Falcon is a heavily momentum based character who’s punish game is extremely strong and compounds on itself very well. He dominates the Melee cast through sheer speed and destructive kill set-ups. However, there are very valuable tactics to employ in your play against Captain Falcon that can help give you the edge in tournament.

Spacing Around Falcon’s Pocket

Captain Falcon’s greatest strength is his incredible speed in terms of both raw movement speed and combo follow-ups. Falcon can take any character from 0% to 80% in the matter of seconds and finish the stock right then and there. Falcon’s speed boosts his short hop with insane range as he can literally attack you from the other side of the stage. Couple this with his exceptionally strong dash-dance, and Falcon can weave back and forth to vary the range and placement of his moves, most infamously the knee (f-air).

Even though Falcon has incredible range with his SHFFL aerials, they hit in two very specific places, each far from each other. First is Falcon’s in-place aerials. Falcon’s in-place aerials hit obviously, the space right in front of him. Slight aerial drift can be applied to these aerials to hit an opponent who might me slightly out of range, but they generally control the space just within his f-air range. The longest hitting aerial falcon has is n-air, so knowing the length of this move and spacing just outside this move’s hitbox will help you in your spacing game against Falcon. Falcon’s dashed aerials (or momentum aerials) however, propel Falcon far passed the space that in-place aerials control. This allows Falcon to control the space and punish the mistakes of opponents who are spaced far from him.

While this is a great advantage in some ways, it is also a disadvantage as well. The drastic difference in space where the two types of aerials actually land leaves an empty pocket where Falcon cannot cover much at all. Spacing inside this pocket gives you a huge advantage because you’re far enough away from Falcon to punish a whiffed in-place aerial, and too close for the dashed aerial to connect with your character. Falcon can throw out a d-air or n-air that can sometimes connect with taller characters in this pocket, but it is usually not a solid hit and can be punished right after. This pocket especially punishes Falcon’s best KO move, f-air (knee) because the hit-box is too high to connect with the majority of the cast when inside this pocket. Spacing yourself inside this pocket will give you an edge over Falcon in the neutral game. Falcon makes up for this awkward space with his incredible dash-dance, which is constantly moving this pocket back and forth. Tracking the pocket and shielding an incoming unsafe attack will put you at an advantage to punish the Falcon that lands behind you after an attack with a b-air or wavedash OoS grab. Here is a visual representation of Falcon’s pocket:

Either hanging well outside his dashed aerial range and baiting him with dash-dance camping or spacing within his pocket puts you out of threat of a surprise knee. Tracking this small space within Falcon’s fast dash-dance is very difficult, but it put you in a safe and comfortable spot for punishing his moves.

Keeping Falcon in Shield

As said before, Falcon is a momentum based character. Reading your tech rolls, reacting to your DI with appropriate moves, and punishing your mistakes hard is what Falcon mains do best. Captain Falcon struggles hard when this momentum is stopped by being forced into his shield. Not only is his momentum and speed halted by being forced into shield, but his out of shield options are very limited. He becomes much less of a threat when constantly being forced back into his shield. Falco does this extremely well with his laser pressure, and Samus and Peach can force him into his shield also through the use of their projectiles. Falcon basically only has three good options out of shield: grab, roll, and attack out of shield.

Falcon players love to shield-grab, because off of a single grab they can secure stocks by reading/reacting to your ground techs, re-grabbing, and comboing the mess out of you. This will most often be their action after an attack on their shield, so you’ll want to be prepared for it by using retreating aerial drift during your shield pressure. This puts you outside of the range of a shield grab, and within range to punish the whiffed shield-grab.

The other option Falcon has is rolling, a much more punishable option. Falcon players tend to roll in shield if you land behind them with shield pressure. By rolling away from you, Falcon is then facing you and can reset the neutral game and regain his footing. Calling out the roll, dashing to where Falcon rolls toward, and securing a grab keeps Falcon in your control and leads to combo potential. Rolling, generally speaking, isn’t very safe due to the lag and vulnerability leaving the roll animation. Punishing the ending of the roll animation will be your goal in combating this shield option.

Finally, attacking of out shield. Falcon really doesn’t have the best OoS attacks, but they can still be problematic if you aren’t prepared from them. D-air, n-air, and if behind falcon, b-air, are his best options for attacking out of shield. Falcon will use d-air OoS when you are close to his shield wants to follow it up with u-air or even a knee. D-air OoS can be stuffed if you throw out a move prior to the d-air hitbox becoming active. Since the move takes more frames than most to become active, you have a window to shut it out and start your own combo. N-air OoS is most often used against you when you are farther in front of his shield, hoping that the move connects and he can dash in for a grab right after. Either shielding this move or retreating with a dash-back will put you in a spot to come back upon it’s whiffed landing and punish. B-air is trickier, because the move is much quicker than the other two, and sweet-spots within the distance of most shield pressure situations. In this case, shielding the attack and punishing the landing with a turn-around grab, or a b-air of your own is the best way to go about punishing Falcon’s b-air OoS.

