Share Your Style

[Jebus244]

If you saw a sample of the entries at APEX, and if you've been to Event Hubs, you're probably aware of how popular Falcon is.

In a game where being unique is so important, how do you break the mold?

What do you think Falcons are doing that they should STOP doing, and what are Falcons doing that they need to do more?

EDIT: In b4 "don't get hit" and "Up air"

 

[ATH_]

I tend to use NAir more often than I see other Falcons. I think it's a very good move because it can catch an airdodge if it whiffs. I also prefer BAiring someone from the ledge rather than going for the meteor with DAir. I use DAir sometimes, but the hitbox just doesn't feel as reliable in this game. It's VERY good, trust me, it is, I'm not challenging that. It just doesn't fit my own playstyle as well, most of the time.

Falcon players constantly spamming knees in placements that make no sense, like, why? I see that all the time.

 

[Jebus244]

Falcon players constantly spamming knees in placements that make no sense, like, why? I see that all the time.

When I watch my replays, I see that in my own play sometimes. When I see them, it's very obvious it was the wrong choice, but when I remember why I went for it, it's usually because of a hard read. I'll be honest, it's for the glory... really.

I have started using Bair over Dair to ledge guard. I find it more reliable for sure.

I have been using Dair onstage after Dthrow. I think that is a great mix up that I don't see used, especially if you read the airdodge. If you get it you can get another combo out of it, and if they dodge it you can get a grab or a tilt.

 

[ATH_]

When I watch my replays, I see that in my own play sometimes. When I see them, it's very obvious it was the wrong choice, but when I remember why I went for it, it's usually because of a hard read. I'll be honest, it's for the glory... really.

I have started using Bair over Dair to ledge guard. I find it more reliable for sure.

I have been using Dair onstage after Dthrow. I think that is a great mix up that I don't see used, especially if you read the airdodge. If you get it you can get another combo out of it, and if they dodge it you can get a grab or a tilt.

Oh I actually have done that too! The DAir on stage thing. It definitely is an overlooked string. Going against an opponent who techs the DAir and you follow up with a tech chase? It's one of the most amazing feelings that comes with Falcon.

 

[HoodedAltair]

I'd like to add that Uair to Dair is a very reliable combo on people at about ~50%. Not true but nearly unescapable by DI. I have an example of such use at about 2:00 in this video. It should also be noted that if frame perfect, falcon can do a FH Dair and get a falling Uair before hitting the ground. This allows for some insane combos if no ground tech...such as Falling Uair, FH Dair, Falling Uair, Knee with relative ease


Back to the post though. I play very aggressively. I think this is my defining feature in my play and the way i need to play to succeed. I also strive for stylish combos so I try to incorporate it into anthers ladder as well as competitive play. I'm a little peeved that falcon is so popular as I wish it was more "unique" to use him. But you're right: It's about the play style and mine is combo heavy and in your face.

What's yours Jebus244?

 

[Jebus244]

I'd like to add that Uair to Dair is a very reliable combo on people at about ~50%. Not true but nearly unescapable by DI. I have an example of such use at about 2:00 in this video. It should also be noted that if frame perfect, falcon can do a FH Dair and get a falling Uair before hitting the ground. This allows for some insane combos if no ground tech...such as Falling Uair, FH Dair, Falling Uair, Knee with relative ease


Back to the post though. I play very aggressively. I think this is my defining feature in my play and the way i need to play to succeed. I also strive for stylish combos so I try to incorporate it into anthers ladder as well as competitive play. I'm a little peeved that falcon is so popular as I wish it was more "unique" to use him. But you're right: It's about the play style and mine is combo heavy and in your face.

What's yours Jebus244?

Nice video!

My style? Right now it's being bad. I didn't play on the 3ds, so I feel like I'm playing catch up. The reason I made this thread is to see how falcon's here play, how they've adapted, and try to weed out any bad habits I make. There is a local gamestore where I live that puts on monthly tournaments and I intend to start competing, Falcon doesn't seem to be top tier, or tournie competitive in the meta yet, and I want to try and develop my style differently than what is currently NOT working.

