GGACR/Faust/Matchups: Difference between revisions

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<center>{{Character Label|GGACR|Faust|size=42px}}</center>
{{MFlag|stub}}<!-- Page is blank. Matchup chart to be filled -->{{MFlag|expert}}
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==A.B.A==
==A.B.A==
{{Character Label|GGACR|A.B.A|48px}}  
{{Character Label|GGACR|A.B.A|size=48px}}  
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6.5 - 3.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
A.B.A's three modes (Normal, Moroha, Goku Moroha) each change the pace of the match drastically. Your job once she switches into Moroha/Goku Moroha will be to avoid playing into Danzai, and how to effectively deal with her more dominant air attacks.
A.B.A's three modes (Normal, Moroha, Goku Moroha) each change the pace of the match drastically. Your job once she switches into Moroha/Goku Moroha will be to avoid playing into Danzai, and how to effectively deal with her more dominant air attacks.
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==Anji Mito==
==Anji Mito==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Anji Mito|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Anji Mito|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
While the matchup probably favours Faust, Anji has a lot of tools to punch through Faust's standard gameplan thanks to Auto-guard normals and Fuujin.
While the matchup probably favours Faust, Anji has a lot of tools to punch through Faust's standard gameplan thanks to Auto-guard normals and Fuujin.
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==Axl Low==
==Axl Low==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Axl Low|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Axl Low|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
====Goals====
====Goals====
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==Baiken==
==Baiken==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Baiken|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Baiken|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5 - 5===
===The following guide is Under Construction===
===The following guide is Under Construction===
===Overview===
===Overview===
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===Neutral===
===Neutral===
====Using Love!/Bag (j236P)====
====Using Love!/Bag (j236P)====
Set the tone of neutral by throw bag. Baiken is inherently weak to dealing with Bag. It covers against grounded movement, and Baiken blocking it in the air generally leads to a neutral situation.
Set the tone of neutral by throwing Bag, as Baiken is inherently weak to dealing with it. It covers grounded movement, and Baiken blocking it in the air generally leads to a neutral situation.


If Baiken is going for Tatami footsies, she doesn't have enough time to press the situation Bag creates. This allows for free falling jH to stuff her air approach, netting you strong counterhits or free item tosses on landing.
If Baiken is going for Tatami footsies, she doesn't have enough time to press the situation Bag creates. This allows for free falling jH to stuff her air approach, netting you strong counterhits or free item tosses on landing.
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===Dealing with Tatami===
===Dealing with Tatami===
====Long Distance/Neutral Tatami====
====Long Distance/Neutral Tatami====
Baiken whiffing Tatami in neutral is generally hard to whiff punish conventionally due to it's active and persistent hitbox. However, all that recovery gives you a great opportunity to throw bag or items to set up good situations. Playing passively in neutral with Bag and jH is generally the answer.
Baiken whiffing Tatami in neutral is generally hard to whiff punish conventionally due to its active and persistent hitbox. However, all that recovery gives you a great opportunity to throw Bag or items to set up good situations. Playing passively in neutral with Bag and jH is generally the answer.


====Instant Airdash Tatami (Kire Tatami)====
====Instant Airdash Tatami (Kire Tatami)====
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==Bridget==
==Bridget==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Bridget|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Bridget|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6.5 - 3.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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==Chipp Zanuff==
==Chipp Zanuff==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Chipp Zanuff|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Chipp Zanuff|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5 - 5===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===
===Dealing with Gamma Blade===
Long total duration and recovery, just ridiculously plus on block. The idea is you sort of have to respect it in situations where he forces it on you, such as on wakeup or after you've burnt air options.
However, in neutral, jumping at Chipp can net you a big punish. Gamma Blade doesn't have a lot of vertical reach either, if you FD when you jump, you'll clear it easily.
===Dealing with Alpha Blade===
Moving and blocking, generally a good idea against this move. It's super high commit, but very dominant, so just stay mobile if you suspect it's coming. Can't really be blocked on reaction, so watch out.
===Dealing with Teleport===
===Dealing with Teleport===
You have a selection of options here.
You have a selection of options here.
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==Dizzy==
==Dizzy==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Dizzy|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Dizzy|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5.5 - 4.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
Faust has plenty of ways to terrorize Dizzy and rattle her cage. Her normals are not fantastic and you can answer almost every single one without trying. That said, when she puts the pressure on, Dizzy is capable of forcing you to block for upwards of 10 seconds with plenty of ways to deal with the usual Faust defense tricks. Your enormous air hurtbox just means one slip up turns into an 80% combo or another knockdown with icicle, or both. '''While this match is in your favor, don't turn your back on Dizzy for a second.'''


====Goals====
====Goals====
* Stop her pressure resets, summons, and general everything by using {{clr|3|f.S}}
* Control the air space
* Don't get grabbed!


===Neutral===
===Neutral===


====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====
=====Dizzy's Forward Dash=====
When dashing forwards, Dizzy's feet come off the ground and her hurtbox changes. In all of her MUs, save for Justice, this allows her to high profile low to the ground moves.
For Faust, the following attacks lose to her Dash:
* {{clr|4|2H}}
* {{clr|1|2P}}
* Chibi Faust and Robo Ky
While the list is short, all four of these are key to challenging someone in neutral as Faust, often in tandem. While none of them are completely off the table, and {{clr|4|2H}}/{{clr|1|2P}} are still useful in blockstrings or combos, this means that you may have to gamble on higher risk pokes that you know can beat her dash. You don't want to whiff {{clr|4|2H}} on someone point blank, so it's vital you learn to survive without it.
=====Using f.S=====
In part because she easily challenges {{clr|4|2H}} in neutral, Faust's {{clr|3|f.S}} is big against Dizzy. Prudent application of this button will turn this MU into a frustrating experience for her.
* She cannot crouch or dash over it.
* It can catch her attempts to jump.
* It will punish non-FRC'd {{clr|4|H}} icicle immediately on block.
* Can stop many pressure resets on reaction due to the range and speed, frequently interrupting summons or breaking fish.
On hit or block, f.S can be reverse gatling'd into 2K or cancelled into an item toss which is vital if it hits Fish and not Dizzy. Despite catching jumps, there is of course always going to be a point where she can go around it instead. A lot of its strength against her can be applied by waiting and reacting to shut down pressure, so don't recklessly throw it from neutral and give her the advantage for no reason.


====When to Play Reactively====
====When to Play Reactively====
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===Anti-airing===
===Anti-airing===
Jumping at Dizzy from a distance can allow you to line up a very potent jH against a lot of her air and ground summoning options.
Dizzy's air normals are good, she has two airdashes, and being airborne means you won't be able to {{clr|3|f.S}} her neutral. Expect to deal with an air situation as often as you expect to poke her to death in neutral.
 
{{clr|4|j.H}} is the reliable, powerful air move that makes up much of Faust's air control. It requires proper assessment of height, but when used correctly will shunt her back into the edge of the screen and onto the ground. Use this to beat her airdashes and pretty much all of her air-to-airs when you have the time to. Close range {{clr|4|j.H}} is killer in its own right, but you should be using this before that becomes a situation. A properly lined up {{clr|4|j.H}} close to the ground will even beat her ground summons from across the screen.
 
When defending from the ground, {{clr|1|6P}} is a weakened response due to how deep Dizzy's {{clr|3|j.2S}} hits, leaving you with {{clr|2|5K}} and {{clr|2|2K}} to deal with her air game. It still has its traditional uses in restricting attempts to cross the screen, but an additional lack of cancel options besides item toss only exacerbates its weaknesses in this mathcup.
 
{{clr|2|5K}} is a great all around move for stuffing Dizzy's airdashes in neutral on a guess. Low to the ground {{clr|3|j.2S}} is great at pestering, so if you want to catch her but don't think {{clr|3|f.S}} will get her jump, use {{clr|2|5K}} to go for the next step instead. Challenging this move from the ground can be difficult for Dizzy, but not impossible - on a quick reaction or a hard callout she can simply icicle and get a free hard knockdown. Mix it up with {{clr|4|j.H}} and {{clr|2|2K}}.
 
{{clr|2|2K}} is an extremely loaded move. Multiple hits means it can plow through fish and still go for Dizzy, disjointed hitbox means it can anti-air her going over you even as she tries to use {{clr|3|j.2S}}, and for whatever reason it has a tendency to not only turn around to face her trying to cross-up, but can hit '''behind''' Faust if she actually crosses and lands behind you. Its use as a pressure tool is twice as effective on her, since she lacks meaningful defense measures, just make sure to mix your options up with something that can jump over the Coffin reversal. The first hit of 2K is jump-cancellable, so the pressure is right there. There is not a lot she can do against this move even if she knows it's coming.


===Dealing with Tick Throws From Fish===
===Dealing with Tick Throws From Fish===
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===Crawl===
===Crawl===
You can find a detailed list of every moves that Faust can crawl in the table below
{| class='wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed' style="text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 0px 0px;"
|+ style="white-space:nowrap; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 5px;" colspan=3 |
|-
! Character !! Move !! Crouch (2) !! Forward Crawl (3) !! Notes
<!-- DIZZY-->
|-
| rowspan="15"|{{Character Label|GGACR|Dizzy|label=Dizzy}} || {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=5P|label={{clr|1|5P}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=2P|label={{clr|1|2P}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || Dizzy should use 2K instead of 2P in this MU
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=6P|label={{clr|1|6P}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=5K|label={{clr|2|5K}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=f.S|label={{clr|3|f.S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=5H|label={{clr|4|5H}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || Careful because this move is very active
and can lead to counter hit combo if punished early
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=j.K|label={{clr|2|j.K}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=j.S|label={{clr|3|j.S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=j.H|label={{clr|4|j.H}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=j.D|label={{clr|5|j.D}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=214P|label={{clr|2|214X}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || 214K is the only one that's not crawlable.
However, while D fish can be crawled, K~D and H~D cannot.
(See vid for further explanation)
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=421S|label={{clr|3|421S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || Only if dagger is sent 3/4 of the screen and more
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Dizzy|input=236K|label={{clr|2|236X}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || Very specific part of the move can be crawled
|-
|}
Notice that you can crawl both her Taunt and her dead angle as well
Extra information can be found in this visual guide:
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIHQNeD0rEU&t=2s&ab_channel=T-SPIN|}}


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===
====2014/1/19 GGXX AC+R at Monte Carlo - Makki(DI) vs Defure(FA)====
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/ydZ1WYeQzN0|}}
* Tons of great examples of using {{clr|3|f.S}} to shut down everything.
* Good examples of f.S > 2K reverse gatling usage to break fish
* Extremely strong air-to-air and anti-air performance with j.H/5K/6P
* Some unfortunate but relevant scenes of what Faust looks like when cornered by Dizzy
====2013/8/10 GGXX AC+R Mikado stream - Kazuki(DI) vs Nage(FA)====
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/Lxb0iEzJKFk|}}
* Incredibly oppressive use of dash-in f.S
* Locked down air space with 5K and j.H
* Fantastic example of Faust keeping pace with Dizzy and setting the tempo
* Generally strong example of Faust pressure
* Who doesn't think Nage when they think Faust player?


==Eddie==
==Eddie==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Eddie|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Eddie|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5.5 - 4.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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==Faust==
==Faust==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Faust|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Faust|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5 - 5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
"Wait, '''this''' is what I do to people?"


Note: For clarification, "Faust" in this will refer to ''the opponent'' while the player will be referred to with "you."
====Goals====
====Goals====


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====Avoiding the situation entirely====
====Avoiding the situation entirely====
The alternative is simply going for Meaty 2H pressure on his wakeup.
The alternative is simply going for Meaty 2H pressure on Faust's wakeup.


===Dealing with Scalpel (41236K)===
===Dealing with Scalpel (41236K)===
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Jumping at Faust is an option, which can be good if you have other reasons to take to the air. Scalpel and other long pokes are very vulnerable to FB Pogo or an early jS or jD.
Jumping at Faust is an option, which can be good if you have other reasons to take to the air. Scalpel and other long pokes are very vulnerable to FB Pogo or an early jS or jD.


Faust is pretty good at anti-airing Faust, however, so be careful. You don't want to be jumping just to punish Scalpel. Jumping should be used to cover multiple options (Long pokes + Scalpel, for example).
Faust is pretty good at anti-airing you, however, so be careful. You don't want to be jumping just to punish Scalpel. Jumping should be used to cover multiple options (Long pokes + Scalpel, for example).


===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===


===Crawl===
===Crawl===
Since you're reading this on the Faust page, it can be assumed you're no stranger to the nonsense of Crawl. Faust is especially good at tormenting himself with it.
* {{clr|3|f.S}} is extremely vulnerable here. Because it has long whiff recovery, Faust can crawl it and comfortably visually confirm it. 2P and 2D will go under it outright during active frames.
* {{clr|2|5K}} in all fairness, you should be used to this whiffing over the top of someone. f.S does not actually go under, but the plethora of options that will (including forwards dash) can challenge its safety.
* {{clr|2|j.2K}} cannot hit Crawl. Ever. Due to how character collision boxes work, you will simply "rub" together and land before the hitbox has a chance to get low enough to the ground to connect.
Other notable mentions are that 5P can be crouched, 5H will only hit on its third hit and will completely whiff against Crawl, and Poison will whiff against Crawl. 2K will also have issues hitting with its earlier hits.


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==I-No==
==I-No==
{{Character Label|GGACR|I-No|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|I-No|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
 
Faust really stresses I-No out in this matchup. She can hit him with all kinds of neat combos thanks to his large hurtbox, but getting there is a serious struggle. The focus of this matchup should be halting her advances and avoiding being on the defensive. A good I-No can still pressure your wakeup, so even if you can get away with it, avoid playing too ignorantly. That said, "do Faust stuff" has been described by I-No players as a solid counter to her in this scenario.
====Goals====
====Goals====
 
* Shut down her air supremacy
* Keep her near the tip of your pokes like f.S, 2H, etc.
===Neutral===
===Neutral===
 
This is going to be your biggest opportunity to keep I-No oppressed and stop her from getting things moving. Stroke the Big Tree is going to lose to {{clr|3|2S}}, or {{clr|4|2H}}, or even Drill during the ending where she stands up. Hoverdash can be clamped down with 2S, f.S, 5K, etc... The important thing is avoiding giving her the distance necessary to set up a good note, and 6P your scalpel thrust attempts.
====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====
 
Most of your moves will be counter-pokes in this scenario, though not necessarily reactive, as I-No struggles to stay in the air. When you aren't on the ground, j.H will answer almost every thing she tries to do, if you are then the trio of anti-airs will bring her back down to the ground where you can 2H, f.S, 2S, etc.
====When to Play Reactively====
====When to Play Reactively====


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===Crawl===
===Crawl===
'''''Faust beats HCL standing.'''''
That isn't to say that she shouldn't, or won't, use it - it can still be a useful tool for poking at Faust in the air. It does mean alternative combo routes and restricted use, however. In addition, Faust can crawl under all of I-No's air normals except a delayed j.H, which adds a larger mental stack to the I-No player trying to get pressure in.


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Jam Kuradoberi==
==Jam Kuradoberi==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Jam Kuradoberi|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Jam Kuradoberi|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
 
Faust is a character with many good but narrow ways to control the screen.  Jam is a tiny, fast character who can very easily get past Faust's options from a surprisingly far distance.  Not exactly a '''bad''' matchup, but it's a hell of a lot easier for Jam than it is for you.
====Goals====
====Goals====


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===Anti-airing===
===Anti-airing===


===Offensive Situations===
===Dealing with Puffball===
====In Neutral====
Dealing with Puffball is sometimes more of a "Dealing with Bakushuu" question.
 
Throwing bag in front of Jam when she goes to command dash can sometimes net you a solid punish.
 
Preemptive 2D can snipe her trying to go deep with Puffball. It clashes reliably with Puffball itself as well. Counterplay will be her other command dash options.
 
Preemptive dash in normals (2K and 2S) can sometimes catch her going for it as well, while covering against sudden airdashes.
 
Chilling in the air with FDC can also potentially net you a j2K > FB.Pogo whiff punish.
 
Hedging with moves that don't have large whiff animations can also help quite a bit. Might not punish puffball outright, but you're unlikely to eat shit for them, and can still anti-air/play reactively.
 
Naturally, 2H obliterates command dash for huge reward, but the rest of Jam's kit means it cannot be the only answer. Hedge appropriately.
 
====Footsie Puffball vs. Deep Puffball====
Plays against Deep Puffball (Low profile options) can get blown up by mid-screen/footsie puffballs, so be careful.
 
====On block====
If you end up playing reactively as a hedge against other command dash options (Especially in pressure), then IBing Puffball is quite nice. Jam struggles to tightly keep you grounded after you IB puffball. Jumping immediately after IBing Puffball grants you a fairly strong escape, especially if Jam lacks cards to convert off of air-hit.
 
Even on normal block of Puffball, jumping or backdashing after leaving blockstun forces her to limit her options if she wants to convert meaningfully and not just let you out after a wack hit.


===Defensive Situations===
====ForceBreak Puffball====
Get it to whiff and punish. 2D can clash fairly reliably, however. Counterplay, as mentioned above, are the other command dash options.


===Crawl===
===Crawl===
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==Johnny==
==Johnny==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Johnny|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Johnny|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
In a similar vein to I-No, this is a matchup where Johnny is going to struggle at Faust's preferred ranges. Faust has better hitboxes right where Johnny likes to play his game, and he can even low-profile some of Johnny's good tools. Unlike I-No (though you should never play this way), Faust can't afford to be too ignorant here. When properly set up, Johnny can very carelessly blow through many of your gimmicky defensive options on his pressure, and lead into some fantastic combo opportunities against your air hurtbox. Impatient Johnny players will be quickly weeded out for trying to aggressively control space, but ones who know the matchup will shut you down without much issue unless you know it well.


====Goals====
====Goals====
 
* Use f.S and Item Toss to compromise Johnny's ground movement
* Meet him in the air when he tries to escape
===Neutral===
===Neutral===
 
Generally speaking the Johnny player, if they can't get inside near the start of the round, will try to play around your key pokes like f.S which are able to clamp his ground game. Don't get overconfident with 5K or f.S, as while they are center to managing the middle of the screen, Johnny can and will be looking to counter-poke with 6H or 6P. They will also try to challenge your gaps as much as possible, both to create whiffs/counterhits, and because of Johnny's generally mediocre reversal situation.
====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====


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===Offensive Situations===
===Offensive Situations===
As with most matchups and wakeups, 2K is a god-normal. If properly timed, a Johnny attempting to wake up with That's My Name will either whiff over the top of you or you will be able to recover in time to block.
''Note about Johnny's Dash:'' Johnny's dash is able to go over the top of 2P and Mini-Faust and Mini-Robo. The timing is stricter and the hurtbox shrinking is a lot less devastating than in the Dizzy MU, but it's worth knowing.


