ALL HAIL THE KING! (Work In Progress. I'll finish as soon as I can!)

Hey guys, This is KingOfDz here. I've been maining the King himself ever since brawl came out and I was very disappointed to find that he is underused in for-glory mode in Smash 4. I have literally fought over 1000 matches in the 3DS version (I'm too poor for the WiiU) playing as Dedede and have beaten good players with every playable character at least 10 times. When I've been fighting against him he doesn't know nearly half the mechanics and combos that I have discovered with him. SPOILER ALERT: DEDEDE IS NOT JUST A FLIPPING GORDO SPAMER! HE HAS LEGIT ATTACKS! So I thought I'd help some people out by spilling my secrets on how to become a better dedede and represent him to the point where he's top tier like he should be! :D




Contents:
Chapter 1: Why and why not play the King?
Pros
Cons
Chapter 2: Moveset Analysis
Ground Attacks
Aerials
Grabbing
Specials
Chapter 3: Combos
Basic
Moderate
Advanced
Chapter 4: General Strategies
How to be aggressive
How to be defensive
Fighting in the center
Edgeguarding
Securing the K.O.
Chapter 5: Matchups
Dedede vs The World
Chapter 6: Youtube Channel
Watching me play King Dedede to see what I'm typing about

LETS GET THIS STARTED!!!

Chapter 1: Why and why not play the King?

Why?
Insane, I mean, INSANE damage. Dedede can deal over 40% damage in one and a half seconds if played right. He also has two attacks that deal over 30% damage in a single blow.

Very hard to kill. Heavy characters move slower when launched, and in addition to being heavy dedede also has four jumps and an UpB that can get you back to the stage from anywhere (except below ofcourse).

Denies gap-closers easily. Correct use of your gordos and a button (I'll explain more later) can ruin a lot of combos for whoever you're fighting against. Dedede's weakest attacks can interrupt a lot of characters' momentum and quickly shift the trade in his favor when he follows up afterwards.

BMing. Dedede is the Ultimate BMer. His prone position is a taunt, he can murder somebody faster than almost every character (Ganondorf sadly beats Dedede in this), Breaking the opponent's shield allows him to freely hold his Jet-Hammer before swinging, and his K.O. secures are just hilarious. He even laughs after the match is over in the score screen if he wins.

Why Not?
Dedede's combos take more practice and skill to properly execute than most characters'.

Low mobility. Dedede having good recovery comes at the cost of his mobility. Luckily for you guys I'll explain how you can work around this to good Dedede play.

Lag OP. If the game lags and you can't press the right button at the right frame things can go horribly wrong quickly.

Most of Dedede's counter-picks are the most popular. Don't worry though, I'll teach you how to outplay them.

Chapter 2: Moveset Analysis.
While adding the damage counters, I literally played training mode for the entire time smacking a Mario around. Incase you didn't know from before, Dedede's attacks deal more damage the closer the target is to his hammer or belly.

I've listed the trajectories to give you guys an idea of where you should expect your opponents to be after you hit them.

Interpreting the parenthesis thingys should be easy to do. K.O. means that it can kill someone if their damage readings is in the orangish-red zone and Spike means its a meteor attack.

Ground Attacks
A: 4% Damage.
Best followed up with another A.
A-A: 8% Damage.
Best followed up with AAAAAAAA.
A-A-AAAAAA-A: 16-18% Damage (45 Deg. trajectory)
Best followed up with either an aerial or backing away and resetting position.
Side Tilt: 8-11% Damage (45 Deg. trajectory)
Best followed up with either an aerial, a Gordo, or Swallow.
Up Tilt: 10-12% Damage (70-80 Deg. trajectory)
Best followed up with an aerial.
Down Tilt: 10% Damage (25-30 Deg. trajectory)
Best followed up with another Down Tilt, DashA, or an aerial.
Side Smash: 24-33% Damage (45 Deg. trajectory) (K.O.)
Up Smash: 14-19% Damage (75-80 Deg. trajectory) (K.O.)
Down Smash: 13-18% Damage (25-30 Deg. trajectory) (K.O.)
Dashing A: 13-16% Damage (40 Deg. trajectory) (K.O.)

Aerials
Neutral Air: 7-12% Damage (60-80 Deg. from hitbox)
Best followed up with either a Down Tilt or an aerial (depending on how high they are from ground).
Forward Air: 12% Damage
Best followed up with either another Forward Air, a Back Air, or a Gordo.
Backward Air: 16% Damage (K.O.)
Best followed up with a Gordo if they don't fly away too far.
Up Air: 12% Damage (K.O.)
Down Air: 15% Damage (Spike)

Grabbing
Each headbutt: 3% Damage (Max 3 times at 0%)
Forward Throw: 10% Damage
Backward Throw: 13% Damage
Upward Throw: 9% Damage
Downward Throw: 6% Damage

Specials
B (Swallow): 10% Damage. This is your Disengaging attack, when you did your combo already or they roll-dodge right into you. This can also absorb a strong ranged attack and make it so it doesn't hurt you. Good swallows make the best Dededes because then Dedede can either survive a potentially fatal blow or do a combo and just spit the person far away from him, and then run up on them and do another combo afterwards. Remember, you only dodged because you forgot to swallow. You can also be a cheesy ******* and swallow people off the edge of the stage and spit them underneath it while falling.

Side B (Gordo Toss): 9-12-14-24% Damage. This is what Dedede's most known for, and it's a good reason this attack is so infamous. It's got decent damage, knockback, and hard accuracy. It gives Dedede armor frames if he uses it right next to an enemy (as if its a melee attack) so he's most likely to be invincible if he does the Gordo at the perfect time. It also deals 24 damage when Gordo is done right next to an opponent and does it blow them off the map if they're weak enough! Other than that the Gordo deals less damage the more it bounces. Does this mean you should spam them? NO! Bad Gordos can be easily deflected back to you. They can be deflected by almost every attack the opponent does, so you got to be careful about when to launch the Gordos. Luckily you can simply smack the gordos back at the guy after he hits it back to you by pressing A when it's about to hit you, and in patch 1.1.5 this became easier to do.

Up B (I call this one Boing): 11% Damage coming down, 15% Damage landing on the ground (K.O.). As hard as this is to aim, Once you get good at it this makes a mean attack. Maste this attack and you'll be terrifying to even your counters. If you land on someone while coming down then they're plunged towards wherever you're headed. 11% damage right there. Then they hit the ground and that's another 15% damage (26% total) and that's a mean launch effect afterwards. Especially if you land right next to your opponent, that 15% damage can send them flying and potentially K.O. Coming upwards you;re vulnerable, but coming down very little can stop you (except yourself; rotate the control stick once and it'll break the fall). Also if you're 80% or higher you get more fragile coming downwards so if an enemy can break your momentum going down then just UpB again to get back on stage. Another drawback is that when you come down you can't hold onto an edge so if you're recovering from a strong launch then you better hit that stage or you're K.O.'d.

Down B (Jet Hammer): 11-38% Damage (K.O.). I really don't recommend using this attack unless you're significantly better at reading than your opponent is. It's a high risk-high reward attack that's usually best set up by a small-distance Gordo to bait their dodge before you smack them to their parents. Fail this attack and you'll get combod by your opponent, but succeed at this and you're looking at an opponent off the map, potentially a KO.

