The intent of this guide is to improve your Donkey Kong or just make you a more knowledgeable player as a whole. Also, if you do not currently play as DK, maybe this guide will get you interested.
I will start with the basic principles of what makes DK...DK. Then, I will move towards fundamental stuff like neutral game, and eventually to the fun stuff: punish game. I will talk about every single aspect of DK's game. Many of you may find the neutral game section to be the most boring to read. However, I highly recommend reading it since it is the most difficult aspect to improve on, and the most important to becoming a fundamentally sound Smash player.
This guide is intended for people who know the basics of Smash, who also have at least played as DK enough times to have at least a general idea of his moveset. If you are a beginner to the game, specifically Melee, I recommend reading basic Melee guides, since that is most similar game to project M and there are plenty of guides out there for it. Also, there are many videos on Youtube that teach the basic techniques and principles of Melee as well. Here is a popular one that was made awhile ago by Wak: http://youtu.be/vckV2MJgBzo
Before I get into the DK stuff, I should probably introduce myself. I am POOB (I made the name up when I was 12, cut me some slack) and I have been playing DK for many years. I have a lot of tournament experience, and I perform well in tournaments. Also, I have improved significantly in recent months, so I am very familiar with the improvement process. This is why I decided to make a guide.
Lastly, I want to mention that this guide includes fundamental aspects that can be applied to all characters. Lots of the topics discussed in this guide, specifically the neutral game section, refer to general fundamental concepts, and then how to apply them toward DK specifically.
Donkey Kong's Pros:
Donkey Kong is an extremely grab-heavy character. Most of the time, but not ALL of the time, his main goal is to get a grab (I will get into specific cases where that is NOT the best option later). However, it is not ideal to always be looking directly for grabs in neutral game. Therefore, against safer-playing opponents where grab opportunities are scarce, DK's general game plan is to get follow ups INTO grabs after landing aerials or pokes.
As far as his playstyle goes, this is actually very difficult to answer briefly, and it is one of the aspects of DK that I like the most. DK is a character who has many acceptable playstyles. It comes down to both the opponent's playstyle as well as the character they are playing as to determine how DK should be played in a given situation. He can play rushdown, he can zone, he can dash dance, he can space with aerials, etc. I will list his effective playstyles and elaborate on them in the "Neutral Game" section.
In this section, I will discuss the various uses for each move. The uses for most of these moves will be explained in even further detail in later sections!
At lower percents, jab-combo into grab will almost always work depending on the character, which is great because getting grabs is DK's main goal in many matchups (this will be elaborated on later). You can also go straight from the first jab into a grab, but the opponent will often be able to escape by mashing jump.
Against floatier characters, jab combo into full hop double jump up air is a really effective kill combo. This becomes especially useful against characters who are floaty enough where DK cannot kill them by using grab follow ups(as mentioned, DK's grab game will be elaborated on later).
DK can also jab reset many characters, specifically the heavier ones and fast fallers. Here is an example of an application: http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=2m57s
Keep in mind, It is easy to react to DI after a jab combo for follow ups at lower percents. If they DI away you can usually dash grab. If they DI towards you, you can up tilt. If they don't DI at all, you can do another jab combo, a grab, and up tilt, or even a fully charged punch if it looks like it will connect. Keep in mind though, the latter is rarely going to be a "true" combo which is why you don't see it often.
Forward Tilt: DK's f-tilt is great because of its amazing range and quick startup. It is a great poking tool in neutral and is surprisingly safe when spaced well, as long as you are not predictable. It is most effective when mixed in with other pokes and some movement mindgames, where the opponent is unsure of what your next action will be. Due to its range, you can surprise a lot of people with it and get some quick damage.
F-tilt is also great for hitting offstage opponents because of its range and you can angle it downwards or upwards to hit your opponent accordingly. It's great for taking opponent's double jumps after a read as well, putting them in a terrible situation. Here is an example: http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA?t=6m34s
One tactic that is very useful is pivot f-tilt in neutral. If you are good at this, you can throw out f-tilts at a moment's notice out of a dash dance. Very underused, very useful. Credits/shoutouts to Chandy for spreading the word to me about its usefulness.
Down Tilt: D-tilt is also a great poke. It is quicker and has less endlag than the f-tilt, but has less range. This makes it better for situations where the opponent is in a better position to punish a whiffed attack, where the endlag of f-tilt could be risky. Down tilt, just like f-tilt, is great for hitting offstage opponents and punishing a failed sweetspot attempt.
Crouch cancel down tilts are really important to DK's neutral against characters like Marth, Roy, and Lucario, who have easily crouch cancel-able approaches. If you notice that characters like this are going to approach you from the air, most of the time you can just hold down and punish them with a crouch cancel d-tilt. This will usually allow you to follow up into a grab. Sometimes, d-tilt will combo into itself as well.
Up Tilt: This is a very underrated move with many subtle uses. Most DK players use this move for mainly combo purposes or anti-air, which are easily its best uses. However, when you have your back facing the opponent, DK's hands goes far behind him. You can use this as a mix-up in neutral, or to hit someone who fails to sweet spot the ledge, for example. This move will easily combo into itself at lower percents, especially if the opponent fails to DI. Then, once they get to higher percents, you can just follow with an up air.
Forward Smash: This move has very limited use due to its slow startup and lots of endlag and is definitely the least useful of all his smash attacks. It should only be used if your punch isn't charged since the punch is better in every way. This move can be used for punishing vulnerable opponents(i.e. landing after an up-b, missed counter, charging a smash attack that won't hit you) as well as simply getting hard reads on things like techchases or spot dodges. But remember, there is probably no situation where you should use this move as opposed to a fully charged punch. Use it when you see a kill opportunity, but your punch is not charged.
Down Smash: This move can be a life saver at times. There are actually many situations where this move is useful. It comes out surprisingly fast for a smash attack, and hits all around DK, making it easy to land. It is especially good at killing floaties off the top, which is important because many floaties cannot be killed off of a grab combo and it can often be hard to find a way to kill them when they are past combo %. Therefore, you must be aware of all of his other kill options on floaties, and down smash is one of them. Crouch cancel down smash is one of the most brain-dead ways DK can get kills on floaties. It is a move you do not use except for when you want to kill. Therefore, the opponent does not see it often. This makes it that much more deadly when you need to use it, since the opponent will be less prepared. Unless, you use it a lot of course.
This move is also good for punishing on-stage landings from characters with little endlag on their up-b, when they are at kill percent. Against Ness for example, if he tries to land on stage from his up b, he has little endlag and he also has good horizontal control. This makes it easy for him to fake you out and it may be unclear exactly where he is going to land. The hitbox on the down smash is so big, and the move is so fast, that you can just walk to the opponent's general area when they are airbourne, and you are certain to hit him regardless of whatever subtle movements they make. Brutal...
Up Smash (a.k.a. the praise the lord, hallelujah, amen, and much more): This is one of the most satisfying moves to land as DK, and it is very overlooked as a kill move in Project M for some reason. It is actually one of the most powerful up-smashes in the game. This, combined with the fact that DK can usually charge it for awhile when it is comboed into, allow for extremely early ceiling kills. The most common moves that combo into an up smash kill are down air and down b. Against fast fallers, you can actually kill with a cargo up throw to up smash as well. After a dair or down-b though, at most percents, the opponent will be in hitstun for a LONG...LONG time and in the perfect spot to hit with an up smash. During this time, DK can go under the opponent and charge until he feels the opponent will either get out of hitstun, or be too low for the up smash to connect. Here is an example, plus a nice combo as well
http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=1m14s
Up smash is also great for platform punishes. In situations where you are under an opponent that is laying down on a platform, or in a situation where they are about to land on one in tumble, up smash is a great techchase kill option if you are confident with your read. It is also good for simply punishing landings on platforms, like after link down airs predictably on a platform for example.
Dash Attack: DK's dash attack is most useful when near the ledge of the stage or a platform, because you can roll off the ledge while hitting your opponent, and then double jump out of it to follow up with an aerial. It is risky to do in neutral, because you are very punishable if you miss, if the opponent shields, or if they crouch cancel it. This is why a nair or grab is usually a better option; less endlag on a nair if you miss, and a grab will cover the shielding option.
However, the dash attack is excellent for continuing combos, or starting them if the opponent is near the ledge. After a nair, the opponent is usually in a perfect position for DK to instantly follow up with a dash attack. Always look for this option after you hit with a shffl nair, because it will sometimes be the only way that DK can follow up if the opponent DI's correctly. This is because they will be far enough where dash attack is the only option fast enough to continue the combo and hit them before they land. Another bread and butter combo is jab combo into dash attack, especially when near the ledge which you will see in a link below
Dash attack is also great off of platforms for movement mixups in neutral, as well as a surprise approach option if you use it sparingly. It is a great way simply get away as well.
Lastly, c stick down should be used for your dash attacks so you can do it instantly out of a dash or dash dance without having to worry about accidentally forward smashing. It makes it much easier to do mid-combo.
Examples of dash attack ledge uses:
http://youtu.be/J1E20YcQNe8?t=6m4s
http://youtu.be/FqL5IerZEXY?t=6m22s
http://youtu.be/7ucpqf1tlEM?t=7m55s
Neutral Air: The neutral air is possibly DK's Swiss army knife. This move has so many uses. It is great for approaching, comboing, killing, edgeguarding, and can even be used to shut down some approaches. It combos into itself on most of the cast at low-mid % (a.k.a. the nairplane), and it can also lead into a jab combo, down tilt, dash attack, dash grab, and even more depending on DI. It is a viable kill option against lighter characters while near the ledge, and will kill surprisingly early if catch them off guard causing bad survival DI. It is great if you read a double jump of a recovering opponent. This is because the nair, combined with DK's great aerial momentum, is very fast and you can easily punish a double jump on reaction with a dash->jump->nair from a surprisingly far distance away.
His nair is great for both approaching, and stopping some approaches, like sonic's side b and similar moves. By doing short hop neural air in place, you set up perfectly to hit someone out an aerial approach with DK's hands. The move also lasts long, so it does not require much precision to do so. On the flip side, DK's nair is his main approach option. It is a staple in his game. It is especially good for hitting people who are trying to run away from you, by simply dashing toward them, predicting the retreat, and doing the shffl nair. Due to DK's aerial mobility, this is an extremely effective tactic that DK can abuse on people who have retreating habits(which is a surprising amount of people when you actually pay attention to it).
Down Air: DK's down air is a meteor with surprisingly great range below him. Its main uses are for spiking people offstage, follow ups after cargo throws(which I will get more into later), punishing off of tech reads, and punishing an opponent's whiffed attack from above. Landing a down air on a grounded opponent at mid-high percents or above will often result in a kill. This is because down air leads into either a charged up smash, a jump-> Donkey Punch if you have it charged, or a fair, or an up air if they are at low enough percent to kill with it. Keep in mind, you can also hit taller characters through platforms with this move, if they are standing under one.
Sometimes, players will make the mistake of charging an f smash or d smash to go for a hard read. If you end up in this situation, where the opponent is charging a move that hits on either side of him but not above, you best option is to jump above them and punish with a down air to get a free follow up. This is much easier, and safer, than trying to time a good punish after they do their attack. The last thing you want to do is to be too early and get hit by the attack, or be too late and give them the opportunity to escape. This is also an effective strategy when an opponent is charging a smash attack while you are at the ledge. If possible, just do a regular ledge jump, double jump if you have to, then fast fall down air.
Examples of using dair for...
Tech chasing:http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=5m10s
Punishing from above: http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m38s
Hitting opponent through platform: http://youtu.be/FqL5IerZEXY?t=6m30s
Up Air: This move is the reason it is so scary to be above DK, with few exceptions like Falco where he can combo from above with dair, or Link/Toon Link whose dairs have too much priority for example. It combos into itself over and over again, even on somewhat floatier characters at low percents. A common kill combo is up air, especially after a cargo up throw, into a forward air or fully charged punch. Also, up air is great way to end combos with a kill at surprisingly early percents on lighter characters. For example, characters like Luigi and Ness can die from cargo up throw->up air under 100% if you throw them from a side platform on Pokemon Stadium 2.
One very important thing to know in order to perform up air combos more fluidly is that you can auto cancel it. If you do a short hop fast fall up air, you do not have to L-cancel it. There is automatically no landing lag as long as you do not do the up air too late. This makes up air chains much more fluid and much easier to pull off quickly.
Throwing an up air out before landing, especially while fast falling, is a great way to keep combos going on opponent's who are about to land below you. Here are some examples.
http://youtu.be/QROxgBcNhpk?t=2m29s (After the back air)
http://youtu.be/Fa4IU1Lfhu8?t=1m33s(NOTE: This is PM:3.0. DK cannot jump out of grounded dash attack in 3.5 as early as he could in 3.0, so dash attack is difficult to combo into a charged punch now.)
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m57s(after the down air)
Here are some perfectly executed up air combos done by RockCrock, this is melee footage from years ago but this stuff works in PM as well. Great old school DK player:http://youtu.be/28XUXIDnc0E?t=3m30s (until 4:00)
Forward Air: This is one of DK's main killing options. It has incredible range, is very powerful, and it even has a spike hitbox. However, this move is very slow so it should not be used predictably in neutral.
Here are the common ways to kill with the forward air:
Similar to the nair, DK's fair can also be used effectively against opponents with retreating habits. Just run toward them and do a shffl fair, abusing the range it has.
Back Air: Many people consider this to be DK's best aerial. In fact, I have a whole section on this move alone in the "Neutral Game" category. For this reason, I will not get to in depth on its uses for spacing and neutral game uses in this section.
Just like the up air, the back air easily combos into itself and it can also be auto cancelled! It is done the same way as auto cancelled up air. If the opponent does not DI the back air correctly, which happens often due to how fast the move is, it combos into itself amazingly. This is even more effective on floatier characters, even with proper DI. Just like in this short combo, for example: http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA?t=16s
Back air is also great for edgeguarding. DK can do edgeguards similar to Jigglypuff's wall of pain, and he can try to end it with the strong hit of his aerial up-b when coming back onto the stage. A great way to land an offstage back air is to dash toward the ledge, and do a reverse aerial rush into back. Reverse aerial rush is when you turn around before you jump out of a dash, and you can keep the momentum from the dash. This can be used well onstage too, like for approaching with back air or throwing out a retreating back air out of a dash toward the opponent.
