GGST/Faust/Strategy

From Dustloop Wiki
 Faust



General Gameplan

Highlights

Faust is a unique grappler-hybrid with an RNG mechanic to help his offense. He's big and has long buttons. He's incredibly wide in many of his animations, and incredibly short in others. In some cases, his ability to pull items can cover him as he pulls even more items. This can lead to entire rounds devolving into absolute chaos as the screen fills with meteors, hammers, miniature Fausts, fresh produce, weights and bombs.

Faust focuses on a few things: Strong, reliable whiff-punishment through his long reach and notably fast back walk; Covering the air with fairly dominant anti-airs (6P) and air-to-air options (jH); and capitalizing on the opponent's hesitation with his command grab ('Snip Snip Snip', 236H).

Throughout the match, Faust will create opportunities to guarantee an Item Toss ('What could this be?', 236P). Item Toss has a chance to produce a handful of dominating projectiles, if you're lucky, which can cover you for subsequent pulls. With enough luck, you can chain pull after pull for quite a while, forcing the opponent onto defense while you build meter and create an advantageous game state for yourself.

Some of his Items inflict Guard Crush state on block, such as Afro (When throw with Love), 100t Weight and Meteors. Guard Crushing an opponent is a very advantageous situation for Faust, and can set up a very potent 'Strike vs. Throw' mixup that you wouldn't get in standard on-block situation.

Weaknesses

Faust generally struggles against characters with strong forward movement options (Such as those having really good runs). His mid-range options are slightly slower than average, and after touching the opponent, his ability to meaningfully trap the opponent is limited after key buttons like 2P.

This doesn't hold true in matchups where a character's forward movement is subpar, such as Nagoriyuki, Potemkin and Zato.

You'll want to explore movement options in situations of frame disadvantage to compensate for this. Luckily, Faust's whiff punishment game is quite strong given his reach. If an opponents whiffs a dominant option in front of you, you're well-equipped to punish them for it compared to some other characters.

Helpful Compilation Videos and Guides

Top 12 Faust Strings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPA0kpxIrMo

Item Toss Oki, Post-Throw Variety Pack: https://twitter.com/USF4rosecom/status/1406004749502058497

Item Toss Oki, Post-Throw Variety Pack #2: https://twitter.com/USF4rosecom/status/1406576886008844290

Crawl Compilation: https://twitter.com/mikaze_/status/1405133306434260993

Offense and Defense, A Dual Okizeme Primer

Summary

Offense and Defense, with respects to oki, are two sides of the same coin. These videos attempt to break it down from both perspectives. The videos outline most (But not all) of the options you might see in a match of Guilty Gear.

Videos

After Okizeme, the Situation after Faust c.S on Block

Summary

After c.S, there's a situation that develops. You're technically not at frame advantage, but you can always represent a 2S or 5H trap in that situation all the way to the end of c.S recovery. This is thanks to the ability to delay gatlings from S normals.

Using a spread of 2S timings allows you to fish for counterhits, and threaten to cover your approach should you decide to tick throw from cS instead. The video below outlines this interaction.

Video

Afro Corner Setups (1.17)

Summary

Base your mixups around the moment afro explodes for the most damage/success. Making use of rising jD, rising jK>jD and jS>jH will give you anywhere from one to two really strong mixup opportunities after Snip.

Video

{{#evu:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEMqDwb64Z8 |dimension=480x320 }}

Afro Pressure

Faust's pressure options after applying Afro vary per character. Some characters will be able to low-profile certain options while crouching such as rising j.K, requiring Faust to adjust his pressure or risk being whiff punished.

Character Raw j.K > j.D Combo j.K > j.D Deep j.H 5K Rising j.D Notes
 Anji NO NO YES YES YES
 Axl YES YES YES YES YES
 Baiken NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Chipp YES YES YES YES YES
 Faust NO NO NO NO NO
 Giovanna NO NO YES NO* NO
 Goldlewis YES YES YES YES YES
 Happy Chaos NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but will never combo into j.D.

