Wolf vs Falco Matchup

[TimeMuffinPhD]

Falco Lombarde
Before you begin to read this, I have permission from Mumbo, the original creator of this idea. I will be using his format and some of his information, so give a big credit for the work he's put into this. Thanks. Unfortunately I'm not great with formatting so it won't look as nice as Mumbos.

This will be the first of a series of threads, each dedicated to a single matchup, covering all 41(+) matchups. These threads are going to be a collaboration, so PLEASE give me your thoughts and opinions. Post your videos here, even if you lose. Post your preferred stages, even if people think otherwise. Post your tips, even if you think you aren't the best player.
I. Videos:

II. Overview:
Falco is a character with an incredible amount of combo and kill potential on Wolf, along with superior zoning capabilities which will make this one of his tougher match-ups.

Falco's Strengths:

• Strong combo game
• Strong kill moves
• Easy spike
• Strong zoning and rush-down with and without laser
• Laser

Falco's Weaknesses:

• Weak recovery
• Very combo-able
• Sub-par grab game

Key Points:

• Laser cannot be clanked with

III. Matchup Analysis:
Neutral Game:

• This is all about getting the first hit, if you get a hit before he does you need to make sure you convert it to something positive. Falco can very easily get a lead from a confirm, and is just generally more efficient than Wolf in this match-up
  
  
• If the Falco is smart, he will start shooting lasers before making a move, in this case; you will have to use whatever you can to your advantage to get to him: your lasers, the stage, powershielding etc
  
  
• Getting a hit with a move is probably your best option, but a grab can really get something going
  
  
• Falcos are quite fond of using d-air, but is a fairly laggy move, so it's probably one of the best ways of getting in on him, by baiting it

• Falcos are quite fond of shield pressure. When done properly the best escape option is buffering a roll with the c-stick. If they don't do it properly shield-grabs are very powerful.

• B-air is Wolf's most useful tool when spacing against Falco. With the lack of a sex kick like Falco's N-air, it's his best option. What I like to do is throw out a laser and then RAR B-air.

Comboing/Punishing Falco:

• As Falco is a fast-faller, Shine juggles are a good way to begin combos. A couple of Shine juggles into a Jab then U-throw chain-grab is your go to; and you can lead this into many things.

• Grabs are your main way of punishing Falco as they lead into re-grabs and more combos, but most importantly stage positioning. Falcos recovery is very sub-par, and in this match-up is where Wolf has the advantage. Use grabs to get him off-stage and begin an edge-guarding situation.

• At mid/higher percents, you really want to start mixing in U-tilts and weak F-airs into your combo game. This will allow you to convert more damage and into more lethal combos.

• Side-b is always risky against the faster fallers of the cast, but it can be done. U-throw Side-b is one I find quite reliable at high percent - it may look a little weird, but they will be in hit-stun for awhile. For the riskier of the setups, Jab reset into Side-b can work, but I'm undecided if it's optimal. F-air and U-air into Side-b also work at higher percents. There are many more, but those are the most 'standard'

Escaping Falco's Pressure:

• As described previously, Falcos are quite fond of shield pressure, and the best way of escaping it is to buffer a roll. If you become predictable with this however, the Falco can start predicting the rolls. He also can start mixing up his type of shield pressure.

• One of Falcos main pressure tools is his laser approach game. This forces the opponent to shield, but you still have options available from this. Wavedashes OOS is one of the easier ways to escape this. Then you have power-shielding, which takes a fair amount more practice; but is very good in this match-up. If you have platforms available to you, you can use these to navigate another route to approaching the Falco. Shine can also work for reflecting them as a mix-up, but being predictable with it will get you punished.

• Being pressured by Falco is really difficult to deal with and is one of his main advantages in this match-up - extensive preparation and knowledge of how to counteract this is essential to gaining a foothold in this match-up.

Edgeguarding Falco:
Recovering against Falco:
Putting it all together:
IV. Stages

V. Tricks, Tips, Do's and Don'ts:
Don't:
Do:
Tricks:
Tips:



Guide Contributors:
@ TimeMuffinPhD

 

[TimeMuffinPhD]

My bad, but were it says Fox in "Who do you think this match-up favors" please just replace that in your mind as Falco. I'm not sure how to change it now.

 

[Crome]

I think Falco Lombardi has the upperhand in this match up. His faster, auto cancel lasers and his disjointed everything gives him the upper hand. Wolf just can't get in.

