- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
Ganondorf is known for being a very "hype" character due to the nature of his high impact gameplay. By design, Ganon is able to end a stock a lot more quickly than most characters when playing on his terms. An important tool for accomplishing this is edgeguarding, where Ganon is arguably one of the scariest characters in the game to recover against.
Ganon might not have the sheer versatility offstage as a Pikachu or a Villager, but this isn't to say he lacks good options. Rather, the tools Ganon does have available for edgeguarding are amazing for what they do, with all of his aerials being able to cover multiple common and uncommon options simultaneously, and having high enough priority to beat out the vast majority of recovery moves head on when timed correctly. And given how hard Ganon hits as well as the unique knockback angles of some of his tools, it's not uncommon for Ganon to kill a character around 50% or sometimes even earlier for simply connecting a stray hit offstage. Given Ganon can't chase very far offstage however, you are required to carefully analyze your opponent's recovery and either anticipate or react to it accordingly in order to catch them. From there, edgeguarding is all positioning, timing, and picking a good move for the situation.
As stated, Ganon depends a lot knowing which way his opponent will recover to be successful in edgeguarding. There are normally four basic ways to recover, which you should be prepared to anticipate.
Standard Direct Low Recovery
Basically, everyone wants to grab the ledge safely when recovering. While even a good player will attempt to mix up the timing of this type of recovery, these ones typically are the easiest to intercept, given it's easy to position yourself in preparation for these recoveries.
High Recovery
This is simultaneously the most basic and technically most risky mixup for most characters. The primary advantage to high recovery is that it guarantees the most space for landing on the stage, and it requires completely different options to cover a high recovery as opposed to a low recovery in most situations. That being said, if you don't overcommit to edgeguarding a low recovery, Ganon is perfectly equipped to punish these types of recoveries with suitable wrath.
Mid Level Recovery
While a bit more character specific, a mid level recovery sometimes has advantages for trying to make someone guess as to whether they will instead transition to recover high or low. While these recoveries may appear to be strong mixups situationally, it is worth keeping in mind that there are often ways to position to punish both a mid level recovery and either a high or low recovery simultaneously.
Super Low Stage Hug
A variant on low recovery, many experienced players will often try to delay using both their jump and Up-B until the last possible moment to get under edgeguard attempts, and if they have enough space, they will also try to get under and hug the walls of the stage. A good player will attempt to tech stage spike attempts to recover successfully. While these types of recoveries can be the most difficult to punish, like anything else, being prepared to anticipate this type of recovery can go a long way in helping you gimp opponents who do this.
N-air
While all of Ganon's aerials are great for edgeguards, this is probably the easiest of them to apply. N-air has great range, and hits both in front, below, and even a little bit behind Ganon. It also lingers a very long time. You can generally cover a standard low recovery and a mid level recovery very easily with a falling N-air, and depending on how you space it, N-air works well for catching people hugging the stage as well, though your opponent can tech that hit. The primary downside to N-air is that it's a bit weaker than Ganon's other aerials, and sends people more upwards, meaning it's more likely to kill only shorter recoveries.
F-air
The F-air is a straightforward but practical move offstage. This move covers options above, in front, and a little bit below you. It also is really powerful, so chances are most of the time if you land a solid hit with this offstage, your opponent might just get KOed. The only time the F-air is not quite as good of an option is for covering stage hug recoveries, though if you get in position and hug the stage yourself by drifting inwards, it is possible to sometimes intercept a stage hug with F-air.
B-air
This move is extremely powerful and quick, but it mostly only hits directly behind Ganon. A good time to use this move is after grabbing the ledge to cover low or mid level recoveries on reaction. The sheer power of this move alone can gimp weaker recoveries almost instantly especially if you chain it twice offstage. Something to keep in mind is that it is in fact possible to ledgehop autocancel a B-air, which not only can cover a mid level recovery, but put you in position to keep up pressure if your opponent chooses to go high and land past you on stage.
U-air
Like Ganon's N-air, U-air covers a lot of options and lingers quite a while. U-air can hit an opponent in virtually any direction relative to Ganon depending on how you time and space the move. Obviously, this can cover above Ganon, but also in front of, behind, and below him as well. Notably, the hitboxes behind Ganon can semi-spike opponents and gimp them even at low percents, and this can be one of your better ways of punishing stage hugs as a result when the semi-spike might not allow your opponent to stage tech. Ledgedrop U-air, sometimes accompanied with your double jump for positioning is great for covering options, though be aware of your opponent recovering high. If you overcommit to a ledgedrop aerial, sometimes your opponent may punish you instead as you try to get back to the stage.