Fun fact: DK can short hop back air into a perfect waveland. A perfect waveland is a waveland in which you hold either strictly left or right, not diagonally downward at all, to get maximum waveland distance. This technique has bairly any uses though
Anyway, This is also one of DK's main killers. In matchups where DK can easily land cargo up throw->neutral B, this move is so important that you will want to have it charged as much as you can. This is because a cargo up throw to neutral b is an EXTREMELY easy combo to land, and will kill really early. If the opponent gives you the space to charge this move, by all means do it. An effective strategy if you want your punch charged, is to run away from the opponent while charging it little-by-little as you are airborne, and you cancel at any moment by tapping shield.
Similar to the neutral air and forward air, the Donkey Punch is great at punishing retreats off of a read. Here is an example of exactly what I am talking about: http://youtu.be/YZfKgGJPqe4?t=19m22s
Notice how Kirby takes a few steps back to try to set himself up to punish my landing, but did not anticipate the range of the punch. This is because I conditioned my opponent to expect a neutral air in that situation, since i did nairs in similar situations up until that point. This is a great mixup for nair-heavy dk players, which many are. A fully charged punch has intangibility during its active hitbox frames, so it is surprisingly effective to just throw it out there. It will go through any quick move the opponent may attempt to hit you with.
One amazing technique that is definitely worth mastering is b-reverse neutral B. This allows DK to be moving one direction in the air, then instantly change his momentum while doing a turn around punch. Here is a really old video I made back in my Brawl days a LONG time ago explaining how to do this. At the time, I thought I was the first to discover this and didn't know that multiple characters could do it. However, all that matters is that it does a decent job explaining how to do it and shows what it looks like: http://youtu.be/TojIKgMPs6s
This is great for catching opponents off guard. Here are some clips that show the usefulness of the B-reversed Donkey Punch as well as common situations where you may want to do it.
http://youtu.be/YZfKgGJPqe4?t=23m21s
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=1m48s
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m5s
http://youtu.be/7C17sBUN6tk?t=12m38s
The act of just charging DK's punch can put a lot of pressure on the opponent. They know that you are more dangerous when you have it charged, so it is a very effective way to force an approach. A nice little shenanigan is to throw out the punch toward the end of your wind-up when you know the opponent is going to run at you. Here are some examples:
http://youtu.be/Eyr27Ep-EvU?t=6m54s
http://youtu.be/h34enUt1SeE?t=16m54s
Lastly, DK can change the direction he is facing in the air by doing a regular reverse neutral b charge and cancelling with shield ASAP. This can be used for mindgames, as well as surprising an opponent you are facing by turn yourself around quickly in order unexpectedly to throw out a back air. Also, remember that the temporary windup is great for baiting opponents into trying to hit you, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Down B(Hand Slap): DK's down-b is AMAZING for tech chasing. If DK does a down throw near the ledge at low percent, while facing the ledge, a down-b follow up is pretty much guaranteed except on floaties or lighter character who get sent far enough to DI offstage or DI up and double jump. Down-b techchasing is especially useful on platforms where the opponent has limited options to tech. Like so: http://youtu.be/bTMbJBH3PpM?t=2m39s
Down-B is also great for ledge pressure when you are onstage and your opponent is hanging on the ledge trying to get back. Especially against characters who do not like to be above DK. Most Marths, for example, will try to bait you to the ledge and hit you with an invincible forward air. If DK stays away from the ledge and uses his down-b, just far away enough to avoid a ledgehop aerial while close enough for the hitbox to reach the ledge, Marth's only option is to approach from the air. If you react quick enough, you can just dash under Marth after he jumps to put him in a terrible situation where you can up air him.
For lots of other down-b uses, check out my combo videos that will be linked at the end of this guide. Many situations where down-b is an effective option are demonstrated.
Spinning Kong(Up B): Of course, this is the main tool he uses to recover which I will talk about in the recovery section.
However, The grounded up-b has an insane sweet spot as he brings his arm up before he spins. This is a great out of shield option, which I will also talk more about later. The hitbox on this windup is active from frames 3-5, it has amazing kill potential, and it comes out so fast that opponent's will often not be able to react quickly enough to properly DI. This results in a move that has crazy knockback, sends at a low trajectory, and comes out on frame 3, and can be used instantly out of shield. So in other words, this move is amazing. It can also hit opponents through the bottom of platforms on stages like Yoshi's Story and Wario Ware, in which the platforms are closer to the ground.
The aerial version also has its uses outside of recovery. It can be used as a combo breaker because its hitbox comes out faster than any aerial DK has. The hitbox has lots of horizontal range, so it can hit opponents trying to follow up with an aerial from the side. The other main thing it can be used for is edgeguarding. The first hits of his aerial up-b are stronger than the rest, just like his grounded one except there is no wind-up animation for the aerial one. It has decent knockback and sends at a low trajectory making it a great edgeguarding tool. The reason it is most useful to DK specifically is because, due to his bad vertical recovery, he will often not be able to make it back to the ledge if he does an aerial after he has used his double jump. The up-b allows him to get one extra hit in an edgeguarding sequence, without the risk of death.
One other thing DK's aerial up-b can be used for is edgeguarding tether recoveries, but this tactic is less useful that it was in previous builds due to the tether nerfs that came with Project M 3.5. Now, there are better options for punishing tethers. Regardless, this is what it looks like: http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=7m2s
Headbutt(Side-B): Ahh. Possibly my favorite move in the game. DK's side-b is interesting because it is so bad, yet so good at the same time. Due to the slow startup of this move, it usually requires a hard read to land it unless the opponent is very vulnerable. Since there is not much strategy behind the side-b, I will simply list all of the ways he can use it. Most of these have more optimal alternatives, that do not require hard reads, but it still helps to be aware of the possible ways to use this move. Especially if you catch on to a glaring habit in your opponent.
Throws
Regular Up Throw: This move sucks and you should never use it. Sakurai what were you thinking.
Because of how amazing DK's cargo hold up throw is, which I will get into soon, there is almost never a situation where a regular up throw is favorable. However, here is one situation, and possibly the ONLY situation, where regular up throw may be the best option. You may want to regular up throw if you are playing teams, you grab an opponent, they are at kill percent for a cargo up-throw follow up, and you do not have time to do a cargo up throw before their teammate can hit you. In this situation, it is probably best to go for the regular up throw into your follow up of choice so you can get the quick kill. Keep in mind, it will be harder to connect the follow up than if you did a cargo up throw, but it is still possible.
Down Throw: Down throw is useful at low percents against floatier characters in which DK has limited follow ups out of cargo throw. If the opponent DI's incorrectly, you can actually chain grab with down throw. Otherwise, down throw sets up well for a quick shffl nair or dash attack, and it can also provide a great tech chase situation. Also, do not forget about the tech chase scenario I mentioned in the down-b section. Down throw is a great option when near a ledge because you may have a virtually guaranteed down-b follow up. Here is a neat little combo that DK can sometimes pull off if he grabs an opponent right near the ledge: Down throw->dash attack while rolling offstage->double jump fully charged Donkey Punch(or any other follow up of your choice).
Back Throw: This throw is used for strictly killing purposes, or to at least get your opponent offstage into an edgeguard situation. If you grab at the ledge of a stage like battlefield, this will kill most characters at percents around the low 100s, depending on the character. However, at borederline percents when you are not certain if back throw will kill, it is usually best to go for a guaranteed kill combo out of a cargo up throw. Use your judgement to decide which option is best in a given situation. Against an easily edgeguardable character, you may want to do the back throw even if it doesn't kill, just because you will still have a very good chance to kill them and it eliminates the possibility of messing up your cargo combo.
Cargo Hold: By pressing forward after DK lands a grab, he puts his opponent on his back and you can walk/jump around while holding them, and you can also do the infamous "Cargo-cide" where you fall offstage and kill both yourself and your opponent. This position is called cargo hold. From this point, DK has access to four new throws and you will have to press a direction + A to throw them. Also, the grab timer resets when DK switches to cargo hold. This means you can get some pummels in before you press forward, and right before you think the opponent will mash out, you can put them on your back and the timer resets. Cargo hold is extremely important to DK's game because it is where a LOT of his punish game comes from.
Cargo Up Throw: This is the main throw you should be using as DK. He has many guaranteed follow ups out of cargo up throw, because it sends the opponent straight up and you can just react to the opponent's DI. It is great for starting combos at low percents, AND kill combos at high percents. Since there is a lot to know about this move, I will talk about the wide range of options he has in the "Punish Game" section.
Cargo Down Throw: This and regular up throw are easily DK's two worst throws. However, there is one situation with cargo down throw is AMAZING. It is great for throwing certain characters into their own items(specifically Snake and Diddy Kong). The cargo down throw sends the opponent at a trajectory very low to the ground, and the knockback barely increases at higher percents. Therefore, the landing location of the opponent is very predictable. For these reasons, cargo down throw can be used to throw Snake into his own mines, or Diddy Kong into his own bananas granted you were the last one to throw it. Here is an example of throwing Snake into his own mines: http://youtu.be/xTrgd9QtkCE?t=12m58s
One other small use for cargo down throw is for cargocides. If you are worried that the opponent is about to mash out, you can do the cargo down throw as you are fast falling to gain a split second of descending time, since they cannot mash out the moment you press A. This may be a good decision against characters with vertical recoveries who can recover decently from DIRECTLY below the ledge, but not from both below AND far aside, like Falco, Sheik, Marth, or Roy.
Cargo Forward/Back Throw: I put both of these in the same category because they are essentially the same move, just different directions. This throw should be used instead of cargo up throw only on floatier characters at percents where you may not get a follow up out of cargo up throw. DK is known for having a really good DI mixup with these two throws, where if you trick the opponent into DI'ing toward you (by mixing up which direction you throw them), you can get great follow ups. However, if the opponent DI's away, you will usually not have ANY guaranteed follow ups, except for occasionally at really low percents on certain characters. This is why, if possible, you should always go for cargo up throw follow ups since they are guaranteed. I will talk more about this in the "Punish Game" section.
A little shenanigan that DK has with his cargo side throws is throwing opponents into slanted edges like Smashville or Battlefield to kill with a stage spike. This is amazing when it works, because you can get some really early kills. However, if the opponent lands their tech you are put into a terrible situation where you will likely be forced to sweetspot the ledge, and the opponent can just ledge hog you. This is why it is a high risk high reward option. It is why it is usually best to attempt to kill the opponent by using the many guaranteed grab follow ups DK has in his arsenal. This can be useful against floatier characters who have limited grab follow ups to begin with, though.
As I just mentioned, Donkey Kong is a versatile character whose neutral game is dependent on the opponent, so here are all of his effective playstyles.
...Keep in mind that all of these playstyles can and will be mixed up mid-match. It solely depends on what your opponent ALLOWS you to do. If one strategy works for a whole match, by all means keep doing it until your opponent either adapts, or you think they caught on.
Dash dancing is one of the biggest staples to DK's game. DK's dash dance is great because his initial dash goes relatively far in a shorter period of time than most characters'. He also has an amazing grab that has lots of range to top it off (Specifically jump cancelled grabs, which is a technique that is imperative for any DK player to master). These two things, plus having an amazing SHFFL nair approach that he can do at any moment, make his dash dance very intimidating to his opponent when used effectively. His quick ground movement allows him to quickly weave in and out, allowing you to punish an approach by retreating and than instantly going back in with a quick JC grab.
To effectively dash dance in neutral with DK, you should be figuring out how your opponent reacts to your dance dancing. Do they get scared or think about it too much and just wait there? Do they shield? Do they jump? Do they throw out hitboxes? Did they just run in and hit you out of your dash dance last time you tried? It is important to understand your opponent's options as well as your own options in order to get the most of your dash dance. Theoretically, anything is possible out of a dash dance, especially if you get a hard read. However, the main threats to the opponent that DK has out of a dash dance are SHFFL nair and JC grab. So you should be aware of grabbing people who like to shield when you dash dance, SHFFL nairing people who like to jump or throw out low pokes that you can jump over, retreating out of their attack range and quickly weaving back in to punishes approaches with a grab, etc. Dash dancing is a very fundamental concept, but it is still important to know what DK specifically should be looking for when doing it. Wavedashing backwards out of a dash dance is also a good mixup, that will smoothly transition into the ground based neutral that I will elaborate on soon.
Donkey Kong's back air has incredible range, is very fast, has very little endlag both in the air and on the ground, has a long-lasting hitbox, has great combo potential, and even has great kill potential at higher percents. Wow...that is a LOT of positive traits for one move. This would explain why there is a whole neutral playstyle based on it. Mastering the art of back air spacing with DK is an extremely rewarding tactic. It is such a powerful skill, that it is entirely possible to win games, in certain matchups at least, by ONLY doing this in neutral. Especially in melee where it is the single most important part of his neutral game in possibly every matchup.
Back air spacing has indirect rewards. To the naked eye, it does not seem like the player is accomplishing much by just throwing out back airs without even hitting the opponent. However, during this whole time, DK is CONDITIONING the opponent to expect certain things from him. Before I elaborate on why conditioning is so important, I will explain what DK's main goal should be when spacing with back airs. This will make it easier to see the usefulness of conditioning your opponent.
Ideally, the long term goal when back air spacing is to, of course, hit the opponent with a back air. As mentioned earlier, DK's back air is great for starting combos at low percents, and killing(or at least getting the opponent offstage) at higher percents. This is why it is so rewarding to land in neutral. For example, a back air that hits right as you are landing usually sets up perfectly for a quick turn around dash JC grab at low to mid percents. Since grabs are so rewarding for DK, this is an extremely effective tactic for, indirectly, landing grabs out of neutral. Lastly, when the opponent is at high percent, back air spacing is a great way to try to get that final kill hit in.
Now, back to conditioning. By throwing out back airs in certain patterns, you condition the opponent to expect you to do that pattern again in the future. For this example, I will use full hop back air to fast fall back air. If you do this several times in neutral, there is a good chance your opponent will expect you to do it again. Now imagine that you have just done another full hop back air. At this point, you may KNOW, or at least think, that your opponent expects you to do a fast fall back air right now, like you have been doing. For this reason, you instead use your double jump after the first back air. Your opponent then proceeds to whiff their attempted punish of what they thought was going to be a fast fall back air. Now, you can fast fall after your double jump and hit them with a back air to punish their whiffed approach. This is just one example, and there will absolutely be opponents who may not try to punish that fast fall back air. The point is to understand the usefulness of conditioning. Consider what your opponent is thinking, and try to bait them into getting hit by a back air. there are endless ways to trick your opponent with bair spacing, just do what works best on your given opponent. Back air spacing mixed in with dash dancing is an extremely effective mixup as well. This is because when done correctly, you will find yourself naturally punishing a lot of approaches in situations similar to the one explained in this paragraph.
