In-Depth Character Discussion: Rudra

*Original post by Don Vecta.

Okay, I wanted to open some threads about gameplay of some characters to point out its advantages and its weaknesses. Also which things allow him/her to beat the game a lot easier. So here I start with a thread dedicated to Rudra. Please feel free to add your thoughts about her too or ask questions about her.

Movelist (taken from the movelist thread).

Rudra.

Normal attacks:

Rush combo - B B B B (finger hit, finger hit, palm strike, low-high kick)
*Last two kicks are always executed, even if the foe is killed/knocked with the low kick
*first three hits cover more range than the kicks. Be careful with that, as you may get countered while missing the knockdown hit.
Back attack - B + C, or Z (back middle kick)
Knockdown hit : hold B for a bit and release, or Y ( performs the low-high kick from the rush combo )
Defensive special: A (ki-blades?)
Offensive special A + forward (triple shuriken): low damage , fullscreen range attack. (Ab)use it at your own cheapness.

Jumping attacks:

Vertical jump attack - C then B ( performs a wide double kick, which hits both front and behind you. Quite useful. knockdown )
Jump attack - forward + C then B (flying kick , long range, knockdown)
Diving attack - C then down + B (knee dive , VERY short range. Most enemies with some kind of anti-air will probably pummel you if you try this on them, even Donovans. Try another approach; in my opinion it sucks. No knockdown.

something not pointed yet, nevertheless, not that obvious for the ubernewbs:
If you press C while running, you can cover greater distances with your jumps.

Running attacks. Apologizes for the names...

Blitz 1 ( 0-1 star) - forward forward + B Shadow Strike des in black for a sprite or two (hence the name), and then punches with some kind of mystic energy. the extra star gives you more jumping range, and the mystic energy becomes slightly shinier, [color=#008000]lulz ]
Blitz 2 (2 stars) - forward forward + B somersault Shadow strike (The same as Blitz 1 , but Rudra somersaults at the beginning of the blitz, causing extra damage . Mystic energy glows even shinier)
Blitz 3 (3 stars - forward forward + B somersault double shadow strike (Again, the same as Blitz 2, but then Rudra finishes with an extra energy-270º-slash that hits both front and behind you, and knockdowns)

Grab attacks (get close to opponent)

Vault over opponent - Grab then C. You can vault twice before letting free the oponent. Cannot vault if blocked by any minimaly wide obstacle ( walls, breakable items such as mailposts , etc )
Four-hit frontal knockdown - Grab then B ( yet another energy punch, but this time it hits 4 times really fast, like Ibuki's special in Street Fighter III or SSFIV. Knockdown)
Rush attack - Grab, hold forward + B B B ( Rudra performs two not so original knee bashes, smacks her opponent's face with her elbow, and middlekicks for the knockdown )
*Even if the grabbed enemy is killed with the elbow smash, the middlekick with still be executed.
Backwards throw - Grab, hold backwards B ( Rudra grabs enemy's head with her feet,and drops him in an awesome, artistic, and uncomfortable way. You are invulnerable while performing the whole animation , so enjoy it riskless )
Grab from behind - Hold from behind or vault opponent if grabbing in front then B ( Rudra kicks her foe to the air, teleports, and piledrives the victim. Huge damage and awesome attack, kudos to the designer of the idea.

Weapon special attacks.
Kunai: Forward forward + b ( Rudra somersaults and throws 3 kunai , see screenshot )

Sword/Katana - forward forward + B ( Rudra performs an upward slash, similar to blaze's knife special, but with a wider attack range
forward + A ( Rudra slowly stabs with her sword. Two hits, the last's knockdown. Very damaging, and very useful )

POLICE SPECIAL SUBSTITUTE:

Spoiler:

---------

Overview:

Rudra is by far the fastest character of the whole roster (unlocked roster, that's it). The speed is, of course, only in her movement since the speed of her rush combo it's pretty much standard, however, the speed of her run and the movement of her blitz attacks are her main strengths and this should be exploited and abused at will.

Her damage input it's a bit below of the average but still capable to much out enemies in no time. She's not as weak as Skate or Roo, maybe as strong as SOR1 Blaze. Her frontal grabs make laughable damage but somehow are quite practical, however, the most abusable move it's her grab from behind. Yes, that Izuna-drop slam is VERY ABUSABLE! And this is the movement any Rudra player should use, overuse and abuse. Why?

1) Damage is insane. All the damage cannot do by her front grabs are compensated by the huge chunk of life this izuna drop-like grab can do. Hits twice.

2) Negates fatasses property of not pulling out throws. Yup, you can pull it on those SOR3 Big-Bens or those SOR1 Bongos without having the fear of getting their greasy asses fall on your head since the kick is the one who launches the opponent up and the slam is mid air, so no harm done.

3) Leaves your opponent right on your feet. Yeah, this is very useful if you wanna get rid quickly of certain pest enemies like the Muay Thai dudes or Ninjos or whoever who doesn't have invincible wake-up frames or wake-up moves.

