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Q&A FALCON ASK !! Q&A and FAQ

Saturn_

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Saturn.1000
I've been looking into secondaries to back up my C.Falcon main. Do you guys have any suggestions on characters that cover Falcon's worst matchups well? I'm specifically thinking of Pikachu, actually...

I've considered Ganondorf, ZSS, Ike, and Fox.
 

Iceweasel

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
855
I've been looking into secondaries to back up my C.Falcon main. Do you guys have any suggestions on characters that cover Falcon's worst matchups well? I'm specifically thinking of Pikachu, actually...

I've considered Ganondorf, ZSS, Ike, and Fox.
I went with Fox. His playstyle is vaguely similar to the Cap's if you took away his side B, but you have a projectile and a reflector.

That said, my Fox is awful, so maybe you shouldn't take advice from me on how to play him.

EDIT: I mean taking away Falcon's side B, not Fox's.
 
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RBreadsticks

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 23, 2015
Messages
152
Hey yall just picked up the Captian today for some fun and he seems pretty good so I want to pick him up as one of my secondaries. He's drastically different from my zoning main so I could use some tips.

1: how do I land the knee of justice/what are the best ways to practice it. I found myself accidentally throwing out foward airs just because I'm so used to other characters and I couldn't seem to land knee at all.

2. What are my best kill options/ combo set ups? All I could figure out on my own was throws into chains of uairs. As for kills I figured out fsmash bair raptor boost and dair spikes what else should I be looking for?

3. What are the Captains worst matchups? I main ROB so I need someone for his particularly unbalanced matchups but if their bad matchups overlap their wont be much of a point of me picking up falcon.
 

Iceweasel

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
855
Hey yall just picked up the Captian today for some fun and he seems pretty good so I want to pick him up as one of my secondaries. He's drastically different from my zoning main so I could use some tips.

1: how do I land the knee of justice/what are the best ways to practice it. I found myself accidentally throwing out foward airs just because I'm so used to other characters and I couldn't seem to land knee at all.

2. What are my best kill options/ combo set ups? All I could figure out on my own was throws into chains of uairs. As for kills I figured out fsmash bair raptor boost and dair spikes what else should I be looking for?

3. What are the Captains worst matchups? I main ROB so I need someone for his particularly unbalanced matchups but if their bad matchups overlap their wont be much of a point of me picking up falcon.
1. The Knee is pretty tricky. It's got enough startlag that it doesn't come out too fast, but it's not a lot of starlag, so you keep thinking it's nearly instantaneous. I think it's about 6 frames before it comes out, IIRC. So try to input the fair about a tenth of a second before you need it.

2. Combos: Depending on percents, Dthrow and Fthrow are your bread and butter. Uair is very good, but it's not your only option. I usually follow up with autocancelled Nairs and continue the combo on the ground. Dash attack is also very helpful, and usually leads to an uair. Falcon's combo game is pretty fluid, just pick whatever feels like you can use to keep the combo going and

Killing: At very high percents (150-170), and in heavy rage, the Gentleman is, surprisingly enough, a kill move. The Uair can also kill. Besides that, it's mostly a game of spacing your Elbow (which goes way farther than you think it would) and scouting for a Falcon Knuckle opportunity. Knee and Bair are also good. Dtilt can kill near the edge. The first foot of dsmash has good knockback, but don't use it unless it's your only kill option. Hyphen smashing is a good option if you can land the last kick. If you're feeling confident, aerial Falcon Knuckle has a meteor effect - This can lead to early kills. The bad news is, this will make you helpless if you miss. The good news is, it won't count as a "miss" (you'll still do the animation) if you hit an airdodging opponent.
If you set it up and space it right, you can Uair>Uair>Reversed Falcon Hump. On Battlefield, from the platforms, this is often a kill move.
Utilt's foot hitbox is good for edgeguarding. It extends slightly below the ledge and will meteor. It's not easy to land, but mastering it can take early stocks

3. Anything campy and hard to approach. Falcon has no real options to force an approach, so safe campers like Rosaluma and the Links are gonna be your worst nightmare. Sheik is also pretty hard, since she can force an approach and you can't. Duck Hunt isn't too bad as long as you're smart about approaching. Falling Nair>Dtilt/Jab combo is relatively safe on him.
 

xPaco

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How do you combo from Dthrow into Nair? Whenever I pull off my combo, I can only ever fit in a Uair. Is it because I position myself like that? or Is it the opponent's weight?
 

