What Could This Be?

What Could This Be?
Information
Type	Special Move
Character	Faust
Commands	+

What Could This Be? is the signature special move for Faust. "What Could This Be?" sees Faust throw an object from a randomized pool of items into the air. These items have a number of different effects, and requires both players to react to what each item will add to the match.

Appearances

Guilty Gear X

Guilty Gear X is the first appearance of What Could This Be?, and had a pool of 6 items.

Image	Info
	Donut and Chocolate. Will heal the player who picks it up's health. Both functionally identical in this game.
	Hammer Shoots up into the air and has a hitbox on its way back down.
	Bomb After a short while on the ground, the bomb will explode and deal damage to both players in its radius.
	Small Faust Will fly down using an umbrella and patrol the ground. Once it walks into an opponent they will be hit.
	Meteors After a brief moment from when they are thrown, six meteors will rain down on the opponent. They do not track the opponent after they are thrown.
	There is also an Overdrive variation of What Could This Be? titled W-W-What Could This Be?. For 50 Tension, Faust can throw four items all at once. +

Guilty Gear XX series

Guilty Gear XX -The Midnight Carnival-

Midnight Carnival adds one new item to Guilty Gear X's pool.

Image	Info
	Poison Vial Spawns a poison cloud above the bottle. If the opponent is hit, they will be given a poison status effect for a brief moment.

This game's set of items is also used in Guilty Gear Isuka

Guilty Gear XX Λ Core

Accent Core once again updates the item pool.

Image	Info
	Donut and Chocolate. The two food items have been updated to differentiate from each other. Donut now heals the player who touches it, while Chocolate will increase the player's tension gauge.
	Small Robo Ky and Small Potemkin Two new small versions of other characters have been added to Faust's pool. Small Robo Ky will float side to side while he is falling down, and will turn to face the opponent once he lands. Small Potemkin will land the quickest of the three, and will hit the opponent three times.
	Coin Does only a tiny bit of damage if it hits the opponent, but will apply a status effect that powers up Faust's "BAM! Outta Nowhere!" and "Holler Again!" if Faust hits the opponent with said moves.
	Tarai Faust throws washpan up in the air. Does damage on the way down. Tracks the opponent unlike Hammer.

Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus R

Image	Info
	Dumbbell A more powerful version of the Hammer item. Does more damage and will follow a different arc.
	Chikuwa One last food item has been added. The Chikuwa will both heal the player who picks it up and increase their Tension Gauge, however it will not heal as much or give as much as the Donut and Chocolate respectively will.

Guilty Gear Xrd series

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-

Guilty Gear Xrd completely redoes Faust's What Could This Be? item selection. Adding new items and removing old ones. Doing this move while holding allows the player to hold the item and have it fall closer to Faust's position.

Image	Info
	Donut and Chocolate Donut and Chocolate have lost their unique differentiating attributes. Both will now simply heal the player who picks them up. Sin Kiske will also gain Calories if he eats either item.
	Hammer Shoots up into the air and has a hitbox on its way back down.
	Small Faust Will fly down using an umbrella and patrol the ground. Once it walks into an opponent they will be hit.
	Bomb After a short while on the ground, the bomb will explode and deal damage to both players in its radius.
	Meteors After a brief moment from when they are thrown, six meteors will rain down on the opponent. They do not track the opponent after they are thrown.
	Poison Vial Spawns a poison cloud above the bottle. If the opponent is hit, they will be given a poison status effect for a brief moment.
	100 Ton Weight Forces all players on the ground into a hard knockdown. Can also deal damage to the opponent if it connects with them on its way down.
	Oil Drum When it falls it will leave an oil spill on the ground. If any move with fire properties (Faust's Love, explosions from Bomb or Meteors, Sol's Gunflame and Volcanic Viper, etc.) touches the oil, a massive vertical eruption will occur.
	Platform Launches whatever player touches it extremely high into the air. Both players can be launched simultaneously if they are both close enough.
	Blackhole The Blackhole will drag both players towards the center of itself.
	Helium Gas Makes the character who touched the item's voice lines high pitched for a brief moment. Causes no other effect.
	As well as bringing back W-W-What Could This Be?, there is a secret version of the move not listed in any in-game Command Lists or manuals. This version can only be done when at max tension and sees Faust throw 10 items. + for 4 item variant + for 10 item variant

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2

Rev 2 added to -SIGN-'s item pool, specifically adding "Jackpot" variations of some items that are more powerful or otherwise different.

