I gave this talk to a friend of mine who was just picking up falcon, and figured other falcons could use it as well. I suggest watching it at 2x speed and regular speed to see the examples in-game.
In addition to the video, here are the notes of everything I go over + some things I forgot to mention.
Intro
-Falcon is 5th-8th on tier list
-Fastest ground speed and one of the best aerial mobility
-Has exploitable weaknesses
-Poor recovery
-Slow hitboxes, no fast grounded options
-Common moves frame data
-Lesson 1, don't try to outspeed other characters. They all have faster hitboxes
-You have to play around other people's options
-Accept your character's flaws early on, and make your weaknesses less exploitable.
(-falcon requires discipline and precision. has lot of potential)
Grounded movement
-Can vary dash dance speed and range
-You need to be precise with falcon.
-Short dashes
-Foxtrots
-Vary short&long foxtrots
-Dash-wavedash, perfect wavedash
-Dashback, smash turn
-running out of crouch, backdashing out of crouch
-crouching out of run, stop momentum
-cactuar dashes
-pivoting, aerials and grabs
-pivot jab reset
-buffer jump to escape
-wavedash out of shield
-dash turnaround shield
-shield stops
-crouch stopping
Spacing w/ Jumps & Drifts
-3 kinds of analog jumps, 3 kinds of drifts, dashing vs standing jumps
-combined with when you jump, can cover all kinds of different ranges and situations
-see 20gx's video for a deeper explanation
Aerials & shield pressure
-staying safe with all 5 aerials
-low&spaced aerials
-crossup&fadeaway aerials
(-Quirks with nair,upair,stomp,knee,bair
-stomp/knee over jabs,grabs,dashattacks,tilts
-stomp OoS
-shield DI
-WD OoS
-aerials thru platforms on certain stages
-dropping thru the platform>upair, flick down twice to drop thru then fast fall to do a low upair that hits on the ground.)
The Ledge
-technical stuff
-haxdashes
-invincible dj ledgestall
-instant dj ff ledgestall
-clod zero onto platforms
-invincible ledgedash shield
-invincible ff aerials from ledge
-instant+late upair mixup from ledge
-no impact land from ledge
-ledge tech is important so opponents will respect you from ledge, let you come back easier
-wavedash down
(-fall off bair & upair)
(-dash pivot wd fastfall to grab ledge)
[Recovery
-Up b drift combinations
-DI ing correctly if getting hit is unavoidable
(-get highest peak of your double jump before upb-ing
-reverse ledge grab)
-drifting backwards gets you more momentum]
Neutral
-Falcon is fast on the ground and in the air. Can use this to pressure people and zone people
-importance of stage control
-mixing up zoning: horizontal & vertical
-using your shield to create opportunities
-crouch cancel to create opportunities
-weak in winning neutral, but can kill off few openings
-tomahawk grab, pressure people into shielding
-jab&grab are fastest moves
-gentleman techniques
-sharking with fullhop & double jumps
-mixing up falling aerial timings
-getting the highest upair, without flying offstage
-IASA aerials with fullhop
-know when aerials end so you can dj & up b as soon as possible
-LEDGE: fall off upair and bair
-get highest peak of your double jump before upb-ing
-reverse ledge grab
Comboing
-bair,upair,nair,knee into knee
-second hit nair is like an upair
-fall into opponents with aerials for weak comboable hits
-falcon upsmash is strong can kill floaties early
-weak knee/bair into knee
(-platforms will interrupt combos, can read slide offs with knee if you can get there in time
-can stomp ledge slide off if you can get there in time)
-need to know jump & dash combinations to get the combo
Techchasing
-dthrow wavedash regrab techchase is pretty free once practiced
-on techroll away, instant dash grab might not reach, you want to dash a little before grabbing.
-if you recognize you're too late, you can dash dance and see what they do then regrab. or you can read an escape option. you're putting a lot of pressure on them during the techchase sequence
-AERIALS: quirks
(-platform techchasing with aerials on yoshis
-covering multiple tech options on platforms
-reacting to techs on platforms)
-jab reset on spacies often leads to roll away, they only have to hold left or right
-techchasing with aerials
-techchasing with foxtrots, can dash past them and pivot grab regular get up
-raptor boost cover 3/4 options, sometimes 4/4 options at the ledge
-dsmash cover 3/4 options, sometimes 4/4 options at the ledge
-mechanical techchasing, bair/knee tech in place, regrab everything else. Works if techroll away is cut off, but can always regrab techroll in.
-dash past where they'll tech, bair in place, upair techroll away. gives up techroll in, which opponent can react to your jump
-dash forward, dash back knee. bait opponent into teching in.
-can condition opponents with raptor boost, then do dash forward, dash forward again knee tech away.
-go for reads only when they can lead to a kill.
-stomp>instant raptorboost at low percents
Edgeguarding
-invincible ledgestall, force them to land onstage, reverse knee vs sheik,marth,falcon etc.
-reduce spacies options to 50/50
-cover side b with hitbox. can react better to fox's. put out hitbox or grab ledge. ftilt or weak knee vs falco.
-crouch cancel side b onstage, dash grab or knee. cc lets you dash if they shorten onto stage
-cover shorten with edgecancel, double jabs at the ledge, or read it
-cover up b on reaction when possible. if not, choose to cover stage or ledge.
-onstage dash dance upair or grab if they're too close to the ground
-need to edgeguard spacies. can't let them always do one option and stay safe. need to incorporate mixups.
-don't put yourself at risk for an edgeguard vs floaties
-vs samus peach puff, if they're close to death, just look for a hit, don't try too hard to edgeguard.
-get underneath opponent who's recovering, dj upair. most reliable way to confirm hits
(-INTRO:falcon requires discipline and precision. has lot of potential)