===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===
Johnny can apply pressure fairly well. In particular, if he throws a coin in the upward arc you are not going to be able to squeeze out with the usual tricks of taking to the skies. You will be forced to sit and block, which won't be pleasant. When in close quarters he will also be able to properly nail you down with moves that won't whiff on you crouching or crawling, add-in his devastating damage off throw and a competent player's ability to Enkasu. While the situation is not hopeless here, this is exactly where you are spending the entire match trying not to be.


===Crawl===
===Crawl===
Crouching Faust will go under Johnny's 5K and f.S, which can inconvenience his poking to the point of abandoning f.S altogether in favor of trying to call out ''your'' f.S instead. Crawling will allow you to also go under his 2P, though this isn't as consequential for Johnny.


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Justice==
==Justice==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Justice|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Justice|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===


TODO:
===Notes on {{clr|4|j.H}}===
* Antiairing jH/Options on dash under?
* Faust rising {{clr|4|j.H}} is good because Justice {{clr|4|j.H}} is slow.
* Reaction options against Nuke sets.
* Be quick with your anti-airs ({{clr|2|5K}}, {{clr|1|6P}}) if she's jumping at you conventionally.
* Optimal range
* Try not to play into nukes. Some {{clr|4|j.H}} from Justice will just be fully covered.
* Counterplay post 2H > Item
* Air instant block is not good at most heights.
* Counterplay post far.S > Item
 
* Crush options/weird interactions
====Beating {{clr|4|j.H}}====
* Faust jD
{{clr|4|j.H}} is one of Justice's best air normals, especially for beating ground AAs.  This makes it trouble for Faust, who has a lot of good ground AAs that can often beat/trade against degenerate jump-ins.  {{clr|1|6P}} will often lose to a deep {{clr|4|j.H}}.
* Oki
 
* Big hitbox abuse
{{clr|4|j.H}} isn't good to air block and it has quite a dominant hitbox. It's incredibly plus (being a level 5 move) and Justice is often doing it from a fast falling trajectory.  This means jump IB is not going to be the answer.  The move's one weakness is that it has a lot of startup, so it's quite vulnerable to rising {{clr|4|j.H}} used as an air-to-air.
* Rising jH interactions
 
Justice wants to land {{clr|4|j.H}} deep in order to get pressure going, and doesn't want it to whiff over Faust. This means, in general, you may have more time thank you think to react to Justice's air movement and options.  Running underneath Justice and simply escaping the situation can also be a viable option.
 
====Double jump {{clr|4|j.H}}====
Should Justice try to bait anti-airs via double jump, she's even more vulnerable to Faust rising {{clr|4|j.H}}. Keep this in mind when she's committing to air movement without any proper nuke coverage.
 
===Dealing with FB Dash===
====Grounded Version====
Loses pretty handily to a preemptive jump back at a distance. It's full counter hit recovery, and quite wide, so jump back {{clr|5|j.D}} will actually counter hit and stagger Justice while keeping you away from oncoming nukes.
 
FD as you jump back to ensure that she doesn't clip your legs with anything.
 
====Air Version====
This won't hit grounded Faust, but expect air options as she recovers. If you're ready, it will be tough for her to act before you do. You can anti-air with {{clr|2|5K}} if she's low, which is your fastest option.  {{clr|1|6P}} might trade.


====Goals====
If you don't react in time, watch out for fast options out of recovery, such as Michael Sword or {{clr|1|j.P}}.  You can try to deal with her available air options as appropriate.  This isn't an awful situation for Faust, but do try to react to the dash and challenge Justice so she doesn't get too much mileage out of it.
 
====Negating Crossup Setups with Nukes and FD Dash====
If you hold back and don't FD, you will maintain crossup protection as she crosses over.
 
===Dealing with Counter ({{clr|1|236P}})===
Faust can easily meaty with lows like {{clr|2|2K}}(2-3), {{clr|1|2P}}, and {{clr|5|2D}} which will simply beat this move, so you're more likely to see it in neutral to catch a stray poke.  In those cases the counter can't be whiff punished on reaction easily, and your best options are either to throw an item or use Justice's recovery to approach.
 
Using {{clr|5|2D}} or {{clr|1|2P}} in neutral can tag Justice if you're worried about her doing this move, but those buttons have their own drawbacks (long recovery, large extended hurtbox) that mean you shouldn't rely on them too much.
 
===Dealing with Nukes===
Faust will win neutral against any other character if left alone for long enough thanks to his items, but Justice is one of the few characters who can consistently do something strong enough to annoy Faust in neutral.  Playing pure defense in this matchup will lead to chip death and resource starvation.  Do not rely too heavily on any one of the follow techniques, but do not discount them either: a gimmick is best used when your opponent thinks too highly of you.
 
====Moving Around Them====
Faust has a divekick, a FB air pogo that changes his jump arc, a very long and long-lasting airdash, and divekick FDC cancels to hover in place.  You can often simply move around nukes instead of thinking that you need to challenge them, although moving around close pairs of nukes is considerably more difficult.
 
Note that crouch will not escape the blast range of P or K nukes, and that Justice can simply release a nuke and throw another one if you're playing too passively.


===Neutral===
====Staying on Justice====
As with most characters, Justice can struggle to escape pressure without spending meter (Michael Blade or FB dash) or taking a risk (her counter loses to lows, her reversal is only high profile).  Thus, Faust's strong pressure and mixup game is very relevant against Justice once you have navigated past a screen full of nukes.  Take care not to reset pressure mindlessly with mids like {{clr|2|j.2K}} and Going My Way, since Justice can use her counter to challenge those.


====Strongest Counterpokes====
Remember: as much as you might be afraid of getting tagged by Justice's defensive options, the Justice player is also afraid of getting tagged by Faust's instant overhead or proximity unblockable.


====When to Play Reactively====
====Hitting Justice Around Nukes====  
{{clr|3|f.S}} is a very potent option for hitting the startup of any nuke.  This normal defines Justice's counterplay. It forces her to want to jump from behind nukes, or try to make counterpoke plays against {{clr|3|f.S}} startup.


====When They're Playing Reactively====
Although {{clr|3|f.S}} itself may not lead to very much at max range, it will at least enable Faust to throw an item, which can potentially tilt neutral in your favour (meteors, minis, bomb).


===Anti-airing===
====Self-destructing Nukes Yourself====
{{clr|1|2P}} or {{clr|3|f.S}} will extend Faust's hurtbox enough to trigger nuke detonations at the cost of a sliver of health.  This is most effective against P/K nukes but can be done with other normals/nukes if you need to clear the screen.  It's quite hard for Justice to punish this without committing to forward movement alongside a nuke.


===Offensive Situations===
====Throwing Items====
Justice cannot reliably punish/discourage Faust from throwing items if he is outside her {{clr|3|f.S}} range and if she does not have meter for FB dash.  Any situation where Faust can safely throw an item and potentially score something huge like meteors or a mini is very helpful and should be abused.  Poison is also a decent item, since standing near it will somewhat shield Faust from being poked at unless Justice wants to risk being poisoned.


===Defensive Situations===
====Doors====
If all else fails, Faust can use his door teleports as high-risk options to close the gap.  They don't lead to much by themselves, but simply winning neutral against Justice can be worth it.  Make sure to use all of Faust's various door options, RC/FRC options, and FB door to make their timing ambiguous.  And don't get predictable with them lest you give Justice a big, easy punish.


===Crawl===
===Justice Okizeme===
* Overhead/Low mix
* FB Chop windows
* Common left/rights


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Kliff Undersn==
==Kliff Undersn==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Kliff Undersn|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Kliff Undersn|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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==Ky Kiske==
==Ky Kiske==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Ky Kiske|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Ky Kiske|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
John Guilty Gear is a character who likes to use his pokes to control somewhere around the mid-range. When farther away, Stun Edge and all its variations give him ways to challenge and attempt to control the opponent.


Unfortunately, Faust does not care about either of those things, and is generally better at the mid-range. This shouldn't be considered a re-run of Johnny or I-No, however.
====Goals====
====Goals====
 
* His f.S whiffs at a distance where yours connects. You want to keep him just slightly outside of mid-range.
* Be ready to go for low profiling attacks and be very early with your j.H
===Neutral===
===Neutral===
 
Going under f.S gives you enough time to visually confirm basic pokes.
====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====


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===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===
Ky generates a lot of meter, but it's the steam to his pressure engine. As he runs out, or becomes forced to choose between multiple uses of meter, the opportunities to escape increase. The typical rules apply here: FD his normals, IB his projectiles to reduce their frame advantage, pay attention to non-FRC'd projectiles. Be very wary of his throw, as he can FRC it for a good combo and OS it with his c.S for a strong mixup - 6PH OS is a good defense against him. Overall, patience is important.


NOTE: Ky can easily pressure your attempts to jump up and out. By jumping during CSE FRC he will create a high hitting projectile that can halt your attempts to jump out. Not that you should never try.
===Crawl===
===Crawl===
Faust is able to crawl a decent selections of Ky's attacks, including ones that could be considered vital to his game plan. However, keen players will be aware of what "gaps" there are in their kit because of this, and will usually have a back-up plan ready, so never be content to hold forward crouch like nothing is coming. There is some player interaction here - there will be times they still use f.S.
* 5P
* f.S
* 6K
* 6P
* 5H
* Stun Edge (grounded)
* Charged Stun Edge (grounded/non jump FRC)
On Oki, crawling CSE is not advisable, as many Ky players are well aware that this won't work on its own. Typically, they will try to play around the idea that you will wake-up crawling, by doing a fast run up low, or immediately performing Greed Sever or FB Greed Sever to punish greedy Crawl attempts. It is possible to crawl every hit and block lows in some scenarios, but this carries the generic risk already mentioned.
Crawling Stun Edge at closer ranges becomes ambiguous when Ky has 25% meter, as he can FRC to move in faster or use FB Greed Sever in response to a perceived attempt to crawl under a CS pressure reset.
While you can't crawl Greed Sever, due to how late it hits you it's possible to Crawl while searching for something else and reaction block it as it crosses behind you, still netting a punish.


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==May==
==May==
{{Character Label|GGACR|May|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|May|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===TODO:===
===TODO:===
# Clean up Krackposting. Some of the info could probably be summarized better.
# Clean up Krackposting. Some of the info could probably be summarized better.
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==Millia Rage==
==Millia Rage==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Millia Rage|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Millia Rage|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 4.5 - 5.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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==Order-Sol==
==Order-Sol==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Order-Sol|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Order-Sol|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
=== Overview ===
===Overview===
Stressful. Another volatile matchup where you control the pace but get blown up easily.
 
Round start 2P is a strong option to represent, as it forces them to 2D/jump. Jump forward/back block is strong as well for a more passive option. Pogo is good too, but can get sniped by rising j.P.
 
=== Goals ===
You’re going to be rotating between stopping approaches/preventing charges a lot in this mu. HOS can’t maneuver around items well.
 
===  Neutral === 
You control the pace very well. Microdash fS/ 2H/items forces him to play patiently on the ground. When he inevitably tries iad options, you have good responses to fight back. 5K as a poke in ranges where it'll hit is great, catches IAD and if they go for gunblaze usually you can recover in time to throw.
 
When they dash in, you can try and just do the regular Faust triangle of responses (5p to beat ground buttons and approaches, j.2K to counterpoke, fs to catch jumps, 5k for anti airs etc etc)
 
Love is strong, its hard for him to catch on reaction. He can try to run under it and pressure you from the other side and force you to start blocking.  It's also useful for when they want to gunblaze over and over to catch your jump in.
 
If you're going to jump in without FDC delays, j.P into air chain - ground stuff is better than raw falling j.D most of the time
 
Even though HOS's jump ins are good, using 2H as a main poke to encourage jumps still makes neutral easier to deal with
 
FB door is good to slow down the pace of neutral except for when they're charging, it's fast but most HOSs can react with charge explosion. Also discourages back dashing your pokes along with scalpel
 
Fdc j.H :) my beloved
 
===  Strongest Counterpokes ===
Rock it is a HOS “send it” move that travels fast and far. Levels 1 & 2 aren’t too bad to get hit by as he doesn’t get a combo. You can crawl it  - but that opens you up to fafnir. RI 3 has gaps when ib'd, you can go for backdash on the last hit and be in a positive situation. Last hit is jump cancelable on whiff so you aren't completely out of the hills yet
 
'''Fafnir'''
 
if done at the same time or before, f.S will beat fafnir. it's valid to just block low, it still uses 25 meter. Don't get baited by doing commital moves to beat it - HOS wins the risk/reward.
 
f.S into pogo is a good frame trap against fafnir, if they jump at you then pogo K, otherwise toss an item/mash 66
 
===  When to Play Reactively ===  
Anti-airing
HOS Airdash is a little lower than others, meaning that 6P attempts tend to either get stuffed or trade unfavorably.
 
5k is extremely consistent and can give you a good combo on ch. 5h trades and is easier to use but is much more whiff punishable.
 
2K is a good reactive anti-air/tool to stuff approaches, even if the reward isn't a ton. Neutral reset + space to toss
 
===  When They're Playing Reactively ===  
 
OverAbusing j2k is real in this mu. he has ground buttons that hit very high, gunblaze will destroy you and RI beats it unless done extremely preemptively. Still use it though.
 
===  Okizeme ===
Meaty 2K, Meaty 5P and Meaty j2K allow you to recover before DP reaches active frames. You can punish Action Charge or Action Charge FRC with 5K.
 
bomb bag oki is valid and sets up low/throw, otherwise getting the knockdown, throwing an item and reacting doesn't give up momentum and is less risky while still applying pressure
 
2S to punish DP is very safe, and even if they FRC it in time it's still your turn
===  Defensive Situations ===
 
Crawl's infinite crossup protection vs backturn is important, if you hold 3 vs backturn oki it hedges vs everything but 2h (BRP, the overhead flip kick, whizzes over you) Without 50 meter, a counterhit, or done extremely meaty (hard!) he cannot get anything of value off of 2H. 2H is throw invuln, do not give hos the CH he was fishing for.
 
Very similar to sol, fd works extremely well. Unlike sol HOS has no command grab and instead relies on high/low to open you up most of the time. You have to play patiently and react to the high/low and wait for gaps. Forcing your way out with mashing is very dangerous, but there’s times when its your only option.
 
5h is god tier at grabbing you from the air and bringing you back down to pressure. You can backdash it (?)


====Goals====
Dead angle the special moves. Insert throw attempts after random buttons to catch gunblaze without needing to react to it every time, 5P is a good scramble tool unless youre on top of each other.


===Neutral===
Sitting on top of a mini faust > level 3 action charge most of the time


====Strongest Counterpokes====
Dealing with Gunblaze
On wakeup, crossup protection will be active until you FD. This can be very useful to avoid eating Gunblaze oki unnecessarily.


====When to Play Reactively====
Action Charge Situation
When HOS is charging far away from you, you can scalpel him/FB Door to punish it.  Do it just enough to dissuade him, don’t use it as your layer 1 prediction (HOS can punish and rushdown after a whiff extremely well).


====When They're Playing Reactively====
Scalpel whiffs fullscreen btw


===Anti-airing===
Fighting good HOS players becomes extremely difficult when they know how to be patient with charge, and use it as bait. This means you’re forced to approach


===Offensive Situations===
You just have to let them charge every now and then. They can get one blip extremely easily, and fighting over small interactions like that is more trouble than it’s worth. You can use dash -> 2h as an option to deal with
-charge frc (block)
-charge explosion (whiff, you’re a bit minus (?))
-charge charge (2h ch)


===Defensive Situations===
But dash 2h has obvious downsides (if they IAD you can get punished). Dash FD brake when they’re trying to anticipate 2h is strong, as you can react (CH combo if they do explosion, fs becomes a good poke if they FRC)


===Crawl===
=== Crawl ===
=== Match Footage ===  


===Match Footage===
ElvenShadow VS. Tales Of Jade  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zz-MlX887g (on defense elven does A LOT of jump fd)


==Potemkin==
==Potemkin==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Potemkin|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Potemkin|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6.5 - 3.5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
A Faust-favoured matchup where Faust controls the pace of the match, however, Potemkin's explosiveness can turn the matchup around in a heartbeat. A lot of the matchup for Faust, as you learn it, hinges on cleanliness over fearsome mixups or dominating pressure.  
A Faust-favoured matchup where Faust controls the pace of the match, however, Potemkin's explosiveness can turn the matchup around in a heartbeat. A lot of the matchup for Faust, as you learn it, hinges on cleanliness over fearsome mixups or dominating pressure.  
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===Round Start===
===Round Start===
5K bullies Pot out of a lot of options on round start, and forces him to move to some pretty committal options to beat it out (6P, 2D).
{{clr|2|5K}} bullies Pot out of a lot of options on round start, and forces him to move to some pretty committal options to beat it out (6P, 2D). His height means it's almost always possible to hit him when you want to.


Use 5K to set the tone of your round start decision and go from there.
For safety purposes, {{clr|1|5P}} > {{clr|3|f.S}} is a fairly safe string. Your {{clr|1|5P}} will recover quickly to let you block or deal with other situations at round-start if it doesn't hit, while also possessing a varied gatling selection in case you need to adapt from your {{clr|3|f.S}} strategy.


===Neutral===
===Neutral===
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===Dealing with Hammerfall===
===Dealing with Hammerfall===
Hammerfall is Potemkin's armored move that crosses the screen. You need two hits to break it, which you have to sometimes get creative to do. Because of the threat of Hammerfall, you do NOT want to use Scalpel too much in this matchup, since if he doesn't do Break, it will point blank you after tanking a hit.
Items are always an option for getting the first or second hit, but as always, they are fickle. A smart Potemkin is not going to Hammerfall against Chibis or if he sees a Washpan go into the sky.
====Throwing Bag Ahead of Time====
====Throwing Bag Ahead of Time====
See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)" above.
See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)" above.
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====Reverse Gatlings (Multihit Options to beat armor)====
====Reverse Gatlings (Multihit Options to beat armor)====
The following options have to be done on prediction, but they work really well to shackle Hammerfall when you don't have item cover.
The following options have to be done on prediction, but they work really well to shackle Hammerfall when you don't have item cover.
=====5P > f.S=====
Usually done on round start, this is flexible because 5P has a short whiff recovery and a good range going for it.