** Reeling animation causes j.K to miss from jump cancel options.

 I-No YES NO* YES YES YES * Reeling animation causes j.K to miss from jump cancel options.
 Jack-O' NO NO NO NO NO
 Ky YES YES YES YES YES
 Leo YES YES YES YES YES
 May NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Millia NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Nagoriyuki YES YES YES YES YES
 Potemkin YES YES YES YES YES
 Ramlethal NO NO YES YES YES
 Sol YES YES YES YES YES
 Testament YES YES YES YES YES
 Zato-1 YES YES YES YES YES

Items

Bomb

Pulses 6 times before blowing up. Extends active frames of whatever attack connects with it. Can be hit back and forth by both players, often turning into a kind of "bomb tennis" minigame. Different attacks will launch the bomb in different arcs:

  • 5D hits the bomb at a high arc that can be hard to challenge, though the 26f recovery leaves you relatively open. Best used at far spacings where you're harder to punish for it.
  • 2S launches the bomb high into the air. Done early, it can be used to prevent the opponent from contesting it or making an air approach before it explodes.
  • 2H can be used as a scary preemptive counterpoke when you expect the opponent to hit it back. Due to the extended frames it will put your/their animation into (whoever hits it first), as well as 2H's disjointed hitbox, you have good chances of getting a big CH that can lead into situational combos.
  • 5K can be put out preemptively after knocking the bomb toward the opponent; thanks to its high active frames and low whiff recovery, it's likely to knock it away in midair as they return it.
  • 2P is a quick, low-commitment button to get the bomb over quickly, useful especially for baiting a return attempt when the bomb is near detonation.

Hammer

Throws a powerful hammer in a fast arc that causes a lot of hitstun/blockstun on contact. If it misses the opponent, it will bounce on the floor a few times before it leaves play.

This arc is incredibly useful for covering Snip Snip Snip attempts in many cases, or allowing you to take multiple potshots at your opponent's attempt to avoid Snip. Can be routed into okizeme & blockstring pressure to make you plus where you wouldn't be otherwise.

This item, in neutral, can cover Faust for another item pull.

Mini Faust

Creates a miniature Faust that gets furious when hit by any projectile, or if the opponent steps on them. It will throw a tantrum then leap at the opponent, doing many hits. Persists even if Faust takes damage, so it can interrupt combos, or cover Faust from punishment when he takes risks.

100t Weight

Causes guard crush to all grounded players on impact, with a persistent box that can clip an airborne opponent, offering combo opportunities on hit or putting them into blockstun until landing on block.

With certain setups to force the opponent to block 100t weight on the ground, a BRC done during the guard crush state can set up a high/low mixup (Rising jK > jD > MMM vs. 2H > MMM)

Meteors

After approximately 1 1/2 seconds, meteors fall from the sky in a random pattern, causing guard crush on block.

This move can cover Faust for another two item pulls.

Banana

A two-part move. Picking up the Banana restores health and produces a peel. The peel has a persistent hitbox.

With precise spacing, the peel can extend the blockstun of the move that pushed the opponent into it, or offer a pickup you wouldn't get normally. It's finicky, however.

Trumpet

Either player can pick this up, and in approximately two seconds, a horde of Mini Fausts, each with their own hitbox, stampede across the stage. It's important to jockey for this when you throw it, as both players will want it.

It can be okay, in some cases, to force the pickup with Mix Mix Mix, as the summoned Mini Fausts will cover you from punishment in some matchups.

Donut

Recovers health on pickup. Does nothing. Powerful at low life to avoid chip death, otherwise a terrible pull.

Afro

Deserving of its own section, the Afro can be picked up by both players. It extends the hurtbox of the wearer upwards, and the Afro will be set ablaze should the player come into contact with any moves with a "fiery" property. Such moves include Faust's own Love explosion, Meteors, Bomb and jD, but also:

  • Sol's Air Throw, Overdrives, Fafnir, Night Raid Vortex, Bandit Bringer, both versions of Volcanic Viper and 6S.
  • Ramlethal's Bajoneto explosion.
  • Goldlewis' Thunderbird.
  • Potemkin's Garuda Impact.
  • Axl's Sickle Storm, Winter Cherry and Axl Bomber.

Curiously, Chipp's Genrou Zan command grab does not affect the Afro, despite the explosion present in the animation.