Mainly I'm aggressive. I mean, how else can you play Falcon? I need to work on my airdodge reads for sure, it's something that's really holding me back.

Edit: Although, I am good at mindgames on the stage. I like when my opponent is more aggressive than me because I can bait them into the peoples elbow pretty well by foxtrotting away and reversing it. It's probably the move I have the most kills with. That and Up air, I love catching them with the toe out of a double jump.

I find myself getting grabbed a lot. And I whiff grabs a lot. Maybe it's just input lag on FG, but I whiff grabs when I should have a reliable punish half the time.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Are you a part of the falcon Skype group? I've started it about 2 months ago and we've amassed over 60 falcons. Everyone's falcon has developed significantly from it.

I think that what you're asking for to help yourself is very broad. I could help but it's more based on what YOUR specific pros and cons are and mannerisms or habits YOU have. I'd help if you have any footage to show or if you want to play friendlies, I'm down for that as well.

In the general sense of really oversimplifying falcons, many need to cool it with raptor boost for kills and falcon kicks when an opponent is about 10 feet away. These moves should really be reserved since they're highly punishable and raptor boost has super week priority.

To really develop your falcon, learning movement techniques such as dash dancing and expanded dash dancing and applying to a game will help the most. Also learning how to take a combo to it's longest possible chain is ideal to be practiced. This is where you can train your problem of reading air dodges.

Don't guess arbitrarily. Condition your opponent to air dodge or notice that they do it from the start. Conditioning them is simple. Dthrow to Nair or Uair until you notice they air dodge to escape. Then punish that next time with a combo reset

 

[Jebus244]

I think that what you're asking for to help yourself is very broad. I could help but it's more based on what YOUR specific pros and cons are and mannerisms or habits YOU have. I'd help if you have any footage to show or if you want to play friendlies, I'm down for that as well.

You're right, it is pretty broad, but it's something I thought wouldn't just help me. I thought it would be good to start a conversation to get falcons to think about what they can do to push falcon to the next level. As popular as he is, it's hard for me to believe there are things left to discover or strategies players should be implementing. Perhaps it's something that should be in the match up discussion, but I wanted there to room to say what works in a general as well.

I may get some videos uploaded at some point, but I'm not happy with my falcon right now. I do well, but I need more time in the lab for sure.

 

[HoodedAltair]

Yeah, no. Not arguing against the thread! Superb idea. Just needed more to go off of to assist you personally since you want to specifically develop your style differently from the norm.

 

[BigLord]

I consider myself a dairing Falcon, I use dAir all the time. For stupid reasons sometimes. Whenever an opponent is off-stage, you bet your ass I'm going to try for a dair!

I can also be agressive and got a good grip on the fundamentals and uAir strings (truth be told, I have decent/good reflexes. I can react quickly to new situations, so that helps) but I also like to play defensive, "wait and see". Because a punishing Falcon is an incredible Falcon.

Incidentally, all of this is why I mostly suck online. The tiniest bit of lag completely wrecks my react-and-punish style, because I simply don't have enough time to react... :\

 

[Jebus244]

Incidentally, all of this is why I mostly suck online. The tiniest bit of lag completely wrecks my react-and-punish style, because I simply don't have enough time to react... :\

This. I need a training partner who can play with me on the same system. My roommate is a really good marth/shiek/greninja, but he can't play without the johns, or stand me winning. He'll beat me the first game and then never again, I'm pretty good at getting in his head. Hopefully I'll meet someone at that local tournament, but they're pretty melee focused, which I'm also considering competing in.

 

[PixelPerfect]

I find that I'm the guy who just charges into battle and try to rack up as much damage I can. I usually don't dodge and instead use Falcon's speed to avoid attacks and get into position. When my opponents offstage, I try for the spike, whether it be the u-tilt spike or the dair spike. I have decently quick reactions and I am often able to react and combo an opponent before they are out of hitstun.

