GGST/Faust/Strategy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:07, 30 March 2022

Faust

Overview

General Gameplan

Faust is a silly character. 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: Whiff-punishment through movement, j.D and far.S; Baiting approach and anti-airing with 2S, 5K and 6P, and; Capitalizing on the opponent's hesitation by dashing into a range where you can threaten to grab the opponent.

When Faust has a free moment, due to the opponent burning through air options, or Faust knocking them down with 2H, he pulls Items. Item Toss (236P) 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.

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

Items

Bomb

Pulses 6 times before blowing up. Can be hit back and forth by both players. Extends active frames of whatever attack connects with it. Different attacks hit the bomb at different arcs:

5D hits the bomb at a high arc that can be hard to challenge.
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 your opponent to try to hit the bomb back.
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

Item Toss Usage

c.S/2K/Snip Pressure

Afro Usage

Overview

Afro is one of the defining component's of Faust's offense, and should an opponent pick one up, you'll find yourself in an incredibly advantageous position as stray hits become more rewarding, reward off mixups increases, and your attacks become much harder to navigate.

It's really good.

What Afro Does

Afro grants an extended vertical hurtbox to your opponent that empowers certain tools that are normally not as reliable. An example would be 5K, which will hit crouchers when Afro'd.

Afro can also be lit on fire.

When fire attacks make contact on hit, the afro is set ablaze and explodes immediately, offering a combo opportunity of some kind in most cases.

On block, the afro is set ablaze and explodes after a set period of time. The resulting "delayed" explosion can act as incredible cover for all manner attacks that are normally very risky, such as Snip Snip Snip, Mix Mix Mix, Item Toss or certain normals that normally leave Faust at disadvantage.

How do I apply Afro?

Throwing Afro as an Item

Item Toss Post-Throw Oki Example: https://twitter.com/USF4rosecom/status/1406004749502058497

Landing Snip Snip Snip

236H is an obvious way to apply Afro State. For tips on how to connect with Snip reliably, see the Primer at the top of the page.

After Afro is applied, what do I do?

Rising jK,jD becomes an unreactable overhead that leads to full combo. On characters where rising jK still can't connect (Faust, Giovanna), rising jD is still quite strong.

On block, should you cancel into Love for plus frames, you can be challenged, but it will depend on spacing, and the opponent will struggle to beat both Love and MixMixMix together.

Your goal is to maintain advantage in your opponent's face and threaten Snip while taking shots against their defensive plays with 2K and cS. Use the resulting afro explosion as cover to help layer your 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

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
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
Sudden j.S j.H to bait throws/late jumps
Throw sometimes
Bait reversals sometimes
2K sometimes
2K 5D RC
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?

5H is a great whiff punish in close quarters.
j2K and j.D can be great bully options if you're uncertain a gap may or may not show
5K is very hard to contest for some characters, and it's very fast, just liable to whiff overtop of certain moves.
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 is 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 or Axl, 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 you jump and air throw you, backdash and shimmy, or even hold down the S button and RRC the overhead into further RPS. Throwing Faust 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

Matchups

(Google Doc) Krackatoa's Big Master List of Character Specific Interactions (Safejumps, Afro Hitbox Weirdness)

Find the Doc here (Currently updated for 1.10)

Krack's Matchup Doc: 1/16 Complete

Sol Badguy

Overview

A delicate matchup. You have the tools to win handily in neutral, but once he gets in, a single frame trap can end your life if you play into it. Don't get counterhit.

You will rotate between the following:

Passive play in order to find whiff punish opportunities, find anti-air opportunities, and goad Sol into staying grounded.
Swinging preemptively with far.S and 2H in order to shut down grounded approach, and to coax Sol into the air or into his various high and low profile attacks (Such as Bandit Bringer and Night Raid Vortex).
Preemptively checking Sol's attempts to go after your more committal options with less committal ones. Faust's long 2P, 5K anti-air, jH air coverage, and low j2K.

A lot of this matchup is understanding when to do nothing, when to swing, and when to keep to low-commit tools.

New Player Goals

As mentioned above, you'll work on understanding when to play reactively while doing nothing, when to swing big buttons, and when to keep to low-commit tools that are unlikely to be whiff punished.

When using 2P to check Sol's forward movement, or if Sol is too close, you need to follow up with repeated 2P, otherwise he can mash far.S after being hit. Keep doing it until he's pushed out or starts to challenge with weaker, faster normals. This brings your disjointed 5H online as a strong whiff punish.

Once Sol tries to hedge against your more dominant ground options in neutral, switch things up by playing purely reactively, whether it's to fish for whiff punishment or to anti-air.

