Author/Twitter handle: @Ryyudo

Character Discord Server: https://discord.gg/0YsZMsyXsk0fki0z

Day 1 Combo
2K->5H->236S->H
Day 1 Blockstring
2K->5H->236P

General style
Faust is a setup character: A character who uses their neutral tools that earns them a reward (Faust’s Items) that, generally, increases a player’s options. Venom is also a setup character.

1. Neutral: Pokes, Space control, far range converting

Faust lives and dies by the neutral. With that there’s some rules of thumb:

1. Hurtboxes before hitboxes: Many of Faust’s moves extend his hurtbox before his hitbox becomes active (he can be hit out of moves before his move comes out).So: considering the moves you’re using ahead of time.
2. Tools for each situation, not a tool for multiple situations: Faust can cover generally any situation in the game with his normals. That said, he has few normals that are “go-to”. 5K can be a great anti-air against Sol, but not against May. So: Faust’s normals are heavily situational.
3. Don’t depend on items: If you’re hoping getting good items earns you a win, you’re just gambling. Avoid this. Items are a tool to give you more options. So: learn how to play without/around items, instead of playing for them.

2P – The stopper. If anyone tries to run at you, this is a good poke to stop movement and keeps them at a good distance.

5K – The air stopper. If anyone tries to airdash at you, this is a good poke to stop movement. This can be jump cancelled; combo and movement options afterwards are possible.

6P – The go-to anti-air move. This move actually comes out in front of Faust, so it needs to be used early against air-dashers. If someone is directly above you this move will whiff, so look to 2K/2S in those situations.

2K – 3-hit low. The power of this move in neutral is two fold: One is that it can anti-air on the first hit. The second is that it’s a long-lasting move and can work as a wall against opponents.

2S – Similar utility to 2K, except not as quick and it “anti-airs” on the later half of the move. In turn, the reward is better; higher damage, staggers on CH. The move also has a better extension of hitbox compared to hurtbox, so throw it out as a sizable wall.

f.S – Long-range and fast for its distance. This is one of the most reliable pokes to get an item from due to its distance. Low-profile moves and upper-body invincible moves counter f.S so don’t be predictable.

2HS – High-risk, high-reward move. Furthest reach of any of his pokes, but also has a hurtbox that comes out early, that makes it riskier, and opponents can jump over it easily. Don’t depend on this too heavily, but acknowledge it’s an option.

2. Offense: Pressure, close range converting, mixups and okizeme

Overview – Faust has many multi-hitting tools that make confirming easier for him, such as 2K, and 5HS. Additionally, he has good frame traps that you’ll need to use to get the most out of his offense. He has solid mixup, but a number of Faust’s mixup options can be beaten by mashing, so incorporating frame traps are important to prevent your opponent from pressing buttons. When you get to that point, your Hack ‘N Slash unblockable opens them up!

List of Lows: 2P, 2K, 2HS, 2D
List of overheads: 6HS, 5D, FDC j.K

Between these two lists, a number of these moves can be chained into one another and jump-cancelled out of, so use them well.

When you get pushed out a way to get back in is to do j.2K. Beats out some moves, gets you back in close, and allows you to continue pressure. Use it when your opponent becomes too scared to press buttons (so EARN that respect from them.)

Faust’s chains can be delayed heavily to create frame traps. Give 5P, c.S, 2S, 2HS a try in training mode and see how long you can delay each button. 2P, 2HS is also good.

Combos: Faust’s combos are generally easy. Basic Faust combos will mainly lead into one of three conversions:
[Stuff], 236S (Pogo), pogo H (Going My Way followup)
[Stuff], 2D (Knockdown)
And
[Stuff], j.K, jc j.K, j.S, j.HS.

That said: Playing a solid gameplan is more important and is where your brain power should go. Don’t try to land a higher damage combo until you know you can earn that situation.

After knockdown you have two main options:

1. Item Throw: Purely random. Learn how to play around each item you throw so you can get the most out of each item.
2. Dash: The urge to throw an item every knockdown is great, dashing at your opponent’s knocked down corpse forces them to guess your next mix up, you push them towards corner, AND build meter.

Consider your, and your opponent’s needs when deciding between item/no item. Don’t let items drive your entire game.

3. Defense: Anti-airs, fending off pressure, and reversals

Faust’s best “defense” is a good offense. Basically, Faust’s Neutral is his best Defense, then beyond that you just need to know your opponent’s options.

Keeping the opponent out: Moves like 2P, 2K, 5K, 6P, and f.S keep the opponent out and needing to guess if they want to beat those moves. Generally, the further you keep the opponent out, the safer Faust is. Learn your sweet spots you want to be at for every matchup as it varies greatly.

Opponent gets in: You must know your opponent’s options here. Faust turns things around in strange ways. With no classic reversal, here are some options:

5D (YRC): 5D is strike invulnerable on part of its start up. This can allow you to go through some moves and even return damage. You can throw a YRC on there to slow down the opponent and punish their whiffed normal. That said, it loses to throws and fast normals. It can be thrown free, so careful vs. Potemkin. Fast normals recover in time before 5D comes out. So fast that most characters can just mash until they hit you.

Super Jump Airdash: In some instances you can force gaps by Instant-Blocking or Faultless Defending. When that happens, super jump up and airdash out. Many characters can’t deal with this very well and have to chase, so be careful about landing!

