Matchup Thread Export: Falco

[Gates]

FALCO

DIFFICULTY: HARD - 35:65
CHAINGRAB: NO​

The Falco matchup is very difficult. He has a ton of advantages – speed, comboing, outcamping you, being able to chaingrab you while not being chaingrabbed back, and being just heavy enough to not die at percentages below 95%. The only real advantages you have against him are the fact that he is still pretty light, even if he’s no Jigglypuff, and his recovery is easy to gimp.

If Falco grabs you, he’ll chainthrow you up to 6 times from 0% and then finish with either a dair, usmash, smash boost, or fsmash, most likely the first one. His chaingrab stops working on you at about 54% or so according to the Falco boards, but their dthrow is a still a good setup for combos after that, so it’s unlikely they’ll ever stop using it or throw you in a different direction. Because of his chaingrab, spacing is really important in this matchup. Ftilt pokes are essential. Be careful not to get within range of his reflector also, I believe that trips the opponent when it hits and that’ll easily set you up for a smash. Also, be sure not to get too far away from him since he can easily outcamp you.

“What do you mean Falco can outcamp King Dedede? Waddle Dees block the lasers!” you might say. This is true for Falcos who stay grounded while spamming lasers, and Waddle Dees could actually be beneficial in preventing a laser lock, as unlikely as that occurrence may be. However, good Falcos will SHL or SHDL you, and when they do this it is almost guaranteed that at least one of them will hit you. TommyG, a very good and respected Falco player, has said that many Dededes only use their ground game to shield, dodge, and grab and that Falcos should use their lasers, either camping or at close range, to throw them off. What this ultimately means is that you’ll have to do something Dedede doesn’t normally do – Approach.

Approaching Falco with Dedede – or anyone for that matter – is not the easiest thing in the world, but it’s still manageable. Powersheilding the lasers is a good solution but not the best as it’ll wear down your shield and make Falco more able to poke you. Spotdodging and rolling on your way there aren’t bad ideas but they are somewhat preditcable. A good way to approach is through a combination of spotdodging and airdodging through the lasers. Neither of these have much lag so they should be ideal for approaching.

So let’s say you’ve approached Falco. Good job! Now what should you do? If you said “grab him”, that is an acceptable answer. But he can’t be chaingrabbed, so where are you supposed to throw him? Bthrow is probably your best option since it’s your best friend in matchups where you can’t chaingrab your opponent. However, you may also want to think about using uthrow against Falco. You know, uthrow? That move you probably never use? It’s fantastic against fastfallers. After uthrowing you can follow up with utilt, usmash, uair, or just follow where he’s going to land, grab him, and repeat. Uthrow will probably end up being a good setup for you in this matchup since Falco is just barely light enough for you to kill him off the top of the stage at >100% (the exact number is 95% I believe).

But a majority of the time you won’t be killing him off the top but instead gimping him off the side. Falco’s recovery isn’t terrible (though it could really only be worse if it were a tether recovery), but if he’s below an angle of about 30 degrees below the horizontal, he’s basically dead. Almost all Falcos will use their sideB to recover if they’re within sweetspot range of the ledge. If they can sideB back onto the stage, your only real option is to spotdodge, predict where they’re going to land (the easy part) and try getting them off again at a lower angle or just generally punish them. A great way to punish their sideB at high percents is by killing them with an utilt, which outprioritizes it. If they’re far enough out and down, though, you should definitely try and gimp them. Bair and nair both outprioritize Falco’s sideB. After they get hit by one of those, Falco will most likely be forced to use his upB. I’m not going to go over how to gimp that. If you can’t figure it out, you might want to think about using a different character.

A few other notes: Don’t stand there with your shield up trying to perfect shield and spotdodge everything like an idiot. You’ll get grabbed and be up to 60% before you can say “Maybe I should’ve airdodged”. Inhale and fhdair can surprise Falco also, so mix that in and use it to your advantage. And finally, stage choice is very important in this matchup. More on that below.

