Donkey Kong (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Donkey Kong is ranked 68th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the D+ tier. This is a significant drop from his 22nd out of 54 placement in ''SSB4''. Donkey Kong has surprisingly good mobility for a superheavyweight, having both a good dash and air speed, while possessing good KO power fitting for his weight class. His down tilt has a chance to trip; his up tilt is a solid anti air that can kill at high percents, his forward tilt is a good spacing tool, and his dash attack is a long-reaching, general-purpose move that has late-hit combo potential. His aerials are all good as they serve their purpose in Donkey Kong's strong advantage state, with back aerial as a good walling and edgeguarding option, up air as a strong juggling and KO tool, down aerial and forward aerial for spiking opponents offstage, and neutral aerial as a good get off me or landing option. Donkey Kong also possesses one of the best throws in the game with his cargo throw, which works exceptionally well against characters with poor to mediocre recoveries. His specials are also effective: [[Giant Punch]] can now be used in the air without becoming [[helpless]]; [[Headbutt]] can punish overuse of shields and can [[armor]] through opposing attacks; grounded [[Spinning Kong]] has armor and functions as a powerful kill move and [[out of shield]] option; and [[Hand Slap]] can be used to set up for kill confirms and deny grounded approaches.

Donkey Kong has a lot of flaws to counteract his strengths. Despite having a strong advantage state, his disadvantage state is among one of the worst in the game. He has one of the largest hitboxes, and many of his limb-based moves lose intangibility once their hitboxes cease, meaning Donkey Kong is frequently in danger of being clipped by attacks compared to other fighters. He also has little to no option to escape from combos due to his frame 4 air dodge, and not having many moves that are fast enough to combo break, while most of his out-of-shield options are too slow or high-risk. As a result, this makes him one of the easiest characters to juggle. Alongside this, Donkey Kong has a lackluster and risky [[neutral game]], as many of his attacks have high ending lag and a decent chunk of them are unsafe on hit at low percents. His recovery is also one of the most exploitable in the game, as a simple spike is enough for Donkey Kong to quickly lose his stock, since [[Spinning Kong]] offers very little vertical distance.

Overall, Donkey Kong is a speedy heavyweight with unique tools and the potential to convert a single throw into early KOs; however, his disadvantage state means a simple mistake can make it hard for him to keep the pressure on. While early impressions of Donkey Kong were positive, he has widely been seen as unviable due to his flaws. Regardless, he has seen some results from players, such as {{Sm|ChunkyKong}} and {{Sm|HIKARU}}, who have taken him decently far in tournaments.