=====far.S > 2K=====
=====far.S > 2K=====
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===Dealing with F.D.B (Flick/63214S)===
===Dealing with F.D.B (Flick/63214S)===
Hit Potemkin as he goes to Flick. Due to the startup this will stop him from getting off the reflect. You can make these situations where you're available to do so, by placing Love! at awkward spacings (See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)").
Hit Potemkin as he goes to Flick. Due to the startup this will stop him from getting off the reflect. You can make these situations where you're available to do so, by placing Love! at awkward spacings (See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)"). Keep a close eye on what items you pull with regards to spacing, and other items already on screen. Flick can eliminate your other items and create a decent position for Potemkin, so you'll want to challenge him to stop him from having the time to get it off.


Following in after Chibis and projectiles can also offer up opportunities to stop Potemkin from getting off flicks. Have confidence.
Following in after Chibis and projectiles can also offer up opportunities to stop Potemkin from getting off flicks. Backing off and giving Potemkin the chance to focus on flicking something like a washpan or bomb explosion is exactly what he wants to get a clean approach against you. Have confidence.


Should he actually reflect something. You can negate the situation by throw bag to stall even more, provided the distance is good. You can also just try to wait it out entirely through movement, or try to block it at an awkward moment for Potemkin as he approaches.
Should he actually reflect something, you can negate the situation by throwing Love! to stall even more, provided the distance is good. You can also just try to wait it out entirely through movement, or try to block it at an awkward moment for Potemkin as he approaches. It's possible to crawl under the flicked projectile, but unless you have more items to distract him, he will probably be approaching behind it making this a dangerous prospect.
 
Here's a quick reference of things Potemkin can flick on Faust:
* Love
* Washpan
* Bomb (explosion only)
* Chibis (including every single hit of Mini Pot)
* Coin
* Hammer
* Dumbbell
* Meteors


===Dealing with Potbuster===
===Dealing with Potbuster===
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Potemkin can avoid and shut this down, by going for immediate gatlings into 5H, 2D or fishing against the fuzzy jump with Heat Knuckle.
Potemkin can avoid and shut this down, by going for immediate gatlings into 5H, 2D or fishing against the fuzzy jump with Heat Knuckle.
You can find a detailed list of every move that Faust can crawl in the table below
{| class='wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed' style="text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 0px 0px;"
|+ style="white-space:nowrap; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 5px;" colspan=3 |
|-
! Character !! Move !! Crouch (2) !! Forward Crawl (3) !! Notes
<!-- Potemkin-->
|-
| rowspan="15"|{{Character Label|GGACR|Potemkin|label=Potemkin}} || {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=5P|label={{clr|1|5P}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=6P|label={{clr|1|6P}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=f.S|label={{clr|3|f.S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=2S|label={{clr|3|2S}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=5H|label={{clr|4|5H}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=2H|label={{clr|4|2H}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=6H|label={{clr|4|6H}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=5D|label={{clr|5|5D}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=j.K|label={{clr|1|j.P}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=j.K|label={{clr|2|j.K}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=j.H|label={{clr|4|j.H}}}} || {{clr|4|'''✗'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || -
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=63214S|label={{clr|3|63214S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || Flicked projectile only
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=623H|label={{clr|4|623H}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || This only hit airborne opponents
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=j.632146D|label={{clr|5|j.632146D}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || This only hit airborne opponents
|-
| {{MiniMoveCard|game=GGACR|chara=Potemkin|input=236236S|label={{clr|3|236236S}}}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || {{clr|3|'''✓'''}} || This only hit airborne opponents
|-
|}
Extra information can be found in this visual guide:
[WIP]


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Robo-Ky==
==Robo-Ky==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Robo-Ky|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Robo-Ky|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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==Slayer==
==Slayer==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Slayer|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Slayer|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
Slayer is a character who has to come up with creative workarounds to get around some character's screen control, while Faust is a character who excels at controlling the screen. Comparable to Sol, this matchup is dependent on keeping your opponent out and avoiding giving him a single chance to get a combo off. Once Slayer starts rolling, Faust's enormous body lets him cleanly get ~70% or more in a single good starter.


====Goals====
====Goals====
* Repel Slayer's attempts at approaching (Mappa, air dashes, tricky teleports, etc.)
* Play safe and avoid making unnecessary commitments


===Neutral===
===Neutral===
In and around the round-start distance, Slayer possesses many dominant options that Faust can crumble to. Dandy Step into CWH, {{clr|3|2S}}, or even something as mundane as {{clr|2|5K}} has a lot of stopping power against you. Faust's moves tend to be slower to start up, even if they aren't horribly unsafe on block or some aren't that unsafe on whiff, so being at a range where a quick Dandy Step {{clr|1|P}} into Pilebunker (3f) is possible is pretty scary. Playing against Slayer demands that you be mindful of the distance and commitment level of all of your moves constantly.


====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====
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===Crawl===
===Crawl===
While there are a decent amount of things Faust can crawl against Slayer, the things he can't crawl are often not worth getting hit by. Going under Under Pressure is ''great'' but trying to go under it and getting hit by It's Late just isn't. A list of some moves you can crawl are below:
*5P
*5K
*5D
*f.S
*2P
*6H
*6P
*Mappa Hunch


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Sol Badguy==
==Sol Badguy==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Sol Badguy|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Sol Badguy|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===
Faust controls the pace of the match here. Lots of risk-averse options on your end to shut down approach, and Sol struggles to get things going. If you play conservatively, he'll struggle. If he lands his big reads, he'll delete your lifebar.
Faust controls the pace of the match here. Lots of risk-averse options on your end to shut down approach, and Sol struggles to get things going. If you play conservatively, he'll struggle. If he lands his big reads, he'll delete your lifebar.
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==Testament==
==Testament==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Testament|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Testament|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5 - 5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
====Goals====
Harass with jH and Scalpel. Not too much, not too little. Set the tone with these moves.


====Goals====
Avoid overcommitting to approach in neutral. Making a mistake and being caught out of position is the worst mistake you can make against this character.
 
2P is a useful poke in situations where you need to negate things by hitting Testament. Hitting him to remove curses and trees without standing up into traps is a good example.
 
Remove traps with jH and Bag.


===Neutral===
===Neutral===
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====When They're Playing Reactively====
====When They're Playing Reactively====
Testament might start to play more reactively should he suspect Scalpel and jH. This means he won't be summoning so much in neutral. Take the opportunity to throw items and approach on the ground.


===Anti-airing===
===Anti-airing===
Rising jH is king in this matchup.
Proper 6P use is also mandatory to challenge jump-ins reliably, as Testament's air normals are particularly good at dealing with 5K.


===Offensive Situations===
===Offensive Situations===
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* jH is great at clearing out traps while also hitting Testament out of a lot of standing options, such as EXE Beast, trap sets and air approach. Testament being innately tall makes this a go-to option.
* jH is great at clearing out traps while also hitting Testament out of a lot of standing options, such as EXE Beast, trap sets and air approach. Testament being innately tall makes this a go-to option.
* Love! is a very non-committal way of removing webs.
* Love! is a very non-committal way of removing webs.
* Any item capable of dealing damage will hit webs without skipping a beat or losing its ability to hit Testament.
* Faust has a lot of airborne movement, so you can get away with clearing out trees from an airstate.
* Faust has a lot of airborne movement, so you can get away with clearing out trees from an airstate.
* Bullying a reactive Testament from a distance is relatively safe with your longer pokes. Items can give you the game state you need to clear away traps. Forcing Testament to block pokes means he can't whiff punish Item Toss with EXE Beast.
* Bullying a reactive Testament from a distance is relatively safe with your longer pokes. Items can give you the game state you need to clear away traps. Forcing Testament to block pokes means he can't whiff punish Item Toss with EXE Beast.
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* Scalpel just enough to convince him you'll scalpel. This can bait Testament into playing reactively, bolstering your faster pokes.
* Scalpel just enough to convince him you'll scalpel. This can bait Testament into playing reactively, bolstering your faster pokes.


===Dealing with Teleport===
===The Moment Testament Special Cancels (Big Testament Plays)===
Teleport doesn't have frame 1 counter frames, so any proper meaty will beat it out cleanly. You can also delay a 6H to get an easy and sizable punish on wakeup teleport.
====Overview====
This is probably a key situation to keep in mind when looking at and exploring the matchup.
 
The moment he special cancels will be a moment to act and make a concrete decision. If he has meter for FRC, he can keep pressure going with Beast FRC.
 
However, meterless options are fairly limited. He can set traps or trees, but these are punishable. You can also IB > far.S to catch most cancel options. Be forewarned, the timing on this against a tight Beast can be tricky.
 
FDing Testament throughout his strings can make things more difficult for him. Keep that in mind.
 
====Summary====
* Jumping out is the conservative play.
* FD Testament, and keep blocking. He might try to catch your jump with an over-extended low.
* IB the normal that he special cancels from to give you an easier opportunity to escape.
* FB Chop is a great answer to a wide spread of options, depending on the distance.
* Respect FRC. Testament can make things tight with Beast FRC.
 
===Dealing with Warrant===
[[GGACR/Testament#Warrant|Warrant]] doesn't have frame 1 counter frames, so any proper meaty will beat it out cleanly. You can also delay a 6H to get an easy and sizable punish on wakeup Warrant.
 
It's possible to FDC j.K off meaty timing, and bait the Warrant activation during your jump. A whiffed Warrant is oftentimes a more rewarding punish than simply landing a meaty FDC j.K or some other low-damage meaty starter.
 
In pressure situations, Testament might try to squeeze in a Warrant in gaps. You can deal with this by leaving small delays in pressure. Waiting to react might also give you the opportunity to anti-air should he jump, but a sudden 6H might clip Testament in Warrant recovery, while also sniping pokes out of blockstun, depending on the range.
 
In short, don't rush yourself to keep your gaps tight. He only needs a small gap to reliably fit a warrant in there.
 
===Dealing with EXE Beast===
====In Neutral====
Keep your frequency of Scalpel and jump forward jH high enough to catch Testament in the summon/set animation. Both options hedge well against Testament trying to set up shop.
 
Testament is very tall in a lot of his animations, ergo, jH is particularly good at challenging him in neutral.
 
====EXE Beast summoned to catch your landing====
A common Testament staple. Make use of FDC, Bag and j2K to navigate over Beasts aimed at your landing.
 
====On Wakeup====
=====EXE Beast Mixups=====
[[GGACR/Testament/Strategy#Fighting_Testament|Link to Testament Wiki]]
 
'''General Summary'''
* Blocking initial Beast is generally a really good idea, as hopeless as it seems.
* Save your resources (Burst, Meter) for the more hopeless mixup situations. Usually those involving curse or layered Beast mix that you really need to contest.
* You must respect FRC pressure extensions if the Testament is good. Let him gas himself.
* Do NOT Dead Angle Beasts that send you facing away from Testament. You'll DA in the wrong direction. Sometimes you'll get out unscathed, but generally, you want that DA to land.
* Weaker Testament players will have trouble converting off strange aerial pickups. Sometimes backdashing, jumping or doing frame 1 airborne moves can ruin their offense and lead to escape.
 
====H.Beast > Crossup Warrant====
Testament can't pickup off Beast > Warrant without leaving a gap, and allowing the Beast to hit 2nd. The best way to negate the situation, generally speaking, is to jump on prediction in the eventual gap.
 
====Fraudulent EXE Beasts on Wakeup at a Distance====
You can pretty reliably backdash Beasts on wakeup should you be too far out for the Beast to catch you. Keep an eye out for this if Testament gets a bad knockdown.
 
====Left/Right Beast>Tree Mix in the corner====
[Probably needs video.]


It's possible to FDC j.K off meaty timing, and bait the teleport activation during your jump. A whiffed teleport is oftentimes a more rewarding punish than simply landing a meaty FDC j.K or some other low-damage meaty starter.
IB Low on wakeup. React to neutral jump with backdash out of the corner after Testament crosses up. Hard reaction. Good luck.


===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===
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===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


===Tech Videos===
===Tech/Strategy Videos===
[https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1372023290726907904 Opening Up Testament with 3 Moves]
[https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1372023290726907904 Opening Up Testament with 3 Moves]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov7uaYmucTI Guilty Gear Digestion Ep. 1.1 | RF Faust vs. Kesuke Testament | +R Faust Replay Review w/ Krackatoa]


==Venom==
==Venom==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Venom|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Venom|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 6 - 4===
===Overview===
===Overview===


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===Crawl===
===Crawl===
A fair amount of Venom's moves are crawlable (surprisingly not his {{clr|2|5K}}), but this is by no means encouragement to do it. Many of Venom's normals carry the extra edge that they may be used to set up ball trajectories, including a ball bouncing another ball directly towards the ground. Unfortunately, Faust is not special enough of a boy to low profile Dark Angel, unlike others. A list of some moves known to be crawlable below:
*5P
*f.S
*5H
*6P
*6K
*2H
*Stinger Aim
*Carcass Raid (after it rebounds off the floor)
*Double Head Morbid
Most ball formations are typically decently high off the ground that Faust can crawl them, and balls have slow travel time without further collisions. That said, your hurtbox is still wide on the ground, and any ball angled downwards from a normal or from a collision with a ball will still give you a headache.


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===


==Zappa==
==Zappa==
{{Character Label|GGACR|Zappa|48px}}
{{Character Label|GGACR|Zappa|size=48px}}
===Suspected Matchup Ratio: 5 - 5===
===Overview===
===Overview===
A matchup between two characters that have the most RNG tools in the game.


====Goals====
====Goals====
* Control neutral with your items while trying to deny Zappa any of his summons when you're in a situation to pressure him. If he does get a summon, see below for dealing with these summons.
* Zappa has a hard time contesting Faust in the air in most situations, so while you have your items out, you can your air mobility and other moves to control Zappa from above.


===Neutral===
===Neutral===
* On the ground, stick to normals that will reach him regardless of standing or crouching state. In particular, do not use 5P, 5K, f.S or Scalpel Pull very often. Use them either as callouts for backdashes or jumpouts, or as punishes in certain situations. 5P, 5K and such remain good anti-air options as usual.
* 2P, 2S, 2H and 2D are excellent tools for controlling space on the ground. You should especially abuse his 2H > 5P whiff gatling as it is + on block to apply pressure from mid screen and/or while waiting to toss another item.


====Strongest Counterpokes====
====Strongest Counterpokes====
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===Defensive Situations===
===Defensive Situations===
===Dealing with Sword===
* Wait out Zappa sword pressure by blocking correctly. He has fixed jump cancel points at a distance, so low block until you see an S normal or 2H from Zappa before stand blocking.
* Zappa struggles to convert meterlessly if you try to jump between 5H(2) and 41236H, a common pressure string.
* Zappa is most vulnerable to jump IAD FB Pogo in gaps, generally right as he whiffs a sword attack.
* With enough horizontal space between you and any whiffed sword followups and some backdashing, if Zappa tries to continue sword pressure you can get a FB Door punish.
* Sometimes, quickly jumping into FDC is a relatively safe way to mess up his sword spacing in pressure. If he whiffs a sword normal, you can jump again upon landing.
* When teching in the air after sword combos, aim to tech forward to close the gap between you and Zappa so that you can attempt to tag him. Air dashing, j.2K FDCing, and FB Pogo are great tools for these situations.
===Dealing with Dog===
===Dealing with Ghosts===
===Dealing with Raoh===


===Dealing with 236P (DP)===
===Dealing with 236P (DP)===
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Either 2H to catch him at a distance as he tries to move into DP range, or bait the entire thing out by avoiding it outright.
Either 2H to catch him at a distance as he tries to move into DP range, or bait the entire thing out by avoiding it outright.


2P on block to disarm Zappa and deny him a summon. It's not optimal, but it's the easiest punish and works at all ranges. Chain into 2H Item to get things going afterwards.
2P on block to disarm Zappa and deny him a summon. It's not optimal, but it's the easiest punish and works at all ranges. Chain into 2H Item to get things going afterwards. At closer ranges you can do punishes ranging from 5H (up close only), c.S or 5P starters. The early recovery frames put Zappa in a CH state, which can lead to combo punishes not normally possible, such as CH 5P > 2D > etc (e.g. either continue to juggle and air combo, or just throw an item and go for a safe jump), or CH 5P > 2H > 236S, D.


On wakeup, you can deny Zappa reversals by going for a spaced/late 6H or j236P.
On wakeup, you can deny Zappa reversals by going for a spaced/late 6H or j236P. j.2K FDC j.D can also lead to crossup situations midscreen to screw up reversal inputs too, where you can then confirm with at least aerial Going My Way


===Crawl===
===Crawl===


===Match Footage===
===Match Footage===
==Matchups==
'''NOTE:''' The old matchup subforums can be found here: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/index.php?/forums/forum/61-faust-matchups/
'''Things to note when discussing matchups:'''<br>
-General ratio<br>
-Optimal/inoptimal spacings<br>
-Strong/Weak buttons<br>
-Things to watch out for<br>
-Character specific confirms<br>
-etc etc
{| class="wikitable"
! {{Character Label|GGACR|A.B.A|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Anji Mito|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Axl Low|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Baiken|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Bridget|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Chipp Zanuff|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Dizzy|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Eddie|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Faust|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|I-No|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Jam Kuradoberi|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Justice|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Johnny|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Kliff Undersn|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Ky Kiske|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|May|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Millia Rage|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Order-Sol|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Potemkin|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Robo-Ky|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Slayer|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Sol Badguy|24px}}
| -/- || If you feel that sol will run at you, use f.S or 2H. Faust crawl is very good at avoiding some of his moves like bandit revolver and bandit bringer. Faust can struggle to oki him sometimes because of his reversals and meter. most of the time you would want Sol at a distance where you can f.S or 2H him, if he's further away, use item toss.
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Testament|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Venom|24px}}
| -/- ||
|-
! {{Character Label|GGACR|Zappa|24px}}
| -/- ||
|}


==Navigation==
==Navigation==
{{#lst:GGACR/Faust/Data|Links}}
<center>{{Character Label|GGACR|Faust|size=42px}}</center>
{{Navbar-GGACR}}
{{GGACR/CharacterLinks}}
{{GGACR/Navigation}}

Latest revision as of 05:22, 13 December 2023

 Faust


A.B.A

 A.B.A

Overview

A.B.A's three modes (Normal, Moroha, Goku Moroha) each change the pace of the match drastically. Your job once she switches into Moroha/Goku Moroha will be to avoid playing into Danzai, and how to effectively deal with her more dominant air attacks.