Covering the air with preemptive rising jH occasionally can act as a strong deterrent to Sol's entire air approach, including Bandit Bringer.

Don't get counterhit. Easier said than done, but avoid playing into Sol's optimal starters. Giving him easy and rewarding ways to wallbreak is best avoided.

Learn the situation after Bandit Revolver's first hit. In the 1.10 patch, the situation created by BR is now scarier to deal with and there's no one correct answer in that situation (Reversal 2P punishes BR, but can be trapped by the followup).

Learn how to shut down blockstrings into Gunflame. Too close and it's unsafe on block thanks to your 5K. If Gunflame is done too far out, a preemptive jump followed by reaction j2K is available as a punish. Reaction jump into reaction j2K may be possible.

Dealing with Sol Corner Pressure

The goal here is to not get counterhit, and to avoid getting RISC cranked to a state where you explode off a stray hit. This means putting a priority on not getting cornered early on, so you have meter to defend yourself. This also means you don't want to waste meter throughout the match unnecessarily.

The Importance of FD

If you're cornered with meter, FD reduces RISC gain, creates space, and forces larger gaps or more wasteful plays (Such as Bandit Revolver > RC) if Sol wants to stay in.

If you don't have meter, challenging gaps gets much trickier for you. The gaps are smaller, so Sol's tick throws and pressure overall becomes harder to deal with. This makes your answers such as jumping, poking or crawling more predictable in their timing and easier to snipe. It's easier for Sol to keep you in place, and RISC gets cranked.

Throw Defense

Tight throw attempts should be challenged with late throw break, fuzzy jump and occasionally 5P. Cleanly inputting fuzzy options in this situation are very valuable, such as Fuzzy Jump or Fuzzy Backdash. All the above options hedge a little differently against other options in Sol's close range kit.

Late Throw Break cannot be counterhit easily, and Fuzzy Jump can't be counterhit at all. Force the Sol to try and play around these two option and you can simplify defense overall. A Sol trying to hedge against both of these will want to leave larger gaps in his pressure in an attempt to bait throw breaks or jumps.

When to Act on Defense?

Guilty Gear defense is all about acting during gaps.

Common moments to challenge are as follows:

When Sol cancels into Bandit Bringer/Gunflame/Bandit Revolver. This is usually after a 5H trap on block, but can suddenly come after other normals, depending on the spacing. (See the other sections for more answers)
When Sol tries to regain lost ground by dashing up after a normal. (Poking out can be good here. 6P, 5K, 5P, 2P)
When Sol tries to throw. (Fuzzy jump is strong here. Late Throw Break can be good too if he's using Throw over Wild Throw)
When Sol backs off to try and bait you into a bad situation. Maybe he wants to go after your jumping state, or allow you to whiff a Super. (Poking out can work here.)
When Sol tries to trap you with repeated far.S (Crawl into Reaction 5P or commit to 6P)

FD forces Sol to commit sooner than he would like. The gaps he leaves when you're FDing are much larger should he want to stay at a relevant distance.

Taking the Throw

If Sol is not representing Throw, you might avoid fuzzy jumping, mashing 5P or looking for Throw Breaks in order to take full advantage of his other options. Crawling gets much stronger if you're not worried about throws.

It's alright to eat a few throws, they don't do a ton of damage, and the reward you can potentially get when Sol doesn't throw is quite large.

Sol's minus moves forcing him to act

If Sol is representing 2S or 5H in a bid to trap you from crawling or mashing, consider it a small victory, as he'll be forced to leave himself minus, or cancel into special moves that are easier to deal with.

Dealing with 6S

Sol 6S is a fairly dominant normal, but has a very extended hurtbox on whiff. This means that if you backdash well out of range at the same time Sol goes to 6S, you can freely whiff punish on reaction with 2H.

Backdashing in neutral overall is quite safe, provided Sol doesn't run too deeply before 6S. This allows you to upset spacing while also offering up pretty nice punish opportunities. Just be wary of Negative Penalty for backdashing too much.

If Sol is gunning for your backdash in neutral, his timing for 6S is going to be much later and the spacing much deeper. This bolsters your checks against forward movement. 5H, farS, 2H and low j2K become much more threatening, potentially netting you counterhits.

Dealing with Gunflame

Gunflame Up Close

Gunflame done too closely is unsafe on block, easily punished with 5K. A 5K done in range that hits a smidge too far out may not combo into anything reliably without RC.

