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What would you guys say are Captain Falcon's biggest problems in competitive smash?

According To Keikaku

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There are a few Falcons in my local scene that I find myself having trouble facing. What shortcomings does Falcon generally have that I could try and work with in order to have a greater chance of winning?
 

Yangguizi

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Falcon is heavy and falls quickly which means that he can't escape juggles easily. Aside from that you should try to gimp his recovery. He has no hitbox on his up-b so it losses to anything with a hitbox. on top of that his recovery it very linear. You should be able to get to the point where you can anticipate and gimp his recovery.
If you can keep him off you that helps too.
 
D

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He can have a hard time killing. I know it sounds crazy, but most of his kill moves can be pretty predictable, or are slow enough that you can generally react to them. If you force him to keep approaching at kill percent, Falcon's generally start to get anxious and throw out a lot of unsafe moves such as Fsmash, raptor boost, maybe the knee or Falcon Kick...Also his recovery is one of the easiest to edge-guard due to lack of hitbox and super armor. Go for spikes and stage spikes.
 

Killtrox

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As a (former) Falcon main, just whip out a Corrin counterpick. You can basically fair Falcon endlessly because it comes out faster than his aerials and out ranges them. Juggle him to kill percent and then just kill with whatever you want.
 

TheSausXL

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I think playing safe is the ultimate weapon against C.Falcon. Literally everything that Falcon does relies on mistakes and reads (like finding an opening in your defense to grab or reading your airdodge for a knee/stomp). So don't rush in, let him come to you, and NEVER AID DODGE AFTER A DOWN THROW. Hope that helped a little.
 

Fandangox

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Falcon has a hard time keeping himself alive. His strengths are apparent, but his weaknesses are too. Most of his KO moves are unsafe if they wiff, except for Back Air and Up Air and the former needs to be sweet spotted, and the latter kills at late percents.

Falcon's weight and size make him easy to combo, and his recovery is very easy to edgeguard. Aside from this, He has very little approach options, he is kind of like Shulk in that he is immediately at the disadvantage if forced to make the first move.
 

choknater

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i think he has to gamble a lot to be successful

a lot of his moves are unusable if you don't want to take risks, but very rewarding if you are willing to take the risk

falcon kick, raptor boost, fsmash

all extremely good... if you're willing to commit

i think this play style can be very rewarding, but rarely wins tournaments because it requires such hard reads
 

KntKumar

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Projectiles, long ranged sword characters like Cloud , ike and maybe marth, Shiek, flip kick, Rosalina(most high/top tiers).
 
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NickW

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His main problem is getting combo'd, recovery isn't honestly an issue if you space your recovery right to get the command grab which grabs through a lot of moves when people try to challenge (visit http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Captain Falcon for more info on frame data/hitboxes) and if you get the command grab the up b resets so you can use it again and falcon is heavy enough the with proper anticipation and di falcon can continuously trade with his up b and live for a while unless its pikachu, **** pikachu. Really what you need to do get around his issues is to mixup combo di/have good di.
 

Jenknee

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Falcon lacks projectiles, range, and often times reliable kill moves (most kill moves are either slow or punishable). He also has a key flaw in having a very predictable recovery. If you're comfortable off stage, he's probably at his weakest when trying to get back to the ledge. 90% of the time Falcon has to approach you so aim for OOS punishes and wall him out. Finally, make sure to learn and adapt to your opponents playstyle. If he keeps getting dash grabs the matchup is only going to get harder and harder.
 

Captain Farukon

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Falcon demands a lot of precision and focus so after playing 3 or 4 round you end up tired as hell and of course the last rounds are the hardest so ...
Falcon is like the Akira from Virtua Fighter, capable of killing everything but demands a lot i ll repeat A LOT
 
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teluoborg

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More than the lack of a projectile it's rather the lack of disjoint. You don't really need a projectile when you have this dashing speed and a dash grab that reaches so far. But the lack of disjoint means that you lack safety on your main options so you need to be even more precise.

I agree on the recovery part though and add that it's very vulnerable on top of being predictable. That is Falcon's biggest weakness bar none. I wish up B had some kind of grab armor really.
 
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Hellbound_Ksu

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Being able to space yourself from the opponent. The Captain does have good range, if he/she is willing to commit. Being that the Captain has no ranged attacks, and most kill moves either whiff or are super easy reads. (like a book.) I have found that most characters that have both good ranged attacks and good range for other attacks (Smashes, tilts, etc.) are great against the Captain.

I have found that Link is a good answer to the Captain, along with Corrin and Mario.
 

rules94

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Falcon demands a lot of precision and focus so after playing 3 or 4 round you end up tired as hell and of course the last rounds are the hardest so ...
Falcon is like the Akira from Virtua Fighter, capable of killing everything but demands a lot i ll repeat A LOT
sorry, that's not a weakness in competitive smash

Sometimes he can be very predictible, projectiles and spikes are the worst things for him.
 

Yangguizi

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I see a lot of people noting that falcon does not have projectiles, or super armor.
I would like to point out that these are not really issues that Falcon has, but things that could "fix" the problems Falcon has.
Getting to the bottom of this question is important for advancing the metagame, and seeing more Falcons come out on top.

When people note that falcon has no projectile, they are taking notice of the fact that Falcon has very few safe options in the neutral. Super armor could solve almost every problem for every character depending on what moves it was applied to, but I am assuming that for Falcon, people want to see it on his up b mostly, maybe raptor boost as well.
 