A.B.A's Moroha meter drains by a third with each knockdown, making knockdowns a priority in this matchup. Due to the recovery animation upon leaving Moroha Mode, IK setups are insanely practical. Faust has access to a lot of strong mixup tools that don't normally lead to a lot of damage, so it's possible to mix up while still playing around dominant reversals like Danzai.

Goals

  • Play aggressively vs. Normal Mode
  • Play defensively vs. Moroha Mode
  • Play VERY defensively vs. Goku Moroha Mode
  • Learn to IK her off knockdowns that would drain her Moroha meter.
  • Don't play into Danzai

Neutral

Normal Mode

Normal Mode is more vulnerable to standard Faust harassment while A.B.A tries to find a moment to transition, whether it's via bloodpack consumption or landing a hit into command grab. This version of A.B.A doesn't have anything of note that can't normally be dealt with via your standard toolset.

Stay close and stay aggressive, however. A free moment of breathing room because you tried to pull an item from a distance means you're now dealing with Moroha Mode. Have confidence in your itemless play and you'll win a lot more than you lose here. You can't keep her from Moroha Mode forever, but every bit of damage you build up before she transforms counts for a lot.

Moroha Mode

Bag is an incredible option to give yourself breathing room here. You can still pretty handily challenge her movement on the ground and in the air with your long buttons.

Watch out for Danzai. It's good to try and bait it out with Bag, either on wakeup or in neutral when paired with the threat of your other options (Which is why she would Danzai in the first place).

Goku Moroha Mode

Your goal is to stall airborne to deny A.B.A the ability to run pressure or land a meaningful hit. Trying to challenge her on the ground is quite risky given the potency of options like Danzai in this mode. FDC, Bag, jH. These are all imperative to draining her of Moroha meter. Fish for stray hits, and try your best to challenge her correctly when she wants to make use of Danzai, which is liable to punch through whatever buttons you'll press in this mode when she's in range to do so.

Anti-airing

Against Normal Mode, the only airborne button you really have to be aware of is Normal Mode's jH, which isn't even particularly threatening. It's active until landing, which makes it incredibly hard to challenge when used as a crossup, and you can't crawl under it to anti-air.

6P, overall, is always good provided you can get it out in time. Against A.B.A jD, it will counter-hit trade, and you both get knocked down. This is a win for you if she's in Moroha or Goku Moroha, because she loses Moroha Meter on wakeup.

Done too late, you'll get your 6P stuffed.

Offensive Situations

Instant Killing off Moroha Recovery

Most of Faust's common knockdowns will give him plenty of time to queue up IK (PKSH > 236236H).

Some examples:

  • Pogo > S Flower > Going My Way > PKSH > 236236H
  • Mettagiri > PKSH > 236236H
  • 2D RC PKSH > 236236H

Video Example: https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1330886385121832966

Defensive Situations

Normal

Your goal is to deny her the throw or command grab at any opportunity, as she'll need it to make something happen. The basis of her offense should be very committal and based around throw mix. Deny her this by jumping out of pressure and intermediate A.B.A players will have a lot of trouble making things happen as they won't be able to activate Moroha Mode safely.

Moroha

IBing certain slow, reactable normals, such as 2H, will give you an easy and guaranteed opportunity to jump out of pressure strings if she doesn't commit to weaker options.

Crawling under Rekka's 2nd hit (41236S>46S) is something to keep in mind here.

Goku Moroha

Her Goku-specific gatlings means gaps you would normally be able to challenge reliably in Moroha might not there anymore.

Dealing with Danzai

Situations where you're slightly plus or minus are far better challenged by Danzai(Judgement/623H/623D) than when A.B.A is waking up, provided you lab the right answers.

Some key points to start us off:

  • A.B.A does not have access to Danzai in Normal Mode.
  • A.B.A has different Danzai properties depending on whether she's in Moroha or Goku Moroha. Goku is faster with a much smaller gap between the hits.
  • H Danzai only has 1 hit of armor and can be easily stuffed by meaty options. However, in situations where you're slightly plus or minus, only the fastest gatling options will be fast enough to beat it before it goes active.
  • FB Danzai has unlimited hits of armor, leaving it more or less uncontestable by your average string.

Against Moroha Danzai and Forcebreak Danzai

You can try to bait this out explicitly with Bag (j236P) if you don't want to try and time meaty pressure. This is normally the easiest solution to dealing with Wakeup Danzai, or even dealing with Danzai in situations where you can get "up and over" it in time by jumping. Otherwise, you can do the following.

Time Meaty 2K so that the 2nd hit connects meaty.

This will allow you to beat regular Moroha Danzai outright, while still allowing you to block Forcebreak Danzai.

After Blocking the First Hit of Moroha Danzai

Against Moroha Danzai and FB Danzai, you can 5P>2D into launcher after blocking the first hit. This will combo as the move is counterhit state. It's possible to combo into pogo as well (Better for the corner), but both lead to knockdown.

If you want to get fancy against Moroha Danzai, you can 5D through the 2nd hit for a Dust launch.

Against Goku Moroha Danzai and Forcebreak Goku Moroha Danzai

Like Moroha Danzai, it's advised to try and bait this out explicitly with Bag on their wakeup. Even if they don't Danzai, it's hard for them to outright challenge bag.

You can time Meaty 2K so that the 1st hit connects meaty, or time a j2K to land meaty.

This will allow you to pressure on block, while still being able to block Goku Danzai. The j2K is preferable because it allows for tight/better pressure overall, but it can be hard to time properly.

After Blocking the First Hit of Goku Moroha Danzai

  1. IB the 2nd hit of Danzai. This will give you a 5P punish if you're in close, but you're probably out of range for any guaranteed damage. Mix poking, jumping and backdash. This will probably be your go-to response.
  2. Backdash through the 2nd hit. It puts you in a similar situation to IBing the 2nd hit of Danzai. Can deny a late RC where blocking does not.
  3. Slashback the 2nd Hit of Danzai. A 2f window but offers up guaranteed punish opportunities. Probably the most rewarding thing you can do in this situation. Leads to a full punish with far.S>5H>Pogo
  4. Super. This is a similar timing window to backdash, but requires a very prompt 236236S motion. Doable on reaction, but not easy with all that's going on.
Warning: Counterplay

Some A.B.A players will Danzai RC on block. Consider this an early warning. If they're tight with their offense, you have to respect it.

Crawl

2nd hit of Rekka(41236S > 46S) is easy to crawl. You don't have to IB beforehand. Leads to either a punish or hard-to-contest 2S depending on spacing.

Crawl is not all that relevant against her more dominant jump-ins, such as jH in either of the three modes.

Anji Mito

 Anji Mito

Overview

While the matchup probably favours Faust, Anji has a lot of tools to punch through Faust's standard gameplan thanks to Auto-guard normals and Fuujin.

Fuujin is especially troublesome, as it has 12f of invuln on startup, making it a great answer to your go-to normals like 2H (Which don't have a lot of active frames). This means any gap you try to cover with 2H, no matter how small, is readily challenged by Fuujin, even at a distance.

Goals

  • Zone Anji out and pull items until you win. Items shackle his ability to challenge options with Autoguard and Fuujin.
  • Neutralize Fuujin on wakeup and in gaps, by delaying options or using highly active normals like 2K.
  • Anji can't Fuujin in the air. Despite Anji's off-kilter air options like jD, they don't give him the tools to deal with jH well.

Anti-airing

Anji will put a focus into baiting grounded anti-airs with jD momentum shift. Be ready to whiff punish it with jH.

Dealing with Auto-Guard

Just mix hitting Anji with mids and lows in oki and counterpoke situations to scare him away from Auto-Guard based defense.

Get familiar with his auto-guard options to identify when he's favouring one over the other in neutral and pressure situations.

Dealing with Fuujin

Overview

Dealing with Fuujin when it Whiffs

  • Reaction 2D is a great whiff punish, but vulnerable to Hop (K).
  • Reaction dash 2K is a great whiff punish, but vulnerable to Low (S).

Dealing with Fuujin on Block

  • If you IB Fuujin, 2P is very hard to contest. It forces very set play from Anji using Fuujin S, a risky option.
  • Anji trying to play around 2P generally loses to you blocking and playing reactively.
  • 2K is similar to 2P in practicality, but depending on spacing it may trigger high armor on Fuujin H or D. However, 2K is much better at dealing with Fuujin K (Hop) outright due to it's high activity.
  • Fuujin P can be punished with reaction jH. Should you whiff 2P under it, you can still 6P to take an even trade with the fans and escape.

Dealing with Wakeup Fuujin

  • Slightly delayed 2K. Great at catching fuzzy jumps, too.
  • Slightly delayed 6H. Reactable, but easy, high reward callout. Great at catching fuzzy mash.
  • Safejump j2K > OS Throw > 5P confirm.

Preemptively Covering for Fuujin in Neutral

  • 2P is a good hedge when you're not certain Fuujin is going to come out. It recovers quite quickly, so it's not liable to be whiff punished by Fuujin, and has a decent chance of beating it out if it's in range.
  • 2K or dash 2K has a similar effect, where it covers really well against Fuujin's startup.
  • 2D can beat Fuujin before it reaches active frames, so it can be a decent candidate, but only having 3 active frames, and a decent amount of recovery, means it's liable to whiff if done too early. 2D can act as a good hedge against Anji forward move and counterpokes where the above normals might fall short.

Punishing Fuujin on Wakeup

The goal here is to use options that cover Fuujin as it leaves it's invuln frames. The window is 12f, so the idea is you do moves that are still good when done slightly delayed.

Slightly Delayed 2K

2K has 12 active frames total. When done slightly delayed on his wakeup, it should cover Fuujin comfortably without leaving yourself open to wakeup 2P. Done this way, Anji may play around 2K with his High Auto-Guard 6K, but this loses to a meaty 2K that only hits with both lows.

It's good to use this to hedge against fuzzy jumps, which they might do if they're fearful of throw attempts.

Delayed 6H

6H is incredibly active, and super high reward should it counterhit Fuujin as it leaves invuln, making it an easy and threatening option to punish Fuujin use. Naturally, it can lose to reactive play, and you need to delay it in a way that makes it hard to shackle jumping on wakeup. However, the risk reward is probably in your favour.

This also covers well against backdash, or will just dome them overhead if they're sleeping at the wheel/distracted by items.

Meaty j2K > OS Throw > 5P

You'll throw them forward if the j2K whiffs through Fuujin, and 5P if the j2K is blocked or hits them. Kind of tricky to time, but a great unreactable option that greatly discourages wakeup throw and Fuujin simultaneously.

Whiff Punishing Fuujin

Dash 2K is an excellent whiff punish for Fuujin should the first hit whiff in front of you. The low properties beat out everything, but dash 2K's startup as an option leave it vulnerable to Fuujin S (Low Hit).

2D is also an excellent whiff punish for Fuujin. The low properties beat out everything, but the low actives leave it vulnerable to Fuujin K (Hop).

After Blocking Fuujin

  1. Challenge Fuujin H and D (Reactable Overheads) with IB, doing so allows you a pretty scary FB Chop afterwards. If he tries to challenge FB Chop, he'll be vulnerable to 2P.
  2. Challenge Fuujin H and D with prediction 2P after blocking Fuujin. This loses to "Fuujin K (Hop) > Throw" if you don't IB, but it's worth establishing the threat of 2P, as it encourages Fuujin S, a weaker option.
  3. React to Fuujin K (Hop) with Throw. This will beat reversal 2P if you're too slow with it. (IB guarantees a punish, however. See: Instant Blocking Fuujin)
  4. Block Fuujin S. You can block Fuujin S by playing reactively (Points 1 and 3 are reactive plays). It's punishable if he doesn't RC. Force him to burn meter and he'll run out of gas eventually. Punish him if he doesn't.
  5. Lookout for Fuujin > Buttons to continue pressure if he knows you're playing too reactively. This doesn't work against 2P, however.
  6. If you're playing reactive, and Anji does go for Fuujin H or D, you still have Slashback available to you, as a 2f option. It's hard, but incredibly rewarding.
  7. Fuujin P can be punished with reaction jH. Should you whiff 2P under it, you can still 6P to take an even trade with the fans and escape.

Instant Blocking Fuujin

This unlocks a reversal 2P that is incredibly hard for Anji to challenge without committing to a very tight Fuujin S. Not only will you obliterate Fuujin H, D and very delayed Fuujin S. But Fuujin K can be thrown on reaction (2P will have time to whiff recover), while Fuujin P won't net anything meaningful if you jump out after 2P whiffs.

It's important to establish this in order to force him into weaker Fuujin options such as the tight Fuujin S mentioned above, leading to a simpler and more structured defense on your end.

Dealing with Butterfly

Blockstrings into Butterfly

  • IB point blank Butterfly for a 5P punish opportunity.
  • FD to push Anji out to a range where Butterfly is easier and more rewarding to contest. If he's in 2P range, you can get under the Butterfly on reaction to hit him.
  • If he's further out, a reaction airdash comes online. See Cancelling into Butterfly from a Distance for IAD punish combos.
Cancelling into Butterfly Point Blank

Anji can do Butterfly at a range where you can't really reliably get up and over it on reaction. It's very good to IB this and challenge whatever comes afterwards with 5P. Either you punish Anji outright, or he's not plus enough to challenge the 5P with anything except Auto-Guard buttons.

If he blocks the 5P, you can simply block the Butterfly follow-ups.

Cancelling into Butterfly within 2P range

2P can comfortably reach under Butterfly's hitbox provided Anji doesn't do the Butterfly close enough to force you to block the initial hit. This is an easy way to shut down Butterfly pressure at this explicit range.

Cancelling into Butterfly from a Distance

Reaction Airdash vs. Butterfly is a go-to answer. You can do quite a late airdash and still net yourself a punish with the following strings:

IAD > jK,jP,jK,jS > 5H(1),2D > Item Toss

IAD > jK,jP,jK,jS > 5H(2) > Pogo

Raw Butterfly in Neutral

You shouldn't necessarily be going after raw Butterfly explicitly, because of all the startup, but you can hedge your bets with prediction far.S or 2H. This takes aim at other Anji options such as forward movement or him dash blocking, while covering against Butterfly startup.

If he does end up throwing one at a distance, take the opportunity to throw items instead of trying to challenge the butterfly directly.

Rerere Thrust (41236K) would be a good option, however, it's reactable with Fuujin should the Anji be playing reactively when moving forward.

Slashback vs. Butterfly

Faust's odd air Slashback boxes are much larger than his normal air blocking animation. This allows you to "project" a hitbox into a butterfly, netting yourself an easy Slashback. Slashback attempts following a successful one are a 6f window instead of 2f, so double Slashback vs. Butterfly is easier than you would think.

This isn't necessarily good, however, as Anji 623H can be done on reaction for a guaranteed punish.

Crawl

While Faust can Crawl under Butterfly to ruin Anji setups, generally strong Anji players know how to negate this. You can still try for it if you think you'll get away with it, but don't bank on it.

Axl Low

 Axl Low

Overview

Goals

  • Poke in situations where Axl is in whiff recovery in order to guarantee item pull opportunities.
  • Focus on rotating through your stronger neutral tools to force him into riskier plays.
  • Respect Rensen FRC
  • Air FD to tuck your legs is important when making jump-in attempts in this matchup.

Neutral

Overview

  • Playing reactively allows you to 5K his jS, allows you to block Rensen, allows you to far.S behind 5P.
  • Axl will run in to start pressure to take advantage of reactive play.
  • Axl approach, jS and 5P all lose to dash up 6P.
  • Dash up 6P loses to Rensen or 2P Rensen.
  • Rensen and 2P generally do poorly against dash jump FD > jD, or reactive play if you're close enough.

Going in behind 5P or whiffed options is very strong in this matchup. Every whiffed option is generally a chance to farm an item, or even, if you're on point, get a guaranteed punish.

Axl can punish reactive play by moving forward, or taking the opportunity to force you to block a Rensen FRC in order to get in close. Challenging Rensen FRC can be done by going up and over, or by just waiting out the Rensen pressure until Axl gasses himself meter-wise.

When They're Playing Reactively

Axl will likely start playing reactively when he wants to punish you for jumping. It can be good to establish the fact that you'll make jump attempts over 5P, 2P, 2H and Rensen with jD, as it will force him to leave more gaps in neutral for you to dash far.S/2H to pull items.

A reactive Axl might also end up being more vulnerable to sudden approach. Dash Brake is super valuable when it comes to upsetting Rensen spacing, so if you're scared of your dash pokes being counterpoked by other Axl options, Dash Brake can act as a great hedge to gain ground, provided the Axl is waiting for something.

Anti-airing

5K is a fairly dominant option when done on reaction to Axl's jumps, and is more likely to beat out moves like jS when done on reaction to Axl's jump. Dash 6P is a great prediction option in some cases, just because it challenges a lot of Axl's grounded options.

Offensive Situations

Meaty 2K is a great catchall for all his reversal options. He has pretty potent mid and high reversal options with 623S and 623P, but these are all low vulnerable. Space and time the 2K to connect with the last two hits, and Axl will be forced to respect and gravitate to other options.

Dealing with 6H

6H can be blocked in the air.

On Defense

This is Axl's strongest counterplay option vs. FB Chop, j2K and jump escapes. It leads to very good damage, and leaves him plus or able to contest the situation following, even on instant block.

IBing this move is generally very good, and offers you the frame advantage necessary to contest, but only offers a guaranteed throw punish when it's done up close.

In Neutral

6H is quite a dominant option, but does lose handily to prediction far.S and 5K.

Slashback

One of the more practical Slashback situations in the game. It shuts down 6H quite handily, and can lead to a full punish.

Cursed Hitbox/Keyboard Slashback Tech

Hold 1, Press Up+S+H. This allows you to stand Slashback 6H on reaction with a much greater leniency. This is probably the best answer to 6H when playing reactively.

Dealing with Rensen

Block it if you're close.

If he whiffs it at range, dash in far.S after the move has whiffed in front of you. Dashing too early will lead you to getting clipped, and deny you the punish.

Rensen Up

IBing this will give you a lot of frame advantage. Take the advantage to dash far.S for a free Item.

Rensen Down (Whirlydoo)

FD the hits and you'll get a free punish with far.S regardless of how close he is.

Rensen FRC

Respect FRC if he's using it. Just wait it out until he gasses himself.

Dealing with UFO

Block it standing. Punish with 2H > Pogo.

