GGML/Baldhead

	Defense
	90%Raw Value: 9
	Jump Startup
	9f
	Backdash
	31f
	Meter Gain Mod
	150%Raw Value: 15
	Charge Time
	45f
	Forward Walk Speed
	83%Raw Value: 640
	Backward Walk Speed
	174%Raw Value: 1024
	Dizzy Resistance
	117%Raw Value: 35
	Fastest Attack
	6PGuardMidStartup2Recovery25Advantage-25 (2F, whiffs on crouching); 2SGuardAllStartup5Recovery20Advantage-15 (5F); Mad OperationGuardThrowStartupRecoveryAdvantageN/A (1F)
	Reversals
	Mad OperationGuardThrowStartupRecoveryAdvantageN/A (1F)

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Faust, known as Dr. Baldhead in this game, makes his debut as a monster of a character who's unreasonably versatile for his intended archetype. Not to fret; he's also like this in other Guilty Gear games, so this is just the beginning of an innocent fact of reality that people have been forced to come to terms with instead of some silly ML screw-up.

However, Baldhead does indeed play more the serial killer part to Faust's zany doctor. While still sporting the incredible buttons and low profile as his future self, Baldhead is blazing fast and can uniquely enforce mixups that most of the ML cast are noticeably lacking. This isn't typically necessary of him since he can infinite you much like everyone else, but the more the merrier. The speed and normals are frankly more than enough to make Baldhead a menace against a majority of the cast, especially in a one-touch game like ML.

Baldhead

Baldhead is, unlike Faust, a speeding bullet of destruction who functions best at mid-to-close range.

Pros

Cons

Godlike Normals: Baldhead has arguably the best normals in the game, with his moves like 2S and f.S being fast, disjointed, and leading to infinites.
Aerial Offense: Baldhead possesses a longer and slower airdash than the rest of the cast, allowing for prolonged aerial offense which pairs well with GMW for a safe way to land and potentially continue pressure on the ground.
Good Conversions: 2S and 2H are some of the furthest-reaching ground normals, giving Baldhead the furthest-reaching charge cancel infinite.
Low-Profiling Crouch: Baldhead is the character with the shortest crouching hurtbox in the game, allowing him to avoid a lot of attacks by simply ducking under them. Most notably Justice's Gamma Ray.
Adaptable: in Missing Link, matchups usually matter more than raw strength, given the accessibility of infinites. Baldhead's reach and low profile traits help him navigate matchups against dominant characters while retaining the grime that most characters have.
Grabs: With the largest throw range in the game alongside Re-re-re no Tsuki, you can enforce resets and punish the tiniest gaps in blockstrings wherever you wish.

Weak Guard Cancels: Baldhead has no reliable guard cancels. His best is Mad Operation due to it being an instant command grab, but this requires either a full super meter or desperation and the input can leave him open. Otherwise, he usually relies on his abare normals, which are admittedly incredible, but still weak compared to a strong guard cancel.

Normals

Damage

A quantification of how a character's health bar is reduced when they are hit.

Guard

The act of defending against incoming attacks. Guarding either negates the damage from an attack entirely or reduces it to minor chip damage.

Low: Guarded against while crouching
Mid: Guarded against in either the crouching or standing state, but not while airborne
High: Guarded against in the standing state
All: Guarded against while crouching, standing, or while airborne
Throw: Cannot be guarded against, but only applies to grounded opponents
Unblockable: Cannot be guarded against

Startup: The time before an attack is active including the first active frame. For example, an attack with 10F startup means the attack will do nothing for 9 frames, then hit the opponent on the 10th frame.
Active: The active frames of an attack refers to the amount of time an attack can hit the opponent.
Recovery: The recovery of an attack refers to the amount of time an attacker must wait before they may perform another action, even blocking.
On-Block: A measure of frame advantage when the opponent blocks an attack. Positive values indicate that the attacker can act first. Negative values indicate that the defender can act first.
On-Hit: A measure of frame advantage when the opponent is hit by an attack. Positive values indicate that the attacker can act first. Negative values indicate that the defender can act first.
Invuln: Short for InvulnerabilityA state where a character cannot be hit. A common component of reversal moves.

5P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
5	All	7	4	9	-5	+2	none

Fairly slow 5P without much range. Works well as a combo starter and can lead to decent damage but generally not great.

5K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
11	All	4	14	6	-11	-4	none

Very big anti-air button with an extremely janky hitbox that can even hit crouching opponents. Can be followed up with grounded normals. Shockingly fast so it can be used for abare.

c.S

c.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9,2	All	8	14	13	-14	-2	none

Combo filler. Use with caution however. Using c.S as a dash-in will cause Baldhead to throw out f.S instead, which completely whiffs on up-close opponents. In fact, even c.S will whiff against up-close opponents in certain situations, making it a risky button to use.

f.S

f.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
12	All	12	4	21	-16	-4	none

Gigantic normal with unholy reach. Contests almost fullscreen at a mere 12 frames. It does come with a set of caveats, however: It fails to convert into anything meaningful besides 41236H at its typical range, it has an equally massive hurtbox extension, and it has a large blind spot in the area where Baldhead steps forward.

