Hiyo, I’m just a person who likes to use the forums and got a lot of help reading the Roll threads and was able to improve my skill (though I still need work). Seeing as the Roll character forum is inactive, I figured it wouldn’t hurt make another in-depth beginner’s thread combining things my experience, what I’ve read here and everywhere else, and update it as I progress. Plus I’m going to use her in EVO and I need all the info/help on her I can get. ^^;
Roll is an incredibly good character if used carefully. You can frustrate your opponent by playing keep away with puddles or make them feel helpless with her OTG Roll Sweep attacks. Her power-up opportunities and healing she makes life hell for anyone. A significant drawback though is her low health. I’ve watched a full bar of health disappear from two Soki combos. That said, anything around half her health is a danger zone.
Notes:
OTG: Off the ground?
DHC: Delayed Hyper Combo
I use Super and Hyper Combo interchangeably.
Pros:
Small size: Due to her height she can avoid or cut short certain combos, which saves her from being beat senseless early in a match. Surprisingly, currently not many players have ways with dealing with her small stature. Abuse this advantage to its fullest.
OTG abilites: Her Sweep, bucket, and Sweep Super can hit opponents that are grounded. Since grounded opponents can’t mega crash or do anything else, that equals free damage/meter charge.
Power Up abilities/potential: She can potentially rival damage outputs from other characters only when she is fully charged up. This doesn’t only apply to her Roll Powered Up! move, but another trick I’ll explain later.
Assist: Her assist is one of the most useful in UAS. It acts as a projectile, a trap if it misses, and can stun a standing opponent if connects. Very flexible assist, and its use is up to the player.
Healing: She is the only character in the game that can heal herself with her super, and any robotic-type characters (PTX, Zero, Casshan, Megaman Vollnut, Gold Lightan) via assist or otherwise. It comes with it’s risks, but definitely needed given her low health.
Fast Airdash: Using her airdash she can close in or run away quickly. Great for pressuring or getting the hell away from big damage attacks.
Ground Dash momentum: If Roll ground dashes, the momentum from the dash will keep her moving forward. Several options to follow up, from blocking, an overhead, sweep, etc.
Short Hop: Like her height she jumps fairly low. I haven’t quite figured out what advantages you can get from this, but feel free to let me know and I’ll edit this.
Cons:
Low Health: Roll’s health is one of the lowest in the game at around 40k. That being said, she can die veryquickly in 1-2 long combos. And worse, around half health she can die from almost any lvl 3 super or combo.
Relatively Low Initial Damage output: Without any charge/power up or Super use, Roll’s damage output is low. She doesn’t have easily extendable combos, and normal combos tend to only reach around 10k, and others barely reach around 20. Given her health, it generally isn’t wise to go in intending to do damage uncharged without a plan.
Meter-Dependant: To make full use of her abilities, you need to have 2+ meters at the ready. Meters are needed to make some supers safe (via DHC), heal, and it’s needed to Mega Crash if you get caught in a combo. Be careful when you don’t have super meters stocked.
Slow Ground Dash Startup: As previously mentioned, there is a slight lag in the startup of the dash. She will be open to attack.
Short Hop: Since she short hops, this makes getting over projectiles or characters rather hard unless you’re at the apex of the jump. She can’t be treated like a normal character jump wise. Super Jump then Air Dash to get around this, but this should be noted.
Sucks against Gaints: She has next to nothing when fighting against giants. Don’t use her against a giant unless forced, or you have a lvl3.
Limited Air Combat Options: I haven’t been able to figure how to get some damage when fighting air to air, aside from using j.C. Because of that I found it hard to actually get some air damage in with her aside from a combo launcher. (Let me know if there are ways around this)
Normal Moves
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
I use number notation, just look at the number pad on your Keyboard to get a general idea. The number ‘5’ is the neutral position.
5A - Simple slap from her hand.
5B - She sweeps the floor twice. It hits twice, and from ground dash momentum, its also a decent approach.
6B (or 4B when on the right side)- Overhead. She jumps and hits the opponent on the head with her broom. Linkable into any of her supers, or baroque into a combo. Risky when used by itself.
5C - A single, strong sweep. This is mostly used during combos or for a combo setup.
2A - Crouching slap. Quick, generally safe, and a good combo starter.
2B - Sits on the ground then shimmy’s forward. Hits low, another great combo starter, and a way to close distance, and will amazingly go under a high number of standing attacks letting you get in a hit first
2C - Swings broom horizontally in a sweep. Knockdown, and can link into her Roll Swing or Roll Sweep.
3C (or 1C on right side) - Swings broom upward. Air Launcher. Comboable, but the command input needs to be done quick due to its somewhat slow startup.
j.A - Jabs with the tip of her broom. Fairly weak, but good for getting 1-2 pokes in.
j.B - A jumping kick aiming downward. Mostly used in aerial combos.
j.C - Swings broom downward like a fly swatter. Knockdown if hit on an aerial opponent. Good as an aerial combo finisher, keeping the opponent on the ground/pressure.
Special Moves (standing from left side)
I’ll mention the uncharged and charged versions in separate sections.
