Ganondorf Qualitative Moveset Analysis and Usage Tips

All hail the king of disrespect! Ganon is definitely one of the most fun characters to use. However, to win with him, you need a solid understanding of his mechanics and moveset. Otherwise, you'll end up just getting tossed around and not accomplishing anything.

The guide is intended for low-intermediate level players looking looking to polish a weapon to disrespect their friends. Ganon especially fits this group because of his low tech skill requirement (basically none). Personally, I consider myself an intermediate-level Ganon. All feedback is welcome. However, I would be especially interested in hearing any comments from high level players and their opinions on Ganon's moveset if they differ from mine.

The information is taken from my knowledge as far as the 1.1.2 version.

General Usage and mindset

Unfortunately, Ganon has one of the worst mobilities in the game. When you pick up Ganon, you will have to come to terms with getting your ass combo'd. Ganon also has one of the worst recoveries in the game. Learn to tech run-offstage-bair. Don't get too salty over gimps, because THEY WILL HAPPEN. Just know that all you need is a few hits to kill them. Which is probably at least partly why you have any interest in Ganon. If not, add that to your list.
The key point with Ganon is that he relies heavily on reads and spacing. Getting these hits in usually involve some hard reads and mindgames. By nature, you will miss a lot of these, so don't fret when you miss. And relish it when you hit. Some players won't know the Ganon matchup (upsmash, pivot ftilt, uair, super armor, shieldbreak), or have bad habits e.g. predictable roll movement. Exploit these for immediate and satisfying results.

General Pros/cons of Ganon
Pros:

• One of the hardest hitters in the game
• Often underestimated
• Can instill fear/anxiety into enemy and cause simple mistakes
• Command grab for tech chasing

Cons:

• Terrible mobility
• Possibly the worst recovery in the whole game after Mac (no customs)
• Limited landing options
• Limited combo game
• Susceptible to getting combo'ed (tall, large, heavy)
• Slow attacks
• Easily projectile camped

Qualitative moveset analysis (mostly)

Rating: _/10 (with respect to ganon's other moves)
0: bad
5: average
10: good

Occasionally I hear lower level players complain about "omg [character]'s [specific move] sucks, so unfair." If a move "sucks," then DON'T USE IT. No move is appropriate for all situations. Except maybe Sheik fair. But that's for another discussion.
Also don't take these numbers too seriously. Even a move with a rating as low as 3 still has it's uses. Moves less than 3 are probably reserved for disrespect. Generally, moves with at least a 5 rating are Ganon's better moves and can be used frequently. Remember that the numbers are highly subjective, and are compared to Ganon's other moves.
Some customs briefly mentioned, but not analyzed
Some things are untested (numbers, followups)
I say a lot of things are possible if well spaced or such, but unfortunately I don't have a demonstration for them at the moment :/
Numbers and frame data on Ganon's moves can be found in frame data dumps:
http://smashboards.com/threads/comp...-every-character-now-with-ko-percents.383550/
http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Ganondorf

Jab: 7/10

• Ganon's fastest ground attack (frame 8)
• Good range (comparable to Ftilt)
• Not great as a jab because it's so slow so it loses out to most other jabs
• Nonetheless, still a pretty good move in neutral to rack up a little extra damage

Dash Attack: 7/10

• Sourspot true combos into jab at low%, uair at mid%, but difficult to space the sourspot
• Normal hitbox pretty damn strong because it's ganon, and covers a lot of ground
• Best used to chase landing or roll reads
• If spaced right, can pass through shield and mess with opponent's punish game, though it is still punishable
• Pretty safe move to use if opponent won't or can't shield (big if)
• Will beat out basically any other attack on the ground except most smash attacks or some weird disjoints

Forward tilt: 9/10

• IMO Ganon's best ground move
• One of the best tilts in the game
• Pretty fast (frame 10), solid range, low ending lag
• Has a horizontal trajectory -> messes with opponents with poor vertical recovery, which can setup for edgeguards
• Extremely useful when used as a pivot tilt to play spacing games

