- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
A COMPETITIVE GUIDE TO PLAYING KING DEDEDE IN SMASH 4
Table of Contents
1.) Introduction
2.) Neutral Moves and Special Moves
3.) Combos, strings, and mix-ups
4.) Strategy
5.) The King's Matchups
Introduction
Hello and welcome to my King Dedede guide for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS! For those of you who don't know me, my tag is: Platypus. I'm a D3/Fox player from Texas with a decent placings in both 1v1 and 2v2. Some people may also remember me from Brawl where I went by aMp, or A Male Platypus. I've won a few tournaments here and there and have consistently taken Dedede into the top 5 teams of several different regional 2v2 tournaments, often times placing 1st-3rd. I was drawn to Dedede in Smash 4 largely because I enjoyed styling on people as a hammer-wielding penguin and because of how good he is in 2v2. In this guide I'm going to do my best to explain; What Dedede's moves are, what their uses are, his optimal style of play, and his different matchups.
Please remember this guide is a reflection of my OPINIONS as a player and nothing more. It's my hopes that by sharing my thoughts and ideas with the community that we will be able to progress the Dedede metagame even further. The ONLY THING I'm presenting as a 100% truthful, unbiased fact is this: Dedede is a badass :-)
Key for abbreviations found in guide
FF = Fast Fall
HBG = High Bounce Gordo
U - Up
D - Down
F - Front
B - Back
N - Neutral
Please remember this guide is a reflection of my OPINIONS as a player and nothing more. It's my hopes that by sharing my thoughts and ideas with the community that we will be able to progress the Dedede metagame even further. The ONLY THING I'm presenting as a 100% truthful, unbiased fact is this: Dedede is a badass :-)
Key for abbreviations found in guide
FF = Fast Fall
HBG = High Bounce Gordo
U - Up
D - Down
F - Front
B - Back
N - Neutral
NEUTRAL AND SPECIAL MOVES
Frame Data - http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/King Dedede
Jab and Tilts
Jab - Dedede swings his hammer a total of three times, continuously spinning it on the last hit and ending the combo with a hammer-uppercut finisher.
Rating: 6.5/10 - A great move overall. Letting the jab finish leads to a surprisingly powerful K.O. option, and after jab 2 Dedede can go for a mixup depending on how the opponent reacts. Be careful however, the move starts up much slower than most other character's jabs, and some characters can act between Jab 1 and 2.
Dash Attack - While running, Dedede flops the full intensity of his weight on to the ground, sliding forward and dealing a large amount of knockback to enemies hit.
Rating: 5/10 - A slow-starting, but powerful move that can lead to early K.O.s if it lands. Can be a great option if you read a roll.
Forward Tilt - Dedede extends his hammer far out in front of him and twists it, knocking enemies back.
Rating: 6/10 - A long reaching, good spacing move. However it's much not as good as it was in Brawl. Can be safe on the shield of slower characters, but overall I consider jab to be a slightly better option.
Up Tilt - Dedede swings head head from back to front, growing it size and hitting enemies above him.
Rating: 4/10 - Another move that got significantly worse since Brawl. The animation is is still the same but the hitbox, damage, and knockback on this move are all pretty pitiful. I have found small uses for it as a mix up though
Down Tilt - Dedede Rolls on the ground, hitting enemies as he rolls
Rating: 7/10 - I consider this move to be pretty decent, and the animation for it is awesome. Dtilt is also Dedede's fastest move on the ground, with the active hitbox starting on frame 6. You can sometimes catch the opponent's by surprise with a quick Dtilt after a spacing move, and it also combos into itself at low percents. The knockback is decent, and can kill around 120% and higher near the edge.
Smashes
Side Smash - Dedede swings his hammer over head and brings it down with intense force.
Rating: 5/10 - Slow start up but very strong. It's rare that you'll land one of these, but when you do...
Up Smash - Dedede swings his hammer from bottom to top, ending the swing behind his shoulder
Rating: 6/10 - A move I'm discovering more and more uses for as I continue to play Dedede. You can get some decent reads with it, and if you hit at the right spot it has pretty decent knockback. Most people don't know that it also hits BEHIND Dedede, so you can take advantage of that.
Down Smash - Dedede spins in a circle with his heavy hammer, dealing damage and knockback to enemies on either side of him.
Rating: 8/10 - Probably Dedede's best smash attack overall. It has decent rage, decent start up, and good knock back. Like most Dsmashes, it also hits on both sides. This should be your go to punish if someone regrabs the ledge over 70%
Aerials
Neutral Air - Dedede extends his appendages to make a midair pose that damages the enemy
Rating: 8/10 - Dedede's fastest aerial. It has decent priority, comes out quick (frame 7) and can be used for both combos and can kill on startup. After the strong hit on start up, nair has a lasting weak hit that you can use to extend combos. Try fast falling a weak hit nair into an utilt!