Example Applications of Bair Spacing Mixed in With Dash DancingIf you do a fast fall back air into a dash dance and the opponent attempts to punish the back air, you will end up dashing away after the back air to avoid them, and then you can weave back in and grab them. Also, when you are dash dancing, many players will wait for you to commit to something to try to punish you. Throwing a back air out of a dash dance is a safe way to see how the opponent reacts when you act out of your dash dance. You can usually expect that reaction to happen again in the future, and you can capitalize on it.
One might ask, how could winding up, not even using, the Donkey Punch be an effective neutral game strategy? you are about to find out. It is a strategy that can be applied anywhere in DK's game, but I find it to be very effective when mixed in with the grounded poke-based playstyle. This playstyle is best used sparingly, since opponents my catch on to you and could do a well timed punish on one of your pokes.
Against Marth, for example, pretty much all of his attacks can be punished at low % by crouch cancelling and throwing out an attack, or grab, of your own. Therefore, against characters like this, it only makes sense to stay on the ground, as long as you are able to avoid getting grabbed and are at low enough % to crouch cancel. Ironically, staying on the ground and avoiding getting grabbed are pretty much polar opposites for the most part. However, due to DK's range, he is actually great at avoiding grabs while grounded, as long as you are not too predictable. He can throw pokes out that have long range and little endlag like f-tilt and d-tilt. This means Marth will have to perfectly time his grab in order to punish one of your grounded pokes. By mixing in wavedashes, walking forward, a brief punch windup and cancelling by tapping shield, and throwing out pokes unpredictably, you make it very hard for Marth to get in safely and his only approach option that is safe is a well timed grab, due to being able to crouch cancel any attack he approaches with. It is one of the cases where you do not have to worry about having your back to your opponent in neutral, since back airs are not something you will be worrying about. You can just walk forward, mix in some wavedashes and what not, and it is very intimidating to your opponent. They may not know what to do, and you can rack up some SERIOUS, quick damage by hitting them over and over again with pokes.
Remember, I said "sometimes up tilt" as a possible poke move. This is because if your back is to your opponent, the up tilt is surprisingly safe because the hitbox is out until after his hand hits the ground and there is little endlag after that. It is a great, underused mixup that will lead into a nice combo. Good ways to land it, or even just space with it, are wavedash back(with your back to your opponent) into up tilt. You can also pivot toward them into up tilt, but this is very tricky. If you can do this consistently, by all means do it. It's very effective. up tilt is also a good poke to throw out after landing with a back air, in case the opponent runs toward you to try to punish the landing. I put this last in this poking category because it is not a very common tactic, but it certainly has its uses and I recommend DK players to start using it more. Up tilt is much more than just a combo tool.
This isn't really a "playstyle", but it is definitely neutral game based and I need to put it somewhere in this guide. Earlier, I put DK's anti-projectile game as a con. Interestingly, this is also a strength. The truth is, DK is a double edged sword when it comes to anti-projectile game. If DK messes up, he will get spammed like you've never seen before and it will lead to a brutal combo into either death or an offstage situation. On the flip-side, DK has the ability to start a brutal combo of his own if the person playing him knows how to read his opponent's projectile patterns. Against many projectiles (Mario/Luigi's fireballs, Link's boomerang/arrows, Lucas' PK freeze etc.), DK's back air and nair go right through them. So against Link, for example, DK can space with back airs in neutral, hitting his boomerangs and arrows while jumping around to avoid some as well(bombs need to be avoided since aerials don't go through them) until he figures out his opponent's tendencies. Then, right when DK predicts that Link will throw a boomerang, he can run in with a SHFFL nair ASAP and even if you are slightly late, the nair will go right through the boomerang as it leaves Link's hands and you will hit Link as well as the boomerang. Then, you can start a combo of your own (which i will mention how to do in the punish game section). DK's good running speed + his grab range can also be used for anti-projectile game. If DK realizes that Link will usually throw a boomerang out as he is landing, DK can quickly run up to an descending Link, shield, and then get a point blank shield grab when Link throws the boomerang as he lands. I used Link as an example, but these two strategies can be applied to almost any projectile character. The important thing to remember is that the key is to get a read, and then hit the opponent as or before the projectile leaves them (i.e. while the boomerang is still in Link's hand or just leaving it).
Then there's the cases where none of your moves easily, or at all, go through the opponent's projectiles(bombs, Falco's lasers, PK fire, Snake's grenades, etc.). These are harder to deal with but are still entirely possible to get around. The general gameplan is the same, try to predict your opponent and punish him for being predictable with their projectile. However, the only difference is you cannot throw out aerials. You will want to be in the air and on platforms to maneuver around the projectiles safely (or you can powershield, but keep in mind this is a high risk-low reward strategy because if you mess up, many projectiles have follow ups that will result in a brutal combo on DK). When you are jumping around is when you should be focusing on your opponent's tendencies, and find a way to punish them and get in. As Muhammed Ali once said... "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." This is exactly how you should treat anti-projectile game. Be patient in neutral, and then go in HARD when you see a potential opening.
The ideas in this entire section should be applied well beyond neutral game, but I figured I would throw it in this category since all "rushing down" starts in neutral.
Here we go baby!!!! My favorite aspect of DK: His ability to rushdown his opponent. You will find many beginner DK player, as well as intermediate ones, pretty much only doing this strategy, because DK is just THAT good at it. However, I put it last because it is extremely unsafe and if you are predictable, you will get destroyed v.s. higher level players. I also put it last because, in a strictly chronological point of view, it makes perfect sense, and you are about to find out why.
Before I get into HOW to effectively play rushdown with DK, I want to share a really interesting and important concept. When experienced players first start playing an opponent that they have never played before, haven't played a certain matchup before, etc. etc., they tend to play safer than they normally would because they are unsure what their opponent will do. If DK, or ANYONE, plays rushdown aggressive against a player in which you have no idea how they will respond, it's a straight up gamble. There's a chance the opponent will also try to run in and hit you, and since it's the almighty DK, this will likely be a winning situation for DK. You might also try to read where they will be, you may be wrong or you may be right. But you have no idea at this point since you have not found out your opponent's tendencies. Players who play rushdown ALL the time rely on PAST EXPERIENCE ONLY. They know how people TEND to react to certain situations, and try to get reads based on the tendencies of players they have played in the past. As I said, this is a gamble. Everyone is different and this player will eventually encounter an opponent who naturally counters this unorthodox playstyle and they will get destroyed. They will get punished for every approach they make, trying to punish habits that simply do not exist in their opponent. For example, a Falco player charging an f-smash to predict a tech roll inward. Many people instinctively tech roll in after Falco's down air, but it doesn't mean this specific opponent will. It is best to find out your opponent's tendencies FIRST, and then you can start going for those hard, rushdown reads. This concept is important to understand because it is why successfully playing super aggressive ALL the time, and being successful with it, is an unrealistic expectation. Hence the phrase, high risk high reward.
I said I put the rushdown playstyle last because it makes sense "chronologically". I said this because, in order to play a successful and confident rushdown game, it is all about reads. ("I KNOW he is going to be in this area", "I KNOW he is going to jump", "I KNOW he is going to shield" etc.) The longer you play an opponent using the playstyles listed before the rushdown category, the more successful you will be at changing INTO a rushdown playstyle, granted you have caught on to some of your opponent's tendencies accurately, which is easier said than done; it is a skill that takes time to learn and it may be frustrating at first but just keep focusing on the right things and you will be doing it sub-conciously before you know it Anyway, to play an effective rushdown playstyle as DK, you need to punish the opponent for such incredibly miniscule actions that they will not even know they just got read. It will be so quick and subtle that they will be in the middle of getting comboed to death and have absolutely no idea what they did to deserve it. Being a good rushdown player means you are good at always knowing where your opponent wants to be, and aggressively punishing them for it. Watch the set I posted at the end of this paragraph for a perfect example. This is a relatively old set in my point of view since most of my improvement came in recent months, and I did mess up a lot of things this set due to probably being a little nervous, but that's besides the point. Focus strictly on the reads. I may have made a lot of input errors, but I played well due to being able to remember what my opponent did in the first two games, and punishing him for every action possible game 3. Here it is: http://youtu.be/qRP6opVm4k8
As far as DK specific stuff goes when playing rushdown, you generally want to do lots of shffl nair approaches(remember, off of a read. NOT thoughtless approaches). It's great for reading retreats in situations where you are somewhat near your opponent after the situation has just reset to neutral. Especially if you just had a lot of momentum, since most players will simply want to get away and it's more predictable. If you do the shffl nair and still don't reach due to the opponent's character being too fast or you were too slow etc., it's best to throw out a jab combo afterwards, or just one jab, to hit them if they try to punish your nair. At lower percents, down tilt is great after a whiffed nair in this case because it's easier to follow up with a crouch cancel. However, it is slower than a jab so you will need to make the decision based on how far away your opponent is. It is also important to know that down tilt will often provide an opportunity to follow up with a dash into JC grab if you are quick enough. Jabs also allow you to follow up into a grab most of the time. If you are feeling yourself, you can also punish retreats with a dash short hop fair or Donkey punch. This is good if you know they will retreat because you can just run a split second longer than you normally would before you jump, and the hitboxes on those moves are so big that they will hit the whole area near the edge of the stage. This means they will no longer have any space to retreat unless they go offstage or jump. This is really effective against people who insist on running away from you every time they think you will approach. This is riskier than nair though because if you are predictable, the opponent can just throw a quick attack out before the fair/Donkey punch hitbox comes out.
Fundamentally, DK's edgeguarding game is very basic. So this section will be significantly shorter than the neutral game section. Due to DK's bad vertical recovery, he will do 99% of his edgeguarding either onstage or while using ledge invincibility (mostly the latter).
DK must edgeguard reactively, since most of the time, even if you know EXACTLY how your opponent will recover, you cannot punish it far offstage since you simply will not make it back. This is because if the opponent has a better vertical recovery than you(everyone except Bowser LOL) they will usually recover low enough where they can make it back but they know you can't go down there and hit them. Then, it simply becomes a game of "will they sweet spot or will they land on stage", as well as anticipating any stall they may have like Marth's side-b.
Punishing the sweet spot is obvious: Just ledgehog. However, if they land on stage then that is when the DK specific stuff comes in. Usually, your best option will be to get a grab unless they are at a high enough percent where down smash will kill. I say down smash because even though it is less powerful than his other 2 smashes, it is faster. The last thing you want to do is give them a chance of shielding and completely lose a free kill. If you decide to grab, the decision should be obvious, right? Just back throw? False. Surprisingly, you will encounter many situations where this will NOT be the best decision, and you will find out why in the punish game section.
Dealing with tethers is fortunately much easier now than it was in 3.0 and earlier builds. Literally all you have to do is grab the ledge. Against Link and Samus though, for example, you need to watch out for their option to up-b. There is actually a simple solution to that, because you just need to time your invincibility to cover the up-b, and then if they tether, you can just hang on the ledge until they come up. React to them coming up (don't be too antsy/do it too early/try to predict when they will rise, since they have surprisingly long endlag when landing on stage) and then you can waveland onto the stage into grab which is usually the best option. Ledgehop fair and waveland down smash are also great. Sometimes, after rising from the tether the opponent may try to fall back off stage and grab the ledge after you ledgehop. This is why it is important to REACT to where they are, and then make your decision.
In situations where grabbing the ledge does not cover enough options, or situations where you simply do not have time to grab the ledge, DK has lots of tools for hitting opponents who are near the ledge or fail to sweet spot. The moves you want to use most in these situations are down tilt and down-angled forward tilt. They both hit low, and will send the opponent away at a low angled trajectory which is great. An underused but very effective strategy is to turn around, and hit with the ending frames of up tilt, and space it so his hand goes offtstage. This sets up perfectly for a back air follow up most of the time, which will get them farther offstage than a d tilt or f tilt, and it also racks up more damage. It's a great edgeguard setup. In similar situations like I mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, but the opponent instead still has their jump and they recover high, back air is usually the best option because of its speed and range. You can edgeguard more reactively with back air than any other aerials, and edgeguarding reactively is what you should always aim for. At lower percents, back air will combo into itself offtstage like a Jigglypuff Wall-of-Pain. You can end the combo by descending with your opponent offstage and trying to hit them offstage even farther by hitting with the strong hit of up-b (the beginning frames of the hitbox) which is excellent for gimping.
Recovering with DK is more of a concept as opposed a list of strategies or tactics. His recovery is very interesting because of the horizontal range on his up-B, as well as having barely any landing lag. For these two reasons, edgeguarding DK reactively is significantly less effective than it is against most other characters. When recovering with DK, it is actually DK who is playing reactively and the player edgeguarding is trying to predict, for the most part. DK's up b goes so far the you can just up b and land in the middle of the stage, and there is such little endlag that this is surprisingly safe. This is the main reason it is hard to edgeguard him reactively. For example, if the opponent grabs the ledge, then DK can up-b far across the stage to escape.
The main thing to be thinking about when recovering with DK is whether to recover high or low, and this often comes down to the opponent's character. Against Zero Suit, you will usually want to recover high because of her down smash. If you recover high and bait a jump, you can just fast fall to grab the ledge safely, for example. This is where recovering reactively comes in. You need to always be aware of your options, wait until as late as possible until you get an idea of what your opponent is looking for, and then make your decision based on what you've gathered.
Some simple recovery tactics:
DK has a nice bag of tricks for getting back onstage after he grabs the ledge. Unfortunately, that's all they are...tricks. He actually has a hard time getting onstage if he is past 100%. Under 100%, he has that great ledge get-up. The reason he is better at getting on stage below 100% is not because he can hit people with the dash attack, but it's because the opponent is AWARE of that option and they will be more cautious at the ledge, giving you the space necessary to get back. However, Past 100% you no longer have that option and they can get much closer and limit your safe options. I will list some DK-specific strategies for getting back. The correct option will depend on your opponent.
Combos are the heart and soul of DK. His punishes are among the best in game, so it is important to be proficient at them. I will start with his basic combo attacks and simple combos, and then get into what DK is notorious for: His brutal grab game.
The majority of DK's combos come from grabs. However, against higher level players, it will be difficult to just fish for grabs and be successful with that strategy. Therefore, unless you can get a nice read or bait to land a grab in neutral, the general plan is to combo or follow up INTO a grab, and then start your grab combo. The next section shows common strategies for getting grabs as DK.
JC grab is usually the better option, but there are definitely situations where you should dash grab instead. JC grab box is lower to the ground and extends farther in front of DK. The dash grab, however, has a higher grab box and it also goes a little farther behind him. This makes it better for grabbing airborne opponents where you are unsure if the JC grab box is high enough to reach them. For example, DK can chain grab spacies with cargo up-throw. Sometimes, if you do JC grabs only, they will be out of hitstun by the time they reach the grab box so they can shine or jump out before you grab them. If you do a dash grab though, you don't have to wait as long and you can grab them higher in the air, before they are out of hitstun. This is why I said in the previous section to do a dash grab after a nair at lower percents instead of a JC grab. The JC grab may have too low of a grab box to connect with the airborne opponent.