Gunflame at Max Range

Usually Sol may try to Gunflame from further out, where it nets him more advantage on block. You can beat this by jumping preemptively and punishing his recovery with j2K. Gunflame has full Counterhit Recovery, so the j2K leads to full combo.

Gunflame in Neutral

If a Sol is throwing Gunflame out at a distance as some sort of counterpoke, you can take the opportunity to reposition, or throw an item.

Dashing Gunflame

Swing 2H at him when you see him start running. He'll eat shit.

Dealing with Bandit Revolver

Thanks to the changes to Bandit Revolver in 1.10, Sol can control the second portion of the move. Bandit Revolver with no followup is punishable by 2P>6P, but that can be trapped by the followup. Here are the common situations and followups:

Bandit Revolver followed by no extra inputs.
Bandit Revolver with 2nd hit done tightly.
Bandit Revolver with the 2nd hit done late.

After blocking Bandit Revolver, mix it up between reversal 2P after the 1st hit, and blocking/crawling into late stand throw, and just blocking outright. This should cover the spread of the above options quite well, and keep Sol guessing.

Dealing with Bandit Bringer

Bandit Bringer in Neutral

You can capitalize on Bringer-happy Sols with the occasional preemptive 5K and the occasional preemptive jH. These are high reward options that convert well.

Low-commit pokes such as 2P and j2K in neutral are very unlikely to lose outright by wayward Bringers.

Bandit Bringer in Blockstrings

Rising jP trades favourably even against the tightest Bandit Bringers done in blockstrings. It's also very unlikely for a Gunflame to catch this maneuver.

Reversal 5K is a high damage option but can be clipped or CH by Gunflame/Revolver

6P can shut down any attempts to punish your escape with Bandit Revolver. Either the BR is done too tightly to trap you, or you 6P through any gap.

In short, when you're scared of Bringer, use more rising jP and 6P out of block. Depending on spacing and timing, Gunflame may actually lose to 5K.

In Summary

6P when Gunflame or hard delays aren't on the table. Rising jP acts as a nice hedge when Gunflame is on deck. 5K is an outright callout against BB.

Dealing with Night Raid Vortex

NRV has a lot of startup. If you're scared of NRV, stay away from the options that get crushed by it, and focus on a toolset consisting of the following options that do well:

Low j2K
2H
2P
2K

It can be shut down on reaction at fullscreen with 2P (And with tight reactions, 2S), but in close quarters, you need preemptive reads. Both can be appropriate depending on what else you're trying to beat.

NRV RC is a common bully option once Sol has 50 bar. Operating with the above list when he's sitting on meter can keep him out. If you hit him before he reaches the PRC window.

NRV is punishable on block, so if PRC isn't on deck, that's always a great option.

Dealing with Volcanic Viper

Just Block Lol

You know, not doing anything is pretty good, but when you need to play around the rest of Sol's kit, sometimes using options that are simply harder to tag is the best you can do.

VV In uh... Neutral...

In neutral, keep to your more constrained, faster normals like 2P, or start swinging far reaching attacks such as farS and 2H at a greater distance, to ensure Sol can't get in a meaningful range before letting it rip.

A Sol doing dash up DP probably isn't blocking.

Shutting down Reversal VV

Small delays in pressure where you block before acting are all you need sometimes in order to bait out a reversal from Sol.

On his wakeup, you can usually dash up delay throw in order to hedge against wakeup DP and wakeup super together, without giving up the offense.

Shutting Down Reversal VV RC

Staying out of range on his wakeup is an easy way to bait it out. Going for throw/command grab can deny him the chance to RC on block/hit as well.

Crawl

Crawl under 5H, farS, 6S, any hit of Bandit Revolver.

If you see 5K or 2K, you can safely crawl afterwards unless Sol does something super dumb thanks to limited gatling options after K normals. A hard reaction, but worth it for what you get.

If you're playing reactively on defense and looking to Crawl, you may consider trying to late throw break should Sol dash up instead.

Match Footage

Notes

Ky Kiske

Overview

New Player Goals

Ky's Strong Mid-range Game

Dealing with Stun Edge

Dealing with Foudre Arc

Do a lot of preemptive j2K, falling jH and 5K. You can 5P on reaction if you're a lord.

Dealing with Air Stun Edge

Dealing with Stun Dipper

Dealing with Vapor Thrust

Crawl

Going under 6K on reaction leads to a c.S punish. You can keep your eyes open for it on defense.

Notes

Grounded RTL might be dangerous for Ky if items are out: slipping on a peel, getting hit by a hammer, trumpet horde, mini Faust, meteors, weight or bomb will promptly stop Ky during the overdrive.

