Falco Matchup #3: Link

In this thread, post any contribution you have regarding the Link matchup.

Keep these in mind when posting:
- What do we have against him?
- What to watch out for?
- Certain do's & don'ts
- Any additional information or data necessary.

Summary

Finally, a real discussion of this MU. Things i've learned about this MU is that it is very stage dependant. More later.

Overview and Stages

Not as good as Ganon or Zelda. Link on the right stage can offer some distasteful pressure, namely small stages such as Brinstar, but it's still our advantage on the more basic stages. However I'd still put this matchup at about 70-30 to 75-25 because on the right stages it's not good for Link obviously. Generally the neutrals don't fill Link's requirements for this match up. Neutrals allow easy chain spikes which will often result in a 0-death assuming you get the spike later in the chaingrab, rather than sooner.

What we have.

Chain spike CAN one hit kill if the spike comes out later in the chain grab, don't 'go' for it, just remember it's there if you get the opportunity.

Lasers pretty much shut down link, but he still has options. His projectiles can be a pain because of the fact they ignore lasers, but his arrows and boomerang are too slow to get out between lasers most of the time. His bomb will be what he uses to stop the lasers, and use the gap to move closer to Falco.

Again jab is too fast for Link, shuts him down. And F-tilt spaced well on shield is safe yet again. Reflector is a useful tool in this matchup for obvious reasons, but don't use it poorly. Link can sometimes get those projectiles around the reflector and might use the lag on it as an approach.

In reality, as long as you know what shuts down Link, this matchup will be easy. You can play it aggressive or defensive, it's really up to you providing your aggression is using the attacks that shut him down. Still though, don't get too cocky.

I don't feel like the details of phantasm need to be mentioned.

Dsmash, his poor recovery means that hitting him low is good. Dsmash is a decent kill move in this MU.

What He has

Watch out for what's aptly been named the 'magnet'. Lol. Sometimes Link's down air will come out of nowhere, and it can be frustrating. Though a well timed uair will disjoint the uair and beat it. Generally Link's Strength will be saving him, but watch out for his combos. A common one they'll attempt will be bomb > footstool > ff nair > jab lock. They can be pretty devastating when landed.

If you find yourself on the ledge be careful, Link's back air is a good stage spike. When recovering, even though it's Link you should still be careful, lot's of projectiles means he can cover lots of space when he has the time.

Jab cancels, as a mix up it can really build up the percent.

DACIT (Dash Attack Cancel Item Throw for those unaware), if he performs it properly it's really good at closing that gap.

Zair, if it lands on your shield at good spacing, you should just back off and reset. Also good as a momentum cancel when hit low across a stage to snap the edge.

Amazing weight, DI and momentum cancelling. I'm not sure if it's this exactly, but when he momentum cancels and has a bomb he can, throw the bomb away in the direction he's flying, recatch it then jump and bair.

DON'Ts
- Don't try and challenge him from above or below, his moves have good range and power in those directions.
- Underestimate his recovery either. It's bad, but he'll still make it back most of the time unless you take it on. Something a lot of people don't know is that he can survive from the bubble in BF if he still has a DJ and up-B.

DOs
- Challenge him from the sides. That's where he's most vulnerable to Falco.
- Challenge his recovery. It's easy to punish heavily. Spike or stage spike.
- Pressure him if you land a hit. Keep that momentum.


Overall, it is an easy matchup, but just because he's low tier doesn't mean he lacks options. His options still need to be dealt with, because if Link get's good reads or even a bit of luck, sometimes the damage can be irreparable.

Link has a much easier time with Falco on RC, Lylat, and somewhat Brinstar.
Falco gets a bigger advantage on Link on Final destination, Smashville, and Battlefield.

This can serve as a problem since most of the neutrals are in Falco's advantage except Lylat and Yoshi's island. This means that Falco has a better chance at winning the first match, which is the most important match of the set. Link, however, can CP Falco with a solid amount of stages on counterpick list. RC is terrible for Falco while it is decently good for Link's type of projectiles. Brinstar also helps Link but it messes with Falco's ground game and forces him to resort to his air game. Other CPs don't give Falco any real advantage to my knowledge.

On to the actual MU, Link mainly struggles with Falco CQC skills, Projectile game and his ground game in general. CGs and jab influences Link to stay away from Falco while the lasers forces him to not stray too far. Link will be Full hopping his projectiles alot more to avoid lasers. Reflector does give Link problems but it not a complete ban of Link's projectiles. Reflector completely beats arrows unless Full hopped. Boomerang doesn't do much but it does push Link closer to the edge, somewhere he does not want to be. Bombs only hit Link when he is close. From the right distance, Link can grab the reflected Bomb with an airdodge and cancel the airdodge into a Zair to hit Falco and start a "combo". Zair is completely unaffected by reflector. Projectile spacing is made much harder by Falco's lasers and reflector but it is neccessary at the first 50% of Link's stock to avoid CG to spike. Phantasm is annoying but Link can deal with better than most other low tiers due to his disjoints. Falco's phantasm starts up on frame 17 (correct me if i'm wrong). Since Link's jab starts up on frame 6 and has range + disjoints, it can easily hit Falco out of it if the Link reacts on time.

Generally, Link wants to either stay within mid range or on an area with platforms near it to help avoid the spam. In midrange, Falco can only use Dash attack, phantasm or reflector to hit Link. either one can be punished by a jab or shield. When Link gats a good hit he can follow upand rack up damage nicely. Zair can lead to Usmash, bomb, grab, dashattack, and Fsmash depending on the distance. jab lock set ups are very difficlut to do on Falco due to how annoying he is but once acheived it can cost Falco a stock. Link can jab lock Falco up to 155% i think. Falco can DI while being jab locked to throw Link off but if Link follows your movements with pivot boosting and the range of his jab, you can't escape. Most Links use Fsmash for a finish but they might not know that they have better finishers. Link should jab you until the mid 100% and finish with Dair. If the Falco DI towards the ledge, it can be a bad spot for Falco to be. Link can SH zair to Dtilt spike Falco offstage. Don't worry tho cause no Links do it at all.

We all know Link sucks offstage but he still has options to recover with. Link's recovery is very DI dependant. If he doesn't DI like Ally, he is going to die regardless of whether Falco does anything or not. Falco has lasers, Dair, and Bair to edgegaurd. Diar can spike Link out of a Spin attack if he manages to get above him without getting hit by it. Links, throwing a boomerang is not an option since reflector will easily make you regret it. Bair can seal Link's fate if he doesn't see it coming. Vice versa, Link can edgegaurd Falco when he is at or below the ledge with out a second jump with arrows, Nair, Bair, Zair ledgegaurding, and the risky Dair. Otherwise, Falco should recover without much problem.

There is more to this MU but think i have typed enough. Lets get more Links and Falcos to share their thoughts since i'm sure my input ISN'T perfect or anything.

BTW, Dsmash isn't a good kill move IF the Link knows how to whipslash well. It should save him well over 300%.

falco should just abuse character tools in this matchup. camping at long range is possible but as soon as the distance closes a little it gets irritating imo, it's not worth the damage you can get up close + mixups

link is FAT though, just be patient when it comes to kills. kills are mainly through aerials or landing traps using fsmash. be careful about being baited into using a kill move at high percents - bad DI + link Dair = d'oh

IMO, Both characters suck at killing at high perecnts in this MU.

Falco's only real set up for a kill is the CG to Dair spike which most Links will try their best to avoid. Other than that and a successful read offstage, Falco should take FOREVER to kill Link. Every other kill move he has need to be done from a read or mistake by the Link in order to kill Link at those high percents.

Link has more kill set ups but most if not all of them are started from a projectile hit. Bombstool combo, arrow lock, Zair, etc. All of them are hard to achieve on Falco because of his tools. Thus, Link also needs to get a good read or mistake from the Falco in order to kill as well.

Due to how his character is based, Link should generally be pateint and wait it out until the right moment anyways. I would assume that Falcos are the same because of their lack of good kill set ups and options.

Link shouldn't be dying outright for a loooong time in this MU. Too bad that doesn't matter because Falco will be doing like three times the damage to Link as he'll manage against Falco.

Lasers really completely shut down Link. Just keep lasering him > phantasm away. There's really no need to approach Link at all (heck, you can time him out if you want to); reflector will stuff most of his projectiles, because of how Falco kicks his reflector, the "throw the bomb at their feet" strategy doesn't work, etc. etc. Just shut down Link's projectile game, because Link is garbage at approaching and in CQC. Predict when Link is going to jump and pull a bomb, and shoot him. If Link gets in, honestly, just jab him, grab him, whatever, push him away, and make him try to run through laser hell again. Reflector will beat Link's zair, so even that's not a problem. Falco will crush Link at a distance and demolish him up close.

Levels can affect the matchup a good bit. FD, it's like 10-90 Falco's favor. Seriously, it's a joke. Link has no options and nowhere to go; anything he can possibly Falco has an option that 100% shuts him down. Levels like BF and Brinstar make it a bit less lulzworthy, but even on a strong CP for Link it's very heavily in Falco's favor.

Do's:
-Spam the hell out of Link. He can't really do much about it.
-Use jabs, grabs, ftilt, to stop Link from doing anything when he gets in close to you. As long as you use the right moves, Link can't do anything up close either.
-Be patient. Falco from what I've seen has a bit of trouble actually killing people and Link is close to Snake in terms of how hard he is to flat out kill. Wait for sloppy DI on Link's part and edgeguard him or just stay back and wait til he's near 200% or so.