TheGreatBrawler

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How do you combo from Dthrow into Nair? Whenever I pull off my combo, I can only ever fit in a Uair. Is it because I position myself like that? or Is it the opponent's weight?
It's fairly easy for me at the very least. I'm not sure about all the characters but on a ditto you can do it on 0%. Dash grab to down throw to nair always work on very low percent. You just need to short hop...
 

Dust^

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Mar 8, 2015
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Hey yall just picked up the Captian today for some fun and he seems pretty good so I want to pick him up as one of my secondaries. He's drastically different from my zoning main so I could use some tips.

1: how do I land the knee of justice/what are the best ways to practice it. I found myself accidentally throwing out foward airs just because I'm so used to other characters and I couldn't seem to land knee at all.

2. What are my best kill options/ combo set ups? All I could figure out on my own was throws into chains of uairs. As for kills I figured out fsmash bair raptor boost and dair spikes what else should I be looking for?

3. What are the Captains worst matchups? I main ROB so I need someone for his particularly unbalanced matchups but if their bad matchups overlap their wont be much of a point of me picking up falcon.
dthrow up air knee is a reliable kill combo if the opponent doesn't DI away.
 
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Professor Oats

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Hi all! I'm a Yoshi main, but I've been soul-searching for a secondary, and I won a tough match at my weekly by randomly switching to a day 4 Falcon after Yoshi lost. So, I feel like he's a decent compliment to Yoshi, and from my experience he just manages to zoom past otherwise-hard-to-punish footsie characters like Shulk and really defensive Diddy players.

So, I want to get my movement really crisp, and having seen Zero, Nakat and Uranus's Falcons, I know I can move a ton faster. How do the falcons here practice their movement? And are there any advanced movement techniques for Falcon I should know of? (other than perfect pivoting, which I can kinda do to the right but have too many nerves to put it in matches yet)

Also, I know there's some sort of dancedance+foxtrot thing that acts like a melee-dashdance, but I don't really know how to do it well. Tips on any of those things?
 
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Ebbit

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I have issues with approaching from the air, any tips. Also, i find it hard to punish rolls and spot dodges.
 

Iceweasel

Smash Ace
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Messages
855
Hi all! I'm a Yoshi main, but I've been soul-searching for a secondary, and I won a tough match at my weekly by randomly switching to a day 4 Falcon after Yoshi lost. So, I feel like he's a decent compliment to Yoshi, and from my experience he just manages to zoom past otherwise-hard-to-punish footsie characters like Shulk and really defensive Diddy players.

So, I want to get my movement really crisp, and having seen Zero, Nakat and Uranus's Falcons, I know I can move a ton faster. How do the falcons here practice their movement? And are there any advanced movement techniques for Falcon I should know of? (other than perfect pivoting, which I can kinda do to the right but have too many nerves to put it in matches yet)

Also, I know there's some sort of dancedance+foxtrot thing that acts like a melee-dashdance, but I don't really know how to do it well. Tips on any of those things?
The only use dashdance has to Falcon that I know of is if you're too close to dash grab, but too far to stand grab. Do a dashdance, but when you come forward, hit grab and you should grab your opponent. Note that you may do a pivot grab by mistake if you're not careful with your inputs. As for not being able to keep up with Falcon's speed, all I can tell you is work on it. There's no point to playing a fast character if you can't keep up, the speed becomes a liability and not an asset.