May

Axl Low

Overall a hard matchup for Faust due to Axl out-poking and out-damaging him at both midscreen and fullscreen. Delicate and thoughtful play is required to get in on Axl and applying afro will ultimately be your win condition in the matchup.

6P and j2K are two potent buttons for answering Axl's jump-ins and grounded pressure (mostly in the form of Rensen and Winter Mantis), respectively.
Axl's 5P, 6P, 5K, 2S and Axl Bomber can be ducked under.
If you do get in on Axl, be mindful of his Sickle Storm reversal and look to punish it after the first hit and before the second.
Practice dash-blocking.

Chipp Zanuff

Potemkin

Faust

Just do what he says

Millia Rage

Ramlethal Valentine

Dealing with Earl (Erarlumo/214P,214P,214P)

Dealing with Dauro (623P)

Dealing with Flip (Sildo Detruo/214K)

5P > 5K on reaction.

Dealing with Banjo (Bajoneto/236S/236H)

Dealing with Bajoneto: Krackatoa's .mp4 Guide to Shutting Down Swords on Reaction.

Notes

Not as awful as some say, but can definitely get difficult if you mess up in the corner. Crawling below Bajoneto or reacting to it accordingly after blocking is key to getting the hang of the matchup. This may help if you're lost.

Remember to be patient and respect Ram's long pokes, as she may cancel them into Bajoneto at any time. Getting a Ram to Bajoneto midscreen will neuter her pressure and damage quite a bit (aside from allowing punishment), meaning that you get to go ham with pressure.
Also respect her Mortobato reversal, as it is -30 on block and hurts like hell if you don't block it. Avoid air-blocking it as the pushback will make it safe.

Leo Whitefang

Nagoriyuki

Overview

Faust, all things considered, has a decent matchup against Nagoriyuki. His tools are able to keep him out well and force him to build up blood if used correctly, but there is always that threat of him eventually reaching you and tearing through your lifebar.

Playing Around Items

Your goal in this matchup should be to keep yourself as far from Nago as possible unless he's at risk of popping blood rage and you have the items to stay safe and back out when you need to. Hammer is, as it usually is, a good tool for preventing jump-ins and dashes, or in this case Fukyo. It's especially valuable if you bonk Nago while he attempts a Fukyo because you keep him out while he builds blood.

One of the most important things to learn to improve your zoning as Faust, especially in this matchup, is what tools to use to force your opponent to block or otherwise not make a move against your item pressure, be it with powerful specials like Scalpel, Love, and Scarecrows or your long range buttons like f.S and 2H. Note that 2H is usually a better option to throw out in item pressure as it causes a knockdown, is disjointed, and is a low, the only are it suffers in is its slightly lower range.

Dealing with Clone

Faust has a unique tool that stops Nago from abusing his powerful Clone-Fukyo approach in Scalpel(41236K).

This move will pierce through it and hit Nago, allowing you to smack him all the way back to the other end of the screen or get a high damage combo with meter.

Throwing out Scalpel in between gaps of Item hits such as Bomb or Hammer will force Nago to keep blocking as it catches all methods he has of getting in, allowing you to keep up the item pressure after the fact.

Using Love Efficiently

Love(j.236P) is a very powerful tool when used correctly. Nago especially lets it shine as he lacks the ability to quickly and efficiently air-to-air it unlike the rest of the cast.

You should be weary of just using the move in neutral, however, as Nago's 2H can snipe it out at midrange or long range depending on his blood level and give him massive damage. Try to use it to fill the gap between items and use the plus to keep up the pressure.

One of the best scenarios to use Love is after throwing a bomb from fullscreen. Jumping back and instantly using Love will make it hit the bomb, creating an active hitbox where it is to cover Fukyo approach and knocking the bomb toward Nago to force him to make a choice between hitting it back or holding block.

Dealing with Nago if he does reach you

Obviously this matchup won't be all fun and throwing out items. Whether you fail to catch an approach or just get bad RNG, it's inevitable that you'll eventually have to deal with Nago's suffocating close-range pressure, however there are ways to escape it and begin zoning him again.

One of the biggest things in fighting a Nago is recognizing their tendencies. If a Nago continuously goes for the command grab after f.S-S at high blood, then be prepared to jump out of it and punish.

In general jumping back is quite safe against Nago and successfully avoiding a big button or grab can be your ticket out.

Meter is also a very good tool for escaping Nago pressure. A well-timed YRC can force him to give up his turn, giving you the choice to go for a mixup and push him back or use the stagger to get yourself away from him. In the corner, the tool to do this should be an airborne Mix Mix Mix but airdashing into a j.2K can be a good tool to reverse the pressure back onto Nago.

