Captain Falcon (Clash)

Captain Falcon
Coming Soon
Universe	F-Zero
Appears in	64, Melee, Brawl, Clash
Debut	F-Zero (1991)
Availability	Starter
Tier	S / S (3 / 2)

Captain Falcon is a starting playable character in Super Smash Bros. Clash. His full name is Captain Douglas Jay Falcon and he spends his time as a bounty hunter and as an F-Zero pilot. He entered the Dark Tournament in order to find the true motives of Black Shadow and what he may have to do with Master Hand.

Captain Falcon is very fast and very powerful, with an excellent combo game. He's got some of the best rushdown tactics in the business, really.

Captain Falcon's status as a very powerful speedster, excellent rushdown character and overall offensive mastermind have blessed him with a 2nd place finish on the March 13th Tier List. He's still at 3rd place with Secret A in account. He's really deadly in the right hands, although he's still really easy to combo and out-range.

Changes from Brawl to Clash

Buffs

• N64 Forward Smash is back, and has slightly increased knockback and priority.
• Much more priority overall.
• Most attacks are slightly faster.
• Down Strong Attack can now trip.
• Raptor Boost has the special ability for him to tap up and then pursue the foe with an aerial attack.
• Falcon Kick double jump trick is back.
• Down Aerial always Meteor Smashes.
• "Nipple Spike" from Melee is back. Captain Falcon has one of the few true spikes in Clash.
• Dash Attack is safer on block.
• Faster fall speed.
• Falcon Dive goes slightly farther horizontially.
• Falcon Kick now bounces off shields like it does on walls, making it MUCH safer on block.

Nerfs

• Slightly lighter. (1.025 from 1.030)
• Faster fall speed.
• New Forward Aerial. That means your Knee is gone, although it's been reborn in another move.
• Neutral Aerial has more landing lag, so it is harder to follow-up with via Auto Cancel.
• Captain Falcon is put into helpless stage if finishing a Falcon Punch in the air.

Pros & Cons

Captain Falcon is back and he's a monster. He's gained something resembling priority and still keeps his deadly combination of power and speed, making him very formiddable.

Captain Falcon is one of the best rushdown characters in the game. He's really fast and is very difficult to keep out. His combos pack a lot of power and are very versatile; he can use almost all of his moves in a combo.

Captain Falcon's range isn't too great, his "get the heck off me" options aren't very good and he's easy to combo himself. This is to balance out his power and speed.

Overall, he's one of the best characters in the game, though.

Pros

• Powerful, packs some good strength behind his moves.
• Great mobility and speed.
• Decent priority on most moves.
• Pretty good air game.
• Great at mixing up his offensive game.
• Arguably the top combo character in the game alongside Luigi.
• One of the best at slaying defensive characters like Funky Kong and Fawful, and is one of the few close-up characters who can take on the grapplers. His match-ups overall are quite good.
• Not really a pro, but this guy's taunts are amazing. You can't help but love him for those.

Cons

• One of the easiest characters in the game to combo; he falls very quickly and he's heavy. His armor rating is only slightly above average, which doesn't help.
• A few of his moves come out slowly.
• Doesn't pack that much range on his moves.
• Very difficult to combo into his Final Smashes.

Moveset

Ground Moves

Normals

• Neutral Attack: A left jab, then a right jab, a knee bash, then a flurry of left punches. This is one of the best Neutral Attack in the game; its got some nice speed and decent priority, but its real reason for being so awesome is because of combos: the knee bash, at low-mid percents, is an absolutely amazing combo starter and is one of the reasons why Captain Falcon is so good in this game.
  • Damage: 3% (left), 2% (right), 5% (knee), 1-2% (rapid punches)
• Side Strong Attack: A left roundhouse kick. Decent range and priority, but not too strong and not useful in combos. You may be able to get it to work as a shield poke if you do it at maximum range. Can be angled up or down, although it doesn't really effective the move much.
  • Damage: 10%
• Up Strong Attack: An axe kick. The hitbox hits high and covers a decent amount of horizontal range on the way down, the speed is decent and so's the priority. For an Up Strong the knockback is good and even horizontal.
  • Damage: 13%
• Down Strong Attack: A sweep kick. The buffs given to this move are pretty crazy: It ends much faster, so its a useful combo move. If you can land a trip, the combo options grow even stronger; you can easily use a Down Smash or even your Final Smash after a trip if your prediction is good. Easily Falcon's most useful tilt.
  • Damage: 9%
• Dash Attack: A shoulder tackle. Not very strong, but this is awesome for combos and has decent range and great priority. Similarly to Ryu, you can cancel this into a Falcon Dive just about anytime you land this, or even some other things like Up Aerial or Neutral Aerial. Much lower ending lag compared to Brawl's version, too. Falcon's Up Special is also a grab, which makes blocking this attack extremely unsafe.
  • Damage: 8%

