Introduction

A commando in the Vietnam War, the strict and insane Rolento now controls his own army of soldiers. He preaches survival at all times, even when captured by the enemy. He even hung a soldier with a metal cable just to make a point!

Players to watch: OCxRIDAH, SabreAZ Keychain

Rolento is a solid character that needs meter to setup his best options. Without meter your best option is to use his multiple evasive tactics to build meter. When you have meter then apply pressure to force mistakes for his ultra damaging CC!

Pros

-Extremely good pokes

-Decent punch AC, awesome kick AC

-90%+ Lvl 3 CC

-Great air priority

-Some okay mixup (much better in the corner)

-Arguably not really any bad match ups since he can't really be zoned by anyone and can run away as long as you want basically. If you get stuck in the corner Kick AC and run away some more.

Cons

- Big Hurtbox

- No reversal option

- Shortest throw range in the game

Moves List

Normal Moves

- Really good poke, walking can get annoying real fast for them follow them up with a cr. for a counter hit.

- The lovely anti air that works wonders vs almost any character's jumpins. Can Anti-air Chun just fine with it. Only people that you gotta worry about are Zangief and Birdie.

- Forget this. Never use it, learn to throw with or for him just for the sole reason you’ll die if you get this move out.

- Overall I don’t really use these.

- Kinda good anti-air I guess? Wouldn’t really use it much.

- Meh, like a slower , wouldn’t use it much.

cr.-

cr.- A pretty good poke. 3 hits with his baton that hits low, comes out quick, and looks like it gives you some frame advantage. Use it mainly for mixups. He can do a cr. then go for another jump in or if you think they'll hit something do a cr.- after it for yet another counter hit.

cr.- Probably his best poke. A fierce that hits low with awesome priority, use it anytime you're gonna end a poke string. Can even walk up and do it again, but just be careful of them jumping and be ready to

cr.- Hits low. cr.LP is the better option though.

cr.- Really good poke. can be cancelled it into any of his specials(KNIFE)or even super Jump for some mix-up.

cr.- Pretty good slide, and fairly safe if you don't do it point blank. He can do things like a meaty slide on their wakeup, then they'll try to hit and you can Kick AC then as it crossed up go ahead and CC, or cr. into patriot circles.

JUMPING Jumping (Neutral jump)

nj.- Awesome air priority. Can use it for air to air or if you think someone is about to jump in just do a nj. (think nj. with blanka in cvs2.)

nj.-

Jumping (Diagonal jump) dj.-

dj.- His usual 3 hit baton air move, pretty bad air to air so you'll probably always get beat if they jump too, but really good as a jump in since it hits 3 times, makes it a little slightly harder to AC. This is a really good jump-in when looking for a hit into combo or CC.

dj.- Pretty decent jump-in and semi good air to air, has more horizontal range so sometimes you could beat out an anti air poke attempt.

dj.- Awesome air to air, with a slightly upward angle compared to dj.

dj.- His yummy crossup. If you can confirm that this hit, you can land some great damage by doing a combo or activating CC after it hits.

dj.-

Command Moves

Super Jump

Tap or , then press or

Spike Rod

(In Air) +

Fake Rod

+

Throws

Colonel Carrier /+ -

Deadly Package /+ -

Same amount of damage for both throws.

Alpha Counters

+- This Alpha Counter has good usage against close ranged attacks. It does good damage and causing a knockdown. The last hit usually misses from anywhere further than close range so be careful with your spacing.

+- Instead of dealing damage, Rolento flies past the opponent with a jump. This is useful for escaping corner pressure, and it also switches positions with your opponent putting you in position to apply pressure of your own. It also has a limited effectiveness against projectiles, allowing you to counter from close range and activate a CC to punish projectile recovery.

Special Moves

Patriot Circle ( + (Can be repeated up to 3 times)

Only good for comboing and you really have to be point blank for it to do that. Can combo from cr.LP, cr.LP, or cr.MK. CANNOT combo from two of them..IE, you can't do cr.LK, then try to counter hit cr.LP into rekka. You'll get pushed back too far.

Mekong Delta Air Raid

+, then press again

A nice way to get some back distance and stay away from them. Sometime I like to do is backroll real fast as they are waking up and make them whiff something. Gotta be careful though because some CC’s can still reach you as well as some supers. Sometimes I’ll use fierce version to get way back for some breathing room, if you think they’ll fireball while you do it, go ahead and do the flying attack to hit them.

Mekong Delta Escape + - then press or to move

Your main run away tool, but can also use it to mixup. Use MK version so you don’t fly forward as much then land with d.mk so you cover almost no ground and can still maneuver to avoid fireballs. This move can really annoy people. Make sure you use it to fly past them if they aren’t cornered, so you can keep running away. Sometimes it’s nice to just fly back then just go towards them with j.mp, or j.rh and start an attack.

