Thrill Kill/Dr. Faustus

Dr. Faustus Overview Strategy Combo Strings

Overview

Dr. Faustus is one of the most dangerous characters in the game. He has high speed, safe high and mid strings, and has the best combo ender in the game in 1000 Stabs at his disposal. He's also one of the few characters in the game who can reliably 2 touch opponents: one touch to get his opponent against a wall with a grab or string that deals around 20 damage, and one touch to mixup into a launcher ending with 1000 Stabs for 80 damage.

At a glance:
Pros	Cons
Fastest base speed in the game. Great strings: lots of low-high mixup strings as well as safe counter-hit strings. 1000 Stabs deals a disgusting amount of damage against a wall and makes any launcher deadly. Turn Around Slap is one of the best stun grabs in the game.	One-trick-pony: Faustus doesn't have a viable win-condition outside of ending a juggle with 1000 Stabs. Getting an opponent into the corner can be tricky: Must rely on individual hits, counters, and long traveling strings to get opponent into the corner.

Dr. Faustus

Hitbox Diameter	4.7^u⌀ (Medium)
Movement Speed	7.2^u/s (1^st fastest)
Dash Distance	9.8^u (6^th best)

Move List

Front Punch

Jab Punch

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	5^f	1^f	10^f	-4 / +3	3	3.5^u	-	-
Average startup and very poor recovery for a jab, but has good range.

Small Uppercut

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	7^f	1^f	13^f	-7 / +21	5	1.5^u		-
Terrible range and overshadowed by Scalpel Uppercut (although it is one frame faster and has slightly better recovery).

Dog Bite Shake

	Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
On Grab		11^f	-	102^f	-9 / -1	23	3.3^u		-
Tipper Hitbox		12^f	2^f	14^f	-9 / +3	7	4.4^u	-	-
Not very good. Can be high blocked, has a very finicky range, and does noting against crouching players.

Dog Maul

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	12^f	10^f	18^f	-21 / +6	13	12.9^u		-
Excellent move. Great damage, very large hitbox, and lots of active frames. Very common way to get your opponent to the corner.

Crouch Straight Jab

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	5^f	1^f	9^f	-3 / +4	2	2.2^u	-	-
Good frame data, but terrible range.

Back Punch

Scalpel Jab

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	7^f	1^f	8^f	-2 / +3	4	2.2^u	-	-
Deceptively short ranged poke.

Scalpel Uppercut

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	8^f	2^f	16^f	-11 / +22	5	3.3^u		-
Faustus' best launcher. Lots of ways to string into it, and its good on its own.

Low Incision

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	12^f	1^f	16^f	-10 / +43 (+3)	6	2.0^u		-
Too slow and short-ranged to be used on its own, but it's amazing when strung into. Another key part of Faustus' kit.

Stomach Stab

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	6^f	2^f	12^f	-1 / +29	7	1.7^u		-
Even shorter range than Low Incision has, but has fast frames. Used in juggle strings since its recovery time is drastically reduced (7^f) when it strikes an airborne opponent.

1000 Stabs

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	4^f	55^f	19^f	-24 / -4	4/hit	3.5^u		-
The move, and what you'll be ending all of your juggle strings with. Lightning fast startup, and deals insane damage when strung into. You can press to cancel the move early, which takes 22^f.

Surgery Swing

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	5^f	81^f	28^f	-66 / -32	9/hit	1.9^u	-	-
A free-for-all favourite. Great startup, has normal invincibility, and can be canceled in three different ways. Can sometimes be tricky for your opponent to attack into if they have bad low attacks.

Crouch Uppercut

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	12^f	3^f	13^f	-9 / +16	3	2.7^u		-
A very rare bird: a low hitting launcher with good range. Although it has really bad startup and low damage, this is one of Faustus' few good tools to use against crouching opponents parrying high.

Running Trip

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Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	16^f	16^f	14^f	-23 / -15	6	20.1^u		Grounded
Very far range but has poor startup, damage, and only results in a regular knockdown. Avoid using.

