I can't ever beat a Falcon. How are you supposed to fight him?

[HexagonalZebra]

Every time I fight one I lose. I constantly get hit by his uairs and grab spamming and I just have no clue what to do. This is extremely frustrating and he's becoming one of my most hated characters.

 

[Rad]

Falcon has good tools but they're all very clear / obvious. He also has straightforward strengths and weaknesses (good at dishing it out and bad at taking it basically).

With that in mind just play the matchup more. There's not a lot of tricky stuff going on you're just playing against the player really.

 

[HexagonalZebra]

Falcon has good tools but they're all very clear / obvious. He also has straightforward strengths and weaknesses (good at dishing it out and bad at taking it basically).

With that in mind just play the matchup more. There's not a lot of tricky stuff going on you're just playing against the player really.

I've played the matchup plenty and it always ends up the same way. I just can't figure out what to do unless they spam dash attack.

 

[Clint Jaguar]

I don't have Smash 4 yet but when playing Melee I find the best way to take out a good Falcon is to use characters that rely on spacing, i.e. Sword characters. If you don't want to use these characters, then your only option is to learn Falcon's moveset and try to find openings to exploit. If you dodge a grab, you can punish them for it while they're still in the ending lag. This applies to many of Falcon's moves especially his dair and down smash. Don't get hit and punish at the right moment.

 

[KaptenFullkorn]

What character is your main? Rolling smart can be troublesome for some falcons, but otherwhise yeah spacing i'd say. Spacing or projectiles

 

[victra♥]

You can hit him every time he goes in for a grab

When he's uairing you in the air, you won't be able to beat his uair (it'll either beat your move or trade with your move). Most people just drift off the stage and then recover to the ledge, that way you can avoid getting juggled trying to get back on the main stage.

You can shield -> grab dash attack.

 

[BigLord]

Don't get hit and punish at the right moment.

That's good advice for every character and every matchup, really

In my experience, I start losing whenever I start playing hyper agressively and running/attacking into my opponent's shield. Then he/she can grab me easily or just fight back while I'm stuck in endlag.

Oh, btw, every Falcon fights differently, some use Bair a lot, others prefer Uair, some don't even approach from the air and instead vary between dash attacks and dash grabs. If you can figure out which kind of Falcon your opponent is, then you're halfway there.

 

[jay-tee]

I think Captain Falcon really benefits from aggressive game-play, so if both of you go for a fast (fun) non-proyectile fight is most likely that Falcon will react faster and punish faster. But if you pull him to the slow (and boring) more SSBBrawl-like approach of "Shield and punish" then he is in trouble, and will be forced to Grab a lot due the nature of his approach and terribly low shield-stun in smash 4.

In the game of grabs, if you see Captain Running towards you, he will go for a dash grab. You have 3 options that you must mix-up once you are in this game: i- Jab him ii-Spot Dodge him and iii- Roll. Afterwards, you can or cannot punish but is a position of your advantage. Also, since the Captain Speed is really fast you must react fast too.

Besides this, the projectile users can be a trouble: Toon Link, Duck Hunt and so. Also, characters with a lot of priority or dis-join hit-box that even stop the Falcon Kick limits CF's approach even more: Ness and Pit. I think Diddy and ROB deserves a special mention since their item spam really gets in the way of the Captain, having goddamn banana or gyro in the middle of the platform doesn't let you run or even Falcon Kick safety.

 

[daedgaem]

You don't beat captain falcon. He's the new meta knight in this game.
Complete stunlocks, literally no lag what so ever on any of his moves. Complete cancer.

 

[Warlock*G]

You don't beat captain falcon. He's the new meta knight in this game.
Complete stunlocks, literally no lag what so ever on any of his moves. Complete cancer.

Either you're not serious, or you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Scorpy571]

The thing that mostly beats me is good defensive play, that's it. Like the others said, once you get in his head and block/dodge and punish everything, he doesn't have much left going on for him. Now, you still need be careful for baits because at the end of the day, Falcon has some pretty hard hitting punishes so don't go thinking you've won a fight because a surprise fSmash or a Knee can still kill you early

 

[SuperSmashKing009]

Hello Falcon Boards I coming from the Lucario and I havent had the time to play a good Falcon anyone want to play some matches with me?

 

[Captain Justice]

As stated above, Captain Falcon is an amazing punisher. I've been playing against another Falcon, and I made one mistake that basically lost the game for me. The best strategy here is to play mind games. If you can get him in a position where you are doing the punishing, many Falcon players won't know what to do. One of Falcon's biggest advantages is his combo potential. His uair has virtually no ending or beginning lag and can KO at around 150%. Look out for that and his grabs. Falcon's dthrow is godly.

 

[TheBlueFalcon]

I rarely fight against Captain Falcon outside of Falcon dittos. However, the same advice applies in any matchup against the Captain.

As has been discussed, CF's combo options are very deadly once he gets on a roll. He has one of the best aerial games in Smash when he's below you, so he'll generally go for a launcher or throw followed by a chain of aerial attacks.
He's the kind of character where even one small opening or mistake can lead to a huge string of attacks in seemingly no time at all.

If you find yourself stuck in one of his aerial combos, don't try to respond with attacks of your own since these will either trade or get outprioritised. Go for the airdodge, get to ground and try to get the stage to a position that favours you, or at least try to reset the stage.
Clever Falcons will start to read your airdodge tactics after a while and may use this to land his F-air, the Knee (a devastating killer move) or more U-airs. Mix things up to ensure he doesn't get the upper hand on you.

However, despite his excellent combo potential, Falcon has several weaknesses. As a Falcon main, these are the areas that bother me the most:

1) Projectiles, and projectile spam. He lacks a projectile of his own and is particularly vulnerable in For Glory with its flat stages, so use those as you see fit. However, he can cancel many projectiles with his jab.

2) Vulnerability in the air when he's above you. His U-air is legendary but he doesn't possess anything similarly fast for dealing with foes below him. If you launch him, take advantage of that as much as possible and try not to let him dodge you on his way back down.

3) Gimpable recovery. This can be particularly useful if you have a projectile, but it's viable to mess with his recovery even if you don't. Just don't underestimate his up special either since its grab effect goes straight through many attacks.

4) Inability to respond well when under attack. Get him in a good combo and his options are limited, other than to airdodge and evade where possible. Use this to your advantage.

5) Ness, and Wario. These two characters can prove bothersome for Falcon, particularly Ness. However, this really comes down to the skill of the player.

Again, give Falcon the opening and he'll destroy you in the air. Try to dodge him, read his play style and keep him in a position where you have the advantage as much as possible. And, of course, show him your moves.