Has its own section because it's crazy. Arguably one of Faust's strongest items should the opponent pick it up.

Offense

Afro Pressure

Faust's pressure options after applying Afro vary per character. Some characters will be able to low-profile certain options while crouching such as rising j.K, requiring Faust to adjust his pressure or risk being whiff punished.

Character Raw j.K > j.D Combo j.K > j.D Deep j.H 5K Rising j.D Notes
 Anji NO NO YES YES YES
 Axl YES YES YES YES YES
 Baiken NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Chipp YES YES YES YES YES
 Faust NO NO NO NO NO
 Giovanna NO NO YES NO* NO
 Goldlewis YES YES YES YES YES
 Happy Chaos NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but will never combo into j.D.

** Reeling animation causes j.K to miss from jump cancel options.

 I-No YES NO* YES YES YES * Reeling animation causes j.K to miss from jump cancel options.
 Jack-O' NO NO NO NO NO
 Ky YES YES YES YES YES
 Leo YES YES YES YES YES
 May NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Millia NO* NO YES YES YES * Rising j.K can land, but is inconsistent and will never combo into j.D.
 Nagoriyuki YES YES YES YES YES
 Potemkin YES YES YES YES YES
 Ramlethal NO NO YES YES YES
 Sol YES YES YES YES YES
 Testament YES YES YES YES YES
 Zato-1 YES YES YES YES YES

Fuzzy Setups

Blue RC Pressure

Okizeme

Summary

  1. Do meaty attack Hitting an opponent to cover the moment as they lose invincibility. The most common one is performing an attack early on okizeme to gain frame advantage and bait reversals. c.S
  2. Do meaty attack Hitting an opponent to cover the moment as they lose invincibility. The most common one is performing an attack early on okizeme to gain frame advantage and bait reversals. c.S a smidge later
  3. Sudden j.S j.H to bait throws/late jumps
  4. Throw sometimes
  5. Bait reversals sometimes
  6. 2K sometimes
  7. 2K 5D RC
  8. Try not to overextend without meter to RC.

Throw

OTG c.S > jc 66[3] j.D Safejump

Strict to time, requires some amount of neutral airdash before inputting [3] > j.D

https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1405855256399994880

Use it to force standing on reaction to Airdash, so you can do the following...

OTG c.S > jc 663 j.H Safejump

This leads to far more advantage on block, and done deeply & correctly, leads to rising j.K fuzzies. Whiffs on crouching opponents, which is why conditioning with j.D first is so essential.

Item Toss > Meaty c.S

Weight

c.S 9jc c.S f.S 5H allows for a mixup with a second c.S covered by the falling weight, and resets to neutral safely otherwise.

Trumpet

c.S 236S [3~1] guides you into the trumpet.

Meteor

Meteors can cover a 6H attempt after c.S.

Hammer

Hammer can cover a 6H attempt after 2K.

Afro

c.S f.S 5H pushes opponents right under the falling afro.

Mini Faust

c.S 5H pushes opponents right into Mini Faust, activating him immediately to cover your next action e.g. 6H Scalpel.

Banana/Donut

c.S f.S 5H pushes opponents back far enough to force them to block the banana peel after eating it, allowing for another item pull. After donut, resets to neutral safely.

Bomb

Instead of meaty c.S, meaty 2K 2D 214S is a gimmicky mixup that results in 5K 9jc j.S j.H 5K 236S [6] for a wallbreak combo from midscreen off the Bomb explosion. Even if the 214S is blocked, careless punish attempts can still be caught by the explosion.

https://twitter.com/USF4rosecom/status/1406004749502058497 https://twitter.com/USF4rosecom/status/1406576886008844290

Corner OTG c.S 7jc j.236P

Strong meterless plus frames that covers reversals nicely. Forgoes Item Toss into meaty c.S, but confers a fuzzy on stand block.

