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

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Hello! I'm playing Falcon since Brawl. I don't think I suck playing as Falcon, but rather have quite some difficulty as him. It's like every approach option I use gets predictable. When I finally get the opportunity to show my moves I shine, but my Neutral game is not on pair with it. What can I use to benefit it? Aside for Grabs, what aerial/grounded move can benefit my playstyle? I don't want to be a average For Glory Falcon, but my difficulty on the Neutral game makes me feel like I am. I am pretty aggressive, but try to go as pacient as I can. This question may sound obvious, but I am being honest: My Neutral Falcon game sucks. I used to have this problem with my other mains too, but Falcon is the only one I can't improve in that area.

 

[Untamed]

As someone who is trying out falcon, is there anything I should know? I.e. combos. In addition, has any of his setups/combos changed because of the patch? Bad MU's, good secondaries for his bad MU's?

 

[CrazyPerson]

Did the patch change our Dthrow at all? Or the Knee? I haven't been able to do the Dthrow->Knee sweet spot sense it... I might just be on a bad streak/reverse placebo effect.

 

[Jrzfine]

Did the patch change our Uthrow at all? Or the Knee? I haven't been able to do the Uthrow->Knee sweet spot sense it... I might just be on a bad streak/reverse placebo effect.

What. Uthrow has never combo'd into anything besides Uair at 0% with bad DI on fastfallers ever in Sm4sh.

As someone who is trying out falcon, is there anything I should know? I.e. combos. In addition, has any of his setups/combos changed because of the patch? Bad MU's, good secondaries for his bad MU's?

Dthrow to Nair/Uair is Falcons bread and butter. Fastfall Uair to Knee is also something you need to master. Other combos include Fthrow to Nair at very low percents and Fthrow to Dair if they miss the tech will lock them, allowing for pretty much any followup. I recommend Uair to regrab. Look through the Falcon boards for the rest. Bad MUs include Shiek, Pikachu, and Mario. Good secondaries would probably be Shiek or Luigi.

 

[Daxter]

Hey guys; I'm not a Captain Falcon main, nor do I plan to become one, but I seriously need your help. I haven't defeated a Captain Falcon for dozens of matches. That goes for the For Glory ones that just dash/grab too. I know what's coming, but they move so fast, I don't have time to react, and it feels like even my fastest moves, no matter who I play as, are asking to be punished. Even when I use projectiles, they simply block and run into my face. I can't count the number of times I've been meteored by them either.

I already have been voted the world's worst player elsewhere, but I can't hope to rise above this without some expert advice. It would certainly beat another shared replay saying "Sell the game." I'm sure. ;(

 

[HFlash]

Hey guys; I'm not a Captain Falcon main, nor do I plan to become one, but I seriously need your help. I haven't defeated a Captain Falcon for dozens of matches. That goes for the For Glory ones that just dash/grab too. I know what's coming, but they move so fast, I don't have time to react, and it feels like even my fastest moves, no matter who I play as, are asking to be punished. Even when I use projectiles, they simply block and run into my face. I can't count the number of times I've been meteored by them either.

I already have been voted the world's worst player elsewhere, but I can't hope to rise above this without some expert advice. It would certainly beat another shared replay saying "Sell the game." I'm sure. ;(

It would help so specify which character you are having trouble as vs Falcon? (Robin? DK?)

 

[CrazyPerson]

What. Uthrow has never combo'd into anything besides Uair at 0% with bad DI on fastfallers ever in Sm4sh.
.

That was supposed to say DThrow... I shall edit.

Anyway question stands.

 

[Jrzfine]

That was supposed to say DThrow... I shall edit.

Anyway question stands.

Dthrow is unchanged, you're probably just playing better players. It's easy to DI so that's what they're doing to avoid it.

 

[CrazyPerson]

Dthrow is unchanged, you're probably just playing better players. It's easy to DI so that's what they're doing to avoid it.

I figured that was likely... glad to know it didn't get changed. Falcon is where he needs to be and shouldn't be nerfed...

Any advice to counter said DI?

 

[Jrzfine]

I figured that was likely... glad to know it didn't get changed. Falcon is where he needs to be and shouldn't be nerfed...

Any advice to counter said DI?

