User blog:Plasmaster/Smash Study Hall: King Dedede

Hey Smashers! Welcome back to the Super Smash Bros. character strategy guide blog series, Smash Study Hall! Plasmaster here.

Once again this guide took much longer than it should have to make, though this time it was mostly because I was working more on my YouTube channel than the guide, to be quite honest. However, I worked my tail off this last week and can now confidently say that it is ready! Without further ado, let's dive right in to the King of Dreamland, King Dedede!

King DeDeDe's jab is one of the slowest in the game, but it still does some good damage and the second hit pulls the opponent towards Dedede to be hit by the infinite jab into a finisher, which is a deadly kill move at higher percentages. King DeDeDe's forward tilt is among the fastest of his moves and is an excellent spacing tool and combo move, comboing out of down tilt and neutral aerial at lower percentages. Up tilt is a good combo starter, launching opponents into the air above Dedede; it can combo into up smash and Gordo Throw at lower percentages and up aerial, forward aerial, neutral aerial, and Jet Hammer at mid-high percentages; it can also be a useful kill set-up since up aerial is a reliable kill move. Down tilt rolls forwards a short distance and at lower percentages can combo into itself, jab, and forward tilt; it combos out of fast fall neutral aerial and at mid to high percentages it launches opponents into the air which can be followed up with a forward, neutral, or up aerial, or even an aerial Gordo Throw. King DeDeDe's dash attack is one of the most deadly in the entire game; it possesses Super Armor frames and is a great kill move but has high starting and ending lag that makes it easy to punish if misused; it can be used to punish rolls or edge-get-ups but otherwise using it will get King Dedede punished.

King DeDeDe's smash attacks are all good kill moves. His up smash can punish rolls since, similar to Ike's up smash, it covers the sides of Dedede as well as above him; this also makes it good for punishing aerial approaches. It combos out of up tilt and down throw at lower percentages but doesn't combo out of anything at mid-high percentages, though it can combo into aerials at these percentages which can make it a good combo starter. King DeDeDe's down smash is the fastest of his smash attacks and has good coverage on each side of himself. Use it to punish rolling opponents and for edge-guarding, as the horizontal knockback of the move is perfect for keeping an opponent off of the stage. Now for the forward smash; DeDeDe's most powerful kill move, it has high starting and ending lag but packs a ton of power behind it, killing most characters as early as 70%. Due to its high lag the forward smash can be difficult to combo into or out of anything; so instead, use DeDeDe's other tools to set the opponent up for the forward smash; it is a bit complicated to explain, I have a link in the Gordo Throw section that can show you a bit of insight into this.

King DeDeDe's aerials are some of his faster attacks, though some still have considerable starting lag. His neutral aerial is an excellent combo starter, especially when fast-falled, as it can combo into forward tilt, Gordo Throw, down tilt, back aerial, forward aerial, up aerial, and grab in some cases; all of these depend on the angle at which the opponent is launched. Simply pay attention to this and then react with the right move accordingly. DeDeDe's forward aerial is a good combo move and edge-guarding tool as it has a good horizontal knockback behind it; it combos out of down throw, neutral aerial, up tilt, down tilt, and up throw. King DeDeDe's back aerial has some combo use but other than that is not the best of his aerials; it combos out of up throw, up tilt, and neutral aerial but not much else. King DeDeDe's worst aerial though is his down aerial. It has high starting lag and though it does meteor, the location on the hammer that connects with the opponent in order to meteor is quite small and requires precision; down aerial also has little combo use and though a good kill move off stage it does need to be used accurately. Now for one of his best kill moves, up aerial! Up aerial has the lowest starting and ending lag of all of his kill moves, has a multitude of set-ups both on the ground and in the air, comboing out of down throw, up throw, up smash, up tilt, down tilt, neutral aerial, and Gordo Throw. Up aerial kills most characters at around 100% off the ceiling.

King DeDeDe's grab game is very good. His down throw combos into up smash, neutral aerial, forward aerial, and up aerial, and can punish air dodges when followed up with a forward smash. Up throw combos into all aerials except for down aerial. Forward throw can combo into Gordo Throw, as can back throw, and both are good for getting an opponent off of the stage.

Now for King DeDeDe's special moves, which all have their own little gimmick.

Inhale allows King Dedede to launch an opponent out a good distance, making it a good move for getting an opponent off stage for edge-guarding. Using the move off-stage on an opponent on the edge can result in a sacrificial K.O., though this should not be done often if at all. Inhale can be a good combo starter since after the opponent escapes from the star projectile they are launched up into the air, setting up for a forward aerial or up aerial.

Gordo Throw is perhaps King DeDeDe's most important move. It is his only projectile attack, though it is much more than just a projectile; it is a combo tool. The Gordo can be reflected back at Dedede if the opponent hits it with nearly any attack; using the Gordo Throw in the air limits the opportunities the opponent would have to hit the Gordo and have it connect with King Dedede. The Gordo can be launched at six different angles; by using smash inputs and tilting the control stick at different directions, the Gordo will bounce at different speeds, angles, and distances. The Gordo will stick to walls or edges 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time it will bounce off of the wall. There are many different methods of getting the Gordo to stick into the wall. By bouncing the Gordo at an upwards trajectory, it will fall at a steeper angle; doing this near the edge of a stage can drop the Gordo right along the edge, making it a valuable edge-guarding tool. I have covered the basics here, but this move really is very complex and versatile, so instead of going on forever about Gordo Throw, I am going to put a link here to a three-part tutorial on everything you need to know about the Gordo Throw. If you are deeply serious about playing King Dedede or if you just really want to get better at him, I highly suggest you watch this playlist; its about 30 minutes to watch the whole thing. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLux0PnToSw2VzHeD9RFCy5jE_XUm5fARk

Super Dedede Jump has a powerful meteor smash effect as it begins to go back downwards which can be used for getting off-stage kills, though this is risky since King Dedede can SD; the move's recovery height is actually very good and the range at which it can be moved left or right is quite flexible as well. The move's damage output is pretty good, but an opponent on-stage will usually be smart enough to get out of the way; the small star projectiles fired out to each side as King Dedede lands actually have a good range to them and are good at protecting him on the landing lag of the move as an opponent will usually try to dash in and attack King Dedede. The move can be canceled on the way down by inputting upwards on the control stick; use this to prevent from SDing and DI to the edge if you find yourself in trouble.

Jet Hammer can be charged to increase its damage output and launch power; it is a good kill move and King Dedede can move around while charging it, jumping and turning around and walking towards opponents; this move is useful for mindgames, punishing rolls by turning around and releasing the attack to connect with an opponent that has rolled past King Dedede. It combos into and out of very few moves though; also bear in mind that if the charge is held for too long King Dedede will begin to slowly accumulate damage until he reaches 100% at which point he won't take damage from holding the charge.

There you have it, the King of Dreamland! King Dedede is flashy and showy and that shows through to his moveset. Each of his special moves has a gimmick of sorts, his best kill moves have high lag but kill very early, and he has a wide range of combo moves, giving him excellent combo game, grab game, edge game, and kill moves, but suffering from high lag on many attacks. The key is to set the opponent up in a situation where they are unable to punish the starting or ending lag, having no option but to retreat or have a hammer come down on their head!

I hope you enjoyed this guide on King Dedede! I also hope this helped you to improve your King Dedede game!

If you have any questions, please let me know down in the comments. While you're at it, let me know what character you'd like to see next!

Next time, get ready to game as the Gerudo King! The Ganondorf guide is next!

Until next time, keep on smashing and leave it to Heropon!