Up tilt: 1/10

• Generally a disrespectful move
• If timed and spaced properly, can be a deadly edgeguard, especially against those with linear recoveries without many recovery options, e.g. DK, Mac
• Provides a fear factor against recoveries
• If you space/time properly against opponent on the ledge and opponent messes up timing, it can cover regular getup, getup atk, roll, and do-nothing getup options. It also covers the very beginning of ledgehop
• Sweetspot is instant shieldbreak, sourspot almost breaks shield
• Never use in neutral
• Very fun to use in settings outside of 1v1. Huge reach, hitbox, shieldbreak, and vacuum properties, and opportunistic moments greatly increase your chance of landing this move. Even if it misses, it can at least cause panic and get a good laugh

Down tilt: 9/10

• In contention with Ftilt as Ganon's best ground move
• At super low percent against fastfallers (~7%), can double dtilt -> side-b if they don't jump
• Long range, can catch opponents off guard if they aren't familiar
• Get comfortable with the distance! Know when someone is in dtilt range but not ftilt range.
• Same startup lag as Ftilt: frame 10
• If well spaced, is safe on shield against slower characters
• Sends opponent up, so doesn't provide the same edgeguard opportunities as Ftilt, but can string to uair or airdodge reads, missed platform tech, etc

Forward smash: 3/10

• Insanely strong, but terribly slow
• Ganon leans back during startup, changing his hurtbox. If you're feeling it, you can play high-risk, high-reward spacing games
• Mostly unsafe on shield except for extremely slow characters
• Extremely satisfying when landed.
• Often used for hard reads. If charged, can commonly kill around 70%

Up smash: 7/10

• Ganon's best smash attack, one of the best up smashes in the game
• Main drawback is startup lag (frame 21) compared to other strong upsmashes e.g. Fox, Pika, which are frame ~8
• The best thing about it is that it has almost no endlag. It often baits players less familiar with Ganon into rushing in to try to punish. The simplest anti-punish options are jab, ftilt, and dtilt. Jab comes out the fastest, ftilt is the most rewarding, and dtilt has the longest reach.
• Always safe on shield + massive shield knockback+damage. The high shieldstun can mess with less experienced players that try to punish after block. Often, they input a dash during shieldstun -> roll right into you = big punish
• Usually safe to throw this move out when zoning, even if just to scare people. But don't get too predictable, as there is a small punish window
• Keep your options fresh! Don't always attack after upsmash, sometimes put up shield or dash around

Down smash: 3/10

• Slow, hits often don't link properly
• 2nd hit on shield draws them toward you -> you get punished HARD
• Weakest but fastest (frame 15) of ganon's smash attacks
• Not a great move, probably best used to punish roll spammers

Neutral air: 6/10

• Autocancels in full hop
• Much worse than Falcon's: hits only link at low percents
• 2nd hit is angled upwards, making it difficult to use against grounded opponents
• Okay as landing option mixup if opponent is not too far behind you
• Landing lag comparable to bair and uair
• Because it doesn't autocancel in short hop, it's not as spammable as bair, uair
• Does have more forward reach though, which gives more space when zoning and edgeguarding
• Still a kill move though because ganon

Forward air: 4/10

• Massive damage, hitbox, and kill potential
• Not great as a rushdown move: slow startup + high landing lag -> get punished
• Good use requires good spacing, but if used properly, can be very rewarding
• Best as a defensive move: punish over-aggressive opponents chasing you. Fading fairs are difficult to punish
• Use in conjuction with fastfall when trying to land or in full-hop can catch over-aggressive opponents off guard
• If recovering from high, can be used as anti-edgeguard, but need to be familiar with the startup lag
• Hitbox is quite large, reaching pretty far in front of ganon
• Hitbox arcs downward, hitting near the ground, unlike nair/bair, to hit smaller characters
• Properly spaced, is safe against most shields (except for the faster characters)
• Did I mention spacing?
• Note: for those into Ganon dittos, Fair is the most practical punish option if you wall-jump-tech the enemy Ganon's up-B recovery