D-air
The D-air is mostly flashy. It's Ganon's strongest aerial especially offstage given it's one of the strongest spikes in the game (the sourspot isn't bad either for outright killing people), but it's also his most difficult to land generally speaking. It doesn't linger very long, and while it has good range, it mostly only hits directly below Ganon, and most people will be looking out for this. That being said, there's a number of sneaky and useful ways to use this aerial. If your opponent is recovering close to the stage, but hasn't yet managed to get under the stage, try to condition them to airdodge, and then D-air them out of it to kill them instantly. If you are really confident in your timing, Ganon's D-air is technically able to beat out most Up-Bs or trade with them head on. This requires you to watch your opponent and anticipate when they will use their recovery move, and sometimes this can be easy to do if their options are limited after getting F-tiled offstage, other times this requires you to patiently wait and see when they use their midair jump before going offstage.
Aerial Wizard's Foot
Aerial Down-B primarily is an easy way to edgeguard low recoveries, given the massive lingering hitbox can easily beat or trade Up-Bs. The sweetspot can spike, but don't expect to land it very often outside of catching ledge regrabs with it, although sometimes if you're feeling saucy, you can instantly kill a mid level recovery with it even at 0%. In order to use aerial wizkick for edgeguards, you need to at minimum fullhop before using it, otherwise you will kill yourself. You can do it in reverse to cover people who hug the stage, and on stages with either a completely vertical wall, or no wall to tech against, you can kill your opponent vertically without a sweat.
Grounded Wizard’s Foot
Generally very situational and telegraphed. Grounded Wizard’s Foot really can only cover mid level recoveries when used to hit people offstage. However it’s quite powerful when it connects, especially at mid percents where you remain in a position where you can potentially follow up with a F-air or U-air fairly deep offstage to finish a stock. Most commonly a good time to use Grounded Wizard’s Foot is to extend low% juggle strings, especially if you caught a jump. Don’t count on it always hitting people offstage, as with good timing it can often be airdodged.
Aerial Flame Choke
Another one of those flashy edgeguard options. Aerial Flame Choke can be used after some juggles when Ganon has no other resources to chase someone off the stage and “combo” them into a quick death. Ray_Kalm is pretty famous for turning around games with this option. Granted, by doing this, you will die if your opponent avoids it either by airdodging or you not spacing it correctly. However it’s very unexpected. Alternatively, you can also deny a ledge sweetspot conditionally by doing aerial Flame Choke towards the ledge, holding backwards to not grab the ledge instantly, and use this as a way to instantly end a stock.
Ledge Trumping
Always something to keep in your pocket. Ganon has one of the strongest B-airs in the game, and can easily hit every character in the game after a well-timed ledge trump for some disgustingly early kills. Against some difficult to edgeguard recoveries, it’s worth trying to ledge trump here and there to pressure your opponent. They will be forced to buffer some kind of ledge getup to avoid this, which you can also punish very hard, often with something like F-smash if you instead just wait on the stage.
Hitting The 1 Frame Ledge Vulnerability Window
When sweetspotting the ledge from below, characters have one frame where they are vulnerable to being hit by attacks. It’s generally easiest to hit this with a lingering hitbox. Ganon’s N-air, U-air, and F-air all have decent lingering frames. However against really telegraphed Up-Bs, a D-air spike is not impossible to time fairly consistently. Especially nice against someone like Sheik. Otherwise I don’t usually recommend going for this too often as Ganon, as other edgeguard options tend to be easier and just as if not more effective.
As you can see Ganon has plenty of very useful tools for covering many options offstage, yet another thing you can do to increase you success with Ganon is knowing how to manipulate your advantage state. By this, I mean picking moves or other options that will give you a certain positional advantage or otherwise further limit your opponent’s options. Your goal is to ensure that your opponent will fall into place, in your clutches, where you then have the luxury of sending them to hell at your whim.
Side Throws
One of the most basic positional advantage tools. Ganon’s Side throws are most powerful for getting people off the stage past the edge. They may be less than ideal to use however if they would only just put your opponent barely offstage where they can immediately grab the ledge, even though F-throw and B-throw both do respectable damage. You can try to ledgetrap with Ganon’s aerials or Flame Choke, which certainly has its merits, but generally speaking you can get more reward if you force your opponent in a position where they need to jump or use a recovery special to reach the ledge. Be prepared to cover mid and low recoveries appropriately. If you’re really fast and your opponent isn’t expecting it, you can quickly drop down with a D-air or U-air at low to mid percents to follow up after F-throw or B-throw to gimp as your opponent is drifting downwards barely below stage level.
F-tilt
F-tilt is a fantastic move for setting up edgeguards by virtue of its horizontal knockback. At moderately high percents, this can easily put your opponent in a position where they often absolutely have to recover low, and all the usual options Ganon has for destroying low recoveries apply. While some of the stronger recoveries can still mix up their timing, F-tilt is pretty straightforward and does its job very well for helping you put your opponents where you want them.
