Smash 4 Captain Falcon Guide - Part One

Welcome to this guide!

I was browsing the smash amino for guides related to Captain Falcon, and found out that there were fairly little. That inspired me to make a guide for all the other Captain Falcon players out there, or for those who just want MU experience. Finally, this guide will be separated into 4 parts, each part covering a different topic. Without further ado, let's begin.

           Part 1 - Basics and Moveset

First of all, you need to understand what kind of character Captain Falcon is in smash 4. The Captain is a rush-down character, meaning that he relies on his strong grab game and fast movement to build up damage or take stocks. He is also a fast faller, meaning that he gets combo'd easily by many characters, for example: Sheik and Pikachu. He has lots of strong kill moves and a decent kill throw, and is a heavyweight so he won't die as quickly. His run speed is second best in the game and he has a very high reaching jump. However, he has low range, and his recovery is very linear and is susceptible to being gimped. Overall, Captain Falcon can be classified as a glass cannon of some sorts, he can land KOs very early because of his strong moves, but can also get destroyed by characters with great ledge game or spacing tools.

Now let's move on to his moveset.

Jab:

Can be executed as a multi-jab or a normal 3-hit combo, deals 11-13% or 9% respectively. Arguably one of Captain Falcon's best move in the neutral, jab beats out many projectiles, covers multiple options on the ledge, is an OOS option, and the 3-hit combo AKA the gentleman has kill power.

Forward Tilt:

A worse version of jab. It has slightly more range than jab, but comes out slower, is punished if blocked, deals the same amount of percent and can't kill until 180%. Can be used for locking.

Up Tilt (The heel of shame):

A tool used for punishing high recoveries. If sweet-spotted it will spike. Bad move in neutral however, as it comes out really slow, is punished if blocked and has no guaranteed followups if hit. Can also be used to punish opponents hanging on the ledge for too long.

Down Tilt:

A good spacing tool and a semi-spike, deals a considerable amount of shield stun and starts killing near the ledge at around 140%. Comes out slow and will be punished if spaced incorrectly.

Forward Smash:

A strong kill move. If spaced it can be used for punishing falling aerials. Also the Captain leans back before attacking, shrinking his hit-box.

Up Smash:

Also a strong kill move and a possible anti-air, but is slow, has lots of ending lag and has little range. Overall worse than fsmash.

Down Smash:

Safe on shield and can punish spot-dodges and rolls, the front hit kills at about 140% and the back hit kills at about 120%.

Dash Attack:

Beats out most incoming aerials, command grabs, and most projectiles. Can be an OOS option, but very situational. It also has a decent amount of ending lag, so be careful when using

it.

Neutral Air:

A combo tool at low percents, usually used after a down throw. Can link up to 3 times depending on weight and percentages. Good at punishing aerials in front of you.

Forward Air (The knee of justice):

Officially known as "knee smash" for some reason, it is one of Captain Falcon's most well known moves and is the strongest aerial in the game (excluding spikes). The sweet-spot at the beginning of the move deals 19% and kills at about 50-80%. Although it has no true followups, it comes out rather fast and is good for punishing airdodges or laggy moves. The only downside is that the sour spot is really weak and if whiffed, it has lots of landing lag.

Up Air:

Captain Falcon's main combo tool. Comes out fast, covers a wide range above him, deals 11% and can lead to strong moves such as the knee. Best used for juggling and after down throw.

Back Air:

If sweet-spotted, it can kill at around 110% offstage. Comes out quick, is safe on shield, can be auto-cancelled from a short hop and has low lag. Also beats out projectiles and can lead to a grab at low percents.

Down Air:

The sweet-spot spikes, and the sour spot has surprisingly strong knockback. Is a great tool for punishing airdodges offstage. The spike can net you a kill starting at about 40% on fighters with a bad recovery, and will directly kill starting at about 80%.

Neutral Special (FALCON PAWNCH):

Has absolutely no use, but is really friggin hype if you get a hard read and hit it. Definitely press the down-taunt button and save the replay if you land a kill with this.

Side Special:

Potentially covers all 4 ledge get-up options, can catch opponents short hopping, goes quite far and has a spike hit-box in the air. The only downside is that you get punished hard if you miss or if it gets blocked.

Up Special:

Very linear and is edgeguarded easily. One of the worst recoveries in smash 4, goes a decent amount of horizontal and vertical distance. If the move hits, enemies trying to edgeguard will be stage-spiked if they miss their tech.

Down Special:

Goes far and the start of the move can kill. Doesn't really have much use though, as it has a lot of ending lag and start up time.

Forward Throw:

A kill throw near the ledge starting at 160%, and can set up a lock scenario if the opponent misses their tech.

Back Throw:

A stronger kill throw, KOs at around 130% near the ledge. No other use since it doesn't lead to combos or deal lots of damage.

Up Throw:

A kill throw as well at around 180% if DI'd incorrectly, best used over fthrow and bthrow if at the center of the stage.

Down Throw:

Captain Falcon's combo throw, leads to many followups which will be covered in the next part of the guide.

Moveset Conclusion

Combo moves: Neutral Air, Up Air, Down Throw

Best kill moves: Forward Smash, Forward Air, Back Air, Down Air, Back Throw

That concludes part one of the guide, but there is way more coming soon. Be sure to like if you learned something new, and please comment down below if you have any suggestions or questions. Next time I will be discussing Captain Falcon's neutral game and recovery options. Thanks for reading!

~Xifl