Techchasing is also a situation where a dash grab is sometimes more optimal. Once in awhile, when someone tries to cover a tech roll away, they will be running right on top of their opponent as they are rolling. In this case, you should do a dash grab because you do not have to be as precise as you would with a JC grab. This is because of the dash grab having a grab box a little more behind DK, so if you are a little past your opponent, you will still grab him. You also have the option to pivot grab, but once again, that may require more precision in some situations.
While on the topic of dash grab v.s. JC grab, I will mention an effective chain grab technique for spacies. If you are already 100% confident with your ability to chain grab spacies, then you can skip this paragraph. However, I have a naturally slow reaction time (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) so this is a technique I use for chain grabbing spacies easily: Let's say I grab Falco at 10%(it will work at any % below 40-ish. I just said 10 to help you visualize). After I up throw him, I dash one direction. It doesn't matter which direction it is. During this initial dash, I react to how the opponent DI's. For this example, let's say I dash left after I up throw them. If they DI left, then I instantly do a pivot grab(which also has a higher grab box than a JC grab). If they DI right or not at all, then I turn around to change the direction of my dash (a.k.a. a dash dance) and do a quick dash grab. I find this technique much easier for chain grabbing than the typical JC grab chain grab, because it requires one less thought process. With this technique, I react to if they DI left, right, or not at all/barely. With the conventional CG technique, you need to think about if they DI left, right, and if they do slight DI, you need to think about whether or not you need to turn around. For me, I find that a lot harder. Do what technique works best for you!
Here's a clip of this technique in action: http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=8m4s
(Notice how I look for the back air in neutral to get my grab, as opposed to directly fishing for the grab.)
Here it is, one of the main aspects of DK. When DK gets a grab, he has one of two goals depending on the percent. He either wants to combo into a kill, or go straight from the grab to the kill move. Whether you want to KO or combo is the first thing you should ask yourself after you get a grab. However, in order to answer that question you must be aware of all of your options. That is what you will learn in this section. After getting a grab with DK, you must consider every option in order to choose the best one. Also keep in mind that a big part to understanding DK's combo game is to encounter all the different weights in the game yourself. I can give you a general idea on what to do v.s. certain weights, but most DK's combos require a lot of precision. This is something that will be learned from experience and playing against lots of different characters. I'll start with cargo up throw, and then get into cases where you would want to use cargo forward or back throw. These are the BEST options out of cargo up throw. Of course, you can hit with any aerial you'd like as there may be situations, like at really high percents where multiple moves kill, where another aerial is a favorable option.
The reason I say this is the only time you should use it, is because 99.9% of the time it is better to go for a guaranteed follow up if it is available to you, and this applies to any character. There is always the chance that you will predict the opponent's DI incorrectly, and next thing you know, you get nothing out of a grab.
One situation in which I like to use cargo forward or back throw, though, is when I'm playing a floatier than average character, where they are too high of a percent for up throw down air to work, but too low of a percent to kill directly out of the throw. This is when I opt for a cargo side throw into down air, trying to predict DI and get more damage than I could with a cargo up throw. Here are some situations where this worked out for me:
http://youtu.be/iMtKRMPHMSM?t=10m13s
http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=1m15s
This paragraph is actually neutral game related, and it has to do with the same situations mentioned in the previous paragraph. As you know by now, there are cases in which DK has very limited grab follow ups at higher percents v.s. floaties. In these cases, you will want to completely change your DK instincts. Instead of looking for grabs in neutral, you should just be looking for opportunity to simply hit your opponent in general so you can try to kill them by other means. If you do have the opportunity, jab combo into full hop double jump up air is a great alternative to cargo throw up air. It is often guaranteed. I touched upon this briefly in the "Ground and Neutral Based" section.
DK's game plan to combo out of a grab on all of these character types is pretty much the same: Cargo up throw into up air. Against Fox, Falco, and Wolf though, you can chain grab them until 30-40ish percent. Then, you can start up airing. If
they end up too low to the ground to follow up with another up-air, you want to regrab them ASAP. When the opponent gets to a high enough percent, you can do repeated short hop fast fall up airs (don't forget to auto cancel them!) until they reach a high enough percent where they will die from a forward air or fully charged punch. Only a few up airs are needed before you can be certain the punch will kill, unless you are playing against a really big/heavy character. In this case, it will take a small amount more.
When comboing with up airs, it is important to remember to try to keep the opponent as low to the ground as possible. This is for two reasons. First, you do not want to have to double jump in the middle of the combo, because this would make it very difficult, or impossible, to keep the combo going. The second reason is that you want to combo to be as long as possible so you can rack up more damage and allow for the ending hit to kill them whenever possible. If you have the option to instantly do a full hop up air, but could also wait for them to fall a split second longer in hitstun in order to reach with a short hop up air, always do the latter. This gives you many more options after the up air. Specifically because DK will be on the ground after the up-air, so he can dash toward the opponent if they DI far horizontally.
If DK grabs a fast faller near the ledge, he may be able to cut the combo short in order to hit with a grounded up-b to get them off stage. This should be done if the opponent DI's an up throw or up air such that they end up in a position near the hitbox of DK's grounded up-b sweet spot. Just make sure you hit them the right direction, and not towards center stage.
Lastly, A big part of being able to chain grab fast fallers on stages with platforms is by walking/jumping to a good position while you are in cargo hold. The lack of platforms to tech on is why FD is such an effective counterpick on fast fallers. Therefore, you should move to positions where the opponent cannot tech on platforms. For example, the middle of Pokemon Stadium, away from the Smashville platform, or on big platforms like the Yoshi's Island Brawl platform or the top right platform on Skyloft, so it is like a mini-FD for chain grabbing. You can go to the middle of the platform, regrab, walk back to the middle, repeat. Here are some examples: http://youtu.be/dnDaXS5iytg?t=2m39s
http://youtu.be/h34enUt1SeE?t=8m31s
http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=8m4s
Miscellaneous
Out of Shield GameDK has a decent out of shield game. One of his most potent OOS options is grounded up-B. the sweet spot hits at the perfect angle to cover crossover-aerial shield pressure. Also, when shielding on platforms, It is great for punishing opponents who jump up to try to read a jump out of shield, and they end up above you. Of course, DK also has a great shield grab because of his long grab range. DK can shield grab a lot of attacks that other characters cannot. Also, with the addition of shield DI in 3.5, you can shield DI toward the opponent to get even closer to them. However, against spacies you generally want to shield DI away to avoid the shine after they do an aerial on your shield. DK has a good wavedash OOS game because a WD forward, with the combination of his grab range, is great for punishing spaced attacks on shield in many situations. Also, his great poking game gives him many options after a WD backwards. Lastly, some other commonly used options he has OOS are short hop back air, nair, and down air. You should do one of these three OOS options to punish laggy attacks on your shield.
Getting CargocidesDK has a few shenanigans up his sleeve for sneaking in a cargocide when he has a lead or wants to get rid of a big % disadvantage. Here are some strategies for getting your opponent at the edge where you can grab them.
VideosI have made three Project M DK combo videos throughout the years. They show underused and often impractical tactics that DK can use, as well as common/practical combos to show how they should be executed. By watching the combo videos after reading this, it may help you put all the pieces together if you were unsure about anything explained in this guide. Here they are, in order from oldest to newest. They may help you get some ideas of your own. (Warning: completely unnecessary amounts of side-B's and "POOB Combos")
http://youtu.be/E4vmJ2KrYZ8
http://youtu.be/FU48YZfKp8Q
http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA
The main difference in DK's punish game in 3.5, compared to the clips in the oldest combo video, is that his down b has slightly less range now. So if you notice exceptionally long range form his down-b, that is why.
Keep in mind, most of the links I post in this guide also have lots of other good footage. Check those out for some good sets. Also, the melee combo video I posted in the "up air" section is very entertaining.
Conclusion
Wow, That was a lot of writing lol. However, I actually got a lot of enjoyment out of writing this. It was fun to analyze DK's game and word it into ways that people can easily understand. I feel like my general expertise on the character has risen from writing this guide, and I hope that your general expertise on him has risen from reading it! DK is an extremely fun character and I highly recommend giving him a shot. Hopefully, this guide will be able to bring your Donkey Kong to the next level, regardless of what level you are currently at. Good luck to all DK mains out there. -POOB
I will start with the basic principles of what makes DK...DK. Then, I will move towards fundamental stuff like neutral game, and eventually to the fun stuff: punish game. I will talk about every single aspect of DK's game. Many of you may find the neutral game section to be the most boring to read. However, I highly recommend reading it since it is the most difficult aspect to improve on, and the most important to becoming a fundamentally sound Smash player.
This guide is intended for people who know the basics of Smash, who also have at least played as DK enough times to have at least a general idea of his moveset. If you are a beginner to the game, specifically Melee, I recommend reading basic Melee guides, since that is most similar game to project M and there are plenty of guides out there for it. Also, there are many videos on Youtube that teach the basic techniques and principles of Melee as well. Here is a popular one that was made awhile ago by Wak: http://youtu.be/vckV2MJgBzo
Before I get into the DK stuff, I should probably introduce myself. I am POOB (I made the name up when I was 12, cut me some slack) and I have been playing DK for many years. I have a lot of tournament experience, and I perform well in tournaments. Also, I have improved significantly in recent months, so I am very familiar with the improvement process. This is why I decided to make a guide.
Lastly, I want to mention that this guide includes fundamental aspects that can be applied to all characters. Lots of the topics discussed in this guide, specifically the neutral game section, refer to general fundamental concepts, and then how to apply them toward DK specifically.
Donkey Kons & Pros
Donkey Kong's Pros:
- EXCELLENT punish game and grab game
- Great range, which is useful for spacing. He also has great grab range
- Can kill extremely quickly
- Among the better dash dancers in the game, and great mobility in general
- Great crouch cancel game
- Surprisingly good ground and aerial mobility
- Amazing horizontal recovery distance
- Survives a long time with good DI due to his heaviness
- Better than average out-of-shield game
- Very versatile; he can be played effectively in many different ways
- Gets comboed EXTREMELY hard due to being really heavy and big
- Linear recovery with terrible vertical distance; gets gimped easily
- Often difficult to get back on stage safely when hanging on the ledge
- Has very limited options when above his opponent
- He is a big target, making more susceptible to projectile spam and is just easier to hit in general
- Has a hard time killing in certain matchups when the opponent is at too high % to combo into a kill move (specifically V.S. floaties)
- His bad vertical recovery makes off-stage edgeguarding very limited and often dangerous
Donkey Kong's Playstyle and Goals
Donkey Kong is an extremely grab-heavy character. Most of the time, but not ALL of the time, his main goal is to get a grab (I will get into specific cases where that is NOT the best option later). However, it is not ideal to always be looking directly for grabs in neutral game. Therefore, against safer-playing opponents where grab opportunities are scarce, DK's general game plan is to get follow ups INTO grabs after landing aerials or pokes.
As far as his playstyle goes, this is actually very difficult to answer briefly, and it is one of the aspects of DK that I like the most. DK is a character who has many acceptable playstyles. It comes down to both the opponent's playstyle as well as the character they are playing as to determine how DK should be played in a given situation. He can play rushdown, he can zone, he can dash dance, he can space with aerials, etc. I will list his effective playstyles and elaborate on them in the "Neutral Game" section.
Moveset Analysis
Frame data can be found here: http://smashboards.com/threads/donkey-kong-frame-data-3-02.350206/ (Credit goes to Aerodrome, thanks for taking the time to make this)
Frame data can be found here: http://smashboards.com/threads/donkey-kong-frame-data-3-02.350206/ (Credit goes to Aerodrome, thanks for taking the time to make this)
In this section, I will discuss the various uses for each move. The uses for most of these moves will be explained in even further detail in later sections!
Ground Attacks
Jabs: DK's jab is one of his most versatile combo moves, as well as a nice mixup poke in neutral.At lower percents, jab-combo into grab will almost always work depending on the character, which is great because getting grabs is DK's main goal in many matchups (this will be elaborated on later). You can also go straight from the first jab into a grab, but the opponent will often be able to escape by mashing jump.
Against floatier characters, jab combo into full hop double jump up air is a really effective kill combo. This becomes especially useful against characters who are floaty enough where DK cannot kill them by using grab follow ups(as mentioned, DK's grab game will be elaborated on later).
DK can also jab reset many characters, specifically the heavier ones and fast fallers. Here is an example of an application: http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=2m57s
Keep in mind, It is easy to react to DI after a jab combo for follow ups at lower percents. If they DI away you can usually dash grab. If they DI towards you, you can up tilt. If they don't DI at all, you can do another jab combo, a grab, and up tilt, or even a fully charged punch if it looks like it will connect. Keep in mind though, the latter is rarely going to be a "true" combo which is why you don't see it often.
Forward Tilt: DK's f-tilt is great because of its amazing range and quick startup. It is a great poking tool in neutral and is surprisingly safe when spaced well, as long as you are not predictable. It is most effective when mixed in with other pokes and some movement mindgames, where the opponent is unsure of what your next action will be. Due to its range, you can surprise a lot of people with it and get some quick damage.
F-tilt is also great for hitting offstage opponents because of its range and you can angle it downwards or upwards to hit your opponent accordingly. It's great for taking opponent's double jumps after a read as well, putting them in a terrible situation. Here is an example: http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA?t=6m34s
One tactic that is very useful is pivot f-tilt in neutral. If you are good at this, you can throw out f-tilts at a moment's notice out of a dash dance. Very underused, very useful. Credits/shoutouts to Chandy for spreading the word to me about its usefulness.
Down Tilt: D-tilt is also a great poke. It is quicker and has less endlag than the f-tilt, but has less range. This makes it better for situations where the opponent is in a better position to punish a whiffed attack, where the endlag of f-tilt could be risky. Down tilt, just like f-tilt, is great for hitting offstage opponents and punishing a failed sweetspot attempt.
Crouch cancel down tilts are really important to DK's neutral against characters like Marth, Roy, and Lucario, who have easily crouch cancel-able approaches. If you notice that characters like this are going to approach you from the air, most of the time you can just hold down and punish them with a crouch cancel d-tilt. This will usually allow you to follow up into a grab. Sometimes, d-tilt will combo into itself as well.
