Advanced rock technique

[sauce]

Ok, we've all played someone new that floats really high then rock falls. pretty easy to dodge right? right. so go do this but then press b and up to break out of it midfall. now your opponent sees that it is time to punish you, then you go to the rock again and hit them. Very useful

8.5/10

[~Shin_Ganondorf~]

Slow. . . rock sucks.
The only way to use the rock is to use its lag time to your advantage.

Meaning. . . .

Kirbies attacks mostly send people into the air, so after hitting with something that knocks your opponent in the air IF you want to bother using the rock, do this.
Insted of jumping up and attacking jump up and transform into the rock. The transformation time will slow you down while your opponent is coming down to hit you, if he does hit you . . . your a rock, and after he hits you . . . he gets hit by the rock. Simple and easy AND he's back in the air, unfortunately you have to get out of the rock . . . screwed.

Its an ok manouver. But flying into the air, rock, stop rock, rock, is slow as heck, you can do so much more instead of doing that.

Why not learn to cancel your dash with a grab. Theres some style that actually helps you.

Do a dash attack (fireball) but RIGHT WHEN you press the A button, press Z. The beginning animation of the fireball will start giving you that sound, AND A BOOST, but you will be grabbing.
very nice for kirby, an extended grab.

anyway, the rock has its moments, but the technique above just isn't practical.

[dan smith]

Wow, I am going to start dash cancelling into grabs all the time...thanks ShinGanondorf!

[quickman_Zero]

I pretty sure the fireball doesn't give you a boost and if you whiff, Kirby has a horribly large amount of lag on a dash grab. It's a better idea to stick jump cancelled grabs (pressing up before you grab so Kirby does his standing grab) for increased grab range, shorter start up time and less lag if you miss. Maybe use the dash attack cancel for a mix-up but I don't think there are any benifits. I may be wrong.

*EDIT* as for he rock attack, I think there are two real uses:

1. if your oponent is falcon or someone else who likes to juggle, once or twice in a battle you can try using stone. You may catch them off guard, end their juggle and get back on the ground.

2. Like the above but if your foe knows about you wanting to use stone and will dodge it and counter on the lag. Use it so you fall past the stage. You can then change back to normal and float back to the stage. Kirby's up air should keep you safe from opponents following you off the stage to spike you.

[the grim lizard]

I personally think the rock doesn's suck and that it is fine. You may mean that it's not the best attack for one-on-ones....this may be true. It is good in 3- or 4-person melees and it even works sometimes in one-on-one, but it's still a good move at times. you just have to know how to use it.

I'm an old-time kirby player, but i've switched to link and others more recently with melee

[dan smith]

On Brinstar, you can Downthrow on the middle (breakable section) of the stage and then ROCK. You will cut through the floor and when your opponent starts to fall you can hit them with a good old stone before they can react...and of course...kirby can get back.

I am unsure if this will work on other breakable plats. (bricks, spin blocks, crush blocks)

I think the original tech in this post is decent. Once a game though.

When you un-rock middair...most people will try and take advantage of the sitch and jump to juggle you....then you can rock again, decent.

I am going to play around with Kirby...see if I can figure out any tricks.

[General_Tso]

Besides these other things, I find it's useful to just rock if there's absolutely nothing else you can do to avoid getting smashed, if you're out of jumps and know you're about to get juggled. You'll have a little time on the ground after they attempt their attack to take advantage of their lag before they can grab you.

[dan smith]

You can Dthrow into Rock on all bricks, crush blocks, and spin blocks.

The timing is really hard though...there is just a moment when Kirby bouces a bit where you can rock them.

[pkmvodka]

I use the rock only to get under the level to help my recovery, making me impossible to touch with projectiles and such.

kirby has better options most of the time.

[HoChiMinhTrail]

hmm that rock under the ledge thing is actually not too bad vodka, works really well against jiggly who tries to come out and hit u.

[Hazard2010]

i agree that rock is easy to dodge but i still think its very useful at times. in multiplayer modes when the other opponents are dishing it out you can break up there skirmish. it also comes in handy when an enemy is going after a party ball, box or crate

[ANTX]

using rock to avoid smashes is not the way to be. until you're 100% rock, you can be smashed. HARD. i suggest...sheild. or dodge. you'll have to dodge out of your rock anyway.