WARNING! CHALLENGER APPROACHING!
Rand Marks!
Background Info:
Subcategory Background A: Game Origin
Rand is the 3rd person to join Ryu in Breath of Fire II. You find him in a collisium, where fighters from all over the world flock to compete against each other! Ryu seeks Rand's help when they learn about a man who has poisoned a girl, Katt, and began to fix matches! After Ryu & Rand clean up the mess at the colisseum, them and Katt set off on a greater adventure than Rand could ever imagine...
Subcategory Background B: Biography
Not a ton is publicly shown about Rand. He talks of his rocky relationship with his mother, but the relationship between the two is patched up within the game. When he was an adult he became the bouncer at said colisseum that Ryu went to.
Subcategory Background C: Personality
Despite his ferocious build, intimidating job and knuckles hard as diamond, Rand is one of the nicest guys you're gonna come across. He's very patient and forgiving and would rather solve a problem with his words than his enormous fists. His personality also defines how he fights... which is sort of odd, isn't it? A gentle giant... hmm...
Subcategory Background D: Abilities
In BOFII, Rand looks like a power maniac, but he actually isn't. Because of his gentle nature, his vigor is very low, which decreases his attack power dearly. For the sake of this moveset and my wishes for Rand's sheer power, I won't make him a giant *****. But in the game he makes up for his poorly presented power by having decent healing abilities and a couple of offensive magic abilities... they won't be in this moveset, because I don't think that a healing ability would be appropriate for such a character, but keep in mind that he indeed has some magic to share... if he wanted to.
How This Moveset Will Work / Special Notes
This is another normal moveset from me, no strings attached once more. There aren't even any special notes, so be prepared... for uh... the expected? No. I shouldn't say that. Just keep reading.
The Feel for Rand
Look at him. HE IS A GIANT. This obviously will affect how you handle him... as I will describe later, he's up to Bowser's size and is just as heavy as well. He can't jump or move to save him life, but he has amazing approach game and is has great ground game. This is not to say, however, that his aerial game stinks: though he doesn't get a lot of air, he still has powerful moves and EXTREMELY LARGE HITBOXES. Overall, he's a basic heavyweight character with low agility and athleticism... but just wait for the description of his raw power.
Basic Statistics (1-5)
Strength = 5: It's hard to compare him to someone else because the heaviest hitters don't always have the greatest movesets... so I will say this: his Smashes will pwn you.
Dodge = 1: His dodge roll is like tripping to him. His aerial dodge lasts half as long as another's does, and his ground dodge looks clumsy.
Recovery = 2.5: His jumps are pathetic, but his UpB redeems this feat by giving him amazing vertical distance.
Speed = 1: Literally the slowest walker in the game... his sprint is as useless as Ganondorf's. HOWEVER. Since he is so large, he takes very long strides. This means two things: he doesn't look as slow as he actually is, and it's hard to move nimbly (if you can even imagine that) with Rand at all.
Initial Jump = 2: Since his legs are so jacked, he can jump... but not very high...
Secondary Jump = 1.5: Not the worst, but certainly not average.
Weight = 5: About .9% lighter than Bowser. But since he is taller than Bowser and is skinnier, he has an odd target for a body.
Height = 5: About 3 feet taller than Bowser... it's almost like Mario when he does his taunt.
Fall Speed = 5: Whoa. Because of his topheavy build, he falls strangely, but he still has strong aerial game when it comes to the fight.
Traction = 4: He has frickin horse hooves! I don't know if you would call that slippery but he doesn't slide very well.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One of the heaviest hitters in the game
- One of the heaviest characters in the game
- Great approach game
- Huge hitboxes
- His F-smash is one of the strongest smashes in the game
- Has decently quick aerial attacks
- His specials actually balance out his physical game
- Good traction
- Good UpB recovery
- Huge shield
- Variety of Special attacks
- Has a powerful projectile
- Because of his height and reach, he grabs ledges from distances you wouldn't expect.