Falco's advantages:
• Superior projectile game
• Faster ground movement
• Ability to CG ;Dedede can't CG him
• Superior stage control with use of projectile
• Quick horizontal recovery to avoid edgeguarding


Dedede's advantages:
• Superior grab range
• High capacity for early kills
• Better poking game (F-tilt)
• Heavy weight

IMO this matchup is in falco's favor.

Video reference for below statements: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loGUQcQO0-E

DISCLAIMER: The above video is old and will be updated with a new one ASAP. It's from 6/30, before i got really good XD

As far as fighting one goes, patience is key, and when you strike you have to get as much out of it as you can. In my time playing falcos i've realized that there are obvious trends in the way they return to the stage and in the way they try to approach/kill. I find that whenever i fight the higher level falcos in my area that these trends don't exist, though when i say "higher level falcos" i mean people like sethlon, the second best falco in the nation, so you can expect these out of average people most of the time.

First, we'll start off with recovery trends and how to punish them. It's a well known fact that NO falco ever wants to use his up-b to recover against someone who can move around in the air like D3 does, so you'll see most falcos using side-b to recover.(Also referred to as the Phantasm) If you'll take a look at the video referrence posted above you'll notice how this move can be quick and annoying to try to edgeguard at 0:37. The great thing about this is, most falcos try to ram the phantasm right into you, so it tends to be really predictable and easy to punish if you use the right techniques. I've found that one of the best ways to edgeguard a falco isn't to wildly fling yourself into to fray, but to stay planted, control your ground and use your range. If you'll view the vid again you can see at 0:57 how this concept is slightly shown. Another great stage guard is throwing a waddle dee into their phantasm as they do it towards you. If they're anywhere under 115% then it'll be a free grab for you because they pop up right in front of you after the hit. (yes waddles do break phantasm) That's just my opinion on edgeguarding, not saying you shuold do that ever time, but it does work. You can see more traditional D3 edgeguarding at 1:25 (<3 Aero)


Now secondly, we'll talk about how to deal with falco's approach/camp game. Ok, this is the hard part, IMO this is what makes the matchup so hard, his **** lasers. In my time playing spammy falcos i've actually developed a technique for approaching at a decent speed safely, and it's called the "Fogo walk" (trademarked ) which is basically a mix up powershielding and approaching that looks pretty impressive. I'll be debuting that on a grand scale with the coming of my combo video "Feel the magic" (Shameless plug) which you should all check out. Never fear though, there are ways around his lasers without powershielding the majority of them. You can easily spot dodge then jump and airdodge threw some lasers on your way towards falco with no landing lag as displayed in the video at 1:50. At the time this was saved i was just thinking of that approach, but now i have it down as you'll see in upcoming vids, and i promise that it works. (if you dont screw up like i did there lol)

EDIT: Bthrow is your best friend! Not uthrow lol

Basically if you play smart and land utilts this is all you'll need to beat the average falco player, good luck guys!

Gates update this thread with the following:



In this matchup you want to avoid being grabbed, particularly in starting percents to 30%. I say 30% because if he gets his first dthrow grab on you at 30%, it won't be decayed enough to do the full CG on you, leaving his CG at around 40% - 45%. After CG percents, avoid to get dthrow > jab for extra damage into a laser lock IF THE FALCO KNOWS WHAT HE OR SHE IS DOING. Against campy Falcos (which is what they SHOULD be doing), if they attempt to side-b to the other side, you can react with utilt, or with the preferred ftilt since it doesn't stale your kill move and puts Falco in a position to get grabbed or Fair'ed, depending on where they are. In general, you wanna stay in the air unless you wanna go through Falco's lasers powershielding them and predicting the aforementioned side-b and intercepting with ftilt or utilt.

When on the defensive, you want to avoid getting grabbed period. Grabs on you can be really dangerous especially if they Falco knows how to mix up dair tricks into baits and punishes. Use waddles to get 5% or to eat some of the lasers at waist level. Since you are either staying at from Falco or keeping yourself in a position to either block lasers or baiting and punishing side-b attempts.

