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

[Maître Luigi]

Short Hop over Palutena's projectiles and when in close standing proximity use SH N-Air as you will force their parries to whiff (same as Little Mac, Shulk or Pit) and punish with D-Throw or Up-B. When she uses her reflector just use a move like Falcon Kick to out prioritize it.


Foxtrotting is only useful to perform Walking Pivot Grabs, Extended Dash Grabs, RARs or reversing direction.

As soon as a dash starts you must input your other command(s). In other words, the following:

Foxtrot: You can mash Forward with Captain Falcon but you can only perform Pivots at the start of each dash animation.
Pivot Grab: dash ~ Grab + Direction
Walking Pivot Grab: dash ~ B ~ F ~ N ~ Grab + Direction
Extended Dash Grab: dash ~ F + Sheild ~ Grab + Direction
iRAR: dash ~ B ~ F ~ N ~ SH/FH B-Air
Reversing Direction: dash ~ dash + Direction

One more thing: what's the one AT or skills that one must have to acquire mastery of this character. I want to be really good with falcon. But I'm just wondering what kind of skill set or mindset one must have to achieve this?

Learn the basics of utilizing N-Air, U-Air, Grabing, and tossing out random Knee and D-Air. Also pressure and pressure as much as you can but space enough where you can still back off if you need to.

 

[Dinotard]

Short Hop over Palutena's projectiles and when in close standing proximity use SH N-Air as you will force their parries to whiff (same as Little Mac, Shulk or Pit) and punish with D-Throw or Up-B. When she uses her reflector just use a move like Falcon Kick to out prioritize it.


Foxtrotting is only useful to perform Walking Pivot Grabs, Extended Dash Grabs, RARs or reversing direction.

As soon as a dash starts you must input your other command(s). In other words, the following:

Foxtrot: You can mash Forward with Captain Falcon but you can only perform Pivots at the start of each dash animation.
Pivot Grab: dash ~ Grab + Direction
Walking Pivot Grab: dash ~ B ~ F ~ N ~ Grab + Direction
Extended Dash Grab: dash ~ F + Sheild ~ Grab + Direction
iRAR: dash ~ B ~ F ~ N ~ SH/FH B-Air
Reversing Direction: dash ~ dash + Direction


Learn the basics of utilizing N-Air, U-Air, Grabing, and tossing out random Knee and D-Air to. Also pressure and pressure as much as you can but space enough where you can still back off if you need to.

Alright that sounds like a good place to start. I feel that I'm not too good with him in the air.

I can manage uairs just fine I think and a knee here or there but those can be risky. For me and I can be easily punished.

I'm still a little hesitant to chase them off stage and I feel I can be a better player if I just get past that hurdle

 

[WaluigiWeegeeSteel]

Anyone know how to make Captain Falcon's approach less predictable? I can't keep doing dash attack, grab, and shot hop n-air, since my opponents pick up and punish.
Or I just need help on the best option for a highly aggressive play-style.

 

[Maître Luigi]

Anyone know how to make Captain Falcon's approach less predictable? I can't keep doing dash attack, grab, and shot hop n-air, since my opponents pick up and punish.
Or I just need help on the best option for a highly aggressive play-style.

Depends on the character.

In general, try SH N-Air/SHFF RAR on tall characters, SH N-Air (1) ~ FF N-Air (2) on medium characters and SHFF B-Air (2)/FF N-Air (2)/SHFF N-Air (1) on short characters. In addition, as a general play-style note, try take advantage of Captain Falcon's fantastic range (i.e. U-Air, N-Air, F-Tilt, D-Tilt, Gentleman) and fast running speed to space with Captain Falcon as much as possible.

And remember:
Punish! Pressure! Space!

 

[Humanity]

Anyone know how to make Captain Falcon's approach less predictable? I can't keep doing dash attack, grab, and shot hop n-air, since my opponents pick up and punish.
Or I just need help on the best option for a highly aggressive play-style.

It's hard to make the Captain's approach options unpredictable, but you can compensate by making the approach itself unpredictable. Use empty hops and pivots to bait attacks when your opponent is expecting you to run in with an attack, then punish. Force them to be more cautious with their responses, and you should have more success when you go in with standard approaches as well. Your speed should help a lot with this.

