Falcon Kick

[C_Mill24]

Is the Falcon Kick a reliable option for a ground attack? As a Falcon player, I never really find myself using it at all.

 

[Aggromidget]

In my experience, it should be used sparingly. However, I use it more than sparingly because I'm rarely punished for it.
I pretty much only use it in one situation and it often catches my opponent off-guard, even though he knows that I do it. He's not dumb, it's just surprising.
That one situation is when I'm very close to the ledge and my opponent is about 3 character lengths away. Falcon kick sends me towards the middle, away from the ledge and even if he shields it, you end up far away from him near the middle of the stage on the other side.

I have been rarely punished for using it and the benefits have outweighed the cons. Bear in mind, it should be used sparingly.

Aerial falcon kick, on the other hand, is most often a bad option. Pretty much 4/5 times I get punished for it.

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

In my experience, it should be used sparingly. However, I use it more than sparingly because I'm rarely punished for it.
I pretty much only use it in one situation and it often catches my opponent off-guard, even though he knows that I do it. He's not dumb, it's just surprising.
That one situation is when I'm very close to the ledge and my opponent is about 3 character lengths away. Falcon kick sends me towards the middle, away from the ledge and even if he shields it, you end up far away from him near the middle of the stage on the other side.

I have been rarely punished for using it and the benefits have outweighed the cons. Bear in mind, it should be used sparingly.

Aerial falcon kick, on the other hand, is most often a bad option. Pretty much 4/5 times I get punished for it.

I would like to point out various flaws with the move itself. One, even if you hit with it at lower percents people often have plenty of time to tech, then rush over and punish you before the move finishes (fox/falco/shiek). Second, the move has really low knockback, so it gets CC'd to high percents.

In the situation you described Aggromidget you gave your opponent an opportunity to punish you. You are right that if your opponent shields you get to the middle of the stage, but there is plenty of lag to wavedash OoS towards you and get a grab. Falcon is a character who gets 0%-death stocks from the right characters. All Marth needs is one grab at any percent and really any location on the stage. Dthrow/Fthrow to tech chase you until Uthrow combos into his sword attacks (or Uthrow you onto a plaform). From there, Falcon will get juggled with the sword or dies offstage from edgeguard. Its only if marth messes up do you get back to the stage. Other characters too can 0-death falcon from a grab (sheik) or just combo you heavily (falco) for your free shot at yourself.

In this aspect, its probably better to not use a risky option since benefit is not really worth you potential stock loss. Although, you have to call the shot about whether or not your opponent is someone who drops juggles/edgeguards a lot against you.

 

[Ziodyne]

I use it very occasionally to get back to stage. If they're spaced from the ledge to catch most other ledge options, falcon kick can surprise them a lot with its pull back, and the initial hit is strong enough to knock them down, so it's a free get away from the ledge.

If they dodge it though, free punish. If they see it coming at all, they can just dash far back and free punish. If they shield it and are NOT that close to the ledge, WD OOS into free punish.

When you're at the ledge though, the opponent can kill you for any option getting off the ledge, just depending on what they're hunting for. When they're all over your ****, Falcon kick can be that one extra option to let you get out of a tight spot. IMO it's a one per set type deal, one per game if you're feeling confident they won't punish it for whatever reason.

 

[Nicco]

I use it whenever I know I'm gonna hit em with the good hitbox. If you get good at spotting those situations, it's really helpful. Actually gotten quite a few kills this way too.

For a fun mixup, if you think you're too manly for uthrow knee or uthrow fsmash on spacies try uthrow falcon kick. It works around the same percentage as uthrow fsmash.

 

[CriticalRibbon]

You can use it to get away from the ledge at low percentages by crouch cancelling into it. It's never really the best option, but it can be a handy mixup if you get locked down and want to reset things. If you input the falcon kick while you are sliding back from the crouch cancelled hit, it will come out horizontally even if the hit knocks you off stage, and you won't go as far as a regular falcon kick due to the backwards momentum.

One time on the fire transformation of pokemon stadium, this guy was stylin' on me and falcon kicked left into the tree then bounced off and hit me with a knee. It was gross.

 

[Ziodyne]

For a fun mixup, if you think you're too manly for uthrow knee or uthrow fsmash on spacies try uthrow falcon kick. It works around the same percentage as uthrow fsmash.

For disrespect, I once stomped a fox at ~120%, and instead of going for the knee, i went for aerial falcon kick.

 

[Nicco]

If you can kill with Falcon kick, always chose Falcon kick.

 

[Nicco]

Also, aerial falcon kick is a really good mixup, when the opponent is waiting for you to land and are expecting an aerial or a tomahawk.

 

[Nicco]

Basically, think of Falcon kick as Marth's counter.

 

[Waverider900]

If you're close enough to an opponent, I've also seen people use it to get to the other side of the opponent really quickly. If you use it spontaneously, it can help taking some stage control away from your opponent + surprise them a bit. Idk though I don't find myself using it often either, and I don't see it used much in videos

 

[Jeapie]

Yes

10yes

 

[krazyzyko]

I use it to move from a side platform the other. Mostly to stall my opponent's respawn invincibility.

 

[Mokumo]

The best time to falcon kick is when your opponent is right in front of you so that you hit them with the reverse hitbox. That will kill people, especially when your back is right up against the ledge. Otherwise it's easy to CC or powershield.