Chapter 3: Combos
Attacking sloppy and blindly doesn't make a lighter character strong and neither does it make a heavyweight strong. How do you think Fox and C.Falcon got to be popular in Melee? They practiced combinations of attacks that followed up one after another making it so the opponent couldn't do anything to defend himself. Lighter characters' combos are easier to pull off than heavy ones' but that just makes it so the heavier characters get much more damage off during their combos. I'm listing some of the combos I know (always got to save the best for myself ;p) to give you all an idea on how Dedede gets his damage off without taking too much back.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT NONE OF THESE ARE 100% GUARANTEED! There are multiple factors that affect their success like enemy damage%, their teching skill, their character's weight class, etc. I'm only listing these to give you guys ideas on how to establish your momentum and perform a strong combo for yourself to use when playing Dedede.

Basic (Requires minimal skill)
A-A-AAAAAAA-A: 16-18% Damage. This is you catching the opponent off guard when he's close to you and the last A attack hits him away from you. This is the bread and butter of Dedede's close quarter fighting next to his side and down tilts.

A-A-Uptilt-Uptilt-Uptilt-UpSmash: 56-65% Damage. This only works if the opponent has 0-5% before you begin the combo. If he has 10% that means you can only do two Uptilts. Either way if you catch the opponent with this when his sock just begins that is fifty free damage you just put on him.

Downtilt-Downtilt-Fair: 23% Damage. This is for when the opponent decides to roll-dodge a lot and you catch him off guard. After the second downtilt the forward air will touch the opponent and but that is enough to send him away from you and the play resets.

A-A-Downtilt-Sidetilt: 23-29% Damage. Just another A-A combo to inspire you guys to make up your own combos to catch the opponent off guard

Moderate (You need to know how to accelerate your falling speed, quick-dash, and tap-jump)
Grab-A-A-Downthrow-Forward air-Downtilt-Dashing A: 45-50% Damage. This is how you punish someone that keeps charging you (but fails if they try to run from you at any time during this); a nice throwing combo that puts them at 50%.

Dash at opponent, then turn around, jump, and backair all at one quick motion. This does 16% damage to the opponent but its a good knockback and can put him off the stage, enabling you to edgeguard if he's damaged enough. (This only works against heavier characters while they're on the ground).

A-A-Uptilt-Downsmash: 31% Damage. This is usually what I do when the opponent is at 0-10% damage, because otherwise he/she can escape before your down-smash can connect. This can go one of two ways for your opponent: you do this to him center stage and blow him towards an edge, or you do this to him at an edge and blow him off of it while being below the stage. Either way you're in a better spot than before.

Flying over your opponent, neutral A then slamming down on the stick to speed fall, then Uptilt: 20% Damage. This is a good way for an Aggressive Dedede to knock his opponents into the air to terrorize them into being defensive. If the opponent is weak enough you can follow that up with an Up air and inflict more damage to them.

Advanced (For all my Gordo lovers)
Hitting a Gordo doesn't make you a good Dedede player, but hitting the right Gordo in the proper direction makes you an amazing Dedede player. Badly aimed Gordos get deflected easily and will likely blow you off the map. They could also be avoided and give the enemy a chance to dash to you and get free damage on you. For this reason I'm showing you how to aim your Gordos so that they can either land easier, send the enemy in the right direction, or even secure a kill.

Incase you didn't know, hitting SideB then tilting the control stick upwards puts the Gordo on a short route and doesn't travel very far, but still gets in all three of its bounces. This is perfect for edgeguarding, which will be explained in the next chapter. Doing a flat SideB will send Gordo in a straight path that will travel the farthest, launches opponents the furthest, but is also the easiest to deflect. This is good for launching a distraction for the enemy as you return to the stage or harass someone from far enough away. Doing a SideB then tilting the control stick down sends Gordo on a backspin, making it so that it travels far for the first bounce, but then minimizes distance as it continues to bounce. This is good for sneaking a Gordo in when a projectile character is bullying you from a distance and you want him to either stop harassing or get smacked by a spiked ball.

No matter where you are, if you hit a Gordo that is destined to slow down and stay where it is, you can use that as an object to either throw your opponent at or hit them towards, and the Gordo will either send them back flying your way or away from you most likely towards the magnifying glass zone. If the opponent flies back towards you, you just simply jump and do the aerial needed to attack the opponent and that combo dealt over 40% damage guaranteed. If the opponent flies away from you then simply chase him and bully him with Gordos while he's trying to get back on stage; timing is key to successfully doing this. Practice this "Gordo pinball" technique and soon you'll be having no problem trading off with characters that terrified you before.

This has nothing to do with Gordos but Dedede can milk this technique very well. It's called the perfect pivot. Soon I will post the youtube link about it, but for now I'll have to trust all of you to youtube it yourselves. Perfect pivoting can be used to quickly put Dedede in a safe distance so he can either tilt or smash an opponent and leave them wondering how the heck you did it. Also doing the perfect pivot sets you up for good Gordos, so maybe this had a little to do with Gordos . When I discover more uses to this pivot then I'll update the guide.

Doing good swallows also makes you a good Dedede player. THE DEDEDES I HAVE FOUGHT DO NOT DO THIS ENOUGH! Swallow has the fastest casting time on Dedede's kit, and if your opponent catches you off guard and he's close, open wide and spit him back so he can't hurt you. Spit him into a Gordo. Spit him off the edge of the map. Spit him towards the center and follow up with an aerial. Spit him off the map and then jump off, spit him again, and make it so he can't recover. There's lots of ways to be a good swallower, you can even perform a combo if you don't get to spit them out. I'm super shocked that this hasn't been understood already, but hey that's what this guide's for.



Chapter 4: General Strategies
As I said before, Dedede has limited mobility, so you can't just rush the opponent with your hammer and expect your trade-offs to go well. Unless your opponent is bad at the game this won't go well for you. Overall with King Dedede you want to keep a fair distance between you and your opponent and only attack when he makes his mistake and leave himself open. This fair distance is one and a half times the length of Dedede's hammer when laid down flat. You perform that tactic correctly and you won't need to depend on Dedede's incredible survivability in order to win the mach.

This image is showing Dedede's hammer when it's laid out in front of him. Now it's easier to see what this "Fair distance" I'm talking about is . I would say that your opponent's distance away from you should be just about where the Toon Link and Marth are (assuming they didn't get flogged off the map). This way if the person tries roll dodging towards you to escape, you can side tilt or swallow. If he tries jumping you either smack him with a Gordo or aerial. If he tries to blindly attack you do a fast Downsmash and make him sorry for underestimating you. If he tries rolling away approach him and keep that fair distance. The more you practice this technique the easier fights will be.

How to be aggressive
If you're fighting somebody that Dedede does well against, you should keep constant pressure while not committing entirely and then smacking him with the hammer when you can. Dedede's mechanics will be discussed in the matchups chapter, so before you read that go ahead and assume that you wait until the enemy roll-dodged right into your hammer range when they're scared of you enough. Aggressive players will try running into your attack range and hit you first, but all you have to do is tap the A button to stop their combo and then quickly do a combo to deal damage and send him back, then go back to that fair-distance and pressure him to make another mistake

How to be defensive
Dedede isn't the scary one out of the two all the time, some characters terrify him. In this case do not walk into the fair-distance mark, but instead let the opponent walk into the fair distance area. Then they will most likely engage with ranged harass or a ranged grab, and all you have to do is simply dodge their attack and throw a Gordo their way. This takes practice to master, but Side-dodging works to avoid most ranged harass while you're able to shoot out a Gordo right after. Remember, Nintendo gave Dedede the Gordo in order to protect him from stuff like this, use it well and you can disable the opponent and put them in range for your hammer. If you need to be defensive against an aggressive melee character (e.g. C.Falcon, Lil'Mac, etc.) then don't even worry about throwing good Gordos, just roll-dodge when they go in for the combo and punish them with yours.