Captain Farukon

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I see a lot of people noting that falcon does not have projectiles, or super armor.
I would like to point out that these are not really issues that Falcon has, but things that could "fix" the problems Falcon has.
Getting to the bottom of this question is important for advancing the metagame, and seeing more Falcons come out on top.

When people note that falcon has no projectile, they are taking notice of the fact that Falcon has very few safe options in the neutral. Super armor could solve almost every problem for every character depending on what moves it was applied to, but I am assuming that for Falcon, people want to see it on his up b mostly, maybe raptor boost as well.
maybe because Falcon dive used to have super armor also ganon has super armor on his warlock punch and not falcon which is a little unfair
 

teluoborg

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Falcon Dive didn't have super armor it's just that in Brawl and Melee grabs had priority over attacks, so when you grabbed someone at the same time they attacked you the Falcon Dive would win.

Now it's the opposite and people who know that make Falcon's recovery a living hell.
 
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TurboLink

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Being able to space yourself from the opponent. The Captain does have good range, if he/she is willing to commit. Being that the Captain has no ranged attacks, and most kill moves either whiff or are super easy reads. (like a book.) I have found that most characters that have both good ranged attacks and good range for other attacks (Smashes, tilts, etc.) are great against the Captain.

I have found that Link is a good answer to the Captain, along with Corrin and Mario.
Link is not a good answer to Captain Falcon. Not even close.
 

Hellbound_Ksu

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I have had easy matches when I play Link against C. Falcon. Its easier for me, because I can space myself from the opponent, and I play link WAY too often, because I am the definition of CANCER.
 

hmbtnguy

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Link is not a good answer to Captain Falcon. Not even close.
Link may not be the best character against Captain Falcon, but he's certainly a very good one.

If you have good spacing and make good use of your projectiles, this should be a pretty easy matchup for Link.
- Link can chain quite a few Up tilts into an Up Smash for 0-50ish damage if you catch Falcon without a jump
- Abuse Link's Nair as it beats out all of Falcon's aerials and is extremely safe. Use this with retreating SH's and you'll protect yourself from Falcon's Dash attacks and approaching Up Airs.
- Link's Smashes all come out faster than Falcon's as well so don't be afraid to use them
- Grab, Up tilt, Up tilt, Up Smash
- Make sure to gimp Falcon's poor recovery with well spaced arrows when he's off-stage.
 

TurboLink

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Link may not be the best character against Captain Falcon, but he's certainly a very good one.

If you have good spacing and make good use of your projectiles, this should be a pretty easy matchup for Link.
- Link can chain quite a few Up tilts into an Up Smash for 0-50ish damage if you catch Falcon without a jump
- Abuse Link's Nair as it beats out all of Falcon's aerials and is extremely safe. Use this with retreating SH's and you'll protect yourself from Falcon's Dash attacks and approaching Up Airs.
- Link's Smashes all come out faster than Falcon's as well so don't be afraid to use them
- Grab, Up tilt, Up tilt, Up Smash
- Make sure to gimp Falcon's poor recovery with well spaced arrows when he's off-stage.
Link's smashes are also laggy. Do be afraid to use them.
 

hmbtnguy

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Link's smashes are also laggy. Do be afraid to use them.
They may have just as long FAF as Falcon but they all come out faster.

Let's compare hitbox active frame data from Kurogane:
Link:
U Smash: 10
F Smash: 15
D Smash: 9

Falcon:
U Smash: 22
F Smash: 19
D Smash: 19

Links Smashes come out faster than some of Falcon's tilts:
Falcon:
U Tilt: 17
F Tilt: 9
D Tilt: 11
 

TurboLink

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They may have just as long FAF as Falcon but they all come out faster.

Let's compare hitbox active frame data from Kurogane:
Link:
U Smash: 10
F Smash: 15
D Smash: 9

Falcon:
U Smash: 22
F Smash: 19
D Smash: 19

Links Smashes come out faster than some of Falcon's tilts:
Falcon:
U Tilt: 17
F Tilt: 9
D Tilt: 11
Well it's a good thing shield and Captain Falcon's jab beats all of them.
 

hmbtnguy

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Well it's a good thing shield and Captain Falcon's jab beats all of them.
...and Link can easily shield-grab Falcon and proceed with a string of up-tilts followed by an up-smash. Let's not forget that Link's neutral-air beats all of Falcon's.

Like with everything in this game--it's all situational. Link just happens to beat Falcon in the neutral and have more options along with the ability to gimp.

Not saying it's an impossible MU for Falcon, but a good Link definitely has the advantage.
 

Yσנιмιтѕυ

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...and Link can easily shield-grab Falcon and proceed with a string of up-tilts followed by an up-smash. Let's not forget that Link's neutral-air beats all of Falcon's.

Like with everything in this game--it's all situational. Link just happens to beat Falcon in the neutral and have more options along with the ability to gimp.

Not saying it's an impossible MU for Falcon, but a good Link definitely has the advantage.
A good Falcon can also definitely get past links defensive options with ease. This is by no means an easy matchup for link - as all his special moves have lag and if perfect shielded are extremely susceptible to punishes, namely grabs. Same for all his aerials except retreating nair. Even the most defensive and safe play from link - 1 grab can potentially mean death if you're playing the likes of Fatality or Tearbear. DI doesn't matter, because they're anticipating it. They know how you want to get out of all the conventional CP combos and they're ready with a countermeasure. As a Link you'll also find yourself guessing which defensive option to use in a situation where Falcon is right on top of you shielding or extended dash dancing right outside your range. Link vs. CP is even.

That said, Toon link I actually think is a much more difficult match for Falcon. Fatality struggles to deal with the pressure and mixup options that Tink has in this match

 
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