Rock Howard overview & gameplay guide
Character specification
Character Trivia
Born to Geese Howard, raised by Terry Bogard—Rock’s very being is one of mixed emotions and internal conflict. Despite having lived a new life with Terry, one day Rock finds himself facing off against a foe who claims to know about his past—namely his birth mother, and the fact that she is very much alive. Armed with this new information, the troubled youth resolves to find his own way through life—and fight on in order to make that happen.
Difficulty
MEDIUM star star
Fighting Style
Martial arts, including ancient varieties
Rock Howard Gameplay Trailer
PDF Command List
Gameplay Overview
Rock Howard is an all rounder with a simple, but versatile and effective toolkit.
With Rock, what you see is what you get. He has all of the standard issue tools one needs to be successful in City of the Wolves, including a good projectile, a good DP, a good corner-carry special, and good use of Rev Meter. His far C is a great poking and combo tool, he has great buttons for enforcing hop pressure, and he hurts quite a lot. If you're familiar with the basics of a shoto archetype, Rock has you covered.
Rock does have a number of trickier tools up his sleeve, however. Alongside Reppu Ken, his grounded projectile, Rock also has Shippu Ken, an aerial projectile that halts his movement. His Rage Run command dash can lead into crossups or same side mixups, while his Shinkuu Nage command grab leads to combos on both regular and EX hits. All of these give Rock even more versatility, which synergies nicely with his plethora of defensive options. Great mashable lights, a strong DP, a counter, two reversal supers, and a command grab for Guard Cancelling make Rock hard to crack open.
Rock's got it all, but it doesn't mean he's got it the best. While all of his tools are good, none of them are top tier and all have specific weaknesses. If you want zoning, you're better off playing dedicated zoners, and ditto for rushdown characters. Still, Rock is designed to play COTW well, and that he does. He's an easy recommend to anyone just starting the game, and legacy SNK veterans who want to flex their fundamentals.
Pros & Cons
thumb_up PROS
- Strong Normals: With strong pokes such as 2B and f.C, good jump-ins with j.C and j.D, and plus frames that can be easily linked on hit to 2C, Rock has moves that can fit almost any need.
- Varied Defense: Rock can use his Crack Counter (236B/D), A Rising Tackle (623A), or Raging Storm (236236A/C) either on wakeup or buffered after a Just Defend to keep opponents guessing, or he can rely on his strong lights to mash out as well.
- Strike/Throw: Not only is his strike/throw with his normal grab bolstered by his well-rounded normals, Rock can also use Shinkuu Nage (632146A/C) to side switch or get extra damage with the REV version. Shinkuu Nage being available from Rage Run (214B/D) also makes his mixups in Rage Run even scarier.
- Zoning: For a character that is supposed to be well rounded. Rock has extremely good zoning with both his ground and air reppu kens. His Rev Accel Air reppu ken being one of the best moves in the game as it does soo much for such little risk. Rock can also counter zone using his shining knuckle super and grounded rev blow
thumb_down CONS
- Lackluster Anti-Airs: With a somewhat stubby High Dodge attack and 2C's habit of trading, Rock has to rely on his C Rising Tackle Brake to anti-air consistently, which is more committal than other characters with better High Dodge Attacks.