Up Tilt: This is a very underrated move with many subtle uses. Most DK players use this move for mainly combo purposes or anti-air, which are easily its best uses. However, when you have your back facing the opponent, DK's hands goes far behind him. You can use this as a mix-up in neutral, or to hit someone who fails to sweet spot the ledge, for example. This move will easily combo into itself at lower percents, especially if the opponent fails to DI. Then, once they get to higher percents, you can just follow with an up air.
Forward Smash: This move has very limited use due to its slow startup and lots of endlag and is definitely the least useful of all his smash attacks. It should only be used if your punch isn't charged since the punch is better in every way. This move can be used for punishing vulnerable opponents(i.e. landing after an up-b, missed counter, charging a smash attack that won't hit you) as well as simply getting hard reads on things like techchases or spot dodges. But remember, there is probably no situation where you should use this move as opposed to a fully charged punch. Use it when you see a kill opportunity, but your punch is not charged.
Down Smash: This move can be a life saver at times. There are actually many situations where this move is useful. It comes out surprisingly fast for a smash attack, and hits all around DK, making it easy to land. It is especially good at killing floaties off the top, which is important because many floaties cannot be killed off of a grab combo and it can often be hard to find a way to kill them when they are past combo %. Therefore, you must be aware of all of his other kill options on floaties, and down smash is one of them. Crouch cancel down smash is one of the most brain-dead ways DK can get kills on floaties. It is a move you do not use except for when you want to kill. Therefore, the opponent does not see it often. This makes it that much more deadly when you need to use it, since the opponent will be less prepared. Unless, you use it a lot of course.
This move is also good for punishing on-stage landings from characters with little endlag on their up-b, when they are at kill percent. Against Ness for example, if he tries to land on stage from his up b, he has little endlag and he also has good horizontal control. This makes it easy for him to fake you out and it may be unclear exactly where he is going to land. The hitbox on the down smash is so big, and the move is so fast, that you can just walk to the opponent's general area when they are airbourne, and you are certain to hit him regardless of whatever subtle movements they make. Brutal...
Up Smash (a.k.a. the praise the lord, hallelujah, amen, and much more): This is one of the most satisfying moves to land as DK, and it is very overlooked as a kill move in Project M for some reason. It is actually one of the most powerful up-smashes in the game. This, combined with the fact that DK can usually charge it for awhile when it is comboed into, allow for extremely early ceiling kills. The most common moves that combo into an up smash kill are down air and down b. Against fast fallers, you can actually kill with a cargo up throw to up smash as well. After a dair or down-b though, at most percents, the opponent will be in hitstun for a LONG...LONG time and in the perfect spot to hit with an up smash. During this time, DK can go under the opponent and charge until he feels the opponent will either get out of hitstun, or be too low for the up smash to connect. Here is an example, plus a nice combo as well
http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=1m14s
Up smash is also great for platform punishes. In situations where you are under an opponent that is laying down on a platform, or in a situation where they are about to land on one in tumble, up smash is a great techchase kill option if you are confident with your read. It is also good for simply punishing landings on platforms, like after link down airs predictably on a platform for example.
Dash Attack: DK's dash attack is most useful when near the ledge of the stage or a platform, because you can roll off the ledge while hitting your opponent, and then double jump out of it to follow up with an aerial. It is risky to do in neutral, because you are very punishable if you miss, if the opponent shields, or if they crouch cancel it. This is why a nair or grab is usually a better option; less endlag on a nair if you miss, and a grab will cover the shielding option.
However, the dash attack is excellent for continuing combos, or starting them if the opponent is near the ledge. After a nair, the opponent is usually in a perfect position for DK to instantly follow up with a dash attack. Always look for this option after you hit with a shffl nair, because it will sometimes be the only way that DK can follow up if the opponent DI's correctly. This is because they will be far enough where dash attack is the only option fast enough to continue the combo and hit them before they land. Another bread and butter combo is jab combo into dash attack, especially when near the ledge which you will see in a link below
Dash attack is also great off of platforms for movement mixups in neutral, as well as a surprise approach option if you use it sparingly. It is a great way simply get away as well.
Lastly, c stick down should be used for your dash attacks so you can do it instantly out of a dash or dash dance without having to worry about accidentally forward smashing. It makes it much easier to do mid-combo.
Examples of dash attack ledge uses:
http://youtu.be/J1E20YcQNe8?t=6m4s
http://youtu.be/FqL5IerZEXY?t=6m22s
http://youtu.be/7ucpqf1tlEM?t=7m55s
Aerials
Neutral Air: The neutral air is possibly DK's Swiss army knife. This move has so many uses. It is great for approaching, comboing, killing, edgeguarding, and can even be used to shut down some approaches. It combos into itself on most of the cast at low-mid % (a.k.a. the nairplane), and it can also lead into a jab combo, down tilt, dash attack, dash grab, and even more depending on DI. It is a viable kill option against lighter characters while near the ledge, and will kill surprisingly early if catch them off guard causing bad survival DI. It is great if you read a double jump of a recovering opponent. This is because the nair, combined with DK's great aerial momentum, is very fast and you can easily punish a double jump on reaction with a dash->jump->nair from a surprisingly far distance away.
His nair is great for both approaching, and stopping some approaches, like sonic's side b and similar moves. By doing short hop neural air in place, you set up perfectly to hit someone out an aerial approach with DK's hands. The move also lasts long, so it does not require much precision to do so. On the flip side, DK's nair is his main approach option. It is a staple in his game. It is especially good for hitting people who are trying to run away from you, by simply dashing toward them, predicting the retreat, and doing the shffl nair. Due to DK's aerial mobility, this is an extremely effective tactic that DK can abuse on people who have retreating habits(which is a surprising amount of people when you actually pay attention to it).
Down Air: DK's down air is a meteor with surprisingly great range below him. Its main uses are for spiking people offstage, follow ups after cargo throws(which I will get more into later), punishing off of tech reads, and punishing an opponent's whiffed attack from above. Landing a down air on a grounded opponent at mid-high percents or above will often result in a kill. This is because down air leads into either a charged up smash, a jump-> Donkey Punch if you have it charged, or a fair, or an up air if they are at low enough percent to kill with it. Keep in mind, you can also hit taller characters through platforms with this move, if they are standing under one.
Sometimes, players will make the mistake of charging an f smash or d smash to go for a hard read. If you end up in this situation, where the opponent is charging a move that hits on either side of him but not above, you best option is to jump above them and punish with a down air to get a free follow up. This is much easier, and safer, than trying to time a good punish after they do their attack. The last thing you want to do is to be too early and get hit by the attack, or be too late and give them the opportunity to escape. This is also an effective strategy when an opponent is charging a smash attack while you are at the ledge. If possible, just do a regular ledge jump, double jump if you have to, then fast fall down air.
Examples of using dair for...
Tech chasing:http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=5m10s
Punishing from above: http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m38s
Hitting opponent through platform: http://youtu.be/FqL5IerZEXY?t=6m30s
Up Air: This move is the reason it is so scary to be above DK, with few exceptions like Falco where he can combo from above with dair, or Link/Toon Link whose dairs have too much priority for example. It combos into itself over and over again, even on somewhat floatier characters at low percents. A common kill combo is up air, especially after a cargo up throw, into a forward air or fully charged punch. Also, up air is great way to end combos with a kill at surprisingly early percents on lighter characters. For example, characters like Luigi and Ness can die from cargo up throw->up air under 100% if you throw them from a side platform on Pokemon Stadium 2.
One very important thing to know in order to perform up air combos more fluidly is that you can auto cancel it. If you do a short hop fast fall up air, you do not have to L-cancel it. There is automatically no landing lag as long as you do not do the up air too late. This makes up air chains much more fluid and much easier to pull off quickly.
Throwing an up air out before landing, especially while fast falling, is a great way to keep combos going on opponent's who are about to land below you. Here are some examples.
http://youtu.be/QROxgBcNhpk?t=2m29s (After the back air)
http://youtu.be/Fa4IU1Lfhu8?t=1m33s(NOTE: This is PM:3.0. DK cannot jump out of grounded dash attack in 3.5 as early as he could in 3.0, so dash attack is difficult to combo into a charged punch now.)
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m57s(after the down air)
Here are some perfectly executed up air combos done by RockCrock, this is melee footage from years ago but this stuff works in PM as well. Great old school DK player:http://youtu.be/28XUXIDnc0E?t=3m30s (until 4:00)
Forward Air: This is one of DK's main killing options. It has incredible range, is very powerful, and it even has a spike hitbox. However, this move is very slow so it should not be used predictably in neutral.
Here are the common ways to kill with the forward air:
- Cargo up throw to forward air. I will get into this with more detail in the punish game section.
- Edgeguarding players who waste their jump early and recover high(many ness players like to do this before they up-b). Just run, and full hop into a well timed fair. Does not require much precision because of the huge hitbox.
- Punishing tether landings: You can grab the ledge, and do a ledgehop fair to punish their landing. You can then follow up with another fair if you get the spike hitbox.
- Spacing with descending and/or retreating forward airs. Surprisingly safe if they shield it and you space it well. This is also very scary for your opponent to deal with if they are at high percent; it applies a lot of pressure. It's a good mixup when looking for a kill.
- Covering options when opponent is offstage. You can hit opponents who are jumping unsafely near the ledge, and a short hop fair will also cover a ledge jump: http://youtu.be/xA9MPwa-BD0?t=4m26s
Similar to the nair, DK's fair can also be used effectively against opponents with retreating habits. Just run toward them and do a shffl fair, abusing the range it has.
Back Air: Many people consider this to be DK's best aerial. In fact, I have a whole section on this move alone in the "Neutral Game" category. For this reason, I will not get to in depth on its uses for spacing and neutral game uses in this section.
Just like the up air, the back air easily combos into itself and it can also be auto cancelled! It is done the same way as auto cancelled up air. If the opponent does not DI the back air correctly, which happens often due to how fast the move is, it combos into itself amazingly. This is even more effective on floatier characters, even with proper DI. Just like in this short combo, for example: http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA?t=16s
Back air is also great for edgeguarding. DK can do edgeguards similar to Jigglypuff's wall of pain, and he can try to end it with the strong hit of his aerial up-b when coming back onto the stage. A great way to land an offstage back air is to dash toward the ledge, and do a reverse aerial rush into back. Reverse aerial rush is when you turn around before you jump out of a dash, and you can keep the momentum from the dash. This can be used well onstage too, like for approaching with back air or throwing out a retreating back air out of a dash toward the opponent.
Fun fact: DK can short hop back air into a perfect waveland. A perfect waveland is a waveland in which you hold either strictly left or right, not diagonally downward at all, to get maximum waveland distance. This technique has bairly any uses though
Specials
Donkey Punch (Neutral B): This move is actually called Giant Punch, but Donkey Punch just sounds a million times better.
Anyway, This is also one of DK's main killers. In matchups where DK can easily land cargo up throw->neutral B, this move is so important that you will want to have it charged as much as you can. This is because a cargo up throw to neutral b is an EXTREMELY easy combo to land, and will kill really early. If the opponent gives you the space to charge this move, by all means do it. An effective strategy if you want your punch charged, is to run away from the opponent while charging it little-by-little as you are airborne, and you cancel at any moment by tapping shield.
Similar to the neutral air and forward air, the Donkey Punch is great at punishing retreats off of a read. Here is an example of exactly what I am talking about: http://youtu.be/YZfKgGJPqe4?t=19m22s
Notice how Kirby takes a few steps back to try to set himself up to punish my landing, but did not anticipate the range of the punch. This is because I conditioned my opponent to expect a neutral air in that situation, since i did nairs in similar situations up until that point. This is a great mixup for nair-heavy dk players, which many are. A fully charged punch has intangibility during its active hitbox frames, so it is surprisingly effective to just throw it out there. It will go through any quick move the opponent may attempt to hit you with.
One amazing technique that is definitely worth mastering is b-reverse neutral B. This allows DK to be moving one direction in the air, then instantly change his momentum while doing a turn around punch. Here is a really old video I made back in my Brawl days a LONG time ago explaining how to do this. At the time, I thought I was the first to discover this and didn't know that multiple characters could do it. However, all that matters is that it does a decent job explaining how to do it and shows what it looks like: http://youtu.be/TojIKgMPs6s
This is great for catching opponents off guard. Here are some clips that show the usefulness of the B-reversed Donkey Punch as well as common situations where you may want to do it.
http://youtu.be/YZfKgGJPqe4?t=23m21s
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=1m48s
http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=6m5s
http://youtu.be/7C17sBUN6tk?t=12m38s
The act of just charging DK's punch can put a lot of pressure on the opponent. They know that you are more dangerous when you have it charged, so it is a very effective way to force an approach. A nice little shenanigan is to throw out the punch toward the end of your wind-up when you know the opponent is going to run at you. Here are some examples:
http://youtu.be/Eyr27Ep-EvU?t=6m54s
http://youtu.be/h34enUt1SeE?t=16m54s
Lastly, DK can change the direction he is facing in the air by doing a regular reverse neutral b charge and cancelling with shield ASAP. This can be used for mindgames, as well as surprising an opponent you are facing by turn yourself around quickly in order unexpectedly to throw out a back air. Also, remember that the temporary windup is great for baiting opponents into trying to hit you, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Down B(Hand Slap): DK's down-b is AMAZING for tech chasing. If DK does a down throw near the ledge at low percent, while facing the ledge, a down-b follow up is pretty much guaranteed except on floaties or lighter character who get sent far enough to DI offstage or DI up and double jump. Down-b techchasing is especially useful on platforms where the opponent has limited options to tech. Like so: http://youtu.be/bTMbJBH3PpM?t=2m39s
Down-B is also great for ledge pressure when you are onstage and your opponent is hanging on the ledge trying to get back. Especially against characters who do not like to be above DK. Most Marths, for example, will try to bait you to the ledge and hit you with an invincible forward air. If DK stays away from the ledge and uses his down-b, just far away enough to avoid a ledgehop aerial while close enough for the hitbox to reach the ledge, Marth's only option is to approach from the air. If you react quick enough, you can just dash under Marth after he jumps to put him in a terrible situation where you can up air him.
For lots of other down-b uses, check out my combo videos that will be linked at the end of this guide. Many situations where down-b is an effective option are demonstrated.
Spinning Kong(Up B): Of course, this is the main tool he uses to recover which I will talk about in the recovery section.
However, The grounded up-b has an insane sweet spot as he brings his arm up before he spins. This is a great out of shield option, which I will also talk more about later. The hitbox on this windup is active from frames 3-5, it has amazing kill potential, and it comes out so fast that opponent's will often not be able to react quickly enough to properly DI. This results in a move that has crazy knockback, sends at a low trajectory, and comes out on frame 3, and can be used instantly out of shield. So in other words, this move is amazing. It can also hit opponents through the bottom of platforms on stages like Yoshi's Story and Wario Ware, in which the platforms are closer to the ground.