Dealing with the Unblockable (46H)

Cancels into Unblockable are pretty easily challenged with FB Chop. Axl doing gatlings into 6H is a strong way to counter this.

2D lacks decent gatling options, so you can more or less FB Chop with impunity unless he gets wild with some of his off-kilter followups such as 41236S, which can be punished just by blocking and playing reactively.

Covering Axl Wakeup with Meaty 2K

Most of Axl's reversal options lose outright to meaty 2K. Not even his super will catch 2K recovery if it's timed properly (So that the last hit connects meaty).

Timing the 2nd hit to connect meaty will stuff both his wakeup Guard Point and his wakeup DP.

Crawl

You can crawl under his 41236S. To do so from crouch block, move to 2 and back to 1 to "correct" your crawl animation to compensate should he cross up.

Match Footage

Baiken

 Baiken

The following guide is Under Construction

Overview

This matchup has a more zoning/lame pace to it because of Baiken Guard Cancels. Baiken can't Guard Cancel in the air, so you're encouraged to zone her out with Bag, and play around her attempts to reach you via air options.

When it comes to pressure, Guard Cancels force you away from Faust's slower and higher level attacks in close, because they offer free, reactionary Guard Cancel punishes. Max range normals are generally a harder punish. You'll pressure her with a lot of staggered lights, while being proactive with Mettagiri, FDC jK and Throw to mix her up. Her short throw range makes it harder for her to contest a well-spaced Mettagiri.

Goals

  • Try to stall the match with Bag. Faust is really good at going "Up and Over" Baiken's Tatami.
  • Pull items that allow you to bully in neutral.
  • Go after her forced air approach with jH.
  • Challenge her dominant airdash normals with dash under 2K.
  • Base your close range offense around Mettagiri.

Neutral

Using Love!/Bag (j236P)

Set the tone of neutral by throwing Bag, as Baiken is inherently weak to dealing with it. It covers grounded movement, and Baiken blocking it in the air generally leads to a neutral situation.

If Baiken is going for Tatami footsies, she doesn't have enough time to press the situation Bag creates. This allows for free falling jH to stuff her air approach, netting you strong counterhits or free item tosses on landing.

Because most of the counterplay against Bag is airborne, Guard Cancels are no longer in the picture. For Baiken to get under Bag in neutral requires some committal movement ahead of time, which gives you a good basis to start zoning her out.

High Bag vs. Low Bag

Higher bag is going to be more vulnerable to Baiken dashing under you. This puts her in a better situation for airthrow.

Lower bag is going to cover the ground, and allow you to line up falling jH more easily.

Anti-airing

A lot of the match is going to be forcing Baiken from standard grounded approach using your air options. Her jH can be hard to contest if you don't AA it out of startup, so in some situations where she has time to get it out, you just have to block.

It's not uncommon

Dealing with Guard Cancels

High level attacks give Baiken a lot of good opportunities to Guard Cancel. Keep your offense to light attacks to force her to commit to guard cancel motions, and don't force yourself to try for 2H/far.S in neutral should you find yourself to be too close.

Dealing with Tatami

Long Distance/Neutral Tatami

Baiken whiffing Tatami in neutral is generally hard to whiff punish conventionally due to its active and persistent hitbox. However, all that recovery gives you a great opportunity to throw Bag or items to set up good situations. Playing passively in neutral with Bag and jH is generally the answer.

Instant Airdash Tatami (Kire Tatami)

Preemptively hitting her with 5K should you have time is a good answer to IAD Tatami.

However, in a lot of situations. You're simply just going to want to go up and over and throw bag. Kire Tatami is a very committal action, despite how fast it is, and it doesn't hit high up, making it fairly easy to jump over.

Ground Tatami in Blockstrings

FD Baiken out, create gaps to jump up and over. The further away Baiken is when she Tatamis, the better, generally. This denies her good spacing for FRC pressure, and should Tatami be spaced in a way where it hits late, you have more time to jump up and out.

Air Tatami in Blockstrings

Jump Cancel Air Tatami is a common enough attempt to restablish pressure while also baiting out counterpokes.

If shes FRCs the air Tatami, Air IB > Rhythm Crawl quite good to blow up standard Airdash jS>jH done post-FRC.

Dealing with Suzuran

Dealing with the Claw

  • IB the preceding normal to make a gap to superjump up and over. Followed by airdash escape or Bag. Very strong and hard to contain.
  • React and Crawl. Go for free far.S punish. Weak to pressure rebuys if you're sitting there watching the screen for Claw.
  • Preemptive Forcebreak Chop (214D). Dies to Tatami.

Playing reactively allows you to Crawl on reaction. Netting you a punish. However, you want to be aware that IB superjump can sometimes be a better hedge, going over Claw but also being hard to reach.

Crawl

Against Kabari/Claw(41236H) in pressure. A strong reaction option that gives you a far.S punish afterwards.

You can crawl against airdash jS fairly well. Doing so forces Baiken to substandard airdash options that are easier to contest with your other anti-airs.

Match Footage

Woocash vs. ElvenShadow, EVO GF: https://youtu.be/Kn8T-9ZJdms?t=550

Bridget

 Bridget

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Chipp Zanuff

 Chipp Zanuff

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Dealing with Gamma Blade

Long total duration and recovery, just ridiculously plus on block. The idea is you sort of have to respect it in situations where he forces it on you, such as on wakeup or after you've burnt air options.

However, in neutral, jumping at Chipp can net you a big punish. Gamma Blade doesn't have a lot of vertical reach either, if you FD when you jump, you'll clear it easily.

Dealing with Alpha Blade

Moving and blocking, generally a good idea against this move. It's super high commit, but very dominant, so just stay mobile if you suspect it's coming. Can't really be blocked on reaction, so watch out.

Dealing with Teleport

You have a selection of options here.

  • Reaction 4PH to option-select FD with 6P (Should he move behind you with D Teleport.
  • Reaction 2K to cover for K teleport.
  • Reaction air IB his teleport options into ground throw or j2K.
  • Keep moving or jumping so that teleport can't track your position. Prediction j2K can offer ample protection here.
  • You can technically airthrow Chipp out of H and D teleport, however, it's an incredibly hard reaction.

Hitbox Users

Just frame 17S+H works really well here thanks to crossup mechanics giving you autocorrect stand slashback.

Crawl

You can crawl under Rekkas, specifically Resshou (236S) and Senshuu (Overhead Kick, 236K during either Resshou or Rokusai).

Match Footage

Dizzy

 Dizzy

Overview

Faust has plenty of ways to terrorize Dizzy and rattle her cage. Her normals are not fantastic and you can answer almost every single one without trying. That said, when she puts the pressure on, Dizzy is capable of forcing you to block for upwards of 10 seconds with plenty of ways to deal with the usual Faust defense tricks. Your enormous air hurtbox just means one slip up turns into an 80% combo or another knockdown with icicle, or both. While this match is in your favor, don't turn your back on Dizzy for a second.

Goals

  • Stop her pressure resets, summons, and general everything by using f.S
  • Control the air space
  • Don't get grabbed!

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

Dizzy's Forward Dash

When dashing forwards, Dizzy's feet come off the ground and her hurtbox changes. In all of her MUs, save for Justice, this allows her to high profile low to the ground moves. For Faust, the following attacks lose to her Dash:

  • 2H
  • 2P
  • Chibi Faust and Robo Ky

While the list is short, all four of these are key to challenging someone in neutral as Faust, often in tandem. While none of them are completely off the table, and 2H/2P are still useful in blockstrings or combos, this means that you may have to gamble on higher risk pokes that you know can beat her dash. You don't want to whiff 2H on someone point blank, so it's vital you learn to survive without it.

Using f.S

In part because she easily challenges 2H in neutral, Faust's f.S is big against Dizzy. Prudent application of this button will turn this MU into a frustrating experience for her.

  • She cannot crouch or dash over it.
  • It can catch her attempts to jump.
  • It will punish non-FRC'd H icicle immediately on block.
  • Can stop many pressure resets on reaction due to the range and speed, frequently interrupting summons or breaking fish.

On hit or block, f.S can be reverse gatling'd into 2K or cancelled into an item toss which is vital if it hits Fish and not Dizzy. Despite catching jumps, there is of course always going to be a point where she can go around it instead. A lot of its strength against her can be applied by waiting and reacting to shut down pressure, so don't recklessly throw it from neutral and give her the advantage for no reason.

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Dizzy's air normals are good, she has two airdashes, and being airborne means you won't be able to f.S her neutral. Expect to deal with an air situation as often as you expect to poke her to death in neutral.

j.H is the reliable, powerful air move that makes up much of Faust's air control. It requires proper assessment of height, but when used correctly will shunt her back into the edge of the screen and onto the ground. Use this to beat her airdashes and pretty much all of her air-to-airs when you have the time to. Close range j.H is killer in its own right, but you should be using this before that becomes a situation. A properly lined up j.H close to the ground will even beat her ground summons from across the screen.

When defending from the ground, 6P is a weakened response due to how deep Dizzy's j.2S hits, leaving you with 5K and 2K to deal with her air game. It still has its traditional uses in restricting attempts to cross the screen, but an additional lack of cancel options besides item toss only exacerbates its weaknesses in this mathcup.

5K is a great all around move for stuffing Dizzy's airdashes in neutral on a guess. Low to the ground j.2S is great at pestering, so if you want to catch her but don't think f.S will get her jump, use 5K to go for the next step instead. Challenging this move from the ground can be difficult for Dizzy, but not impossible - on a quick reaction or a hard callout she can simply icicle and get a free hard knockdown. Mix it up with j.H and 2K.

2K is an extremely loaded move. Multiple hits means it can plow through fish and still go for Dizzy, disjointed hitbox means it can anti-air her going over you even as she tries to use j.2S, and for whatever reason it has a tendency to not only turn around to face her trying to cross-up, but can hit behind Faust if she actually crosses and lands behind you. Its use as a pressure tool is twice as effective on her, since she lacks meaningful defense measures, just make sure to mix your options up with something that can jump over the Coffin reversal. The first hit of 2K is jump-cancellable, so the pressure is right there. There is not a lot she can do against this move even if she knows it's coming.

Dealing with Tick Throws From Fish

  • Mix between Instant Block and FD before the gap. Instant Block when you want to jump. FD otherwise.
  • Tuck your hurtbox in by using FD during prejump. You'll enter an air FD state as soon as you leave the ground.
  • This is still a mixup situation. The following is simply your standard spread of options.

Instant block and then 7FD (Jump FD or Superjump FD). The idea is you FD as soon as you leave the ground, and tuck your legs via the FD animation.

The earlier you jump out of blockstun, the less likely she will catch you on the way up with buttons. Her throw OS options such as 6SH, won't catch you if you jump early, but you'll have to FD it if you jump late (Usually with fuzzy jump timing).

Instant blocking can make the gap larger than she suspects. If she wants to throw you tightly out of an instant block, she needs to throw earlier than normal. This means if you were to FD in the same situation, her button would not throw you (You extend blockstun, and by result, your throw protection is extended.)

This does not protect you from Dizzy hitting your prejump, as this is a mixup situation. You only have 5f of throw invuln to work with, so it's quite easy for her to mix you up in this situation.

If Dizzy does her tick throw too closely, you can counterthrow.

You can also attempt to ruin her setup via Forcebreak Chop, however, she has the tools to play around this.

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

You can find a detailed list of every moves that Faust can crawl in the table below

Character Move Crouch (2) Forward Crawl (3) Notes
 Dizzy 5PGGAC Dizzy 5P.pngGuardMidStartup5Recovery12Advantage-4 -
2PGGAC Dizzy 2P.pngGuardMidStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2 Dizzy should use 2K instead of 2P in this MU
6PGGAC Dizzy 6P.pngGuardMidStartup11Recovery19Advantage-9 -
5KGGAC Dizzy 5K.pngGuardMidStartup7Recovery14Advantage-4 -
f.SGGAC Dizzy fS.pngGuardMidStartup8Recovery12Advantage-4 -
5HGGAC Dizzy 5H.pngGuardMidStartup12Recovery15Advantage-4 Careful because this move is very active

and can lead to counter hit combo if punished early

j.KGGAC Dizzy jK.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup4Recovery12Advantage- -
j.SGGAC Dizzy jS.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery16Advantage- -
j.HGGAC Dizzy jH.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup11Recovery28Advantage- -
j.DGGAC Dizzy jD.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup10Recovery15+5 after landingAdvantage- -
214XGGAC Dizzy 214P.pngGuardAllStartup58~68 (26~35)Recovery12 [Total 36]Advantage- 214K is the only one that's not crawlable.

However, while D fish can be crawled, K~D and H~D cannot.

(See vid for further explanation)

421SGGAC Dizzy 421S.pngGuardAllStartup22RecoveryTotal 37Advantage- Only if dagger is sent 3/4 of the screen and more
236XGGAC Dizzy 236K.pngGuardAllStartup32RecoveryTotal 51Advantage+11 Very specific part of the move can be crawled

Notice that you can crawl both her Taunt and her dead angle as well


Extra information can be found in this visual guide:

Match Footage

2014/1/19 GGXX AC+R at Monte Carlo - Makki(DI) vs Defure(FA)

  • Tons of great examples of using f.S to shut down everything.
  • Good examples of f.S > 2K reverse gatling usage to break fish
  • Extremely strong air-to-air and anti-air performance with j.H/5K/6P
  • Some unfortunate but relevant scenes of what Faust looks like when cornered by Dizzy

2013/8/10 GGXX AC+R Mikado stream - Kazuki(DI) vs Nage(FA)

  • Incredibly oppressive use of dash-in f.S
  • Locked down air space with 5K and j.H
  • Fantastic example of Faust keeping pace with Dizzy and setting the tempo
  • Generally strong example of Faust pressure
  • Who doesn't think Nage when they think Faust player?

Eddie

 Eddie

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Faust

 Faust

Overview

"Wait, this is what I do to people?"

Note: For clarification, "Faust" in this will refer to the opponent while the player will be referred to with "you."

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Stopping Wakeup 6PH

Wakeup 6P has some serious upper-body invuln. This makes meaty j2K a bad choice, as it's incredibly hard to time.

Faust has a number of options to stop wakeup 6PH, and it can be good to have all or some of these in your toolbox in order to not only pressure Faust on wakeup, but take advantage of item pressure should you have it available.

FDC j.K

If you can get clean with your meaty FDC j.Ks, you can pressure Faust more reliably on his wakeup. FDC j.K has a much more generous hitbox, as it hits low to the ground with proper timing.

Meaty 2S/2P/2K

If FDC j.K isn't in your repertoire, you can meaty 2S for a high payoff Counterhit punish, or time a 6H to clip it just before it goes active (6H too early and Faust can react to stop himself from playing into the 6H).

Whiff Punish

The alternative is waiting out the 6P entirely, and whiff punishing. If you're clean enough, you can whiff punish with 2H > Pogo.

Avoiding the situation entirely

The alternative is simply going for Meaty 2H pressure on Faust's wakeup.

Dealing with Scalpel (41236K)

Reaction 2D

Reaction 2D is probably the premier whiff punish vs. Scalpel. It low profiles immediately, so it makes for a fairly comfortable reaction, and 2D is liable to clip the Scalpel at all ranges.

You can either take the knockdown with 2D > Item Toss, or you can 2D jc IAD FB Pogo for a pickup.

The thing you need to be mindful of is that you can't really be in the middle of something to do this. Faust is really good at capitalizing on a reactive Faust. Fancy that.

Airborne Options

Jumping at Faust is an option, which can be good if you have other reasons to take to the air. Scalpel and other long pokes are very vulnerable to FB Pogo or an early jS or jD.

Faust is pretty good at anti-airing you, however, so be careful. You don't want to be jumping just to punish Scalpel. Jumping should be used to cover multiple options (Long pokes + Scalpel, for example).

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Since you're reading this on the Faust page, it can be assumed you're no stranger to the nonsense of Crawl. Faust is especially good at tormenting himself with it.

  • f.S is extremely vulnerable here. Because it has long whiff recovery, Faust can crawl it and comfortably visually confirm it. 2P and 2D will go under it outright during active frames.
  • 5K in all fairness, you should be used to this whiffing over the top of someone. f.S does not actually go under, but the plethora of options that will (including forwards dash) can challenge its safety.
  • j.2K cannot hit Crawl. Ever. Due to how character collision boxes work, you will simply "rub" together and land before the hitbox has a chance to get low enough to the ground to connect.

Other notable mentions are that 5P can be crouched, 5H will only hit on its third hit and will completely whiff against Crawl, and Poison will whiff against Crawl. 2K will also have issues hitting with its earlier hits.

Match Footage

I-No

 I-No

Overview

Faust really stresses I-No out in this matchup. She can hit him with all kinds of neat combos thanks to his large hurtbox, but getting there is a serious struggle. The focus of this matchup should be halting her advances and avoiding being on the defensive. A good I-No can still pressure your wakeup, so even if you can get away with it, avoid playing too ignorantly. That said, "do Faust stuff" has been described by I-No players as a solid counter to her in this scenario.

Goals

  • Shut down her air supremacy
  • Keep her near the tip of your pokes like f.S, 2H, etc.

Neutral

This is going to be your biggest opportunity to keep I-No oppressed and stop her from getting things moving. Stroke the Big Tree is going to lose to 2S, or 2H, or even Drill during the ending where she stands up. Hoverdash can be clamped down with 2S, f.S, 5K, etc... The important thing is avoiding giving her the distance necessary to set up a good note, and 6P your scalpel thrust attempts.

Strongest Counterpokes

Most of your moves will be counter-pokes in this scenario, though not necessarily reactive, as I-No struggles to stay in the air. When you aren't on the ground, j.H will answer almost every thing she tries to do, if you are then the trio of anti-airs will bring her back down to the ground where you can 2H, f.S, 2S, etc.

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Faust beats HCL standing. That isn't to say that she shouldn't, or won't, use it - it can still be a useful tool for poking at Faust in the air. It does mean alternative combo routes and restricted use, however. In addition, Faust can crawl under all of I-No's air normals except a delayed j.H, which adds a larger mental stack to the I-No player trying to get pressure in.

Match Footage

Jam Kuradoberi

 Jam Kuradoberi

Overview

Faust is a character with many good but narrow ways to control the screen. Jam is a tiny, fast character who can very easily get past Faust's options from a surprisingly far distance. Not exactly a bad matchup, but it's a hell of a lot easier for Jam than it is for you.

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Dealing with Puffball

In Neutral

Dealing with Puffball is sometimes more of a "Dealing with Bakushuu" question.