On the offensive (which you should be since a Falco should never be a approaching), you want to stay in the air. Even though I say this for every matchup, your air options are just sooooo much better than your ground options. Bair > Falco's aerials by a lot. Our bair, when it hits, can be followed up really well, by running and going for the grab. If you get the grab, you can bthrow for the 16%, but you can dthrow and go for the tech chase. When tech chasing Falco, it tends to be your best option to slowly walk forward and wait for the Falco to tech in place or tech roll in front of you or behind you. Since Falco's tech roll is about the same speed as your dash, you can use that to regrab and either bthrow or dthrow again and repeat.

When in kill percents, whether it be you or Falco, you want to avoid getting dair. Please. Don't let him do it. Falco's options after a dair at high percents are ****ing ridiculous and can kill you if you don't know what's coming. If you get grabbed, he will dthrow and try to Fsmash kill you. Don't fall for it. Jump always. When Falco is in kill percents, you want to set up for the kill by ftilt him and trying to bait him to side-b, then punish. Whether or not is kinda important, because he can always just airdodge. If he does, go for the grab and fthrow or bthrow off the stage and proceed to kill him offstage. Remember, ftilt eats side-b and can stop his recovery if he doesn't use up-b to recover.

When it comes to offstage and edgeguarding, you have the upper hand. Falco has to get back on stage the best he can or get 30% easily, whether it be from bair or fair. When Falco has to edgeguard you, I usually tend to up-b into the air and wait for the uair to come and SDI the first hit if he tries to hit you with both hits. Not much to really cover in this section of the matchup.

Overall, 60:40 Falco. We have options, he just has better ones.

Good Stages:
Lylat Cruise, Halberd, Pokémon Stadium 1​

Stages with weird ledges to gimp his recovery further, and areas where you can avoid Falco’s laser camping (the Halberd platform’s indentation, the Mansion’s pillars) are what you want to look for in a counterpick. Lylat Cruise is particularly notable since when Falco is on one of the platforms he’ll be in utilt range.

Bad Stages:
Final Destination, Smashville, Pirate Ship, Jungle Japes​

Large stages where Falco can out-camp you. At the same time though, you don’t want to choose a stage that’s too small or else you’re more likely to get grabbed. It’s unlikely that they’d pick a walk-off stage, but those would also be bad in this matchup since gimping Falco’s recovery is where you’ll get most of your kills from.

ALTERNATE STRATEGY: Ledgecamp.

Spoiler

This is obviously a joke. Many good Falcos know how to get around ledgecampers.

 

[o-Serin-o]

**** this matchup. Just stay airbourne and stay away from PEW PEW.

 

[CRASHiC]

Staying airborne is your answer for everything Serin xD

I think I may have found a way to use zoning on FD to turn Falco's camping game against him.

Below is FD

________________DDD__F____

If you can close him in here, you can mix up a game of low air camping and dthrow to ftilt to keep him pretty much at bay, since the only move he has to get through you here is his side b, but it is low enough prority that you can easily stop it. The only acccuarte way through is to double jump and side b, but that ends with him not being able to move and having quite a bit of landing lag, in which you can chase to set up this situation on the other side, or uptilt. His down b can cause problems if you aren't careful however, but with careful dodging, it should be a problem. You should be able to keep him within this zone, then, when the time is right, abuse the pummel release at ledge to foot stool to dair for a kill, as he respawns, attempt to set up this situation again,

if the Falco is smart (and lucky with our grab range) enough not to get grabbed and pushed off stage, you will eventually use dsmash or utilt for the kill. The pummel will make him go the same distance regardless, footstooling him will take away his second jump, or just grabbing the edge right away will keep him from getting back on, and when he goes for his Upb, his only vertical recovery move, Bair of Fair to stage spike for early gimp. However, this is not auto win, and will take a very alert game from you to be able to punish his every movement as he tries to reposition himself on the other side of the field.

Another note, do NOT go for gimp or go on the offense. Your goal is to keep him pinned and rack up damage, abusing dtilt, ftilt, bair, fthrow, bthrow, and inhale to your advantage. You should become a wall, not giving him any chance for escape or to rezone himself. When he is off stage, throw waddle dees to pressure him. He most always feel the pressure, but you must not give him opportunities to use side b safely above you and escape. He can only jump up high and side b, and as I said before, when that happens, be ready to punish big because of the lag he will receive.