GREAT option if your last mix was Snip Snip Snip, and you think throw will work in place of high/low Afro setups.

https://twitter.com/PearlJamFGC/status/1409282771327930368

Snip Snip Snip Oki

https://twitter.com/Koryuken/status/1453144165911572482

2D Item Toss Oki

Weight

Trumpet

Meteor

Hammer

Afro

MiniFaust

Banana

Defense

A Quick Summary of Defense

  • Jump back falling jD is your answer to throws.
  • Sometimes, you won't have an obvious opportunity to escape. Jumping out or making use of 6P, 5K or 5P on a read might be your only option. Gaps come hard and fast.
  • Some characters like Giovanna are very weak to Crawl (3 input).
  • Players fearful of reversal super might leave opportunities to escape.
  • Try FD out on defense sometimes, it might ruin your opponent's offense.
  • Super (632146H) to punch through reactable gaps can be a reliable option in some cases.

Punishing Throw Attempts

There are a handful of ways to deal with throws in Strive. Each option hedges against multiple options from the opponent a little differently. Consider which handful of options you'd like to play around on defense.

Jump/Fuzzy Jump

Backdash/Fuzzy Backdash

Throw Break/Throw Break FD

Mashing 5P

What do I do with Faultless Defense?

Summary

  • If you're just going to block, FD a little and see how it affects your opponent's offense. Some characters are affected more than others.
  • FD makes tick-throw attempts harder/weaker for the opponent.
  • Whiffs caused by FD give you an opportunity to take back momentum.
  • FD can absolutely ruin some spacing-specific setups.

Create Gaps

Some strings are very weak to FD, usually 3-hit gatlings, or gatlings started outside of throw range. If you can upset spacing on the final attack in their string, you'll create a gap.

The pushback from FD can also make it hard for the opponent to do tight strings into throw. You may for a longer, more manageable forward dash in the opponent's pressure if they want to throw you.

Gaps come fast and quick. You may not be able to react to the gap itself showing up, but you might be able to react to the button about to be ruined by FD.

How do I punish gaps?

  1. 5H is a great whiff punish in close quarters.
  2. j2K and j.D can be great bully options if you're uncertain a gap may or may not show
  3. 5K is very hard to contest for some characters, and it's very fast, just liable to whiff overtop of certain moves.
  4. 5P is very fast, and is going to be more reaction-friendly if you find yourself looking for the gaps you created.


Appendix A: Defense

Fun and Relevant System Mechanic Facts

  • Characters have 5f of throw invuln on wakeup, out of blockstun and out of hitstun. This gives us the coveted ability to "Fuzzy Jump" reliably with our meager human execution. Mashing vs. Throw is stronger because of this too.
    • This also means you technically can't "meaty throw" someone and still beat their 5f normal (If they have one).
  • FD makes throwing you harder to time tightly, because the added blockstun moves the earliest throwable window. An opponent being uncertain as to whether or not you'll FD can make doing tight throws in pressure or punishes vs. fuzzy jump very tricky. Doesn't really do much as you wakeup, though.
  • Faust Prejump is 4f long. You cannot block during this window. Players can try to snipe this in pressure. Characters with high prejump are more vulnerable to this kind of play.

YRC

YRC.mp4 - A Quick Guide to YRC

Defensive Options, and What They Lose To

Thanks to DrifterDane for the format.

Basic Options

Mashing 5P
  • Frame Traps
  • Tight tick throws (They'll eat shit for loose ones)
    • (Kracknote: It's quite hard to do a perfectly "tight" throw.)
  • Sudden jumps into fast/deep air buttons (Ram jH, Faust j2K)
Throw Mash
  • Tight Frame Traps
  • "Shimmies", Waiting outside of Throw Range for an easier punish opportunity
  • Sudden jumps into fast/deep air buttons (Ram jH, Faust jS, Nagoriyuki jH)
Yellow Roman Cancel/Dead Angle
  • Throw-centric mixups.
  • Fast buttons that recover quickly, allowing someone to callout and block the hit.
Committing to downback (For fear of both anti-airs/frame traps)
  • More greedy pressure resets (You won't react to small gaps in pressure), attacker may act after disadvantageous attacks as they fish for counterhits.
  • Throws
Fuzzy Jump (Block meaties then jump)
  • Slightly delayed attempts to hit you out of prejump
  • Attempts to take advantage of you just as you leave the ground (Bonus air block leaves them plus), such as delayed normals or moves like Heat Knuckle.
  • Repeated strings of lows
  • Hard delay into reaction Heavenly Pot Buster
  • Throw PRC
Fuzzy Backdash (Block meaties then backdash macro)
  • Delayed meaties
  • Delayed jump-ins
  • Throw PRC
Jumping/Superjumping (Getting out as fast as possible)
  • Meaty attacks
  • Attempts to take advantage of you just as you leave the ground (Bonus air block leaves them plus), such as delayed normals or moves like Heat Knuckle.
  • Hard delay into reaction Heavenly Pot Buster
  • Throw PRC (Superjump here is likely to get you out and away)
  • Quick-to-Recover options followed by Airthrow/Anti-air
Jump Back Button (jP/jK/j2K/jD)
  • See Above
  • Delayed counterhit buttons
Backdash
  • Very active meaty options
  • Delayed normals
  • Sudden jumps into fast/deep air buttons