236236S/D (Ball & Cup Super): This is invincible on start-up and can go through some moves and punish the opponent. That said, it’s not fast either, so it’s a bit of a watch-and-gamble to see if your opponent presses a slower button. It’s better with 100 Meter where you can Roman Cancel and start pressure/escape.

Most importantly: System Mechanics. Faultless Defense, Instant-Blocking, Dead Angle Attack, and Blitz Shield. These are your staple defense mechanics, so learn them well! Remember that with Faultless Defense, Faust can punish whiffs from the opponent being too far away.

4. Meter Usage Priorities

Faust has among the worst meter gain in the game. Make sure you use your meter well!

1. Defense: You can’t play if you’re dead! Faust lacks a lot of options to get out of situations, so figure out if you can keep yourself alive first before trying to use your meter heavily elsewhere. This also includes YRCs with whiffing a move and canceling it before the opponent punishes you.
2. Combo Conversion: This is the core of converting long range pokes (e.g. f.S, 2HS) that you can’t followup due to distance. This gets your game started in multiple ways with items, mixup, and pushing the opponent to the corner. Puts pressure on the opponent to not screw up.
3. Gimmicks: Things to keep your game fresh, YRCing an item throw, or doing FDC j.K.

Remember: Each time you Roman Cancel or Faultless Defense, your meter gain slows down for a certain amount of time, so don’t go crazy when you need to save meter for defense!

5. Items explanations

Items (236P): The core of what makes Faust an interesting character! All items are random, but certain items have more probability over other items. Items can provide surprising and well-crafted offense and defense against opponents, who’ll have to react to two things between Faust and the item(s) thrown.

Jackpot Items: Has a rare chance of appearing. Jackpot items have different, often better, effects than the normal version of the items. Not all items have Jackpot versions.

Hammer: Good stun damage on hit, even more on counter hit. Good hitstun gives you time to confirm. Move has a hitbox during its entire throwing arc.

Golden Hammer: Appears a bit bigger. Higher damage and stun damage.

Weight: Similar to hammer but causes an unblockable knockdown to anyone on ground, and vulnerable, when it lands. Affects both players. As Faust, you can use 5D to dodge it. Move has a hitbox during its entire throwing arc.

Golden Weight: More damage, possibly more stun damage on hit. Does not offer more hit stun or longer unblockable knockdown.

Donut/Chocolate: Recovers a small portion of health (~5%). Either player can grab it. Another item can NOT be thrown until it is picked up by either player or disappears on its own. Note: Sin gets a bit on his calorie gauge if he gets the food.

Box of Donuts/King-sized Chocolate Bar: Larger size, recovers a chunk of health (~10%). King-sized Chocolate Bar increases meter gain. Unknown if Sin gets more calorie gauge off these compared to the normal Donut or Chocolate.

Meteors: After about 3 seconds, a horde of meteors rain from above. The formation of the meteors is random. The meteors will always come out in a SECTION of the screen, not the stage. So if you throw it on one side of the stage and get pushed to the other side of the stage, it’ll still come out on the side of the screen you threw meteors towards.

Big Meteor: A slow-moving, large, multi-hit, single meteor creeps down from the sky. Becomes active about two seconds after it appears on the screen; videos show some people jumping “through” it. Good damage and lockdown on opponents blocking, and visually makes blocking Faust difficult. Long enough lockdown to get one or two mix-ups.

Helium: A “joke” item. Any player who touches this gets a higher pitched voice for about 10 seconds. You can throw another item once the Helium lands on the ground. Creates a little gas cloud you can use to hide your mix-up

Bomb: About 2 seconds after it lands on the ground, it’ll explode. Can hit either player. Timing certain set mix-ups can lead into a combo with the bomb, so learn those to get full effectiveness. Can not use 5D’s invincibility to go through the bomb (Bomb stays active for too long).

Firework: After about 3 seconds, a firework launches into the air and then explodes into a beautiful visage of the good doctor. Still affects both players, appears to have a higher hitbox and works similar to bomb in terms of damage, hitstun, etc.

Black Hole: Vacuums in both players, and any Faust items, to it. Has about a 3/4s screen range and the vacuum is stronger the closer one is to the Black Hole.

Mini-Faust: Falls towards the ground and, once it lands, it’ll begin crawling along the ground until it: Touches the opponent, is hit by a projectile, or walks off the edge of the stage (not just offscreen, it’ll still be crawling if you push the screen toward it). Becomes an active hitbox once it starts floating down, but can NOT be hit by projectiles until it starts crawling. Can throw another item once it starts crawling.

Big Mini-Faust: All the same rules apply, just larger. This makes it harder maneuver around, but more projectiles will hit it (e.g. Ky’s Stun Edge and Kum Haehyun’s Tuner Balls).

Poison: After about a second, it will emit a poison cloud from the vial. Upon hit, it will poison the opponent, quickly draining their life for up to 5 or so seconds. Can work as an anti-air by crouching under it.

Oil: Faust throws an oil barrel and once it lands it will spill and spread out on the ground. After spilling, it becomes active. It will cause any player moving over it to slip and move more slowly. It will ignite into a large pillar of flames if touched by any fire attacks (e.g. Faust’s Love, Sol’s Gun Flame, etc.).

Spring: A bit after it lands, it becomes active and will spring a player up to the top of the stage. Unblockable, and can affect either player. The spring can be blitzed.