Ganondorf (SSBB): Difference between revisions

Ganondorf is a [[Weight#SSBB_Weight_Ranking|heavy]], fast falling, very slow character (the slowest to be exact) with sub-par range and strong attacks. His attacks, though only in the sweetspot, deal above average knockback, although this can also serve as a problem since it prevents him from comboing at medium damage percentages or higher. His side special grants him [[armor]] (only helpful in team battles or Free-for-alls) while he is holding the opponent, and it leaves opponents vulnerable for a bit of time if used on the ground, leaving them open for another quick attack being a true set up like down tilt (on most characters), his jab, or several characters getting hit by dash attack and side tilt for KOs, and even his up aerial on platforms. In the air, Ganondorf's side special can cause a [[Ganoncide]], although it is situational because even when it is impossible to escape from it or control the trajectory, landing it is very hard work, and the results in a last-stock situation are unpredictable. Ganondorf's moves are arguably the least affected by Smash DI because he has the lowest number of multi-hitting moves (his down smash and his neutral aerial are his only moves considered to be a multi-hitting move; however, his neutral aerial's second hit will almost never connect at higher percentages), effectively rendering escape and punishment of his attacks ineffective, although his attacks are a lot easier to shield or dodge. Ganondorf's dash attack provides him with a quick speed boost, and the move is a hard hitter as well and can also KO, but it is easily punished if shielded. Ganondorf's aerials are also very strong; all have high knockback and strong edgeguarding potential; his up aerial is a very useful [[semi-spike]] that can gimp opponents due to its high hitstun and his down aerial is an extremely strong, reliable [[meteor smash]] that is the strongest in the game (sometimes can KO even at 0%, depending from how far the opponent is from the lower blast line). Ganondorf`s advanced [[superjump glitch]], the [[Flight of Ganon]], is very situational, but, if done right, he travels far higher in the air than any of his aerial options, allowing him to escape pressure, and allows him to set up an aerial reverse Warlock Punch, his strongest move.

Additionally, despite him having some useful combo starters at low percentages, Ganondorf is otherwise virtually unable to combo past low-mid percents. Ganondorf cannot pursue his opponents with most of his other moves both in the air and on the ground due to his low air speed, his abysmal overall mobility, the high knockback of most of his attacks, and the ability to act out of hitstun, which makes him nearly incapable of consistently and efficiently racking up damage above mid percents. As mentionned earlier, he does have some decent combo starters in his short hop auto-cancelled down aerial and his Flame Choke. However, both moves are flawed in the same way: they have long start-up lag and are as such extremely predictable and avoidable. Furthermore, his Flame Choke has high ending lag if missed and requires proper reads in order to effectively tech-chase and combo his opponent repeatedly, while his down aerial no longer set ups into any of his other moves above mid percentages.

Ganondorf's overall moveset has received an overhaul from ''Melee''. While he still shares some moves from {{SSBB|Captain Falcon}}, he has received different animations and moves that now makes him a semi-clone rather than a full clone.

Despite being a low-mid tier in Melee while also receiving some good buffs, Ganondorf was immensely [[nerf]]ed from ''Melee'', being one of the most nerfed characters in the transition alongside {{SSBB|Jigglypuff}} and one of the most severely nerfed characters in the entire series. His already slow mobility has been weakened, and some of his moves have less [[reach]] (despite his tall stature), leaving him very easily out-maneuvered and vulnerable from all sides. His comboing and KOing ability also have been severely crippled: his grabs can no longer [[chain throw]] nor set-up effectively as before; and his great power has been toned down to being only slightly above-average, due to his moves either being drastically weakened to the point where they cannot K.O. even at 200% or have received extremely large [[sourspot]]s that cannot KO reliably, most notably his forward aerial, the crux of his metagame in ''Melee''. Finally, his already poor recovery was significantly weakened to be among the worst, with his main recovery move ([[Dark Dive]]) being completely unsafe on hit.