However, whenever anyone goes on the defensive, that's when I struggle since my charge in style is ruined and after that first stock, I lose all confidence, but that's more of a me problem. Whenever, I'm playing online, I struggle as Falcon feels much more slippery online and I can't punish or react as fast as normal.

I see the most efficient way to finish my opponent and try to end their stock as fast as I can, and then taunt because I'm Falcon. I guess I'm also honourable Falcon since I taunt with him at the beginning of every match, but I don't know how much that matters.

 

[Blazing Ambition]

Not many falcons go for weak knee setups/gimps. It combos pretty reliably into up-b, and lets you interrupt recoveries like firefox, rocket barrel, etc.

 

[Killtrox]

My style, apparently, is aggressive/leave no room to breathe. This works for me against people worse than me, and against me when playing people better than me.

So, as hard as it is, I'm trying to adjust my style to be a little more defensive and work on spacing.

 

[Jebus244]

I hate to hear Falcons say they are adjusting to be more defensive. Are there match-ups where people feel they can be aggressive?

 

[Warlock*G]

In general, when I play Falcon, I tend to fall into a routine and to become predictable.

For instance, I need to mix-up my approaching moves more, and to stop ledge-jumping at every opportunity.

 

[BigLord]

I hate to hear Falcons say they are adjusting to be more defensive. Are there match-ups where people feel they can be aggressive?

So far, what I've seen is that a patient Falcon is a better Falcon. But you can go full-on agressive if you can actually make the opponent afraid of you... But that ain't easy. As @ Killtrox said, being agressive is awesome when the other player is simply a worse player than you. It won't work in a tournament.

 

[Killtrox]

I hate to hear Falcons say they are adjusting to be more defensive. Are there match-ups where people feel they can be aggressive?

It's simply necessary. Aggressive play won't work against a very defensive Rosalina or an aggressive Sheik.

You can generally be safely aggressive against fat characters and Toon Link, from my experience.

You also need to play defensively against Mega Man. Losing center stage is essentially losing the game.

 

[Gawain]

Well stuff I do that I see no other Falcon doing pretty much at all are the following: frame cancelled dairs and knees, grab confirms from bair, nair, uair, and extending aerial offensives.

Personally I think the unwashed masses of Falcons need to stop going for tackles and juggles so much except in matchups where that's all you can do.

 

[PixelPerfect]

I hate to hear Falcons say they are adjusting to be more defensive. Are there match-ups where people feel they can be aggressive?

I don't know how it is for others but that's just my problem in general. I rush in with any character. I'm working on trying to balance it out but aggression is just something that I naturally formed over the years of playing Smash. Probably why I have such a problem against characters like Link.

 

[CrimsonMoonKing]

Are you a part of the falcon Skype group? I've started it about 2 months ago and we've amassed over 60 falcons. Everyone's falcon has developed significantly from it.

I think that what you're asking for to help yourself is very broad. I could help but it's more based on what YOUR specific pros and cons are and mannerisms or habits YOU have. I'd help if you have any footage to show or if you want to play friendlies, I'm down for that as well.

In the general sense of really oversimplifying falcons, many need to cool it with raptor boost for kills and falcon kicks when an opponent is about 10 feet away. These moves should really be reserved since they're highly punishable and raptor boost has super week priority.

To really develop your falcon, learning movement techniques such as dash dancing and expanded dash dancing and applying to a game will help the most. Also learning how to take a combo to it's longest possible chain is ideal to be practiced. This is where you can train your problem of reading air dodges.

Don't guess arbitrarily. Condition your opponent to air dodge or notice that they do it from the start. Conditioning them is simple. Dthrow to Nair or Uair until you notice they air dodge to escape. Then punish that next time with a combo reset

Can I join the Skype group?? I wanna get better with Falcon!

 

[HoodedAltair]

Can I join the Skype group?? I wanna get better with Falcon!

Yeah just add me at "unchartedsw"

 

[Silvalfo]

I SH a lot. By a lot I mean A LOT. SH Bairs and Uairs are stuff I like to throw out during the whole match due to how quick they are. The bad thing is that it makes me very vulnerable to other SH aerials, especially those which are faster and/or have more range, which makes my MU against Greninja truly painful.