Reading Jumps
Any time you are juggling someone as Ganon, pay attention heavily to when your opponent uses their midair jump(s). Putting someone offstage as Ganon after reading their jump is one of the most devastatingly powerful ways to ensure your opponent will be put in a position where they have no hope of returning. Commonly, as your opponent nears your double jump height, you want to be really anticipating whether or not they jump, and try your best to not overcommit so you are ready to follow their movement. People will often also try to jump out of DA, D-tilt, U-throw, and D-throw in hopes of escaping certain low altitude follow-ups, and chasing their jump instead with a U-air can be devastating. While I do say it’s important to not overcommit, try to also throw in things like empty hops to bait reactions from your opponent to further encourage them into making mistakes that you are looking for. This is applicable while your opponent is onstage or offstage, just it’s up to you to try to see how they react to different movements so you can better condition them into falling into your traps.
D-throw
So I already mentioned D-throw is a tool that is fairly good at putting your opponent in an awkward position where they might jump or do something else punishable. Actually putting someone offstage with a D-throw is also very powerful, given if they DI inwards, they can be true comboed by F-air and B-air. However at low percents, an opponent who airdodges after D-throw is in the perfect position to be instantly killed by a D-air spike. If they don’t airdodge, you can alternatively just try to go for two U-airs. The first U-air will combo easily, while the 2nd U-air, while not a true combo, will likely catch your opponent if they try to mash out with jump, which can be pretty lethal by itself. If they airdodge that and you read that, you can also try to get below them and then jump to spike them. In general D-throw’s low% follow-ups can be especially deadly near the edge if you are creative.
Dash Attack
If you land a DA near the edge at low percents (or get the sourspot at higher percents), it can create similar trap situations to D-throw where they’re off the stage in a precarious position where a read can potentially end their stock. So be ready to anticipate mashed airdodges or jumps appropriately and profit. This works even better if you manage to catch someone out of their jump after a juggle near the edge, which isn’t exactly unrealistic to set up from Ganon’s low percent strings which can carry his opponent across the stage pretty far.
Waiting and using D-air to edgeguard low
Ray_Kalm using aerial Flame Choke to win a game
Ganon might not have the sheer versatility offstage as a Pikachu or a Villager, but this isn't to say he lacks good options. Rather, the tools Ganon does have available for edgeguarding are amazing for what they do, with all of his aerials being able to cover multiple common and uncommon options simultaneously, and having high enough priority to beat out the vast majority of recovery moves head on when timed correctly. And given how hard Ganon hits as well as the unique knockback angles of some of his tools, it's not uncommon for Ganon to kill a character around 50% or sometimes even earlier for simply connecting a stray hit offstage. Given Ganon can't chase very far offstage however, you are required to carefully analyze your opponent's recovery and either anticipate or react to it accordingly in order to catch them. From there, edgeguarding is all positioning, timing, and picking a good move for the situation.
Common Recovery Situations
As stated, Ganon depends a lot knowing which way his opponent will recover to be successful in edgeguarding. There are normally four basic ways to recover, which you should be prepared to anticipate.
Standard Direct Low Recovery
Basically, everyone wants to grab the ledge safely when recovering. While even a good player will attempt to mix up the timing of this type of recovery, these ones typically are the easiest to intercept, given it's easy to position yourself in preparation for these recoveries.
High Recovery
This is simultaneously the most basic and technically most risky mixup for most characters. The primary advantage to high recovery is that it guarantees the most space for landing on the stage, and it requires completely different options to cover a high recovery as opposed to a low recovery in most situations. That being said, if you don't overcommit to edgeguarding a low recovery, Ganon is perfectly equipped to punish these types of recoveries with suitable wrath.
Mid Level Recovery
While a bit more character specific, a mid level recovery sometimes has advantages for trying to make someone guess as to whether they will instead transition to recover high or low. While these recoveries may appear to be strong mixups situationally, it is worth keeping in mind that there are often ways to position to punish both a mid level recovery and either a high or low recovery simultaneously.
Super Low Stage Hug
A variant on low recovery, many experienced players will often try to delay using both their jump and Up-B until the last possible moment to get under edgeguard attempts, and if they have enough space, they will also try to get under and hug the walls of the stage. A good player will attempt to tech stage spike attempts to recover successfully. While these types of recoveries can be the most difficult to punish, like anything else, being prepared to anticipate this type of recovery can go a long way in helping you gimp opponents who do this.
Ganon's Edgeguard Tools
N-air
While all of Ganon's aerials are great for edgeguards, this is probably the easiest of them to apply. N-air has great range, and hits both in front, below, and even a little bit behind Ganon. It also lingers a very long time. You can generally cover a standard low recovery and a mid level recovery very easily with a falling N-air, and depending on how you space it, N-air works well for catching people hugging the stage as well, though your opponent can tech that hit. The primary downside to N-air is that it's a bit weaker than Ganon's other aerials, and sends people more upwards, meaning it's more likely to kill only shorter recoveries.
