Editing Ganondorf (SSB4)

|ranking = 53

'''Ganondorf''' ({{ja|ガノンドロフ|Ganondorofu}}, ''Ganondorf'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. Alongside {{SSB4|R.O.B.}}, he was officially revealed as a playable [[veteran]] on October 15th, 2014, although he was leaked four times prior to his reveal: via [[Leak#ESRB leak|video footage]] from ESRB, outside the in-game stage boundaries in an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omeOylQYkuU&t=56s official video] (later replaced with a nearly-identical video sans Ganondorf), in Twitch livestreams and even a mention in [[Masahiro Sakurai]]'s Pic of the Day five days before his official reveal.  

Ganondorf is ranked 53rd out of 55 on the [[tier list]], placing him in the G tier and tying him with {{SSB4|Zelda}}. This is a very slight improvement from his ranking in ''Brawl'', where he was the game's lowest-ranking character. As in previous games, Ganondorf remains as the game's archetypal super [[weight|heavyweight]], boasting high endurance, slow yet powerful moves that can KO very early, along with a capable [[edgeguard]]ing game courtesy of hard-hitting aerials. This is further enhanced by the buffs to his mobility, combo game and already high power, in addition to the general changes to game mechanics patching up several key weaknesses he had in ''Brawl''. Altogether, Ganondorf's high power allows him to deal ruthless punishes when the opportunity arises, in addition to being capable of ending stocks with very few hits.

However, Ganondorf still remains significantly disadvantaged by his slow mobility, very sluggish frame data when compared to the cast, and large target, making him exceptionally susceptible to rushdowns, combos and [[projectile]] [[camping]], in addition to giving him a linear [[approach]]. His grab game, outside of [[Flame Choke]], is also very lackluster, while his [[recovery]] is still easily exploitable due to being slow, linear and predictable. Finally, Ganondorf has a fair number of unrewarding moves that can neither combo or KO reliably, despite his overall power.  

As a result of these factors, Ganondorf still relies primarily on punishes and hard reads, and his weaknesses from ''Brawl'' are still prominent; however, he is commonly considered to fare better against difficult matchups, despite still being lackluster overall. This has resulted in Ganondorf gaining a low amount of representation in tournaments, in addition to attaining below-average success. Nevertheless, he is popular in the ''SSB4'' community due to his extremely strong, over-the-top, and extravagant punishment options that can easily KO unaware opponents, with a number of dedicated players such as {{sm|Gungnir}}, {{sm|Vermanubis}} and {{sm|Ray Kalm}}, some of which even use him as a solo main in tournaments despite his standing on the tier list.

* Clear {{SSB4-3DS|Classic Mode}} as {{SSB4|Link}} or {{SSB4|Zelda}} on difficulty 5.0 or higher.

Ganondorf's greatest trait is his raw power. He possesses attacks that are on par with {{SSB4|Bowser}} in terms of damage and knockback, with almost his entire moveset granting him the ability to KO under 150% or even 100% with ease, even if the opponent is in the middle of [[Final Destination_(SSB4)|Final Destination]]. This becomes especially evident with [[rage]], making his [[punishment|punishes]] some of the most potent in ''SSB4'', while several other moves have the ability to KO at exceedingly low percentages, such as an aerial reversed [[Warlock Punch]] (which [[one-hit KO]]s Mario with rage) and sweetspotted up tilt (which KOs middleweights at 33% near the ledge). While Ganondorf's combo game is limited when compared to the majority of the cast, his followups make up for it by dealing high amounts of damage in a short time, such as sourspotted dash attack to up aerial, or the followups from [[Flame Choke]] (either from opponents missing their [[tech]], or through predicting their reactions). Because of his strength, Ganondorf has one of the strongest KO abilities in the game, as he is capable of racking up damage and KOing opponents in less than a few hits.  

In addition, his previously mentioned attributes give him high survivability and allows him to use rage to full effect, further boosting his already powerful moves at high percentages. Ganondorf's strength also makes mistiming or overusing a shield incredibly deadly, with multiple attacks capable of dealing massive shield damage or outright breaking shields with a single hit. Notable examples of this are up tilt's sweetspot, which can break full shields, his forward and up smashes and aerial [[Wizard's Foot]]. He can also play [[mindgames]] to make opponents with low shield health play more carefully as a single hit from one of his attacks can break their shield or KO them at relatively low percentages.