Smash Attacks

• Side Smash Attack: A flaming roundhouse kick, similar to the one from 64 instead of the elbow smash from Melee and Brawl. Fast, good range, and nice priority. One of Falcon's best stand-alone finishes but not very useful for combos.
  • Damage: 19% (uncharged), 26% (charged)
• Up Smash Attack: Captain Falcon kicks the air twice in a circular twice. High range, speed, and power make this a good move, not to mention its definately one of the best Dashing Up Smashes in the game. The kicks also combo into each other unless you use the move as a juggle, making this an awesome ground combo finisher due to its huge damage output.
  • Damage (first kick): 8% (uncharged), 13% (charged)
  • Damage (second kick): 12% (uncharged), 19% (charged)
• Down Smash Attack: Captain Falcon does two kicks, one hitting forward and one hitting back. While it has fairly noticeable warm-up time the kicks are fast and have good range and priority. Knockback on both of the kicks is also pretty good. You can also use this as a great tech chase move after a Down Tilt trip or your Down Throw at low percents, assuming you have the prediction. As far as I'm concerned however there is no way to combo the two kicks into each other.
  • Damage: 18% (uncharged), 26% (charged)

Aerial Moves

• Neutral Aerial: Captain Falcon does two horizontal kicks which usually combo into each other. This works well in combos still, but not as well in ground-to-air ones due to the landing lag spike. Not good in air-to-air combat since the combo potential is inconsistent and it leaves you open to attacks from above / below. Overall, eh.
  • Damage: 4-6/10%
• Forward Aerial: Captain Falcon leans forward in a slanted position and hits with his right fist. Looks like a weird version of his Back Aerial. Not a good substitute for the knee, but this has good range and decent priority. Better than nothing.
  • Damage: 11%
• Back Aerial: Captain Falcon delivers a quick right backhand. Does great damage and knockback and also has sex-kick properties, oddly enough. Mediocre range and priorirty. Works well in combos though.
  • Damage: 13-6%
• Up Aerial: Captain Falcon does a quick circle kick. This is the Falcon aerial, still: It combos, it's a great anti-air, a good edgeguarder, decent range, good priority, and is just overall awesome. This is a move you'll be using an absolute ton because it's really a move of a thousand uses. The knockback this move has depends on what part of the hitbox connects: closer to the body gets more vertical, closer to his leg's tip gets more horizontal.
  • Damage: 12%
• Down Aerial: Captain Falcon squeezes his legs up and then stomps. This now always Meteor Smashes, which is nice. Does decent knockback if it hits on the ground. Priority is very bad still, although it's a bit faster than most Down Aerials.
  • Damage: 15%

Grabs and Throws

• Grab: Quick one hand snatch. Basically no range and the pivot / dash grab aren't much better.
• Pummel: Captain Falcon knees the foe in the knee. Decent pummel.
  • Damage: 2%
• Forward Throw: Captain Falcon punches the foe in the gut. Decent combo possibilities, since you can follow it up at low percents with a Raptor Boost -> Air Combo, Falcon Kick, jump-in Knee Smash and possibly other things. Not very good after 80% or so, though.
  • Damage: 9%
• Back Throw: Captain Falcon swings the foe back and then kicks them. Decent in combos, but much worse than the above since it has more vertical knockback.
  • Damage: 9%
• Up Throw: Captain Falcon throws the foe up with his palm. Does terrible damage (for Falcon), but has a few other combo set-ups like your Up Special.
  • Damage: 7%
• Down Throw: Captain Falcon flips the foe over his head and slams them into the floor. Still a FANTASTIC combo and mix-up move; you can follow this up with many things at basically any percent since the knockback is so terrible. You can use mindgames to land even more things off of this.
  • Damage: 7%
• Air Throw: Captain Falcon grabs the foe, and flings them in a direction of your choosing: Up, Left, Right, or Down. Down is a Meteor Smash with decent strength, Left and Right have decent horizontal knockback, Up has decent vertical knockback. Range is a bit better than your ground throw, so an alright throw.
  • Damage: 9%

Special and Super Moves

Standard Special Move: Falcon Punch

Captain Falcon's signature move. He starts to charge up while saying "Falcon....." for an extremely strong, flaming punching attack that emits the appearance a of a falcon while he yells "PUUUNNNNCH!". The charge up is huge however at a whopping 47 frames.