 

[Gomer_USMC]

Comboing/Punishing Falco:
---------Low Percent: Play this game from the knockdown and techchase his ASS off. Falco is one of the lightest characters in the game and most anything you can knick him with will put him into tumble.
----------Mid Percent: Your shine will now pillar him for DAYZZZ. Lead into him with some dair shines and nair shines to rack up the percent at this point. If you catch him DI'ing left/right for the techs during pillars, you can probably end a stock with a bair or dsmash at this point.
----------High Percent: TBH, just hit him with something. It's Falco, he'll most likely die to it.

Escaping Falco's Pressure:
---------Neutral: Lasers are the bane of everyone's existence. If your falco likes to laser high, it's possible to duck under them. If he lasers low, you could probably retaliate by shorthop blastering over them to stifle his pressure. Be very careful when doing this, as it's going to be impossible for you to win straight up by doing this. If available, use platforms to escape pressure momentarily.
----------Combo: He will pillar you for days on end if you don't tech. SDI shines to the outside if possible, otherwise try to tech in the direction that is going away from his horizontal momentum.

Edgeguarding Falco:
-----------Side-b: Cover this option first EVERY TIME. Always pretend he's going to sweetspot(unless he's REALLY close to the stage) by trying to invincible ledgehog, because it has hella endlag and you can exploit that if he goes for the stage instead of the ledge.

----------Up-b: If Falco drops down below the ledge, this is his only option. If he's directly below the ledge, shine-dair/bair will seal the deal. If he's slightly off of the edge, dropzone double jump bair will accomplish the same thing. Any further than that and Falco's recovery is probably done because Firebird's range is so short.

Recovering against Falco:
---------- If possible, try to sweetspot the ledge from above with Fire Wolf. This gives Falco little in the way of stuffing the attempt with lasers, and if you see him trying to dropzone dair to cover the ledge, you can change direction and go to the stage instead.

----------- If you're caught just below the ledge, the best you can do is try to weave either above or below his dair attempt with wolf flash. Remember that you can angle wolf's side-b up and down approximately 15 degrees to make this easier.

----------If you're caught severely below the ledge, your only real chance against falco is to perfect sweetspot. Try to get as close to the stage as you can before doing this, because falco's dair actually juts away from the ledge, and you'll optimally try to squeeze into the small gap so you don't get spiked.



Reserved for maybe more theorycrafting..............

 

[Soft Serve]

Going to dig through the Skype archives later and pull quotes I like for this MU

 

[Kerfuffle]

Falco is dead even if you ask me. You can both combo the hell out of each other, shine OoS ruins both of your shield pressure games, edgeguarding is a cinch for both, etc. The only big thing falco has is lasers, but its really not that big of a deal when you factor in Wolf's mobility with blaster, ground speed, air speed and the fact you can waveshine him across the stage.

 

[Sur Fartsalot]

Is it possible for you to make the video unprivate?

 

[TimeMuffinPhD]

Is it possible for you to make the video unprivate?

Was never private when I originally linked it, must be the owners of the video that did it so unfortunately I can't. This is 3.0 but maybe worth a watch:

 

[Chef2]

My best buddy plays Falco, and we play a lot, so I have a little knowledge to add!
Low-mid percents: shine->waveshine and then watching for a missed tech is huge. If you shine Falco, he's probably gonna hit the tech button as he approaches the ground, but if Wolf comes wave shining in and hits Falco before he has a chance to tech, Falco now can't tech for a little bit. So when he does land from the next shine, he won't be able to tech and it's an easy jab reset for wolf. In fact, if my buddy missed the tech and didnt smash DI the jab reset, it's probably his stock. You can jab reset->slightly charged UpSmash->uair juggle to the edge->some kind of launcher and now your in an edgeguard situation.

Obviously can mix up the amount of shines to throw off his tech timing, but that double shine really seems to cause poorly timed tech inputs. As my buddy says, it's just reflex to try and tech when your that close to the ground.

 

[Cohenski]

I like doing jab resets into flash. My goal is to pull that off on a platform, edge cancel the flash, and then flash again. It is possible...

 

[TimeMuffinPhD]

I added some more information to Neutral Game and Comboing/Punishing, this thread could use an upgrade, so share your knowledge boys.

EDIT: Also as a note, please when you're giving information you make it sound like you're writing it in the guide. Unless of course you just want it to be a comment and you would rather it wasn't in the guide.

 

[Sur Fartsalot]

Finally, a good guide for falco advesaries
I'll try to add my ten cents too soon

 

[fAtomsk]

These are the other games that I bookmarked:

Oksas v. Sanchaz

Oksas v. Axe (Falco starts at 3:51)

XFAwkward v. K-TEL

 

[Segarin]

Git gud at power shielding... if you are able to take the lazer game away from falco, he drops like 2 tiers...