I have issues with approaching from the air, any tips. Also, i find it hard to punish rolls and spot dodges.
Falcon has one of the best movesets possible to punish rolling. Dashgrab has a long range, it's great for throw combos. Dash attack often combos into an upair. Your Falcon Knuckle will kill at around 130% and is about the length of most rolls. Your Falcon Kick is longer than most rolls, and will likely stay fresh since that's about the only use it has. Spotdodges are a bit trickier, but you may be able to jab your way out of punishment if you're too close. Of course, if your attack sent you behind you opponent, SH bair might be a good option to discourage retaliation.

While the Cap doesn't have an amazing air game like the Marths, he's pretty comfortable there. Falling upairs are great aerial combo starters, and falling Nairs have almost zero, if any, landing lag and are great for setting up ground combos. Reverse-aerial rush bairs are nice for mix-ups, but they're harder to combo off of at mid percents, and you usually have better options at low percents. Not that combos off of bair are hard at mid percents, it's just not as free as nair and fair. Bair will kill at high percents.
 
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Skattpilgrim

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Feb 5, 2015
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4
Does nair auto-cancel and if so then against characters who don't have disjointed hitboxes should i be using nairs to zone my opponent or should i stick with baiting out punishable moves then running in with a dash grab?
 

Saturn_

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Does nair auto-cancel and if so then against characters who don't have disjointed hitboxes should i be using nairs to zone my opponent or should i stick with baiting out punishable moves then running in with a dash grab?
Nair does indeed autocancel and can be used for both zoning and approaches. Tip I was glad to get: Be sure, after nairing, to hold forward or back to extend the time you're in the air and both zone better and guarantee the second kick comes out.
 

RyeSSB

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What do you guys think is the best stage to play on as Captain Falcon? I feel like Battlefield is the best due to the platforms benefiting his combos greatly, and stage spikes provide for KOs.
 

Iceweasel

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Messages
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What do you guys think is the best stage to play on as Captain Falcon? I feel like Battlefield is the best due to the platforms benefiting his combos greatly, and stage spikes provide for KOs.
Bingo. Battlefield, easily. The platforms are the perfect height for his aerials and Falcon has several great ways to punish landing lag when your opponent tries to drop down to the main area.
 

RyeSSB

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I have issues with approaching from the air, any tips. Also, i find it hard to punish rolls and spot dodges.
For approaching from the air, nair and falling up air seem to be good for me. Plus, up air can string into itself or even combo into something like the knee.
For punishing rolls, an attack that has a lasting hitbox, like a Falcon Kick on the ground, seem to work the best. It will break their roll, allowing for a punish. Regarding spot dodges, pivot grabs work very well, but make sure that you read the spot dodge. Hoped this answered your questions!
 
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Smog Frog

Smash Lord
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what is falcon's preferred method of movement? ie: just straight dashing, foxtrotting, or perfect pivot?
 

Saturn_

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Is it just me ore are small characters the bane of the Captain's existence? Pikachu, Wario, and Villager are all very hard for me to play against because of how many attacks just flat out miss.
 

teluoborg

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@ Smog Frog Smog Frog with Falcon you want to master most movement options, I recommend practicing dash shield, walking, dash dance and pivot dash dance (left left right right left left right etc).

@ Saturn_ Saturn_ : it's not just you, Dtilt and dash attack help a lot in those matchup in general.

@ Cypher99 Cypher99 : I'm going to update the op to cover those questions in next week. In the meantime go read the matchup thread it'll give you a good insight of Falcon's good and bad matchups.
 

Mrawesome48

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So i got a question. I've been trying to dash grab with CF and instead of grabbing i slide right past them. Im not sure what im doing wrong
 

Iceweasel

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So i got a question. I've been trying to dash grab with CF and instead of grabbing i slide right past them. Im not sure what im doing wrong
While Falcon's dash grab travels quite a distance, it also doesn't start immediately. This is a problem, since his standing grab range is terrible. You'll want to start your grab earlier. If that's not an option, do a dashdance before the grab. You'll have a better chance of not being too close. Be careful with your inputs or you'll run away and pivot grab.
 

teluoborg

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Basically there's a dead zone between the range of standing grab and the range of dashing grab. You can cover this zone with pivot grab.