Ganondorf is among the best [[edgeguard]]ers in the game, as his powerful aerials are relatively fast for their immense power (excluding forward aerial and down aerial) and send foes far away from the stage even at medium percents, spelling trouble for any fighter without a long-distance recovery. His down aerial is the most powerful [[meteor smash]] in the game with low ending lag, and his up aerial's late hitbox is among the best [[gimp]]s in the game with its [[semi-spike]] angle and high [[hitstun]]. Finally, his back aerial is a deceptively fast, safe and powerful KO move, as it starts up as fast as {{SSB4|Captain Falcon}}'s with relatively little lag and can autocancel in a short hop, despite its immense power. His grounded moveset is also useful for punishing impromptu recoveries, such as using an up tilt against badly positioned fighters or an up smash against horizontal recovering characters like {{SSB4|Ike}}. Ganondorf also has the lowest and safest ledge grab, allowing him to camp on the ledge effectively and giving him decent protection from opponents when hanging from a ledge.

However, Ganondorf possesses many notable flaws. His shield is very vulnerable to [[shield stab]]bing due to its small size relative to his height. Also, small characters, such as {{SSB4|Kirby}}, can easily avoid his attacks due to the majority of his moves having short range, poorly placed hitboxes with low durations, while also extending his hurtboxes and makes him vulnerable to trading or simply being grabbed out of an attack despite being visually out of range. Although Ganondorf's frame data is similar (albeit slightly slower) to {{SSB4|Captain Falcon}} in terms of start up (barring neutral attack, up tilt, and Warlock Punch), his attacks are very difficult to land while being easily punished due to high ending lag and/or landing lag; most notoriously, his forward aerial has the highest ending lag out of all of his aerials, and cannot autocancel even from a full hop, forcing Ganondorf to enter the landing animation. As a result of his high end lag, some of his moves are completely unsafe on shield, making it very difficult to take full advantage of his extreme shield breaking capabilities.

Additionally, Ganondorf's overall physics leave him with very poor mobility and approaching options, which makes closing the distance or creating space considerably difficult for him, and he is easily zoned out by projectile characters due to him lacking a projectile himself. Also, his high knockback and sluggish moves, his poor range as well as his terrible air speed all give him a very poor combo game, as he cannot easily or reliably pursue his opponents in the air while his aforementioned high power moves will almost always knock his opponents too far away for follow-ups. However, Ganondorf himself is very easy to combo; his heavy weight, tall stature, low air speed, and unsafe landing options make him very susceptible to combos and juggling, and his poor [[out of shield]] options gives him difficulty protecting himself against rushdowns. Overall, this makes Ganondorf rely heavily on proper spacing and mindgames, as he cannot afford to whiff a single move.

Another prominent weakness is his frame data. As mentioned before, all of his moves are burdened with extreme amounts of lag, with very few moves being active before frame 9 (with those moves being limited to up aerial, neutral aerial, standing grab, and neutral attack), while some of his moves do not come out before frame 30, such as [[Warlock Punch]] and his notoriously powerful up tilt. This offsets Ganondorf's powerful KO ability by forcing him to rely on reads and hard punishes, with few effective setups to end stocks via combos. When considering his overall poor speed and frame data, this also makes it difficult for Ganondorf to close the gap between him and an opponent should he be going against a speedy foe, such as {{SSB4|Sheik}}. As a result, he is collectively considered to have among the worst frame data in ''SSB4'', along with {{SSB4|Shulk}}, {{SSB4|Palutena}}, and {{SSB4|King Dedede}}.

Other issues include a poor grab game. Ganondorf's grab range is surprisingly short despite his size, while his physics, ineffective angles, and high knockback result in his throws having little follow-up, but are not strong enough to KO reliably. However, his forward throw does very high damage and can decently lead into down aerial meteor smashes off-stage, while down throw has fairly low knockback to decently combo (albeit not as good as other character's combo throws). Flame Choke can also work against Ganondorf due to it enforcing unreliable hard reads, especially if [[tech]]ed, with incorrect reads likely putting Ganondorf in a vulnerable position.  

