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

[ZTD | TECHnology]

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

Thank you for your reply. I have heard of Saiya so I'll look at him (whatever I can find) and see what he's got.

Also the person who does my sponsor group's graphic design is @Ori_bro. He is quite active on Smashboards.

 

[Ramz289]

This was posted in the video thread

 

[Swagmaster]

I was wondering if someone wouldn't mind critiquing my Falcon.

I got pretty demolished by the Link I normally play against in this video. I was having an off day, but I still find this a very difficult matchup. I also seem to have a hard time punishing his moves and can't figure out how to finish a stock off.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Here's what I saw.

First, your Falcon is good, and so is the Link. I have always struggled with the Link matchup myself. I find it hard to handle all the projectiles. I've heard that jab can cancel most of Link's projects, but I'm not so sure. I'd sure it's worth trying. What I love to do is spot dodge or jump over the wind boomerang thing and then use it to push smash attacks to Link. At one point you avoided it, and could have charged a forward smash while it pushed you into him. I've done this with elbows, Falcon Punches, and Warlock Punches. Avoid being above Link at all costs. Many of your stocks were lost to his wide, strong up-smash.

When edge guarding, dair tends to fail because of Link's multi hit up b. Bairs and up tilt spikes should work better. Nairs can work too, but I find them more difficult. Also, airdodge reads can help all of those and ledge trump bairs if they work.

Other that this, all I can suggest is flying nairs, dash - short hop - nair, because it's fast. Good luck!

 

[MacClarence]

I have a question about Falcon - how the heck do I beat him? I main Ganondorf (but please, don't just write that it's a bad matchup or anything. Bad matchup or not, I should still be able to bea him).

So what I struggle with is Falcon's insane punish game and speed. If I miss ONE SINGLE attack, Falcon's speed + INSANE dash grab range will punish me. He can reach me at any time, and if he lands a grab, he can set up his amazing combo game that gives me an insane amount of damage. I can't outrun him, I can't roll away, I can't miss one atttack, or else I'll end up with 30+ extra damage, and possibly a KO, since he has lots of those, too (Up B, Knee, Down Tilt, etc). Since he's so fast, he can punish pretty much anything and every thing, he racks up damage fast, has good combo starters like Down Throw and Fast Fall Up Air, and he has KO moves, amazing areals, etc., not to mention his Jab which comes out SO fast, has long range, gets his opponents off his face, and can follow up with attacks. His Dash attack is great. Because of his great range on so many attacks, they often win against others. Sure his recovery isn't the best, but I mean, how the heck do I beat and counter all of these great advantages he has? :\ As I said, doing 1 mistake and BAM he is up in your face, dealing 30+ damage

holy LOL that gif is killing me! Another reason I main DK


Can I get some good simple strings? Im also trying to use raptor boost more, tips?

 

[ItsIve]

holy LOL that gif is killing me! Another reason I main DK


Can I get some good simple strings? Im also trying to use raptor boost more, tips?

I'm not sure what you mean by "simple strings". But both upair and neutral air are both combo starters and extenders of themselves. So if you land a fastfall upair or neutral air at lower or medium percents, you can carry people horizontally with neutral air or more vertically with upair. The damage "nerf" that was done to upair also gives it more combo potential, so upair strings are much more possible and ultimately do more damage. Like, if you jump with an upair, sometimes the upair does so little knockback that you can hit another upair, then jump and do even more upairs. It becomes even greater when you have platforms, because you can extend your strings even further. Move staling also can give moves more combo potential, so upair is probably your best tool for strings. And it's simple because it combos into itself.

But neutral air strings are also pretty good as well, it's just harder to pull off. Down throw is also a good way to get these strings started. As for using Raptor Boost more, I personally wouldn't recommend it. I only really use it as an extremely desperate mixup option, and hardly for much more. But Raptor Boost is good way to seal a kill when you've read your opponent's roll, or a good punish tool for a whiffed Smash attack or unsafe landing option, and I've even seen it used as an anti-air in some situations. Or if you're just throwing it out and praying that it hits, lol. But it's a pretty risky move and could get you punished hard for it. There aren't any guaranteed setups for it at any of the percents where it's even useful, either. But one way I like to "setup" for it is to simply run past the opponent, and then quickly turn around and Raptor Boost when they drop shield. When people are at kill percent, they'll shield more. Especially against Falcon, who is relatively weak to shields due to the lack of a kill throw and guaranteed follow-ups off of his down throw. So when they're shielding and see that you just ran past them, they'll drop shield to chase you and they catch a Raptor Boost die. Raptor Boost is good against lightweights though. It'll kill them much earlier than the rest of the cast, especially if you have rage.

Sorry for the long response, lol. I hope this helps though.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

How much does Grass terrain affect Falcon's D-Throw follow-ups, if at all?

 

[teluoborg]

If research has been done I don't think the results have ever been published here. But I'm not sure if someone has put the time into it.

