Help with Falco matchup

[delaythefate]

Hello, lately I've been having a lot of trouble against Falco, especially against Falcos that employ a lot of laser camping. I mostly have frustrations relating to difficulty approaching, and I get laser grabbed a bunch. Any strategies to beat this? Also if there are any videos of a Shiek vs. Falco where the Falco heavily laser camps could I get a link please? I can only find games where the Falco does not camp nearly as much as I am used to.

 

[EddyBearr]

Some people have told me that a Sheik who camps Falco will lose. I took that advice a bit and did better against falcos.

A few things I do:

1. Jump & charge, then shoot needles. You can cancel the charge before getting hit with a laser, and if you can store up a few needles then you can give them a quick/meaningful 9% damage.
1.5. I try to predict when they go on or below a platform to give them a healthy dosage of needles
2. Attempt to keep pressure on when I finally get an opening
3. Run towards them, attempt to powershield out of a run, and continue past it. Even if I miss the powrshield, I can sometimes get a follow-up. When I successfully powershield, it's almost always a follow-up..

 

[Scrandino]

I've been having a lot of trouble against Falco too as a Sheik main. First of all you have to know how to tack on safe damage, and second this match up is going to make you feel like you are behind/loosing the whole time. Try and pick a smaller stage so the Falco doesn't have a lot of space to run around and laser. If the Falco is camping lasers then just jump onto a platform and fully charge needles. M2k likes to just camp ledge or just stall sometimes because it forces the Falco to come to you, or maybe time out. The neutral game is kind of lame, not going to lie. Do look for grabs, dash attacks, and auto-canceled fairs. Don't d-smash, or crouch cancel a lot because Falco's dair wrecks those options. After you get the Falco to 30% you can start applying a lot of pressure using all your offensive options. When you have the option to tec chase Falco, do it well. Tec in place shine is so annoying so just DD near the knocked down Falco and do your best to follow up. Also, don't be afraid to try risky edge guards because letting a good Falco live is a mistake. Falco is either going to illusion or fire bird back onto stage. So I always throw out a bair predicting where they are going to go when they are off stage but above or equal to the ledge. If they fire bird they are just as good as dead. If they land back on the stage you should have good enough positioning to get them back off. Or you can needle them, fair, bair, or hog ledge. If you don't feel confident enough to do these things then you should first spend more time practicing tech. There are really good spacies vs Sheik videos/forums on here just dig deeper. Hope this helped!

 

[Zofrea]

-Get Falco offstage as much as possible. Backthrow when at the edge, forward throw is also decent, but only when at higher percent. (~60% and above.)
-Make sure you can gimp falco. If he's up b-ing, get over there and hit him with fair / bair. If he's going to side - B to the edge, try a dropzone (run off edge, fastfall) then double jump nair for its excellent priority.
-Practice tech chasing on reaction, whether from a downthrow or a general techchase opportunity. Falco wins neutral very hard in this matchup, especially when camping with the lasers. If you can get him in a techchase situation, make your punish as hard as possible!
-When techchasing, regrab up until about 60%. From there, he can't tech out from dash attack.

Also, don't approach falco from the ground. Approach him from the air / with airials unless going for a grab. By staying on the ground, you're fodder for his lasers.

 

[greener123]

The 2 most important things to do against a falco are tech chase and edgeguard.

1. Make sure you keep an eye out for spot dodge shine after the roll. Down smash is really useful against the spot dodges, but use only sparingly as a regrab is better. Around ~60% is when you should look to get falco off stage and take advantage of his poor recovery.

2. Drop down double jump nair back onto stage covers the side-b really well. If he up-b's its important to note that there is no hitbox before falco moves. so if you can turnaround and bair his recovery, dont be scared to fair him, as you wont trade if he isnt moving.

other tips:
- nair OOS (out of shield) is a really good option against sloppy shine pressure. Make sure to use it whenever your opponent is late on his shines.
- roll out of pressure if the falco is heavy on pressure to restart the neutral.
- escape to platforms when he laser camps and hit him with needles to slow down his momentum.