236 (any attack) - Roll Swing. She swings her broom like a baseball bat. Does knockdown on hit. Reflects projectiles back at an increased speed. Usable in the air. Depending on the attack button pressed, changes the angle of trajectory and distance the opponent is launched.
A little tricky on the timing, but this can stop projectile approaches or limit the opponent’s attack approaches. Note that a projectile thrown from a diagonal angle will be reflected diagonally downward. Use this mainly to create distance from the opponent or get enough time to pull off a Powered Up! charge.
Charge 4, 6(any attack) - Roll Sweep. Roll spins around then pushes her broom forward. Distance will vary based on the button pressed. Hits OTG. During her broom push, mash any button to have her scrub the floor.
One of the main staples of her attack arsenal, this move is mainly used on OTG opponents. They can’t do anything against it, so the moment you get a grounded opponent on this, mash away! Great for building meter safely .Plus it can be linked into her Turbo Sweep Super. Uncharged though, this doesn’t do noticeable damage. Charged though…
263(Any attack) - Roll Bucket. Takes out a bucket and tosses out water in an arc. Distance varies with the button used. Hits OTG. If it connects with a standing opponent, they’ll be stunned long enough for some extra attacks. If it doesn’t connect, the water will settle on the ground as a puddle, and the opponent will slip and fall over if they step on it.
You can throw out a lot of water this way and make traps. This can be useful in stopping approaches or screwing up a combo if the opponent is caught unaware. This could be a free OTG attack if you’re close and quick enough. Note that the puddle is blockable, but most of the time people don’t react fast enough to block it.
Another important note is that if Roll Sweeps over a puddle using her Sweep or Turbo Sweep, a white flash over the puddle will occur and the puddle disappears. However, Roll’s attack power increases by 10% each time. You can use this trick 5 times, making it a total of 150% damage output. A pretty big Risk/Reward strategy given the many ways you’re open, but if successful you’ll be able to hurt your opponent much more than before, especially with LvL3s and baroque.
214 (any attack) - Roll Powered Up! The broom will suddenly glow. All normal attacks do more damage. Properties of special attacks will change. Charge will disappear after any special move is used.
If you want to do comparable damage with the other characters, you need to charge. Charge when you can. I’ll note the charge effects on special moves:
Special Moves with Charge
Roll Swing: Causes Wall bounce, angle of trajectory varies on attack button.
Good for combo setups or buying enough time for healing.
Roll Sweep: The broom push will glow fiery red. Mashing the button will create a fire. Hitting OTG will cause more hits + damage.
A staple in Roll attacks. This will be one of the main offenses of Roll, and with a short combo you can get an easy 10K+ damage off this, and a high super meter buildup.
Roll Bucket: Water travels in a straight trajectory. Hits 3 times. Speed varies on attack button used.
Good for attacking from a distance, quick chip damage, or nailing projectile users. Given that you need to get a charge first, don’t rely on this as a projectile spammer.
Hyper Combo/Moves
4(charge), 6+two attack buttons: Turbo Roll Sweep. Roll pushes her broom forward hitting multiple times, and at the end does a swing. Hits OTG. Linkable to another Turbo Sweep if the opponent was in the corner and not OTG when hit with the final swing.
Usually used as an OTG, as hitting a standing opponent will have inconsistent hits, and the time delay may give them a chance to block. It’s more trial and error to figure out what distance works. Also when hitting OTG its unsafe due her swing. The swing takes just enough time for the opponent to get up and retaliate if they know this move. Save meters to DHC into a partner’s hyper combo (i.e., another OTG like Casshan’s super chop or Saki’s Ammo Super), or Mega Crash if you get caught.
214 + two Attack buttons: Heal. Roll kneels on the ground holding her hands together. A energy pellet drops from above, and if it makes contact with her, heals her. Also heals robotic-type characters (Megaman, Zero, PTX, Lightan, Casshan), or slightly damages non robotic types on contact. Can be destroyed.
A great move to have, though with its risks. Since this makes her helpless during the move, she’s open, and that usually results in higher damage than the heal. Use only when you know the opponent can’t attack during the time frame, i.e. charged Roll Swing, partner assist, distance opponent can’t cover in time, etc. Being said, this can be used to ‘bait’ the opponent. As they approach, DHC into your partner’s and catch them off guard.
If you want to heal your robotic-type partner, just press the partner button then quickly go into Healing. The partner will pop out, get hit by the pellet, heal, continue their assist, then leave.
263 + any two attack buttons: Oh. No. You. Didn’t! LvL 3. Roll scrubs the floor furiously to create a fire. Hits OTG for small damage. If a non-OTG opponent gets caught, it’ll switch to a cutscene of the opponent hopping around trying to put the fire out. Roll will then take out a gigantic bucket, drop it, and tidal wave of water will crash over the opponent.
As a lvl 3 it does a good chunk of damage (even better w/ power up trick), but it’s a little hard to pull off due to Roll’s meter dependency and the need to find/create an opening. Some tricks include nailing the opponent with a 6B then link into this, or off of a charged Swing as they bounce off the wall.
That’s all for now. I hope this will help current and future Roll users, and if I can do it, I’ll post about combos or general strategies
.