Front Kick

Quick Kick

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	5^f	2^f	11^f	-6 / +3	3	2.7^u	-	-
The stanky leg. Very similar frames to Straight Jab, but worse range.

Crane Stance

Stanky Stance

Crane Kick

	Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
Crane Stance	-	22^f	-	19^f	-	-	-	-	-
Crane Kick		30^f	2^f	15^f	-10 / +13	22	4.6^u		Switch
This would be an amazing move to use against a stunned opponent if it wasn't for its really long startup. Great damage and range for your trouble.

Front Lunge Kick

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	11^f	2^f	18^f	-13 / -1	5	5.1^u	-	Switch
A bit of an awkward move in Faustus' kit. Great range, but only one (relatively) unsafe combo string attached to it.

Crouch Front Kick

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	5^f	1^f	9^f	-3 / 0	2	2.9^u	-	-
Great speed and frames for a crouch poke, however it doesn't string properly into any of its combos. Spinning Sweep should be your low poking move.

Back Kick

Swing Kick

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	7^f	3^f	11^f	-6 / +2	4	4.5^u	-	Switch
A pretty good high button. You can be sneaky with this move to faint a combo string against a crouching player and string it into Scalpel Uppercut to hit mid and get bonus damage.

Spin Kick

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	11^f	1^f	14^f	-8 / -2	4	3.4^u	-	Switch
Another odd attack that has very little use. Doesn't have any appealing combo strings.

Spinning Sweep

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Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	9^f	3^f	14^f	-6 / -1	3	5.6^u	-	Switch
Great range and it can string into Low Incision, but Dr Faustus will trip when this move is low blocked.

Crouch Flip

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	10^f	3^f	28^f	-23 / -15	9	4.5^u		-
A fun looking move and it offers some mobility after the hit, but you'll rarely use it.

Chambered Stance

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Stanky Stance 2: The Fall

Straight Kick

High Kick

Trip

	Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
Enter Stance	-	11^f	-	112^f	-	-	-	-	-
Not to be confused with his other stance move Crane Stance, Chambered Stance is a very silly and impractical addition to Faustus' toolkit. If you get hit or don't input a move, Dr. Faustus will fall over.
Straight Kick		8^f	2^f	12^f	-7 / +3	10	5.5^u	-	-
Very high damage and range for a single poke like this.
High Kick		5^f	2^f	9^f	-4 / +3	8	4.2^u	-	-
Better advantage, but hits high and has less range.
Trip		13^f	1^f	12^f	-6 / +2	12	4.2^u		-
Great for when you want your opponent to get a free wake-up attack against you.
Exit Stance	-	-	-	9^f	-	-	-	-	-
For when you're done being silly.

Flying Kick

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Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	14^f	3^f	21^f	-17 / +25	8	14.4^u		-
Description needed.

Grabs / Misc Moves

Dr. Faustus' whiffed grab animation takes 18^f.

Surgery

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	0^f	-	123^f	- / -8	18	0.9^u		Switch
One of the worst grabs in the game. While its damage is fine, being -8 on hit means that most of the cast's wakeup attacks will hit you for free. That 18 damage better win you the round.

Turn Around Slap

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	0^f	-	31^f	- / +10	6	0.9^u		-
A much better grab. You have a 2 frame window to get a rear grab on an opponent who isn't holding crouch after the stun frames. Note that on some smaller characters having their animation backwards in the air will cause 1000 Stabs to whiff some hits.

Rear Grab

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	0^f	-	75^f	- / +35	24	0.9^u		Switch
An absolutely devastating grapple if you're able to get it. Massive damage, and leads to a free combo if you attack them before they fall over all the way.

Dance With Me

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
	0^f	-	25^f	- / +17	0	0.9^u		-
Lots of stun frames on this one and a very quick animation, but there are very few reasons to use this over Turn Around Slap.

Sharpen The Knife

Hit	Startup	Active	Recovery	Adv. (Block / Hit)	Damage	Range	Property	Stance
-	-	-	133^f	-	-	-	-	-
With all that stabbing you’re doing, it’s a good idea to keep your equipment in order. There’s a couple of fun things you can cancel the taunt into, as well.