Cons
- Terrible speed, one of the slowest
- The worst dodge roll in the game
- Biggest vertical target in the game; enormous target overall
- Falls like a lead brick
- Poor jumping
- Most of his attacks make him suffer post lag
- Against a small, quick character, he is easy to dance around and confuse
- Final Smash is a "get-a-hold-of" Smash, but it's not nearly as strong as Triforce Slash.
- If shield is broken, he falls unconscious longer than any other character
- Being the enormous character he is, it can be frustrating to dodge little things like Bumpers and Land Mines. He's very hard to get around with.
Combat Moves
STANDARD/TILT/DASH ATTACKS
Standard "A" Tap = Rand does a low punch. He bends over slightly and punches around Mario's head height. Solid damage for a standard attack, low knockback & lag.
1-2 "A" Tap Combo = Rand then lowers his back shoulder (which is enormous) onto his opponent's head, and it does about twice as much damage as the regular "A" tap but has 1 second post lag. Does better knockback.
Tilt Forward/Back = Rand does a solid knee into his opponent's gut. This does poor damage compared to most of his attacks and has a smaller hitbox, but the knockback is incredible: the opponent is sent away at a 50 degree from Rand into the air. He suffers slight pre-move lag, as well.
Tilt Upward = Rand ducks down, as if charging a move, then explodes his body upwards, extending his arms outwards, as if he's roaring. If you can't understand this pose, tell me and I will seriously draw a picture. Anyways... the hitbox in the top line of his body from fingertip to fingertip, but it's a "W" shaped hitbox... hard to explain. Anyways, it does great damage and knockback but it takes a while for him to do the move and it takes some time for him to recover from executing the move.
Tilt Downward = Rand takes a quick knee-jump and stomps both of his heavy feet into the ground. The hitbox are his enormous feet (about the size of Kirby) but they're not side by side. Bad knockback, solid damage, half second post-move lag.
Dash Attack = Rand faces the crowd and lowers his shoulder (just like a tackling football player) and his entire front side of his tackling position is the hitbox! However, this acts as a Juggernaut like move... once he gets his momentum going (and you execute the attack) Rand will take 3 WHOLE SECONDS to regain his balance and stop himself from going straight off the platform. However, if you can hit your foe, you deal great damage and the knockback is superior to other dash attacks.
SMASHES
Forward/Back Smash = Rand takes a huge backswing of his front arm and plants a straight up punch into his opponent. The advantage is that this attack has amazing power and knockback capabilities. The downside is that he twists his wrist, which makes the hitbox smaller than most of his other attacks, and he suffers
EXTREME post move lag. I'm talking like 2.6 seconds here if the move is fully charged. It is a godly attack if you can land it well, but if you miss or screw around with it... phew... Rand is gonna be hurting from post lag.
Up Smash = Rand claps his hands over his head, just like Donkey Kong, but the clap located slightly in front of his body. So he leans a little bit forward, then claps above him. This means that oncoming, airborne enemies are gonna be the ones to use this attack on. It has great damage and decent knockback, but like all of Rand's smashes, he suffers terrible lag after he does this move. For a Smash, though, this move is surprisingly quick.
Down Smash = This is his worst smash. It does the least damage of the 3 (but it still does good damage) and has the least knockback since the enemy is supposed to go down, and Rand suffers 1 second lag before and after the move. Here's the move: Rand crouches into a football-tackling position like his dash attack, but brings up his back foot and collapses like a building onto the ground in front of him. It crunches his enemy beneath his body weight. It's as simple as that, but remember how long the move is overall.
AERIALS
Neutral Air = This is a great approach move. In midair, Rand takes a quick slap with the palm of his enormous hand. Since the hitbox is so large and the move lasts a short while, it's almost like placing a spike-covered shield in front of Rand's torso until he lands. And because he falls so quickly, you can almost guarantee that this move will last until he hits the ground. However, it's a weaker move and does hardly and knockback at all.