Mekong Delta Attack then

Stinger + , then press any or

One of the best things about Rolento. Prevents people from mashing, prevents him for being zoned well, and on counter hit does a ton of damage + dizzy. You can throw one of these after any c.LP/st.LP or cr.MK. If they hit anything they'll be hit. Mixup with throws when you're close, toss when far to zone them/prevent zoning. Once you get into the corner you can do sick things if they don't have meter. cr.LP into knives, into mk, into knives, into super jumps into more pokes into more knives, etc. Toss in some throws/cc's and you'll have a frustrated opponent for sure.

Trick Landing (Just before landing from a jump) or +

Super Moves

Take No Prisoner + - Underrated as hell. Level 3 tripwire can catch someone doing a fireball full screen for an easy ass 50% or so. Level 1 can hit low instantly when you’re point blank and it’s perfectly safe if they block it, nice to do on wakeup if people are starting to smother you.

Mine Sweeper + - You can kinda use it for antiair, but honestly there’s much better ways to spend the meter. If they block the grenades they get sucked to you and then you’re gonna get it. Use it for kicks I guess. (Kicks to your face that is)

Basic Strategy

What does Rolento want?

Rolento wants to run away, throw cutlery, and land TODs.

Rolento's gameplan revolves around building meter early and pressuring hard once you have it. The best ways to do this is to move out to long range and whiff LP Mekong Delta Air Raid roll segment to build meter quickly. When your opponent approaches use Mekong Delta Air Escape and hold towards your opponent to make your way to the opposite side of the screen to retain range to continue meter building. you can also come out of the jump with HK to build more meter and continue rolling on landing for meter. Be wary of early jump attacks used to counter the Delta Escape tactic as you are leaving the ground. Try to read these attempts and bait them by whiffing cr.LP. If they jump simply use an anti air to counter them.

Once you have meter, then you can begin to pressure your opponent. Best way to apply pressure is with cr.HP and cr.HK. cr.HP is the more offensive of the two, mainly used when your opponent is in range for attack. cr.HK is used for whiff punishing or to catch a mobile character walking backwards. It is very useful to throw an occasional HK Stinger when your opponent is turtling. Rolento will recover just before the knife is blocked so you can go for the early cr.HK, a late throw, or the late CC when you have them respecting the throw attempt.

A very useful way to bait an attack and land a safe CC is to do the roll part of LP Mekong Delta Air Raid as a read on a low attack. A way to set this up is to walk into attack range and roll away. If you see the attack miss, activate and perform your ground CC for big damage!

st.LP is an important pressure tool. It has great start up and recovery enabling you to setup a bootleg frame trap by doing walk up LP granted you are able to anticipate the opponents attack patterns. The timing of walk up LP must be timed in anticipation of the opponents attack but if they try to attack between the two LPs then the 2nd will likely beat most options. If you can anticipate a st.LP hitting, you can link a cr.MK from it and go for rekkas. Once your opponent begins to play defensively and respect your offense you can throw in an occasional walk up throw (always with MP for safety!) to open them up. Simply walking up and activating CC is a good option when your opponents begin attempting to counter your throws. If you anticipate a ground attack with long recovery you can go for crossup MK and combo from there.

"I generally try to pressure with knife throws from just outside my cr.Fierce range. If they try walking forward or sticking out a poke, I cr.Fierce. If they jump in, I use st.Strong or st.Fierce depending on the angle of their jump. If they’re getting too close to me, I do cr.Jabs or cr.Forward xx Jab roll to get back into my optimal range. When I’m getting too close to the corner, I use wall jump to switch sides before I actually get cornered. What should I be doing?

you can also:

learn his ccs, and use them to counter (tick) throws and the opponent’s attack after you’ve blocked a non-deep jump in poke with standing jabs up-close and end the string with crouching mk xx stinger use vertical jumping jab and short as anti-air moves use the mekong delta attack to roll through fireballs use the level 3 take no prisoner as an anti-fireball. the high jump is also good for this cross up with mk high jump d+mk has great priority, and can be useful in rushing use the kick alpha counter against laggy moves and follow with standing jab-> patriot circle or a cc bait out anti-moves (dps and the like) with his qcb+k. you have great control over this move and it’s fast, so you can use it to fly over dps unscathed, or land right in front and punish use crouching strong-> crouching fierce as a poke string play footsies with crouching roundhouse, and punish whiffed moves with crouching fierce use the higher levels of his super gauge for a cc to walk through fireballs and counter be aware that connecting with all hits of the patriot circle gives the opponent a generous amount of super meter"

"Always throw with st. strong. Using fierce is bad because even if it hits up close, it’s very punishable on hit. Stand fierce is a great move, just not from that range. As for his kick throw, it seems to do the exact same damage as his punch throw, except it does no damage if they tech (whereas punch will do a small bit on tech, just like any other throw). Quite a shame since kick throw looks way cool.

Tripwire super gives him advantage on block, and can be used as a tick. It also can’t be blocked if you do it point-blank and they are not blocking low before the flash (any level).

