Cpt. Falcon MU. Just couldn't wait!

[KarmaCastle]

Hey guys, I've been just a general lurker of Zelda's smash board and was waiting for a MU guide for Captain Falcon. As he still hasn't appeared on the MU discussion, I decided to venture out and ask for tips and share what I do to see where I may be going wrong. I feel I'm an above average Zelda, able to maintain an 80-85% FG average. I know FG isn't much and I'd totally get bodied in a tournament, but I do know my tech and MU playstyles.

I find Falcon the hardest matchup, period. Even against a Sheik that bodies me I can usually get a JC UpB OOS ko for my pride since their approaches are still predictable and fairly limited with air zoning. However when it comes to Falcon I find his approach options overwhelming. Should I jab to stop a grab? Or is he just going to dash attack? What if it's a falcon kick? Or if he jumps at the last second to contest the air space.

Even when I go into the matchup and mentally think to myself "okay, you know 90% of falcons are going to go for a dash or grab" they have so many viable mixups I still end up struggling. If I focus on denying grabs I end up getting dashed or vice versa, or hit by a falcon kick.

Speaking of, I also find it hard to punish him as a Zelda. His kick goes so far that unless it ends on my actual shield he's able to react before I get the punish in. Most of his aerials are safe going into a shield because of the knockback and little end lag, making it hard to get anything in as Zelda.

What I have found success with, surprisingly enough, is phantom spam. It forces them to be more predictable by going into the air, or causes a small knock back as they try to run by the phantom allowing a jab/tilt/grab. The phantom also tanks a majority of his attacks, opening another small window. It can also gimp his recoveries, which I also hear is his weakness... But alas, Zelda's trump game is limited outside of a re-grab Dair.

He even gets out of most early % grab 'combos' Zelda has.

Aside from that though, any practiced Falcon main mixes things up to the point of guessing which move to predict feels impossible. Any advice/tips?

 

[Zylach]

The first thing you should know is that this MU is hell. Zelda is just too slow to answer the Captain's offensive options. The fact that his dash grab is one of the best in the game and he gets a ton of reward off of it is what makes this incredibly difficult for a character that shields as much as Zelda does. Furthermore, she can't really challenge any of his attacks because her only safe disjointed attacks also make her immobile which Cfal can take heavy advantage of. If Zelda wants to be more mobile, she has to rely on a mediocre air game against one of the best air games of the roster.

You've got a good frame of mind, though, in using phantom as a spacing tool now that it's been fixed. That said, Zelda, unfortunately, can't over-rely on phantom because of the horrendous endlag on it. Falcon is fast enough to get past the wall that phantom is supposed to be and grab us anyway. What I have found helpful, though is phantom still disrupts Falcon's grounded approach enough that he has a higher probability of whiffing a dash grab allowing for an immediate followup. Since Falcon's often suspect that they can punish Zelda every time she uses phantom (because of that endlag) Zelda can use it from max distance on the 2nd and 3rd charges and still have some time to stuff that approach with a fsmash or dtilt.

Ultimately, your fastest moves here are your best options since trying to predict Falcon's movements and stuffing them with Nayru's or fsmash or something is like trying to exactly predict where in the conceivable universe we'll find an alien civilization. So, dtilt, jab, and utilt will be your best friends here alongside SH nair and dair as they autocancel and keep you mobile. Don't rely on your air game since, again, Falcon will wreck you in the air. Dtilt is actually pretty good at stopping Falcon's punish attempts on you. I like using a dtilt immediately after a jab if the jab whiffs since Falcon will, 9 times out of 10, try and punish the jab. With 8 frames of endlag, though, that dtilt will often come out a lot faster than he suspects and we can follow up with a lot of options from dtilt.

The number one piece of advice is gonna sound a bit vague but: Don't let Falcon control the pacing of the match. If he's constantly up in your face, you will lose. If you let him constantly run circles around you while you wildly throw out attacks trying to stop him from approaching, you will lose. Zelda needs to slow the pacing of the game down in order to be played effectively. You need to keep him out of your space with phantom and even mixup whether you turtle or whether you approach. Zelda's approach game is awful but that's why it's good to do it every now and again because opponents often forget that Zelda can ever even do it. If your opponent is forced into a defensive position because they suspect you might approach, this slows down the pacing of the game, gives you time to think, and keeps them guessing, which is what we want.

Again Falcon is a pain of a MU so don't get discouraged if you're having trouble with him. All Zelda mains should. It's not fun.