Only Dair if you are spaced properly so they come in front of you for a fair combo. Once they get past 40, its not really a good idea to do such a thing. You're entire goal is to reduce the stage size for them, having you as a wall and the edge as the other wall, preventing them from camping until you are either able to get the Vayseth gimp or able to utilt or dsmash kill them.

This has yet to fail for me.
Anyone else tried to apply in match?

 

[o-Serin-o]

CRASHiC don't doubt me flying skillz >=3 Just because we are fat does not mean we cannot fly =D

 

[sMexy-Blu]

Wait a second... Penguins can fly?

 

[o-Serin-o]

<3 When we slide on our tummy, and slide down a hill and off a ramp, we fly =D

 

[sMexy-Blu]

Everything that goes up must fall down.

 

[Commander_Beef]

Wow stop unnecessarily spamming the thread, this is a matchup thread for a reason.

This has yet to fail for me.
Anyone else tried to apply in match?

I tried it quite a few times and he just becomes too difficult to keep at that state. If at low percents, it's a hazard for him to be in grab range if we're that close on Final Destination. If at high percents, he's just too good in knocking us back, and then start laser camping again.

It's a great strategy Crashic, but it hasn't worked for me in my perspective so far.
I'll post my viewpoint of the matchup in the upcoming days...I just have little time for large posts because I have no internet at my house.

 

[o-Serin-o]

Beef, your seriously like the only D3 here that doesn't have a sense of humor -_- Your too serious.

 

[Commander_Beef]

Beef, your seriously like the only D3 here that doesn't have a sense of humor -_- Your too serious.

Read my post in the social thread. I have changed over time from happyman to the opposite because of the maggots in these boards.

 

[o-Serin-o]

I will. =3

 

[TlocCPU]

Dedede vs Falco
60:40 and Why

The Approach:
This seems really hard until you have a lot of practice. You're going to feel the burn of about 1000 lasers in this matchup. Falco has to stay the **** away from dedede, because dedede messes him up bad at close range, and you can make his camping game very difficult to pull off. The obvious approach is to dash shield cancel all of the lasers. It takes a little bit of practice as you need to know how long a laser takes to get to you at any given point. Have a friend spam you out, you'll get used to it, it's really not that hard.
So I got to falco, now what?
You have your usual 3 options. many falcos are anticipating the grab just like the rest of the cast when we fight them, so they will SH double laser and buffer a spot dodge so you can't get them. If a falco is in the habit of this, powershield that laser and FH Dair, you will get them every time. Much like how I explained the marth matchup, we gotta keep falco from using the same thing over and over, that same thing instead of fair like marth is sh double laser to spot dodge. If you dair they will stop doing that and shield you instead. Now that we have them shielding, let's grab them!
Now that I have the grab, what should I do?
If you are spaced enough to tech chase, do so AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. This is my favorite way to get damage on falco because his get up rolls don't go far and his get up attack is extremely easy to react and regrab. If you are NO LONGER in tech chase range (or you weren't in the first place), throw falco in whatever direction is closest to offstage, the whole matchup depends on getting falco offstage, and I will elaborate on that a little more in a second.
The last thing falco will do to stop your approach is SH double laser to buffered jab. The only ways to beat this is to either shield it and then ftilt to cancel it out, anticipate it and space the ftilt in the first place, get a frame perfect powershieldgrab on the first hit of the jab, or let it hit you, DI up and towards, and fastfall nair.
There's no way to guess right every time folks, it's all a matter of outsmarting your opponent and anticipating them, the opponent will be trying to do the same so both players will take damage.

