Q&A FALCON ASK !! Q&A and FAQ

[Keet]

Hey there Falcon boards. Pit main here. I struggle a lot with the Pit vs. Falcon matchup, and I was wondering if you guys could give me any pointers on it?

Pit's recovery is pretty dangerous when faced with Falcon's dair, be very careful when recovering to the ledge and maybe mix it up and recover onto the stage occasionally.

Pit's arrows are a good spacing tool to put pressure on Falcon to approach, as well as something that could be used to potentially gimp when edgeguarding. Do keep in mind though that Falcon wants to be close and in your face, so you may not have too many chances to use arrows.

Be wary of Falcon's dash grab as well. Pit's got some great frame data on some of his moves, space well with aerials and play it smart. I will say that I do think it is a difficult matchup for Pit, not terribly bad, maybe 55-45 or possibly 50-50, but it's always difficult to deal with rush down characters.

 

[alexthepony]

how do you di captian falcon knee to live longer.
also how should I di captian falcon's uair strings and nair strings, to get hit by less of them.

 

[alexthepony]

does cptian falcon uthrow to knee guaranteed at all? how should I di it to avoid?

 

[teluoborg]

A alexthepony
To live longer from the knee you need to DI towards Falcon
To escape the Nair strings you can try DI away from Falcon
And no Uthrow to knee is never guaranteed

 

[KnightFF]

Does anyone know any YouTube videos or forum guides to falling U-airs?

 

[KnightFF]

Evening gents it's me again
So I was practing dash dancing using Lucina for my falcon. I was wondering should I master lucina's dash dance and some other characters (lil Mac, I ke etc.) so the transition to falcon's is easier or just switch straight to falcon once familiar with lucina's dash dance timing?

Thanks much

 

[HFlash]

Falcon and Marth have if not identical, almost identical fox trot cancel timings. Try fox trotting alone first both sides until you have that down before attempting to fox trot. Here is my favorite video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azRrqKUJ-5o

Watch it a few times, and then just go on training mode and practice till you get it down. That, and force yourself to use it more, and rely less on rolling.

Evening gents it's me again
So I was practing dash dancing using Lucina for my falcon. I was wondering should I master lucina's dash dance and some other characters (lil Mac, I ke etc.) so the transition to falcon's is easier or just switch straight to falcon once familiar with lucina's dash dance timing?

Thanks much

 

[Bowserboy3]

I don't know whether this is the best place to ask or not, if it isn't sorry! But...

What is the Falcon:Yoshi matchup like? I main Rosalina and Mario, and for some reason I cannot seem to easily deal with Yoshi. My friend uses Yoshi. I know it's one of Rosalina's lesser matchups, and Yoshi has his super armor double jump which screws Mario over. I mean it's not like I completely fail against him, but it's very hit or miss whether I win. Recently, I thought I would try Falcon (I have always kept him as a sort of pocket character), and I seem to be getting better results vs Yoshi with Falcon. Is this matchup actually in Falcon's favor, or is it just my opponent sucking against him? I thought if I could keep up the pressure and stay in Yoshi's face I could limit his options, that was my thinking. Thanks for anyone able to respond!

 

[teluoborg]

Falcon Yoshi is neutral imo.
What is happening is probably that your friend has a hard time ajusting to Falcon's gimmicks, but if he learns them you'll probably find your old balance back.

 

[KnightFF]

Falcon and Marth have if not identical, almost identical fox trot cancel timings. Try fox trotting alone first both sides until you have that down before attempting to fox trot. Here is my favorite video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azRrqKUJ-5o

Watch it a few times, and then just go on training mode and practice till you get it down. That, and force yourself to use it more, and rely less on rolling.

Thanks very much Hflash two quick questions:
1:Are Marth and Lucina speed identical?
2: Is fox trot cancelling another name for dash dancing?

 

[teluoborg]

Foxtrot canceling is what most people call extended dash dancing. Dash dancing is technically when you go back and forth on place.

And you'd be better asking the Marth/Lucina boards but as far as I know both characters have the same frame data, the only difference being their damage hitboxes.

Also the difference between Marth's and Falcon's dash is 1 frame so yeah you can practice one with the other (even though Falcon's goes much further)

 

[Bowserboy3]

Thanks very much Hflash two quick questions:
1:Are Marth and Lucina speed identical?
2: Is fox trot cancelling another name for dash dancing?

Marth is one of my characters, so I can help here!

Marth and Lucina do have the same speeds, be it walk, run, air etc. So the do have the same Fox Trot. The only real differences between them are the hitboxes on their swords, Lucina having ever so slightly less range and Lucina's Up Tilt also does more damage at the back. Apart from that, they are virtually the same.

Fun fact: Lucina's Dash animation actually looks quicker than Marth's, yet they both dash at the same speed.

 

[KnightFF]

Thanks very much teluoborg and bowserboy3!