Much like in Brawl, you can even have Captain Falcon do a 180 by tapping the opposite direction while charging. This is the "Reverse Falcon Punch" and is a little stronger in terms of knockback, but obviously slower; the reversal adds an extra 11 frames for a total of 58.

This is EXTREMELY slow (almost a second of start-up) and easily telegraphed due to the loud announcement whenever Falcon starts charging. It can actually be pretty easy to combo into if you know what you're doing though, but it takes practice and is mostly used on fast fallers like Fox, Falco, opposing Falcons, or Funky.

It should be mentioned, due to the frantic playstyle of the mode, this is MUCH easier to land in Free-for-alls if the other players are all jammed up with each other.

Either way though, landing this can quite possibly the most satisfying thing to do in an actual, 1 versus 1 fight.

This attack does 28%. The Reverse Falcon Punch does 31%.

Smash Special Version: Has half the start-up of the normal versions, making it somewhat easier to combo into from things like canceled Side Smashes at lower percents. In exchange for this, it's a bit weaker, now doing 25% / 27% and slightly less knockback. This is still very powerful, and as such you may want to find a way of landing it regardless.

Side Special Move: Raptor Boost

Captain Falcon's special launcher. He rushes forward with his fist on fire. If he hits something, he lands an uppercut for low damage and knockback.

The best uses for it are to dodge through projectiles while attempting to attack. Its a great combo starter due to its very special properly to be used as a launcher. Captain Falcon can cancel this into a jump and follow it up with a two hit chain combo of his choice: This means Captain Falcon can use this attack, jump, do a Neutral Aerial and cancel the Nair into a Up Aerial for more damage. Very nice.

Its not bad as an anti-air and can be comboed into from a Neutral Attack cancel or a Down Strong trip. Keep inmind that if blocked or if you miss, you are incredibly easy to punish, so pull this out randomly only when you are certain to land it.

The aerial version puts him into helpless state, but is a Meteor Smash with average power.

This attack does 7% normally. The Meteor Smash does 9%.

Smash Special Version: Much faster than the regular version and also a bit safer. Increase damage; 9%. The speed makes this handy as a defensive attack and like the regular version leads into good damage if it connects. Decent attack. In the air it's much stronger as a Meteor Smash and does 12%.

Up Special Move: Falcon Dive

Captain Falcon glows and rises upward, doing a somersault. While Captain Falcon is glowing, if he makes contact with someone he grabs them, gets... a bit close to them (do not ask about this, especially if you use this on a female) and then explodes off of them while yelling "YES!". This part of the move is unblockable. If you get that part to hit, Captain Falcon can use this move again in the air. Otherwise he's left in helpless.

As an attack, this is essentially a command grab which is VERY nice. You need to be very close to get this to connect against a grounded foe as a tick, though. Decent priority, so it's also a decent anti-air. Can be comboed into from a few moves, but typically gets killed by damage scaling.

Yeah.

This attack does 18%.

Smash Special Version: Has 10 invincibility frames and starts 6 frames faster. Also does a tad more damage (19%) and a bit more knockback. A great anti-air attack for Captain Falcon and also works great while recovering if someone thinks you're vulnerable during start-up.

Down Special Move: Falcon Kick

Captain Falcon rushes forward (or at a 75 degree angle down in the air) with his foot on fire, exclaiming "FALCON KICK!".

This is a bit different now, although most of the mechanics are taken from the Brawl version, It's slightly safer on hit if you hit with it late due to the hitstun increase of Clash. The nice double jump trick with this from Melee is back, meaning when you use this in the air, you regain your ability to double jump. Makes it fairly decent for recovery mix-ups. You still can't do an "Instant Air Falcon Kick" like Ganondorf can with his Wizard's Foot "Quake" however.

There's another catch, though. Similarly to Blanka's Blanka Balls, if this move is blocked, Falcon will bounce off the foe's shield and leave Falcon away from the opponent. This makes it noticeably harder to punish, although a few characters can do so. (mostly characters with Shoryuken / Flash Kick-type moves like Black Shadow, Ryu, Mario, Funky Kong, etc.)