4) Invincible during the whole grab. Yes, including the launch kick, she cannot be hit by anything. Wandering enemies bit be crushed as well but range to hit other enemies it's short, though.

5) K.O. interruption recovery. If you happened to kill an enemy with the first launch kick, she won't perform the Izuna-drop and she'll recover VERY quick. Ready to continue the attack or move.

Now please mind also that this move brings out a huge disadvantage against exploding enemies such as the Particles or Neo X's or the sort since her recovery frame it's slower and has a one-frame chance to move out of there (which is almost impossible) thus you'd get caught in the explosion. To solve this please make sure to have stock in your special and perform an A special as soon you landed to ignore the explosion (yes, just A, not direction + A or else you'd try to throw a star and then the evasion will just FAIL).
Or if you don't have enough stock still do the A special, the chip damage trade-off it's better than the damage done by the explosion.
Now, if you have less than 10% of lifebar and have no special stock up then hard cheese, buddy. You *could* try to tap up up or down down quickly to avoid it but the odds are VERY slim to succeed.


So, what's the general strategy to play with Rudra? Run and grab.

Yes, the speed of her run it's uncanny and usually can get most enemies off guard while you approach them (please, make sure to have the run vertically option on to take full advantage of it) and then grab, B B, C for vault and Izuna-drop. Hell, you could even do this against some hardcore bosses like Shiva or X without sweat.

You could still venture to try it in a bunch of enemies but skipping the knee grabs and throw the opponents with her back + B throw or quickly vault into the Izuna-drop.

If you happen to corner a group of enemies on a wall, stay close to them and grab one of them then perform the B grab (no directional move, just B) to perform her Ibuki punch attack. This is useful if within the group of enemies are those with late wake-up motion (like Noras or SOR3 Electras) or with wake-up counter attacks like SOR3 Galsias since the grab, while in execution, has a bit of invincibility frames and hits multiple times quickly.


Usage of forward + A special.

While it looks like an awesome move, don't be mislead by its look, it does have advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest pro is: It's a projectile, for fuck's sake! Of course, that's the biggest advantage it might have since it crosses quickly the whole screen in front of you. As long you have special stock within you, feel free to use it to knock down some obnoxious enemies. Useful against blocky-happy morons like the Muay-thai punks, the Goldies or Ninjos.

However, I always think it's not as awesome as it might look in paper for the following reasons:

- Constant movement of the enemies. Unless you really predict the motion of the enemies, many times this move will whiff since the AI tends to step up or down immediately as soon they see coming a projectile (this is also applicable to throwing pick-up weapons or shooting firearms). If you wanna use if effectively, try to use it in a group of enemies and you might hit one of them (yes, only one of them read below).
- The stars only hit ONE enemy. Yup, even though the appearance of the sprite has 3 stars, it does hit only one enemy.
- The range of fire it's misleading. Another optical effect: even the cone of range of the stars seems to spread as the stars travel, in reality only hit the enemies places right horizontally to Rudra, just like a normal weapon throw.
- Damage is laughable. Yeah, damage it's shit, even though could be used inside a combo of B B B fA due of its speed, the damage it's terrible and doesn't make a good substitute for her standard low-high kick finisher.

So my advice it's to use it against blocking enemies or certain enemies who keep distance or like to line-up with you to hit you with a dash/jumping attack or a projectile of their own (Jet's, Bears, agents, Haku-oh's).


About her blitz attacks.

Blitz 0-1: It's beautiful, as abusable as her Izuna-drop grab. decent damage, good range and overall safe on attack, even for blocking enemies. Her 3 hit combo could make her go though Abadede's attempts to counter or pass through Signal's slides.

Blitz 2: I always found it slightly unsafer than her first blitz since she jumps slightly higher at start up and doesn't cover up too much range while she's spinning, compared with the already extended arm of the first blitz. Unsafe on landing since some enemies LOVE to rush behind you and ass whoop you in the moment you land. Use it with precaution.

Blitz 3: Definitely one of her best weapons. Probly still a bit unsafe at start up like Blitz 2 BUT... her finishing uppercut has a surprise with it: HITS ENEMIES COMING FROM BEHIND! So you can enjoy seeing that idiotic Donovan trying to rush behind you and about to attack you and them WHAMMO! An unexpected punch right on his face. Oh, also that punch knocks down opponents. I guess this is the safest 3 star blitz from all the cast.


Later I might cover up enemy strategies as well. But feel free to share your tips or ask questions if you have any.

Following my point about pipe usage in the Zan thread, she definitely seems to have a larger hit radius around her regarding this...I was hitting enemies who were slightly behind me today (with the main hit frame, not an extra hit frame like Max/Skate 3). I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the same with Elle too.

As I noted on the other site, I used to main Rudra a lot (before switching to Shiva). She's fast, she's strong, she's got good reach, she's good to use if you equip her with the katana, her "Call Police" special is convenient for anywhere, and her back-throws are both useful and cool. The only quibble I really have with her is her blitz attack with the kunai - the knives only go in certain set directions and it's useless if you miss.