 

[TheGreatBrawler]

How do we do the lagless turn around as Falcon? Like when you change direction of your run from right to left or from left to right how do we do that without lag?

 

[HFlash]

That is foxtrot cancelling.

How do we do the lagless turn around as Falcon? Like when you change direction of your run from right to left or from left to right how do we do that without lag?

 

[teluoborg]

Foxtrot canceling aka foxtrot dancing aka extended dash dancing aka dance trotting. this thing has way too many names.

 

[Bowserboy3]

How do we do the lagless turn around as Falcon? Like when you change direction of your run from right to left or from left to right how do we do that without lag?

The video above this post should help you with that. Remember, you can only do it out of your initial dash. If you are already in your complete dashing animation, it will not work. Think of it like Dash Dancing in Melee. You can only turn your Dash Dance around in Melee in your initial dash. If you enter your dashing animation, you will get the laggy turn around animation. It's the same here.

Inputs for it in Smash 4 are tap to enter your initial dash, then again instantly followed by . Essentially, you can dash back and forth on the spot by dashing ,,, etc. Of course the inputs I showed are for dashing right. Just reverse the inputs for left. But watch that video, it's how I learned how to use it.

And from what I know, it also varies in effectiveness between characters. I find that Falcon, Marth/Lucina, Mac and Roy tend to get the most benefit out of this, yet characters like Samus don't get nearly as much benefit. Just experiment and see what works.

 

[TheGreatBrawler]

Thank you! I know how to do it now

 

[KnightFF]

Is double sticking worth it?

http://youtu.be/BHnTF4GQQDA

So after watching this video I'm really starting to wonder should I use this for my plays. I main falcon so this would be really handy for throwing out up-airs to juggle opponents. How in this video...

http://youtu.be/Z4khA499YWk

Jtails gives a number of reasons why tap jump should be turned off.
So I'm looking on advice whether to use double sticking and having tap jump on OR playing without accidental mistakes due to tap jump. I'd love if anyone with experience in this could fill me in.

 

[Silvalfo]

Is double sticking worth it?

(...)

So I'm looking on advice whether to use double sticking and having tap jump on OR playing without accidental mistakes due to tap jump. I'd love if anyone with experience in this could fill me in.

Double-sticker here.

It helps a LOT to do SH Uair -> Double Jump, which is the only way to extend uair strings in certain situations. Other than that I really don't use it for much. It also does help a little bit with upBing out of shield, but I don't see any Falcons (myself included) doing it often.

If you're good at upBing without accidentally using your double jump and at DI'ing upwards from multi-hit/utilt strings with the awareness to not double jump at the wrong time, double-sticking is pretty ok.

You see, the melee folks all have to play with tap jump on and it's not hard to find a player going all frame-perfect utilts in your face.

 

[KnightFF]

Since tap jump is on do you ever accidentally jump when meaning to U-air/U-tilt?

 

[teluoborg]

Tap jump off or on is really just a matter of personal preference.

You can do frame perfect SH aerials without double sticking (by clawing or having jump on L/R/Z), the only thinkg tap jump really brings to the table is easier OOS Usmashes and up Bs which don't really matter if you're playing Falcon.

I personally use tap jump off for the reasons Jtails mentioned and because in the other games I like the idea of being able to DI up while offstage without burning my second jump.

 

[Silvalfo]

I always uair/utilt with c-stick, except on full hop uairs.

 

[KnightFF]

So now that I'm down with dash dancing what should I start working on in the lab?

 

[Ramz289]

If you can dance trot consistently in a match, the next thing is probably dance trot>pivot.

 

[KnightFF]

If you can dance trot consistently in a match, the next thing is probably dance trot>pivot.

Prefect pivoting?

 

[Ramz289]

Yeah perfect pivoting

 

[KnightFF]

Falcon vs Shulk matchup:

Ok so I've gone against a few Shulks on for glory and I get seem to be able to beat them. I've noticed a 2 things he has over falcon:
1. Insane edgeguarding- F-air,B-air and ranged ground. The aerials are so strong against a falcon who has his double jump burned trying to recover.
2. Range: Constantly a wall of the stupid blade it sometimes impossible to escape when pushed from 50-50 stage control to 65-35
If there are any ways to get over these things or any matchup analyse please post. Thanks much

 

[ItsIve]

Falcon vs Shulk matchup:

Ok so I've gone against a few Shulks on for glory and I get seem to be able to beat them. I've noticed a 2 things he has over falcon:
1. Insane edgeguarding- F-air,B-air and ranged ground. The aerials are so strong against a falcon who has his double jump burned trying to recover.
2. Range: Constantly a wall of the stupid blade it sometimes impossible to escape when pushed from 50-50 stage control to 65-35
If there are any ways to get over these things or any matchup analyse please post. Thanks much

Shulk does have these over Falcon, but Falcon actually destroys Shulk. When you're fighting Shulk, you're supposed to rush him down and take advantage of the fact that Shulk's moves are very slow and he also needs time to setup his Monado arts. The worst thing you can do is let Shulk setup. Just go in and rush him down. It's very easy to juggle Shulk with up-airs since Shulk doesn't have a fast move to break out of aerial combos (his fastest move is his jab, which is barely frame 5 I think). So Shulks will get overwhelmed by the rush-down and either air-dodge a lot or counter, which is a free knee or down-air or Falcon Punch or whatever you want.

