King Dedede (SSB4): Difference between revisions

King Dedede has been [[nerf]]ed significantly in the transition from ''Brawl'' to ''SSB4''. Several of his moves have been heavily altered or changed entirely, which has resulted in both positive and negative changes to his playstyle, though despite his buffs, his nerfs are much more prevalent due to his worse frame data and the loss of many of the traits that made him a formidable character in ''Brawl''.

The most notable positives that these changes bring are his new [[down tilt]], new side special [[Gordo Throw]], and his down special, [[Jet Hammer]]. Dedede's new down tilt has faster start-up and travels a long distance, making it one of his best defensive moves (out of shield, after a smash attack, etc) at the cost of its spacing potential. Unlike [[Waddle Dee Toss]], Gordo Throw deals a consistent amount of damage, fairly high knockback, and can even be used to "pinball" opponents by using their tumbling momentum to Dedede's advantage by trapping them between a Gordo and Dedede due to the ability to angle a Gordo's trajectory, which improves his neutral game. Lastly, Jet Hammer has been noticeably buffed in terms of range and the recoil damage, and due to the addition of [[rage]] combined with his high endurance and weight, it is a much better move both onstage and for edge-guarding. As a result, these moves are more versatile than their previous iterations in ''Brawl''. Some of the gameplay changes brought about by ''SSB4'' have also helped Dedede. He is now less susceptible to projectile camping due to the universal nerf to projectile camping (although he still arguably has the hardest time against camping), and he can utilize the rage mechanic very effectively due to his considerable weight, which supplements his high power.

However, the aforementioned new move alterations and changes to gameplay mechanics have also brought drawbacks that drastically outweigh the aforementioned positives, despite having a less polarized moveset than ''Brawl''. The most significant of these came with his new [[down throw]]. Dedede's grabs are slower and have less range making it harder for him to land a grab and when he does, the reward he receives has been greatly decreased. One positive change down throw received is that it now launches opponents vertically which gives it greater followup potential however, down throw no longer has [[set knockback]] making its followups percentage dependent and the removal of [[chain grab]]bing has heavily harmed down throw as it can no longer be used to (infinitely depending on the character) chaingrab opponents. While it is still a decent throw overall, it is nowhere near what his ''Brawl'' down throw was which was so powerful that it alone completely nullified certain characters.

Another one of Dedede's best moves which was changed for the worse was his [[back aerial]]. The move went from a fast, powerful, disjointed [[sex kick]] to a more powerful but drastically laggier and more difficult to land backward hammer swing. While the move is still decent, it is no longer one of the best back aerials in the game and one of Dedede's best moves. [[Up tilt]] was also noticeably nerfed as it is laggier, lingers for less time and has much less KO power. His new moves, despite bringing nice buffs, have also brought some drawbacks as well, such as his down tilt losing its KO power and having worse spacing capabilities, his new forward aerial no longer auto-canceling in a short hop (despite its faster start-up lag and more favorable hitbox placement) and being weaker and Gordo Throw being able to be reflected by any hitbox that deals at least 2%, which also hurts the previous anti-camping abilities the Waddle Dee Toss had in ''Brawl''. Dedede's already terrible air speed was decreased even further which is especially poor as most other returning veterans had their air speed increased. Altogether, all of these changes have nerfed Dedede's approach potential. Lastly, the changes to [[hitstun canceling]] also significantly harm Dedede, as they weaken his endurance despite his increased weight and make him an easy victim of combos.

As a result of these changes, King Dedede is significantly worse than he was in ''Brawl'' as his overall frame data was nerfed and a lot of his moves were completely changed with his two best moves (back aerial and down throw) being changed for the worse and he is one of the few characters who suffered more from the changes to ''Smash 4''{{'}}s mechanics than he benefited from them. He was one of the characters to have been the most severely nerfed in his transition from ''Brawl'', and despite having never been considered a strong character, Dedede was directly nerfed in patches receiving nerfs to his forward aerial, down throw, Gordos and his air speed. While this was somewhat balanced out with other top tiers receiving nerfs, other lower tiered characters had been buffed and DLC characters such as {{SSB4|Cloud}} and (more importantly) {{SSB4|Bayonetta}} were added to the game, further worsening his matchup spread. Due to this, Dedede went from a polarizing high tier who heavily struggled against some of the top tiers but completely annihilated many mid and low tiers to a non-viable bottom tier character who loses to almost every character ranked above him and only slightly beats some of the characters ranked below him.

*{{change|Up taunt's voice clip is now in sync with its animation, regardless of the direction he is facing.}}

*{{change|Like other large characters, such as {{SSB4|Donkey Kong}} and {{SSB4|Bowser}}, King Dedede's general size in proportion to the other playable characters is also greater than in previous installments. This improves his [[range]], but makes his hurtbox larger.}}

*{{nerf|King Dedede's [[air speed]] which was already the slowest in the game by a considerable margin is even slower (0.658 → 0.63). This is especially poor as most other veterans had their air speed increased.}}

*{{nerf|[[Roll]] has increased ending lag (FAF 32 → 33).}}

*{{nerf|[[Spot dodge]] has increased start-up lag with a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 4-19) and it has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 29).}}

*{{buff|[[Air dodge]] has decreased ending lag (FAF 40 → 35) although relative to the cast, it has gone from one of the fastest air dodges to one of the slowest as its intangibility was unchanged.}}

*{{buff|[[Jump]] is higher.}}

*{{change|The removal of [[chain grab]]bing both helps and hinders King Dedede. It significantly improves his endurance, but removes his own chain grabs.}}

*{{nerf|The changes to [[hitstun canceling]] significantly hinder King Dedede. They make him very susceptible to combos and remove his ability to momentum cancel,hindering his endurance in spite of his heavier weight. However, he still has the best vertical endurance among the cast. The only moves that benefit from the changes to hitstun canceling are down throw and to a lesser extent up tilt and up throw.}}

**{{buff|Neutral attack's first hit has decreased start-up lag (frame 12 → 10). Its neutral infinite has also received a finisher, an upward hammer swing.}}

**{{buff|The weakening of [[Smash directional influence|SDI]] makes neutral infinite significantly more difficult to escape from.}}

**{{nerf|Neutral attack deals less damage (6% → 4% (hit 1), 5% → 4% (hit 2), 2% → 1% (loop)) and has smaller hitboxes (6u/3.5u → 2.5u (hits 1-2), 4u/5u/7u → 2u/3u/7u (loop)). The second hit can also no longer [[Tripping|trip]] opponents.}}

**{{change|Neutral attack has altered knockback (20/25/35 (set)/100 (scaling) → 50/48 (base)/25 (set)/10/100 (scaling) (hit 1), 20 (base)/50 (scaling) → 50/30 (base)/10/45 (scaling) (hit 2), 30 (base)/20 (scaling) → 60/20/2 (set)/100 (scaling) (loop)) and altered angles ([[Sakurai angle|361°]]/80° → 75°/105°/361° (hit 1), 85° → 115°/105°/100° (hit 2), 30° → 70° (loop hits)). This makes the first hit connect into the second hit more reliably but makes it harder to [[jab lock]] with.}}