My thoughts on Falcon's moveset (posted on Reddit as well)

[Incenetum]

So in Smash 4, the fan favorite Captain Falcon returns to his roots in Melee... kind of. The Knee is no longer a reliable finisher due to the sweetspot being much harder to hit with; however, it is still a viable kill option with it's insane 19% damage output and massive amounts of knockback. Nair is still a good approach option, and stomp is a semireliable setup option. I'm going to go into specifics for other moves below. I will only be covering standard specials in this, however.

Jab and Gentleman

Not much to say here; rapid punches are decent at building percent, and the gentleman is easier than ever, along with being a good "get off me" option and a good way of getting people off the stage.

F-Tilt
F-tilt is interesting. It functions the same way as the gentleman does, being a decent knockback option with surprising speed and good range. Use it sparingly however, as it is punishable by faster characters.

U-Tilt
Oh God, U-tilt. In my opinion, besides possibly a Knee into stagespike, this is the most viable edgeguard you can get. Super strong meteor, as well as a good if you can work it in.

D-Tilt
I like to think as this move as the closest thing Falcon will ever get to Fox's shine. Strong knockback at a weird angle for recovery makes this a good move to use when they're at a high percent/in a small shield. Good move, but punishable like all the tilts.

Smashes:

Up-Smash
Good kill move, especially on heavy floaties like Samus. Works best if you get a good read, or react to an airdodge. Slow to start up though, so be careful to make sure you get the read.

F-Smash
Holy knockback. Seriously, this thing is insane. Lots of damage, great knockback, adjusts your hitbox backwards slightly, and moderately fast. Again, slow startup kills this thing being crazy, but still a good move.

D-Smash
Stomp to D-Smash works well at lower percents against almost everyone, and is a good Little Mac killer if you can manage the stomp. The two hits are both powerful on their own, and are good for edgeguards when you know they have to come back onto the stage, but don't know exactly where.

Aerials

Nair
Good approach tool, good combo starter, good speed. Not much to say here. Good for poking as well.

U-Air
Combos. For. Days. Seriously, this thing is so good. Low enough knockback to keep comboing at relatively high percents, but high enough knockback to be a good way to get them offstage.

Bair
Good edgeguard as well as, interestingly enough, a good kill move. It's low in range, but makes up for it in power and speed.

Knee
Weak knee is decent enough to possibly warrant a few uses, but the hard knee is godlike to land. On the ledge? Fall back, double jump on, knee. Dead edgeguarder, hopefully. Good for airdodge reads as well, if you're both in the air.

Stomp
Decent kill option on characters with bad recoveries. Not much to say here, really.

Specials:

Falcon Punch
As Sky said, this move is so fun. I like to compare it to glasses. They both give you an incredible tool for hard reads. The turn around is also funny in casuals, so there's that. Great knockback and great damage, but it's still Falcon Punch.

Raptor Boost
Yet another of Falcon's kill moves, this move was changed from Melee and Brawl to have much higher knockback. Super solid, and still combos at lower percents into u-air strings. Also a recovery option, which Falcon desperately needs.

Falcon Kick
This is a pretty ****ty move, but only compared to his other moves. Not good in the air because of how far you fall and how long it takes until you can act out of it. You don't get a jump back either, so you can't even abuse that for recovery. Grounded has the same problems as well, but it only really works as another "get off me" move.

Falcon Dive
A mostly vertical recovery with a command grab hitbox. It's more vertical than past games, with about the same knockback. You do go farther than normal, however, so that is notable. Also, the new ledge mechanics give Falcon a good way to recover, unlike past games.

D-Throw and U-Throw
Good for combo setups and possible knee-reads. Not much to say here.

B-Throw and F-Throw
Options for off stage battles are good. These are more options for starting them.

Falcon's main issue in this game, from what I've played with so far, is his lack of ways to get around projectiles from say, Robin or Spamus. He's got a great punish game, but spam just ruins him. Try to stay away from FD, but any platforms are good as always.

Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts on Falcon. Leave any reception below, if you've got anything to say.