I also tend to punish almost everything with jab. It's so reliable and works erry tiem, but there are times in which an optimal punish should be preferred.

And lastly, I use Falcon Kick in many situations in which Raptor Boost would grant me an easier kill. Possibly this is a habit inherited from Brawl because Raptor Boost did so little in its time.

 

[Lionman]

Uhmm i hit them until they die

it works for me

 

[Octavium]

I feel like C. Falcon player's weaknesses stem from the excitement of playing him. He has a moveset that allows him to do the craziest and most satisfying strings, but they are risky. I feel like most of them are hungry for an early kill setup, which will often make them predictable.

If the opponent has 65%dmg then you know you can setup a falling Uair into Knee for a fun and flashy kill, but your opponent knows that also and will take advantage to punish your greed from attempting to set it up. Falcon players will usually hate camping and stalling and will typically get impatient, making their approaches predictable.

If your opponent sees you in a good position to pull of a sexy kill, they will usually not resist the temptation if it looks safer than usual. Allowing you to read them and punish accordingly. (I also can't resist)

 

[Jebus244]

I feel like C. Falcon player's weaknesses stem from the excitement of playing him. He has a moveset that allows him to do the craziest and most satisfying strings, but they are risky. I feel like most of them are hungry for an early kill setup, which will often make them predictable.

If the opponent has 65%dmg then you know you can setup a falling Uair into Knee for a fun and flashy kill, but your opponent knows that also and will take advantage to punish your greed from attempting to set it up. Falcon players will usually hate camping and stalling and will typically get impatient, making their approaches predictable.

If your opponent sees you in a good position to pull of a sexy kill, they will usually not resist the temptation if it looks safer than usual. Allowing you to read them and punish accordingly. (I also can't resist)

Its This reply that makes me feel like switching back to PM is justified. I'm still gonna play sm4sh, but not tournament. I think I'm done following this game for now. it's fun, just not as fun. But my roommates can tollerate me in sm4sh... They can't handle my PM falcon.

 

[Trifroze]

From what I've watched, many people go for really unsafe and low reward options such as fsmashes at low percents and knee attempts out of down throws or just plain raw ones. Always go for uair or nair instead, the knee requires a setup or a frametrap in which case it does work very well. Many don't realize dthrow to knee only works if buffered from a dashgrab if you catch a bad DI (or none) on specific characters, including Sheik, ZSS, Rosalina, Fox, Diddy, Pikachu, Marth, Lucina, Robin and Little Mac for example. On most characters it's really precise or doesn't work at all, and in most scenarios your opponent is going to DI it so it's a bad option.

Uair to knee is very easy on taller characters like Sheik, ZSS, Palutena, anyone from FE, DK, Rosalina, Dedede, Bowser, Ganondorf, ROB etc and is safe on shield when spaced correctly. This is a really legit setup and DI doesn't help because Falcon's uair delivers just so much hitstun. Falcons should be fishing for this a lot more, generally at 50-70%.

Buffered fthrow out of a dashgrab is a good combo throw at low percents especially on floaty characters. You can follow-up with nair, uair and dash attack, and only one of these is enough to send the opponent offstage possibly ending their stock later with a dair.

Bair is really good for catching the 1 frame vulnerability on ledge grabs for characters you can't reliably edgeguard otherwise. You can either just drop off and bair, or drop off, fast fall, jump back on stage and bair in the process getting ready for further follow-ups if your opponent techs it.

On-stage RAR dair into anything, usually knee, is a worthy risk as well. Falcon's dair has relatively small landing lag and high shield pushback, and RAR lets you face your opponent after pulling it off allowing for a faster knee follow-up or jab frametrap in case it gets shielded, and makes it harder for your opponent to punish it because you end up behind them.

Oh and rising/buffered shorthop uair hits characters that are Marth's height or taller, similar to rising bair.

These are some things I wish I saw more.