It's generally excellent at stopping people from charging or trying to do anything in neutral in general. If Baldhead does get hit out of it, in 90% of cases the opponent will get no conversion through punishing him simply because he probably pressed f.S on the other edge of the screen. 2S is used more often in typical Guilty Gear f.S range, but this move's still stupid.

On hit, you can convert into an infinite from 5H or 2H, with 2H generally being preferred but sometimes awkward on the hands. The range at which f.S combos into 5H without either button whiffing is very specific, and it becomes even more unstable if you add dash momentum to the mix.

5H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
16	All	10	8	17	-12	+6	none

Essentially a shorter ranged f.S, though it still whiffs when close like that button, making it a bit of an awkward and middling pick for footsies & conversions. It has enough hitstun to work as an infinite component, but 2H is usually much more stable for that. It's marginally safer and better at catching aerial approaches than 2H. Sees occasional use, but doesn't stand out.

Fierce Strike

6P

Signature pose is only hurtboxes.

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	Mid	2	7	25	-25	-20	none

Decent anti-air. Although this move appears big, it actually seems to have a very small hitbox. However, it's his only air unblockable option, so it has to be used under some circumstances.

Air unblockable

2P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	Low	7	5	11	-10	-2	none

Baldhead's fastest low, useful for mixups and mashing although he has better buttons for abare.

2K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
7x3	All	11	4,4,8	9	-10	+2	none

Big close range button with long active frames. Unfortunately unlike in later Guilty Gear games, all three hits of this attack hit mid. It's still a decent move and can gatling into S and HS normals. Because the first hit goes at an upward angle this move can also function as an anti-air, but he has better options.

2S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
11	All	5	3	20	-15	-3	none

Baldhead's best move. It's horrifically large, with a hitbox that extends both up and out for footsies, keep-away, and anti-air. On top of that, it's his second fast button at a stunning 5 frames, making it also good for abare and punishes. It consistently converts into 2H or itself when CCed, allowing for infinite conversions. The only weakness is it has an awful lot of whiff recovery, but even then it's hard to whiff punish on reaction especially with how much space it occupies. Fully disjointed and Baldhead's hurtbox is low profiled for most of the duration.

2H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
16	Low	16	21	14	-13	-8	none

2H is a long range poke that hits low even though it doesn't look like it should. Can be used to catch opponents walking back. Leads into the most lenient charge cancel infinite in the game on hit and is key combo filler. Fully disjointed.

j.P

j.P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
5	Overhead	9	4	5			none

A somewhat slow jumping attack for that's only really good for air to air or hitting opponents above you.

j.K

j.K

Spin move!

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
7	Overhead	8	14	4			none

j.K is a big aerial button that knocks the opponent down on hit, which can be hard to tech when grounded. It's also a big jump-in but won't lead to a combo. Similar to other aerial attacks, Baldhead will keep momentum if he performs this during an airdash. This can give you the chance to kick again, or chain it into another move like Going My Way. Might instant overhead (research needed).

j.S

j.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	Overhead	5	4	13			none

Incredibly fast and big air button. Controls a lot of vertical and horizontal space, and is a useful jump in. Fully disjointed.

j.H

j.H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
18	Overhead	13	9	9			none

Very strong aerial poke that does a lot of damage, though it's a tad slow. Not suited to being used rising or on reaction, but it's good after a backwards jump or tagging people who are directly in front of you or diagonally above you during an airdash. Less versatile than j.K but still useful. Not totally disjointed but this'll rarely matter.

Universal Mechanics

Dust Attack

S+H

Poster child for this game's hitboxes

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
16	Overhead	11	6	19	-2	+82	none

A quick overhead that whiffs on most crouching opponents.

Can be used against the following character when crouching:

Throw

6H or 4H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
18	Throw	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	-15	none

Is a Guilty Gear throw. Launches the opponent high up into the air, so be ready to chase them after landing this.

Instant Kill

What Goes Up Must Go Down to Hell

P+K > 236X

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
FATAL	All	8	14	3	N/A	N/A	Above Knees 4~7; Above Feet 8~24

Kills the opponent instantly. Has a big horizontal hitbox, which makes it easier to land than a lot of other Instant Kills.

Specials

Souten Enshin Ranbu

236P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
7x2	All	10	12	8	+2	0	none

The titular Pogo stance move where Baldhead swings forward on his scalpel, hitting the opponent and then entering Pogo stance. Unfortunately, Baldhead has minimal uses for this special at higher levels of play, since any Pogo-related combos fall out in favor of CC infinites, and it still comes with the primary drawbacks of no blocking with limited movement & attacks.

