Question About Comboing

[gapw]

I've been playing Falcon for a bit and have gotten a feel for his hitboxes, how he moves around, dash dancing, shffling, and other complete basics.

I feel like I'm decent at getting grabs, but whenever I get a grab I often fail to get anything out of it. So I've been watching more top level Falcons and doing a bit of research and I figured that learning how to get a hit off of reading a tech roll or missed tech and learning how to cover tech options safely or even cover a tech option and still get the regrab.

I naturally referred to Gravy's techchasing video, and it seems like the sort of the thing that I could get a lot out of with practice. But after I asked somebody if the fundamentals of that video would carry over to fighting Marth (my main training partner is a Marth main), they referred me to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQabPgE50Y video.

The combos the guy is getting look really easy because the CPU doesn't seem to switch up the DI much at all, but after taking a low level Marth CPU to FD I found that I couldn't even do these basic combos (like carrying an opponent across the stage with nair or uair).

Is being able to 'air wobble' like that something that I really need to know, and something that I should be able to do before I even think about learning how to tech chase or get hits off of reading techs? If so, how can I practice it?

 

[gapw]

also, if you guys will let me throw in a bonus question- my buddy's marth always either CCs my nair approaches and down tilts me a lot or just shield grabs. Do I just have to space my nairs so that it just pokes him or are there better ways to approach Marth?

 

[Coyle]

Falcon can rack up tons of damage from a grab. Mid/fast fallers you generally want to d-throw from low to mid %, u-throw to maybe 70-ish%, and then go back to d-throw. Floatier characters generally get u-thrown at lower percents. Try to predict where they'll go after being thrown, and meet them there. Honestly you don't even have to throw an attack - you can just tech-chase regrab. If I'm playing a spacie and feeling sassy, I'll just choke-slam, tech-chase, regrab, choke-slam again and again until they can get out. Getting your timing down to match up with their tech options is important. Every character has their own timings, so it'll just take experience.

Being able to air combo is more touchy in my opinion. I think if you had to choose learning one before the other, I'd start with tech-chases. Their options are more limited and it's easier to have a more consistent starting point (from when they get grabbed or knocked down). Hitting the opponent with the wrong hitbox can put them out of reach, and hitting them too early can prevent you from having the time to follow up after an l-cancel. Know where your hitboxes send the opponent, and (for comboing generally) perform aerials as close to the ground as possible. They'll still be in hitstun, or at least will still be close to you, and you'll be able to l-cancel quicker. Successful air comboing comes from the intimate knowledge of your hitboxes, your opponents characteristics, move placement and timing. These come from research, and experience.

For Marth, you can crouch cancel a lot of his stuff too. His f-air, f-tilt, d-tilt, jab, n-air, and dash attack are all CCable (See here for percents). If you land it low enough, knee on shield can lead to either grab or at least gentleman. When you stomp on him, land behind him, it's safer. Additionally, baiting works pretty well too. Dash dance just outside the range of him and grab on a whiffed attack. Spacing nairs can be dangerous depending on the Marth player, since they could CC and punish you given their attack range. I prefer to bait or prod until I can get in their face. Once I'm there I go for the grab and follow-ups.

 

[TheWeis]

The secret to getting the big air combos on marth (in general I suppose) is that you need to fast fall between the two hits of the nair so that the second one sends them upish

 

[Waves]

also, if you guys will let me throw in a bonus question- my buddy's marth always either CCs my nair approaches and down tilts me a lot or just shield grabs. Do I just have to space my nairs so that it just pokes him or are there better ways to approach Marth?

Mix up aerial approaches, just knee or stomp sometimes if u think he will crouch cancel, once he gets hit by a couple of those he will start shielding, then you can just empty hop and grab, then if he starts spotdodging go for nairs and stomps again etc. etc.. just mix up how you approach if you only nair its easy for him to read you, and especially against marth who can just hit you out of the air go for dthrow to regrab if he di's in or nair if he di's away grab him so much he starts spotdodging and stops crouch canceling then when you notice that throw out some aerials. People dont talk about mix ups enough, condition him to stop crouch canceling, then go for aerials again.

combos will come, today you might just get down throw to knee at high percents and that is fine, then you will find nair works at lower percents to keep them up so you can chain nairs, then you will learn when to up air, just play and you will learn, if you are always the one approaching and he has to react you will innately have the advantage unless he can choose the perfect option. better to learn to be aggresive and then scale back a bit then be super passive and learn to go in. Also, and most importantly, matchups are dictated by you, if you like up throw upair over d throw nair then go for it, 1 may lead to more combos but as long as it feels right to you then do it. Get a habit of doing 1 thing really well, then do something else for like a week or 2 and then after all that you will have 2 really good options that you can mix up.