Forward Air = Rand does a simple kick with his enormous legs. Does good damage but poor knockback. This attack takes a long time to execute since Rand is so inflexible though, so only use this attack when coming in from the air to strike a foe on the ground.
Back Air = Rand puts his arms in a "chicken" position (if this doesn't make sense tell me) and he spins his entire body around. His c0cked elbows are the hitboxes, and they are smaller than usual and his spin is very slow, so this move is pretty useless unless you need to seriously protect your backside. It does better knockback than his other moves though, so there's one up side.
Up Air = Rand lowers his enormous shoulders and snaps his tiny head forward. Since the hitbox is so small, it's a hard move to pull off... but that hardhead of his does some pretty solid damage, and this move is one of the few on this moveset that doesn't make him suffer lag. But remember how large of a tareget he is and you will realize how easy it is to avoid this attack...
Down Air = Rand does a front flip with his arms and legs tucked in. It's basically a somersault in midair, and his limbs and shoulders are the hitbox, so it's hard to avoid. However, it takes him forever to get into the spherical shape of him tucked in, so expect to only rarely be able to do this move since he falls so fast. He has to really be up in the air for you not to fall to the ground before you can even damage anyone. But if you can, it's a rewardingly powerful attack with little post lag.
Grabs & Throws
Grab Animation: Rand has strange throws and he is unique in this: depending on the characters, Rand grabs them in a different way.
So here goes...
If the enemy is around Kirby/Pikachu/Ness' size, Rand will grab by cupping the foe into his palms. His grapples are then by squeezing with his enormous grip.
If the enemy is around Mario/Sonic/Falco's size, Rand will grab by doing the basic grab with one hand. His grapples are doing light punches to the foe's entire body within his one-handed grasp.
If the enemy is human sized (Link, Yoshi, Samus), Rand will grab them by tighly gripping the foe's torso area. His grapples are short bonks via head to their head area.
If the enemy is huge like Bowser/DK/King DDD, Rand will grab their arms and hold them up into the air. His grapples are pulling the giants in and headbutting their torso.
However, no matter how big the enemy is, Rand's grapples are all equally powerful and his throws are the same animation no matter how big his foe is.
And please note that Rand's throws are actually weaker in percentages than most people's throws, but he has AMAZING THROWING DISTANCE. People like Kirby and Meta Knight are like baseballs to him, and giants like Bowser and DK seem like normalweights to the likes of Rand.
Forward Throw: Rand simply does an overhand throw in front of him. Straight line of trajectory, poor damage, post-move lag.
Back Throw: Rand does the same move as his Forward Throw but does a fancy turn-around before doing it. Same statistics are Forward Throw.
Up Throw: Rand pins his foe onto his back as he crouches, then flexes his shoulders and jumps up, sending the enemy flying into the air. Terrible damage, little post-move lag, takes about 2 seconds to do and is easy to break free of.
Down Throw: Rand places the foe on the ground gently, then angrily stomps his front foot onto the foe's helpless body. Very little knockback, but decent damage and he suffers slight post-move lag.
Specials
Standard B: Spinjab Blow = If you've ever played BOFII, you know what Rand's basic attack battle animation is. He spins his fist really fast in a swift circle, and he does an uppercut.
This is what this attack looks like (on the right/bottom side of the yellow line)
Rand does this and here's how the uppercut works.
- It works like Falcon Punch. It's not charged, it's just a powerful punch that makes Rand suffer from extreme pre and post move lag.
- It's very easy to tell when Rand is doing the move, making it very avoidable.
- If Rand lands the punch, he deals 31% damage and sends the opponent flying up into the air!
It's that simple. An extremely powerful & rewarding move? Yes. Very hard to pull off in a tough fight? Yes.
But here's the catch! For every 30% that Rand has on his current stock, the move is approx. 3 seconds faster!
So let's set up a chart.