There is no 'counter' to DI. Best you can do is recognise that he has good DI before committing to the Knee and choosing some other attack like Uair.

 

[Untamed]

What's the best way to practice falcon's grab? I find myself missing his grabs/dash grabs a lot more than any other character

 

[teluoborg]

It's because his standing grab range is bad and will whiff on most small/crouching/flattened characters (think Mario's dash attack, pika's Bair, Kirby's anything) and his dash grab has a huge blind spot at the beginning.

Just play more and get used to it, there aren't any secrets.

 

[Daxter]

It would help so specify which character you are having trouble as vs Falcon? (Robin? DK?)

Generally everybody in the cast gets crushed by him, but more often than not I play as Robin.

 

[Dr Mario Kart]

New to the concept of ledge trumping. What do y'all do with falcon when you successfully trump someone?

 

[CrazyPerson]

Generally everybody in the cast gets crushed by him, but more often than not I play as Robin.

Falcon's speed and power is going to give people headaches. Though I see why people get frustrated playing against him he has some major weaknesses.

As stated before, short characters really limit his options... grabs that shouldn't whiff whiff. He has a grand total of nothing in the way of range attacks, so any character that can slow his approach with those can severely limit him. I hate playing against Robin... those ranged attacks may not be top in the game but they mess me up a lot.

And our recovery options are quite terrible. So if you can exploit that predictability you will win more than you will otherwise.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

What are Captain Falcon's worst stages or the ones he doesn't excel at?

 

[Jrzfine]

New to the concept of ledge trumping. What do y'all do with falcon when you successfully trump someone?

Drop from ledge doublejump backair.

Has anyone confirmed a pattern behind raptor boost spiking, or is it random?

 

[teluoborg]

@ Jrzfine the Raptor boost meteor is a sweetspot, you have to hit while being above the opponent.

@ Rango the Mercenary Falcon doesn't really have a bad stage but I personally like platforms so I usually go for town and city or smashville and tend to avoid FD. I also dislike Lylat because of the tilting and how the ledges can screw up your recovery.

@ Dr Mario Kart : as Jrzfine said ledgedrop jump Bair is the most common punition, but you can also ledge get up and punish their second jump with an Utilt or a smash. Since they won't get invincibility by grabbing the ledge they're pretty free.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Hello! I'm playing Falcon since Brawl. I don't think I suck playing as Falcon, but rather have quite some difficulty as him. It's like every approach option I use gets predictable. When I finally get the opportunity to show my moves I shine, but my Neutral game is not on pair with it. What can I use to benefit it? Aside for Grabs, what aerial/grounded move can benefit my playstyle? I don't want to be a average For Glory Falcon, but my difficulty on the Neutral game makes me feel like I am. I am pretty aggressive, but try to go as pacient as I can. This question may sound obvious, but I am being honest: My Neutral Falcon game sucks. I used to have this problem with my other mains too, but Falcon is the only one I can't improve in that area.

I know this sounds obvious/repetitive, but I would like to have some help here

 

[Draxsel]

I know this sounds obvious/repetitive, but I would like to have some help here

Falcon's neutral game is all about baiting out unsafe reactions from your opponent, playing with their heads, and keeping them on their toes. A good place to start mastering neutral would be to practice (and mixup once you master) the following:

• Fast - fall bairs, especially reverse-air-rushed ones.
• Empty short - hop fast-falls.
• Dash - dances into grabs. You tend to see high-level Falcon's master this, much like Fatality, and use it to bait out grabs and other moves from the opponent before turning back in and grab - boosting in and snatching them. Extremely crucial to learn.
• Dash - attacking, at low %'s this can lead into a few U-airs so it's another nice option to have in your pocket, although I personally don't use it as much as the other options I'm listing.
• Short - hop fast - fall Nair. I personally don't incorporate this too much unless it's an opponent with a Falcon - sized or larger hit-box, but I should, because it's an excellent move; just be sure to drift back once you unleash it so as to space the opponent properly. Getting only the first-hit of this will also lead into either jab--->jab--->gentleman or a grab, so again, it's an excellent tool.
• Last but not least (and this stems off of empty - hops), short - hop fast - fall U-airs. This can lead into SO many things for Falcon it's quite unbelievable, and in a lot of cases even if they do shield it, it can act as a nice frame-trap on some characters if you throw out jab right as it hits their shield. Of course, if it actually hits, it's combo city from there.