 

[moreside]

I can't seem to land the knee, does anyone have any tips for it? Every time I get close to someone I just hit them with a flub knee, or the block or airdodge it.

Even though you can technically combo into it, it's best as a punish move. Chances are you're going to be throwing out tons of up airs when you play Falcon, so naturally most opponents will begin to air dodge as a knee-jerk reaction. When this starts happening, bait it out and knee for the stock. Alternatively, when punishing a laggy move, try a falling up air instead of a falling knee. If you whiff, the landing lag isn't terrible, and you can even jab them out of a shield grab if you messed up your spacing. If the up air lands, you can combo into knee, depending on percent. I find it generally easier to combo into it out of an up air as opposed to down throw. Plus, falling up air is waaay more safe than going straight for the knee as a punish.

 

[Smog Frog]

can falcon function off of the tech skill ganon needs(i.e: probably one of the lowest requirements of anyone in the cast)

 

[HFlash]

Captain Falcon typically has a harder time against characters with abusable projectiles and/or reflectors.
Also, Captain Falcon has lesser damaging combos on the following characters (mostly because of floaty hitboxes):
[/quote]

I would also add characters who have big disjointed hitboxes who can out range the captain so like


although unfavorable, DEFINITELY winnable though (with some MU practice)

 

[BigLord]

One more thing: what's the one AT or skills that one must have to acquire mastery of this character. I want to be really good with falcon. But I'm just wondering what kind of skill set or mindset one must have to achieve this?

You've got to learn to be patient. A good Falcon isn't hyper-agressive. A good Falcon is a punisher. Sometimes you've gotta let loose and melee it on the opponent (specially when juggling him/her with uAir), but most of the time you'll sit back and wait for him/her to make a move.

This is obviously rendered moot when that opponent has projectiles, though. In that case, you'll have to approach smartly. So you bait him/her. Dash into shield, dash then roll backwards, short/full hop forward and then do nothing... And when you see an opening, you dash grab/dash attack/short hop uAir/short hop KNEE OF JUSTICE into them.

As for ATs, I don't think Falcon really needs ATs. Master the basics, and you'll be the master of Falcon.

 

[HFlash]

You've got to learn to be patient. A good Falcon isn't hyper-agressive. A good Falcon is a punisher. Sometimes you've gotta let loose and melee it on the opponent (specially when juggling him/her with uAir), but most of the time you'll sit back and wait for him/her to make a move.

This is obviously rendered moot when that opponent has projectiles, though. In that case, you'll have to approach smartly. So you bait him/her. Dash into shield, dash then roll backwards, short/full hop forward and then do nothing... And when you see an opening, you dash grab/dash attack/short hop uAir/short hop KNEE OF JUSTICE into them.

As for ATs, I don't think Falcon really needs ATs. Master the basics, and you'll be the master of Falcon.

So, you do not think that perfect pivoting, fox trotting, etc. are really needed? I haven't really sat down and focused on AT for falcon since I don't have a gamecube adapter yet (PDP fight pad is good, but it's not quite a GC controller) but will if it is necessary for the best Falcon possible.

 

[ArchmageMC]

Capt is a good character with the basics, though fox trotting and perfect pivoting can make your approach much more random looking. they don't help him out much once he gets a combo going though, so thats why BigLord says you only need the basics. Nothing beats being able to read your opponent like a book.

 

[Dinotard]

Master the basics, and you'll be the master of Falcon.

Best falcon advice I have received. Ever

I'm gonna go for it. Just faced a rosaluma on FG and I played patient. Got a beautiful 2 stock finish.

 

[HFlash]

Anyone know how to make Captain Falcon's approach less predictable? I can't keep doing dash attack, grab, and shot hop n-air, since my opponents pick up and punish.
Or I just need help on the best option for a highly aggressive play-style.

Nair having almost virtually little to no ending lag, should make it so that you should never be punished for it. If you are, you aren't spacing it properly

 

[BigLord]

I'm gonna go for it. Just faced a rosaluma on FG and I played patient. Got a beautiful 2 stock finish.

