Dealing with laser pressure and approaching

[ConMac14]

While playing against my friend's Falco, I struggle a lot against his laser pressure into approaches with nair. I also find that my own approaches become very predictable, him able to read me very easily. Should I work on approaching against him, or on a fundamental level, and how do I deal with lasers?

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

While playing against my friend's Falco, I struggle a lot against his laser pressure into approaches with nair. I also find that my own approaches become very predictable, him able to read me very easily. Should I work on approaching against him, or on a fundamental level, and how do I deal with lasers?

Most likely a fundamental level, once you get that, work on against Falco specifically. Against lasers, you can do a lot of things, I recommend getting proficient in powershielding and WD OoS.

 

[ConMac14]

Thank you for the advice. Is there a way to practice power shielding by myself?

 

[Link24a]

 

[1000g2g3g4g800999]

While that is an option, I think this is a bit overemphasized because you can get hit by the laser even if you counter it, and if the counter misses or gets shielded, it's not the best situation.

If you don't mind taking some percent, crouch cancelling the laser is also an option.

 

[Fluxator]

The counter is a good option, but only if you counter the laser right before he goes in. That way, you stop his approach as well as negate the damage. Otherwise, you'll just get hit by the next laser. Other options are hiding on platforms if they're present (Obviously) or shorthopping the lasers if you're close enough to throw out a Fair or Nair.

 

[Wafflesaurus]

Honestly, the best way to deal with lasers is just positioning. Master your wavedashes OoS and platform movement (try to not be predictable because if Falco reads your movement, it can be game over) to get in the best position to fight Falco.
Learn what your opponent likes to do when he hits you with a close range laser (mostly when shielding) and react accordingly, for example, if he likes to stay lasering you, you can move in; if he tries to go in with an aerial or grab you can stuff him with an attack or wavedash back to make him whiff, then punish accordingly. There's a lot more to this but you'll start to figure it out as you play more against Falco.
Taking the laser (on close range, no shield) is also an option. Jab comes out pretty quickly and has a lot of range. You can also dash pretty quickly after getting hit with a laser so keep that in mind.
Power shielding is useful but I don't think it's the be-all and end-all of dealing with lasers, I don't even think it's the most important or near being the most important thing when dealing with them. Marth has an easier time power shielding lasers when he's dashing away and there's also the kinda newly discovered light powershield trick. Here's the link if you haven't seen it: http://smashboards.com/threads/official-ask-anyone-frame-things-thread.313889/page-17#post-18512581
Stay calm, react and try not to get too stuck in your shield. If you do, see how the Falco pressures you (a lot of them have holes in their shield pressure such as wavedashing between shines, which can be grabbed or easily escaped. I'm not saying it's bad but most Falcos stick to their bread and butter shield pressure and if you know it's coming, you can punish them for it).
There might be more that I missed but I hope this helps.

 

[trusty]

 

[1000g2g3g4g800999]

platform movement

So I've made a lot of posts giving advice in the neutral, but I actually rarely mention this even though it's one of the better ways to deal with a lot of tactics. There's a pretty simple reason for this. Generally speaking, tournaments now have 5 neutral stages, and one of them has no platforms. People come to Smashboards looking for advice to get better, and when they do, chances are they're going to start playing more Bo5s, and someone is probably taking them to FD eventually (or in this case, since is the Marth boards, they might want to take some people to FD). Once there, platform movement will not help you at all.

I often try to mention several different options, I don't want people thinking there's one set way to deal with any strategy, so why exclude platforms? Well one, I try to give advice that isn't stage specific so that it can be applied wherever they take you; ideally, you shouldn't see any stage CP as an automatic loss, even though some CPs can be rough, and you might go down to the point a comeback looks hopeless. Two, I often just assume they've been playing on a stage where stage specific tactics aren't available, even though only one legal stage lacks platforms.

/end metatext

 

[Wafflesaurus]

So I've made a lot of posts giving advice in the neutral, but I actually rarely mention this even though it's one of the better ways to deal with a lot of tactics. There's a pretty simple reason for this. Generally speaking, tournaments now have 5 neutral stages, and one of them has no platforms. People come to Smashboards looking for advice to get better, and when they do, chances are they're going to start playing more Bo5s, and someone is probably taking them to FD eventually (or in this case, since is the Marth boards, they might want to take some people to FD). Once there, platform movement will not help you at all.

I often try to mention several different options, I don't want people thinking there's one set way to deal with any strategy, so why exclude platforms? Well one, I try to give advice that isn't stage specific so that it can be applied wherever they take you; ideally, you shouldn't see any stage CP as an automatic loss, even though some CPs can be rough, and you might go down to the point a comeback looks hopeless. Two, I often just assume they've been playing on a stage where stage specific tactics aren't available, even though only one legal stage lacks platforms.

/end metatext

Regardless if you're playing Bo3 or Bo5, you are going to play on a level with platforms, unless you both gentleman rule to FD every game.
You should know how to use platforms to your advantage, I feel like not talking about them is a mistake but so is overemphasizing them.

 

[Toe]

Dealing with lasers and generally aggressive characters can be difficult. For Falco specifically power shielding can be very useful, if you would like to practice this you can use the 20xx hack pack (google it if you don't already use it) where it can have Falco shoot lasers at you. Counter will sometimes work as a mix up. You can stuff a Falco's approach relatively effectively with a simple jab if you know they're approaching. Even if they laser you, as long as you input the jab at the correct time it should stuff them. I know PPMD mentioned this and some other methods in Smash Practices stream awhile back. Lasers do not have a lot of hit stun when it comes down with it, become comfortable with getting hit by the lasers. It's not that you want to be hit by them but if it were to happen it should not really be restricting your movement too much. Mixing in wave landing on platforms and full hops can also be good ways to mix up approaches and get around lasers.

 

[DBZ benny]

While playing against my friend's Falco, I struggle a lot against his laser pressure into approaches with nair. I also find that my own approaches become very predictable, him able to read me very easily. Should I work on approaching against him, or on a fundamental level, and how do I deal with lasers?

I don't like Falco's lasers so what I like to do is when im being lasered is i would try to short hop over then DI away and try to bait him then if he shields grab and if he attacks you can either counter or shield grab