Where we keep falco at 60:40
Dedede is one of the best characters period at edgeguarding falco. Falcos who are in the habit of side Bing to get back no matter what are about to lose to you hard. Always always ALWAYS expect the side B and uptilt it on reaction. Don't jump offstage and try to hit falco unless he is below the ledge. Just stand by the side and get ready to uptilt. If falco is a little over 100% they are dead if they hit it, so your opponent will learn quickly that they can't do that. So now falco can either keep ledge hopping and lasering which is a free dtilt (and thus a gimp) for you, or they can get on stage one of the normal ways. Again, be expecting the side B! Some falcos never learn and they will still try it. As for the rest of the ways he can get up, he doesn't have a guaranteed way to get past dedede besides side B which you are about to uptilt, so react accordingly and keep getting falco off stage.
NOTE: You can uptilt when falco tries to side B laser camp you also. Dedede completely destroys this tactic!
Another great thing about this matchup is that you're grounded on your approach. That means there is absolutely no excuse for getting fsmashed or upsmashed unless you clearly made a mistake that you should not have made. The ONLY legitimate way falco should ever kill you is with his stupidly annoying bair. That means you should be living well into the 150s every stock. Dedede's survivability keeps him in it despite all of the annoying lasers

Where we lose this matchup
THE CHAINGRAB
Be patient, you should never ever ever ever let falco chaingrab you under any circumstance ever. Don't approach falco in the beginning. ALWAYS cancel AND ban FD. "BUT CPU WHAT ABOUT JAPES??" NO. BAN FD. I'll explain japes later on.
Much like how I play the pikachu match, you need to do the Fiction. Play extremely gay. Platform camp, dodge every laser you can, try to hit him with waddle dees and dairs. Spend as MUCH time as you want platform camping, you have 8 minutes. If you're on the floor and you're below 50%, you're the one making this 70:30, not falco. Falco has a guaranteed 80% plus the possibility of more if he grabs you below 50%, end of story. There is absolutely no excuse for getting chaingrabbed, and if you do, you basically just handed the game to falco. I'll emphasize again, play EXTREMELY patient. You can start doing your approach after you're over 50%. Even if you only manage to hit falco for 3% the whole time you camped, you still succeeded because now you start at 50 instead of 80+

Japes is better than FD:
On FD, you are almost certainly going to get chaingrabbed, and that makes this a hard 70:30 counter immediately. I actually do EXTREMELY well against falco on japes. Falco's whole japes strategy is his ability to hold the middle because of the side B camping, which you destroy because you have uptilt. After you're done platform camping and you're past chain grab %, Falco has to approach YOU. This makes the matchup MUCH easier. You hold down the middle like a champion and you can duck under the lasers. Falco is forced to try to side B in or drop in. If he drops in you throw him off over and over, if he side Bs in you uptilt. Japes absolutely isn't a bad stage for this matchup!

Conclusion:
This isn't as bad as you guys think, you just need to play gayer and more patient. 60:40 at worst.

 

[o-Serin-o]

Mmmm, that strategy has a bit of flawed thoughts. Although you live in a bit of a Falco region, you should ban Japes anyways. Regardless of what he can do with Side-B is nothing compared to what the WATER does to us. We have the worst air speed in the game and that is why I try to avoid this stage as much as possible.

 

[TlocCPU]

Mmmm, that strategy has a bit of flawed thoughts. Although you live in a bit of a Falco region, you should ban Japes anyways. Regardless of what he can do with Side-B is nothing compared to what the WATER does to us. We have the worst air speed in the game and that is why I try to avoid this stage as much as possible.

The water helps us greatly. Obviously you have never used japes as a counterpick before. It is you that is flawed, not me.

 

[Commander_Beef]

I wouldn't find this explanation of the matchup to be that convincing...there are other options for situations for this, such as when you're close. But nevermind that. Here's where I'm really countering.

After you're done platform camping and you're past chain grab %, Falco has to approach YOU. This makes the matchup MUCH easier.

Wow really? He HAS to approach? Last time I've checked, they never approach at all even if we're passed chaingrab percent. They always camp lasers in the middle, especially against King Dedede. It's US that has no other choice to approach, instead of trying to avoid lasers while standing pointlessly. Their only safe approach is to sideB onto the ledge near us, and do something....? They'll never forward air us either because the move sucks so many balls. They stay camping in the middle.

 

[CRASHiC]

The Beef, why not shield and just stand there. As he says, it has to be played gayer and extremely patient.

 

[Commander_Beef]

The Beef, why not shield and just stand there. As he says, it has to be played gayer and extremely patient.