Atta boy! Against a Rosa&luma, even! That's exactly what you should do, that mindset is key to playing a good Falcon.

Now you just got to play more and more and more. Eventually you'll be able to naturally figure out when is time to attack and when is time to fall back and wait. Your playstyle will evolve more and more. Don't forget to work on your dodges/approaches, too! :D

 

[Dinotard]

Atta boy! Against a Rosa&luma, even! That's exactly what you should do, that mindset is key to playing a good Falcon.

Now you just got to play more and more and more. Eventually you'll be able to naturally figure out when is time to attack and when is time to fall back and wait. Your playstyle will evolve more and more. Don't forget to work on your dodges/approaches, too! :D

Thanks. I realize now that being good with Falcon requires a lot of mind games. I'm still a fairly new player to smash so I still sometimes play as though I'm on auto pilot but not actively thinking. The lag that Comes online is still somewhat of a drawback but I'm trying to make the best of it until I can play some local matches.

 

[BigLord]

Auto-pilot is the death of Falcon. Try to play smart as often as possible, and only go auto-pilot against someone you KNOW is not going to give you much trouble. Or when you're one stock ahead and want to play flashy, hehe.

 

[Dinotard]

Auto-pilot is the death of Falcon. Try to play smart as often as possible, and only go auto-pilot against someone you KNOW is not going to give you much trouble. Or when you're one stock ahead and want to play flashy, hehe.

Yeah I realize that now.
I feel that I'm using fsmash too much and I end up getting punished heavily for it, what are some good ground options that Can kill and don't have too much end lag?

 

[BigLord]

fSmash IS a good option, but only as a punisher. To kill, you should focus on dash-grab -> dThrow -> uAir/Knee. Sometimes dSmash is good to punish rollers, too. And uSmash is good for punishing jumping from the ledge (when you press jump while hanging from the ledge).

Also, as a punisher, Raptor Boost is god tier now. It can kill easily at 100% or even below it, on lighter characters. And 1st Hitbox Falcon Kick acts in a similar way.

 

[Dinotard]

fSmash IS a good option, but only as a punisher. To kill, you should focus on dash-grab -> dThrow -> uAir/Knee. Sometimes dSmash is good to punish rollers, too. And uSmash is good for punishing jumping from the ledge (when you press jump while hanging from the ledge).

Also, as a punisher, Raptor Boost is god tier now. It can kill easily at 100% or even below it, on lighter characters. And 1st Hitbox Falcon Kick acts in a similar way.

Alright, I kinda got bodied pretty bad last night playing some friendlies, I'm gonna try to incorporate all this New information into my gameplay. Thanks for the advice, I'll report back later

 

[HFlash]

Which stages are preferable for Falcon? From what I've been playing, the standard flt FD stages are pretty good for falcon. Gives him room to dash grab, spike people off ledges, and generally more room to run. What you guys think?

Alright, I kinda got bodied pretty bad last night playing some friendlies, I'm gonna try to incorporate all this New information into my gameplay. Thanks for the advice, I'll report back later

I think since Falcon doesn't have alot of good neutral game safe approaches, if you don't know what you are doing, you are gonna get wrecked. Learn Match ups, know what out prioritizes what, who has longer range etc. and above all else, stay calm. Just played on stream and played as crap. As I got some more games in, the more
I realized it's just a game like on FG and performed remarkedly better my second/third set.

 

[BigLord]

Which stages are preferable for Falcon? From what I've been playing, the standard flt FD stages are pretty good for falcon. Gives him room to dash grab, spike people off ledges, and generally more room to run. What you guys think?

No no no no no, Falcon and platforms is the OTP, didn't you know?

This is just one of more reasons, but it's one of the most important ones: since Falcon has no projectiles whatsoever, his approaches tend to consist of variants of running and jumping towards your armed-with-projectiles-opponents. With platforms, this changes. Suddenly, you can force your opponent to approach (or at least stop camping in the same spot). You win a new mix-up.

The best stages for Captain Falcon are the most neutral ones, but with platforms. Battlefield and Smashville (and Town&City) should always be your picks.

 

[HFlash]

No no no no no, Falcon and platforms is the OTP, didn't you know?

