor.

C rotor > Qcb.pngSnka.gifSnkd.gif => it will cancel the C rotor with a stand Snka.gif.

At this point, you can press C again to kara cancel the st.A into a rotor which you can cancel again, etc.


Execution tip : pressing A+D at the same time with your index finger makes it much easier, do qcb A+D with your index, then C right after with your middle finger.


This takes fast execution and once mastered, you need to figure out "How do I get out of it to avoid being punished?".

To get out of it, after pressing C (rotor comes out), you can press backdash+D to backdash out of it, or AD to stA out of it, or 2ABD to anti-air with 2AB (or anything else allowing you to cancel the rotor, but these are usually the safest options).


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