0% = 2.6 seconds to execute
30%= 2.3 seconds
60%= 2.0 seconds
90%= 1.7 seconds
120%= 1.4 seconds
150%= 1.1 seconds
180+%= .8 seconds
Before you think that it's way to hard to make this move worthy, remember how heavy Rand is and how high high percentages have to be to really knock him around... unless he's hit hard, you can count on this move dimming down in the timeframe. And don't think it's an "x" second charge up: it's "x" second from charge to impact.
Side B: Thunderclap = This (and the rest of the specials) are original moves that I thought would be appropriate for Rand. Alright, here it is: this attack can serve as either
A.) a powerful up-front blasting attack,
B.) a mid-ranged, slow wave of energy or
C.) a long-ranged projectile. It's all in the way you tilt your joystick and how long you hold B.
If you tilt the joystick and hold B for more than half a second, Rand will charge up and release a half-disc of energy that is the size of Mario, and it comes from the shockwave of an enormous clap of Rand's powerful hands.
This is what the projectile looks like:
And remember, it's as tall as Mario and about as wide as Kirby. It moves as quickly as Samus' Charged Shot and does about 9% damage and has an amazing effect (for a projectile): this projectile unleashes the most powerful knockback of any projectile: though the damage doesn't match the knockback, a light character at about 100% could be knocked clean into KO if this disc hits them!
But remember this downside: it takes a while for Rand to do this move, and the animation makes it obvious that he is about to do it. This is a very well-rounded defensive move and should be used often.
If you tilt/smash the joystick and tap B, Rand will do a short-ranged thunderclap that damages and severely knocksback characters in front of him. It takes just as long as the disc attack, but serves 16% if Rand can get his hands on his enemies and does 1.4 times as much knockback as the disc! So, a lightweight character could be knocked clear off the stage at only 60%! Though you may think this is useless, this move is very unpredictable and doesn't take as long as Rand's smashes.
If you you smash the joystick and hold B, Rand will charge for a second. He will then lunge forward and clap way out in front of him. It's the same exact move as the entry above, but this: three times as much range, half the damage, and 1.1 more knockback than the disc. So overall, good range, bad damage, can KO a lightweight at about 90%. This is the easiest to execute because the buttons to hit are easier to do than to mess with the joystick like the disc or smash, but this is basically an inbetweeny when it comes to the overall move.
Up B: Rolling Takedown = I think this move is actually sorta neat even though unfortunately, it is a commonly used special by characters that don't really have their own defined moves... cough Ridley... but yeah. Rand balls up into a ball and rolls quickly, (but you can still make out the details, he doesn't become a spinny little ball. Also note that he's still enormous, about Ike's height still) and leaps up into the air! This vertical distance is great but the horizontal recovery lacks. Think of it as a giant trying to do Samus' Up B and that's what you get... but the foe who is caught in his vortex of muscle isn't rapidly stung, they are instantly pulled in my Rand's extended and accurate hands! When Rand pulls his foe in, he immediately puts them under his weight and plummets into the ground and BOOM! Rolling Takedown.
Here's some details.
- This attack makes up greatly for Rand's horrible jumping. However, he stumbles if he falls without taking someone down, just liek DK's Spinning Kong post-move lag.
- If Rand is recovering and catches someone in the air, he will stop his vertical leap and plummet straight down...
- So... basically if you catch someone while off the stage... RANDCIDE
- It actually takes a short moment for Rand to roll up, so it is unwise to use this attack when at an awkwardly short distance, because Rand won't instantly pull in any adjacent pulls: therefore, it is an easy move to intercept if used poorly.
- Because of Rand's great height, enormous holes in certain stages are no match for him. In other words, you will only have recovery problems if Rand is knocked AWAY from the stage not DOWN from the stage.
And there you have it.
Down B: Knuckle Shockwave = Rand uses both of his fists to slam into the ground! Uh... yeah. It's that simple really. But I must twist! So here goes.
Depending on what DIRECTION you tilt the joystick when doing B Down, Rand will aim his fists in a certain direction... Let's put an example out there. Rand is facing right. Remember that.