The reason why mixing all of these up is so important is that if you are in an agression - mode and empty-hopping in front of a shielding opponent who's on the defensive, at any moment you can switch it up on them. Do you stay on top of them and up-air into jab because you know they won't react quickly enough to the shield hit? Do you do a properly spaced short hop NAIR or RAR-bair after empty hopping a couple times? Or do you dash grab or dash attack (with the added possibility of a dash dance just before) at them right as you hit the ground from an empty hop?

Also, since you say you play a patient-falcon, mix it in with the options. I would suggest with your playstyle you learn to empty-hop fast-fall a lot, and then incorporate everything else into it.

These are the tools you want to master for the neutral game. It gets tougher in certain matchups like Pikachu, where some of your options will be taken away in certain situations, such as grabbing at times, but even then you aren't helpless. Get these down and do NOT forget to mix these options up and you should notice improvement in your neutral game.

 

[Draxsel]

I have been trying to practice Falcon's jab -> jab -> Grab combo... more often than not I do the ground knee.

Any visual thing I can look for to know I can then grab or is this just a matter of messing with timing till I figure it out and program it to instinct?

Definitely timing-based, get with a friend and grind it out. Also mix in jab ---> grab, as it has it's own timing and you'll need it as a tool in case you end up facing the wrong way against an opponent, your jab hits them, and you have to do a quick turn-around and grab.

 

[Draxsel]

I'm having a lot of trouble dealing with Jigglypuff's edge guarding whenever I get hit off stage with multiple Nair's or Fair's. Any tips?

Use your up-b early to get to the other side of her if at all possible. Recovering horizontal to the stage against a good Jiggly will almost guarantee you get knocked off, so your best bet I find is to either go extremely low or extremely high.

 

[Draxsel]

Drop from ledge doublejump backair.

Has anyone confirmed a pattern behind raptor boost spiking, or is it random?

From my understanding the sweet spot to get the spike is on the lower-bit of the move, so you have to do your best to position yourself slightly above the opponent when coming in for the spike in mid-air. Not super - reliable, but I've done it on a few friends for style points.

 

[Draxsel]

What are Captain Falcon's worst stages or the ones he doesn't excel at?

He doesn't necessarily have any "bad" stages, but stages with odd lips like Lylat's tend to hurt him slightly. In most cases for him, you'd want to take away any sort of platforms, because the moment he gets under you, he should be pressuring you like crazy withh up-air's. Stages with not as many platforms lessen this, but he's still a threat for sure.

 

[Draxsel]

What's the best way to practice falcon's grab? I find myself missing his grabs/dash grabs a lot more than any other character

Get into training and practice memorizing the length of his dash-grab. It's quite a lengthy grab, and if you're not used to it yet I can understand why you'd miss it a bit.

His standing grab is a tad bit less reliable, especially against the smaller members of the cast. My best answer there is to go in and see what standing grabs of his work on what characters, and more importantly, how crouching effects it. For instance, if my memory is right, a crouching Diddy or Pikachu should not be able to be stand-grabbed by Falcon.

 

[Keet]

Is there anyway for falcon to escape the dreaded down throw to uptilt mario combo? I know shielding at low percentages, but once I hit around 15 I'm stuck until 40+. Which way should I be DIing?

 

[Jrzfine]

Is there anyway for falcon to escape the dreaded down throw to uptilt mario combo? I know shielding at low percentages, but once I hit around 15 I'm stuck until 40+. Which way should I be DIing?

Tap the stick up and away from Mario, then start rolling the stick back and forth ( looks like this etc.)

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

What causes people to whiff the DThrow into Knee of Justice combo? or Uair into Knee of Justice? What's the way to DI out of it?

 

[Jrzfine]

What causes people to whiff the DThrow into Knee of Justice combo? or Uair into Knee of Justice? What's the way to DI out of it?

Falcons will whiff it if the knee is mistimed, the grab wasn't a dashgrab (The momentum is critical), or if the opponent DI's away. I prefer DI'ing Up and Away. Falling Uair to Knee is guaranteed, im afraid, so watch out.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Is falling Uair punishable on shield? It seems to auto-cancel right into jab or grab.