So simply hit forward then back+grab.

Knowing when to use each grab will come with experience.
 

Zabuu

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Have any of you been making use of the dash in place? Like: dash to one side and quickly to the other and the cap'n will dash in place, out of which you can do a dash attack, dash grab or remain stationary. The window in which you can still perform a dash attack or dash grab is pretty damn long and I feel can take someone by surprise if you wait till the end. I'm curious to see if any of you are using this to good effect.
 

A_Y

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does anyone have good tips for C.F. vs pikachu because for me going against pika is rough.
 

Robiin

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Have any of you been making use of the dash in place? Like: dash to one side and quickly to the other and the cap'n will dash in place, out of which you can do a dash attack, dash grab or remain stationary. The window in which you can still perform a dash attack or dash grab is pretty damn long and I feel can take someone by surprise if you wait till the end. I'm curious to see if any of you are using this to good effect.
I do this all the time in matches and have some success with it (i only play for glory though..). Just as a fake out really. They think you're dashing towards them but you're just running in place. They commit, i wait for it and punish afterwards. This combined with perfect pivoting is basically my main form of movement/spacing at mid range or closer. The dashdance/dash in place is especially good when you're looking for a grab, because of the straight dash grab going too far in some cases.
 

WaluigiWeegeeSteel

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So I've recently found a sweet spot on the first hit of Falcon's up smash and it seems to kill floaties at reasonable percents. Could it have any other possible uses?
 

Demitus

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does anyone have good tips for C.F. vs pikachu because for me going against pika is rough.
The way I approach a Pikachu is with dtilts and low ftilts unless the pika is jumping around a bunch which is likely, then I start throwing out some ftilts for some spacing. This matchup is crazy hard for me as well though.
 

Creede

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I like Capt. Falcon almost as much as I like Sheik, so I want to get better at him. I know the basics, but not any movement options. What are the best ways to moves around the stage in Sm4sh as Capt Falcon?
 

Metalbro

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I like Capt. Falcon almost as much as I like Sheik, so I want to get better at him. I know the basics, but not any movement options. What are the best ways to moves around the stage in Sm4sh as Capt Falcon?
I find fox trotting back and forth to be a very convenient way to get around the stage quickly. Not only does it allow you to immediately go for a dash grab or dash attack but it puts a lot of stress on your opponents mind. You can also short hop nairs to close in and space yourself.
 
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Metalbro

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Well Nairing right on a shield will almost always get you punished, try landing out of their grab range either in front of them or behind them. You can also throw out a jab right after landing because it comes out so fast it might connect before they can shield grab you.
 

(HYES!)Bento

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Hey! So I am now having trouble being able to land my knee while reading an airdodge, I find myself usually kneeing before the air dodge is complete, or just miss the target completely, are there any tips on landing the knee whilst reading an air dodge?
 

Creede

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Hey! So I am now having trouble being able to land my knee while reading an airdodge, I find myself usually kneeing before the air dodge is complete, or just miss the target completely, are there any tips on landing the knee whilst reading an air dodge?
ALL it takes is practice. Maybe you should look up videos of high level Captain Falcons to see how they do it.
 

S.P.A.D.

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I'm actually trying to find a way to implement the Capt's B-Air into my game plan. I feel like I can use it almost as a ground approach on some characters but I'm not too positive on that. What is a good way to use B-Air more instead of the Knee?
 

Demitus

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I actually approach my enemy with my back turned towards them so I can get a bair in if they are in the air. Same works if they are on the ground but sometimes you can land behind the opponent and just grab them instead of throwing out an attack.
 

Nate22Hill

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when playing falcon should i wait for someone to make a mistake and then rush in or should i just constantly keep going at them and approaching
 
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