Giovanna

Perhaps Faust's hardest matchup: not only is Giovanna un-fuzzyable while afro'd, 5K will always whiff in neutral against her despite the haircut she currently has AND her cartwheel attack (Sol Nascente) will flip an applied afro upside-down, meaning it cannot be hit or inflamed during its animation. In addition to this, her mobility is very dominant and will quickly lead poor Faust into the corner where he must deal with Giovanna's array of plus moves and high damage. Her mobility is not as effective for maneuvering around items, however.

Notably, Faust can crawl under Sol Poente, Trovão, 5P, 5K, 5H and 6H. Keep an eye out for the cross-up on Sol Poente though, as Faust must switch crawl directions when it occurs.

Anji Mito

Dealing with forward throw into butterfly Okizeme

Faust can crawl under the butterfly to avoid it as long as he isn't using FD or being struck by Anji. Faust's blocking animation is high enough to trigger the butterfly, so mixing up the timing at which you get hit by the butterfly can mess with the options Anji has during his Oki setup.

Normal Timing:
Faust intentionally stand block or FDs the butterfly for the normal timing an Anji player is accustomed to. He gets to do whatever he wants into a mostly safe butterfly 2nd hit for plus frames.

Delayed Timing:
Faust crawls the butterfly, and intentionally stand block or FDs later in the timing. This can be used to play around the Anji attempting to run up throw when they know a crawl is coming, as well as open gaps if the Anji is going for normal Okizeme timing.

Crawl Timing:
If Faust crouch blocks the entirety of the butterfly going by, then the only thing that triggers it is going into block stun by an Anji button. Anji striking Faust's crawl block before the butterfly is activated delays the butterfly strike that begins flying up. Depending on the string that Anji uses (2k>2d or c.S>f.S>etc) a gap large enough to contest with a Faust button presents itself while the butterfly is going up. For example: Anji doing a 2k>2d triggering the butterfly (instead of the normal timing) leaves a gap large enough for Faust to advance forward and avoid the second strike of butterfly. A mix-up with throw can happen here if Anji knows Faust intends to crawl under the entire butterfly.

Plans:

Crawl the butterfly and wait for Anji to trigger a blocking situation, challenge space with a 5P or 2K before the butterfly 2nd hit happens.
If Anji starts grabbing crawl, intentionally delay FD to trigger the butterfly at a timing that grants grab invincibility, take a turn.
Normal timing of butterfly (not entirely sure of the advantage here other than keeping Anji on his toes).

I-No

Dealing with Stroke

Dealing with I-no Offense: Stroke.mp4

Goldlewis Dickinson

You out-neutral Goldlewis most of the time and can run effective afro-based offence on him because of his poor defense and size. This matchup is only ever difficult if you happen to be cornered without meter.

5K and 5H are especially effective in this matchup due to how active they are.
You can crawl, Scarecrow or air dash any version of Skyfish. Just be on the lookout if Goldlewis has meter to PRC it and react to your option.

Jack-O

Dealing with Minions Being Shot at You

If Jack-O is in the air, 5K acts as a very strong catchall option without a lot of whiff recovery.

If Jack-O is grounded, 5P acts as a strong reactionary option vs. Minion Shoot (236K).

If Jack-O is grounded, 2K works well against normal-launched minions, which bounce.

Multiple Minions is where things get a little weird.

Glossary

Navigation

Faust

Guilty Gear -Strive- ^e

Click [★] for character's full frame data

Essentials
• HUD • Controls • FAQ •
The Basics
• Movement/Canceling • Offense • Defense • Gauges • Universal Strategy •
Detailed & Advanced Information
• Damage/Combo • Frame Data & System Data • Attack Attributes • Misc •
Archived Information
• Patch Notes • Tier Lists •

@@ Line 881: / Line 881: @@
 Faust, all things considered, has a decent matchup against Nagoriyuki. His tools are able to keep him out well and force him to build up blood if used correctly, but there is always that threat of him eventually reaching you and tearing through your lifebar.
-===Playing Around Items===
+====Playing Around Items====
 Your goal in this matchup should be to keep yourself as far from Nago as possible unless he's at risk of popping blood rage and you have the items to stay safe and back out when you need to. Hammer is, as it usually is, a good tool for preventing jump-ins and dashes, or in this case Fukyo. It's especially valuable if you bonk Nago while he attempts a Fukyo because you keep him out while he builds blood.