This is just one of more reasons, but it's one of the most important ones: since Falcon has no projectiles whatsoever, his approaches tend to consist of variants of running and jumping towards your armed-with-projectiles-opponents. With platforms, this changes. Suddenly, you can force your opponent to approach (or at least stop camping in the same spot). You win a new mix-up.

The best stages for Captain Falcon are the most neutral ones, but with platforms. Battlefield and Smashville (and Town&City) should always be your picks.

Is this still true for non-projectile spamming characters as well? Since Falcon isn't the best at taking hits and can get combo'ed easily, I found that I was having a harder time vs like Wario and Luigi on those kind stages because once I lost stage control, I REALLY lost stage control. Is it just the MU I gotta learn or is the stage working against me?

Also, if anyone has general MU advice for Mario, Wario, Luigi, or Puff, I'd appreciate it!

 

[BigLord]

I'd probably wager that it's the MU that you gotta learn. Falcon's juggle options are so improved with platforms, for me, that it's ridiculous. Not to mention knee shenanigans with platforms (it's SO EASY to land a knee if an opponent has flubbed an attack while standing on a platform and you're on the ground, for example).

As for MUs... Beware of Mario's cape (seriously, that screws Falcon over big time), hitting Wario out of the bike is doable and encouraged, out-juggle Luigi with your throws and be wary of shielding against Puff, because her pound wrecks shields. I hope more people add to this, because I haven't actually played a lot of good Marios/Warios/Luigis/Puffs, heh

 

[HFlash]

hitting Wario out of the bike is doable and encouraged

What moves are the safest/best to do so? I'd imagine nair?

 

[BigLord]

nAir and even the knee are viable options, yeah! And of course, uAir is always an option if you're able to do it while fastfalling (bless the ).

 

[HFlash]

So I recently placed top 12 out of a 52 man tournament in my first outing with some of the best FL has to offer. I was able to rek some people, had 2 close matches, but what really bothered me was that i got demolished and kicked out of winner's by a great Ness. He would stump all of my aerial approaches with fair, and could set up a wall with PKF and PKT. People were telling me that I had to just wait for openings, block the projectiles, and wait it out. Is this really all Falcon can do in this MU?

 

[Maître Luigi]

Approach with B-Air, it out-ranges and out-prioritizes F-Air and most of Ness' moves. If you get caught in PKF, DO NOT attempt to DI out of it. Immediately use Raptor Boost once and you will be out of PKF (free to attack, retreat or whatever). For PKT, just power shield or move out of the way, it's extremely punishable.

 

[Eriol-kun]

Interesting tip with the Raptor Boost (Is it just a side B? Or am I missing something about Falcon that is called Rapid Boost).
I've never tried that before, guess I have to check it out in the lab.

 

[Maître Luigi]

Yes, Side-B. It was a typo.

 

[Doble-E]

How to deal with megaman? I find him pretty annoying :/

 

[NoahDaniel]

I need some help with the Yoshi matchup.

I feel like Yoshi has almost no moves that I can punish, the Nair screws up my juggles and what bothers me the most is that I can't punish the down B because of the two stars that pop up. The superarmor on the double jump also keeps eating my knees and stomps ;_; and if I try to bait out a reaction by staying in midrange, I get spammed with eggs. I'm simply unable to get near Yoshi.


Edit: Is it just me or are 90% of all for Glory Yoshis total ***** who not only taunt after every kill, but also after every SD you do? ;_;

 

[Dinotard]

I need some help with the Yoshi matchup.

Edit: Is it just me or are 90% of all for Glory Yoshis total ****s who not only taunt after every kill, but also after every SD you do? ;_;

Nope, must FG Yoshis I've seen do the same exact crap.
Black skin yoshi, taunt after everything.

So satisfying to kill though... if I manage to.

 

[BigLord]

I need some help with the Yoshi matchup.

I feel like Yoshi has almost no moves that I can punish, the Nair screws up my juggles and what bothers me the most is that I can't punish the down B because of the two stars that pop up. The superarmor on the double jump also keeps eating my knees and stomps ;_; and if I try to bait out a reaction by staying in midrange, I get spammed with eggs. I'm simply unable to get near Yoshi.