Actually I think I just discovered all of Falcon's MUs. Tall characters: 6:4, short characters: 4:6.

 

[BigLord]

Actually I think I just discovered all of Falcon's MUs. Tall characters: 6:4, short characters: 4:6.

That's oversimplifying but haha I can see where you're coming from

I must admit, I'm terrible at Uair to Knee. I need to practice it a lot so I can do it on instinct. I know it's such a good setup but... I dunno, it just doesn't feel natural to me? That's solved with practice.

Good call on RAR dairs! Also I can confirm dair -> hit with dair -> fastfall -> landing lag -> hold A for quick jab+gentleman is very legit, even if you hit a shield.

 

[Trifroze]

That's oversimplifying but haha I can see where you're coming from

I must admit, I'm terrible at Uair to Knee. I need to practice it a lot so I can do it on instinct. I know it's such a good setup but... I dunno, it just doesn't feel natural to me? That's solved with practice.

Good call on RAR dairs! Also I can confirm dair -> hit with dair -> fastfall -> landing lag -> hold A for quick jab+gentleman is very legit, even if you hit a shield.

Dair to fsmash also works pretty well if the dair connects at around 40-60%. Otherwise your opponent will be bouncing high enough to be likely to jump out of it. Maybe it works even on shield, fsmash startup pulls Falcon back just enough to avoid most jabs and grabs, and then punish them with the actual release. Raptor Boost and Falcon Kick do this as well.

I get a lot of my KOs with uair to knee even on opponents that are slightly better than me when I'm fighting versus the taller half of characters, it's definitely worth learning. It's (of course) harder against shorter characters because you have to delay the uair more to hit lower, making the timing stricter and giving the opponent slightly more time to act. Against characters like Kirby or Pikachu, it's possible, but I think you have to get the uair hitbox out like 1-3 frames before you hit the ground.

Also since it's safe on shield when spaced correctly, you can do frametraps with it. Falling uair into shield -> opponent will try to grab or punish -> shorthop again -> another falling uair into their grab's endlag animation -> knee. Doesn't work on grabs with very little endlag though.

And of course, it can be done as a punish. Knee is Falcon's strongest move after reverse Falcon Punch, and the uair adds an extra 12-13% of damage to it.

 

[Killtrox]

Uair to knee is very easy on taller characters like Sheik, ZSS

...wat? Both of those characters have Fairs that will come out before knee.

 

[Trifroze]

...wat? Both of those characters have Fairs that will come out before knee.

Well, how can they use their fairs when they're in hitstun?

 

[BigLord]

What @ Trifroze said. You just have to be fast. Another reason why it sucks to play online :\

 

[Killtrox]

What @ Trifroze said. You just have to be fast. Another reason why it sucks to play online :\

Can one of you post a video of what you're talking about, exactly? Exactly how fast do you have to land the two attacks for them to actually chain, especially without soft-spotting the knee?

 

[Trifroze]

Can one of you post a video of what you're talking about, exactly? Exactly how fast do you have to land the two attacks for them to actually chain, especially without soft-spotting the knee?

Here's a pretty thorough showcase I made a couple months back:

 

[CookingMama]

one quick thing that I do that I dont see too many other falcons in dittos doing is hitting the fadeaway on my recovery to either grab the stage or dodge a scrub forward/up smash. just a quick simple thing...

 

[Killtrox]

Here's a pretty thorough showcase I made a couple months back:

Okay, I've done this. For some reason I started thinking you meant uair directly intointo fair, before landing.

 

[Trifroze]

Need to give that combo a catchy name so there'll be no more misunderstandings. Uair's swipe and trajectory sort of look like a crescent so... Crescent Knee? Eh? Eh??

Or just scooped knee.

 

[♫ Zura ♫]

Need to give that combo a catchy name so there'll be no more misunderstandings. Uair's swipe and trajectory sort of look like a crescent so... Crescent Knee? Eh? Eh??

Or just scooped knee.

O-Knee (Oni) -- (Makes an circle with the back flip)
Olympian Knee (Back flips be in the Olympics XD)