Fighting in the center
In the center of the stage, Dedede is the safest, but so is the opponent. Keeping fair distance is important (while keeping your opponent on the edge), but make sure you maintain that distance. I can not emphasize this enough. If you're in the center and you're fighting a strong ranged character (Samus, Link, Toon-Link, etc.) then you will just be bullied freely and take about 20-30 free damage at the very least. If you're in the center and you're fighting a strong close champion (DK, Ganondorf, Fox, Ike, etc.) and they close that gap you're going to get blown off the map and you're going to get edgeguarded. Dedede isn't good at dealing with Edgeguarding besides his use of Gordos so either get good with Gordos and throw them effectively when returning to the map or just don't be in that bad situation in the first place.

Edgeguarding
Dedede isn't the best at being edgeguarded but oh baby can he edgeguard. He's a slow moving wall and there are many ways he can bully from a distance. Gordos is just scratching the surface. Because his UpB has such a high launch he can use every one of his Aerials to either harass or K.O. the person coming back to the stage. And if the opponent makes it past his aerials then he can just use his UpB to come back on-stage and deal damage to the opponent. Dedede has to be one of the best edgeguarders in the game because of his damage and recovery.

Securing the K.O.
Remember when I said that Dedede is the ultimate BMer? Well let's go over the possible methods to secure kills (besides landing a well aimed smash/dash/aerial attack).

Gordo-2-Smash: When the enemy is below the stage and about to UpB back on, you launch a short distance Gordo and immediately charge a side-smash attack. This will make it so that if the opponent touches the Gordo on the way to the cliff, he is automatically launched and can't grab onto the ledge. If he flies towards you all you have to do at that point is let go and BLAM! 45% COMBO AND K.O.! Otherwise he'll hit the stage and just get spiked downwards by that.

Swallow All-In: This is risky but pays off. When your opponent escapes the magnifying zone back onto the camera view you simply jump off, swallow, and send him back outwards towards the zone. Very few champions can recover at that point. The hard part is actually landing the swallow while falling and then recovering yourself after spitting the opponent back out. It takes practice to survive it, but it almost secures the kill every time.

Teabagging: Yep you heard it right. Nothing makes a player more salty than seeing a King Dedede use his UpB to just leap off the stage and spike him downwards. I don't recommend doing this unless you're confident that you'll LAND the attack and you have one more stock than your opponent incase it fails. But if you do land that Teabag then you will laugh your head off while saving the replay.
P.S. I also do this if I'm getting destroyed and I feel like that's my only shot at winning and it paid off a lot taking that risk.

Last but not least you can simply spike the man downwards into the bottomless pit below the stage. Dedede's DownAir is one of the hardest meteors to land though, due to the long casting time, so this will take practice before working.

Chapter 5: Matchups
Because this is probably the only part of this guide that people will actually read -__-. MATCHUPS... Where you will find out how easy it will be to blow somebody off the map with your hammer. Before I go into this I just want to remind everybody that no character is actually broken, but have advantages that can be used to earn a win. Unless you're playing against Corrin... but we'll get into that later. Some characters have low skill-caps and are easy to master. Some characters have higher skill-caps and harder to master (but are just so much better utility-wise). So if I list somebody that you think is OP and I say they're a medium matchup, then refer to my past few chapters so you can learn how to press your advantages to make yourself seem OP. All in all, these matchups are described as if the character you're playing against is good and utilizes their kit to the fullest extent.

Unfortunately Dedede will have less positive matchups than negative ones, but that only means you can't fight as blindly.

Let's analyze Dedede's mechanics before we start

Dedede does well against:
Melee ranged attackers
Squishy/Fragile targets
Larger hitboxes (Larger characters)
Risky decision making
READING OPPONENTS

Dedede does poorly against:
Ranged attackers
Armor frames
Fast attackers/Grabbers
Countering DownBs (Unless your swallow game is strong. Don't take it perverted lol)

Finally we can begin with the Matchups (1: Easy/5: Hard).
1: You win just about every fight your opponents will pick and there's not much they can do because your kit counters theirs. You can play aggressively and get away with it easily.
2: Your kit slightly counters theirs but you shouldn't get cocky with the gordos because they could outplay/punish you. Smart aggressive play is advised.
3: The matchup is even and the fate of the match depends on your ability to keep that fair distance. You COULD go aggressive and win the game, but you should have the defensive mentality for safety reasons.
4: The opponent has multiple advantages over you simply because of the character they picked to play as. You need to play defensively 80% of the time (even if they're bad at the character) because Dedede could simply get manhandled by these people.
5: You will probably lose. There are about five characters that their existence counters yours, but when they are played not even the fair distance is safe and you need to be jumping most of the time and rely on your aerials to dodge their skills and control the arena. If you do not get to touch this people then you will be kited like no tomorrow while receiving tons of free damage. If you do land an effective blow on your opponent here then follow up and go for the K.O. before they out-harass and outlast you in the end. LITERALLY BUMRUSH THESE GUYS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE XD!

KEEP IN MIND IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC MATCHUP JUST PRESS CTRL-F OR COMMAND-F TO TYPE IN THE NAME OF THE MATCHUP YOU WANT TO JUMP TO!

MARIO: 4. I'm pretty sure Mario was designed to be a pain in the butt for Dedede. He shoots fireballs that launch Gordos back at you with double their original speed. His cape deflects everything you do and damages you. He has a higher chance of winning close-quarter skirmishes because he hits faster than you. His UpB can negate your Gordos if you throw them at him. And finally he can use his DownB to redirect your UpB when you try to recover (So you might have to cancel it halfway through and grab the edge to survive). My best advice when fighting Mario is keeping your Gordos to a minimum and side-step dodging when he's close to you before you attack/grab. When he's off the stage you can start throwing Gordos at him but be careful of that fireball deflection. Finally, be careful not to smash when he's close by to you because he can dodge you and smash you off the map right afterwards, so I recommend doing plenty of tilts.

LUIGI: 4. Ever since the recent patch Luigi got stupid strong in his own way. If he manages to throw you in the air, then he will hit you with 6 aerials and get approximately 40% free damage on you. Then, like Mario, he can throw fireballs at you and you're immobilized; and these fireballs have straight trajectory so that makes it even harder to sneak a Gordo on him. His dashA is just annoying because it lasts a while and even if you catch one fist you're stunned temporarily. And that sneaky side-smash or UpB will take you back to Dreamland as soon as your damage% is high enough before you know it. However if you stop Luigi from doing any of this to you, you win by a shutout because of his fragility, it's just hard to do because he's so darn nimble.

PEACH: 2. Overall I've never had a problem with a Peach, even one that uses her utility well. Her floating does not slide with Dedede, for he has attack boxes that actually hit her when she floats close to the ground; and if he's unable to connect in that situation then he can just neutral air her out of the float all day. You can also deal more damage than her in quick trades. There are a few things that make Peach tricky to play against though. For one thing she is hard to edgeguard against because of that float, and she'll be able to dodge most Gordos you use to edgeguard with. Her turnips also have surprising launching power, which is high enough to even stop you in the middle of your UpB. Her peachbomb gives her a lot of armor, and you can only dodge it before doing something back to her. However, the main reason why I wrote this matchup as a 2 instead of anything higher is because optimal "fair distance" and dodging can negate her utility, which would be the main advantage she has against you.

