Quick Tips
- Down-smash after down-throw? YES
- Bucket anything? Blaster Lasers (Does 25%, Kills at 65%). Bthrow/Uthrow Lasters (Does 18%, Kills somewhere over 100%).
- Falco's jab hits on frame 2 so UpB Out-of-Shield anytime you are near Falco on the ground to avoid being grabbed.
- G&W's Upsmash and Fsmash (facing either direction) will outprioritize Falco's SideB.
Videos
- N/A
General Matchup
- Falco's largest assets are in his chaingrab and follow ups from that, and his very controlling laser game. He also has a solid edgeguard game, along with a very high priority reflector.
- Aside from the lasers and reflector, his range and priority are pretty run of the mill. You will find that in most situations you will outrange/prioritze falco.
- His best kill moves are his fsmash, upsmash, bair, and dsmash. These moves don't have any particular set ups other than boosted upsmashes, so the usage of these moves might be seen from far away.
- His combos are usually in the form of grabs, a grab at 0% will lead to a good 50 damage assuming your not near the edge, and even then a reverse boost grab would nullify that problem. Dash attacks to upsmashes are pretty deadly and lasers can stun you to get hit by other moves if he's close.
- Falco's edge guarding usually takes the form of him trying to either spike you or sneak a strong back air in, both are quite deadly. Chaingrab to spike won't kill you (your up b goes too far) but will certainly put you in a bad situation, and the bair won't outrange you, but is quite fast and can kill early when fresh.
- To edgeguard falco, throw a bair out when you think a forward b is coming, or try to predict where he will land and smash. If he has to up b, light hits from fairs work very well to drop his height along with nairs.
- GW's combos work pretty well against falco, he falls fast which is very nice for nair chains, and his aerial movment is only average which makes him quite susceptible to up air chains. Also, dthrow to dsmash works very nicely if they don't tech.
Basic Strategies
- If the falco laser spams a lot, you know what to do, stand and bucket. When spamming, they usually throw two lasers out, both of which can be caught when on the ground I believe. Also, if you duck, he can't hit you with a laser unless its from the ledge.
- If you want to avoid the chaingrab, the best advice i can give you is to use your range well enough to avoid getting grabbed. When in the grab just don't panic, because he can't spike you and kill you, you can always recover. If he dash attacks to upsmash at the end try to smash di the dash attack to jump out of the upsmash and save yourself some damage. If he spikes you make sure to tech.
- I don't see this too often from any falco's, but he does have a guaranteed laser lock combo on gw. At low percents he can footstool you out of a dthrow and then land on you with a spike. He will then immediately start lasering you because you've been stunned too long. Certainly something to look out for.
- If they try to use the reflector to beat your range, remember that it has a crazy amount of cooldown, and he's really only safe if he hits you with it, otherwise note that a free smash is ensured.
- Laser baits (for your bucket) are a trick some falco's use to get free smashes in, if you think this might be the case either only bucket at low percents or when your far away. If you do fill your bucket, dthrow and tech chase is amazing because the bucket comes out so fast and has a lot of range.
- Don't get grabbed!
Stages
- Rainbow cruise, frigate, delfino, etc work well against his terrible recovery.
- Avoid jungle japes (forward b tricks) and final d (lots of laser room).
Frame Data
- Neutral B: 12 (ground shot) or 10 (air shot)
- Side B: 17
- Up B: 21
- Down B: 4
- Fsmash: 16
- Dsmash: 7
- Usmash: 8
- Ftilt: 6
- Dtilt: 7
- Utilt: 4, 12
- Nair: 3
- Fair: 6
- Bair: 4
- Uair: 10
- Dair: 5
- Jab: 2, 10
- Dash Attack: 4
- Standing Grab: 6
- Dash Grab: 11
- Pivot Grab: 9