Overall this move can be good or bad. It's really dependant on how you use it.

This attack does 13% damage with varying knockback depending on when it hits.

Smash Special Version: Can break projectiles like Ganondorf's Wizard Foot can. Only 1 priority or lower ones, though. Also does a bit more damage than the regular version (15%) but no knockback increase. Properties are the same otherwise. You may find some use for this as an approaching attack against heavy keep away, but otherwise not useful to Falcon's overall game.

Clash Attack: Knee Smash

• Uses 1 bar of Captain Falcon's Clash Attack Meter.
• Done with direction Falcon is facing + Special + Attack.
• Air only: Cannot be done on the ground.

Captain Falcon quickly smashes the foe(s) with his electric knee. Yeah.

While this is even better than it was in previous Super Smash Bros. games and is very powerful, you now have to pay to use it. I'd say it's well worth the price of admission, though. It's very easy to put in combos, and is really devasting in them. A major part of Falcon's game is to find a way to land this.

The range and priority can make this a little difficult to land outside of a combo, though.

This attack does 25%.

Final Smash 1: Blue Falcon

• Requires at least half of his Super Smash Meter to be filled.
• Done with Down, Down Forward, Forward + Special + Attack.

Captain Falcon summons the Blue Falcon to ride through a part of the screen. If it hits anyone, the foe(s) is / are launched into Mute City where Captain Falcon hits them with the Blue Falcon. You can use the Control Stick to angle where the Blue Falcon initially hits through; default position is a little bit in front of Falcon.

This is fairly fast and has utterly ridiculous priority, not to mention the damage is really good. However, due to the... awkward, hitbox properties, you can't really use this in combos.

Most matches seem to prefer this over your other Final Smash, though.

This attack does 69-96% (yes, seriously) depending on how much the Super Smash Meter was charged.

Final Smash 2: Falcon Megaton

• Requires his entire Super Smash Meter to be filled.
• Done with Forward, Down, Down Forward.

Captain Falcon says "Falcon...", as if charging for a Falcon Punch. Afterwards, Falcon rushes through the screen doing a really big punch that travels full-stage length and extends to Battlefield's third platform height. He yells "PUUUNNNNCH!" while doing this.

This is very similar to your normal Falcon Punch in that it's slow, lacks viable ways to combo into and isn't very safe on block. However, this... does insane damage, has insane knockback, insane range, really insane everything except speed. It's also very good for delivering chip damage and is a fantastic thing to go into when you put someone into Stun.

The main downer is the fact you can't do it at half meter like most Final Smashes, but this may be to compensate for the ridiculous power.

This attacks does 135% across 26 hits.

Competitive Tactics and Advice

Combos

Basic

• 1. Neutral Attack (3 hits), cancel into Falcon Dive
  • Damage: 28%
  • Notes: Great damage for something so simple, and works at a ton of percents and on just about every character. Bowser and R.O.B. don't flinch from the first two hits though, so use the below bread 'n' butter on them.
• 2. Down Strong Attack, Side Strong Attack, cancel into Falcon Kick
  • Damage: 31%
  • Notes: Another decent combo that works on everyone, but only at below 60% due to the Side Strong.
• 3. Up Strong Attack, cancel into Raptor Boost, jump and follow up with Neutral Aerial, Up Aerial, Forward Aerial, Back Aerial (Flying Screen)
  • Damage: 55%
  • Notes: High damage air combo. Master the timing on this and you can really do damage with Falcon. At the end of the combo, if you're near the end of a stage or in a corner, you can stick in an OTG Down Strong for an extra 5%.
• 4. Up Throw, jump and follow up with Neutral Aerial, Forward Aerial, Back Aerial (Flying Screen)
  • Damage: 37%
  • Notes: Less damaging variant of the above. Up Throw launches low; you usually can't get the Up Aerial in unless against huge characters like Ridley or Bowser.

Intermediate

• 5. Down Aerial on grounded opponent, land, Falcon Punch
  • Damage: 43%
  • Notes: Yeah, you can combo into this.. Works best on fast fallers like Fox, Falco, other Falcons, and Funky Kong around 70%. You can do the reverse Falcon Punch on other Falcons, but this requires very strict timing.
• 5. Down Aerial on grounded opponent, land, Falcon Megaton
  • Damage: 137%
  • Notes: Utterly massive damage and basically a guarantee KO if it hits, circumstances are similar to the above.