 

[Darktundra]

If feel that straight forward falcons can get destroyed by Zelda in general because the moves he use leave him open enough for Zelda to have multiple options.
Falcons that use multiple options and mixups can really test Zelda.
Neutral
Moves to uses
Jab D-tilt U-tilt Grab
Moves to use when punishing
Dash Attack F-tilt F-smash D-smash
When facing a skilled falcon shield often but not heavily to bait dash grabs. Falcon like to grab and dash attack because they are set ups for air game.
D-tilt is more effective than jab because its quicker has more active frames and is a single hit move when it comes to stuffing approaches. Also it clangs with dash attack and trumps grab.
Up-tilt is a nice juggler on falcon and D-throw>Nair has a 40% window due to his falling properties.
When edge guarding falcon GIVE HIM NO RESPECT OR MERCY! Be prepared to TECH at all times while off stage and use Nair since he can't act for a while after the grab animation. When Falcon is on the cliff, bait get up attack by not shielding and being at the cliff. Many falcons will use U-air to attack requiring them to grab the cliff again. That's when you go in.
D-smash Bair Fair D-tilt Falling Nair Nayru's Love and more options are viable at that time.
Up Air strings by Falcon?
Use FF Nair to get out and set up for a counter combo
When they bait out nair, FF to the ground for a mix up
D-tilt against Falcon's ledge grab
Zelda leg is not intangible during D-tilt as a result she can get grabbed by falcon's recovery when attempting to stop his ledge grab
While in the air
Falcons with skill like to bait out air dodges
This is when you can go in and be offensive or FF out of the situation.
Ground or Air
Desired 85% ground 15%
The only reason you should be in the air is for Nair and to bait air dodges and jumps.
Captain Falcon air to ground transition.
Nair..: stay mid range so he will jab then go in
U-air NOT WORTH IT
Bair crouch to make this move more difficult to land D-tilt is the best option unless your godlike with NAYRU'S invincibility window
Dair: go in but proceed with caution
Fair stop in front of falcon to bait grab or jab because his standing grab has has average range then proceed with a hard hitter like LKs.
Things to watch out for
Runs past you raptor boost
Standing in front to bait unsafe options
Baiting rolls
Moves to not use often
Farore's wind
Jab
F-smash
Din's Fire
Nayru's Love

 

[ZombieBran]

My only saving grace against most Falcons is Dtilt.

This matchup makes me so sad. There's not much Zelda has against this unholy beefcake. He even competes with, and in some cases beats, our range.


Lastly, Puppet Zelda is bae.

 

[evmaxy54]

1. Jab
2a. If miss, Jab
2b. If hit, Grab or DA & follow up from there
3. Get him offstage
4. Dair
5. ??????????
6. PROFIT

 

[Katy Parry]

Uptilt soooooooo

 

[Macchiato]

A few days ago I actually got to fight Germany's top Captain Falcon. I uploaded a video of it.

Enjoy! ^^

 

[Katy Parry]

A few days ago I actually got to fight Germany's top Captain Falcon. I uploaded a video of it.

Enjoy! ^^

See your Zelda seems just like how I play mine. You land nair everytime, you use Phantom when your shifting momentum, you fsmash excellently, I just think when your struggling in the neutral you should throw reverse Phantoms, he either has to dodge it and it he tries to jump it you'll either have landed already or you'll still be moving from the momentum


I would love to play with you Online as soon as I get my Wii U again.

 

[Zylach]

A few days ago I actually got to fight Germany's top Captain Falcon. I uploaded a video of it.

Enjoy! ^^

That utilt combo>nair>fair reset>FW was incredible. If only he wouldn't have DI'd. If that would've killed, I'd have lost my ****. 10/10 would gif that.

 

[S.F.L.R_9]

A few days ago I actually got to fight Germany's top Captain Falcon. I uploaded a video of it.

Enjoy! ^^

Thomas.
That jab lock was stylish af like omg. Thanks for uploading this btw, it gave me a little more insight on how to deal with my least favorite matchup

 

[Macchiato]

That utilt combo>nair>fair reset>FW was incredible. If only he wouldn't have DI'd. If that would've killed, I'd have lost my ****. 10/10 would gif that.

I actually have a replay of me doing that on a peach and it almost killed at 30%.

 

[BurstPanther]

My Zelda is average at best, especially compared to Macchiato above, but often i find that Up B in place can catch Falcon off guard if timed right. Disrupting either grab or dash attacks.

 

[Macchiato]

That utilt combo>nair>fair reset>FW was incredible. If only he wouldn't have DI'd. If that would've killed, I'd have lost my ****. 10/10 would gif that.

here's a jablock that actually worked lol

 

[Daidarapochi]

Throwing this out there for fun, if they do a messy (extended? the one with the flurry of punch garbage) jab combo where your DI is good and end up slightly above them, you get a free lightning kick. Works on D3 as well.

 

[Zylach]

Throwing this out there for fun, if they do a messy (extended? the one with the flurry of punch garbage) jab combo where your DI is good and end up slightly above them, you get a free lightning kick. Works on D3 as well.

Generally Falcons will never use his rapid jab. They'll always use the gentleman's. Still, it's good to know that we can punish him when he hits us at low percents lol. Especially on such a dumb attack (I still don't know why they haven't fixed the hitbox on the final hit of Falcon's rapid jab. It's stupidly disjointed). I know we get a free OoS SH bair on his gentleman's when we shield it.