His recovery remains very lackluster and one is of the worst in the game due to its low distance, low air speed and high vulnerability to edgeguarding and gimps. Flame Choke's and [[Dark Dive]]'s lack of speed, distance and resilience allows Ganondorf to be knocked away by even the weakest of moves, despite the former's fearsome sacrificial KO potential. Even if Dark Dive is landed and lets him reuse the move, it's high ending lag also makes it highly susceptible to being teched and punished, with opponents being able to act before Ganondorf can.

Finally, despite his status as a powerhouse, Ganondorf still possesses some moves that offer little reward due to their inability to combo reliably or KO at realistic percentages (with some not even KOing past 200%), such as his neutral attack's sourspot, neutral aerial's late hitboxes, Dark Dive, and all his throws.

Ganondorf drastically benefits from some of his custom moves; most notably, Wizard's Dropkick and Dark Fists. While Wizard's Dropkick is weaker, cannot [[meteor smash]], and has slightly more ending lag when performed in the air, it is excellent against projectiles and for recovery, acting as a superior version of [[Flame Choke]]'s recovery that does not leave him helpless while allowing Ganondorf to fly over projectiles while attacking. Dark Fists is a two-hit attack with better horizontal reach, [[armor]], and very potent power, giving him impressive protection against edgeguarders if used as a recovery and a very effective out-of-shield option, something that he lacks. When using both of these moves on his moveset, Ganondorf is granted a very efficient recovery and improved offensive prowess, as he can travel high distances while being exceedingly difficult to edgeguard without being punished. For other notable customs, Warlock Blade offers better utility over Warlock Punch due to its lower start-up, increased range, [[transcendent priority]], and high shield damage, but replaces one of Ganondorf's best punishing options due to its reduced strength. Flame Chain and Flame Wave are semi-viable alternatives to Flame Choke, with the former being a multiple hitting attack with decent horizontal knockback and the latter having high damage and strong KO power; however, both are laggier and sacrifice powerful combos, while the latter covers significantly less distance, to the point where it only reaches opponents directly in front of Ganondorf. The rest of his custom moves are ineffective as they offer very little bonuses over the default or other custom moves; the best example is Warlock Thrust, which has extremely minimal KO power and high ending lag to overwhelmingly outweigh its benefits of a larger hitbox and faster start-up. However, while his [[Character customization|custom moves]] address his recovery issues and make him a more dangerous character with better staying power, they are not allowed in the standard metagame.  

Despite being one of his most detrimental flaws in the previous game, Ganondorf's recovery has been made even worse (at least on paper). This is not only due to Ganondorf's decreased air speed but the removal of [[armor|grab armor]] also makes Ganondorf's recovery specials even more exploitable. While Ganondorf's faster air dodge and the removal of edge hogging most definitely help him, they do not help him as much as other returning veterans. When combined with numerous other returning veterans having improved recoveries, along with a majority of newcomers possessing solid recoveries of their own, this consolidates Ganondorf's recovery as one of the absolute worst in the game.  

Ganondorf's already poor defensive game has become even worse in some ways. While Ganondorf does have better Out of Shield punish options due to his grab/dark dive's slightly increased range/higher reward and his jab's slightly faster speed, his Out of Shield game still remains extremely poor as his grab still has very poor range (in addition to having increased ending lag) and his jab and dark dive are still fairly slow options. Ganondorf also flat out lost access to his second fastest Out of Shield option (his landing Wizard's Foot), which notably hurts his Out of Shield game, especially from dealing with opponents from behind.  

Lastly, Ganondorf overall does not benefit much from the game's universal changes. While the changes to hitstun canceling/DI slightly improve his combo potential, Ganondorf's combo potential still remains very poor overall, while some other returning veterans received much greater combo potential. This means that Ganondorf will still usually only be able to deal one or two hits on his opponent, while they will be able to chain multiple moves together for high damage. This also means that Ganondorf is much more susceptible to combos himself, with his large size and high weight/speed/gravity making him a prime target for combos. This also removes [[momentum cancel]]ing which when combined with the introduction of rage, noticeably hinders Ganondorf's endurance.