BOWSER: 2. You have numerous advantages on Bowser. He is so large that you can just tilt on him all you want as soon as he's vulnerable and close enough to you. He has no ranged attacks besides his fire (which can't deflect gordos n'or be swallowed). He may be able to move faster than you, but you can easily take control of the stage and hurt him when he tries to do things to you. Try not to get baited into his combos though, because he can do the same thing to you if you're not careful enough. Your combos are just easier to start and follow up because you have the Gordos to make plays with. Bowser can also equalize the fight or turn the tide in his favor really fast if he drop-kicks you because his fat legs HURT! He can DownB and hurt you just as bad if it actually hits. So if you're careful enough not to fall for his heavy hits like those you should easily win the match.

YOSHI: 3. Oh my God Yoshi is so annoying because he's faster than you, deals good damage, and hits repetitively. His DownB is the type of move you should just run away from. He can UpB you if you're spaced too far from him. He can use his tongue to immobilize you in an egg or chuck you away from him. He is better at taking stage control than you, and depending on his skill level he can control you to scary proportions. If Yoshi knows how to Yoshi very well this difficulty rises to a 4. You have advantages over Yoshi, however. The main advantage is he's squishier than you, attacks almost as slow as you, and you can edgeguard him easily as long as you get him off the stage, but that's only if you can combo into a good hit. Yoshi and Dedede are both stage-control dependent characters with distinct talents so I say this matchup is even because one can always outplay the other.

ROSALINA: 3. This is a skill matchup. Both are played similarly to eachother, but with key differences. Rosa has attack boxes and armor when she does her attacks and she has a portable star that's easily controlled unlike your Gordos. She is also more mobile than you, so the fair distance rule especially applies to this matchup. She can even use her Down B to absorb your projectiles and hit you with them if you're close enough to her. And when the star is close to her she deals as much damage as you do (and that is terrifying considering how mobile she is). However, you have the damage to murder that star in one hit when she pays more attention to herself and you have 12 seconds to make the fight one-sided afterwards. Rosa also has moderate cooldowns between attacks and dodges, so that cooldown timer is what you should be trying to take advantage of when proceeding to attack her. Keep in mind her attack boxes are far away from her during her aerials, so dodge before striking in the air. Rosa will always be a slight problem for you unless your skill is much more than hers, but outplaying a Rosa is something that can be gotten used to.

KOOPA JR.: 3. I can see why people would believe he's broken, but the truth is Dedede can handle him better than most characters. I've figured out that KJR is mainly strong when he has momentum, but what that momentum is gone he is vulnerable to getting smacked by you. Dedede is good at stopping a combo before it happens, and that's when you can punish KJR and smack him silly off the map. If you get 2 to 4 good combos in then KJR is as good as K.O.'d. Keep in mind you can swallow him when he's in Car mode. There are multiple things where you should be extra careful, KJR has abilities where the attack boxes stay in one wide area for an extended period of time and do a lot of damage, so that makes the matchup a 3 and not a 2. You shouldn't try attacking when those attacks are in effect. These attacks are KJR's side-smashes and upsmashes, UpB, Downtilt. He also fires projectiles that can be as long-ranged as they are annoying, but no need to fear because they are fairly easy to avoid (for me at least).

WARIO: 2. I've never really had a problem with this matchup. For a heavy character Wario is really fast and hits fast, but that also makes him fragile for a heavyweight. His bike is pretty annoying but a well timed close quarter Gordo toss will blow that bike to pieces. Wario even has no ranged attacks, so you can maintain fair distance and Gordo him to start trades. I have been argued to about this, but I believe Wario has a weaker recovery, especially since it's horizontal oriented rather than vertical. When you smack a highly damaged Wario with a Down smash, or another attack with low trajectory, he's 3/5 of the time going to not be able to jump off his bike and hold onto the ledge and fall to his K.O. Also since his recovery moves don't really give Wario armor he can be easily spiked/hit back while trying to return back to stage. Other than that information you should play this out like a normal 2 matchup and unless he's a significantly better player than you you have the matchup.

MR. GAW: 4. This fight is super hard but possible. The only reason this is not a 5 is because his only ranged attack is his bacon, so he needs to put himself in danger to do things to you. Nevertheless his close quarter fighting is strong, his recovery is strong, and he has multiple ways of K.O.ing you; so play this out like it is a 5. Most of his attacks shoot your Gordos back at you. His attacks are fast and hit moderately hard. He can get a lucky Judgement and guarantee a win. He can keep you in the air after all your jumps so he can easily aerial you. He can juggle you then Up smash you for the K.O. His seaturtle breaks through most attacks projectile or not. In order to win this matchup I would completely skip out on using Gordos and just focus on defensive play entirely. Maybe in the end you can Gordo him from close range for the kill, but if you give him the Oil Panic to murder you with then I'll just drink my tea cause your K.O. ain't none of my business.

DONKEY KONG: 3. Donkey kong is semi-easy to me but this man will punish you hard if you take him lightly. He doesn't have any ranged attacks besides his DownB (earthquake). He is close quartered and is notorious for hitting swiftly for a heavy character, especially in the air. You are his easiest person to burrow and 3/5 the time you won't escape from it in time and receive a monkey punch to the face. He has both a quick spike attack and a delayed spike attack, and differentiating between the two can save your life (because then you'd know when precisely to dodge). Finally keep in mind that his UpB is just as hard to break as yours is, and you shouldn't be able to damage him while he's in his. Gordos can be used for you to initiate fights with DK, but DK has his own way of picking fights, and that's usually from the air. If he grabs you, he'll spike you down to the floor and bop you upwards for 20% free damage. If you keep all of this in mind, DK wouldn't be able to have his way with you and you would probably 2-0 him.

DIDDY KONG: 2. Despite popular belief, a Diddy doesn't win this matchup according to me. He may be fast, but he's super fragile. He takes longer than most light characters to get back up after being hit, so combos are easier to perform on him. His only ranged attacks are peanuts and bananas, which deal little to no damage, so you could eat those moves when you have little to no damage% on you and still be able to fight afterwards. Only thing to worry about is getting the banana thrown directly at you then having Diddy run up on you and do a combo. Other than that if you break his momentum you win. If you somehow get in 2 successful charged Sidesmashes then Diddy is Deaddy. The only thing you need to be concerned with is that Diddy is small and will dodge a lot that you try hit him with. So keep your attacks light and don't try to flog him until he's up in the air and you break his momentum, because that's when
you can start throwing the Gordos and edgeguarding with your Sidesmash.

LINK: 4. Link is one of those super annoying harass-heavy characters that can mainly kill you when he pokes you to 100% or higher. He throws 3 types of projectiles, all of which can knock you either up or back, which makes it hard to maintain the safe distance. He can kill you with his smash attacks or dashing A when you're damaged enough. Regardless you must keep on the pressure and play defensively if you want to not lose control and have link shoot you up. Something I do is shoot Gordos not where he currently is but where you want him to be when he rolls away from you so you can nail him afterwards. If that fails you should focus on hitting him with your Gordos, but also follow up with an A attack or swallow incase he uses his shield and then drops it when you're close to him. A good link will not let you come near him and kite you heavy so you might need to play a little more aggressively than usual for a 4 leveled matchup if you wish to deal damage to him. You will mainly hit him when he's trying to run from you so focus on doing that tactic. Overall you lose the matchup but if you can touch him enough times you can pull off a heck of a comeback.

