As I’m exploring Rook, here are random thoughts that have come to me. Usual disclaimer, these are not necessarily high level notes.
General
You have no neutral game to speak of, you have to get in close.
Rockslide and vines can be used at a distance safely/ish, but in close you have to have a read or you’ll just get punished.
Earthquake on your way down if, it reduces the ability to react to it.
On hit bA can move into a fast one damage C, it’s still jumpable, but bA has frame advantage, so it is a good mix up for a follow up A.
On a normal throw, you can safejump, forward jumping will give a crossup. You can safejump on gS, but not crossup.
Rook’s main threat is his vortex. If he gets in close he can keep the opponent taking damage struggling to escape. The basic is this, use throw, C, or nA. If you use fA it will knock your opponent out of your vortex. Once you have those down, you can mix in safe jumps, thunderclaps, etc., just be sure that you don’t knock your opponent out of the vortex. If your opponent has a reversal (Grave, Jaina, Geiger. when they have super Arg & Val.) you want to try to read when they’ll do those. Also be wary of Midori’s parry as well as DeGrey with super.
If your opponent is in vortex with 1 hp left, nA is usually a safe option for oki, it’s fast and doesn’t break the vortex chain
If you get a KD with air C, use B to close the gap, against a character without a reversal/parry you can time for oki, otherwise use it right out of the gate so you don’t get hit and reset.
From Cwheezy: Against characters with projectiles (zoners and Wild Cards) rely on jump C or empty jumps to close the gap.
Vs. Geiger
With super up, you can punish a Cycloid revolution with B gS
You can punish drop gear with C
If you have a health advantage and have dealt one damage, and Geiger wants to zone full range, jump gears to make him move forward.
Do not jump over time spirals past half screen, you’ll just eat flash gears.
Vs. Argagarg
Arg is slow in the air and loses a lot of his zoning, use earthquake to get an opening to move forward.
If you can catch his nA with you jS, it will count as a hit and teleport you in.
Vines will avoid poison fish
Your jump nA beats his nA
Vs. Setsuki
Don’t use an empty landslide or Command grab against Setsuki, if they get in the air before the armor goes away, they can punish for 3 damage, 4 with super
Vs. rook
If you are in your opponents vortex, C is a good wake up move. It will beat a ground attack and grab.
Vs. Midori
You don’t have many options against human Midori. He can keep you at bay with his B, as it bounces him back enouch to be out of range of your C, and landslide will just get parried.
You can beat Midori’s B with bA on read
From Sente:
Human:
If Midori has command throw, your C and super will beat it on wake up.
Dragon:
Don’t rely on armor, Midori’s C will beat both C and super.
If Midori throws you, you can throw him back.
You can use super against Midori using a reckless jA
Vs. Lum
If Lum is relying on his somersault to keep you off guard, you can catch with gS as the armor won’t break
From Sente:
You can defeat mini-lums with bA, nA, and landing on them with earthquake
You can grab Lum out of his B
You can use gS to catch Lum out of his B
Be careful with thunderclap, you can give Lum more distance with his B
Vs. DeGrey
From Cwheezy: Only use vines if DeGrey is doing a lot of jump back ghost. It’s good to guess with it in that situation.
From Sente & Rook Hugger:
Degrey can escape your gS with a 3 damage combo on wakeup. Degrey’s fA can beat all of your wakeup options.
From Sente:
If DeGrey is using jnA to keep you out, with super up you can catch it with a headbutt.
Do not do a earthquake at full height, you are leaving yourself open to a 2 damage pile bunker reaction.