As mentioned before, the removal of grab armor noticeably hinders Ganondorf, as it makes his grab and command grabs even more exploitable (which especially hurts him while trying to recover) and while the removal of edge hogging and the changes to air dodges do help Ganondorf's recovery, it helps other returning veterans even more, making it even harder for Ganondorf to abuse his solid edgeguarding. Lastly, as much as rage improves Ganondorf's KO potential, his highly exploitable recovery and lack of practical KO setups means that he does not benefit as much from rage as other heavyweights or even some lighter weight characters, and it can naturally work against him by giving his opponent greater KO potential.  

Overall, Ganondorf is considered a better and more rewarding character overall compared to how he was in ''Brawl'' as his damage output and KO potential are greater overall and he even has one of the most positive buff:nerf ratios out of the entire cast. However, this has barely helped his standing on the tier list, due to his weaknesses either not being properly addressed or flat out worsened. His mobility is still abysmal and his frame data remains very poor despite being improved. His recovery was flat out nerfed, meaning that it is still highly exploitable despite the changes to [[air dodge]]s and the ledge mechanics. Ganondorf's down aerial and Flame Choke (his two best moves) have also been considerably nerfed, his defensive game is even worse and the changes to the game's mechanics do not benefit him much at all, especially compared to a majority of the cast.  

*{{change|Ganondorf has received three new [[alternate costume]]s.}}

**{{nerf|However, his dashing speed is even lower relative to the cast, as most other returning veterans saw a higher increase to their dashing speed than he did and all newcomers (expect {{SSB4|Robin}}) have greater dashing speed than him.}}

**{{buff|Neutral attack deals more damage (5%/7%/9% → 6%/8%/10%), improving the near hit's KO potential.}}  

**{{buff|The changes to shields significantly benefit up tilt, as the main hit now leads into a guaranteed shield break.}}  

**{{buff|The late hit now launches the opponent forwards (100° → 80°). When combined with dash atatck's decreased ending lag along with the changes to [[hitstun canceling]]/[[Directional Influence]], this significantly improves its combo potential.}}  

**{{nerf|The clean hit has a smaller hitbox (7.3u → 7u).}}  

**{{buff|Forward smash's far hit has increased base knockback on all angles (30 → 35).}}  

**{{nerf|Ganondorf no longer lunges farther when performing a pivoted forward smash, significantly hindering forward smashes whiff punishment potential.}}  

**{{buff|The first hit's foot hitbox launches opponents at a lower angle (140° → 154°) and has increased set knockback (90 → 108), allowing it to connect more reliably into the second hit.}}

***{{buff|Because of this, the second hit now pushes shielding opponents away from Ganondorf rather than dragging them toward him, making the move safer, especially when combined with its increased hitlag.}}

*{{buff|All aerials have decreased landing lag (22 frames → 17 (neutral), 32 frames → 22 (forward), 22 frames → 19 (back/up), 35 frames → 26 (down)).}}

**{{buff|The first kick has significantly decreased knockback scaling (100 → 30), has altered angles (55°/60°/65° → 55°/70°/100°) which along with the second hit's lower startup lag, makes neutral aerial connect much more reliably at higher percents.}}  

***{{nerf|However, these changes make neutral connect even less reliably at lower percents.}}

**{{buff|The foot hitbox has increased base knockback against grounded opponents (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/110), improving its spacing potential.}}

***{{change|This specific hitbox also has weight independent knockback.}}

**{{buff|The second kick deals more damage (7% (clean)/5% (late) → 12%/9%) and has increased knockback scaling (100 → 106), restoring a chunk of its KO potential from ''Melee''.}}

**{{nerf|The first kick deals less damage (11% (clean)/7% (late) → 7%/5.25%). Most hitboxes are no longer capable of KOing, and are now much more dangerous on hit. The foot hitbox still has KO potential against grounded opponents, although its knockback was not fully compensated, hindering its KO potential.}}