ZELDA: 5. Everything she does can and probably will break you. Her B sends your Gordos back at you with funky trajectories, her SideB will hit you from far away and deal 12-16% damage and blow everything in the blast away from her. Her UpB makes her teleport and she'll smack you if she warps in near you. She has moderate power, so she will deal more damage to you overall when you try to fight her up-close. Her aerials are also swift and powerful (especially her Backair), so you're better off fighting her on the ground. Swallowing does nothing for you either, especially while she's attacking, so keep that to a minimum. When she UpB's, all you can do is pop your shield in time then hit her afterwards (preferably a Downsmash to send her away from you). Get good at air and sidestep dodging, because that's what you will be doing all day if she decides to spam her SideB at you. Overall there isn't much I can say besides get in every single hit you can while dodging every skillshot and hope for the best.

SHEIK: 4. She can be a tad annoying but she's as lightweight and fragile as Diddy, and the main reason why she isn't a 3 is because she's super fast and can sucker punch you blindsided even when you're going to attack her. Sheik can only harass you from up-close, and she'll likely set it up with her needles or grenade. Watch out for her DownB too, it makes her roundoff into a powerful kick which can kill you. And to finish off why Sheik is so annoying she can easily grab you, throw you somewhere, then smack you with aerials. How do you stop all this? Throw the second hit. Shield frequently and time your dodges to where she'll be caught off guard by the time you can hit her. I don't recommend Gordoing her often because she's quick enough to run past the Gordo while you're casting it and hit you if she's good enough, so wait until you have her running from you before you Gordo. Also, SWALLOW SWALLOW SWALLOW! You can beat her simply by timing your dodging and distancing right and hitting her when she is exposed.

GANONDORF: 3. This matchup is very interesting, not because this is even, but because you two counter each other super hard. Both of you deal massive damage, high launching power, and can perform game-changing combos when the other gets too close and comfy with you. Ganondorf's advantage over you is that his weaker attacks are swift and have a lot of launching power, his SideB and DownB give him more mobility over you, his damage output is slightly higher than yours, and he can use his SideB as a kamikaze (and die second) if you try to edgeguard him heavy. Your advantage over him is that you can use Gordos to not let him near you (and interrupt his SideB, coughcough), combos are easier to perform for you (but get back to fair-distance once the combo is over before he equalizes the trade-off), he is very easily edgeguarded against if you don't actually jump off the stage to do it, and you can simply swallow and spit if he does get close enough to you to land a warlock punch. The only way Ganondorf can actually jump on you is if he does SideB or DownB to tear through your fair-distance and hurt you, but do a dodge and smack him back when he tries that. Other weaknesses that you two share is that you're easily kited, have large hitboxes, and defenseless when struck multiple times; so taking advantage of that can easily win you a match.

TOON LINK: 4. Refer to Link. Only differences between the two is that Toon is more damage oriented and Link is more kite-oriented, Toon's Downair automatically applies a fast-drop, Toon can charge his UpB to make it hurt more, and his texture design makes him look much less masculine XD. Because of the different boomerang and bow effects, you're safer to remain at the fair-distance and toss Gordos at him and be more likely to dodge the attacks coming back your way. Unfortunately Toon can also change a game because he has over 3 ways to kill you, so don't start getting more aggressive simply because you put him to 100%. Other than all this, refer to Link.

SAMUS: 5. I... HATE... THIS... MATCHUP! This is the absolute hardest counter to Dedede. She is one of two characters that can K.O. you simply by kiting. Her charge shot and missles deflect Gordos and/or deal over 10% damage each shot, so your fair-distance will be useless against her. While you're dodging all of her long-ranged attacks she has plenty of time to distance herself even more from you to shoot more missles or freely charge her cannon. When you eventually get close enough to her your hammer will miss her when she's in ball-mode (DownB, Side-dodge). Speaking of DownB she lays a bomb in addition to that ball mode so you better run quick or you're stunned with just enough time for her to grab, throw, drill-kick, and flamethrower you for over 30% damage. She is the hardest to predict when she will land because of that same bomb attack (it keeps her suspended) which rains bombs on you so you can't camp under her and get away with it. Her missles blow you off the map at 120% and her shot does the same thing at 90-100%. Did I mention that she is the best at dealing with edge-guarding? She can rip her long-ranged attacks, grapple to the stage, use bombs to jump extra times, and stay in the magnifying glass for 3 seconds and still live? Her hitbox is so small that she will survive being blown off the map at 150%. There is no set-in stone combo to beat Samus, just do everything you can to hurt her and hopefully you'll barely win the match.

ZERO SUIT SAMUS: 2 or 4. Surprisingly to most ZSS and Dedede players this matchup isn't nearly as one-sided as it seems. It is all on how you apply the fair distance tactic. With the right distancing her stun is dodgeable, she can't grab you, and she can't use her DownB to roundoff onto you. Without her arm-cannon Samus can only do so much against you when you're spaced away from her, so she can only run into your hammer range to actually hurt you. Luckily this can be punished, hard. ZSS can be flogged by your Sidesmash and K.O. at 50% or higher. If you're not so lucky to pull that off you can just kite her all day with Gordos because she deals with kiting much worse than you do. When she gets in and combos you, she'll likely throw you in the air and do some fancy aerial combo so just press the R button (to dodge) and get on the ground to smack her back upward or chase her away while you have the big-bad hammer. The sad thing about this is if you don't distance yourself from her properly, Samus will body you super hard. Her combos are so safe she can deal 30% damage, knock you back, and safely set for the next one. Her roundoff jump giver her invincibility frames, so she can use that to juke you then kick you into the ground so she can roundhouse you off the map. Her UpB's damage and launch is deadly and it K.O.s you at around 90-110% damage. ZSS is the kind of girl to take control of this relationship if you let her, otherwise you're the one wearing the pants (I make analogies :D).

PIT: 4. This angel is a demon according to you. He shoots bows that are easy to control, which deflect Gordos. He has a reflector shield which negates the damage done by your projectiles and hammer. His smash attacks have faster casting times than your tilts, so he has the advantage in close range fights. You might have to overdo the swallowing to keep Pit away enough from you so that you can do things to him afterwards. Also watch out for his Fist-Of-God, because that deflects your Gordos and gives him armor to where only your Sidesmash can stop it. If that hits you then you're knocked up for a combo, so all you can do is smash it or dodge away from it. There isn't much more to say about Dedede vs Pit besides get past the annoying-ness so you can win the trade-offs between you and him.

PALUTENA: 4. Never have I faced off against a Palutena that knew what she was doing, but I can imagine her kit being aids to Dedede. She can shoot light bullets from her wand at you. She can put up a wall that moves away from her that reflects everything that hits it. She has a counter. She has a teleport (that doesn't hurt nearly as bad as Zelda's thank God). Her Upsmash is a lazer that extends into the air and hits anything that's over her (so no Neutral airing over her). Her Wings have crazy range and damage output when she uses smash attacks. There is a downside to Palutena that you can exploit, however. Her heavy hitting attacks that actually hurt you a lot are slow and are easily interrupted by your basic attacks and tilting. A good Palutena would play too defensively to allow you to do this, but if she doesn't then just interrupt her hitting and then you can hurt her when she's unable to fight back. Just don't let her troll you into getting too comfortable around her because those wings hurt!