Advanced

IBFD on Wakeup
  • Opponent will gravitate towards "Not quite meaty" moves. Small delays.
  • Throws
Early Instant Blocks
  • Small delays, larger gaps.
Late Instant Blocks
  • Tight strings with tiny gaps.
Reaction Instant Blocks
  • Stopping pressure and going for throws/pressure resets against reactive play.
  • Stops the use of particular moves that lose outright to IB.

Defensive Options, and What They Beat

Basic Options

Mashing 5P
  • Loose throw attempts.
  • Delays to bait out reversals.
  • Gaps left to bait out throw whiff.
Throw Mash
  • People running in to throw (Break or Counterthrow)
  • People out of position on wakeup and not meatying correctly
Yellow Roman Cancel/Dead Angle
  • Committal attacks/actions with longer animations
  • Strings that lack the delays necessary to bait YRC
Committing to downback (For fear of both anti-airs/frame traps)
  • Don't play into frame traps.
  • Force an opponent to overextend, forcing an RC situation (Gas them).
  • Characters jumping on your wakeup in an attempt to bait out pokes/throw whiff
    • Anti-air here in some matchups. Reaction Airthrow is a very fast, powerful option as well in certain matchups. 2K is also good.
  • Characters whiffing punishable callouts (Heat Knuckle can be punished on reaction with 5K)
  • Yolo moves done in pressure (Volcanic Viper/Night Raid Vortex)
Fuzzy Jump (Block meaties then jump)
  • Throws
  • Meaties
  • Hard delays/gaps in pressure.
  • Moves that aren't that rewarding on air block/normal hit/normal block.
Fuzzy Backdash (Block meaties then backdash macro)
  • Throws
  • Moves that don't pick up well on low air hit
  • Moves with low amounts of active frames can lose out where fuzzy jump would get called out
  • Meaties
Jumping/Superjumping (Getting out as fast as possible)
  • Throw attempts
  • This kind of jump (Reversal jump) can escape gaps where fuzzy jump is too slow.
Jump Back Button (jP/jK/j2K/jD)
  • Characters jumping just before your wakeup, or jumping suddenly in pressure to leave a gap to bait pokes/throw breaks.
  • Throws
  • Hard delays in pressure that aren't followed by something with vertical reach.
Backdash
  • Meaty options that aren't very active but are slow to recover (Faust 2H).
  • Throws
  • Command Grabs
  • Attacks that are shit on air hit

Advanced

IBFD on Wakeup
  • Meaties eat shit
  • Ruins all kinds of strings
  • Very strong
  • You can decide to fuzzy jump after this, if you like, or continue to block on the ground
  • Note: Because this is a fixed window, it's more reliable to input.
Early Instant Blocks
  • Can build bar against meaties/buttons. Safe to go for. The timing window is "Just before/as blockstun ends so you don't eat shit."
Late Instant Blocks
  • This upset spacing on certain moves, but you might eat shit if you're hit just before IB.
Reaction Instant Blocks
  • If you can time it, you can net yourself an easy throw punish against certain attacks

Appendix B: Oki

Meaty cS

  • Mashing
  • Throw Mash
  • Jumping on wakeup

Your Risk: Very Low. On block, leads into strings and opportunities to continue to catch buttons. WARNING: Strong reversal options can challenge cS well, but not without substantial risk to your opponent.