*{{change|Ganondorf's design is now based off his appearance in ''The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'' rather than ''{{s|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time}}'', and his sword is now the [[List of swords#Sword of the Six Sages|Sword of the Six Sages]]. The overall boost in graphics also give his outfit more detail.}}

*{{change|Ganondorf's sword waving victory pose has been replaced by a laugh with crossed arms.}}

**{{nerf|Dash attack has more startup lg (frame 7 → 10) with its total duration compensated (FAF 38 → 41). It also has much less range and now has a sourspot with less knockback scaling.}}

**{{nerf|Forward tilt deals slightly less knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/88), hindering its KO potential. It also more startup (frame 9 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 29 → 39), can no longer be angled, and has less reach, making it more difficult to land and a less safe and less useful [[space]]r, as well as reducing its maximum damage output.}}

**{{buff|With the exception of standing grabs near grabbox, grabs have larger grabboxes (3.906u (standing)/3.906u/3.906u/3.906u (dash) → 4.8u (standing)/4.8u/4.8u/4u (dash)), giving them more range despite dash grab's furthest grabbox being poistioned closer to Ganondorf (z offset: {{rollover|9.2807|8.5932 x 1.08)|y}} → 9).}}

**{{buff|Ganondorf has a new side special: [[Flame Choke]]. Ganondorf charges towards his opponent, grabs them by their head and attacks them with a dark pulse that weakly meteor smashes enemies into the ground. This allows Ganondorf to potentially follow-up with an additional attack and [[tech-chase]].}}  

**{{change|Aerial Flame Choke causes Ganondorf and his opponent to plummet downwards until they hit the ground, allowing it to be used a [[suicide KO]] (although it usually KOs Ganondorf first), but does not meteor smash on landing.}}

**{{nerf|The grounded version deals less damage (15% → 12% (near)/10% (far)), launches opponents at a less favourable angle (361° → 45°) and it has lower knockback scaling (85 → 70), greatly hindering its KO potential.}}

**{{buff|After its first three active frames, the aerial version now launches opponents vertically (290° → 80°). When combined with its higher knockback scaling, this greatly improves its KO potential and safety against opponents on/above stage.}}  

**{{change|Ganondorf now has a [[Final Smash]], Beast Ganon. Upon activation, Ganondorf turns into {{s|zeldawiki|Ganon}}, his monstrous alter-ego and stomps the ground, [[stun|stunning]] anyone who gets hit by it, and performs a a dash at lightning speed. The move is extremely powerful, dealing high damage and knockback, usually [[one-hit KO|one-hit KOing]] anyone who gets hit. The move is also surprisingly fast and Ganondorf has a guaranteed universal setup into it with Flame Choke.}}

|neutraldesc=A slow palm strike. Ganondorf's fastest attack on the ground (outside of his grab), with decent range and knockback, but is among the slowest jabs in the game as it comes out on frame 8. It is overall a useful move for Ganondorf but this is mainly due to Ganondorf lacking any faster options on the ground, outside of his short ranged grab, which is only a single frame faster.

|utiltdesc=Ganondorf lifts his leg before smashing it down in an explosion. Has [[vacuum]] properties dealing huge damage and knockback if it connects, and it does very high damage on shields. Considered the slowest start up tilt and the slowest move overall with a total of 81 frames of startup, but also the strongest if hit with the sweetspot. Can KO at low percentage if used very close to the edge and the opponent doesn't utilize DI and [[momentum cancelling]].

|dsmashdesc=Kicks his leg in front and then behind him. The move has high startup lag (although it is Ganondorf's fastest smash attack), and there is quite a long gap between the first and second hit. It also has high ending lag, having the highest total duration out of all of Ganondorf's smash attacks. If the opponent is put into tumble from the first hit, they have enough time to air dodge to avoid the second hit and even potentially punish Ganondorf afterwards. Whether the first hit puts the opponent into tumble or not depends on the opponent's weight and which hitbox connects. Only 7 characters are never put into tumble with the move, with 11 characters being put into tumble by both the close hitbox and the far hitbox, allowing them to always avoid the move. The first hit's nearest hitbox puts no characters into tumble but it does not link into the second hit at all. The first hit does have a low SDI multiplier however, so if the opponent is not put into tumble, it is very difficult for them to SDI to avoid the second hit.

|nairdesc=Two quick mid-air kicks. The first hit deals the most damage and knockback, making it unlikely to combo into the second hit above extremely low percents.