Because.... assuming that he has higher percent than us in this situation (since he has such a big advantage on the stage)...nothing will happen and he'll continue to spam lasers [as a smart Falco would do against King Dedede]. We won't get anywhere, and time will be of the essence. I think my point remains standing true until CPU comes back to reply.

 

[o-Serin-o]

The water helps us greatly. Obviously you have never used japes as a counterpick before. It is you that is flawed, not me.

Nope. I hate it and can't stand the sight of japes.

 

[Gates]

How exactly does the water help us if we're not on the right side the whole time?

 

[TlocCPU]

I wouldn't find this explanation of the matchup to be that convincing...there are other options for situations for this, such as when you're close. But nevermind that. Here's where I'm really countering.

Wow really? He HAS to approach? Last time I've checked, they never approach at all even if we're passed chaingrab percent. They always camp lasers in the middle, especially against King Dedede. It's US that has no other choice to approach, instead of trying to avoid lasers while standing pointlessly. Their only safe approach is to sideB onto the ledge near us, and do something....? They'll never forward air us either because the move sucks so many balls. They stay camping in the middle.

I'm talking about when you control the middle

 

[I SEE YOU]

I found this match up to be impossible if you are playing a high level falco. I have tried playing gay, but in doing that you need the lead. Falco has no reason to approach you unless you can hit him first which is pretty difficult since he has his lasers. I typically live up to 150% against Kismet's falco, but he ALWAYS seems to get the first kill. Up tilt is the best kill option against Falco, but that can be predictable. I think throwing waddle's at Falco is a good option to prevent Falco from side b recovering (if you are lucky it will pull falco towards you for an uptilt). I completely gave up on this match up and picked up Ice Climbers for Falco. Falco really has to make bad mistakes that won't be made at high level play in order for D3 to be able to beat him...

 

[CRASHiC]

I think throwing waddle's at Falco is a good option to prevent Falco from side b recovering (if you are lucky it will pull falco towards you for an uptilt)

Just uptilt the side b, no reason to throw the waddle.

 

[I SEE YOU]

I throw waddle's to add some damage prior to Falco being in Kill range. I don't try to hit with uptilt to often, so i can ensure i kill later (decay)

 

[Gates]

Just uptilt the side b, no reason to throw the waddle.

I think he means when Falco is recovering low.

 

[dawall250]

especially if they're trying to sweet spot the ledge to avoid the utilt, plus its good to mix it up. cuz as he said, sometimes the hit doesn't send them straight up but arcs them toward you and you can get pull off the utilt really nicely.

 

[9Kplus1]

Falco can also go for a gattling combo (DA > Usmash) after a CG. It can stack on a good amount of damage and it hits you no matter how you DI out of the CG >_>.

 

[OMG H4X]

my friend i practice with is a falco main, so most of my practice is against falco.

i for one do like the waddle in this matchup. if they side b to the ledge, the waddles almost always hit. heck sometime i can get 2 or 3 waddle hits if he keeps side b-ing.

i also like to bait them like i do MK. go in and let them think theyre gunna get the grab, then just full hop dair them.

and for lasers, i found it was very easy to power shield them if you just take the time to pick up falco and learn his laser timing yourself. if you know how to shoot lasers as falco, youll know how to block them

 

[Sensei Seibrik]

just wonderin


what would people say about brinstar as a CP against falco?

 

[AtotheZ]

just wonderin


what would people say about brinstar as a CP against falco?

I would assume low ceiling, less room for him to run, and small boundaries over all for kills. plus the top platform for dair camping and such. I can only assume though.

 

[TlocCPU]

just wonderin


what would people say about brinstar as a CP against falco?

That's what I always pick

 

[Jupz]

I usually prefer RC but Brinstar is also good. Problem is his Bair and Usmash also kill earlier here.

 

[Sensei Seibrik]

Well I only bring it up, cuz i assume the little walls on either side would be good for avoid unnesasary laser damage when in the lead, force him to approach, and if your behind and he's camping shamelessly, u can refresh ur **** with jabs there.