MARTH: 3. There is no range to him but Marth can still be a pain to play against. His attacks and grabbing are really swift and he is fast enough to not be flogged by Dedede right away, so don't go aggressive assuming he can't punish you for being cocky. He also has the easiest time deflecting Gordos because he just pressed A and his sword instantly goes in front of him. Even his smash attacks have ridiculously fast starting times, so his smashing speed is more than your tilt attack speed. You keeping your fair distance from him will probably decide who wins and loses this fight, because that distance will give you enough time to react when Marth decides to engage you, which ofcourse affect the outcome of the trading. You can even pressure Marth with Gordos while maintaining that fair distance to make him be hasty with his engagements. Be careful because his Sidesmash and Sidetilt is absurdly fast and it still surprises me to this day sometimes. He also has a counter, so he has defensive potential too when you get a few hits in. All in all be careful in this matchup, and you will likely come out on top. AND DO NOT SHIELD AT ALL WHEN HE CHARGES HIS B ATTACK!

IKE: 4. Usually Dedede counters the heavy-hitters in this game, but Ike is the only exception. Why do you ask? Because THIS MAN HURTS! Most of his attacks deal over 13% and have extra launching power, so he can just follow up his moves and hit you again and again and again. Ike got buffed so hard ever since the new patch got released; his attack speed got higher, his Aether got higher, and his SideB/UpB combo makes it so he can't be edgeguarded. If he wanted to he can use Aether to deny your spiking and grab the ledge and completely murder you. He has a counter. He can edgeguard you freely with his Eruption Blade. Attacking Ike from above isn't easy because a well timed Aether can set him up for a heavy combo. He has five attacks that can K.O. you at less than 100%. His sword is so long that swallowing/Gordoing him will do you no good. Last but not least (the main reason Ike is a pain for Dedede) is because his heavy attacks are so slow it's easy to mistime your roll-dodging so that you will end up running into the attack at the end and die. Your best chance at winning is worrying about tilting and doing quick aerials when you knock him into the air, and then set him up to be smashed with either your Gordos or swallow in the end.

ROBIN: 2 Robin is generally a less knockback-y but more damage-y ness. His kit can only keep Dedede away and softly harass him when he's far. His fully charged B can't even kill you at 150%. Robin's only real kill shot vs Dedede is his smash attack (unless he spikes you with his UpB). His SideB is an underpowered version of Ness's that keeps you there for half the time and deals half the damage. His UpB should never be able to damage you unless you forget to air-dodge it. His DownB heals him for about 10% before you get to rollaway and give that 10% back to him. His attacking is slower than Marth's (let alone Ike), so you're able to exploit that. All you need to do vs Robin is be more careful than normal when using Gordos, focus a little more on reads than normal, and deny his constant harass-retreat strategy.

KIRBY: 2 or 3. Dedede's much cuter arch nemesis can outplay him if Dedede doesn't know his close-quarter fighting techniques well enough. What you should worry about is that his jumping is better than yours, and hitting him with your Gordos to keep him back is rather difficult. So a good Kirby will likely stay in the air and aerial you just far enough to where you're not able to punish him. To stop this, you need to be mobile and move around a lot so you're able to trade hits evenly (or give out more damage) with Kirby. Kirby also has a swallow, so once he takes your swallow he can stop your combos just as easily as you can stop his when you swallow. Kirby can also smash you off the map when you're at 120%, so it would be best to play this one defensively unless Kirby isn't jumping around a lot (Hence, the 2 or 3 rating for the matchup). Overall this fight is pretty even unless Kirby eats your hammer a lot, then you win the match.

KING DEDEDE: 3 (Obviously -__-). There are two types of Dededes you will be facing: The ones that spam Gordos on you or the ones that actually read my guide and Follow the Fair Distance rule. Either way this will be a pain for you unless you're the better Dedede by far. First thing I would like to point out is that both you and the rival Dedede are very slow and it is fun watching two Dededes duke it out. Second of all, if you end up fighting a Gordo spammer, then all you have to do is keep the fair distance and do quick attacks to smack the Gordos back at him and make him pay for being a baddie (Moves I recommend for doing this: ForwardAir, BackAir, A, NeutrailAir). He will even Gordo you when you're close so always be ready to do those fast attacks and just be the rubber band that slings them back at him. Then hit a few Gordos of your own (but get ready to have both Gordos come back at both of you because they will hurt the both of you). If you're fighting a Dedede that knows his kit and keeps his distance from you, it is time to change up the gameplay. Hit him so he can't get back up and then back away to Fair Distance and repeat. Swallowing stops his SideSmash and DownB from following through to hurt you. The DashingA is stong enough to kill you when your damage meter is in the red. MAY THE FATTEST PENGUIN EMERGE VICTORIOUS!

META KNIGHT: 3. MK is the more masculine version of Kirby and he could be more manly than Dedede too. He can dash into you and launch his B or SideB, both of which give MK armor, so try to just dodge those attacks when he does them. I don't believe there is a character that can make a grab faster than MK either so try not to hold your shield vs him for too long. Also, MK has strong aerial potential, so if he gets you in the air try not to stay airborne because he can deal 20% damage to you before you hit the ground. Even if MK goes for a DownB into you then hold your shield, let him slash it, then do a fast DownSmash. My recommendation for fighting MK is that even though he will get massive amounts of damage to you after 4-5 hits, you can deal even more damage after 2-3 hits. You just have to show MK who's the bigger man in the matchup, just as long as you can touch him without him either A) deflecting too many Gordos back at you and B) you can actually touch him to start your combos.

LITTLE MAC: 2. Aah yes, Little Mac: Smash's overplayed satan of For Glory mode. I would have ranked Little Mac a 3, but there is something about him that makes him an easier kill than most characters: the weakest recovery in the game. Sometimes to cheese a Little Mac I simply swallow him, spit over the edge of the stage, and then repeat until he either recovers or falls down. If Mac doesn't let you exploit that weakness of his, then go for plan b: Spin the hammer in his face and flog him when you can. He can only hurt you if you let your guard down, so correctly timing when he goes in to attack can easily win you the matchup. Even though he is small and frail, he has a few ways he can K.O. you. One, he hurts: His smash attacks deal about 20% damage and have good launching power. Two, his smash attacks give him armor frames: This simply means even though your attack will damage him, he will not be launched and follow through with his attack, dealing almost as much damage as your attack will. So he can trade evenly with you if played correctly. Three, he has a counter. Four, if he follows the same Fair Distance tactic as you do, he can completely dodge your Gordos and rush in to attack you freely. If you keep those four things in mind you will easily beat Little Mac, but if you allow Mac to get too comfortable he will become the king of the ring.

FOX: 2. To most peoples' surprise (maybe), Fox is only a 2 according to me. Yes I know he can use DownB to deflect the Gordos. Yes I know he is super fast, hits you a bunch of times, and then runs away safe. Yes I know he puts 7 free damage on you if you're far from him with his B. Yes I know how strong his UpSmash is. The thing is, I don't care about his advantages. You're King Dedede! You have a hammer that can be used to cancel his fast engages. You can swallow to repel him off you. You can smack Gordos back with ForwardAir when he deflects them at you first. And don't worry about his blaster, you are the hardest heavy character in the game to kill, a little bit of damage is ticklish to you. Also the blaster doesn't deflect Gordos. And last but not least, if you land a SideSmash on him he is guaranteed to fly off the stage so you can edge guard him super hard like you'd do to everybody else and have a higher success rate because Fox is so fragile. You shouldn't have any problems with Fox unless he is significantly better than you are, and that's ok, because it's good to practice vs every matchup if you lose, even the ones where you're supposed to win.