Back air: 8/10

• Like Falcon's, bair is extremely powerful and fast
• Main drawback is that you need momentum control and Ganon's height makes the hitbox high, making it difficult to hit shorter opponents in a short hop
• Comparable in power to Fair, but significantly less endlag
• Significantly less vertical (downward) reach than Fair, comparable lateral reach
• Good move to SH/FF with. You can hit smaller opponents with FF, but you won't autocancel with FF
• If well-spaced, is almost always safe on shield and applies huge shield pressure. Because of the low endlag, it's much more forgiving in spacing on shield. Even if you do misspace it, opponent only has small punish time window
• Use this move a lot: in neutral or edgeguard situation, as it's difficult to punish

Up air: 10/10

• IMO, Ganon's best move, has many uses
• Massive hitboxes with different properties
• In front/above: very strong standard upair, similar to Falcon's but stronger. The trajectory tends to be more horizontal than Falcon's, making it much better to use in an edgeguard situation. Unfortunately, due to Ganon's low mobility, followups are near impossible after 1 uair, unlike Falcon
• Behind: semi-spike ("Tipman spike") that reaches behind and slightly below Ganon. If learned, it can be devastating against opponents with poor recovery. A lot of people will assume you're going for the offstage dair, so the uair semi-spike spacing can throw them off
• Any of the directions can be used for edgeguarding
• Ganon's fastest move (frame 6)
• Most common aerial followup (dthrow, dtilt, dair)
• Very little endlag and landing lag
• Uair is great for baiting out airdodge. Short-hop uair to contest someone's landing to bait on an airdodge when they are low to the ground. If they airdodge, they'll may get stuck in landing lag of the airdodge (depending on their fall speed), while your uair will have autocanceled. Your best punish for their airdodge is probably ftilt or dash attack, depending on how you've spaced it. If they don't airdodge, they'll most likely take a flipkick to the face, or at worst trade with Ganon. Trades are generally in Ganon's favor because of the sheer power of Ganon's attacks.
• Well-spaced uair is safe on most shields
• Pretty spammable move in neutral
• Like bair, good move to SHFF, but won't autocancel with FF
• Great for anti-edgeguarding from mid-low if enemy stands near ledge

Down air: 2/10

• Depending on who you ask, could be considered disrespectful
• One of the reasons why people play Ganon
• Can spike-kill regardless of recovery at around 15%! Definitely the strongest meteor in the game
• Probably the most difficult edgeguard move to land since most people are watching out for it
• If you are frame-perfect, can frame-cancel to true combo into almost any other move (depending on percent) when dair landed on grounded opponent. This tech can be pretty difficult to consistently perform, but this is anomalously technical for Ganon.
• Even if you are not frame perfect, dair true combos into uair at mid percents anyway
• Does have quite a bit of startup and massive landing lag. Avoid using in neutral except for hard reads. It will kill at ~110% and grounded opponents CANNOT tech it.
• Decent shield damage, massive shield knockback (comparable to upsmash)
• Still safe on some shields if spaced properly and if you have some momentum away from their shield knockback
• Not great as a landing option
• Massive freezeframe/hitlag from electric effect is extra satisfying
• Do NOT use if opponent is <5%! Low base knockback/hitstun will allow them to punish you even if you hit them

Grab: 3/10

• Down-throw can lead into upair at low percents and if opponent misses/doesnt know how to properly DI
• String into fair/dash atk/downb on airdodge reads
• Unfortunately, despite being in such a large body, Ganon's grab range is horrible
• If you're just looking to tack on damage and they are at too high percent to chase with dthrow, fthrow and uthrow deal most damage (iirc), backthrow has most knockback
• Terribly long endlag, especially dash/pivot grab
• Nonetheless, because shield is so good in this game, grabs in general are just useful

Neutral B, Warlock Punch: (1)0/10 -> 0/10 for being bad normally, 10/10 if you somehow land it or get a shieldbreak