Forward Air - Dedede Swings his hammer over his head while in midair. The momentum from the hammer causes Dedede to lose his balance and do a forward flip.
Rating: 7/10 - Overall a decent move in his arsenal. Unfortunately the angle in which he swings makes it hard to hit opponents on the ground. This move is also pretty unsafe and has a lot of landing lag. But it can still be a great follow up out of Dthrow and off stage it is one of his best tools to gimp the enemy.
Back Air - Dedede Swings his hammer behind him in a bottom-to-top fashion
Rating: 9/10 - Dedede's 2nd best aerial and probably his best move overall. The animation and the hitbox don't exactly line up, so be careful about that. But using Dthrow > Bair is one of Dedede's bread and butters. It is pretty powerful and can kill relatively early. However, it can be hard to hit if your opponent is ready for it. Try baiting the opponent into a bad position with your jumps and then hitting them with a Bair.
Up Air - Dedede spins his hammer and extends it above him.
Rating: 9/10 - This move is incredibly good and has a lot of uses. At low percents you can Dthrow and then Start and Uair, and immediately start trying to fast fall as Dedede descends. If done correctly, it'll psuedo-spike your opponent down with you and you can get a regrab. It's a farcry from the Brawl chaingrab days, but it's a wonderful mixup to add to your Dedede's arsenal. It also kills relatively early, and can sometimes kill out of Dthrow on certain characters when Dedede has rage or the ceiling is low enough. Another cool thing about Uair is that it can poke through the stage, so you can catch people trying to edge guard you for a free hit.
Down Air - Dedede launches an all-out hammer swing on opponents below him, causing them to be spiked downwards.
Rating: 6/10 - Overall it's a powerful spike, but the long startup and jank hitbox prevent it from being a better move. Still, with how versatile Dedede is off stage you shouldn't hesitate to go for it if you think you can land one. If you space it right, you can even catch people out of a gordo hit with a Dair to the death.
Grabs
Forward Throw - Dedede slaps his opponent with his hammer, knocking them forward.
Rating: 6/10 - Standard throw. It's good, but Bthrow does more damage and Dthrow leads to more followups. This is probably Dedede's BEST kill throw, but that's not saying much. At higher percents at the edge of the stage with rage you might be able to net a K.O.
Back Throw - Dedede hits the opponent behind with his hammer, launching them at a slightly upward angle.
Rating: 6/10 - A decent throw that is great for setting opponents up in doubles and does great damage. At higher percents you may choose to use this instead of Dthrow
Down Throw - Dedede jumps up and lands on his butt on top of the opponent, causing them to fly upwards off the ground.
Rating: 8/10 - Dedede's best throw, and his best combo starter. At low percents Dedede can follow up with just about whatever he wants out of a Dthrow. This leads to fun mixups, and damaging combos. The only thing that stops this throw from being a perfect 10/10 is that it's harder to follow up on it at higher percents, and it's damage isn't very great. It does however, remain a great option to set your teammate up for a kill off the top in 2v2.
Up Throw - Dedede effortlessly lifts his opponent above his head and then tosses him above him.
Rating: 1/10 - A terrible throw, and easily his worst move. I've seen some people go for Uthrow > UpB for a jank spike kill on unaware players, but otherwise this move is ass. Stick to Dthrow at low percents and Fthrow/Bthrow at higher percents.
Specials
Inhale (Neutral B) - Dedede opens his mount wide and sucks in as hard as he can, inhaling opponents or projectiles in the process.
Rating: 7/10 - Probably the worst command grab in the game, but it's still a command grab! It actually has decent range for a command grab, but from any thing further than point blank it's incredibly easy for the opponent to avoid or even punish Dedede. Use this whenever you have an opponent who's hiding in shield, and if it's 2v2 be sure to spit them back out at their partner. Sometimes while jumping to bait the opponent into a bad position they will react by sitting in shield. If you see this, that's your cue to go for the command grab. It's also very effective when you have an opponent on a platform above you. A quick short hop > inhale will scoop them off the platform and into Dedede's mouth.
Gordos (Side B) - Dedede pulls a gordo out of coat and launches it at the enemy
Rating: 8/10 - Gordos are interesting projectiles. They deal a lot of damage and can stick in walls, but they can also be hit back at Dedede. Gordos actually have two different animations that the Dedede can choose between:
- Normal throw - Throws the gordo more horizontally, covering more distance
- High Bounce (HBG) - Throws the gordo more vertically, bouncing higher but not as far
Super Dedede Jump (up B) - Dedede summons the energy within him to muster one more incredibly high jump; crashing down on opponents and spiking them as he descends.