The aerial version also has its uses outside of recovery. It can be used as a combo breaker because its hitbox comes out faster than any aerial DK has. The hitbox has lots of horizontal range, so it can hit opponents trying to follow up with an aerial from the side. The other main thing it can be used for is edgeguarding. The first hits of his aerial up-b are stronger than the rest, just like his grounded one except there is no wind-up animation for the aerial one. It has decent knockback and sends at a low trajectory making it a great edgeguarding tool. The reason it is most useful to DK specifically is because, due to his bad vertical recovery, he will often not be able to make it back to the ledge if he does an aerial after he has used his double jump. The up-b allows him to get one extra hit in an edgeguarding sequence, without the risk of death.
One other thing DK's aerial up-b can be used for is edgeguarding tether recoveries, but this tactic is less useful that it was in previous builds due to the tether nerfs that came with Project M 3.5. Now, there are better options for punishing tethers. Regardless, this is what it looks like: http://youtu.be/C9mI3HK2dt8?t=7m2s
Headbutt(Side-B): Ahh. Possibly my favorite move in the game. DK's side-b is interesting because it is so bad, yet so good at the same time. Due to the slow startup of this move, it usually requires a hard read to land it unless the opponent is very vulnerable. Since there is not much strategy behind the side-b, I will simply list all of the ways he can use it. Most of these have more optimal alternatives, that do not require hard reads, but it still helps to be aware of the possible ways to use this move. Especially if you catch on to a glaring habit in your opponent.
Uses for Side-B
- After a cargo forward or back throw if the opponent DI's toward you or not at all, depending on character and percent. Great for gimps. The side-b is a true spike, so the opponent will not be able to meteor cancel it. This is why it can kill surprisingly early. For those who do not know, a meteor can be meteor cancelled, but a true spike cannot be acted out of until you are out of hitstun.
- After a jab reset. This is a case where side-b may actually be the best option. If you land a jab reset with DK, you can get the side-b in just before the opponent can act out of the get up. You have to react quickly, though. Then, you can follow up with whatever move your heart desires.
- Tech chasing. It is great for getting hard reads on techs. You will see a lot of this in the combo videos I link at the end of this guide. If you jump and side-b out of a dash, you will hover with decent horizontal momentum during the side-b which is great for punishing techs/rolls away. Another good shenanigan is to do a b-reversed side-b out of a dash, which is a good mix-up to bait a tech in place or tech in the opposite direction you are running. Lastly, the side-b is great for punishing missed techs since you can bury the opponent right as they land: http://youtu.be/E4vmJ2KrYZ8?t=5m4s
- Edgeguarding. If you grab the ledge and INSTANTLY side-b, you can do an invincible side-b. This is great for punishing attempted sweet spots, like this: http://youtu.be/-tCDvh3XO9M?t=3m34s Similar to DK's up-b, Side-b can also be used to punish tether recoveries. But as mentioned, there are better options for punishing tethers now due to the changes in 3.5. However, it is extremely flashy and feels amazing to pull off. Here is what it looks like when executed properly: http://youtu.be/3SWK84kyQoI?t=4m4s
- Shield breaks. DK's side-b does a LOT of shield damage. Against shield grabbers, DK can approach an opponent from the air to make it look like he will do an aerial, and then use the stalling effect of his side-b to throw the opponent off as you hit their shield. If the opponent shield early enough and waits during the side-b animation, that will usually be enough to break their shield. There is a lot of this in my most recent combo video, which is linked at the end of this guide.
- Stalling. DK has a stalling effect during his side-b. This allows him to throw it out when recovering to delay his recovery if you want to mess up the opponent's ledge invincibility timing or simply avoid an attack, like this:http://youtu.be/h1h_zDmuYWM?t=2m51s
Side-b stalls are also useful if you just got sent far to the top of the screen, and you notice that the opponent is antsy to hit you. If they use their double jump, you can side-b stall to stay out of their range, and then after they reach the peak of their jump you can fast fall and hit them with a down air as they land (a.k.a. the DK Predator Missile ). This works because of the amazing range of DK's dair. - The POOB Combo.
This is the most overpowered combo in the game and it must be nerfed immediatelyThe POOB Combo has some variations, but it involves two main things: Cargo forward or back throw, and side-b. It is pretty impractical, but it can still be used as a nice mixup once in awhile. Especially If you have a strong feeling that the opponent will DI towards you, since it is the only way this combo will work. Anyway, to perform the POOB Combo you must do a cargo forward or back throw, preferably offstage, and if they DI inward you instantly do a side-b spike. Then, you have the option to do ANOTHER side-b after the first one, which will completely decimate the opponent's double jump if they try to jump after getting hit by the first side-b. If they DI away after the throw, you can try to descend with them and hit the with the side-b that way. Lastly, if you do not expect the opponent to jump after the first side-b, you can just do a falling forward air and hit with the spike hitbox. If you full hop before the throw, DK will actually be able to survive this. Credit goes to Oracle for popularizing the name, being the first to actually call it "The POOB Combo"
Throws
Because of how amazing DK's cargo hold up throw is, which I will get into soon, there is almost never a situation where a regular up throw is favorable. However, here is one situation, and possibly the ONLY situation, where regular up throw may be the best option. You may want to regular up throw if you are playing teams, you grab an opponent, they are at kill percent for a cargo up-throw follow up, and you do not have time to do a cargo up throw before their teammate can hit you. In this situation, it is probably best to go for the regular up throw into your follow up of choice so you can get the quick kill. Keep in mind, it will be harder to connect the follow up than if you did a cargo up throw, but it is still possible.
Down Throw: Down throw is useful at low percents against floatier characters in which DK has limited follow ups out of cargo throw. If the opponent DI's incorrectly, you can actually chain grab with down throw. Otherwise, down throw sets up well for a quick shffl nair or dash attack, and it can also provide a great tech chase situation. Also, do not forget about the tech chase scenario I mentioned in the down-b section. Down throw is a great option when near a ledge because you may have a virtually guaranteed down-b follow up. Here is a neat little combo that DK can sometimes pull off if he grabs an opponent right near the ledge: Down throw->dash attack while rolling offstage->double jump fully charged Donkey Punch(or any other follow up of your choice).
Back Throw: This throw is used for strictly killing purposes, or to at least get your opponent offstage into an edgeguard situation. If you grab at the ledge of a stage like battlefield, this will kill most characters at percents around the low 100s, depending on the character. However, at borederline percents when you are not certain if back throw will kill, it is usually best to go for a guaranteed kill combo out of a cargo up throw. Use your judgement to decide which option is best in a given situation. Against an easily edgeguardable character, you may want to do the back throw even if it doesn't kill, just because you will still have a very good chance to kill them and it eliminates the possibility of messing up your cargo combo.
Cargo Hold: By pressing forward after DK lands a grab, he puts his opponent on his back and you can walk/jump around while holding them, and you can also do the infamous "Cargo-cide" where you fall offstage and kill both yourself and your opponent. This position is called cargo hold. From this point, DK has access to four new throws and you will have to press a direction + A to throw them. Also, the grab timer resets when DK switches to cargo hold. This means you can get some pummels in before you press forward, and right before you think the opponent will mash out, you can put them on your back and the timer resets. Cargo hold is extremely important to DK's game because it is where a LOT of his punish game comes from.
Cargo Up Throw: This is the main throw you should be using as DK. He has many guaranteed follow ups out of cargo up throw, because it sends the opponent straight up and you can just react to the opponent's DI. It is great for starting combos at low percents, AND kill combos at high percents. Since there is a lot to know about this move, I will talk about the wide range of options he has in the "Punish Game" section.
Cargo Down Throw: This and regular up throw are easily DK's two worst throws. However, there is one situation with cargo down throw is AMAZING. It is great for throwing certain characters into their own items(specifically Snake and Diddy Kong). The cargo down throw sends the opponent at a trajectory very low to the ground, and the knockback barely increases at higher percents. Therefore, the landing location of the opponent is very predictable. For these reasons, cargo down throw can be used to throw Snake into his own mines, or Diddy Kong into his own bananas granted you were the last one to throw it. Here is an example of throwing Snake into his own mines: http://youtu.be/xTrgd9QtkCE?t=12m58s
One other small use for cargo down throw is for cargocides. If you are worried that the opponent is about to mash out, you can do the cargo down throw as you are fast falling to gain a split second of descending time, since they cannot mash out the moment you press A. This may be a good decision against characters with vertical recoveries who can recover decently from DIRECTLY below the ledge, but not from both below AND far aside, like Falco, Sheik, Marth, or Roy.
Cargo Forward/Back Throw: I put both of these in the same category because they are essentially the same move, just different directions. This throw should be used instead of cargo up throw only on floatier characters at percents where you may not get a follow up out of cargo up throw. DK is known for having a really good DI mixup with these two throws, where if you trick the opponent into DI'ing toward you (by mixing up which direction you throw them), you can get great follow ups. However, if the opponent DI's away, you will usually not have ANY guaranteed follow ups, except for occasionally at really low percents on certain characters. This is why, if possible, you should always go for cargo up throw follow ups since they are guaranteed. I will talk more about this in the "Punish Game" section.
A little shenanigan that DK has with his cargo side throws is throwing opponents into slanted edges like Smashville or Battlefield to kill with a stage spike. This is amazing when it works, because you can get some really early kills. However, if the opponent lands their tech you are put into a terrible situation where you will likely be forced to sweetspot the ledge, and the opponent can just ledge hog you. This is why it is a high risk high reward option. It is why it is usually best to attempt to kill the opponent by using the many guaranteed grab follow ups DK has in his arsenal. This can be useful against floatier characters who have limited grab follow ups to begin with, though.
Neutral Game
As I just mentioned, Donkey Kong is a versatile character whose neutral game is dependent on the opponent, so here are all of his effective playstyles.
...Keep in mind that all of these playstyles can and will be mixed up mid-match. It solely depends on what your opponent ALLOWS you to do. If one strategy works for a whole match, by all means keep doing it until your opponent either adapts, or you think they caught on.
Dash Dance Based Neutral
Dash dancing is one of the biggest staples to DK's game. DK's dash dance is great because his initial dash goes relatively far in a shorter period of time than most characters'. He also has an amazing grab that has lots of range to top it off (Specifically jump cancelled grabs, which is a technique that is imperative for any DK player to master). These two things, plus having an amazing SHFFL nair approach that he can do at any moment, make his dash dance very intimidating to his opponent when used effectively. His quick ground movement allows him to quickly weave in and out, allowing you to punish an approach by retreating and than instantly going back in with a quick JC grab.
To effectively dash dance in neutral with DK, you should be figuring out how your opponent reacts to your dance dancing. Do they get scared or think about it too much and just wait there? Do they shield? Do they jump? Do they throw out hitboxes? Did they just run in and hit you out of your dash dance last time you tried? It is important to understand your opponent's options as well as your own options in order to get the most of your dash dance. Theoretically, anything is possible out of a dash dance, especially if you get a hard read. However, the main threats to the opponent that DK has out of a dash dance are SHFFL nair and JC grab. So you should be aware of grabbing people who like to shield when you dash dance, SHFFL nairing people who like to jump or throw out low pokes that you can jump over, retreating out of their attack range and quickly weaving back in to punishes approaches with a grab, etc. Dash dancing is a very fundamental concept, but it is still important to know what DK specifically should be looking for when doing it. Wavedashing backwards out of a dash dance is also a good mixup, that will smoothly transition into the ground based neutral that I will elaborate on soon.
Back-Air Based Neutral
Donkey Kong's back air has incredible range, is very fast, has very little endlag both in the air and on the ground, has a long-lasting hitbox, has great combo potential, and even has great kill potential at higher percents. Wow...that is a LOT of positive traits for one move. This would explain why there is a whole neutral playstyle based on it. Mastering the art of back air spacing with DK is an extremely rewarding tactic. It is such a powerful skill, that it is entirely possible to win games, in certain matchups at least, by ONLY doing this in neutral. Especially in melee where it is the single most important part of his neutral game in possibly every matchup.
Back air spacing has indirect rewards. To the naked eye, it does not seem like the player is accomplishing much by just throwing out back airs without even hitting the opponent. However, during this whole time, DK is CONDITIONING the opponent to expect certain things from him. Before I elaborate on why conditioning is so important, I will explain what DK's main goal should be when spacing with back airs. This will make it easier to see the usefulness of conditioning your opponent.
Ideally, the long term goal when back air spacing is to, of course, hit the opponent with a back air. As mentioned earlier, DK's back air is great for starting combos at low percents, and killing(or at least getting the opponent offstage) at higher percents. This is why it is so rewarding to land in neutral. For example, a back air that hits right as you are landing usually sets up perfectly for a quick turn around dash JC grab at low to mid percents. Since grabs are so rewarding for DK, this is an extremely effective tactic for, indirectly, landing grabs out of neutral. Lastly, when the opponent is at high percent, back air spacing is a great way to try to get that final kill hit in.
Now, back to conditioning. By throwing out back airs in certain patterns, you condition the opponent to expect you to do that pattern again in the future. For this example, I will use full hop back air to fast fall back air. If you do this several times in neutral, there is a good chance your opponent will expect you to do it again. Now imagine that you have just done another full hop back air. At this point, you may KNOW, or at least think, that your opponent expects you to do a fast fall back air right now, like you have been doing. For this reason, you instead use your double jump after the first back air. Your opponent then proceeds to whiff their attempted punish of what they thought was going to be a fast fall back air. Now, you can fast fall after your double jump and hit them with a back air to punish their whiffed approach. This is just one example, and there will absolutely be opponents who may not try to punish that fast fall back air. The point is to understand the usefulness of conditioning. Consider what your opponent is thinking, and try to bait them into getting hit by a back air. there are endless ways to trick your opponent with bair spacing, just do what works best on your given opponent. Back air spacing mixed in with dash dancing is an extremely effective mixup as well. This is because when done correctly, you will find yourself naturally punishing a lot of approaches in situations similar to the one explained in this paragraph.