***{{nerf|Altogether, these changes greatly hinder the first kick's spacing potential.}}

**{{nerf|Down aerial has decreased base knockback (30 → 20).}}

***{{buff|However, this does also improve its combo potential at higher percents.}}  

**{{nerf|Down aerial can also no longer auto-cancel in a short hop due to Ganondorf's lower short hop. This significantly hinders its reliability as a combo tool (due to the much greater difficulty/risk of frame canceling), as well as its safety.}}

**{{buff|Pummel deals 1% more damage (2% → 3%).}}

**{{nerf|Floor attacks have less intangibility (frames 1-27 (front)/1-29 (back) → 1-22/1-24).}}  

**{{nerf|Edge attack has less intangibility (frames 1-22 → 1-21).}}  

**{{nerf|Non reversed Grounded Warlock Punch deals less damage (32% → 30%), launches opponents at a higher angle (361° → 50°) and it has much more base kncokback but much less knockback scaling (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 120/42). While this does give the move more knockback at lower percents, this also considerably hinders its overall KO potential.}}

**{{buff|Aerial Flame has more range (z offset: 6.5 → 7.5).}}  

**{{nerf|Grounded Flame Choke can now be [[tech]]ed, significantly hindering its [[tech-chasing]] potential, removing its guaranteed followups and and forcing Ganondorf to rely on hard reads.}}  

**{{buff|The throw deals more damage (7% → 9%) and has increased knockback scaling (82 → 90), improving its KO potential.}}  

**{{buff|Grounded Wizard's Foot deals 2% more damage (12%/10% → 14%/12%), improving its KO potential.}}  

**{{buff|Grounded Wizard's Foot's hitboxes are positioned further out (z position -3/-2/2 → 0/-3/6), significantly increasing its range, with the hitboxes now actually matching the kick.}}  

**{{change|Grounded Wizard's Foot has a slightly different animation: the kick is slightly higher, and Ganondorf enters a three-point landing pose when the move ends.}}

**{{nerf|Grounded Wizard's Foot has more ending lag if it ends on the ground (FAF 61 → 77).}}

**{{nerf|[[Flight of Ganon]] has been removed, hindering Ganondorf's already subpar air game.}}

**{{nerf|Beast Ganon deals less damage (47% → 40%), removing its [[one-hit KO]] ability.}}

**{{bugfix|Ganondorf no longer goes into his bind pose whenever he returns from the attack.}}

*{{buff|Forward, up and down throws' [[hitlag]] decreased.}}

|utiltname= 

|fsdesc=Transforms into Ganon, his demonic beast form and rams into the opponent. Opponents too close upon its activation are buried, whereas those otherwise will be [[paralyze]]d if they are in front of him.  

|desc=Emerges from a portal of dark magic.

*{{Sm|Adom|Israel}} - Highest-ranked ''Smash 4'' player in the Middle East. He is considered one of the best Ganon mains in the world. He placed 9th at [[Syndicate 2017]], the highest placement made by a Ganondorf main thus far. Has wins over players such as {{Sm|quiK}}, {{Sm|Fire}}, and {{Sm|Cyro}}.

*{{Sm|GanonTheBeast|USA}} - 5th on Minnesota Power Rankings. Infamously defeated {{Sm|Dexter}} in a best-of-five set [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsz1e52Y21s in less than five minutes].

*{{Sm|Gungnir|Japan}} - The best Ganondorf in Japan and one of the best Ganondorf players in the world. Placed 17th at [[Umebura Japan Major 2017]]. He has sets off of high-caliber players such as {{Sm|Taiheita}}, {{Sm|Shimitake}} and {{Sm|Earth}}.

*{{Sm|Rickles|USA}} - One of the best Ganondorf mains in the world. Placed 1st at [https://smash.gg/tournament/the-arcadian-3/events The Arcadian 3] and 49th at [[2GG: Hyrule Saga]]. He has wins over {{Sm|tyroy}}, {{Sm|K9sbruce}} and {{Sm|Razo}}.