Throwing bag in front of Jam when she goes to command dash can sometimes net you a solid punish.

Preemptive 2D can snipe her trying to go deep with Puffball. It clashes reliably with Puffball itself as well. Counterplay will be her other command dash options.

Preemptive dash in normals (2K and 2S) can sometimes catch her going for it as well, while covering against sudden airdashes.

Chilling in the air with FDC can also potentially net you a j2K > FB.Pogo whiff punish.

Hedging with moves that don't have large whiff animations can also help quite a bit. Might not punish puffball outright, but you're unlikely to eat shit for them, and can still anti-air/play reactively.

Naturally, 2H obliterates command dash for huge reward, but the rest of Jam's kit means it cannot be the only answer. Hedge appropriately.

Footsie Puffball vs. Deep Puffball

Plays against Deep Puffball (Low profile options) can get blown up by mid-screen/footsie puffballs, so be careful.

On block

If you end up playing reactively as a hedge against other command dash options (Especially in pressure), then IBing Puffball is quite nice. Jam struggles to tightly keep you grounded after you IB puffball. Jumping immediately after IBing Puffball grants you a fairly strong escape, especially if Jam lacks cards to convert off of air-hit.

Even on normal block of Puffball, jumping or backdashing after leaving blockstun forces her to limit her options if she wants to convert meaningfully and not just let you out after a wack hit.

ForceBreak Puffball

Get it to whiff and punish. 2D can clash fairly reliably, however. Counterplay, as mentioned above, are the other command dash options.

Crawl

Match Footage

Johnny

 Johnny

Overview

In a similar vein to I-No, this is a matchup where Johnny is going to struggle at Faust's preferred ranges. Faust has better hitboxes right where Johnny likes to play his game, and he can even low-profile some of Johnny's good tools. Unlike I-No (though you should never play this way), Faust can't afford to be too ignorant here. When properly set up, Johnny can very carelessly blow through many of your gimmicky defensive options on his pressure, and lead into some fantastic combo opportunities against your air hurtbox. Impatient Johnny players will be quickly weeded out for trying to aggressively control space, but ones who know the matchup will shut you down without much issue unless you know it well.

Goals

  • Use f.S and Item Toss to compromise Johnny's ground movement
  • Meet him in the air when he tries to escape

Neutral

Generally speaking the Johnny player, if they can't get inside near the start of the round, will try to play around your key pokes like f.S which are able to clamp his ground game. Don't get overconfident with 5K or f.S, as while they are center to managing the middle of the screen, Johnny can and will be looking to counter-poke with 6H or 6P. They will also try to challenge your gaps as much as possible, both to create whiffs/counterhits, and because of Johnny's generally mediocre reversal situation.

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

As with most matchups and wakeups, 2K is a god-normal. If properly timed, a Johnny attempting to wake up with That's My Name will either whiff over the top of you or you will be able to recover in time to block.

Note about Johnny's Dash: Johnny's dash is able to go over the top of 2P and Mini-Faust and Mini-Robo. The timing is stricter and the hurtbox shrinking is a lot less devastating than in the Dizzy MU, but it's worth knowing.

Defensive Situations

Johnny can apply pressure fairly well. In particular, if he throws a coin in the upward arc you are not going to be able to squeeze out with the usual tricks of taking to the skies. You will be forced to sit and block, which won't be pleasant. When in close quarters he will also be able to properly nail you down with moves that won't whiff on you crouching or crawling, add-in his devastating damage off throw and a competent player's ability to Enkasu. While the situation is not hopeless here, this is exactly where you are spending the entire match trying not to be.

Crawl

Crouching Faust will go under Johnny's 5K and f.S, which can inconvenience his poking to the point of abandoning f.S altogether in favor of trying to call out your f.S instead. Crawling will allow you to also go under his 2P, though this isn't as consequential for Johnny.

Match Footage

Justice

 Justice

Overview

Notes on j.H

  • Faust rising j.H is good because Justice j.H is slow.
  • Be quick with your anti-airs (5K, 6P) if she's jumping at you conventionally.
  • Try not to play into nukes. Some j.H from Justice will just be fully covered.
  • Air instant block is not good at most heights.

Beating j.H

j.H is one of Justice's best air normals, especially for beating ground AAs. This makes it trouble for Faust, who has a lot of good ground AAs that can often beat/trade against degenerate jump-ins. 6P will often lose to a deep j.H.

j.H isn't good to air block and it has quite a dominant hitbox. It's incredibly plus (being a level 5 move) and Justice is often doing it from a fast falling trajectory. This means jump IB is not going to be the answer. The move's one weakness is that it has a lot of startup, so it's quite vulnerable to rising j.H used as an air-to-air.

Justice wants to land j.H deep in order to get pressure going, and doesn't want it to whiff over Faust. This means, in general, you may have more time thank you think to react to Justice's air movement and options. Running underneath Justice and simply escaping the situation can also be a viable option.

Double jump j.H

Should Justice try to bait anti-airs via double jump, she's even more vulnerable to Faust rising j.H. Keep this in mind when she's committing to air movement without any proper nuke coverage.

Dealing with FB Dash

Grounded Version

Loses pretty handily to a preemptive jump back at a distance. It's full counter hit recovery, and quite wide, so jump back j.D will actually counter hit and stagger Justice while keeping you away from oncoming nukes.

FD as you jump back to ensure that she doesn't clip your legs with anything.

Air Version

This won't hit grounded Faust, but expect air options as she recovers. If you're ready, it will be tough for her to act before you do. You can anti-air with 5K if she's low, which is your fastest option. 6P might trade.

If you don't react in time, watch out for fast options out of recovery, such as Michael Sword or j.P. You can try to deal with her available air options as appropriate. This isn't an awful situation for Faust, but do try to react to the dash and challenge Justice so she doesn't get too much mileage out of it.

Negating Crossup Setups with Nukes and FD Dash

If you hold back and don't FD, you will maintain crossup protection as she crosses over.

Dealing with Counter (236P)

Faust can easily meaty with lows like 2K(2-3), 2P, and 2D which will simply beat this move, so you're more likely to see it in neutral to catch a stray poke. In those cases the counter can't be whiff punished on reaction easily, and your best options are either to throw an item or use Justice's recovery to approach.

Using 2D or 2P in neutral can tag Justice if you're worried about her doing this move, but those buttons have their own drawbacks (long recovery, large extended hurtbox) that mean you shouldn't rely on them too much.

Dealing with Nukes

Faust will win neutral against any other character if left alone for long enough thanks to his items, but Justice is one of the few characters who can consistently do something strong enough to annoy Faust in neutral. Playing pure defense in this matchup will lead to chip death and resource starvation. Do not rely too heavily on any one of the follow techniques, but do not discount them either: a gimmick is best used when your opponent thinks too highly of you.

Moving Around Them

Faust has a divekick, a FB air pogo that changes his jump arc, a very long and long-lasting airdash, and divekick FDC cancels to hover in place. You can often simply move around nukes instead of thinking that you need to challenge them, although moving around close pairs of nukes is considerably more difficult.

Note that crouch will not escape the blast range of P or K nukes, and that Justice can simply release a nuke and throw another one if you're playing too passively.

Staying on Justice

As with most characters, Justice can struggle to escape pressure without spending meter (Michael Blade or FB dash) or taking a risk (her counter loses to lows, her reversal is only high profile). Thus, Faust's strong pressure and mixup game is very relevant against Justice once you have navigated past a screen full of nukes. Take care not to reset pressure mindlessly with mids like j.2K and Going My Way, since Justice can use her counter to challenge those.

Remember: as much as you might be afraid of getting tagged by Justice's defensive options, the Justice player is also afraid of getting tagged by Faust's instant overhead or proximity unblockable.

Hitting Justice Around Nukes

f.S is a very potent option for hitting the startup of any nuke. This normal defines Justice's counterplay. It forces her to want to jump from behind nukes, or try to make counterpoke plays against f.S startup.

Although f.S itself may not lead to very much at max range, it will at least enable Faust to throw an item, which can potentially tilt neutral in your favour (meteors, minis, bomb).

Self-destructing Nukes Yourself

2P or f.S will extend Faust's hurtbox enough to trigger nuke detonations at the cost of a sliver of health. This is most effective against P/K nukes but can be done with other normals/nukes if you need to clear the screen. It's quite hard for Justice to punish this without committing to forward movement alongside a nuke.

Throwing Items

Justice cannot reliably punish/discourage Faust from throwing items if he is outside her f.S range and if she does not have meter for FB dash. Any situation where Faust can safely throw an item and potentially score something huge like meteors or a mini is very helpful and should be abused. Poison is also a decent item, since standing near it will somewhat shield Faust from being poked at unless Justice wants to risk being poisoned.

Doors

If all else fails, Faust can use his door teleports as high-risk options to close the gap. They don't lead to much by themselves, but simply winning neutral against Justice can be worth it. Make sure to use all of Faust's various door options, RC/FRC options, and FB door to make their timing ambiguous. And don't get predictable with them lest you give Justice a big, easy punish.

Justice Okizeme

  • Overhead/Low mix
  • FB Chop windows
  • Common left/rights

Match Footage

Kliff Undersn

 Kliff Undersn

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Dealing with Pizza

On wakeup, you have to respect the Pizza, as it's way too plus. However, if Kliff does it mid string, without FRC. It's really easy to escape pressure if you IB and superjump out.

Dealing with Drill

IBing any of the hits will give you a punishment opportunity on block, as the IB will draw Kliff closer to you. 5P is the easiest punish, however it might catch him airborne or grounded depending on how clean your timing is out of block. Combo 5P into 2S to give yourself time to confirm either way.

Dealing with Dodge

Safejump/Meaty into Throw OS vs. Dodge

Dodge has approximately 13ish frames of startup, even when done as fast as possible. This means Dodge being done on wakeup, is always punishable by a Throw OS of some kind. You can buffer throw in your meaty j2K to throw Kliff out of wakeup Dodge.

Input Example: j2K > 6SH (Throw).

The 6SH naturally only comes out should the j2K whiff.

The same kind of technique can be applied with meaty normals, provided you're in throw range.

Input Example: 2K > 6SH (Throw).

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Ky Kiske

 Ky Kiske

Overview

John Guilty Gear is a character who likes to use his pokes to control somewhere around the mid-range. When farther away, Stun Edge and all its variations give him ways to challenge and attempt to control the opponent.

Unfortunately, Faust does not care about either of those things, and is generally better at the mid-range. This shouldn't be considered a re-run of Johnny or I-No, however.

Goals

  • His f.S whiffs at a distance where yours connects. You want to keep him just slightly outside of mid-range.
  • Be ready to go for low profiling attacks and be very early with your j.H

Neutral

Going under f.S gives you enough time to visually confirm basic pokes.

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Ky generates a lot of meter, but it's the steam to his pressure engine. As he runs out, or becomes forced to choose between multiple uses of meter, the opportunities to escape increase. The typical rules apply here: FD his normals, IB his projectiles to reduce their frame advantage, pay attention to non-FRC'd projectiles. Be very wary of his throw, as he can FRC it for a good combo and OS it with his c.S for a strong mixup - 6PH OS is a good defense against him. Overall, patience is important.

NOTE: Ky can easily pressure your attempts to jump up and out. By jumping during CSE FRC he will create a high hitting projectile that can halt your attempts to jump out. Not that you should never try.

Crawl

Faust is able to crawl a decent selections of Ky's attacks, including ones that could be considered vital to his game plan. However, keen players will be aware of what "gaps" there are in their kit because of this, and will usually have a back-up plan ready, so never be content to hold forward crouch like nothing is coming. There is some player interaction here - there will be times they still use f.S.

  • 5P
  • f.S
  • 6K
  • 6P
  • 5H
  • Stun Edge (grounded)
  • Charged Stun Edge (grounded/non jump FRC)

On Oki, crawling CSE is not advisable, as many Ky players are well aware that this won't work on its own. Typically, they will try to play around the idea that you will wake-up crawling, by doing a fast run up low, or immediately performing Greed Sever or FB Greed Sever to punish greedy Crawl attempts. It is possible to crawl every hit and block lows in some scenarios, but this carries the generic risk already mentioned.

Crawling Stun Edge at closer ranges becomes ambiguous when Ky has 25% meter, as he can FRC to move in faster or use FB Greed Sever in response to a perceived attempt to crawl under a CS pressure reset.

While you can't crawl Greed Sever, due to how late it hits you it's possible to Crawl while searching for something else and reaction block it as it crosses behind you, still netting a punish.

Match Footage

May

 May

TODO:

  1. Clean up Krackposting. Some of the info could probably be summarized better.

Overview

This matchup is probably Faust Favoured™, but it can be incredibly delicate. May jH is a terrorizing normal, and depending on when she inputs it in her jump arc, she can challenge most conventional anti-airs. She has air tools necessary to get in should you try to antiair reactively, thanks to a combination of her fast double jump, j2H and jS.

This being a focal point of the matchup, it's probably better to stay back and pull items, while being aware of the rest of her kit at midrange, and when she's pressuring you.

Goals

  • Play passively and farm items. It's alright to allow her to whiff air normals and double jumps at a distance to allow you to pull for free.
  • Hedge against options like Dolphin while zoning and controlling the ground.
  • Do your best not to play into jH so much. Her jumping trajectory mixed with jH, j2H and deep jS gives a jump-ins built in mixups if you decide to try to anti-air her conventionally or by using Crawl.
  • j2K over whiffed Up Dolphins while blocking the deep ones.
  • Scalpel just enough to convince her you'll do it, then don't do it.
  • Respect 6H callouts. It's strong to play reactively against it.
  • Respect Forcebreak Dolphins. Try to avoid the situations entirely. If you need to take them on the chin, see: "Dealing with Forcebreak Dolphins"
  • Be ready to shut down special cancels into Command Grab on reaction, but be ready to deal with raw Command Grab on prediction, as it resembles forward dash.

Anti-airing (The May Situation)

May can jS to punish you for going for reaction whiff punish options against her dominant air normals (Such as jH or j2H), provided you're looking to throw her landing recovery.

Reaction whiff punish throw strong. Weak to Deep jS.

Rising jH, should it end up "slight above" May, loses to her jH outright. Making sure jH traces up and into her, at a distance, is key.

Timing Prediction Rising jH So You Don't Eat Shit

Essentially you want to jump at the same time as May in order to ensure that you don't get beat out by her jH.

Preemptive Anti-Air Triangle

This will normally be done when you're even or slightly plus. Usually after 2H > Item Toss, 2H>5P Reverse Gatling or in a weird item situation where you both recover at a similar time.

  1. Rising jH vs. Everything but Instant Airdash jH
  2. Slightly high FDC jH vs. Everything but Horizontal Dolphin
  3. Rising jS vs. Everything but Reactive May

Stay grounded pressure with far.S and 2H when you suspect May will play reactively. This will allow you to capitalize on her desire to stay grounded and get items rolling.

Spacing jH

jH is much less likely to die to May jH if you space it at tipper range. Mind your spacing when going for rising jH anti-air.

Reacting to Doublejump with Rising jH

Whether or not jH works is relative to May's double jump height. Should May doublejump too low, you need to look at lower or grounded option. Rising jH is going to reach over her, or come out too slowly to beat out her jH.

A May that likes to doublejump at the apex of her jump is more likely to eat shit vs. jH.

Dealing with 6H under pressure

May might fish for this if you're jumping too much. Forcing you to block 6H allows her to line up Up Dolphin Forcebreak.

If you are playing reactively, Late 4D (Done at the last moment), so that if May let's 6H rip late, you go through it and punish. If she let's it go early, you block.

Dealing with Command Grab

If May cancels into this from normals, it's very reactable. Reaction j2K as a punish.

If May does this raw, such as after a jump-in, you might have to deal with it more or less on a read. It's near identical to forward run, save for the animation so be prepared to fuzzy jump in pressure in order to avoid it.

Dealing with Horizontal Dolphin

At a distance (Reactable H.Horizontal Dolphin)

  • Play reactively, and crawl on reaction. (Nets punish against H Dolphin, kinda wack against S Dolphin)
  • Play reactively, 6P.
  • Preemptive j2K, 5K, 2D or far.S (Beats both)

Preemptive Normals and When to Use Them: j2K, 5K, 2D, far.S

These are all excellent candidates to hedge against Dolphin, while also beating out other May options in neutral. Keeping to these tools when you suspect Horizontal Dolphin will allow you to play neutral without slowing down the pace of the match.

j2K works really well as a counterpoke against May far.S, 2H and 2D.

5K works really well to cover sudden airdashes, Up Dolphin or May jumping at you.

2D leads to a very rewarding instant airdash combo should it connect with a wayward Horizontal Dolphin.

far.S allows you to challenge May at a distance, and it's overall very at keeping her locked down.

Reactive Options and When to Use Them: 6P and Crawl

If you're waiting for May to jump, or do something that leaves her open, such as Up Dolphins, airdashes and the like, then you can do that while hedging against Dolphin with the following options, provided you have the distance.

The issue here is that if she does slower dolphin, you might not be able to do so, and Forcebreak Dolphin might allow her to get in.

Dealing with Up Dolphin ("What's Up Dolphin?")

Dolphin countermeasures are going to be distance specific. Generally speaking, it's advantageous for you to just block or IB the Dolphin and take the frame advantage.

However, refer to the following for alternate situations:

Whiffed Up Dolphin

Defensive options are spacing specific. If May goes for longer range S Up Dolphin at a distance, Dolphin will whiff in front of you, and May can go for an immediate 2K or 2D as a pseudo mixup.

If you j2K here, you can punish most normals she goes for after Up Dolphin, without risking poking into the Dolphin too early.

Dealing with Forcebreak Dolphins

Horizontal Dolphin Dismount

Forcebreak Horizontal Dolphin generally needs to be avoided in the air, it has a lower hitbox than normal Horizontal Dolphin, so preemptive j2K or plays against air movement with rising jH or jS at a distance might just attempts involving it.

You can also deny May the ability to dismount Dolphin by preemptively smacking her with far.S.

Up Dolphin Dismount

Forcebreak Up Dolphin offers May a pretty bulletproof jump-in. However, it's not tight. You can Forcebreak Chop over deep j.S, and Crawl > Throw under jH if you need to challenge after the gap.

Crawl

Horizontal Dolphin

At a distance, you can reaction Crawl Horizontal Dolphin. The issue is that she can sort of bait out your responses after Crawl by changing up distance travelled between S or H Horizontal Dolphin.

j2H

You can crawl under j2H. This is good for a punish should she do it too high and the j2H is reactable. Doing so, however, might leave you open for a deep jump-in jS, which can still hit crawling Faust.