Example Applications of Bair Spacing Mixed in With Dash Dancing
Ground and Poking-Based Neutral
Donkey Kong also has the ability to play an excellent ground based neutral based on abusing his range and crouch cancel game. I will use playing against Marth as an example, although this strategy can work against any non-projectile based character. There are few exceptions though, like against Bowser where you just want to grab him so he can't use his armor. Keep in mind that the ground based playstyle is most effective at lower percents because it gives you the option to crouch cancel more moves. Anyway, It is possible for DK to play an effective neutral game without leaving the air, in many matchups, using only these moves: down tilt, forward tilt, jab, sometimes up tilt, and Donkey Punch wind-up.One might ask, how could winding up, not even using, the Donkey Punch be an effective neutral game strategy? you are about to find out. It is a strategy that can be applied anywhere in DK's game, but I find it to be very effective when mixed in with the grounded poke-based playstyle. This playstyle is best used sparingly, since opponents my catch on to you and could do a well timed punish on one of your pokes.
Against Marth, for example, pretty much all of his attacks can be punished at low % by crouch cancelling and throwing out an attack, or grab, of your own. Therefore, against characters like this, it only makes sense to stay on the ground, as long as you are able to avoid getting grabbed and are at low enough % to crouch cancel. Ironically, staying on the ground and avoiding getting grabbed are pretty much polar opposites for the most part. However, due to DK's range, he is actually great at avoiding grabs while grounded, as long as you are not too predictable. He can throw pokes out that have long range and little endlag like f-tilt and d-tilt. This means Marth will have to perfectly time his grab in order to punish one of your grounded pokes. By mixing in wavedashes, walking forward, a brief punch windup and cancelling by tapping shield, and throwing out pokes unpredictably, you make it very hard for Marth to get in safely and his only approach option that is safe is a well timed grab, due to being able to crouch cancel any attack he approaches with. It is one of the cases where you do not have to worry about having your back to your opponent in neutral, since back airs are not something you will be worrying about. You can just walk forward, mix in some wavedashes and what not, and it is very intimidating to your opponent. They may not know what to do, and you can rack up some SERIOUS, quick damage by hitting them over and over again with pokes.
Remember, I said "sometimes up tilt" as a possible poke move. This is because if your back is to your opponent, the up tilt is surprisingly safe because the hitbox is out until after his hand hits the ground and there is little endlag after that. It is a great, underused mixup that will lead into a nice combo. Good ways to land it, or even just space with it, are wavedash back(with your back to your opponent) into up tilt. You can also pivot toward them into up tilt, but this is very tricky. If you can do this consistently, by all means do it. It's very effective. up tilt is also a good poke to throw out after landing with a back air, in case the opponent runs toward you to try to punish the landing. I put this last in this poking category because it is not a very common tactic, but it certainly has its uses and I recommend DK players to start using it more. Up tilt is much more than just a combo tool.
Anti-Projectile Game
This isn't really a "playstyle", but it is definitely neutral game based and I need to put it somewhere in this guide. Earlier, I put DK's anti-projectile game as a con. Interestingly, this is also a strength. The truth is, DK is a double edged sword when it comes to anti-projectile game. If DK messes up, he will get spammed like you've never seen before and it will lead to a brutal combo into either death or an offstage situation. On the flip-side, DK has the ability to start a brutal combo of his own if the person playing him knows how to read his opponent's projectile patterns. Against many projectiles (Mario/Luigi's fireballs, Link's boomerang/arrows, Lucas' PK freeze etc.), DK's back air and nair go right through them. So against Link, for example, DK can space with back airs in neutral, hitting his boomerangs and arrows while jumping around to avoid some as well(bombs need to be avoided since aerials don't go through them) until he figures out his opponent's tendencies. Then, right when DK predicts that Link will throw a boomerang, he can run in with a SHFFL nair ASAP and even if you are slightly late, the nair will go right through the boomerang as it leaves Link's hands and you will hit Link as well as the boomerang. Then, you can start a combo of your own (which i will mention how to do in the punish game section). DK's good running speed + his grab range can also be used for anti-projectile game. If DK realizes that Link will usually throw a boomerang out as he is landing, DK can quickly run up to an descending Link, shield, and then get a point blank shield grab when Link throws the boomerang as he lands. I used Link as an example, but these two strategies can be applied to almost any projectile character. The important thing to remember is that the key is to get a read, and then hit the opponent as or before the projectile leaves them (i.e. while the boomerang is still in Link's hand or just leaving it).
Then there's the cases where none of your moves easily, or at all, go through the opponent's projectiles(bombs, Falco's lasers, PK fire, Snake's grenades, etc.). These are harder to deal with but are still entirely possible to get around. The general gameplan is the same, try to predict your opponent and punish him for being predictable with their projectile. However, the only difference is you cannot throw out aerials. You will want to be in the air and on platforms to maneuver around the projectiles safely (or you can powershield, but keep in mind this is a high risk-low reward strategy because if you mess up, many projectiles have follow ups that will result in a brutal combo on DK). When you are jumping around is when you should be focusing on your opponent's tendencies, and find a way to punish them and get in. As Muhammed Ali once said... "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." This is exactly how you should treat anti-projectile game. Be patient in neutral, and then go in HARD when you see a potential opening.
RUSHDOWN!!!!!! >:D
The ideas in this entire section should be applied well beyond neutral game, but I figured I would throw it in this category since all "rushing down" starts in neutral.
Here we go baby!!!! My favorite aspect of DK: His ability to rushdown his opponent. You will find many beginner DK player, as well as intermediate ones, pretty much only doing this strategy, because DK is just THAT good at it. However, I put it last because it is extremely unsafe and if you are predictable, you will get destroyed v.s. higher level players. I also put it last because, in a strictly chronological point of view, it makes perfect sense, and you are about to find out why.
Before I get into HOW to effectively play rushdown with DK, I want to share a really interesting and important concept. When experienced players first start playing an opponent that they have never played before, haven't played a certain matchup before, etc. etc., they tend to play safer than they normally would because they are unsure what their opponent will do. If DK, or ANYONE, plays rushdown aggressive against a player in which you have no idea how they will respond, it's a straight up gamble. There's a chance the opponent will also try to run in and hit you, and since it's the almighty DK, this will likely be a winning situation for DK. You might also try to read where they will be, you may be wrong or you may be right. But you have no idea at this point since you have not found out your opponent's tendencies. Players who play rushdown ALL the time rely on PAST EXPERIENCE ONLY. They know how people TEND to react to certain situations, and try to get reads based on the tendencies of players they have played in the past. As I said, this is a gamble. Everyone is different and this player will eventually encounter an opponent who naturally counters this unorthodox playstyle and they will get destroyed. They will get punished for every approach they make, trying to punish habits that simply do not exist in their opponent. For example, a Falco player charging an f-smash to predict a tech roll inward. Many people instinctively tech roll in after Falco's down air, but it doesn't mean this specific opponent will. It is best to find out your opponent's tendencies FIRST, and then you can start going for those hard, rushdown reads. This concept is important to understand because it is why successfully playing super aggressive ALL the time, and being successful with it, is an unrealistic expectation. Hence the phrase, high risk high reward.
I said I put the rushdown playstyle last because it makes sense "chronologically". I said this because, in order to play a successful and confident rushdown game, it is all about reads. ("I KNOW he is going to be in this area", "I KNOW he is going to jump", "I KNOW he is going to shield" etc.) The longer you play an opponent using the playstyles listed before the rushdown category, the more successful you will be at changing INTO a rushdown playstyle, granted you have caught on to some of your opponent's tendencies accurately, which is easier said than done; it is a skill that takes time to learn and it may be frustrating at first but just keep focusing on the right things and you will be doing it sub-conciously before you know it
Anyway, to play an effective rushdown playstyle as DK, you need to punish the opponent for such incredibly miniscule actions that they will not even know they just got read. It will be so quick and subtle that they will be in the middle of getting comboed to death and have absolutely no idea what they did to deserve it. Being a good rushdown player means you are good at always knowing where your opponent wants to be, and aggressively punishing them for it. Watch the set I posted at the end of this paragraph for a perfect example. This is a relatively old set in my point of view since most of my improvement came in recent months, and I did mess up a lot of things this set due to probably being a little nervous, but that's besides the point. Focus strictly on the reads. I may have made a lot of input errors, but I played well due to being able to remember what my opponent did in the first two games, and punishing him for every action possible game 3. Here it is: http://youtu.be/qRP6opVm4k8Rushdown Continued: DK-Specifics
As far as DK specific stuff goes when playing rushdown, you generally want to do lots of shffl nair approaches(remember, off of a read. NOT thoughtless approaches). It's great for reading retreats in situations where you are somewhat near your opponent after the situation has just reset to neutral. Especially if you just had a lot of momentum, since most players will simply want to get away and it's more predictable. If you do the shffl nair and still don't reach due to the opponent's character being too fast or you were too slow etc., it's best to throw out a jab combo afterwards, or just one jab, to hit them if they try to punish your nair. At lower percents, down tilt is great after a whiffed nair in this case because it's easier to follow up with a crouch cancel. However, it is slower than a jab so you will need to make the decision based on how far away your opponent is. It is also important to know that down tilt will often provide an opportunity to follow up with a dash into JC grab if you are quick enough. Jabs also allow you to follow up into a grab most of the time. If you are feeling yourself, you can also punish retreats with a dash short hop fair or Donkey punch. This is good if you know they will retreat because you can just run a split second longer than you normally would before you jump, and the hitboxes on those moves are so big that they will hit the whole area near the edge of the stage. This means they will no longer have any space to retreat unless they go offstage or jump. This is really effective against people who insist on running away from you every time they think you will approach. This is riskier than nair though because if you are predictable, the opponent can just throw a quick attack out before the fair/Donkey punch hitbox comes out.
One Final Note on Playing Rushdown
I use the example of punishing retreats because this is the most common situation where you will find rushdown to be most effective - against defensive players. If the opponent is actually approaching you, you have no reason to play rushdown. That is when you should play one of the previous neutral game styles(except anti-projectile).***IMPORTANT***
I used lots of specific examples in these playstyles. I did this because it would be impossible to list every situation that could happen. The main thing you need to focus on with these playstyles is the CONCEPTS of each example I mention. These critical thinking skills can then be applied to other situations within that playstyle.Edgeguarding
Fundamentally, DK's edgeguarding game is very basic. So this section will be significantly shorter than the neutral game section. Due to DK's bad vertical recovery, he will do 99% of his edgeguarding either onstage or while using ledge invincibility (mostly the latter).
DK must edgeguard reactively, since most of the time, even if you know EXACTLY how your opponent will recover, you cannot punish it far offstage since you simply will not make it back. This is because if the opponent has a better vertical recovery than you(everyone except Bowser LOL) they will usually recover low enough where they can make it back but they know you can't go down there and hit them. Then, it simply becomes a game of "will they sweet spot or will they land on stage", as well as anticipating any stall they may have like Marth's side-b.
Punishing the sweet spot is obvious: Just ledgehog. However, if they land on stage then that is when the DK specific stuff comes in. Usually, your best option will be to get a grab unless they are at a high enough percent where down smash will kill. I say down smash because even though it is less powerful than his other 2 smashes, it is faster. The last thing you want to do is give them a chance of shielding and completely lose a free kill. If you decide to grab, the decision should be obvious, right? Just back throw? False. Surprisingly, you will encounter many situations where this will NOT be the best decision, and you will find out why in the punish game section.
Dealing with tethers is fortunately much easier now than it was in 3.0 and earlier builds. Literally all you have to do is grab the ledge. Against Link and Samus though, for example, you need to watch out for their option to up-b. There is actually a simple solution to that, because you just need to time your invincibility to cover the up-b, and then if they tether, you can just hang on the ledge until they come up. React to them coming up (don't be too antsy/do it too early/try to predict when they will rise, since they have surprisingly long endlag when landing on stage) and then you can waveland onto the stage into grab which is usually the best option. Ledgehop fair and waveland down smash are also great. Sometimes, after rising from the tether the opponent may try to fall back off stage and grab the ledge after you ledgehop. This is why it is important to REACT to where they are, and then make your decision.
In situations where grabbing the ledge does not cover enough options, or situations where you simply do not have time to grab the ledge, DK has lots of tools for hitting opponents who are near the ledge or fail to sweet spot. The moves you want to use most in these situations are down tilt and down-angled forward tilt. They both hit low, and will send the opponent away at a low angled trajectory which is great. An underused but very effective strategy is to turn around, and hit with the ending frames of up tilt, and space it so his hand goes offtstage. This sets up perfectly for a back air follow up most of the time, which will get them farther offstage than a d tilt or f tilt, and it also racks up more damage. It's a great edgeguard setup. In similar situations like I mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, but the opponent instead still has their jump and they recover high, back air is usually the best option because of its speed and range. You can edgeguard more reactively with back air than any other aerials, and edgeguarding reactively is what you should always aim for. At lower percents, back air will combo into itself offtstage like a Jigglypuff Wall-of-Pain. You can end the combo by descending with your opponent offstage and trying to hit them offstage even farther by hitting with the strong hit of up-b (the beginning frames of the hitbox) which is excellent for gimping.
Recovering
Recovering with DK is more of a concept as opposed a list of strategies or tactics. His recovery is very interesting because of the horizontal range on his up-B, as well as having barely any landing lag. For these two reasons, edgeguarding DK reactively is significantly less effective than it is against most other characters. When recovering with DK, it is actually DK who is playing reactively and the player edgeguarding is trying to predict, for the most part. DK's up b goes so far the you can just up b and land in the middle of the stage, and there is such little endlag that this is surprisingly safe. This is the main reason it is hard to edgeguard him reactively. For example, if the opponent grabs the ledge, then DK can up-b far across the stage to escape.
The main thing to be thinking about when recovering with DK is whether to recover high or low, and this often comes down to the opponent's character. Against Zero Suit, you will usually want to recover high because of her down smash. If you recover high and bait a jump, you can just fast fall to grab the ledge safely, for example. This is where recovering reactively comes in. You need to always be aware of your options, wait until as late as possible until you get an idea of what your opponent is looking for, and then make your decision based on what you've gathered.
Some simple recovery tactics:
- side-b stalls to wait for the opponent's ledge invincibility to go away
- jump in their face to bait an attack, and hit them with the strong hit of up-b as they get near you. You then have the option to follow them with the up-b to rack up damage if they are at low %(it can do up to 36 percent!!!), or you can just do a stationary up b and fall to the ledge.
- when under 100% and near the ledge, baiting an attack, like a marth f-smash for example, and quickly grabbing the ledge into a ledge get-up attack. DK has an amazing ledge get up attack when he is under 100%
- If DK happens to be facing backwards, like after getting hit by a Samus down smash, back air is a great tool for hitting your oppponent as you recover, due to its range. It has little endlag which makes it a really safe aerial to do offstage despite DK's poor vertical recovery.
- When recovering high, Doing a surprise fast fall or rising down air is a great mixup when timed well. DK's dair has surprising range under him and will hit opponents who do not expect it. Just don't be too predictable.
Okay I grabbed the ledge. Now what?