Super jump forward (d,uf) into j. strong puts him in a situation where he only has a bit of advantage; st. or cr. jab will combo but not much else. A lot of people will try to throw or even sac-throw when they get hit. Use this as a setup by doing super jump -> j. strong -> land CC or tripwire."

Defense st.MP is a great anti air, along with j.LP and st.HP. Rolentos Anti Air CC is also a good (but expensive) option, but it deals great damage so don't be hesitant to use it if you can.

Advanced Strategy

Mekong Delta Escape Tricks

The Mekong Delta Escape is one of the best mobility options in the game. It gives you the ability to control where you will land by holding back or forward after he jumps off the wall. Its useful for dealing with projectiles as well as making your opponent guess whether or not its safe to anti air Rolentos jumping attacks.

If you think the opponent is looking to counter a jump, perform MDE then after leaving the wall hold back before reaching your opponent. If done right you will drop about sweep distance from your opponent. Most anti air attempts should whiff here giving you the option to punish with cr.HK or a CC.

If you have your opponent hesistant to anti air the jump, after leaving the wall hold forward until you pass over your opponents head then back to steady yourself and perform j.MK for the crossup, hitting your opponent from behind.

or...

After leaving the wall, press no directions and perform a late j.HK during descent. This will hit from the front.

Stinger Tactics Rolentos knife can be used in block strings and as meaty for pressure. Kara Canceling into stinger from medium or heavy attacks counter hits mashing buttons or low level CCs

Best AA cc in the game, activate s.lp xx super jump kicks

To consistently get full damage on his cc, piano mash all the kicks, they all do the same damage.

S.lp xx knife s.lp xx knife xN is the corner is really good

kara cancel c.rh into lp roll to build meter faster

f+mk cannot be thrown and is really helpful vs gief

hk grab is safer than hp grab, cause s.fp had too much lag if you whiff

walking s.lp is annoying

canceling a normal into a knife hits people mashing

lvl 1 trip wire is godly, instant low point blank and nothing will beat it outside a full body invincible move, and allows for a safe jump

c.fp , c.mp, j.fp, j.mp and c.rh are your friend

Normal Combos

c.MK,Patriot Circle x3

crossup MK, cr.LPx2 xx HP Patriot Circle

st.LP, cr.MK

Custom Combos

This is what makes Rolento so deadly. His custom is extremely simple, no one should really mess it up. Start with an activate then sweep/c.rh, cancel that into his super jump forward and just piano all three kicks, multiple times. High levels get more reps in, generally level 1 is one rep, lvl 2 is two, and lvl 3 being three super jump reps. If you’re on pad or something and it’s hard to piano all the kicks, you can just mash j.lk for still really good damage, but its not as consistent as piano’ing all 3 kicks.

So his CC - Activate, C.rh xx [super jump, piano all 3 kicks] xN. If you do it right, can easily get 90%+ (My best is like 99% I think?)

Antiair custom - As RSX has stated before, easily the best antiair custom in the game. It’s the same exact shit except you start with a standing jab, to antiair them.

AA CC - Activate, s.jab xx [super jump, piano all 3 kicks] xN

The way I land his CC:

-Hit confirm crossover j.mk into CC. -Try to counter a throw (People will want to throw you a lot since Rolento has no reversal without spending meter) -Antiair -CC instead of going for a throw -PUNISHING WHIFFS. Strongest thing you can do, stop throwing people if they whiff a dp. Do his CC and just flat out kill them please.

ground: CC, low roundhouse slide, SJ, hit short 3-5 times while in the air. if you have more levels just kick SJ when you land and go up with more shorts

Anti air: CC, standing strong, SJ, hit short 3-5 times while in the air. same as above....if you have more levels keep SJ

Rolento: Any lvl- c.rh xx [super jump piano mash all kicks or mash lk]xN

aa cc- s.lp instead of c.rh into above combo

Match-ups

Vs. Adon:

Vs. Akuma:

Vs. Birdie:

Vs. Charlie: run away. jab back rolls build meter.

jump jab for AA when you can. throw knives. when you get meter, play cc games. you only have to hit her like twice before you can kill her in one cc.

Vs. Chun-Li:

Vs. Dan:

Vs. Dhalsim:

Vs. Gen:

Vs. Guy:

Vs. Ken:

Vs. M. Bison (dictator):

Vs. Rolento (self):

Vs. Rose: Rose shouldn’t be a problem. Stay mobile and toss plenty of knives. S.mp antiairs her cleanly. If she does soul illusion you can run away easily. If she catches you in a block string you can kick ac and run away more to keep her annoyed. Make her jump into a CC and kill her. c.mp will beat all your pokes, so don’t play the poking game much.

Just don’t AC her soul illusion drill. You can eat alot of damage still and normals might hit you. AC the end of her drills.

Vs. Ryu:

Vs. Sagat:

Vs. Sakura:

Vs. Sodom:

Vs. Zangief: