Roll Cancelling
Roll Cancel (RC) is a glitch in CvS2 that defines the overall meta of the game. This glitch basically steals the i-frames of a roll, and instead applies it to the special move. The reason why it's a glitch and not a feature is because Capcom forgot to remove the ability to cancel a roll into a special or super. This property is intentionally given to normal attacks (you can cancel any attack, even if they have no cancel, into a special/super move within a 3F window), but you can still do it to a roll. The roll's i-frames do not cancel out when the special move is performed, instead they are carried over to the special move, hence why this is a very powerful technique.
Just to show how insanely powerful RCs are, all rolls in the game have 27 i-frames, so if you were to Roll Cancel into a special move, that special move now has around 27 i-frames, give or take. That's a LOT of i-frames. To put that into perspective, that's more i-frames than a level 3 super, which usually has 25 i-frames on average. Put that on special moves like Ryu's Tatsu, Iori's Rekka, Blanka's Electricity, Honda's 100 Hand Slap, Yamazaki's Serpent Slash, etc. and I think you see the point. RCs are insanely powerful tools. This also means that weaker characters can play the game, since they have access to RCs like everyone else. Some benefit more form RCs than others though. For example, Sagat, despite being the best character in the game, has lackluster RCs, whereas characters like Sakura or Blanka benefit heavily from RCs. It's up to you to find out if your character needs RCs to get results or not. Obviously, RCs are only available in Grooves with a Roll (C/A/N).
Roll Cancels are extremely powerful, but to compensate, they are very difficult to perform. You have to input a roll during the input of a special move, and only have 3 frames to finish the input. There are many different ways to RC the various inputs in CvS2 (Those are shown in the next section), but they take serious practice to be able to do consistently, but if you manage it, they become insanely potent offensive tools.
If you want to see how good RCs can be, just watch any Japanese CvS2 match, if the player is in a roll groove, they almost always will RC. You will see pokes just straight up whiff or fireballs pass through completely. RCs do have one inherent weakness. Since they carry over the i-frames from the roll, they also carry over the throw vulnerability from the roll, so you can still throw the opponent out of the special, but that is easier said than done.
This video by CustomGM demonstrates the effectiveness of an RC and what it is supposed to look like.
Credits: CustomGM
Bas Roll Cancel Tutorial
Bas also uploaded a quick video tutorial on RCing, and it is very effective at teaching the specific inputs of an RC. He is also the best player in the world so that helps in terms of credibility I guess.
Notable Roll Cancel Attacks
This is a list of all the notable roll cancel moves in the game. If you play a character that has any of these moves, I highly suggest practicing how to perform them since they are very crucial for that character's game plan.
- RC Electricity (Blanka)
- RC Rekkas (Iori)
- RC Sonic Boom (Guile)
- RC Tatsu (Shotos / Sakura)
- RC Hands (Honda / Joe)
- RC Hadoken (Shotos / Sakura)
- RC Headbutt (Honda)
- RC Blanka Ball (Blanka)
- RC Command Grab (Todo / Vice / Gief / Raiden)
- RC Serpent Slash / Sand Kick (Yamazaki)
- RC Roll (Rolento)
- RC Lariat (Gief)
- RC Psycho Ball (Athena)
- RC Dropkick (Raiden)
- RC any Choi move (Chang)
- RC Ball Swing (Chang)
- RC Psycho Crusher / Scissor Kick (Dictator)
- RC Distance Slash / Running Slash (Hibiki)
- RC LK Funky Kick (Ken)
- RC Dash Straight (Boxer)
- RC Flip Kick (Kim)
- RC Reppuken (Geese / Rock)
- RC Elbow (Rock)
- RC Rolling Crystal Flash (Claw)
There's a lot more I didn't list but that's up to you to find out, go on the respective character pages to see which moves are good RCs and whatnot. These RCs are usually what is mentioned when talking about the strong points of a character hence why they're here. If you play any of these characters whose moves are listed, learn how to RC these moves, they will help you out a lot.
How to Practice RCs
RCs are actually pretty hard to spot by themselves, unless the character has a really obvious roll voice clip (like Ken or Todo). To properly practice roll cancels, set up a dummy with a fireball and record them throwing a fireball (preferably a medium or heavy one). Then have them play back that recording and try to RC. If your character passes through the fireball (or the fireball is touching them and they are unaffected) then you have succeeded, if they get hit you did not do the RC properly. Here are some common errors with RCs:
- Characters does LP / LK animation : You most likely did not press LP and LK at the same time.
- Character rolls with no special: You most likely did not input the special move properly or didn't finish it fast enough.
- Character does the special but gets hit anyways: You inputted the special move, but didn't press LP / LK at the same time so instead got the LP / LK version of the special and didn't roll, which means no i-frames.
RCs are very difficult to perform consistently, so don't be discouraged if you don't find success right away, just keep practicing them.
RC Motions
Here is a list of every special move motion and how to RC them properly, with tips and notes on each of them.
QCF: 
, 
+ 
+ 
, 
+ 
/ 
This is one of two motion inputs you should be able to RC almost every single time for motion characters. Since this is the most common motion input in the game this should be the first one you practice in training mode. You have to be really precise on hitting down-forward + LP + LK at the same time and then QUICKLY do the forward + attack button for the finish. You only have a 3 frame window for this, so speed is definitely the main operative.
QCB: , 
+ + , 
+ /
Pretty much the same deal as QCF. This one is also just as necessary to learn since QCF motions technically become QCB motions when you're facing the other way. When you practice any type of RC that has two directional variants, make sure both are very consistent so you aren't hampered by facing on P1 or P2 side.