• The reason why many people play Ganon at all: access to this move
• Gets super armor for most of the startup if started on the ground without reversing it
• Very fun to use in settings other than 1v1, much like uptilt
• In free-for-all, much easier to land WP because of opportunistic setups and super armor
• Sets up extremely disrespectful moments against lower level players unfamiliar with the super armor
• Reversed WP gets no super armor, but kills anyone over 30%. Lightweights can die at less than 5% near the ledge
• If somehow released in midair, does even more damage/knockback, though you need platforms/items/knockback assistance to actually pull this off. A reversed midair release is the strongest of all, dealing 40% damage. Can kill lightweights at 0%, even with DI
• In mid-level play or higher, really should not be used at all unless disrespect is your end goal
• A successful warlock punch is often sufficient cause to save a replay to share among friends and bask in your glory
• With customs, Warlock blade actually has some utility with shield break + massive range

Side B, Flame choke: 7/10

• Great command grab, probably better than his standard grab
• Setup for tech chases
• If opponent misses tech, dtilt is guaranteed follow up on most characters
• If you are more ambitious, you can try to read their getup option. Getup-roll away is generally the most difficult option to cover and requires a hard commitment. Try to read their getup patterns and punish them if they become predictable. Less experienced players often do the same getup option until they get punished for it. If you chain FC's together, they are highly likely to use a different getup option each time. At kill%, a common read is Fsmash behind you if they roll behind you after they've already done getup atk and roll away. If you see opponent repeatedly rolling behind you, save the read for when they are at kill% if they are close. Standard getup is extremely rare and easily punishable, but could be a next-level mindgame. Sometimes opponent will just lie there if you keep trying to chain FCs. Hit them up with that young down-b/dair. For a more comprehensive list, see the Ganon guide on missed FC tech followups list: http://smashboards.com/guides/ganondorfs-missed-tech-flame-choke-followups-list.503/
• If opponent techs it, you still have "frame advantage" (you can act before they can). In this case, your most reliable options are dtilt, ftilt, and jab. In general, it is in the opponent's best interest to tech it, but try to react as quickly as possible as to whether or not they tech'd it
• Aerial FC is untechable, but you have no guaranteed followup options. FC chaining is also harder, as you have a little more endlag
• Ganoncide against over-aggressive edgeguarders will kill them first, so you will win if landed on their last stock
• Learn the spacing! It doesn't go too far, doesn't move that quickly, and is pretty punishable if you miss. You won't be able to punish enemy rolls unless they roll from right next to you
• If you use it too close to the ledge and fall off, you can grab the ledge if you hold back immediately. If you're too late, you'll end up SD'ing

Up B, Dark Dive: 1/10, AKA the Wizard's Hug

• Just a bad move in general. Recovery grabs (Ganon, Falcon) just suck, but you have to use it anyway to recover (note: this is completely different from tether recoveries)
• Bad vertical range, absolutely trash lateral range, easy gimps, can't kill until over 300%
• Even if you get them with upb during your recovery, if they tech the stage, they can punish you and easily gimp/kill you, esp. if you burned your 2nd jump already
• Despite all its drawbacks, it is one of the best up-b's to ledge-cancel with very easy timing, difficult to punish, and can easily grab/hit the opponent if they stand too close to the ledge. Don't ledge-cancel all your recoveries though, e.g. if opponent is charging a dsmash/fsmash. Ledge-cancel is best used if you are high enough to grab them if they shield camp ledge, or low enough so that the last hitbox will hit them but they can't do anything to you
• With customs, Dark fists is much better: more lateral range, super armor during startup, has hitboxes instead of grab-box, and can kill too
• Never use this in neutral unless you are super desperate or if they're shield camping on a platform or something. Completely outclassed by normal grab and FC