FALCO: 3. Falco is a tad harder for you to fight than Fox for a multitude of reasons. In exchange for speed, his B attacks are stronger, so Gordoing won't be as much of a cakewalk for you. His blaster can deflect Gordos, and his DownB launches them at you with double the power. In a nutshell, to defeat Falco you should rely more on your hammer and close-quarter fighting than setting up combos with the Gordos. For everything else, refer to Fox.

PIKACHU: 1 or 2. I pity the poor player picking Pika vs my Dedede. Pika's only advantage against Dedede is his annoying thundershock, which can deflect your Gordos and quickly stun Dedede. In terms of everything else, Dedede is Pika's nightmare: Pikachu will force a type of fight that he will ultimately lose in, which is a close quartered fight. Pikachu is one of the most fragile characters in the game; I remember K.O.ing a few of them at less than 45% (Fully charged sidesmash with and without shieldbreak beforehand). Aside from his A and Atilts (which deal below 7% damage each), He can only engage you with Skull-bash (punishable by Smashing), Thunder (if you allow yourself to be directly over Pika and not air-dodging correctly), and his grab (which not only deals little damage but also needs him to be touching you before doing the grab). In short, Pikachu can only tickle you before you hammer him back to Kanto. You shouldn't get K.O.'d in this matchup. If you do decide to use more Gordos and have them deflected at you this matchup turns into a 2.

CHARIZARD: 2. As much as I love using Charizard in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, in Smash Bros. he doesn't fight very well versus the heavier characters of the game, especially Dedede. His only ranged attack isn't very strong and can easily be jumped over, and also not deflect your Gordos. He is slow, meaning you can easily land combos with or without using Gordos, and easily give him high damage percentages. His recovery is also weaker than yours, and that makes him much easier to edgeguard (He has 3 jumps and a short distance UpB.) There are rules you must follow to win against Charizard, no matter how easy the matchup is. You must respect his power and not get too cocky fighting him, because he can damage you just as much as you damage him, it is just easier for you to combo him and you can last longer than he can. Be careful when he rock-smashes, because this gives him maximum armor, so you can't break this attack and he will damage/launch you after he is done if he's close enough. Last but MOST IMPORTANTLY, when you see him begin his Flare Blitz, get on the ground and hold your shield until he pushes you back with it. After that happens, he keeps his 9% damage from that attack, and he can't do anything for a mississippi-second, which gives you enough time to use DownSmash and deal even more damage to him. As long as you follow these rules you should easily 2-0 Charizard.

LUCARIO: 3. Lucario is tricky to fight because he is the only Pokemon in the game that actually starts off balanced in weight, speed, and power. So there is no weakness to exploit with him, you just need to emphasize what Dedede is good at doing (punishing, harassing, edgeguarding, and flogging.). He has a chargeable Aura Sphere, which can hurt you badly if you don't catch it with swallow in time. He has a SideB that does some kind of beam from his palm that outranges your swallow and tilts. He has an UpB that shoots him in any direction and makes him hard to directly hit during this. He has a counter. Lucario can manuever slightly faster than you, so it's wise to back from him if you see him side-dodging faster than you are and reset to fair-distance. A couple of good combos and good edgeguarding should get you the K.O. though. The last thing I need to cover in this matchup is that Lucario has a little trick up his sleeve for when you put him to high damage%: Aura passive. I noticed he glows more than other fighters the more damage% he has, and that when he is in the red-zone with his damage, he can actually hit as hard as you do. The way Aura passive works is that the higher damage% Lucario has the lighter, faster, and stronger he gets. This can be awesome or terrible for him, you just have to decide for yourself, because this also makes him a glass cannon. One good attack can insta-K.O. him at that point. Otherwise this is totally a skill matchup.

JIGGLYPUFF: 1. Jiggs is your best matchup in this game. She is squishy, so you should need no less than 10 hits to secure the K.O. She dies instantly to shield-break, and besides Lucina and Marth you are the king of breaking shields with your SideSmash followed up with something else. She has no ranged attacks, so she has to put herself within flogging distance in order to poke you with her aerials. You can simply shield when she Rolls-out. She can't grab you from very far, and that is also very dangerous for her. The only thing you need to worry about is not getting poked when she tries to aerial you, and if you maintain your fair-distance strategy then you will easily 2-0 Jiggs every time. Oh by the way, because of your hammer range and fair-distance, she wouldn't ever be able to use Sing-Rest to K.O. you.

GRENINJA: 1. I know I've been on a roll with the 1 ratings, but Greninja also gets Dededestroyed in this matchup. Fair distance makes fighting squishies the easiest thing to do for the King, and Greninja is no exception. His main ranged attack does 2-4% damage. He can shadow-sneak all he wants; take a small jump away from him when you see that shadow and hold your swallow and his SideB wouldn't even touch you. He has a counter, but it is has such low duration and leaves Greninja vulnerable for so long that it takes little prediction-skill to squash this frog. His fully charged B doesn't deflect Gordos (but his small ones do). His only kill-potential lies in his smash attacks, which have slow casting times and require him to be in hammer-range. So as long as you keep fair-distance and don't allow him to grab you, he would get flogged backwards far enough to consider it free damage to him. His recovery is strong but predictable, so as soon as he starts his Hydro pump to return to stage, jump high enough to ForwardAir him back off the stage and repeat. I've never had a problem with Greninja whether it was a baddie or a Gren-main because of this strategy and I never died to him (unless it was from a failed teabag ).

DUCK HUNT DUO: 5. Sadly, all the 1 ratings must come to an end. Give a warm welcome to Duck Hunt, the AIDS of your existence. This matchup is so painful I dreaded the day I'd have to type this for you guys. This little dog and bird can KITE YOU TO DEATH! EASILY! Don't even think of throwing a Gordo, they have 3 ranged attacks; all are annoying, have low cooldown, and can fire Gordos back at you. They also really hurt, so this is like free damage for them (8-12% can, 9-12% clay, 4-7% sheriff). Hitting you with all of that at the same time can give them about 12% free damage per second. When you manage to dodge your way to close range to fight them, they are balanced in speed and power, but have little weight, so this is all on how you somehow manage to outmaneuver them and land successful hits. And they can run away and kite you again. In terms of edgeguarding, no one is stronger than Duck Hunt, because of their Can and Clay. They will poke you out of your jumps and force the bad UpB from you. I'm sorry but I can't give you an easy strategy to beating Duck Hunt, just side-dodge your way towards them and outplay them from up close, otherwise just jump off the map two times and find a new opponent. The one thing that you can beat them in is edgeguarding against them, so if you can nail them off the map and keep them off then you can make a comeback. Their UpB can't be stopped except by grabbing a ledge, so use that knowledge to spike them down easily.