DP: , + + , + /
Most times you will never need to RC a DP motion, but on some characters it will be pretty necessary (Rolento's Knife Attack, Rugal Genocide Cutter). You can instead roll on the down portion of the DP motion, and then finish with the DF + Attack button.
HCF: , , , + + , + /
To put it simply, RCing a HCF motion is just RCing a QCF with extra steps. There's nothing different about it besides the extra directional inputs at the beginning. They have no bearing on the actual timing of the RC. If you can RC a QCF consistently, HCF should be consistent as well.
HCB: , , , + + , + /
Same thing applies to HCB motions as well. If you can consistently RC a QCB motion then doing a RC HCB motion shouldn't be that much more difficult.
Charge B,F: (Charge / ) + + , + / (Method 1)
Charge B,F: (Charge / ) , , , + + , + / (Method 2)
Charge back motions have two different methods to RC them. You can either just roll after you've gained enough charge while holding back or downback, then quickly pressing forward + attack button to finish, or you can just do a HCF motion since your back charge is stored for a decent amount of frames after you've let go of back. You can do both of these RCs while holding down-back as well, it doesn't just have to be back. This simply comes down to preference. Whatever method you find that is more consistent is the one you use. Purely up to you.
Charge D,U: (When Charged) + + , 
+ /
This is like RC DP, as in I don't know where this would be useful. Dictator RC Stomp? I dunno. Unless you want to do a half circle upwards(?) it's a lot easier to just roll on down, then going up + attack button.
Mash Move (Punch): , 
, 
, + ,
Mash Move (Kick): , 
, 
, + ,
If you play Blanka, Honda, or really any character with a really useful mash move, this is a very essential RC to learn. RC Electricity, RC Hands, etc are amazing RCs and they will make you a far better player if you get these RCs consistently. Since mash moves only take 5 inputs to do in CvS2, you piano L + M + H, then input roll (it counts as an input towards mash for both punch and kicks since it uses both) and finish with the attack button of your choosing. The main thing with this RC is to piano fast enough with L + M + H so you don't whiff any more moves than you need to. You don't want to whiff LP then whiff MP or HP. You can also do an RC mash move by doing an H + M + L piano but it is less common since you're whiffing a heavy attack to do so, and leaves you a lot more susceptible. It's only really viable if you're in the middle of something else, like a dash.
This is a very good tutorial on RCing mash moves (specifically RC elec) by OG CvS2 player AVX.
360: , , + + , + / (Method 1)
360: , , + + , + / (Method 2)
360 RCs are probably the hardest RCs. There's more ways to do a 360 than the ones shown above but the main thing is to roll right before the final directional input. It's best to do the two above since you're not worrying about potentially jumping from a whiff, meaning there's at least just a little bit more consistency to it. If you're a grappler, this might be of particular interest since RC command grabs also have more range (see the below section).
3 Button: + , 
/ 
Technically you aren't doing a 3P/3K input, CvS2 allows 3 button inputs to be done with 2 buttons. It's very easy to just roll and then quickly input the 2 buttons of your choosing, punch or kick. By far the easiest RC in any context, and it's useful on some characters too (Gief, Rolento)
Hold 3 Button: (Hold / ), + , Release /
If you want to RC Raiden's Dropkick or Boxer's TAP, you basically hold onto your 2 attack buttons, but make sure to leave LP+LK open. If you have LP or LK held down already, then you can't do it. Just roll while holding your attack buttons and then quickly release the attack buttons after rolling and it should work. RC TAP is a whatever RC unless it's at high levels, but Raiden's RC dropkick is a very useful RC and it's his best anti-air, so it's necessary to learn this RC for that particular character. This is the second easiest RC behind the 3 button one.
Taunt: + , Start (Naomi) / + Start (Console)
Not useful at all I'm just adding it here for shits and giggles. Since taunts are technically special moves, you can do RC taunt, and it's really only useful to understand the very large amount of i-frames you get from an RC.
Other Tips
These are some other general tips/tricks that RCs bring to the table.
RCing with Lights
Some moves like Ken's LK Funky Kick or Ryu's LK Tatsu are really, really good when RC'd, but you use LP+LK to roll, so how can you get a light to come out? Well, there's two different methods. Either double tap the button you want, which is pretty difficult but doable, or use Negative Edge, which in my opinion is the easier option of the two. Instead of tapping LP+LK when rolling, you hold LP+LK, and then release the attack button that you want after you've completed the motion. Let's look at those two examples mentioned earlier.
To properly RC Ken's Funky Kick using Negative Edge, you would do this:
, 
, 
, 
+ (Hold 
+ 
) , 
(Release )
The main thing here is to only release LK, don't release LP, or you might get a Hadoken.
If you want to RC Ryu's LK Tatsu using negative edge, it would look like this:
, + (Hold + ) , (Release )
You can technically release LP as well since Ryu has no QCB+P special, but if there are input overlaps, it is crucial to only release the attack button you want and not just both of them.
Extending Range with RCs
Since rolls move you forwards, you will naturally move forward just a little bit when doing an RC. This for the most part is not really that interesting, except for command grabs. This is very similar to that of kara throws in games like SF3 and SF4. Even through regular kara throws aren't possible in CvS2 it is possible to do a kara command grab by just doing it as an RC. The roll will move you forward enough to give noticeably more range. Characters like Todo and Zangief have very scary RC command grabs because they gain a lot more range from the roll. Even if the opponent isn't intending on attacking, RC the command grab anyways just so you can get that extra range.
