Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attack

Neutral Attacks

Falco performs an incredibly swift two-hit slap combo before transitioning into a wind-based flurry attack that ends with a final overhead axe kick. The first jab is limited in range, but starts up extremely fast. Falco extends the second jab farther than the first, coming out quickly, but he becomes punishable by most out-of-shield jab reprisals.

As an out-of-shield option, Falco’s neutral attack works from point-blank range, but up tilt and grab generally lead to more potential damage.

You can use Falco’s jab combo to frame-trap enemies between the second and third attacks. Perform the first two attacks, and if your opponent shields, counter their incoming attack by transitioning into the third rapid-hit attack (press the Attack button twice quickly). It’s relatively risky, but if your opponent uses out-of-shield attacks often, this tactic can be effective.

Dash Attack

Falco dashes at the enemy and then delivers a flying side kick, driving them diagonally into the air.

This is your primary midrange whiff-punish attack while dashing on the ground. The initial hitbox launches foes up into the air, but this doesn’t lead into a guaranteed combo follow-up. However, it does allow you to transition into a strong juggle-trap game. Hitting with the tail end of the kick causes small knockback.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

Falco unleashes a quick side kick to the enemy’s midsection, staggering them briefly. This attack can be angled up or down using the control stick. Falco aims the downward angled side tilt at the opponent’s feet. When angled upward, Falco targets the foe’s head.

Side tilt is a solid aggression-deterring attack and a good poke that extends beyond his neutral attack range. However, it doesn’t lead into extra damage, so it’s best used sparingly.

Up Tilt

Falco performs two consecutive slashes above him in a wide arc. The first hit pops the opponent into the second hit, which launches them directly above him into the air, setting up a potential juggle combo. Up tilt starts up quickly, though its total animation window is relatively short. It’s a remarkably versatile attack and can be used as an out-of-shield option, an anti-air, a combo-starter, and to extend combos. At lower percentages against heavier fighters, you can combo up tilt into up tilt into up air attack.

Down Tilt

Falco crouches low and sweeps the ground in front of him with a powerful tail attack that launches foes vertically into the sky for a potential follow-up combo. Down tilt has a relatively slow start speed when compared to Falco’s other attacks, but has strong KO potential. It’s also safe when shielded, especially if you space it. Against high-damage foes, you can fish for knockouts against grounded enemies by sticking out down tilt as your opponents approach you with an attack.

Smashes

Side Smash

Falco bends backwards and puts his might into a heavy overhead wing-slash attack, devastating foes in its path. Compared to the rest of Falco’s attacks, side smash is super slow, but it can obliterate high-damage foes near an edge. It’s unsafe when shielded as well, making it difficult to use in the neutral game. It does have its place as a ledge-grasping punish, if you can time the swipe to hit right when the opponent grabs on to the ledge.

While the hitbox is solid and reaches away from Falco’s body, it’s still a particularly risky attack to go for in most cases.

Up Smash

Falco performs a quick double-rising kick that arcs in front of him and above his head. The first kick knocks the enemy up into the second launching kick. Falco’s up smash is one of the better up smashes in the game. Its active window starts very early for a smash. It has outstanding area coverage (in front and above) and strong combo potential as it launches foes above you.

It’s an excellent out-of-shield attack against high-lag moves. It’s also effective as a defensive, reactionary tool against foes attacking you from the ground or from the air. If you can react to or predict enemy aggression with a well-timed up smash, you can finish off aggressive high-percentage foes.

It does have considerable end lag, so whiffing it or having it shielded can get you killed.

Down Smash

Falco hops up and lands on the ground, extending a leg in front of him and the other behind him simultaneously, clearing out nearby enemies. Down smash’s active window starts quickly, just slightly slower than up smash, so it’s a relatively fast double-sided clear-out tool. It can be used effectively in rare situations, such as to punish a rolling enemy who ends up behind you, or a ledge-roll. Otherwise, you generally have better and safer options to go with in neutral.

Grabs

Grabs

Falco reaches out and holds the enemy by the collar, preparing with a follow-up attack. Falco can almost instantly begin grab-attacking enemies as soon as he grabs them, so you can usually sneak a few hits in before you go for your throw.

Up throw leads to the most potential damage since it propels foes directly above you after the Blaster shot follow-up. However, at very high percentages (above 100%), the opponent can shuffle (directional influence) out of the follow-up Blaster shot. At lower percentages, you can combo up air after the Blaster shot.

At lower percentages, down throw sets up a guaranteed combo into dash-in short hop forward air attack. However, up throw is generally better to use since it deals more damage up front and sets up vertical juggle-combo potential.

Forward and back throw can set up tech get-up situations at low to medium percentages.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

Falco performs a midair spinning attack that strikes foes up to four times. Neutral air attack is an incredibly versatile attack, effective in both the neutral game and in combos. It starts up quickly, hits several times, and has relatively low landing lag.

Many of your offensive sequences should revolve around using neutral air attack optimally. Off of a short hop, you can use neutral air attack as a rising attack (short-hop into immediate neutral air attack while next to an opponent), or as a falling attack (from midrange, short-hop toward an enemy and then neutral air attack at the peak of your jump, then fast-fall).

Although up air attack is generally a better anti-air attack, you can use neutral air attack to attack enemies standing on platforms above you, or to put them in shield-stun.