DK has a nice bag of tricks for getting back onstage after he grabs the ledge. Unfortunately, that's all they are...tricks. He actually has a hard time getting onstage if he is past 100%. Under 100%, he has that great ledge get-up. The reason he is better at getting on stage below 100% is not because he can hit people with the dash attack, but it's because the opponent is AWARE of that option and they will be more cautious at the ledge, giving you the space necessary to get back. However, Past 100% you no longer have that option and they can get much closer and limit your safe options. I will list some DK-specific strategies for getting back. The correct option will depend on your opponent.
- Under 100% ledge get-up attack. Very fast and lots of range
- Ledgehop fair if they don't respect its range
- Invincible nair or up air if they are close enough and vulnerable
- Regular jump from ledge into instant side-b is an overlooked option. It's a little shenanigan that can be pulled out if the opponent is shielding with a low shield(since side-b is a great shield break option) or if they try to crouch cancel a get-up attack. Very punishable though, use it rarely.
- Regular ledge jump into down air, abusing the down air range to punish an attempted full hop punish. Can be mixed in with a double jump for a nice mixup
- Take advantage of DK having a higher than average ledge jump. Follow up with a double jump on Battlefield-esque stages to make it safely onto the top platform, and work your way to the ground from there.
- Waveland onstage into grab. Other moves work as well but shield grab is very effective, like in this clip: http://youtu.be/FqL5IerZEXY?t=28m5s
Combo/Punish Game
Combos are the heart and soul of DK. His punishes are among the best in game, so it is important to be proficient at them. I will start with his basic combo attacks and simple combos, and then get into what DK is notorious for: His brutal grab game.
Fundamentals of DK's Combo Game
The majority of DK's combos come from grabs. However, against higher level players, it will be difficult to just fish for grabs and be successful with that strategy. Therefore, unless you can get a nice read or bait to land a grab in neutral, the general plan is to combo or follow up INTO a grab, and then start your grab combo. The next section shows common strategies for getting grabs as DK.
Common Ways To Get Grabs as DK
(Assume low-mid % for the combos)
(Assume low-mid % for the combos)
- Back air before landing -> turn around dash JC grab
- Jab combo->grab (Single hit jab also works, but opponents can usually escape by mashing jump)
- SHFFL nair-> Grab. (works on airborne opponents as well, but you will want to do a REGULAR dash grab, you'll see why in the next section) You can also add a jab combo or down tilt before the grab, for extra damage and a safer option if you are unsure that the grab will connect straight out of the nair.
- Down-b-> grab (great for techchases, down air works as well)
- Basic Shield grabs. DK's grab range gives him a great shield grab. Be aware of what is and what isn't safe on shield though, and don't fall for shield grab baits.
- Dash toward aerial opponent to get a point blank shield grab to punish landing, like in the "anti-projectile game" section.
- Grabs out of dash dance baits (like in the "Dash Dance Based Neutral" Section).
- Against shielders, run toward them and JC grab. Simple but effective mixup because DKs running speed, and the quickness + range of his JC grab, make it difficult to react to when unexpected.
- Crouch cancel grab (CC jab combo to grab is great as well, since jab is faster than grab)
- Tech chasing with grabs
Differences Between Dash Grab and JC Grab
JC grab is usually the better option, but there are definitely situations where you should dash grab instead. JC grab box is lower to the ground and extends farther in front of DK. The dash grab, however, has a higher grab box and it also goes a little farther behind him. This makes it better for grabbing airborne opponents where you are unsure if the JC grab box is high enough to reach them. For example, DK can chain grab spacies with cargo up-throw. Sometimes, if you do JC grabs only, they will be out of hitstun by the time they reach the grab box so they can shine or jump out before you grab them. If you do a dash grab though, you don't have to wait as long and you can grab them higher in the air, before they are out of hitstun. This is why I said in the previous section to do a dash grab after a nair at lower percents instead of a JC grab. The JC grab may have too low of a grab box to connect with the airborne opponent.
Techchasing is also a situation where a dash grab is sometimes more optimal. Once in awhile, when someone tries to cover a tech roll away, they will be running right on top of their opponent as they are rolling. In this case, you should do a dash grab because you do not have to be as precise as you would with a JC grab. This is because of the dash grab having a grab box a little more behind DK, so if you are a little past your opponent, you will still grab him. You also have the option to pivot grab, but once again, that may require more precision in some situations.
While on the topic of dash grab v.s. JC grab, I will mention an effective chain grab technique for spacies. If you are already 100% confident with your ability to chain grab spacies, then you can skip this paragraph. However, I have a naturally slow reaction time (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) so this is a technique I use for chain grabbing spacies easily: Let's say I grab Falco at 10%(it will work at any % below 40-ish. I just said 10 to help you visualize). After I up throw him, I dash one direction. It doesn't matter which direction it is. During this initial dash, I react to how the opponent DI's. For this example, let's say I dash left after I up throw them. If they DI left, then I instantly do a pivot grab(which also has a higher grab box than a JC grab). If they DI right or not at all, then I turn around to change the direction of my dash (a.k.a. a dash dance) and do a quick dash grab. I find this technique much easier for chain grabbing than the typical JC grab chain grab, because it requires one less thought process. With this technique, I react to if they DI left, right, or not at all/barely. With the conventional CG technique, you need to think about if they DI left, right, and if they do slight DI, you need to think about whether or not you need to turn around. For me, I find that a lot harder. Do what technique works best for you!
Here's a clip of this technique in action: http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=8m4s
(Notice how I look for the back air in neutral to get my grab, as opposed to directly fishing for the grab.)
Grab Game and Follow Ups
Here it is, one of the main aspects of DK. When DK gets a grab, he has one of two goals depending on the percent. He either wants to combo into a kill, or go straight from the grab to the kill move. Whether you want to KO or combo is the first thing you should ask yourself after you get a grab. However, in order to answer that question you must be aware of all of your options. That is what you will learn in this section. After getting a grab with DK, you must consider every option in order to choose the best one. Also keep in mind that a big part to understanding DK's combo game is to encounter all the different weights in the game yourself. I can give you a general idea on what to do v.s. certain weights, but most DK's combos require a lot of precision. This is something that will be learned from experience and playing against lots of different characters. I'll start with cargo up throw, and then get into cases where you would want to use cargo forward or back throw. These are the BEST options out of cargo up throw. Of course, you can hit with any aerial you'd like as there may be situations, like at really high percents where multiple moves kill, where another aerial is a favorable option.
Cargo Up Throw Follow Ups, and When to Use Them
- Up Air. Honestly, you could use this almost every time and it would be acceptable for a DK player because it is the easiest follow up and also puts DK in a favorable position. However, at mid percents on most character, the combo ends after the up air. This is why the up air is an especially good up throw follow up when the opponent is either at a low enough percent to land multiple up air strings, or at a high enough percent where they will die off the top from the up air.
- Down Air. I just mentioned that sometimes an up air will result in the combo ending around mid-percents. In this case, it is often a good idea to go for a down air after the up throw to spike the opponent back to the ground and set is up tech chase opportunities. It IS possible to meteor cancel the down air, but past 50% or so there is a very small window where the opponent can do this, so it is rare. Especially if there is a platform below you in which there is not much time at all to meteor cancel, if it is even possible. Here is an example of what you can do with cargo up throw->down air http://youtu.be/QROxgBcNhpk?t=4m52s
- Forward Air: This is for when you want to kill the opponent, or get them far offstage for an edgeguard opportunity. At higher percents, you should do a grounded cargo up throw into forward air so you can full hop to compensate for the greater throw knockback. Otherwise, you should full hop before the throw because it will allow you to get the fair out a little faster(since you do not have to deal with grounded jump squat). This is a 100% guaranteed reactable follow up, granted it is at a reasonable percent on the right weight class. You can throw the opponent, react to where they DI, and then jump toward them and then do the fair. Using the c-stick for the forward air makes it much easier to drift backwards while doing it, for when the opponent DI's behind you.
- Donkey Punch: Same concept as forward air. However, it does not work at percents as high as forward air does because the hitbox does not go as high. This is also a reactive combo. You can cargo up throw, react the their DI, and jump toward them and Donkey punch, turning around if necessary. One helpful trick for landing a full hop up throw->Donkey punch is if they DI behind you, do a b-reverse Donkey punch and opposed to just a regular turn around Donkey punch. This is because a b-reverse one comes out faster. Think about it... if you do a regular turn around Donkey punch, you have the press the opposite direction you are facing, and THEN press B. For a B-reverse, you press B before you do anything with the analog stick, which gets it out a split second faster
- Up Smash: Specifically on fast fallers, up smash is a very easy way to get an easy kill confirm out of a cargo up throw. Just react to their DI, dash under them, and c-stick up. This works well past 100%. Even though it only works on 4 characters, I decided to mention it because it possibly the easiest kill confirm on those 4 characters(Fox, Falco, Wolf, Falcon).
Cases Where You Should Cargo Side Throw
DK should only use cargo forward or back throw to go for a DI mixup against floatier characters who are at too high of a percent to get a follow up from cargo up throw. Here is an example, where I had no possible up throw follow ups: http://youtu.be/YZfKgGJPqe4?t=22m7sThe reason I say this is the only time you should use it, is because 99.9% of the time it is better to go for a guaranteed follow up if it is available to you, and this applies to any character. There is always the chance that you will predict the opponent's DI incorrectly, and next thing you know, you get nothing out of a grab.
One situation in which I like to use cargo forward or back throw, though, is when I'm playing a floatier than average character, where they are too high of a percent for up throw down air to work, but too low of a percent to kill directly out of the throw. This is when I opt for a cargo side throw into down air, trying to predict DI and get more damage than I could with a cargo up throw. Here are some situations where this worked out for me:
http://youtu.be/iMtKRMPHMSM?t=10m13s
http://youtu.be/kMmZhZ-B0z0?t=1m15s
This paragraph is actually neutral game related, and it has to do with the same situations mentioned in the previous paragraph. As you know by now, there are cases in which DK has very limited grab follow ups at higher percents v.s. floaties. In these cases, you will want to completely change your DK instincts. Instead of looking for grabs in neutral, you should just be looking for opportunity to simply hit your opponent in general so you can try to kill them by other means. If you do have the opportunity, jab combo into full hop double jump up air is a great alternative to cargo throw up air. It is often guaranteed. I touched upon this briefly in the "Ground and Neutral Based" section.
Some Tips For Fast Fallers/Semi-fast fallers/Heavies
DK's game plan to combo out of a grab on all of these character types is pretty much the same: Cargo up throw into up air. Against Fox, Falco, and Wolf though, you can chain grab them until 30-40ish percent. Then, you can start up airing. If
they end up too low to the ground to follow up with another up-air, you want to regrab them ASAP. When the opponent gets to a high enough percent, you can do repeated short hop fast fall up airs (don't forget to auto cancel them!) until they reach a high enough percent where they will die from a forward air or fully charged punch. Only a few up airs are needed before you can be certain the punch will kill, unless you are playing against a really big/heavy character. In this case, it will take a small amount more.
When comboing with up airs, it is important to remember to try to keep the opponent as low to the ground as possible. This is for two reasons. First, you do not want to have to double jump in the middle of the combo, because this would make it very difficult, or impossible, to keep the combo going. The second reason is that you want to combo to be as long as possible so you can rack up more damage and allow for the ending hit to kill them whenever possible. If you have the option to instantly do a full hop up air, but could also wait for them to fall a split second longer in hitstun in order to reach with a short hop up air, always do the latter. This gives you many more options after the up air. Specifically because DK will be on the ground after the up-air, so he can dash toward the opponent if they DI far horizontally.
If DK grabs a fast faller near the ledge, he may be able to cut the combo short in order to hit with a grounded up-b to get them off stage. This should be done if the opponent DI's an up throw or up air such that they end up in a position near the hitbox of DK's grounded up-b sweet spot. Just make sure you hit them the right direction, and not towards center stage.
Lastly, A big part of being able to chain grab fast fallers on stages with platforms is by walking/jumping to a good position while you are in cargo hold. The lack of platforms to tech on is why FD is such an effective counterpick on fast fallers. Therefore, you should move to positions where the opponent cannot tech on platforms. For example, the middle of Pokemon Stadium, away from the Smashville platform, or on big platforms like the Yoshi's Island Brawl platform or the top right platform on Skyloft, so it is like a mini-FD for chain grabbing. You can go to the middle of the platform, regrab, walk back to the middle, repeat. Here are some examples: http://youtu.be/dnDaXS5iytg?t=2m39s
http://youtu.be/h34enUt1SeE?t=8m31s
http://youtu.be/cBDbteiVGbw?t=8m4s
A Final Note Regarding Guaranteed Follow Ups
Since DK has these guaranteed kill options at his disposal, it is really important to take advantage of the fact that they ARE guaranteed. While your instincts may tell you to anticipate DI in a certain direction, it is best to just clear your mind and simply wait for the opponent's location after a cargo up throw. If you anticipate a certain direction and the opponent does the opposite, it will just make your reaction that much slower and it may be all the time the opponent needs to be able to jump away or hit you with a combo breaker-esque attack. Just react to DI after cargo up throws, and you are much less likely to drop a combo. As I mentioned, it takes practice and experience to be able to know what follow ups are best in a given situation. As long as you understand why certain moves were chosen in the situations I listed, you should have no problem incorporating them into your game Miscellaneous
Out of Shield Game
Getting Cargocides
- Standing cargo forward or back throw toward ledge->regrab. If you grab an opponent and a close to the ledge, but not close enough to do a cargocide before the opponent can mash out, you can try doing a cargo throw toward the ledge, and you can regrab them if they DI towards you. Here is what it looks like: http://youtu.be/Fa4IU1Lfhu8?t=5m29s
- Regular Ledge get up-> shield grab. If you haven't done many ledge get ups in a set and it is unexpected, opponents will often be late to react to your regular ledge get up. This is when you can shield grab and plummet to your death with them.
- Regular down throw near center stage->regrab if they tech roll toward the ledge. If you think the opponent will tech roll toward the ledge after a down throw, you can just just chase them down, grab for the techchase, and it sets up perfectly for a cargocide.
Videos
http://youtu.be/E4vmJ2KrYZ8
http://youtu.be/FU48YZfKp8Q
http://youtu.be/X93nMVZhYfA
The main difference in DK's punish game in 3.5, compared to the clips in the oldest combo video, is that his down b has slightly less range now. So if you notice exceptionally long range form his down-b, that is why.
Keep in mind, most of the links I post in this guide also have lots of other good footage. Check those out for some good sets. Also, the melee combo video I posted in the "up air" section is very entertaining.
Conclusion