Avoid Getting Grabbed/Stay mobile

It only takes one grab… or so that’s the Falcon motto. Falcon players can get much more mileage from a single grab than almost the entire cast (excluding Sheik). A single grab leads to devastating tech chases, hard roll reads, d-air setups to f-air finishes. Falcons speedy dash-dance only aides him in his ability to fish for grabs in the neutral, making him a very dangerous foe on the ground. Because of this, avoiding Falcon’s grab is the name of the game when fighting Falcon players. They are going to fish hard for the grab, as it gives them the best chance to start combos and finish off stocks. Avoiding a grab is mainly going to be about good movement. Whether your character has a good dash-dance or wavedash game, staying mobile and slippery to avoid getting grabbed in the neutral is one of the best defensive tools you have against Falcon.

If dash-dancing and speed is the option of your character, keeping Falcon guessing as to where you’re going to be is the best way to avoid grabs. Characters with good wavedashes can retreat from incoming grabs with wavedash-back and throw out an f-smash to punish the whiff. Avoiding sitting in shield will also help you minimize the amount of times you’ll get grabbed, as Falcons can approach on shield quickly and secure grabs. Outplaying Falcon in the neutral will encourage him to throw out unsafe and whiffed grabs, which you can easily punish with KO moves. Using projectiles will force Falcon to approach and seek out grabs where otherwise unsafe.

Edge-Guarding Falcon

Falcon has a particularly rough time off stage, and this is due to his poor recovery. Falcon’s up-b is far from being the worst in the game, but it is both slow and highly reactable, allowing a lot of time to punish the move. Falcon mains do have some tricks up their sleeves however, and knowing these tricks and how to counter them can allow you to keep them off stage. First trick that Falcon’s love to use is the aerial fade back to ledge. Falcon mains love to confuse the opponent as to where they’re going to land, and one of the most common ways they do this is by drifting all the way back on their up-b when it looks like they’re going to land on stage, and instead grab ledge.

What you can look for to call this out is right after the crest of Falcon’s up-b, the Falcon needs to make a decision as to where they’re going to land, as the amount of aerial drift Falcon has doesn’t typically allow for that decision changed any later in his free-fall. Reading his fall early on can help you position yourself to either punish him on stage, or simply grab ledge. Spacies’ f-smash, Marth f-smash and Sheik down smash all cover Falcons approach to ledge incredibly well. Falcon players also highly benefit from the presence of platforms, as it gives them another place to land and use to mix-up landings and land with edge-cancels.

You can counter Falcon right away from the stage select screen by selecting either FD or FoD, as these stages have varying, or no platforms for Falcon to recover to. If playing on a stage with platforms, going out and intercepting Falcon after he uses his double jump and before he crests from his up-b is a great way to keep Falcon off stage. Going out to challenge Falcon off stage is generally a pretty safe option, as he is of little threat off stage. In a situation when Falcon is off stage and using down-b (Falcon kick) to get back to stage because he’s very high in the air, Fox can simply run off stage and shine him in most situations, securing the stock right then and there. Falcon will also sometimes air-dodge back to stage when really close, rather than use his up-b. To punish the landing or the end of the air-dodges invincibility, throw out an in place n-air to stuff the recovery.

Defensive Tips

There is a lot of things you as a player can improve upon in your defensive game against Falcon. As one of the most aggressive characters in the game, you will often find yourself in defensive positions against Falcon. One way to improve your defensive game against Falcon is to not retreat to platforms. While a good tactic in almost all other matchups, Falcon is most dangerous when beneath you and he has the speed to track your retreat. Never let a Falcon shark you with up-air from below, as it will result in 30% worth of free damage almost every time. Staying grounded and retreating away from Falcon or into his pocket is a much better strategy than spending too much time on platforms above him. As stated previously, Falcon gets a lot started from grabs and tech-chase situations. One way to combat this is to perform a no-tech when falling to the ground. This will disrupt timings and cause the Falcon to slow down which can result in mistakes. Additionally, Falcon can only jab reset some of the cast during the bounce animation of the no-tech, making it harder to follow up this option. Use this to mix-up your tech options if you feel like the Falcon has a good read on your preferences.

In situations where you are above Falcon on platforms, make habit of angling your shield down to your character’s feet to cover the incoming up-airs. This can lead to a shield-drop aerial to punish the attack on your shield, or simply give you time to escape without being hit. Finally, do not DI in on Falcon during combos ever. This is a surefire way to get styled on with intense combos and destructive KO moves. Make it a habit to DI down and away when being juggled by Falcon’s moves, as it will cause you to escape, without being positioned in the air for a quick knee to the face. This is a delicate balance however, because if you anticipate the knee approaching, DI-ing away ensures your stock being taken, and in that case you would want to DI in and up to minimize the angle of your trajectory to the corner of the stage’s blast zones.

Conclusion

Captain Falcon is a beast of adrenaline filled combos and destructive kill moves, but he has exploitable weaknesses, especially in his recovery. Use this guide to further understand how to use Falcon’s pocket to your advantage and to challenge him off stage before he becomes a problem again on stage.

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop