King K. Rool (SSBU): Difference between revisions

King K. Rool is a character that ostensibly fits the mold of a super-[[heavyweight]], being the second-heaviest character in the game and possessing a large array of powerful attacks, along with below-average mobility. However, he has some characteristics that notably set him apart from his heavyweight peers, such as decent frame data in some of his moves, a great [[recovery]], and other valuable tools with a gameplan that focuses on punishing mistakes and zoning against horizontal approach.  

King K. Rool's greatest strength is the immense utility of his moveset. Though many of his attacks are typical of a super-heavyweight for hitting very hard, his attacks that lack brute strength offer many different ways to punish opponents, making his playstyle unique and punish-oriented. This is best shown through his character-specific perk, [[Belly Super Armor]]: attacks with this property gain short periods of this [[super armor]], which can block incoming attacks during their duration. This mechanic gives him an advantage that allows him to win more exchanges than he would normally, as it can grant him an immediate opening during an otherwise vulnerable state (such as while being juggled). Additionally, it affects a large amount of his moves, granting more safety on his [[forward tilt]], [[up smash]], [[down smash]], [[dash attack]], [[neutral aerial]], [[up aerial]], and [[down aerial]]. As a result, Belly Super Armor heavily helps his approach and defense.

Alongside the utility of his Belly Super Armor, King K. Rool has effective tools for ground offense. His [[neutral attack]] has good range and speed, making it reliable as a quick spacing option. This is especially useful out of a [[foxtrot]], as it is incredibly quick and is in fact faster than his normal dash speed (effectively replacing his dash in most circumstances). His tilts are very effective - his [[forward tilt]] has good range, good kill power and uses belly armor. This makes it one of the best pivot cancel options in the game, as not many moves can really challenge it. His [[up tilt]] comes out very quickly, has reasonably decent knockback (especially at the beginning) and has good enough range to hit platforms above K. Rool. This can also be used to anti-air or prevent approaches from characters such as {{SSBU|Lucina}} and {{SSBU|Marth}}. It is also the most reliable move out of [[down throw]], becoming true from around 90% and killing at around 130% on most characters. [[Down tilt]] is rather fast and can [[bury]] opponents or KO airborne ones, making it a potent punishment option. It also works at the ledge as a 2-frame and can send the opponent into a Blunderbuss Kannonball.  

All of his [[smash attacks]] are incredibly powerful, and coupled with up and down smashes gaining belly armor and also having unique traits. Forward Smash deals monumental knockback on the glove sweetspot, especially if angled upwards. It also confirms out of Down Tilt at 70%, usually killing the opponent. [[Up smash]] functions as a quick anti-air, has a small spike hitbox and a third hitbox that punishes ground foes. However, only the first is really useful as the other two are extremely weak. The Belly Armor also means that if it is countered, it will send him catapulting off-stage due to how it raises him off the ground. Down Smash deals massive shield damage and lifts K. Rool's entire body off the stage, beating any mid to low moves making it his best hard punish by a long shot. Overall, his smash attacks are all formidable for hard punishes.  

His aerials are also fairly unique in their utility. Neutral aerial grants the longest duration of belly armor in K. Rool's moveset, making it a reliable combo-breaker or landing tool to prevent juggling. Neutral and forward aerials also act as [[sex kick]]s, making them effective for edgeguarding in a variety of situations. Up aerial has good start-up and decent kill power while also working as niche platform movement out of short hop. This is most effective when platforms are low, such as on Battlefield. Down aerial and [[back aerial]] are [[meteor smash]]es, with the former coming out relatively fast, while the latter is very slow, but is also one of the strongest meteor smashes in the game. His up and down aerials utilize belly armor, but their utility is minimal due to their hitboxes being separated from K. Rool's belly.

His [[special move]]s have a wide array of uses as well, with several efficient [[projectile]]s; the [[Blunderbuss]] is useful for edgeguarding purposes (such as forcing a situation where the opponent has to recover low, allowing for running off with [[down aerial]] to [[meteor smash]]) and throws out a Kannonball that can be sucked back in and aimed in a few directions. The suction of the Blunderbuss is an effective ledgetrapping tool, especially on stages with platforms. Since K. Rool can drop platforms while still being able to move slightly, he can limit the opponent's options to get out of the ledge. [[Crownerang]] covers a large distance and grants him [[super armor]] in the beginning frames of the move, and the late hit can set up combos into numerous moves. The pickup animation also has some ways to be cancelled, such as the normal way with other attacks, or a jumpsquat to use the crown again for significant coverage of a stage (although the latter can be difficult). It can also cause K. Rool to slide a bit if he dash dances into it, which is referred to as [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8n-UOeLZRM Crown Sliding] by the playerbase.  

K. Rool has very strong grab game: his [[up throw]] is the most damaging throw in the entire game, can KO at high percents with the help of platforms (especially [[Battlefield]]'s center platform), and can also lead into [[up tilt]] if the opponent doesn't jump. His [[back throw]] has reasonably solid KO potential near the ledge or otherwise puts the opponent into a position primed for a [[Crownerang]]. This throw can also work with a Crown thrown backwards, hitting the opponent during the animation. At higher percents, his notorious [[down throw]] can lead into semi-guaranteed tilts, aerials, or possibly even smash attacks if the opponent doesn't mash out fast enough, with it being borderline guaranteed with an Up Tilt at 125%+ on midweight characters. While his [[forward throw]] is his least impressive throw as a whole, it does decent damage, can help put an opponent offstage and in a disadvantageous position, and lead into a [[dash attack]] or his [[forward tilt]] through pivot cancelling at very low percents. The latter option here can also be used as a [[tech chase]]. All of this is made even better by the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1If8eSLKwI Roll Cancelled Boost Grab], which combined with his incredible initial dash can allow for a string of grabs that strongly deter shielding.  

Finally, King K. Rool has access to a large amount of [[advanced technique]]s. He has a total of 7, all centered on his [[Crownerang]] and [[Blunderbuss]]. These assist with movement, mixups and even enabling combos. As a result, he is a decently technical fighter that can be rewarding to a player looking for a character with a learning curve. They are all decently practical and reward creative use, allowing players to build relatively interesting playstyles on their own. This makes him easily accessed on a low level, while still being usable on a higher level of play.  

However, King K. Rool's numerous advantages are met with nearly just as many downsides. His below-average speed spells trouble for him in certain matchups, and can make him easier to zone than others, despite his projectiles: Blunderbuss is laggy, the Kannonball is slow and very easy to avoid, while Crownerang is slow and can backfire very hard when missed, since the picked up crown is a fairly powerful item that can be abused to rack up damage very quickly on King K. Rool. [[Gut Check]] is generally inferior to other counters due to having a hitbox only on his stomach, while having significantly higher endlag than most reflectors (around 30 frames if it fails), making it unreliable for countering projectile [[camping]]. This endlag makes it almost meaningless against some projectiles, such as {{SSBU|Falco}}'s Lasers.  

While K. Rool's ground game is reasonably decent, his overall aerial game is relatively poor. Despite his aerials having interesting attributes, including two meteor-smashes, a lot of his aerials suffer from extreme ending lag, making many of them situational (especially up aerial). His forward and down aerials are weaker than the comparable moves of other super-heavyweights despite their high ending lag. His neutral aerial, which is his only aerial that comes out fast without having high ending lag, has poor range and is very unsafe on shield. It is also unsafe on hit at lower percentages, which restricts his potential in the early game. While his back aerial is very strong and has a lingering hitbox, it has very high start-up lag. Its sourspot is also relatively weak, failing to KO until high percents. K. Rool's low air speed and overall poor aerial mobility further hampers his aerial capacity.

King K. Rool's recovery, while good on paper, is very exploitable by many characters. [[Propellerpack]] is very linear, and any player that can deal with it can usually edgeguard him for long periods of time. It is immensely slow, and moving around with it reduces the vertical speed and leaves strong momentum, which with poor planning can kill him. The hitbox doesn't help him horizontally, and given he cannot cancel the animation he has to hard commit to it. He has to try and recover low almost every time, which is extremely dangerous due to how many characters have meteor smashing aerials. Moves from characters such as {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}} and {{SSBU|Villager}} have projectiles ([[Ptooie]] and [[forward smash]] respectively in this case) that go at the perfect angles to screw it up. It also leaves him very vulnerable to a [[stage spike]], as running off and simply using a [[back aerial]] is enough to stop him from coming back. The move can be angled to try and prevent this, but any player who knows the matchup will have a very easy time stopping him from coming back. K. Rool also has very few ledge options, with only the generic ones really available. His only one is [[forward aerial]], which to ledgesnap requires frame perfect precision. He has no creative options or anything to ledgesnap - even [[Crownerang]] is too laggy to be used through the ledge reliably - and thus characters like {{SSBU|Ness}}, {{SSBU|Simon}}, and {{SSBU|Richter}} can keep him there for a long time before finally killing him.

Though a lot of his moves has fairly solid start-up, especially for a super-heavyweight, an equal amount of them suffer from very high endlag, which means that King K. Rool gets easily punished if he fails to connect his attacks. While his belly armor gives him a lot of safety, it also makes some moves less safe to use, especially against characters with very strong moves that can break his belly armor in just a few hits, such as {{SSBU|Ganondorf}}. This means that if his belly armor is used too much, it effectively removes his moves from the game for a while. Finally, despite the wide array of tools he has at his disposal, K. Rool lacks many moves that can simply be thrown out quickly, as many of his attacks are punishable or force him to use up his belly armor. This ironically makes his [[approach]] rather lackluster despite the sheer amount of different, fast attacks he has: few can keep the pressure up without being exploited, or they reset neutral instead. However, his incredible foxtrot can alleviate this slightly.  

If an opponent picks up the Crown after it has been thrown with [[Crownerang]], it leaves him without one of his best tools. The crown can actually be used to edgeguard against [[Propellerpack]], or it can be thrown up to keep it from despawning. It is also very possible to combo through the Crown Item or pick it up again after throwing, with very little counterplay available. This is worsened by the fact that Gut Check - even at maximum throw range - doesn't allow K. Rool to have it picked up: he is completely defenseless against an opponent with the crown. The fact that the pickup animation takes 17 frames to complete also means that it can screw up combos at crucial points, or possibly lead to the opponent getting away and stopping advantage from being attained. While this is alleviated slightly through the Crownless Bounce tech, it will still be difficult to come back from this.