Rating: 5/10 - A decent recovery move. While ascending, Dedede has medium armor but is otherwise vulnerable. It jumps up pretty quick and goes REALLY far. But because it has no hitbox on the way up it's easy to get 2-framed as you snap to the edge. Also worth noting is that if you land on the ground with this, 2 stars shoot out around Dedede to protect him from attackers. People often forget about the stars so they might save you a time or two, but are otherwise easy to avoid.
Jet Hammer (Down B) - Dedede charges the jet engine in his hammer to unleash a deadly blow that deals a lot of knockback and damage when fully charged.
Rating: 2/10 - A strong move that gets stronger the longer you charge it. You can also move and jump while using it. Although that sounds good, it's incredibly slow start up time, and abysmal end lag make it incredibly unsafe and hard to hit. Fsmash has almost just as much knockback as this, so the only thing saving this move from being a 1 is the ability to jump with a charged hammer and potentially catch someone out of an airdodge. It might be worth noting that Dedede takes damage while charging the hammer, so they may be some jank strategies utilizing downB to build rage or something. Overall, you're going to have a better option almost every time.
Combos, Strings, and Mix-ups
= Any aerial/mix up opportunity- Dthrow >
- Dthrow > Uair (ff) > regrab > Dthrow >
- Dthrow > Uair (ff) > Dsmash
- Dthrow > Uair (ff) > Gordo >
- Dthrow > Fair > Nair > Utilt
- Jab 1 > Jab 2 >
- Dtilt > Dtilt
- Dtilt > Shield Grab
- Nair > Nair / Uair / Fair
- Nair (ff, wh) > Uair
- Dair (into stage) > Uair
- Gordo >
- HBG > Fthrow/Bthrow >
Strategy
As a Dedede player you're going to want to play a high risk - high reward playstyle. This is because all of Dedede's moves are unsafe lol! But in all seriousness I believe Dedede is an often slept on character who has some hidden potential to maybe make it to the mid tier one day. In 1v1 he is capable of exerting a lot of pressure on the opponent that can trip up even the highest ranked opponents, and in doubles Dedede is a versatile juggernaut.
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Dedede's strengths come from his ability to combo well at low percents, live to high percents, pressure his opponent and get big punishes. As a Dedede player you're going to want to play a very safe, space-heavy game that allows you to capitalize on moment's where your opponent is out of position. Luckily, Dedede has a few good tools to bait or force the opponent into bad positions. Starting with his gordos.
Although gordos are relatively unsafe and can hit back at Dedede, a well placed gordo can cause even the most experienced opponent to be put in a bad position - allowing him to continue the pressure or get a big punish. A good Dedede player will also make use of Dedede's 5 jumps to bait the opponent into doing something silly and getting punished. Dedede is also heavy and falls quick, REALLY heavy in fact. Dedede is the 3rd heaviest character (behind Bowser and Donkey Kong) with a weight value of 119. This extra weight helps Dedede's high risk-high reward play style even more by allowing him to survive trades that might kill lighter characters. Also, Living to higher percents means more time for Dedede to spend with Smash 4's unique rage mechanic, making his trades that much more potent. Keep in mind though, that because of his slow aerial speed, aerial trades that leave both him and his opponent offstage will put Dedede in a bad position and quickly shift the momentum to the opponent's favor.
As I mentioned above, a lot of Dedede's strengths revolve around his ability to exert a lot of pressure and get big punishes. By nature, this means that Dedede is good at edge-guarding and gimping. Gordos are a great way to do both of those. The threat of 17% and a potential combo bouncing on the edge in front of someone (especially after their invulnerability ends) is scary. This pressure gives Dedede the ability to gauge how his opponent will react, and allows Dedede to setup and exert more pressure/spacing or punish the opponent. Dedede can also exert a lot of pressure off stage and can even keep up with the likes of Pit, Metaknight, and Villager offstage. Bair is a strong kill move and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that off stage = closer to the blast zone = earlier kills from Bair. With 5 total jumps, Dedede can jump offstage and continue the same spacing, punish-heavy game that he plays on stage. Because of his ability to translate that style to the air, Dedede makes for a great doubles character. Not only are his setups good for team combos, the pressure he is able to exert both on stage and off means that any competent teammate will be able to make great reads and get strong punishes of their own on any enemy caught between.