And i'd also imagine you can do some sick inhale lava comboes as well.

 

[Jupz]

Aah yeah, good points seibrik. Forgot about the wall things. It also saves you from being potentially spiked. And when the lava rises and you're forced onto the platform its good for D3.

 

[Gates]

I know Brinstar is a good CP against Falco for MK, but I never thought about that for Dedede. It might work because of the low ceiling and out ability to avoid his chaingrabs.

 

[o-Serin-o]

So after my personal fighting expierence with Kismet's Falco (and going practically even) I think the matchup is 60:40 Falco.

Best option for dealing with him is just play smart, take laser hits, and stay airbourne. Since at the beginning of the stock is going to be mainly Falco going for the CG, you might as well bait and punish. This battle isn't really that uphill, but we can work with it.

 

[Jupz]

Yeah I would say its about that too. Predict his IAP's! Don't Utilt them all the time as I think its hard to do on reaction, and punishable if he cancels the IAP for mindgames or something. Utilt is good for when he is recovering off stage. I usually Ftilt which will stop him anyway or shield->running grab.

 

[Gates]

Serin is taking over this thread so I'm bumping it.

 

[o-Serin-o]

Gates update this thread with the following:



In this matchup you want to avoid being grabbed, particularly in starting percents to 30%. I say 30% because if he gets his first dthrow grab on you at 30%, it won't be decayed enough to do the full CG on you, leaving his CG at around 40% - 45%. After CG percents, avoid to get dthrow > jab for extra damage into a laser lock IF THE FALCO KNOWS WHAT HE OR SHE IS DOING. Against campy Falcos (which is what they SHOULD be doing), if they attempt to side-b to the other side, you can react with utilt, or with the preferred ftilt since it doesn't stale your kill move and puts Falco in a position to get grabbed or Fair'ed, depending on where they are. In general, you wanna stay in the air unless you wanna go through Falco's lasers powershielding them and predicting the aforementioned side-b and intercepting with ftilt or utilt.

When on the defensive, you want to avoid getting grabbed period. Grabs on you can be really dangerous especially if they Falco knows how to mix up dair tricks into baits and punishes. Use waddles to get 5% or to eat some of the lasers at waist level. Since you are either staying at from Falco or keeping yourself in a position to either block lasers or baiting and punishing side-b attempts.

On the offensive (which you should be since a Falco should never be a approaching), you want to stay in the air. Even though I say this for every matchup, your air options are just sooooo much better than your ground options. Bair > Falco's aerials by a lot. Our bair, when it hits, can be followed up really well, by running and going for the grab. If you get the grab, you can bthrow for the 16%, but you can dthrow and go for the tech chase. When tech chasing Falco, it tends to be your best option to slowly walk forward and wait for the Falco to tech in place or tech roll in front of you or behind you. Since Falco's tech roll is about the same speed as your dash, you can use that to regrab and either bthrow or dthrow again and repeat.

When in kill percents, whether it be you or Falco, you want to avoid getting dair. Please. Don't let him do it. Falco's options after a dair at high percents are ****ing ridiculous and can kill you if you don't know what's coming. If you get grabbed, he will dthrow and try to Fsmash kill you. Don't fall for it. Jump always. When Falco is in kill percents, you want to set up for the kill by ftilt him and trying to bait him to side-b, then punish. Whether or not is kinda important, because he can always just airdodge. If he does, go for the grab and fthrow or bthrow off the stage and proceed to kill him offstage. Remember, ftilt eats side-b and can stop his recovery if he doesn't use up-b to recover.

When it comes to offstage and edgeguarding, you have the upper hand. Falco has to get back on stage the best he can or get 30% easily, whether it be from bair or fair. When Falco has to edgeguard you, I usually tend to up-b into the air and wait for the uair to come and SDI the first hit if he tries to hit you with both hits. Not much to really cover in this section of the matchup.

Overall, 60:40 Falco. We have options, he just has better ones.

 

[smasher01]

This just in its impossible to win on japes you get timed out well i cant explain it you just cant win.
lol

 

[o-Serin-o]

Japes should always be your ban anways. (If it isn't already.)