Falco is one of the most used characters in Melee. His punish on most of the cast is relatively simple thanks to pillaring (shine → dair → repeat) and has access to one of the best tools for his neutral game (lasers). Many newer players often find Falco to be a very difficult matchup because of these, however thankfully Link has relatively decent counterplay to his options. As you level up as a player you'll find Falco to be one of your more comfortable matchups.

Alright chances are if you're here and you're new, you're probably wondering “how do I deal with Falco lasers?” In between laser shots Link can pull a bomb and he can throw a bomb. You should also learn to powershield the lasers consistently. Powershielding a laser while you have a bomb in hand and throwing the bomb after the powershield is great, or if you don't have a bomb and are close enough go for a powershield into a grab. If you're struggling with powershielding UnclePunch has a mode that allows you to practice powershielding vs a Falco only shooting lasers. Some players may also find powershielding easier when performing trigger-tricking (trigger-tricking is when you hold down either or both triggers down without fully pressing them to the point that they click while plugging your controller in the Gamecube/Wii while they're powered on or while starting up the game in Slippi/Dolphin). This will disable lightshielding on the trigger(s) that you trigger-tricked with until the next time you plug it in normally.

Next is dealing with getting comboed by Falco. After a laser Falco is generally going to want to nair → shine you (or dair → shine you) to start his pillar combo. What you'll want to do is avoid getting hit by shine. If you see Falco using his aerial to overshoot and go behind you, SDI it inwards. If his aerial allows him to land in front of you, SDI away from him. Both of these options will make Falco's shine whiff due to the hitbox being smaller than Fox's.

Below is your list of moves that will cause knockdown on Falco:

U-tilt - 15%
D-smash - 23%
U-air - 18%
Dash attack - 36%

Finally, below is what your basic flowchart vs Falco should look like. Every sequence ideally should lead into you techchasing Falco with a regrab to continue your combo and 0 to death him. For example, first it says to go for a bomb throw → grab → pummel at 0%, this will put Falco at 13%. Next it says to Uthrow → Utilt which will cause knockdown and allow you to techchase Falco (if he misstechs, perform a jab reset by doing doublejab while he's downed and regrab him). Continue the flowchart to the next sequence etc.

Bomb Grab - 0-20%
Bomb grab -> pummel = 13%
If you U-throw between 13-16% U-throw U-tilt will cause knock down
If you U-throw past 17% U-throw will knock down
If you U-throw past 17% follow up with D-smash.
U-throw D-smash from 17-39%
U-throw dash attack from 40-80%
From 40-60% U-throw dash attack forced tech chase on DI away. All other DIs you get U-air/dash attack.
Ideally you want to dash forward as much as possible before dash attack.
From 80+ D-throw -> Up-B is a true combo
From 90-110 U-throw D-air is a true combo

Weak U-air -> Early D-Air...... 70s-120s Kill~90s
U-Throw -> Running D-air....... 60s-120s Kills~90s
D-Throw -> Up-B................ 70s-200s Kills~120s
Dash Attack -> Up-B............ 60s-110s kills~100s
Dash Attack -> D-air........... 80s-120's Kills~90s
D-Tilt -> D-Air................ 50s-150s kills~90s
U-tilt -> D-Air................ 50s-100s kills~90s

Edge guarding Falco is pretty simple. Throw a boomerang at his firefox or to stop his phantasm and then jump out with a nair or shoot an arrow at his other option. If you're sticking to the stage try doing an ftilt to hit his sweet spot, it works. The nair is probably your best option if you have enough time to get out there and use it. -Sklr