- If you press B and hold down-right, Rand will slam his fists in FRONT of him, just like DK's handslap but doesn't have nearly as much speed.
- If you press B and hold straight down, Rand will slam his fists directly in front of him, doing less damage than a direct punch, but covering both sides of him.
- And vise versa the first one: he will do it behind him.
Differences from DK's Handslap?
- He suffers post-move lag, making this move a one-time charm, so you can't spam it or do it over and over again or whatever.
- It does a whopping 17% damage if you can land it right or left of him and 13% if you go straight down.
Final Smash: Kaiser Knuckle
Like I said in his Pros/Cons, Rand has a get-a-hold-of-and-you're-screwed Final Smash... but it's not very powerful, unlike most of his other moves. However, there is a great upside!
Since Rand is so enormous and has a long reach, your range is not limited to his front side: it a foe is within 5 feet of Rand up, down, sideways or whatever ways, he will forcefull grab them!...
...and do this.
I will make this as simple as possible: Rand collects tons of energy into his one fist and he does a straight up punch to the face to his paralyzed foe (paralyzed under his other fist's grip)
It does about 48% damage... and does about as much knockback as his Spinjab Blow... yeah not the greatest Final Smash.
Other Stuff
Taunts
Up = Stands up completely straight (FRICKING TOWER) and snorts will relief and relieves his chest.
Side = Stands up straight and punches his clenched fists together, giving a shockingly loud noise. It sounds like he's punching a concrete wall.
Down = Kneels and raises his fist into the air with victory, and then roars triumphantly.
Victory Poses
1.) Punches the ground like he's doing his DownB and dislevels the ground around him. He then looks to the camera with a smirk on his face.
2.) Pounds his chest with slow, powerful punches and roars. Similar to DK's cheer.
3.) Launches his fist into the air and roars, then lowers his fist to his chest and looks at the camera with a mysterious look upon his face.
4.) Sits and stares with a blank expression.
Loss Pose/Applause
Being the good sport he is, Rand claps slowly and cheerfully as he accepts his loss.
ENTRANCE
A blast of blue flames bursts in Rand's spot, and he fades from the flames. (this has nothing to do with Rand actually, I just couldn't think of anything except for a BOF-related entrance)
KIRBY HAT
Kirby gets Rand's strange mohawk and his piece of toga-like cloth across his body.
MESSAGE WHEN UNLOCKED
The gentle giant Rand has entered the battlefield!
Outfits
Standard = Magenta cloth, bronze armor & hair, blue leather, gold lining, white skin, yellow nails
Red Team = Red cloth, bronze armor & hair, black leather, gold lining, white skin, bright orange nails
Blue Team = Blue cloth, silver armor, brown hair, blue leather, gold lining, tealish skin, white nails
Green Team = Pine green cloth, bronze armor & hair, brown leather, gold lining, white skin, yellow nails
Yellow = Gold cloth, bronze armor & hair, blue leather, white lining, goldish skin, yellow nails
Other #1 = Black cloth, black armor, brown hair, black leather, white lining, white skin, yellow nails
Other #2 = Orange cloth, silver armor, brown hair, blue leather, white lining, white skin, white nails
Solid Snake codec
Snake: Otacon! Who is this giant?
Otacon: Calm down Snake! That's Rand. He's a bouncer of a club... he comes from a strange species.
Snake: How am I to calm down when this guy can beat me to a pulp without a second thought?
Otacon: I know about this guy, Snake. Despite his size and look, he's actually a gentle guy at heart.
Snake: You've gotta be kidding me.
Otacon: I kid you not. I'm not promising anything about the way he fights when he is angry, but don't assume he's gonna eat you alive. I don't think he'd ever do that.
Snake: Huh. This oughta be a good one.
SIZE COMPARISON
^This is as if Mario is standing in his normal stance and Rand is, from toe to top of their standing stance.