Forcing her to use deep jS can offer up easier anti-air opportunities, however, so Crawling should probably be used, just sparingly, or until the May adjusts with jS.

Match Footage

Millia Rage

 Millia Rage

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Order-Sol

 Order-Sol

Overview

Stressful. Another volatile matchup where you control the pace but get blown up easily.

Round start 2P is a strong option to represent, as it forces them to 2D/jump. Jump forward/back block is strong as well for a more passive option. Pogo is good too, but can get sniped by rising j.P.

Goals

You’re going to be rotating between stopping approaches/preventing charges a lot in this mu. HOS can’t maneuver around items well.

Neutral

You control the pace very well. Microdash fS/ 2H/items forces him to play patiently on the ground. When he inevitably tries iad options, you have good responses to fight back. 5K as a poke in ranges where it'll hit is great, catches IAD and if they go for gunblaze usually you can recover in time to throw.

When they dash in, you can try and just do the regular Faust triangle of responses (5p to beat ground buttons and approaches, j.2K to counterpoke, fs to catch jumps, 5k for anti airs etc etc)

Love is strong, its hard for him to catch on reaction. He can try to run under it and pressure you from the other side and force you to start blocking. It's also useful for when they want to gunblaze over and over to catch your jump in.

If you're going to jump in without FDC delays, j.P into air chain - ground stuff is better than raw falling j.D most of the time

Even though HOS's jump ins are good, using 2H as a main poke to encourage jumps still makes neutral easier to deal with

FB door is good to slow down the pace of neutral except for when they're charging, it's fast but most HOSs can react with charge explosion. Also discourages back dashing your pokes along with scalpel

Fdc j.H :) my beloved

Strongest Counterpokes

Rock it is a HOS “send it” move that travels fast and far. Levels 1 & 2 aren’t too bad to get hit by as he doesn’t get a combo. You can crawl it - but that opens you up to fafnir. RI 3 has gaps when ib'd, you can go for backdash on the last hit and be in a positive situation. Last hit is jump cancelable on whiff so you aren't completely out of the hills yet

Fafnir

if done at the same time or before, f.S will beat fafnir. it's valid to just block low, it still uses 25 meter. Don't get baited by doing commital moves to beat it - HOS wins the risk/reward.

f.S into pogo is a good frame trap against fafnir, if they jump at you then pogo K, otherwise toss an item/mash 66

When to Play Reactively

Anti-airing HOS Airdash is a little lower than others, meaning that 6P attempts tend to either get stuffed or trade unfavorably.

5k is extremely consistent and can give you a good combo on ch. 5h trades and is easier to use but is much more whiff punishable.

2K is a good reactive anti-air/tool to stuff approaches, even if the reward isn't a ton. Neutral reset + space to toss

When They're Playing Reactively

OverAbusing j2k is real in this mu. he has ground buttons that hit very high, gunblaze will destroy you and RI beats it unless done extremely preemptively. Still use it though.

Okizeme

Meaty 2K, Meaty 5P and Meaty j2K allow you to recover before DP reaches active frames. You can punish Action Charge or Action Charge FRC with 5K.

bomb bag oki is valid and sets up low/throw, otherwise getting the knockdown, throwing an item and reacting doesn't give up momentum and is less risky while still applying pressure

2S to punish DP is very safe, and even if they FRC it in time it's still your turn

Defensive Situations

Crawl's infinite crossup protection vs backturn is important, if you hold 3 vs backturn oki it hedges vs everything but 2h (BRP, the overhead flip kick, whizzes over you) Without 50 meter, a counterhit, or done extremely meaty (hard!) he cannot get anything of value off of 2H. 2H is throw invuln, do not give hos the CH he was fishing for.

Very similar to sol, fd works extremely well. Unlike sol HOS has no command grab and instead relies on high/low to open you up most of the time. You have to play patiently and react to the high/low and wait for gaps. Forcing your way out with mashing is very dangerous, but there’s times when its your only option.

5h is god tier at grabbing you from the air and bringing you back down to pressure. You can backdash it (?)

Dead angle the special moves. Insert throw attempts after random buttons to catch gunblaze without needing to react to it every time, 5P is a good scramble tool unless youre on top of each other.

Sitting on top of a mini faust > level 3 action charge most of the time

Dealing with Gunblaze On wakeup, crossup protection will be active until you FD. This can be very useful to avoid eating Gunblaze oki unnecessarily.

Action Charge Situation When HOS is charging far away from you, you can scalpel him/FB Door to punish it. Do it just enough to dissuade him, don’t use it as your layer 1 prediction (HOS can punish and rushdown after a whiff extremely well).

Scalpel whiffs fullscreen btw

Fighting good HOS players becomes extremely difficult when they know how to be patient with charge, and use it as bait. This means you’re forced to approach

You just have to let them charge every now and then. They can get one blip extremely easily, and fighting over small interactions like that is more trouble than it’s worth. You can use dash -> 2h as an option to deal with -charge frc (block) -charge explosion (whiff, you’re a bit minus (?)) -charge charge (2h ch)

But dash 2h has obvious downsides (if they IAD you can get punished). Dash FD brake when they’re trying to anticipate 2h is strong, as you can react (CH combo if they do explosion, fs becomes a good poke if they FRC)

Crawl

Match Footage

ElvenShadow VS. Tales Of Jade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zz-MlX887g (on defense elven does A LOT of jump fd)

Potemkin

 Potemkin

Overview

A Faust-favoured matchup where Faust controls the pace of the match, however, Potemkin's explosiveness can turn the matchup around in a heartbeat. A lot of the matchup for Faust, as you learn it, hinges on cleanliness over fearsome mixups or dominating pressure.

Potemkin has a rough time dealing with most items on approach, and things can quickly spiral out of control for him in neutral.

Faust doesn't lack the tools to defend himself in this matchup, but being on defense is going to be committal like anyone defending against Potemkin. Avoid playing into Potbuster, and do your best to capitalize on Potemkin's big reads as he tries to shackle your jump or backdash.

Goals

  • Zone out Potemkin with well-spaced Love! (j236P) to give you more straightfoward opportunities to anti-air and pull items.
  • Deny Potemkin opportunities to fish for big damage.
  • Shackle his wakeup defensive options with mostly bulletproof oki setups.

Round Start

5K bullies Pot out of a lot of options on round start, and forces him to move to some pretty committal options to beat it out (6P, 2D). His height means it's almost always possible to hit him when you want to.

For safety purposes, 5P > f.S is a fairly safe string. Your 5P will recover quickly to let you block or deal with other situations at round-start if it doesn't hit, while also possessing a varied gatling selection in case you need to adapt from your f.S strategy.

Neutral

Zoning with jH

Summary
  • Jump back jH sometimes on prediction to keep you safe against Jump-ins, Hammerfall and HPB.
  • Follow whiffed or blocked jH with Love!
  • You can react to Potemkin doublejump with Rising jH to force him back to ground and potentially net yourself a strong counterhit.
Prediction jH vs. Normal Jump, Hammerfall, HPB

Jump Back Rising jH is a great prediction tool against Potemkin's jump, without playing into Hammerfall or Heavenly Pot Buster.

A rising jH against normal jump can't be done on reaction to Potemkin's jump-ins, but the overall safety of the move, and Potemkin's fixed jump arc, means if he does take to the air, he's liable to either block it or get hit.

Follow this jH with Love! as soon as you recover mid-air, you can then follow said Love! with FDC jH to further cover against jumps, or land and deal with Potemkin trying to maneuver around all of this.

Reaction jH vs. Doublejump

When Potemkin doublejumps, he doesn't have much in the way of options to bait or maneuver around a reactionary rising jH. You don't need to super, just jump and jH as soon as you see the double jump. This can be very useful at a distance, and even overhead.

Watch out for Potemkin jD, however. Potemkin can bait reactionary responses to doublejump by cancelling the 2nd jump arc into jD immediately.


Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)

Summary
  • Throw bag in front of Potemkin.
  • Zone with a mix of far.S, falling jH and Item Toss upon landing.
  • Use the persistent Bag hitbox to stop Hammerfalls and make approach difficult.
  • This simplifies neutral quite a bit and can be demanding to contest on the part of Potemkin.
Breakdown

Throw this at a range where walk-forward Flick from Potemkin is very demanding. If Potemkin has to move forward before flicking, not only does he flick later (Giving you more time to contest), but it can deny him the ability to slidehead, and give you the opportunity to counterpoke both Hammerfall and Flick startup using Faust far.S

Avoiding Slidehead

Summary
  • Backdash. Must be done to escape 6H > Slidehead
  • j2K. Leaves you closer, allowing you to punish Slidehead midscreen with far.S
  • IB 6H to create a gap to act more easily against Slidehead.
  • Bag on screen, at particular spacings, deny Pot's ability to Slidehead
  • Pogo will go over the ground avoiding a knockdown that can lead to a free punish and item toss.
  • FDC as you approach landing in order to deny Pot a guaranteed Slidehead in your landing frames.
Breakdown

Jump > j2K is the go-to option in neutral for dodging Slideheads at a distance. It leaves you closer than backdash, and offers up a far.S whiff punish opportunity and half-screen.

Backdash is important for escaping 6H > Slidehead setups. The bonus blockstun from 6H means backdash is the only option that allows escape here... That or Super.

Pogo is also worth considering since at full screen it can be reacted to with pogo to get a free item toss. It can also be done after blocking 6H if the other Potemkin player then cancels to Slidehead.

IBing the 6H leading into Slidehead is important for consistency. It's a reactable IB and it makes the backdash window far more generous. Playing reactively like this, however, can leave you open to Potbuster.

Pot can aim 6H a little late on your wakeup to lead into Slidehead, bait you into reactive play and punish wakeup backdash/wakeup buttons. This all in turn makes Potbuster scarier.

Avoiding Heavenly Potbuster

Don't jump too high when he has 50 bar.

The closer you are, the less high you can jump, due to it's travel arc.

Get familiar with Heavenly's arc so that you know just how high you can jump at a given range. You still want to be able to jump in neutral to set up bag or FDC jH, and you don't want to give Potemkin free Heavenly opportunities.

Anti-airing

Potemkin jD

Potemkin jD acts a stall, making it really good at baiting out anti-airs from the ground, or even juking airthrows.

It's very vulnerable to air instant block. This cuts the blockstun dramatically, and is fairly low risk. The higher Potemkin is when he does the jD, the more generous it is to anti-air in this way.

Prediction rising jH can also act as an answer done early enough. Meet Potemkin in the air, and he'll regret delaying himself.

Potemkin Jump-ins (Such as jS and jH)

6P is a relatively straightforward and go-to answer. It reaches so high that it's quite hard to bait. If Potemkin manages to get too deep into his jump-in, it will trade or Pot will win outright.

Dealing with Hammerfall

Hammerfall is Potemkin's armored move that crosses the screen. You need two hits to break it, which you have to sometimes get creative to do. Because of the threat of Hammerfall, you do NOT want to use Scalpel too much in this matchup, since if he doesn't do Break, it will point blank you after tanking a hit.

Items are always an option for getting the first or second hit, but as always, they are fickle. A smart Potemkin is not going to Hammerfall against Chibis or if he sees a Washpan go into the sky.

Throwing Bag Ahead of Time

See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)" above.

FDC reaction j2K whiff punish

This can be an alright option to juke the Hammerfall hit. Doing so will deny Hammerfall FRC timing due to the lack of hitstop. This nets you a reaction punish with j2K > FB Pogo or j2K > Going My Way.

Reverse Gatlings (Multihit Options to beat armor)

The following options have to be done on prediction, but they work really well to shackle Hammerfall when you don't have item cover.

5P > f.S

Usually done on round start, this is flexible because 5P has a short whiff recovery and a good range going for it.

far.S > 2K

This is probably one of your strongest counterpokes against Potemkin Hammerfall. It comes out faster than 2H>5P, and is a bit stronger against a jumping Potemkin, due to far.S's more vertical hitbox.

2H > 5P

This is a very rewarding gatling to use, because it's plus on block. Due to it's slower startup, it's slightly more liable to trade if you don't have a lot of time to squeeze out a normal.

Dealing with Hammerfall Brake Pressure

The idea is, Potemkin can't easily do tight Hammerfall Brakes and still maintain enough plus frames to stop j2K AND 5K done out of blockstun. Vary between these when you want to challenge HFB.

If you want to play more conservatively, you can simply fish for a jump escape, but for a Potemkin with 50 bar, that might mean death outright with a good read.

Dealing with Hammerfall FRC/RC

You have to respect this should you find yourself in a close-range pressure situation where you're blocking Potemkin. You need to allow Potemkin to gas himself through meter use, look for Dead Angle opportunities, Burst situations, and guess correctly when he does eventually go for Potbuster or jump punishes.

Generally, you should be looking at ways to avoid this situation in the first place. See the rest of the matchup guide.

Faultless Defense

FD is really good at upsetting spacing for tight Hammerfall strings. Pot will start to have to commit to immediate Buster or Heat Knuckle attempts to hold you in place. At a certain distance, most of his kit is off the table.

Dealing with F.D.B (Flick/63214S)

Hit Potemkin as he goes to Flick. Due to the startup this will stop him from getting off the reflect. You can make these situations where you're available to do so, by placing Love! at awkward spacings (See: "Zoning with Love! (Bomb Bag/j236P)"). Keep a close eye on what items you pull with regards to spacing, and other items already on screen. Flick can eliminate your other items and create a decent position for Potemkin, so you'll want to challenge him to stop him from having the time to get it off.

Following in after Chibis and projectiles can also offer up opportunities to stop Potemkin from getting off flicks. Backing off and giving Potemkin the chance to focus on flicking something like a washpan or bomb explosion is exactly what he wants to get a clean approach against you. Have confidence.

Should he actually reflect something, you can negate the situation by throwing Love! to stall even more, provided the distance is good. You can also just try to wait it out entirely through movement, or try to block it at an awkward moment for Potemkin as he approaches. It's possible to crawl under the flicked projectile, but unless you have more items to distract him, he will probably be approaching behind it making this a dangerous prospect.

Here's a quick reference of things Potemkin can flick on Faust:

  • Love
  • Washpan
  • Bomb (explosion only)
  • Chibis (including every single hit of Mini Pot)
  • Coin
  • Hammer
  • Dumbbell
  • Meteors

Dealing with Potbuster

Learn to fuzzy jump and fuzzy jump j2K. See: Strategy.

Dealing with Common Potemkin Tech Traps

Tech right before Potemkin connects with Heat Knuckle or HPB to avoid them, however, this isn't a reactionary option, so be careful.

It's very difficult to tech to avoid Heavenly Pot Buster if you find yourself in the danger zone, sometimes it will be better to simply eat the hit, if you have you have the life for it, depending on the starter.

Dealing with Wakeup Backdash/Potemkin Defense

Provided you're clean with your offense, Faust has a lot of canned strings that shut down every single Potemkin defensive, including backdash and supers like Giganter. Despite backdash only having 1 frame of recovery, it's incredibly slow to recover, and Faust has a lot of auto-pilots with a wide amount of active frames.

Example: https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1366891324746723329?s=20

Not only can Faust cover with meaty 5P (To lock out reversal options), he has a lot of very generous gatlings that are safe or advantageous on block, that do well to cover Potemkin after backdash. j2K and 2K meaty offer up a lot of very usable and strong options.

Once Potemkin is scared of doing anything on wakeup outside of blocking or fuzzy defensive options, you can then choose to run safer, and more rewarding mix.

Most Potemkins just gatling through their own defensive options, so mastering the following setups offer strong "Plan A" auto-pilot potential while you dial in on their habits.

Meaty 5P > delay 1S Option-Select

Summary

Just do meaty 5P and press 2S a little late.

Why does it work?

1S is used to cover for wakeup burst.

It's a 4f window to properly meaty Potemkin wakeup to cover wakeup Judge Gauntlet (You'll counterhit it).

Example: https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1366891324746723329?s=20

Should Potemkin backdash, you'll likely catch backdash with the 2S.

Should Potemkin wakeup Giganter, you can counter-super with Kanchou on reaction as you leave Giganter super freeze.

Everything gets counterhit or loses outright.

Spaced correctly, 5P will whiff through Potemkin 6P, however, the 2S you buffered will whiff punish the 6P and Pot will eat shit.

Meaty j2K > OS 5K Option-Select

Like 5P, meaty j2K covers all of Potemkin's wakeup options properly. Buffering 5K in the j2K hitstop stops it from coming out on block/hit, but 5K will come out on j2K whiff, punishing backdash for a full combo.

Meaty 2K > OS 5K>H

Meaty 2K acts as a low option. Buffering 5K into 5H on the next frame (You can "plink" it) will give you 5K on whiff, but gatling into 5H on block/hit.

This gives you a decent low option that covers wakeup really well. Timed similarly to the above setups, it beats most of Potemkin's options.

Crawl

6H

Crawl can go under 6H on reaction. Offers up a free 2H > Pogo or 2D knockdown/launch depending on the distance.

2S/5S

Crawl can go under 2S and 5S.

IB preceding normals to guarantee the crawl window. You can essentially OS a rhythm crawl this way.

Fuzzy Jump Rhythm Crawl 2K OS (173 delay 2K)
  1. On wakeup, instant block to give yourself an IB vs. cS or 2K/5K.
  2. Immediately buffer fuzzy jump to avoid raw Potbuster.
  3. Rhythm Crawl using 3 to crawl under Potemkin's far.S or 2S and punish with 2K.
  4. Should you jump away from Buster, j2K comes out. You confirm into FB Pogo.
  5. Should Potemkin hard delay, j2K comes out and you're plus.

Potemkin can avoid and shut this down, by going for immediate gatlings into 5H, 2D or fishing against the fuzzy jump with Heat Knuckle.

