Dealing with the Captain, and other aggressive characters?

[FlipFlopMist]

Hello there, I've been jumping from character to character to find what should be my main, and I've finally settled on being a Palutena main, and while I don't think I'll be playing too many tourney's any time soon, I'm getting really into her skills and playing For Glory pretty well... And boy, she's a very weird character-to play against and as.

I'm just wondering how do you deal with really aggressive characters like Captain Falcon? Tossing out the odd Reflect and Counter every now and again really seems to mess them up a little and let me get a few hits in, but I've learned to use those options sparingly, and to only us AR to force them up into the air(our goddess is amazing in the air and dealing with stuff in the air)...
Already as Palutena I have to play a mix of aggressive and passive, and most fights seem like uphill battles, but I have no idea how to win against Captain Falcons at this point, any advice?

 

[Duelisti]

Here's a little replay of mine:

In this match I fail to shield multiple Raptor Boosts, some jabs whiff like hell and my Teleports are predictable at times, but overall I still played well. Falcon isn't particularly hard for Palutena to handle in my opinion. Maintain your spacing at all times. Jab, SH Fair/Bair and even D-tilt are excellent interruptions for his approaches. Bait out his laggier moves with empty hops and shield-canceled dashes and proceed to punish appropriately. Grabs are crucial for racking up damage. D-throw into Nair/Fair (depending on DI) works well even at high percentages due to Falcon's fast falling speed. Throwing out some Auto-Reticles at beneficial times is a good idea, but using Reflect on a character with no projectiles is basically never the best choice available. Edge guarding him shouldn't be overly difficult if you work around Falcon Dive effectively.

 

[FlipFlopMist]

I really should use my Jab and Teleport more... It's not just Palutena honestly, I just have a real tough time with C. Falcon in general-but thanks for the tips I'll be sure to try and apply them and improve myself.

I know the guy is really predictable, but he's so fast and unlike some other characters there's just no time to breath, just gotta adapt I spose.

 

[Pale Tuna]

Just remember to jab poke into down throw and follow up. That seems to be her most used combo which is effective for the most part.

 

[FlipFlopMist]

I've been getting a little more consistent in doing that, I love how even before I looked up Palutena stuff I realized how amazing her down throw is for pretty much every option at her disposal.
And that Jab is amazing, gah, I need to use my tilts better though, I keep misusing them or accidentally doing a smash attack.

 

[Zediwonder]

Palutena's tilts are pretty bad, they have great range but they last too long with the exception of her dtilt.

I don't have much experience with the Cpt falcon MU outside a few For Glory matches but he's obviously an aggressive character, I wouldn't be throwing out AR to force approaches because they'll take advantage of it and rush you down. Also remember that Palutena's dash and bair have absolute priority and will literally always win if the hitbox is active when it collides so if you see him running at you don't be afraid to quickly throw out a dash, just not too many times or they'll just read it and punish you during it's ending lag. Jab1 is best used sparingly as well, Jab1>grab is not actually a true combo but not many people realize and get caught but they'll figure out you can jump away after the jab1 if you go for a grab follow up.

If I had more experience with the MU I'd say more specifics about it but I don't know any Cpt falcon players and good ones online are few and far between to say the least.

 

[ChivalRuse]

Down-throw to n-air gets you maximum damage at low percents (around 15%). D-throw to u-air or up-smash will KO heavy characters like Falcon or Bowser around 120% (they end up at 136% or so). Remember that Palutena's dash attack is invincible, so if you ever see Falcon running at you and short hopping, dash attack will beat it (as will her invincible b-air).

 

[faderpotater]

Personally I think falcon may be my least favorite matchup. Almost every other character I can reliably land up smash or uair on and kill, but falcon so far is the person I have the hardest time killing due to his heaviness and speed. I think the secret to beating falcon lies in gimping him off stage but I haven't mastered it yet.

 

[samster]

CFs are super hard to deal with for me also :/

What I tend to do with these super fast freaks is I always try to predict when they will run at me and try to grab me; let's face it, people who use CF rely on runs + grabs + uairs to rack up some serious damage. I'm not sure if it would work for you, but my solution (sort of, it sometimes backfires since a lot of CFs also dash quickly but then roll back - which I find a bit annoying - then while I'm on the grab lag they come after me and punish) is to attempt to predict when CF would sprint toward you and try to grab you then punish. It actually works very well! Plus, I think it would be good practice as a lot of players use the same type of movements, so this predicting & grabbing is a useful tech for other characters. Another thing I tend to do is to throw A LOT of fairs because they're super quick and they virtually have no lag. Just don't get carried away with them because then THEY would be able to predict when you'd throw your fair and immediately punish.

Idk if that made any sense, but that's my take on it. I feel polarized when it comes to CFs: some are very easy to handle and others I have the hardest time beating. So ya lols

 

[scalpel]

One word: spacing.

Spacing, spacing, and more spacing with jabs. That is the key to beating fast characters like Captain Falcon, ZSS, Sheik, etc.

Examples of spacing with jabs vs fast characters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZj40-joQOc&list=UUtdjaiVTfg-GmQQ-OU4LnkQ

And here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O184Ei2tkh8