Axl v. Faust

[Shoto]

Instead of a placeholder:

taken from the General Information thread:

Faust

Shoto: 5,5

On long range you are the king of the hill; even that Faust usually gets more damage if he hits your 5P will just beat everything Faust has and even make it hard for him to throw out items.

Once out his items are actually more of a problem than one would think. Mini-Faust / Pot / R-Ky control aerial space as long as they are in the air they are quite problematic for your movement and long range pokes; should you ever come in a position to have to block them you should be careful what you do after that as this usually leaves Faust with the advantage (but the problem is it is rather situational what Faust gets from this so you just need experience with that kind of situation)

He furthermore has good jump ins with good range which if used in the right manner and the right situation can interrupt your air to air and anti air pokes. Furthermore Faust has some of the best Anti Airs in the game so don’t put too much emphasis on jump ins.

He doesn’t have a real lockdown, but should he get you cornered his fast big hitbox normals are a danger if you try something stupid. Should you want to jump be aware that Faust has good long range air to air normal which make escaping via air out of the corner somewhat risky.

Nevertheless all the stuff that makes Faust good can be countered to a good degree trough your long range options which force him to be very cautious with attacking from long range or throwing items. Furthermore your 6H goes over his 2P and his treasure chest OD, taking away his only options he has to escape pressure. As his air dash is arguably the worst in the whole game he just can’t get in easily on you and has to constantly work his way into his optimal distance. The rest is knowing his moves and knowing situations which are created through his items.

[Josh Ballard]

Thanks, guys. =) Faust...he crouches under j.K *and* Axl Bomber. So the only thing I can think of for mixup is a late airdash j.H. He can poke your unblockable on reaction, so I wouldn't try that too much either - after a 2P, I would stick with Rensen/delayed Rensen/5K strings. Also, Shoto said he can punish the Rensen finishers right? Oh yeah, and be VERY careful when using Rensen by itself. It's good, but if he's out of range he gets a free scalpel pull on reaction. Zinac did this to me multiple times in a tournament. =P I honestly am not too sure how to win this one... -Josh

[Digital Watches]

Thanks, guys. =)

Faust...he crouches under j.K *and* Axl Bomber. So the only thing I can think of for mixup is a late airdash j.H. He can poke your unblockable on reaction, so I wouldn't try that too much either - after a 2P, I would stick with Rensen/delayed Rensen/5K strings. Also, Shoto said he can punish the Rensen finishers right?

Oh yeah, and be VERY careful when using Rensen by itself. It's good, but if he's out of range he gets a free scalpel pull on reaction. Zinac did this to me multiple times in a tournament. =P

I honestly am not too sure how to win this one...

-Josh

Eh. Doesn't seem that hard to me. For one thing, if he truly can duck under bomber, I'd just return to the old days of meaty 6H for an overhead. His low crouching hitbox makes it easy to combo from. I'd even say faust is one of the easier characters to play keepaway with. Every long-range option he has besides items is easily countered on reaction with Tenhouseki. He eats next to everything Axl can do in terms of AA game, due to having a huge aerial hitbox. Really, Faust isn't that scary, he's just different to fight.

[Shoto]

some random vs. Faust infos: - 5P doesn't hit a standing Faust, but if he throws out an item or does the scalpell pull he will get hit.. as the recovery is shorter than in Slash you can spam that move again if you believe he wants to do one of those things.. should he try to jump at you from that distance (and due to the fact that his air dash isn't any good) you can 6K him out of the air on reaction. Should he start running under 5P use 2P or 2H (into 6H if you hit or it gets blocked).. so he has to work to get something done in long range.. - If you have the chance to rush him, work with all you have (well exept the bomber if he ducks them^^).. he doesn't have any good defense options.. - If he pokes you out of UBs, only use short range UBs and set them up in a manner that he is unlikely to spot them (see the Lockdown threads for infos on that).. (btw.: even if he should be out of range to poke you out he simply can jump up and imideately do j.2K so he will stay too low for any 6K to connect; UBs in medium and long range are no real danger to him) - 6H beats 2P and his treasure chest OD - Axls 2D ducks under Fausts S(f) (one of the rare applications of a standalone 2D..)

[Josh Ballard]

Guys, I am not making up this Axl Bomber thing, go into training and check it out. I've tried it in the corner, midscreen, it doesn't matter. And thanks again! =) Can't believe I forgot about 6H. I knew you can combo from a normal hit on Zappa, didn't think to try that on Faust. =P And I had no idea the sweep could do that! *That* is an awesome little tidbit... -Josh

[Sking]

More:

6H, 5H beat faust's hand slap force break and lead to a huge damage b-loop if you are in the corner.

The pogo force break clash with 2S and 6K, so if you try it do a 2S right after the clash to do a combo.

If the faust player do a dust in wakeup(because the invisible frames) do: 6H, 5H or go for a throw.

Air throwing faust after you do a b-loop with an extra bomber to make them tech is more easy beacuse of faust wide hit box, so this can be a helpful tool to go for a cross over kokku and another stuff.