I'd guess you need to practice dash -> shield, maybe? To counter those eggs. I haven't played a lot of good Yoshis, though.

 

[NoahDaniel]

I'd guess you need to practice dash -> shield, maybe? To counter those eggs. I haven't played a lot of good Yoshis, though.

The eggs are more of an annoyance than a actual problem. If I encounter another Yoshi I'll record the match to show what I mean by I can't touch this thing.

 

[Maître Luigi]

How to deal with megaman?

Well what exactly do you have trouble with? Mega Man is a large heavy character so he's very easy to juggle.

Spoiler

Side-B (gooey bomb): You can blow it up with practically any attack (U-Air, Falcon Kick, Raptor Boost, Tackle, etc.). If hit, you can juggle Mega Man and force him to carry the bomb and use the detonation of the bomb to your advantage and perform a better ender. Alternatively, you can power shield/shield, side step, grapple the ledge or kamikaze.

B: Just about any move to destroy/catch the projectile (same as the gooey bomb).

Down-B (leaves): Hit Mega Man off the cliff and kill his linear recovery and/or watch him fall to his death. Otherwise jump over and punish.

U-Tilt and D-Tilt: Captain Falcon can not do much to these moves aside from cancelling them out, but after the move if you shield/power shield or see that they whiff run up and punish.

Smash Attacks: These have fairly high priority but have a very long recovery. So, just like everything else, shield/power shield or let these whiff and then punish.

Dash Attack: This move has fairly low priority so most of Captain Falcon's moves with clash or out prioritize it. Additionally, you can grab Ness or punish the same way as everything else (via shield or whiff).

N-Air, F-Tilt, A (pellets): Not much can be said about this move in most cases but sometimes a Mega Man player can utilize this move to gimp your recovery. With a better Mega Man this can become a cat and mouse game. You could try recovering from the bottom of the stage and risk getting hit by D-Air or a downward thrown projectile or recover as fast as possible. In either case try to kill/catch projectiles, use U-Air as your go-to and watch out if Mega Man is in firing range of his pellets.

U-Air: Try and DI out of this move but also if it whiffs make sure you punish.

D-Air: So far as I know this is a fairly useless move but try and punish, because like anything else it has a very long recovery.

Grabs: Grabs, like most characters, are a juggle starter for Mega Man and as such there's not much you can do against them. But if you find yourself caught in one at a higher percentage try to DI away and jump and/or U-Air to escape, if the latter follow up with a confirmed SJ Knee or SJ U-Air.

 

[BigLord]

Well what exactly do you have trouble with? Mega Man is a large heavy character so he's very easy to juggle.

Say what now?

 

[Maître Luigi]

Although Mega Man does not have a ridiculously huge hit box like R.O.B., Bowser, Donkey Kong, Ganondorf or Charizard, he is in a class of characters that may look short but have a large hit box. Mega Man also exhibits an overall knock-back comparable to that of Ike or Captain Falcon and dies and same or similar percentages; therefore, Mega Man is a heavy character.

The death percentages of Luigi's D-Throw -> Up-B are listed in the link below. This is a direct effect of knock-back on every character (i.e. at what specific percent will each character be knocked back a set distance). This list will give you a better idea of when Captain Falcon juggles are hit confirmed.
http://smashboards.com/threads/luigis-smash-4-guide-will-keep-updating.372225/

 

[SpectreJordan]

This is the first Smash game I want to get serious at. I think I have a decent understanding of the basics of the game, but how do I git gud with the Captain?

 

[TheGreatBrawler]

I only have one problem with Captain Falcon... How do I deal with projectile spammers? Like Duck Hunt or Megaman for example. They stay at the very side of the stage and just keep spamming projectiles. Captain Falcon can't do anything to projectiles, so anyone with multiple projectiles would take advantage of that and spam their projectiles. Which is extremely annoying.

 

[TheGreatBrawler]

This is the first Smash game I want to get serious at. I think I have a decent understanding of the basics of the game, but how do I git gud with the Captain?

A combo I would definitely use down throw+forward air. I also do up throw+up air or neutral air and do more of them if possible.