 

[Ramz289]

I forgot about the grass friction thingy, I never noticed any deference.

 

[Fabulous32]

How do you land a kill as falcon. I often find I struggle to kill my opponent until 140%+ unless I land an early kill or get a good edge guard. How do fellow Falcons get kills on hard to edge guard opponents?

 

[Deleted member 269706]

Hey all, wondering if there is a documented page or source showing how safe/unsafe Falcon's moves are on shield?

How do you land a kill as falcon. I often find I struggle to kill my opponent until 140%+ unless I land an early kill or get a good edge guard. How do fellow Falcons get kills on hard to edge guard opponents?

Pivot fsmash is pretty amazing. With rage it'll kill super early. Also mess around with knee set ups and figuring out the percents for that. Crossing up and hitting with raptor boost was an old favorite of mine until more people figured it out. At max rage it can kill around 70-80%!! Other than that, you just have to read airdodges and bait people into doing silly things. Best of luck to ya.

 

[UzakiuzuG]

How do you land a kill as falcon. I often find I struggle to kill my opponent until 140%+ unless I land an early kill or get a good edge guard. How do fellow Falcons get kills on hard to edge guard opponents?

This in my opinion is Falcons biggest fault. He struggles getting kills. He's a character that forces opponents to mess up and either you capitalize on those mistakes at low percentages or you get stuck in higher percentages trying to kill with Jab, down tilt, back throw.

 

[(Buddha)]

I need help VS. Falcon.
How well do you guys do against ?
What do you guys do vs. a MK? What can you do and what can't you do vs. MK?

 

[teluoborg]

Did you ask the MK boards first ? I think they're more likely to give you helpful advice.

All I know is that Mk relies a lot on dash attack and dash grab to get his combo started so it's a lot like Falcon. Don't get hit by fast traveling hitboxes.

 

[Deleted member 269706]

I need help VS. Falcon.
How well do you guys do against ?
What do you guys do vs. a MK? What can you do and what can't you do vs. MK?

I personally don't have a huge problem playing against Meta Knight...that being said, I don't have A LOT of experience with the match up, but from what I've noticed, Falcon outdoes MK in the neutral. Not by a lot, but he does have an edge. If the Falcon is unfamiliar with the match-up, you can bait him with your Fsmash. Other than that it really comes down to which player can read and out think the opponent better. If Falcon can't grab you, he's gonna have a hard time comboing you, so use Dtilt and Fsmash as they're both super quick and will interrupt a lot of Falcon's approaches.

 

[(Buddha)]

Did you ask the MK boards first ? I think they're more likely to give you helpful advice.

All I know is that Mk relies a lot on dash attack and dash grab to get his combo started so it's a lot like Falcon. Don't get hit by fast traveling hitboxes.

Yeah, I have. Not much there...

I personally don't have a huge problem playing against Meta Knight...that being said, I don't have A LOT of experience with the match up, but from what I've noticed, Falcon outdoes MK in the neutral. Not by a lot, but he does have an edge. If the Falcon is unfamiliar with the match-up, you can bait him with your Fsmash. Other than that it really comes down to which player can read and out think the opponent better. If Falcon can't grab you, he's gonna have a hard time comboing you, so use Dtilt and Fsmash as they're both super quick and will interrupt a lot of Falcon's approaches.

How about Jab? I know that can interrupt...

 

[Deleted member 269706]

How about Jab? I know that can interrupt...

Definitely, just be smart with it as it can be punished if you don't space it. Its great for catching rolls tho

 

[Fabulous32]

How to fellow falcons keep track of percent. With most of falcon's combos being percent specific, I often fail to realize when I should go for a knee follow up vs. an up air. Or do a full hop over a short hop for the follow up.

 

[teluoborg]

Hum look at their percentage ? It's right there on the screen. Also look at your percentages because rage effect will alter your ability to combo.

 

[Fabulous32]

How often do you glance down. Generally during a match I'm trying to keep my eye on my opponent, so I don't look down at the percent.

 

[teluoborg]

Tobe honest I don't know, it's a mix of automatic movement and mental calculus (for example after the start of a match if I manage to Fthrow > dash attack > Uair > Uair my opponent I know he'll be in the 30-40% range).

If you had to start somewhere I'd say try to look at the percentages every time you have a spare second, like in the neutral when your opponent is running away or when you don't want to approach, or after sending your opponent flying too far for you to follow up.

 

[Arrei]

So I've been seeing more Falcons take to jabbing at the ledge in an effort to stop normal getups, jumps, and ledge aerials. Should I just use get-up attack or a quick ledge-released aerial to punish when they do this, or is get-up attack liable to get myself killed?

 

[Shade.]

Ledge release double jump Uair

 

[Clamhat]

How do you land a kill as falcon. I often find I struggle to kill my opponent until 140%+ unless I land an early kill or get a good edge guard. How do fellow Falcons get kills on hard to edge guard opponents?

If your opponent is out of uair/dthrow kill setup %, you actually have a few options.