The initial attack is capable of going over many low pokes, but it struggles to have any meaningful reward or combo potential afterwards. The only really notable move in Pogo stance is Forward Movement, a 1 frame, long range attack that nudges Baldhead forward, but similarly it's low reward and will usually just result in you annoying the opponent for a couple hits.

Actually being in neutral Pogo stance is weird in this game. Baldhead lacks a hurtbox on his scalpel, allowing him to dodge a wide swathe of attacks.

May, for example, only has one grounded normal that hits him, being 5H. He isn't, however, throw immune, and his pushbox is a bit misplaced, allowing your sprite to be inside of or behind the opponent's - with you still counting as "in front of them", leading to awkward interactions. 236P itself can whiff on many crouching characters and some standing characters up-close. To top all this off, Baldhead is considered grounded during Pogo stance, if the opponent can reach him with a button that converts, he gets infinited & dies.

Going My Way

214S or j.214S

Spin move...2!!

startup of ground version only
traveling hitbox for ground and air versions

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
Going My Way	8	All	24	26	20	-3	-28	none
Aerial Going My Way	8	All	1	25	4			none

Dr. Baldhead launches himself off of his scalpel and zips across the stage. This special covers a decent amount of air-space and comes out quickly enough to catch your opponent off-guard. Doing 66 during startup causes Baldhead to fly further forwards.

The air version is an incredibly powerful and versatile tool in Baldhead's arsenal. It has very little recovery and leaves Baldhead fully air active once it's done, allowing him to move around in the air while being an active hitbox and mixup his air movement. It can also be used to get extra damage out of air hits. It also has no landing recovery, meaning he can use it to land faster and even TK it for unseeable left/rights.

Re-re-re no Tsuki

41236H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	All				-21	+6	none

A hit-grab move and Baldhead's longest range attack, though just by a smidge over f.S. Sprite is deceptive, the hitbox actually only extends to approximately half of the scalpel's length. Still rather large considering the big forward step Baldhead takes. Follow up this attack with 44 to pull your opponent back and deal a bit more damage with a safe-on-hit launch. Although this move can hit airborne opponents, you won't be able to pull them back.

Occasionally the only way to convert off of f.S, though confirming it is impractical. Worth doing every now and again. Baldhead retracting backwards after 41236H gets blocked typically makes it safe, at least to infinites.

Hack 'n Slash

623S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
~18? idk	All	14	[6(2)]x8,5	30	-17	-17	none

High damage special that works well as a close-range combo-ender. This move can also be charged by holding 623[R].

Unlike most chargeable specials, this one doesn't gain better hitboxes or properties. Instead it just gains additional damage. The Level 3 version does some really great damage, and is fairly accessible thanks to Baldhead's fast charge time. Useful for chip damage and combo ending if you aren't going for an infinite.

You can walk forwards and backwards while using it.

Pogo Stance

Moves accessed through Souten Enshin Ranbu.

Forward Movement

Pogo > 66

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	All	1	20	6	+2	0	none

Baldhead flings himself forward to hit the opponent. This move comes out instantly, though the initial hitbox is too high up to hit most grounded opponents. It's not terribly rewarding as it doesn't combo into anything at all, nor does it lead to much pressure besides checking the opponent's options with another Forward Movement. If you're interested in not winning (read: being in Pogo stance), this is usually the reason you're here.

Backward Movement

Pogo > 44

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
	All	1	20	6	+2	0	none

Baldhead flings himself backwards. This move can be used to hit opponents that are behind you, and can also be used to avoid attacks in some situations.

Above

Pogo > P

Hentai Zutuki (It's called that in the code)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
18	All	11	15	5		-12	none

The Pogo Stance anti-air. It's almost straight vertical and doesn't shift your hurtbox much, but it's solid if someone manages to get high enough to be above you during Pogo Stance. It's unfortunately minus on hit and a bit slow on startup, so if it does manage to land you'll likely need to end Pogo stance immediately after to remain safe.

Below

Pogo > K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	All	8	11	5		+10	none

Another keep-away move. This attack hits too high up to connect on any crouching character and most standing characters, making it suited for when an opponent is directly at your head level vertically. It combos into Forward movement reliably, but rarely sees much use due to the specificity of its hitbox placement.

Supers

Mad Operation

2363214H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
45	Throw				N/A	-38	none

One of the few command grabs in Missing Link. Baldhead slams the opponent onto an operating table and performs surgery on them. As a fairly traditional command grab, this super is instant and unblockable but has very short reach so you need to be extremely close to your opponent in order to land it.

Deals a fair amount of damage but doesn't lead to pressure, making it best used when it will kill.

It's also a very solid guard cancel, and Baldhead's only real good option there. Comes out instantly as with other command grabs like Potemkin Buster, making it very difficult to play around or deal with aside from constantly being airborne. It's significantly more rewarding than the average GC command grab like those found on