Reward: Very High. Your best starters begin here.

Counterplay/Hedges:

  • Blocking outright
  • Fuzzy jumps
  • Backdash [Please validate cS active frames to confirm]
  • Reversals
  • YRC

Slightly Delayed cS (Aim this at fuzzied options!)

  • Mashing. Timing dependent.
  • Fuzzy Jumping. You will either hit or be + after raw cS [Please validate].
  • Throw Mash. If done outside throw range, cS wins.

Risk: Medium (Delays could be be challenged by fast wakeup buttons)

Reward: Very High.

Counterplay/Hedges

  • Fast wakeup pokes
  • Blocking outright
  • Reversals still challenge this option well.
  • Fuzzy jump. People may still do this regardless as a hedge. It beats total obliteration through counterhit.
  • YRC

Throw/Snip Snip Snip

  • Commitment to Downback (For fear of both anti-airs/frame traps)
  • Mashing non-5f buttons
  • Throw Mash. Even situation.
  • YRC

Risk: Medium/High. With Snip PRC, Risk becomes Low and Reward remains Low. Spending all that bar is also expensive.

Reward: Low. Snip potentially sets up a "Low Risk, High Reward" in the following situation.

Counterplay/Hedges

  • Normal jumping on wakeup. Leads to full punish.
  • Fuzzy jump on wakeup. Leads to full punish.
  • Mashing 5f moves on wakeup. If your timing is off, they can use slower attacks.
  • Backdash
  • Reversals

Meaty 2K

  • Fuzzy Jump. Repeated strings of lows are a great answer to someone up+backing slightly after wakeup. 2K is your premiere fuzzy jump counterplay. It's just low reward without a way to convert into wall break.
  • Mashing
  • Throw Mash
  • Jumping on wakeup
  • Backdash


Risk: Medium. At -2, it leads to a committal situation where you can still challenge the opponent, but without RC the resulting situation is Very Risky.

Reward: Low to Very High. It combos into 2D Item Toss, the resulting situation has the potential to be very silly. I hope you enjoy variance.

Counterplay/Hedges

  • FD shuts down any potential offense you might have had going. FD pushback is applied per hit. 2K is many hits.
  • Reversals
  • YRC

Once You Have 50 bar

The mix between 2K(3)>2D and 2K(?)>5D becomes Low Risk, Very High Reward and you are very hard to block.

Sudden jS>jH

  • Throw
  • Fuzzy Jump. (Timing/character dependent)
  • Backdash
  • Mashed normals. (Timing/character dependent)

Jump just before they would act, whether it's on wakeup or after wakeup, based on player habit. You want to jump close enough to the moment they input something so that they cannot stop themselves. [Video Example here]

Risk: Medium/High.

Reward: Very High.

Counterplay/Hedges

  • Commitment to Downback
  • Reversals
  • Wakeup Buttons with large vertical reach
  • Rising jump normals on wakeup

6H

  • Whiffed Throw/Buttons
  • Jumps/Fuzzy Jump (Spacing/timing dependent)
  • Rising jump normals

Risk: Very High. Bad on hit if you're too far to combo into MMM. Bad on block everywhere.

Reward: Very High (On Counterhit). Probably best used at high RISC gauge or with some kind of item setup to cover.

Fighting Faust

Although Faust does not deal much damage by himself and has overall slower buttons than most of the cast, his true powers lie in using his base kit alongside his items. An otherwise easy match can quickly turn into a circus act if Faust keeps pulling items without interruption, making for effective zoning efforts that most characters might struggle to stop. As such, one should focus on pressuring Faust whenever possible so that items are not pulled and punishing item toss, as doing so will result in Counter hits.

In addition, some live items can be used against Faust himself: a Banana slip might lead into an otherwise impossible conversion, a Bomb might inhibit Faust from performing further item pulls and lead to combos, a Weight might knock him over if unproperly defended against, a trumpet might force Faust to block or jump into an air throw. Additionally, if you happen to be playing Sol, Ramlethal, Goldlewis, Potemkin, Axl or Baiken you can light up Afros Faust might have on.