BEST OPTIONS: Strong hit Bair comes out pretty quick and kills reliably, especially near the edges, super especially off a ledge trump. Dtilt is relatively safe and if it doesn't kill from a rage boost, it sets up an edgeguard. Ftilt might be situationally useful, it's good to be aware of it as an option.

OKAY OPTIONS: Fthrow/bthrow, but only near the ledge. Sourspot dair is really strong but can be hard to land. As stated previously, pivot fsmashes (perfect pivot ideally since it uses CF's great pivot length) kill early, learn how to use the up and down angled versions. Dsmash destroys rolls. Usmash is a solid grounded airdodge punish, but make sure you're facing the right way.

SPECIAL OPTIONS: Raptor Boost and early hit Falcon Kick. They both KO very reliably at around 140% (I'm being as conservative as possible because you should only use these when you know they're gonna KO). Obviously there are huge penalties if they don't hit or don't KO. Spotdodges, shields, and interrupts are obvious risks with Falcon being as combo prone as he is. Early hit Falcon Kick is stronger and goes through shields, but I prefer raptor boost because of the uniform hitbox. The rule here is don't use them - don't even get in the practice of using them - unless you are completely sure they will connect. The best way to use them is when you know you can punish but you can't get in range for an fsmash.

Falcon's moveset has a lot of very situational kill moves, but they cover a lot of situations (even Falcon Punch is a decent edgeguard option if your opponent is in special fall offstage). Knowing when to use them can be a pretty devastating mixup when your opponent thinks they have breathing room just because they're above knee setup %

 

[teluoborg]

^ very solid post, I'll just add that jab3 will kill at the edge around 140%, which can be useful to punish people who come back from the ledge with a simple getup because autojab (holding A) will often catch the vulnerable frame.

I'll also emphasize on Bair as a kill move because aside from Fsmash reads and Dair/Fair setups this is the best kill move because of how stupidly safe it is.

 

[MikeMan214]

Whats falcon's best set up into fair? Other than down throw. Grounded up air?

 

[Fabulous32]

Falling up air. Down air, and air dodge.

 

[0mart]

Which are the recoveries that gets grabbed by Falcon`s upB?

for example.
- Fox`s upB
- Diddy`s upB

 

[teluoborg]

0mart are you talking about while recovering or while grabbing the ledge ?
If it's the latter then Falcon Dive will grab anything that doesn't have a gigantic hitbox so it'd be faster to list things you can't grab.

There should be things that you can't grab from below because they will hit your hand before you can grab them and you need to be horizontally aligned (like WFT's up B), and things that you simply can't grab because the hitbox is just to big (think Bayo's up B).

 

[0mart]

teluoborg I was talking about when recovering but the latter seems interesting too... what should I do to grab someone grabbing the ledge.... hold Down?? or I have to time it precisely

 

[teluoborg]

I usually just go past the opponent offstage when he is using his up B then up B right back to the ledge. If you catch the opponent on his recovery or on the 2 frames of vulnerability then alright, but if you don't you'll just grab the ledge right after them setting up a ledge trump so it's a win-win situation.

The only thing that can go wrong is if you catch the opponent and he techs and punishes the lag of your up B. So if your opponent starts teching stop doing it.

 

[Fabulous32]

Does anyone have a good way to practice air dodge reads into knee/stomp? I tend to miss the punish even if I get the read.

 

[KnightFF]

Does anyone know where there good how to RAR guides?

 

[teluoborg]

There no need to have a guide imo, you just need practice. It's just done very quickly then the aerial of your choice.

What happens when you try to RAR ?

 

[KnightFF]

There no need to have a guide imo, you just need practice. It's just done very quickly then the aerial of your choice.

What happens when you try to RAR ?

I haven't tried it yet I just thought it would be really complicated Thanks for information!

 

[lazerultra2]

Hi guys, is our mighty Captain impacted by the 1.1.5 update ? I didn't see anything concerning the Falcon.

 

[teluoborg]

Nothing so far except that with all those characters changing weight we need to rewrite the % range of our combos.

 

[KnightFF]

Hey guys when practing techniques like perfect pivoting for example should I do it in a slower speed first to allow my fingers to remember the technique or just jump straight in at normal speed?

 

[zzmorg82]

Hey guys when practing techniques like perfect pivoting for example should I do it in a slower speed first to allow my fingers to remember the technique or just jump straight in at normal speed?

You can do slower speeds, but it really isn't hard to perfect pivot to be honest. It's all in a fluid motion.

 

[Metalex]

Hey guys when practing techniques like perfect pivoting for example should I do it in a slower speed first to allow my fingers to remember the technique or just jump straight in at normal speed?

It's better to do it in normal speed right away since it's mostly a timing thing you have to get down in in your muscle memory so to do it at slow speeds might actually just make it harder to do at normal speed.

 

[Captain Farukon]

Some advices to fight against well trained Bayonetta`s?