Falco Strategies

[Magellan]

In the interest of learning from other players, what are strategies/tactics or even tech that you employ when using Falco?

An example might be something I recently started doing (keep in mind I am a n00b). I like to call it divebombing. I will use combinations of full hops + fast falls + shine + jump cancel +repeat to drop in on an opponent to set up a pillar or any other combination. It is great to switch up your game when playing a very horizontal game with lasers and shffl airs. If you miss the shine, you can quickly pop back up into the air to reposition and try again. I found it is pretty effective for breaking up an aggressive player that is getting the edge on you. I was able to consecutively bring back the momentum of the match to my favor.

Any good stuff from some Falco veterans? I am eager to beef up my bird.

 

[Rayon]

One thing I like to do, is when I hit them near the edge of the stage (or anywhere in general), as they are on the ground I try to read what they are going to do (Ex: recover roll left, get up attack) This is usually where I hit them with a forward or downsmash. If I think they will roll right, I will walk a little to the right then downsmash. Space yourself so you can cover the option of getups so you can hit them with a forward smash accordingly if they don't roll.
Just what I like to do and it's helped a lot, just reading where they are going to go/recover you want to punish hard, and if you can't its no biggy just get em next time.

 

[The Stack]

I love D-Air approaches with Falco especially coming down from a platform like on Smashville or a short hop approach. It usually leads into a decent pillar like you mentioned. However, this can be read and predicted so I find a good mixup is empty short hop, wave land back, dash attack followed by tech chase.

 

[reportingsfnoobs]

-Creating a wall with U-tilt if you feel the opponent creeping on you

-Creating a wall with short-hop B-air. The best way to do this is to lightly press Y/X, then use the B-air with the joystick (not c-stick). This ensures that you get the move off quicker and don't even have to L-cancel it as the animation will finish by the time you land. This is really good when your opponent is at high percent, but feel that they have the positional advantage.

-Not using double lasers from the ledge if opponent is close by. The Moon confirmed that it's not safe against opponent who know how to punish it.

-Try to not end up in front of your opponent when using a shorthop aerial. They'll just grab you (Sheik players especially).

-Never 100% rely on lasers. Work on dash dancing and mind games

-Grab instead if you laser a shielded opponent and land in front of them. I learned that my friends often put their shields up when I land in front of them with a short-hop laser and use a smash attack. Either grab or use a spaced F-tilt so it's harder for them to punish. You can also implement Westballz's multi-shine as the reflector comes out really fast (frame 1 I believe).

-Use U-smash out-of-shield or an airborne shine-out-of-shield-wavedash-down if opponent is at a decent percent and uses a dash attack or an aerial that positions them in front of you.

-Make sure you always fastfall and L-cancel your short-hop aerials once they connect to your opponent or their shield

-The use of laser resets. You can use a short-hop laser as not only a laser reset, but a gap closer. This only works when you hit someone and he/she fails to tech when hitting the ground. Nonetheless, it's still good because even if fails to reset, the opponent wouldn't expect their character to be standing or airborne close to the ground because of their focus on teching.

These are just some of the notes I wrote down for myself while learning Falco and researching other players. Cheers!

 

[Protosauce]

Read their play, and find a way to get them to roll to maximum onstage edge. Then, tech chase with 'Dash attack -> uptilt -> dair -> swag out'. My signature is a single laser and a taunt. Gets in their heads man. And you feel like a boss.

Pretty bread and butter, but it feels great.

Also, I love switching up my short hop approaches with jump canceled shines(sorta like OP). Seems to work real well.