Thrust (41236K)

All characters are able to (and should) 6P Thrust on reaction. Doing so successfully enables the defender to get next to Faust instantly, forcing him to take defensive action immediately. Keep an eye out for this move after moves such as 6H, 2H and 5H. 6H is also 6Pable for some characters, but has precise timing and requires good awareness.

If you burst this move early after connecting, make sure you do not immediately run up to Faust otherwise this will happen.

Love (j.236P)

Expect this after j.2K and for general zoning. Faust is in Counter Hit state when using it, so shoot to kill if he does it close to you. Running underneath Faust completely ruins this move, so do it often.

Mix Mix Mix (236S (air OK))

Is minus if blocked on the ground or done raw, plus if air blocked. Faust's hurtbox is HUGE while spinning, so there's no need to be afraid of trading with this move. 6P if Faust special cancels into this. Crossup Mix Mix Mix on wake up can be backdashed on reaction.

Snip Snip Snip and Bone-crushing Excitement PRC

Scarecrow PRC

Although Scarecrow is usually on the lower side of reward without meter, it becomes a real threat once Faust has some. By PRCing S Scarecrow, Faust immediately forces you to proverbially play Jenga and you must correctly guess the option he is about to select. Usually Snip Snip Snip and throw are the chosen alternatives, but Faust can always fast RC meaty you with a normal, jump into an overhead, predict your jump and air throw you, backdash and shimmy, or even hold down the S button and RRC the overhead into further RPS. Throwing Faust or backdashing on reaction is usually your best bet, although crouch block is not bad either, as overheads without the afro tend to be fairly predictable.

When you have an Afro on...

Throwing Faust

Dealing with Faust Oki

Dealing with Items

  • Bombs

You'll want to hit it so that the Bomb remains either behind Faust or at least nearby should you be already hitting him. If your case is the latter, cancelling a combo starter into FD and have the Bomb go off can extend your combo and allow you to get close to Faust, a position that is generally unfavorable for him. If Faust is letting the Bomb 'cook' before nudging it your way, is best to respect the explosion if your character lacks safe long-range tools to challenge it, since blocking the explosion only yields Faust 1 safe item pull, whereas getting hit yields him at least 2 and allows him to keep distance.

  • Banana

Heals for 20 HP, which isn't unwelcome, but nevertheless can grant Faust oki or extended blockstun due to the peel that falls aside (albeit not very impactful). If you jockey for it, ensure that you can keep advancing and pressuring Faust, and be wary if he attempts to FD to push you into a peel. If Faust is the one at risk of slipping, be reminded that one cannot backdash into a peel without slipping.

  • Hammer

If you are very close to Faust, you can disregard this item entirely and attempt to strike/throw at will. If you are approaching him, however, it is usually best to respect this item unless you have disjointed normals to hit Faust with.

  • Meteors
  • Donut

Grab it if you can but the heal is pretty negligible. If your character has guts, it will have more use to you than for Faust himself.

  • Afro
  • Mini Faust

Avoid it like the plague. If you trigger it, throwing Faust completely voids the threat of Mini-Faust due to the invul frames associated with throwing. If you cannot throw Faust, either jump out of range or respect it, as it does very little chip damage. Be mindful that it can block projectiles before being triggered. Also avoid hitting it purposely as it will give Faust more time to pull items or to set up a safe Scarecrow.

  • 100T Weight

Play around the shockwave as you would with Potemkin's Slidehead: either jump, backdash it or become airborne with a special move if your character enables it. DO NOT GET HIT BY WEIGHT ITSELF, SPECIALLY IN THE AIR: the guard-crush will enable Faust to set-up true 50/50s that can be frustrating to deal with and the added landing recovery allows him to whip out an unavoidable Snip Snip Snip.

  • Trumpet
  • Afro Love (not really an item but worth mentioning anyways)

Same deal as the Weight. You can destroy it with projectiles, stuff it with disjoints, reflect it with projectile reflectors and some characters can even duck it.

Glossary

  1. Frame Trap
  2. "Fuzzy"
  3. Meaty
  4. Shimmy/Shimmies

Navigation

 Faust