Don'ts:
-Don't get lazy or complacent. Link doesn't have many options but if you get lazy and let Link get an opportunity, he can make you hurt. Link's got some good kill power, just no way to use it in this matchup. Dair is pretty nasty if you let him connect with it, but honestly, Link shouldn't ever really get an opening to use it, or any of his other kill moves, unless you get sloppy. Utilt is strong and reasonably quick, so watch out for that.
-Get predictable with dsmash or fsmash. Link can DI them straight down and tether the edge. If Link knows it's coming he can whiplash them, which will work past 300%. As long as you're not telegraphing or fishing for a d/fsmash though it shouldn't be that big a deal.
-Underestimate his recovery. It sucks but he's harder to edgeguard than you'd think as long as he DI's right. Link's know this so a good Link is going to have good DI.
-Be silly with your recovery. If Link reads your sideB onto the stage he can full hop a dair.
-Let Link blow up your head with a bomb. Not like Link should ever get the opportunity to be above Falco, but if he does he can combo a bomb throw down > footstool > either dair or ff nair >jab lock, and Link's jab lock hurts and can be finished up with a killing move of his choice.

This is pretty much the definition of a shutdown matchup; it's Link worst MU (and that's saying a good bit when he's a bottom 5 character). I'd put it 75:25/80:20 Falco, -4 with the new system they're using. It's really Falco's match to lose. Seriously, Link's best option in this MU is "CP a different character."

IMO if you dont kill Link in the early percents, you better prepare for a long stock. Falco doesn't really have any really powerful attacks to KO Link that early. Though gimping Link with Falco can be easy.

Also be careful with the Phantasm. Yes its a good recovery move, but i cant count how many times i easily predicted a Phantasm, calmly stepped out of range and countered with a Charged smash.

Jab, lasers, and anti-air reflectors counter everything he does. Don't challenge the D-air with anything but Reflector or lasers. Do all those moves until you get him offstage for a B-air gimp, or until you can edgetrap him with something like F-smash. Next character please.

Lasers, Jab, Reflector, and Chain Grab are what you need to win this match up. Gimp with Bair, edge guard and edge hog beat him badly.

A2ZOMG said:

Jab, lasers, and anti-air reflectors counter everything he does. Don't challenge the D-air with anything but Reflector or lasers. Do all those moves until you get him offstage for a B-air gimp, or until you can edgetrap him with something like F-smash. Next character please.

Click to expand...

if you do reflector too late vs dair and/or you don't space it right you get ***** LOL

but yeah agree with these sentiments

K - jigglypuff please.

Link's view:
We'll eat lasers and bomb ourselves to avoid an early CG>Dair gimp on many stages. This means Falco has a roughly 50% damage lead on each stock or free grab and kill.

The most annoying and successful Falcos I've played just phantasm past and spam lasers with the occasional reflector then repeat. Link must take tons of laser damage to get a shot it and is in danger of being timed out. SH phantasms or Link's clawshot will grab Falco from the full 'tether' range.

I love it when Falcos get close and aren't cheap- Link at 56% (I think), or more than lets him get CGed, can close combat Falco. It's a big spacing game for Link, Falco's jabs won't reach a Link with good spacing. If they do, don't jab combo long because we'll DI out and grab or Fsmash through it. Link's air dodge is good, sometimes we'll hold a bomb and airdodge through a predicted reflector, land and Fsmash or PS the reflector and Fsmash or spin attack.
After being CGed at a high enough % I'll DI away and Zair falco's combos so don't get greedy.
Link likes angled attacks from above or below Falco, Bombs thrown down/up will never be reflected and lead to combos. Our boomerang won't hurt Link if reflected and can trip Falco into jab/arrow locks, so Link will use it relatively close too.
Watch out for jabs because when spaced well Link has a lot of jab cancel options. In general we'll be abusing our attack reach.
Unfortunately all this^ can be avoided by a campy, defensive Falco. Link doesn't win up close but he's better off than chasing Falco. We like mid-short range spamming/Zair and tip-of-Link's-attack spacing.

Recover fast or eat Link's projectiles and Z tether edge hogging.

Ban Brinstar! It's my first CP (since Norfair's tourney banned). Battlefield and Lylat let Link platform camp so strike those if possible. FD is great for Falco, obviously. Japes actually helps Link- we can spam easier, whiplash platforms, sometimes avoid Dair gimps by swimming and live forever. It's good for Falco too but don't CP it. I hate falco on Smashville because the flat space and easy CG>spike gimp. But I'd recommend stages where falco can out-camp for CPs.

Play cheap for an easy 25/75 Falco win. You've got what it takes to destroy Link so use the advantage and don't get cocky.

Swordsaint got them Scabe experience.

I got stuff to write as well, but not atm.