Image	Info
	Box of Donuts and Valentine's Chocolate Jackpot versions of Donut and Chocolate. Will heal more health than the regular variants. Sin will once again gain Calories if he eats these items
	Gold Hammer Jackpot version of Hammer. Will deal more stun than the regular variant.
	Huge Faust Jackpot version of Small Faust. A larger version of Small Faust. Deals the same damage as Small Faust, but now with a larger hit and hurtbox.
	Fireworks Jackpot version of Bomb. Will fly up into the air and explode instead of on the ground.
	Massive Meteors Jackpot version of Meteor. An extremely large meteor that slowly comes falls towards the ground. Hits up to 7 times. Faust's rarest item.
	10,000 Ton Weight Jackpot version of 100 Ton Weight. Can deal damage if it connects with the opponent on its way up as well as its way down.

Guilty Gear -Strive-

Faust's item pool has once again been completely reworked. Faust now has no limit to when he can throw items, before (typically) only being able to throw a new item once the last had despawned. Faust can now continue to throw items as long as he is not interrupted. Introduced in the Season 3 patch, Faust can hold while doing the input to "eat" an item and keep it in reserve. This reserved item can then be shot out by performing +.. In Version 1.33 (the same patch that added Elphelt Valentine as a playable character), icons were added to the corner of the screen next to the players' Tension Gauges to indicate if an item is in reserve.

Image	Info
	Donut Will heal the player who picks it up. If stored in reserve by Faust, it will heal him instead of taking up the slot.
	Banana Will heal the player who picks it up, afterwards, it will leave a Banana Peel in its place. If stored in reserve by Faust, Faust will recover the health and the Banana Peel will take the slot.
	Banana Peel Can be thrown by itself without the Banana. If a player walks over the Banana Peel, they will trip backwards.
	Hammer Shoots up into the air and has a hitbox on its way back down.
	Bomb After a short while on the ground, the bomb will explode and deal damage to both players in its radius. The bomb can now be hit and bounce around the screen by both players.
	100 Ton Weight Once it lands, all players on the ground will go into hard knockdown. If blocked, causes a Guard Crush. Deals damage if it connects with the opponent on its way up or its way down.
	Afro Gives whoever player who touches it an Afro. Extend the receiver's hurtbox upwards. The Afro can be set on fire once it's on a player via moves with fire properties (Faust's j.D, Love, explosions from Bombs and Meteors, Sol's Gunflame and Volcanic Viper, etc.). Once on fire, the Afro will explode after a brief moment, dealing damage or a guard crush to the player. If Faust has an Afro, his Love special move is enhanced, dealing more damage, makes the move Guard Crush on block, and makes Faust immune to the recoil damage. This status effect can also be applied via Faust's special move Snip Snip Snip.
	Meteors After a brief moment from when they are thrown, six meteors will rain down on the opponent. They do not track the opponent after they are thrown. The patterns at which they fall are slightly randomized.
	Mini Faust Will fall down and patrol the ground. Will walk left and right until it makes contact with an opponent or a damaging hitbox (such as projectiles or other items). Once activated, Mini Faust will become angry and jump towards the opponent. He becomes a hitbox as soon as he's active, which makes him very tricky for the opponent to play around.
	Golden Trumpet Once picked up by a player, a swarm of Mini Fausts will come from the side of the screen travel across the ground attack whoever didn't pick up the Trumpet. The army comes from whatever side of the screen the player who collected it up's back is towards, and travels the entire stage.

Spin-offs

Guilty Gear Petit 2

Image	Info
	Hammer Faust throws the hammer up in the air, and it can hit the opponent on the way down.
	Mini Faust Will fly down using an umbrella and patrol the ground. Once it walks into an opponent they will be hit.
	Washpan (Tarai) Falls from the top of the screen onto the opponent directly above the opponent.
	Banana Peel If a player walks over the Banana Peel, they will trip backwards. Faust cannot trip over his own banana peel.

Guilty Gear Dust Strikers

Image	Info
	Donut Heals the player who picks it up
	Chocolate Heals the player who picks it up
	Hammer Faust throws the hammer up in the air, and it can hit the opponent on the way down.
	Bomb After a short while on the ground, the bomb will explode and deal damage to both players in its radius.

Trivia

This move's previous English name was "What's Next?", and "W-W-What Could This Be? previously went by "Super What's Next?"

In Version 1.29 of Guilty Gear -Strive-, there was a game-breaking glitch where if a player used the newly introduced Deflect Shield mechanic on Faust's Banana Peel the game would crash. This was fixed in Version 1.30.

In Guilty Gear -Strive-, the donuts are from "Blackhole Donuts and Cafe," the same place Faust's paper bag is from.