 

[Gawain]

I disagree with what you said about the knee. It's still plenty reliable. Even with proper DI I am consistently landing it on most of the cast. You just need to set it up right. Most characters can be knee'd from a dthrow, and literally everyone can eat it from an uair. You just have to do it at the right percent, usually somewhere between 70-90, depends on the characters weight. Little Mac and ZSS are extremely susceptible to dthrows into it, you can kill from a grab at around 55-60 on them.

 

[Incenetum]

I disagree with what you said about the knee. It's still plenty reliable. Even with proper DI I am consistently landing it on most of the cast. You just need to set it up right. Most characters can be knee'd from a dthrow, and literally everyone can eat it from an uair. You just have to do it at the right percent, usually somewhere between 70-90, depends on the characters weight. Little Mac and ZSS are extremely susceptible to dthrows into it, you can kill from a grab at around 55-60 on them.

Oh of course it's still reliable, it's just not quite as good as Melee or Brawl. It's more that, compared to Bair and Raptor Boost, it's much harder to get the kill even though you can do it at a lower percent.

 

[Gawain]

Oh of course it's still reliable, it's just not quite as good as Melee or Brawl. It's more that, compared to Bair and Raptor Boost, it's much harder to get the kill even though you can do it at a lower percent.

Well it's certainly not as good as melee, but it's a million times better than it was in brawl. The knee was totally worthless in brawl because it was impossible to sweetspot and you couldn't follow up in that game, making the move worthless. I don't really think it's more or less difficult to kill with than bair or the side b, you just have to do it within a certain window. To me, bair and raptor boost are merely backup KO moves, in case I screw up and miss the knee's KO window and bring their percent too high.

 

[Paul the Octopus]

Well it's certainly not as good as melee, but it's a million times better than it was in brawl. The knee was totally worthless in brawl because it was impossible to sweetspot and you couldn't follow up in that game, making the move worthless. I don't really think it's more or less difficult to kill with than bair or the side b, you just have to do it within a certain window. To me, bair and raptor boost are merely backup KO moves, in case I screw up and miss the knee's KO window and bring their percent too high.

Are you sure that dthrow -> knee can't be air dodged out of? I haven't tested it thoroughly but I suspect it's escapable. In training mode, dthrow -> nair and dthrow -> uair are both true combos but not dthrow -> knee.

The only reason I'm unsure is I don't know if air dodges have start up frames. If they take a few frames to start up dthrow -> knee could still be inescapable even though they are out of hit stun.

Anybody know?

 

[SonicZeroX]

I've gotten dthrow to knee as a 2 hit combo in training mode before. It seems to only work on very specific percents on certain characters.

The best way to land it though is to dthrow -> run up, jump, wait. If they airdodge then you get a free knee if you learn the timing. If you think they'll jump or attack then uair will beat both of those options.

 

[victra♥]

I've gotten dthrow to knee as a 2 hit combo in training mode before. It seems to only work on very specific percents on certain characters.

The best way to land it though is to dthrow -> run up, jump, wait. If they airdodge then you get a free knee if you learn the timing. If you think they'll jump or attack then uair will beat both of those options.

This is where Falcon's strength comes into play in Smash 4. The frame traps that are set up with down throw and dash attack and the amazing answers and follow ups that Falcon has for each scenario as you just pointed out.

 

[Gawain]

Are you sure that dthrow -> knee can't be air dodged out of? I haven't tested it thoroughly but I suspect it's escapable. In training mode, dthrow -> nair and dthrow -> uair are both true combos but not dthrow -> knee.

The only reason I'm unsure is I don't know if air dodges have start up frames. If they take a few frames to start up dthrow -> knee could still be inescapable even though they are out of hit stun.

Anybody know?

Yes, done it multiple times, and I do it in multiplayer matches locally and online all the time. I made a video with a few examples of comboing into it if you want to see, I linked it in the other knee thread.

 

[TiGGesta]

Falcon looks like a high to mid tier character with some solid combos with up air and nair, buffed killing moves with raptor boost and fsmash but still has a poor recovery from the nerfed down special and has trouble dealing with projectiles. But I like what I see!