Forward Air Attack

In midair, Falco becomes a bullet-like bird, spiraling forward, drilling his beak into the opponent several times, and knocking them back. Forward air has a unique landing attack: upon landing during the forward air animation (e.g., hitting forward air right before touching the stage), Falco extends a launching attack that knocks enemies up and away. This is essentially an instant launcher move that can punish foes attempting to meet you with an attack while you descend.

Forward air has uses in both combos and when poking at foes. Its persistence makes it a strong air-to-air attack and to grind at enemy shields when they’re standing on a platform above you. Its landing lag can expose you to attacks, but if you end the attack animation while you’re still airborne, you’ll mitigate most of your vulnerability.

Back Air Attack

While airborne, Falco thrusts his leg back behind him for a powerful aerial kick attack. Back air is a solid attack for air-to-air and air-to-ground situations when your back is to the opponent. It has a short animation with low lag, so you can stick it out multiple times in a jump. From a short hop, it’s best used early on while rising since its mid-animation landing lag can leave you exposed.

Up Air Attack

Falco performs a forward-somersault axe kick, hitting enemies behind, above, and in front of him. Up air is one of your staple attacks. It has a short animation with low lag, allowing you to aggressively attack with it, swinging multiple times in a single jump. It also boasts wide-angle coverage, swiping from behind, above, then in front of you, so it makes for an excellent air-to-air juggle-trap attack.

Falling up air attack can be used to start air-to-ground combos. At low percentages, you can combo falling up air to up tilt into jump up air against certain fighters.

Down Air Attack

Falco descends on the opponent with a spiraling drill foot stomp that spikes foes down, causing them to plummet into the ground. Although Falco’s down air attack looks identical to Fox’s, it doesn’t actually hit several times. The initial active frames can meteor smash, spiking enemies off the stage if timed correctly. The smash effect can be used to launch grounded enemies into the air for a potential combo, but its landing lag when used this way can get you punished if it’s shielded.

Special Moves

Special Moves

Neutral Special: Blaster

Falco quickly draws his gun and fires a Blaster shot that stops enemies in their tracks. Blaster lasers don’t interact with most projectiles, and they simply bypass each other instead of dissipating. If you end up trading blows, it’s usually (but not always!) a bad trade for you since your beams don’t do that much damage compared to most other projectiles. Unlike Fox’s Blaster, Falco’s shots inflict hitstun (flinching), although minor.

Falco’s draw and holster animations are quite long, leaving you vulnerable even if your shots connect. At point-blank range, most fighters can punish you with their neutral attack.

Blaster is best saved for harassing enemies at long range, dealing some shield damage, and forcing them to attack you or at least reposition. It’s also a solid tool against offstage recovering foes, giving them an additional obstacle to get by. You can use short hop Blaster shots to cover an enemy’s air approach. If fired early during a jump, you can holster the Blaster in time to act again.

Blaster can be special-reversed in order to reverse your jump trajectory, albeit slightly.

Side Special: Falco Phantasm

After a brief windup period, Falco lunges forward at supersonic speed while leaving behind trailing phantasms. Enemies hit by the phantasms are launched into the air. If performed low to the ground, Falco suffers much less landing lag. If you perform a short hop into immediate side special, you can bypass several frames of landing lag when you land. The gap between inputting short hop and side special can be extremely small, so much so that you’re barely off the ground. This applies to offstage Falco Phantasms as well. If you can accurately time and space your side special to fly back on the stage, but close to the floor, you can make it incredibly difficult for enemies to punish. However, sharp opponents can react and hit you out of your phantasm air dash since you’re not intangible or invulnerable.

Falco Phantasm on hit usually combos into a buffered hop into back air attack. You can adjust your hop height depending on enemy damage. At low damage, use short hop, while at higher-damage percentages, use a jump. If you hit with phantasm and end up close to the enemy (i.e., with the tail end of your special) while they’re spinning into the air, you can follow up with hop neutral air attack.

While Falco Phantasm doesn’t leave you in a helpless state when it ends while airborne, it has noticeable air lag, so you drop for a while before you can double-jump or up special.

Up Special: Fire Bird

Falco becomes engulfed in fire, charging up a multi-hit flaming super-dash that burns foes. Fire Bird can be aimed in any direction with precision. Hold the control stick toward the desired direction while Falco charges up the attack. Like most special recovery tools, Fire Bird leaves you in a helpless airborne state after it ends, free-falling and unable to act.

Although it has an extremely long start-up time before it’s active, hitting an opponent with the initial immolation along with the follow-up dash deals a massive amount of damage.

If you angle Fire Bird into the ground from the air, Falco bounces off the ground, leaving him exposed to attacks. It also has a significant amount of landing lag if you land from a horizontal aerial Fire Bird. Grounded Fire Bird launched horizontally has the least amount of lag, making it much safer when performed on the ground as a horizontal attack.

Down Special: Reflector

Falco flings his activated Reflector device out in front of him like a boomerang. The Reflector device hits foes in close range before it returns to Falco. The activated Reflector shield reflects projectiles back to the shooter, with the projectile dealing an extra 20% damage.

Reflector is an incredibly versatile attack, much more so than Fox’s and Wolf’s versions, thanks to how Falco uses the device as a boomerang.

Not only does Falco’s Reflector reflect enemy projectiles, but it also extends a boomeranging persistent hitbox out in front of him, making it a strong defensive attack against approaching foes.

If you find yourself cornered at a ledge, you can protect yourself by throwing out Reflector at a rushing opponent.

Final Smash: Team Star Fox

Falco uses a targeting reticle to lock on to any opponents directly in front of him. If he acquires a target, a team of Arwings shows up and fires at will.