You can find a detailed list of every move that Faust can crawl in the table below

Character Move Crouch (2) Forward Crawl (3) Notes
 Potemkin 5PGGAC Potemkin 5P.pngGuardMidStartup5Recovery6Advantage-1 -
6PGGAC Potemkin 6P.pngGuardMidStartup13Recovery19Advantage-9 -
f.SGGAC Potemkin fS.pngGuardMidStartup12Recovery18Advantage-11 -
2SGGAC Potemkin 2S.pngGuardMidStartup13Recovery16Advantage-2 -
5HGGAC Potemkin 5H.pngGuardMidStartup15Recovery16Advantage-4 -
2HGGAC Potemkin 2H.pngGuardMidStartup13Recovery35Advantage-21 -
6HGGAC Potemkin 6H.pngGuardMidStartup23Recovery30Advantage-11 -
5DGGAC Potemkin 5D.pngGuardHighStartup31Recovery6Advantage+3 -
j.PGGAC Potemkin jK.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery13Advantage- -
j.KGGAC Potemkin jK.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup9Recovery13Advantage- -
j.HGGAC Potemkin jH.pngGuardHigh/AirStartup11Recovery16Advantage- -
63214SGGAC Potemkin 63214S.pngGuardAllStartup21Recovery12Advantage+2 Flicked projectile only
623HGGAC Potemkin 623H.pngGuardUnblockable, FD×3Startup14Recovery22Advantage- This only hit airborne opponents
j.632146DGGAC Potemkin j632146D.pngGuardFDStartup5RecoveryUntil landing+12Advantage- This only hit airborne opponents
236236SGGAC Potemkin 236236S.pngGuardUnblockableStartup12+1Recovery10Advantage- This only hit airborne opponents


Extra information can be found in this visual guide:

[WIP]

Match Footage

Robo-Ky

 Robo-Ky

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Slayer

 Slayer

Overview

Slayer is a character who has to come up with creative workarounds to get around some character's screen control, while Faust is a character who excels at controlling the screen. Comparable to Sol, this matchup is dependent on keeping your opponent out and avoiding giving him a single chance to get a combo off. Once Slayer starts rolling, Faust's enormous body lets him cleanly get ~70% or more in a single good starter.

Goals

  • Repel Slayer's attempts at approaching (Mappa, air dashes, tricky teleports, etc.)
  • Play safe and avoid making unnecessary commitments

Neutral

In and around the round-start distance, Slayer possesses many dominant options that Faust can crumble to. Dandy Step into CWH, 2S, or even something as mundane as 5K has a lot of stopping power against you. Faust's moves tend to be slower to start up, even if they aren't horribly unsafe on block or some aren't that unsafe on whiff, so being at a range where a quick Dandy Step P into Pilebunker (3f) is possible is pretty scary. Playing against Slayer demands that you be mindful of the distance and commitment level of all of your moves constantly.

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

While there are a decent amount of things Faust can crawl against Slayer, the things he can't crawl are often not worth getting hit by. Going under Under Pressure is great but trying to go under it and getting hit by It's Late just isn't. A list of some moves you can crawl are below:

  • 5P
  • 5K
  • 5D
  • f.S
  • 2P
  • 6H
  • 6P
  • Mappa Hunch

Match Footage

Sol Badguy

 Sol Badguy

Overview

Faust controls the pace of the match here. Lots of risk-averse options on your end to shut down approach, and Sol struggles to get things going. If you play conservatively, he'll struggle. If he lands his big reads, he'll delete your lifebar.

Knowing when to swing at his forward movement, and when to play reactively instead, is the name of the game.

Goals

  • Challenge forward movement with 2H and far.S.
  • Play reactively when Sol adjusts to these pokes. Be ready to anti-air.
  • Use a combination of j2K, 2P/5P and blocking as a reaction to Sol getting close when you delay.
  • By playing reactively, you can cleanly punish Sol's more committal options in neutral when he uses them.
  • Throw items as a response to Gunflame.
  • Jump out of Wild Throw setups.
  • Don't play into his stronger starters.
  • Crawl under Bandit Bringer, Bandit Revolver and most jump-ins to force him to structure pressure differently.

Neutral

Challenging Forward Movement and Reactive Play

Sol might play reactively on the ground as a hedge against you jumping unnecessarily. When you're airborne, you're weak to grounded approach. A Sol might wait for the opportunity by waiting you out.

Sol also wants to run forward when you're playing reactively (You'll do so to hedge against his more committal options). 2H and far.S act as great, dominant pokes in this case.

Dealing with Gunflame

"Whiff Punishing" Gunflame

Sol will be encouraged to go after stray pokes and Scalpel attempts with Gunflame. It's normally a knockdown on hit at a distance. Gunflame can't hit your 2H at max range, given how disjoint it is. This is one reason why it can be a good idea to simply swing 2H even if Sol isn't in range yet.

When Gunflame does whiff, take the opportunity to throw an item safely.

In Pressure

Answers are going to be based on range. The two main go-tos are going to be as follows:

  • IB > j2K over the Gunflame.
  • IB > IAD j.K over the Gunflame.

Generally speaking, say 5H range, Sol Gunflame is punishable with IAD jK,jS,jH.

Dealing with Gunflame FRC

If Sol is tight with his pressure, you kind of have to respect this. However, his mix post-FRC are the same as any other time Sol is plus.

  • FD and play reactively against 5K and other long-winded strings. This leaves you open to crawl under Bandit Revolver as well.
  • Fuzzy jump against Wild Throw and to escape gaps should he not be clean with Gunflame FRC follow-ups.

Dealing with Riot Stamp

Riot Stamp is a catch-all option against a lot of slower Faust pokes. However, it's punishable on reaction.

Beware Riot Stamp in the Corner

The closer Sol is to the stage edge, the faster the startup on Riot Stamp. This means, when Sol is the corner, he has access to an 18 frame instant low crush overhead (Sound familiar, boi?)

You can hedge against Riot Stamp in this case, with meaty far.S, or a slightly delayed 2D (Which will keep you from eating shit against Volcanic Viper). Slightly delayed 6H and 5K are also an answer in this case.

Think about what else Sol might want to do on wakeup, and try to beat two options with one of yours.

Hitbox-Controller Tech

17H+S makes a showing here. Standing up into Riot Stamp with Slashback on Hitbox allows you to easily parry the move on reaction.

Sol Wild Throw Mixups and the 5K Situation

Anytime Sol is at advantage and in your face, he can threaten a potent mixup between Wild Throw and catching your jump with 5K. Faust lacks really fast pokes, so abare options against tight tick throws is not a very strong answer.

What you can do, however, is jump and FD, which is a little harder for Sol to get a guaranteed punish against. He might catch catch your prejump with 5K, but that's a big ask (It's more likely to catch you airborne).

Remember to hold FD to hedge your bets if you do end up fuzzy jumping in this way.

Anti-airing

Go-To Options Against Jump-ins

2K is a pretty potent anti-air in this matchup which cleanly deals with all of Sol's jump-in options. He has some FRC tricks to avoid it, but generally speaking, if Sol has burnt his air options, this will always win out when spaced and done correctly.

Crawl is another anti-air to be mindful of. Outside of a deep jS, Sol struggles to hit crawling Faust. Forcing him to this option means jump-ins take longer to come out, and anti-airs and jump escape gets a lot easier for you.

Crawl also goes under Bringer on reaction and nets you an easy punish with 2P or throw.

Dealing with Grand Viper

Grand Viper is a highly active high-crushing option that acts as a serious hedge against many of Faust's challenges against Sol's approach on the ground.

Hedging Against Grand Viper

Sol has a lot of options in his kit that confer you a pretty tidy reward should you be playing reactively. Whiffed normals, gunflames, jumping, riot stamps. He has a lot of options that are unrewarding or risky against someone just standing there.

However, good Sol's know how to capitalize on a player playing reactively, and not committing to anything. The options listed below are some strong counterplay options that don't involve sitting still or jumping around pressing nothing.

Hitting it out of startup

Straight-forward. If you're worried about GV in gaps, you can shackle it with 2H. This leaves you open to Riot Stamp, but 2D has the hitbox to beat both, it's just less rewarding on block. Keep that in mind when hedging against a Sol craving to use special moves.

Love!

Love zones Sol out at a distance, and if he doesn't contest it on reaction, or is committed to some other option when you go to do it, you can pull items behind it without leaving yourself open to GV.

This simplifies neutral substantially: throw an item or be ready to anti-air.

Counterpoke j2K

j2K works really well against most of Sol's pokes and attempts to get in, while also hedging against Riot Stamp in some cases. Sol is just really likely to go underneath the j2K harmlessly. Since it causes him to whiff spectacularly underneath you, you get a full dashing punish.

The higher you start the j2K, however, the more vulnerable you will be to anti-airs. Use and space wisely.

5P whiff OS

5P > 1D, and 5P > 1H can be used to check against Sol general approach. It acts as a counterpoke against certain non-disjoint normals such as far.S, and can even stuff Fafnir. 5P recovers so quickly that it can leave you available to block GV and even anti-air.

Punishing Grand Viper on Block

5D through the final hit if Sol doesn't have meter to Roman Cancel.

Crawl through the final hit for a full punish. You can even net yourself a full 6H starter behind the whiffed final hit.

Grand Viper RC

Sol can RC the final hit of GV on block, however, you can deny him this with 5D through the last hit. Sol's that know of this will go for Wild Throw attempts after RCing the earlier hits instead. You can deny tick Wild Throws done in this way if you're ready for it, by fuzzy jumping post-RC.

Punishing Tyrant Rave

Instant Block it and 2H > Scalpel. Watch out if the 1st hit is out of range, it changes IB timing.

Crawl

Crawl under Bandit Revolver on reaction in pressure. Encourage Bandit Revolver by jumping out of gaps.

Crawl under Bandit Bringer on reaction.

Crawl under Riot Stamp (Screen space specific. If he's too far away it will still hit you).

Crawl under his jump-ins, save for j.S, which can be done deeply to hit you. This forces him to specific jump-in options, which makes anti-air him much easier.

How Items Effect the Matchup

  • Chibis as cover vs. Gunflame.
  • Sol DPing through Items.
  • Sol GVing through Items.

Match Footage

Testament

 Testament

Overview

Goals

Harass with jH and Scalpel. Not too much, not too little. Set the tone with these moves.

Avoid overcommitting to approach in neutral. Making a mistake and being caught out of position is the worst mistake you can make against this character.

2P is a useful poke in situations where you need to negate things by hitting Testament. Hitting him to remove curses and trees without standing up into traps is a good example.

Remove traps with jH and Bag.

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Testament might start to play more reactively should he suspect Scalpel and jH. This means he won't be summoning so much in neutral. Take the opportunity to throw items and approach on the ground.

Anti-airing

Rising jH is king in this matchup.

Proper 6P use is also mandatory to challenge jump-ins reliably, as Testament's air normals are particularly good at dealing with 5K.

Offensive Situations

Clearing Out Traps

Overview

Faust has a handful of really good options for clearing out traps while challenging common Testament option in neutral or, at the very least, make it hard for him to punish you for clearing out traps.

Summary

  • jH is great at clearing out traps while also hitting Testament out of a lot of standing options, such as EXE Beast, trap sets and air approach. Testament being innately tall makes this a go-to option.
  • Love! is a very non-committal way of removing webs.
  • Any item capable of dealing damage will hit webs without skipping a beat or losing its ability to hit Testament.
  • Faust has a lot of airborne movement, so you can get away with clearing out trees from an airstate.
  • Bullying a reactive Testament from a distance is relatively safe with your longer pokes. Items can give you the game state you need to clear away traps. Forcing Testament to block pokes means he can't whiff punish Item Toss with EXE Beast.
  • You just need to hit Testament to remove normal trees and Curse Skull, so checking him with 2P is going to be your only option in some cases.
  • Scalpel just enough to convince him you'll scalpel. This can bait Testament into playing reactively, bolstering your faster pokes.

The Moment Testament Special Cancels (Big Testament Plays)

Overview

This is probably a key situation to keep in mind when looking at and exploring the matchup.

The moment he special cancels will be a moment to act and make a concrete decision. If he has meter for FRC, he can keep pressure going with Beast FRC.

However, meterless options are fairly limited. He can set traps or trees, but these are punishable. You can also IB > far.S to catch most cancel options. Be forewarned, the timing on this against a tight Beast can be tricky.

FDing Testament throughout his strings can make things more difficult for him. Keep that in mind.

Summary

  • Jumping out is the conservative play.
  • FD Testament, and keep blocking. He might try to catch your jump with an over-extended low.
  • IB the normal that he special cancels from to give you an easier opportunity to escape.
  • FB Chop is a great answer to a wide spread of options, depending on the distance.
  • Respect FRC. Testament can make things tight with Beast FRC.

Dealing with Warrant

Warrant doesn't have frame 1 counter frames, so any proper meaty will beat it out cleanly. You can also delay a 6H to get an easy and sizable punish on wakeup Warrant.

It's possible to FDC j.K off meaty timing, and bait the Warrant activation during your jump. A whiffed Warrant is oftentimes a more rewarding punish than simply landing a meaty FDC j.K or some other low-damage meaty starter.

In pressure situations, Testament might try to squeeze in a Warrant in gaps. You can deal with this by leaving small delays in pressure. Waiting to react might also give you the opportunity to anti-air should he jump, but a sudden 6H might clip Testament in Warrant recovery, while also sniping pokes out of blockstun, depending on the range.

In short, don't rush yourself to keep your gaps tight. He only needs a small gap to reliably fit a warrant in there.

Dealing with EXE Beast

In Neutral

Keep your frequency of Scalpel and jump forward jH high enough to catch Testament in the summon/set animation. Both options hedge well against Testament trying to set up shop.

Testament is very tall in a lot of his animations, ergo, jH is particularly good at challenging him in neutral.

EXE Beast summoned to catch your landing

A common Testament staple. Make use of FDC, Bag and j2K to navigate over Beasts aimed at your landing.

On Wakeup

EXE Beast Mixups

Link to Testament Wiki

General Summary

  • Blocking initial Beast is generally a really good idea, as hopeless as it seems.
  • Save your resources (Burst, Meter) for the more hopeless mixup situations. Usually those involving curse or layered Beast mix that you really need to contest.
  • You must respect FRC pressure extensions if the Testament is good. Let him gas himself.
  • Do NOT Dead Angle Beasts that send you facing away from Testament. You'll DA in the wrong direction. Sometimes you'll get out unscathed, but generally, you want that DA to land.
  • Weaker Testament players will have trouble converting off strange aerial pickups. Sometimes backdashing, jumping or doing frame 1 airborne moves can ruin their offense and lead to escape.

H.Beast > Crossup Warrant

Testament can't pickup off Beast > Warrant without leaving a gap, and allowing the Beast to hit 2nd. The best way to negate the situation, generally speaking, is to jump on prediction in the eventual gap.

Fraudulent EXE Beasts on Wakeup at a Distance

You can pretty reliably backdash Beasts on wakeup should you be too far out for the Beast to catch you. Keep an eye out for this if Testament gets a bad knockdown.

Left/Right Beast>Tree Mix in the corner

[Probably needs video.]

IB Low on wakeup. React to neutral jump with backdash out of the corner after Testament crosses up. Hard reaction. Good luck.

Defensive Situations

Crawl

Match Footage

Tech/Strategy Videos

Opening Up Testament with 3 Moves

Guilty Gear Digestion Ep. 1.1 | RF Faust vs. Kesuke Testament | +R Faust Replay Review w/ Krackatoa

Venom

 Venom

Overview

Goals

Neutral

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Crawl

A fair amount of Venom's moves are crawlable (surprisingly not his 5K), but this is by no means encouragement to do it. Many of Venom's normals carry the extra edge that they may be used to set up ball trajectories, including a ball bouncing another ball directly towards the ground. Unfortunately, Faust is not special enough of a boy to low profile Dark Angel, unlike others. A list of some moves known to be crawlable below:

  • 5P
  • f.S
  • 5H
  • 6P
  • 6K
  • 2H
  • Stinger Aim
  • Carcass Raid (after it rebounds off the floor)
  • Double Head Morbid

Most ball formations are typically decently high off the ground that Faust can crawl them, and balls have slow travel time without further collisions. That said, your hurtbox is still wide on the ground, and any ball angled downwards from a normal or from a collision with a ball will still give you a headache.

Match Footage

Zappa

 Zappa

Overview

A matchup between two characters that have the most RNG tools in the game.

Goals

  • Control neutral with your items while trying to deny Zappa any of his summons when you're in a situation to pressure him. If he does get a summon, see below for dealing with these summons.
  • Zappa has a hard time contesting Faust in the air in most situations, so while you have your items out, you can your air mobility and other moves to control Zappa from above.

Neutral

  • On the ground, stick to normals that will reach him regardless of standing or crouching state. In particular, do not use 5P, 5K, f.S or Scalpel Pull very often. Use them either as callouts for backdashes or jumpouts, or as punishes in certain situations. 5P, 5K and such remain good anti-air options as usual.
  • 2P, 2S, 2H and 2D are excellent tools for controlling space on the ground. You should especially abuse his 2H > 5P whiff gatling as it is + on block to apply pressure from mid screen and/or while waiting to toss another item.

Strongest Counterpokes

When to Play Reactively

When They're Playing Reactively

Anti-airing

Offensive Situations

Defensive Situations

Dealing with Sword

  • Wait out Zappa sword pressure by blocking correctly. He has fixed jump cancel points at a distance, so low block until you see an S normal or 2H from Zappa before stand blocking.
  • Zappa struggles to convert meterlessly if you try to jump between 5H(2) and 41236H, a common pressure string.
  • Zappa is most vulnerable to jump IAD FB Pogo in gaps, generally right as he whiffs a sword attack.
  • With enough horizontal space between you and any whiffed sword followups and some backdashing, if Zappa tries to continue sword pressure you can get a FB Door punish.
  • Sometimes, quickly jumping into FDC is a relatively safe way to mess up his sword spacing in pressure. If he whiffs a sword normal, you can jump again upon landing.
  • When teching in the air after sword combos, aim to tech forward to close the gap between you and Zappa so that you can attempt to tag him. Air dashing, j.2K FDCing, and FB Pogo are great tools for these situations.

Dealing with Dog

Dealing with Ghosts

Dealing with Raoh

Dealing with 236P (DP)

Due to it's dominant hitbox, fast startup and relative safety, Zappa can be quite freeform with his timing.

Either 2H to catch him at a distance as he tries to move into DP range, or bait the entire thing out by avoiding it outright.

2P on block to disarm Zappa and deny him a summon. It's not optimal, but it's the easiest punish and works at all ranges. Chain into 2H Item to get things going afterwards. At closer ranges you can do punishes ranging from 5H (up close only), c.S or 5P starters. The early recovery frames put Zappa in a CH state, which can lead to combo punishes not normally possible, such as CH 5P > 2D > etc (e.g. either continue to juggle and air combo, or just throw an item and go for a safe jump), or CH 5P > 2H > 236S, D.

On wakeup, you can deny Zappa reversals by going for a spaced/late 6H or j236P. j.2K FDC j.D can also lead to crossup situations midscreen to screw up reversal inputs too, where you can then confirm with at least aerial Going My Way

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