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| Warlock Punch | |
|---|---|
 Warlock Punch in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. | |
| User | Ganondorf |
| Universe | The Legend of Zelda |
| “ | 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. | ” |
| —Ganondorf's All-Star trophy description in Smash 3DS | ||
Warlock Punch (魔人拳, Demon-Man Fist) is Ganondorf's neutral special move. When used, Ganondorf winds his fist back, charging a punch for approximately 72 frames while a purple aura surrounds his fist. He then suddenly throws a devastating punch.
Overview
General
This move is very powerful as a single move causes 30%-34% damage and has very high knockback, able to KO at low percentages and can even KO light characters under 10%. Except on utterly defenseless or paralyzed opponents, this attack is very hard to use in combat because it is very slow and predictable, making it practically useless in competitive play. In the air, Warlock Punch is even more powerful and does about 37%-40%, with higher knockback, but the very slow start-up of the Warlock Punch combined with Ganondorf's poor jumping and fast falling speed makes landing the Warlock Punch while airborne extremely difficult.
In Super Smash Bros. 4, Warlock Punch grants Ganondorf super armor during the charge up. This allows him to tank hits and punish laggy attacks, giving it some practical use that it lacked in the previous games. However, the armor is only given when used on the ground; the aerial version does not have armor, even after landing. The armor is also lost when Ganondorf punches or reverses the attack.
This move is considered a "clone" move of Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch as it has the same animation, nicknamed as "Dorf Punch" by fans, but as mentioned above, it is slower, deals more damage, and has higher knockback. Also unlike the Falcon Punch, it is extremely difficult to attempt a Sacred Combo facsimile with due to its lag. Later in Brawl, Ganondorf has a different animation with the attack, where he instead does a powerful forward backfist with his left hand instead after a waving motion.
Reverse Warlock Punch
The Reverse Warlock Punch is an ability introduced in Brawl. A player can pull off a 180° punch by turning in the opposite direction during the beginning of the charging period. This deals roughly 3% more damage than a normal punch with more knockback. This move can be done on the ground and in mid-air, but on the downside, it is about 0.5 seconds longer than a normal Warlock Punch. This reversed move is good for mindgames (as with Falcon's) and does serve as a way to turn a match around, but is still very laggy.
Warlock Punch usually guarantees a KO at around 20-29% damage should it be landed (with a reverse aerial Warlock Punch being able to KO at 12%), the second lowest of any special move without special criteria (such as Oil Panic and Judge), behind Ike's stage 8 Eruption, which can KO at 5%.
Stages
Warlock Punch has four stages of damages and knockback depending on what type of punch is performed.
| Type | Damage | Percent that can KO |
|---|---|---|
| Warlock Punch | 32% | 34% |
| Reverse Warlock Punch | 35% | 26% |
| Aerial Warlock Punch | 36% | 21% |
| Reverse aerial Warlock Punch | 38% | 12% |
Origin
Ganondorf never uses the Warlock Punch as it is in any Zelda game, but similar attacks, fitting in with Ganondorf's motifs as the Warlock Punch does, have been used in several games. In Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf uses dark magic and a similar shout as in Melee to block Navi from approaching him in order to disable Link's ability to Z-Target. Additionally, in Wind Waker, he fights using his fists during certain cutscenes, showing massive physical strength and prowess in hand-to-hand combat. He knocks Zelda out during the final battle with a backhand slap, akin to the Brawl version of the attack. Finally, in Twilight Princess, Ganondorf uses a punch identical to the Melee version of the Warlock Punch (sans dark energy) to instantly kill a sage in the Twilight Mirror Chamber. However, none of these are actually the Warlock Punch, despite their similarities, and the move is overall non-canonical. Despite this, Ganondorf was given the Brawl version of Warlock Punch as one of his moves in the spin-off Hyrule Warriors.
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:
- Warlock Blade: (魔人剣, Demon-Man Sword) Ganondorf pulls out his sword and plunges it forward in a stabbing motion, with the sword's tip being a sweet spot, adding horizontal range at the cost of some power, knockback, less vertical reach and increased ending lag. Has faster start-up, transcendent priority and high shield damage, whereas the tip can instant shatter a full shield.
- Warlock Thrust: Ganondorf punches significantly faster than Warlock Punch/Blade causing a large explosion past his fist but comes with a great loss in power and knockback, very high ending lag and no super armor. The move has a sweet spot which deals 7% more damage.
Gallery
Trivia
- If a player performs a Reverse Warlock Punch on Pit, and Pit pulls out his Mirror Shield at just the right moment, Ganondorf will be sent flying across the stage a long way, longer than the distance of most stages. This also works on any other characters that can use a reverse.
- Even though this attack has obscene start-up lag, it isn't the slowest attack in Ganondorf's arsenal. His up tilt, commonly referred to as the "Volcano Kick", has an even slower start-up of 81 frames (88 in Melee).
- If the victim's damage is higher than around 100%, a reverse Warlock Punch will have higher knockback than a Home-Run Bat, which makes this move very useful in the Home-Run Contest.