Down B, Wizard's Foot: 3/10

• Much slower than Falcon kick, but IMO is actually better
• In general, this is Ganon's fastest punish option for roll-away, commonly seen at low level play, except against the slower characters
• Pretty limited use in high level, but can be good for punishing aggressive rushers
• Aerial down-b is a great mixup for landing. Late down-b sends opponents up, which can kill at mid% if you hit them high if they are trying to juggle you. However, it has a lot of landing lag and is unsafe on a full shield.
• Down-b can also spike at the beginning of the move. Cue disrespect. Ganon can actually recover from full-hop + downb without platform assistance
• Aerial deals a lot of shield damage. Landing all the aerial hitboxes can almost break shield. Note that you need to hit multiple hitboxes to deal the max shield damage. This means you have to start it just above them while they shield. Hit them up with bair/ftilt/dtilt shield pressure, then they'll be vulnerable to shieldbreak. Actually landing this down-b shield break is in general difficult and impractical, but can be hype
• Do not spam this move! Grounded version is terribly unsafe on shield, as Ganon slows down significantly if he hits anything. Plus you'll look like an even worse version of FG Falcon

Summary of moves:

• The best moves are the moves to use the most in neutral to space, zone, poke, pressure, etc (no particular order): jab, ftilt, dtilt, upsmash, uair, bair, sideb, nair
• Viable moves to use to punish (whiffed attacks, overextension, rolls, reads): ftilt, upsmash, fsmash, fair, dair, downb
• Disrespectful moves: dair, downb, neutral b
• Edgeguarding moves: fair, dair, uair, nair, utilt
• Bair and Uair are your best aerial moves. Uair especially. Aerial moves generally trade, and nobody wants to trade with Ganon.
• Jab, ftilt, and dtilt are your best ground moves.
• Throw out random upsmashes to assert your strength.
• Use fsmash when you feel like going ham. Stay away from downsmash unless they're rolling like mad.
• Side-b for tech-chasing and punishing shield camping. Don't get baited though.
• Ledge-cancel up-b against unsuspecting foes.
• Down-b to punish rolls
• Nair, Uair, and Bair most practical for edgeguards
• Despite Ganon's generally high ending lag on his moves, a lot of his moves are still safe on many shields with the proper spacing and momentum. Shield pressure is difficult to apply, but can force a tense mindset on the opponent if somehow done.

Don't take the numbers too seriously, and know who you're playing against. Just because I say down-b should not be spammed doesn't mean it won't necessarily work, depending on who you're playing against. Down-b + dash attack spam can actually be more viable against roll spammers and projectile campers on For Glory, especially if you're not experienced with spacing with nair, bair, ftilt, etc. Ganon just has a hard time with projectile campers. Better experienced players will punish you hard.

Other than that, there's nothing else specific to Ganon. Get the fundamentals down of Smash itself, e.g. neutral, zoning, edgeguarding. Know how your (and your opponent's) moves work. This game doesn't have a ton of tech skill requirement except maybe at the highest level, and Ganon doesn't really need any either. Just old-fashioned, instinctive hit-them-as-hard-as-you-can. Remember that Ganon is very read-heavy. Sometimes you just have to go for a hard read, and it's ok if you don't get it. Stay unpredictable and when you do get that hard read, it'll be worth everything.

Concluding thoughts

Practically speaking, Ganon is a pretty bad character, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use him. In competitive play, you probably won't get very far with Ganon, as a lot of his rewards come against less experienced players. If you're just looking for casual, friendly play, Ganon can be a great option, and he will baptize those who aren't familiar with him. Ganon completely destroys less skilled players while maintaing a relaxed pace. Any ganon player will tell you how satisfying it is to get a hard read or somehow land an ill-advised Fsmash. It's what a lot of us play for.
Remember, try to have fun! Don't get salty about losing as Ganon, or if you feel like you can't hit them at all. Patience is key. If you're a player that gets easily frustrated/salty over losses, maybe Ganon isn't for you. Good Ganon play is usually super-hype, and standard Ganon play can commonly go into highlight reels and disrespectful montages. Crowd always loves a good Ganon. Last but not least, go out, have fun, and seek the disrespect!

That's all! Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you thought of this guide!