This also means that Dedede performs well on a wide variety of stages. Overall, there really aren't any terrible stages for Dedede. Just stages that are better for him than others. Generally speaking, Battlefield is one stage you might want to strike because the platforms can sometimes interrupt HBG shenanigans and lead to movement complications due to Dedede's large size. Town and City is a good, solid stage to go too, and Smashville is also pretty good. Delfino Plaza(If the region you're in has it legal) can be an excellent counter pick and is easily Dedede's best stage. The different transformations all impact gordos in weird ways, and you can REALLY start to mix people up when your gordos are bouncing all over the place. Plus, the transformations will temporarily lower the ceiling at certain places meaning a well times Dthrow > Uair could lead to an early kill. Duck Hunt is a pretty versatile stage for Dedede as well that work for him or against him. If you are playing against a character that is capable of camping Dedede out (Samus, Sheik, Bayonetta, Cloud, Link, Etc.) then having a stage that is too large like Duck Hunt might be a bad idea. Because of this, you're going to want to use your stage strikes/bans wisely and dependent on who you're playing against. Keep in mind also, that not every player is going to play their character the same way.
Example: Playing against an aggressive Fox player? You may want to leave Duck Hunt open - the big stage can help Dedede get some extra room to make up for how fast Fox is. Playing against a campy Fox player? You may want to ban Duck Hunt - Fox's speed is too much for Dedede to keep up with and him having all that extra room to run around and deflect gordos can be annoying to play against.
For all of his strengths however, Dedede has a lot of clear-cut weaknesses that prevent him from doing well in the current meta. As a Dedede player you not only want to be aware of what these weaknesses are, but also how to mitigate them. To start with, Dedede is SLOW and even slower in the air. This means that you will have to rely more on spacing and setups to land a good hit instead of relying on fast attacks or kill followups. Although Dedede is able to bust out some pretty dirty combos at lower percents, at higher percents he is too slow to follow up on much of anything. Dedede also doesn't have a reliable kill throw, making it very difficult at times to take an opponent's stock. A majority of Dedede's best kill options are in the air, which are easy to shield if your opponent is on the ground and is the biggest reason why his slow air speed is such a problem. Not only that, but the only thing that beats shields is a grab - Dedede DOES have a command grab - but Dedede doesn't have any real kill throws. Also, as a bigger and heavier character, Dedede is much more prone to getting combo'd and is much easier to follow up on. Last but not least, although gordos are a great tool for applying pressure, any competent opponent will be able to use them against you. This means that spacing will be MUCH harder at times, and you'll always run the risk of mistiming a throw and catching a gordo to the face.
Matchups
None of this is concrete, and is my opinion on how I feel Dedede fares playing against those characters. I will try to come back and update it more effectively in the future - once the game has solidified a bit more and the patches have died down. But for now, things are shifting too frequently for this to be 100% accurate = 1st number in the MUBayonetta: 2.5-7.5
Bowser: 6.5-3.5
Bowser Jr.: 5-5
Captain Falcon: 4.5-5.5
Charizard: 6-4
Cloud: 3-7
Corrin: 4.5-5.5
Dark Pit: 5-5
Diddy Kong: 4-6
Donkey Kong: 6-4
Dr. Mario: 6-4
Duck Hunt: 4-6
Falco: 5-5
Fox: 4-6
Ganondorf: 7-3
Greninja: 5-5
Ike: 5-5
Jigglypuff: 6-4
King Dedede - n/a
Kirby: 4-6
Link: 4-6
Little Mac: 5-5
Lucario: 5-5
Lucas: 4-6
Lucina: 5-5
Luigi: 4-6
Mario: 4.5-5.5
Marth: 5-5
Mega Man: 3-7
Meta Knight: 3.5-6.5
Mewtwo: 5-5
Mii Brawler: 5-5
Mii Gunner: 4-6
Mii Swordfighter: 5-5
Mr. Game and Watch 4-6
Ness: 5-5
Olimar: 4.5-5.5
Pac-Man: 5-5
Palutena: 4-6
Peach: 5-5
Pikachu: 3-7
Pit: 4.5-5.5
R.O.B.: 4-6
Robin: 4-6
Rosalina & Luma: 3-7
Roy: 5-5
Ryu: 5-5
Samus: 4-6
Sheik: 3.5-6.5
Shulk: 5-5
Sonic: 3-7
Toon Link: 3-7
Villager: 3.5-6.5
Wario: 5.5-4.5
Wii Fit Trainer: 5-5
Yoshi: 4-6
Zelda: 5-5
Zero Suit Samus: 3.5-6.5
Also, the MU thing is going to be reworked in the future. It explicitly says that in there