 

[teluoborg]

Hitting with the very first frames of Uair just before landing won't autocancel but it's rather safe on shield, iirc it was -5 on block when done perfectly before the damage nerf. The closer you do it to the ground, the safer it is.

 

[Jonarobin]

I'm picking up captain falcon as a secondary, and I'm starting to practice him, I don't know too much about him, but any bread and butter combos or general tips and moves to and to not use? His good matchups? bad matchups? Good and bad stages?

thanks!

 

[teluoborg]

@ Jonarobin you probably want to read the first post of this thread, it'll answer most if not all of your questions.

 

[Smoking_Hot_BBQ]

I feel dumb for saying this, but where exactly is the sweetspot for hard knee?

 

[TheGreatBrawler]

I feel dumb for saying this, but where exactly is the sweetspot for hard knee?

You have to hit it frame 1, doesn't matter where you hit it.

(someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[Smoking_Hot_BBQ]

I have a really hard time getting follow ups off of dthrow at low percents. I can't seem to space it right even when I shorthop. Should I move forward a little bit after I dthrow?

 

[hmbtnguy]

Anyone have any general tips for playing against ?

My friend's Link is very good about using his projectiles and spacing it so it's difficult for me to punish. He is also very good about using his nair which shuts-down a lot of my aerial game.

I'm not exactly sure how to approach. I try power sheilding, bair, uair, and dash attacks but I get punished in various different ways for all those options. My dash grab is also locked out due to his projectiles, tether grab, and jabs.

I also get killed pretty early against Link and get caught in his combos for devastating percentages. The only ways I've been able to defeat his Link is by spiking/kneeing him offstage--but even he is making it more difficult to pull those off by recovering low and using his tether.

Is this just a really bad matchup for Falcon or am I completely missing something? It seems like my approaches are sealed, and I don't have any really safe ways to rack up damage compared to him.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Samlage]

https://youtu.be/rzqQL8rMMxg

Uploaded som replays yesterday from me and my friends marathon.

Besides just getting better overall in every department, what should i try to focus on first and foremost? I Need to start somewhere, so please help med out guys.

Knee setups feel impossible against yoshi and not even worth attempting. Same as going off-stage since he has those eggs, uair and super armor going.

I think we won exactly the same ammount of games. Sadly, all the replays i saved where yoshi won exceeded the time cap on uploads. The more games we played, the longer they were since we started to focus more on keeping out of each others favorable situations. I uploaded the few games that werent 4+ mins or decided because of SDs.

 

[Samlage]

Anyone have any general tips for playing against ?

My friend's Link is very good about using his projectiles and spacing it so it's difficult for me to punish. He is also very good about using his nair which shuts-down a lot of my aerial game.

I'm not exactly sure how to approach. I try power sheilding, bair, uair, and dash attacks but I get punished in various different ways for all those options. My dash grab is also locked out due to his projectiles, tether grab, and jabs.

I also get killed pretty early against Link and get caught in his combos for devastating percentages. The only ways I've been able to defeat his Link is by spiking/kneeing him offstage--but even he is making it more difficult to pull those off by recovering low and using his tether.

Is this just a really bad matchup for Falcon or am I completely missing something? It seems like my approaches are sealed, and I don't have any really safe ways to rack up damage compared to him.

Thanks in advance!

Idk if i am in a position to give advice, but i play against a decently good link from time to time. I feel like falcon is one of the few " melee only" characters who arent afraid of projectile spammers. Because of his inherent speed, he can hinder link from zoning you out since he is forced to keep moving. This leaves link to resort to his other moves. If you ever played link, youll soon notice that he feels almost as sluggish as ganon or bowser, and is easily punished. The moves you need to be careful about is grab into usmash, jab and nair. If he favours the aforementioned grab>usmash, you just need to bait it out, spotdodge/roll and then punish.

Just be patient. You want to be in the range where he cant use projectiles without getting slammed nor reach you with his sword. Dance tango with him until he commits a mistake and punish.

And never get above link, that will almost always get you bodied if the link knows what he's doing.

 

[hmbtnguy]

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!