The only problem is when Shulk is in speed mode, because then he actually can catch-up to Falcon. But even then, you're still the better fighter overall. And when Shulk goes Shield, just run away from him or throw him off-stage and edge-guard him. But literally run away from him. You're not going to get the kill most likely, and attacking him will just give him more rage that will help him kill you even earlier if he goes Smash Monado. But Shulk is also very easy to edge-guard. His up-b doesn't always sweet-spot the ledge, and he's sometimes just floating near the ledge after an airslash, which is a free punish.

Shulk does edge-guard Falcon easier than Falcon does Shulk, but that doesn't mean Shulk is impossible to edge-guard. And Shulk's range is massive, but he has a lot of endlag to compensate. Falcon is fast enough to get in during these moments and rush him down. So Shulk does have some advantages over Falcon, but Falcon, in my opinion, has more advantages over Shulk on paper. Best of luck.

 

[HoSmash4]

What are captain falconss ledge coverage options?

 

[teluoborg]

You mean Falcon's options to cover the ledge recovery of his opponent ?
Your main options are autojab, Dsmash Uair/Utilt and grabs.
Autojab will often beat ledge getups (not always), ledge jumps ledge attacks and non disjointed ledge drop aerials.
Dsmash covers rolls pretty well.
Grabs will beat ledge get up > shield and with the range or dash grab you can punish it from pretty well. You can also bait a ledge roll by standing close to the edge and dashing backwards into pivot grab.
Uair will cover most ledge jumps if you are too far for jab to reach and Utilt will beat people who run out of invincibility frames.

Those are my usual go to options.

 

[KnightFF]

Shulk does have these over Falcon, but Falcon actually destroys Shulk. When you're fighting Shulk, you're supposed to rush him down and take advantage of the fact that Shulk's moves are very slow and he also needs time to setup his Monado arts. The worst thing you can do is let Shulk setup. Just go in and rush him down. It's very easy to juggle Shulk with up-airs since Shulk doesn't have a fast move to break out of aerial combos (his fastest move is his jab, which is barely frame 5 I think). So Shulks will get overwhelmed by the rush-down and either air-dodge a lot or counter, which is a free knee or down-air or Falcon Punch or whatever you want.

The only problem is when Shulk is in speed mode, because then he actually can catch-up to Falcon. But even then, you're still the better fighter overall. And when Shulk goes Shield, just run away from him or throw him off-stage and edge-guard him. But literally run away from him. You're not going to get the kill most likely, and attacking him will just give him more rage that will help him kill you even earlier if he goes Smash Monado. But Shulk is also very easy to edge-guard. His up-b doesn't always sweet-spot the ledge, and he's sometimes just floating near the ledge after an airslash, which is a free punish.

Shulk does edge-guard Falcon easier than Falcon does Shulk, but that doesn't mean Shulk is impossible to edge-guard. And Shulk's range is massive, but he has a lot of endlag to compensate. Falcon is fast enough to get in during these moments and rush him down. So Shulk does have some advantages over Falcon, but Falcon, in my opinion, has more advantages over Shulk on paper. Best of luck.

Thanks itslve very good advice I'll this in the future!

 

[Steve.Stone]

Falcon Kick can spike when used in the air right? Or only Ganandorf can?

 

[UzakiuzuG]

Only Ganon can spike

 

[Steve.Stone]

Well that explains all my self destructs...

 

[KnightFF]

I saw d-throw to (air dodge read) knee is a very good at killing. I was wondering who should I practice it on and should I start on larger characters to more used to it? Thanks much!

 

[Ramz289]

There's no way to practise punishing air dodge alone, you'll need someone to spam air dodge after dthrow until you get a feel for it. You can go on for glory and practise punishing air dodge happy players.Follow ups on down throw have different timing depending on the charters weight, so dthrow timing on Bowser is different than Kirby or something.
Mk, Fox, Pika and Marth are pretty easy dthrow>knee at 55-70ish percent range.

 

[ZTD | TECHnology]

Are there any good Falcons in Japan worth watching these days?

 

[ItsIve]

Are there any good Falcons in Japan worth watching these days?

There's a Japanese Falcon named Saiya that's really good I've heard, it's hard to find much tournament footage of him though. Unless I'm not searching hard enough lol

 

[ItsIve]

Are there any good Falcons in Japan worth watching these days?

Who made that cover photo, by the way? That looks really clean