 

 

 

Despite this, Ganondorf proved to be surprisingly popular in competitive play for a bottom-tier character, gaining a reputation as a "disrespectful" character thanks to his low tier standing and extravagant punishes. As such, he has garnered much better results than most other bottom-tiered characters (and even outplacing most low-tiered ones such as {{SSB4|Dr. Mario}} and {{SSB4|Wii Fit Trainer}}), especially in Japan and Eastern Canada, both places of where there is a surprisingly large number of Ganondorf players. This resulted in Ganondorf holding the third-worst position on the second tier list, at 56th (due to the inclusion of {{SSB4|Corrin}} and {{SSB4|Bayonetta}}). Thanks to big advancements to his metagame, as well as still having good results for a poorly regarded character, Ganondorf was ranked 53rd on the third tier list, allowing him to rise out of the "bottom five" position; furthermore, with the abolishment of the "bottom" tier ranking, Ganondorf was then ranked as a low-tier character. However, while Ganondorf gained a notable result in [[Umebura Japan Major 2017]] with Gungnir placing 17th with solo Ganon (also upsetting {{Sm|Earth}} during the tournament), and he retains his placing at 53rd on the fourth and current tier list, this placing is now notable for not only having Ganondorf share the spot with {{SSB4|Zelda}}, but also dropping back to being the second worst character alongside her, after the exclusion of Miis from the most recent tier list.

Altogether, Ganondorf has improved notably from his ''Brawl'' incarnation, where he was not only considered the worst character, but he was indisputably a bottom-tier character and his worst matchups were far more difficult to win than most bad matchups in the game. While Ganondorf keeps being consistently ranked either among or barely outside of the "bottom five" characters on the Western and European scenes, the Japanese scene is still more optimistic about the character, especially after Gungnir's high placing. As such, Ganondorf's true tier placing has remained  in contention throughout the game's competitive lifespan.

 

::{{flag|ntsc}} ''The King of Evil that awaits Link at the end of most of his adventures. Ganondorf possesses the Triforce of Power. In Smash Bros., he makes up for his low speed with devastating power. The strength of his blows can knock back most opponents. Get close with a dash attack, and pummel your foes!''

 

::{{flag|pal}} ''The King of Evil is Link's arch-nemesis in most games in the Legend of Zelda series. With the Triforce of Power at his disposal, he's a fearsome opponent. In this game, his mighty attacks have so much impact, they easily make up for his slow speed, and his launching ability is extra impressive! Rush in when the enemy's open and strike hard.''

 

{{Trophy games|console1=n64|game1=The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (11/1998)|console2=wii|game2=The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (11/2006)}}

 

:'''Ganondorf (Alt.)'''

::{{flag|ntsc}} ''Being the powerhouse that he is, the King of Evil is a great choice for free-for-alls. His Warlock Punch delivers a thunderous, dark-energy-fueled blow from his left hand. Unfortunately, left-handed dark-energy-fueled blows take some time to charge. You can turn to face someone as they cowardly try to hit you from behind.''

 

::{{Flag|Pal}} ''Being the powerhouse that he is, the King of Evil is a great choice for free-for-alls. His Warlock Punch focuses dark energy into his left hand to deliver a thunderous back-hander. Unfortunately, focusing all that energy takes time. If someone sneaks behind you just as you start the move, quickly try to turn around.''

 

{{Trophy games|console1=n64|game1=The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (11/1998)|console2=wii|game2=The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (11/2006)}}

 

::{{Flag|North America}} ''For Ganondorf's Final Smash, he morphs into a beast and attacks. As soon as he's transformed, he buries nearby fighters in the ground and then stuns them with his roar. Finally, he charges forward, dealing heavy damage and launching anyone in his way. Any foes buried by the first strike are doomed to be hit by the rest. ''

::{{Flag|Pal}} ''For Ganondorf's Final Smash, he morphs into a beast and attacks. As soon as he's transformed, he buries fighters nearby in the ground, then stuns them with his roar. Finally, he charges forward, dealing heavy damage and launching anyone in his way. Any foes who are buried by the first strike are guaranteed to be hit by the rest. ''

 

==In [[Event Match]]es==

===Solo Events===

 

===Co-op Events===