ROB: 5. And here is the last 5 rating of the guide. ROB is the type of character that you really don't want to use Gordos on because of his B, SideB, and DownB. He is quick, medium weighted, and powerful in both grabbing and attacking. He can poke you with B and DownB from far away. He can do multiple combos and knock you back with 25% extra damage safely. All of his smash attacks are K.O. capable when you cross 100%. Finally, he is hard to aerial because his attack boxes are away from him up there. My main strategy to beating ROB is shielding/dodging all his poke then tilt-comboing him when I'm close enough. Like Duck Hunt, ROB is easiest to fight when you're edgeguarding against him, but he has far greater aerials than Duck Hunt so don't just jump off the map if you're weak enough for him to K.O. you. Using Gordos to edgeguard is best against ROB, or just do the edgeguarding trick using the short-distance Gordo to set you up for the fully charged SideSmash to get the easier kill (if you can). Otherwise ROB will Kite you all day then dance around you and aerial you into oblivion, so don't let it do that to you!

NESS: 5. I lied. Ness is ridiculously strong vs Dedede. He is already strong in the game, but his strengths are amplified against heavy characters that are slightly projectile dependent. He can PK fire twice in a short amount of time, catching Dedede and immobilizing him for 2 seconds each. He has a F***ING OVERPOWERED BACKWARDS THROW THAT KILLS AT 85%. His UpB has monstrous launching power, even Dedede can't handle it. He has 5+ abilities that deflect gordos. His Forward Air can smack someone about 4 times before he lands on the ground. Last but not least, a good ness can easily predict Dedede's UpB trajectory and just land a flash where Dedede will land and Dedede will just die. Do not use a gordo when he's charging his sidesmash because he will smack them back towards you with 2x power and you will be launched off the stage. So how could King Dedede fare against Ness? Just be the better smash player, because Ness wins vs Dedede in close range combat and projectiles. Best I can say is go absolutely HAM and catch him off guard as much as possible to set you up for your powered attacks.

CAPTAIN FALCON: 3. This matchup can go either wonderfully or terribly depending on how evasive Falcon can be versus you. Capt. has a lot of speed and power, so if you allow him, he can smack you about 5-6 times and give you about 65%. Capt. is also super fragile and has a straight-pathed recovery, so use that to your advantage and use your smash attacks to break his agility while giving yourself complete stage control. I wouldn't recommend fighting in the air versus him because his air comboing is better than Dedede's, but on the ground Dedede can easily one shot him time and time again to victory. There isn't really much more to say about this matchup.

VILLAGER: 3. Villager can and will shoot you to death from a distance if allowed to. His list of (annoying) projectiles include the aerial slingshot, the missile that he can ride on, the tree, the fireworks, and the bowling ball. If that doesn't say "Hey I will shoot your face off" enough times then know that he can also pocket your own gordos and throw them back at you with increased damage. So unless this villager sucks, DON'T GORDO! PERIOD! Where Dedede obliterates Villager in the matchup is in close quarter and aerial combat, thanks to Dedede's tilts and smash combos. I'd advise against using Swallow versus villager because he can throw projectiles quickly and spitting him back out would only allow him to keep shooting you from a distance. Dedede should also watch out for the missle and the tree, because this is Villager's best move-set for dealing with the big penguin in his face because both moves protect him and launch you back. Keeping all of this in mind, you will easily defeat villager in the matchup.

CAPTAIN OLIMAR: 3. This is one of the game's semi-ranged characters that can be both annoying and deadly at the same time. Despite Olimar's mechanics being more difficult to master than (maybe) every other character's, there are still some mains out there that will give you a run for your money. His ranged attacks include his smash attack that is a high damage pikmin toss and damage over time pikmin toss SideB. Keep in mind that your Gordos will kill Olimar's pikmin ONLY when he throws them, so try to do that with the flower pikmin to lower their damage to you a little. Also do a Nair when his pikmin are on you doing damage over time to just kill them and make Olimar pluck some more. All of this means think less Gordo toss and more Hammer time. olimar is generally middleweight and a little small, so a couple of jab to aerial combos will place him with high enough damage% for you to kill him with your Bair or Sidesmash. Just remember to not confuse his SideB with his Smash, or else you'll be KO'd without knowing it.

WII FIT TRAINER: 4. This matchup is actually really funny to me because up until patch 1.1.4 (around then) this character was just bad. I was about to make this a 1-2 in rating, but she has gotten some disgusting buffs to her A attacks and ending lags. How did I learn this you ask...? I was being arrogant when I shouldn't have vs a few of WiiFits XD. Now back to the matchup: WiiFit is faster than Dedede, hits faster than Dedede, and can combo more than Dedede. Not only is she annoying with her combos but she can also launch two projectiles (Gordo denial) and take damage % off of herself (B and DownB) to sustain vs Dedede for longer. your main chance to shine here will be by reading the WiiFit, somehow getting close enough to melee her, and chain your A attacks as much as possible. When WiiFit tries to use DownB, don't let it finish under any circumstances because it will buff its damage and heal it by 10 damage%. All in all you should play this matchup like it's a 5, but this is an easier fight for Dedede than Samus and Duck Hunt by far.

DR. MARIO: 4. This section will be relatively short because the Doc here is just a clone. Refer to Mario's matchup information, but keep in mind that Doc has more launching power than Mario a well as a downB that's better for melee ranged combat.

DARK PIT: 4. Pit's archdemon clone is generally the same fight for King Dedede as the archangel one. The only differences between Pit and Dark Pit is that Dark Pit's attacks are a little slower and less versatile than Pit's, but hit harder and launch further. Other than that you should treat this like you were fighting Pit.

LUCINA: 4. Marth's light-footed clone is actually a harder fight for Dedede than Marth is. Lucina can attack and move faster than Marth can, but at the cost of her weight, so you gain a slight advantage over her this matchup. At the same time, she still has a counter, so if the chance to attack her is too good to be true, it usually is. At the same time, if she counters when you begin charging your Side-smash or Jet-hammer, then just wait a little more before letting 'er rip. Other than all this refer to the Marth matchup info.

SHULK: 2-4. The main indicator of a Shulk's skill level is how well he keeps his B active. If the Shulk forgets to use his B effectively, half of his kit's potential is inhibited and the matchup is a 2 rating. If Shulk can upkeep with his B and always have a powerup as much as possible then you have yourself a real fight. Shulk's B power-ups are as follows: Yellow is enhanced Shield duration, Blue is enhanced speed, Green is enhanced jumping, Purple is enhanced launching power, Red is enhanced damage. How I beat shulks varies on what their b color is. Blue Shulk should be counterplayed like you would when fighting Lucina. Green Shulk like Corrin. Yellow Shulk like Mario. Purple Shulk like Bowser or DK. Red Shulk like Ganondorf. I apologize for effortlessly typing this matchup, but I feel like at this point in the guide you understand the jist of how Dedede can win vs. sword characters and things that can counter, so I'm leaving the specifics for you guys. If I didn't then I would have to type 5 different paragraphs for one character, and this guide is already freakishly long xD.


Chapter 6: Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd8Cc3C0POa6ScNQzZ5422w

This is my youtube channel featuring videos of yours truly: Me. I have just started with this youtube channel so there are probably only 10 or 20 videos, but I plan on making this channel the go-to-guide for King Dedede players. Like the videos, subscribe to the channel, dadeedadeeda. I'll have playlists up for whatever you want to specifically watch, just give me time to make the channel super awesome someday :D.


I'm aware that there isn't every character on here but this guide is still a work in progress. I'm not finished yet. I'll be finishing the matchup chapter, as well as adding aesthetics (pics of Dedede) to the guide, and eventually coming up with more videos of me and my gameplay to make it easier to learn. I appreciate all feedback, positive or negative, and will use it to improve the guide so let me know how this is so far and I'll be able to make it the best it can be by the time it's finished :D.