F-air
The F-air is a straightforward but practical move offstage. This move covers options above, in front, and a little bit below you. It also is really powerful, so chances are most of the time if you land a solid hit with this offstage, your opponent might just get KOed. The only time the F-air is not quite as good of an option is for covering stage hug recoveries, though if you get in position and hug the stage yourself by drifting inwards, it is possible to sometimes intercept a stage hug with F-air.
B-air
This move is extremely powerful and quick, but it mostly only hits directly behind Ganon. A good time to use this move is after grabbing the ledge to cover low or mid level recoveries on reaction. The sheer power of this move alone can gimp weaker recoveries almost instantly especially if you chain it twice offstage. Something to keep in mind is that it is in fact possible to ledgehop autocancel a B-air, which not only can cover a mid level recovery, but put you in position to keep up pressure if your opponent chooses to go high and land past you on stage.
U-air
Like Ganon's N-air, U-air covers a lot of options and lingers quite a while. U-air can hit an opponent in virtually any direction relative to Ganon depending on how you time and space the move. Obviously, this can cover above Ganon, but also in front of, behind, and below him as well. Notably, the hitboxes behind Ganon can semi-spike opponents and gimp them even at low percents, and this can be one of your better ways of punishing stage hugs as a result when the semi-spike might not allow your opponent to stage tech. Ledgedrop U-air, sometimes accompanied with your double jump for positioning is great for covering options, though be aware of your opponent recovering high. If you overcommit to a ledgedrop aerial, sometimes your opponent may punish you instead as you try to get back to the stage.
D-air
The D-air is mostly flashy. It's Ganon's strongest aerial especially offstage given it's one of the strongest spikes in the game (the sourspot isn't bad either for outright killing people), but it's also his most difficult to land generally speaking. It doesn't linger very long, and while it has good range, it mostly only hits directly below Ganon, and most people will be looking out for this. That being said, there's a number of sneaky and useful ways to use this aerial. If your opponent is recovering close to the stage, but hasn't yet managed to get under the stage, try to condition them to airdodge, and then D-air them out of it to kill them instantly. If you are really confident in your timing, Ganon's D-air is technically able to beat out most Up-Bs or trade with them head on. This requires you to watch your opponent and anticipate when they will use their recovery move, and sometimes this can be easy to do if their options are limited after getting F-tiled offstage, other times this requires you to patiently wait and see when they use their midair jump before going offstage.
Aerial Wizard's Foot
Aerial Down-B primarily is an easy way to edgeguard low recoveries, given the massive lingering hitbox can easily beat or trade Up-Bs. The sweetspot can spike, but don't expect to land it very often outside of catching ledge regrabs with it, although sometimes if you're feeling saucy, you can instantly kill a mid level recovery with it even at 0%. In order to use aerial wizkick for edgeguards, you need to at minimum fullhop before using it, otherwise you will kill yourself. You can do it in reverse to cover people who hug the stage, and on stages with either a completely vertical wall, or no wall to tech against, you can kill your opponent vertically without a sweat.
Grounded Wizard’s Foot
Generally very situational and telegraphed. Grounded Wizard’s Foot really can only cover mid level recoveries when used to hit people offstage. However it’s quite powerful when it connects, especially at mid percents where you remain in a position where you can potentially follow up with a F-air or U-air fairly deep offstage to finish a stock. Most commonly a good time to use Grounded Wizard’s Foot is to extend low% juggle strings, especially if you caught a jump. Don’t count on it always hitting people offstage, as with good timing it can often be airdodged.
Aerial Flame Choke
Another one of those flashy edgeguard options. Aerial Flame Choke can be used after some juggles when Ganon has no other resources to chase someone off the stage and “combo” them into a quick death. Ray_Kalm is pretty famous for turning around games with this option. Granted, by doing this, you will die if your opponent avoids it either by airdodging or you not spacing it correctly. However it’s very unexpected. Alternatively, you can also deny a ledge sweetspot conditionally by doing aerial Flame Choke towards the ledge, holding backwards to not grab the ledge instantly, and use this as a way to instantly end a stock.
Ledge Trumping
Always something to keep in your pocket. Ganon has one of the strongest B-airs in the game, and can easily hit every character in the game after a well-timed ledge trump for some disgustingly early kills. Against some difficult to edgeguard recoveries, it’s worth trying to ledge trump here and there to pressure your opponent. They will be forced to buffer some kind of ledge getup to avoid this, which you can also punish very hard, often with something like F-smash if you instead just wait on the stage.
Hitting The 1 Frame Ledge Vulnerability Window
When sweetspotting the ledge from below, characters have one frame where they are vulnerable to being hit by attacks. It’s generally easiest to hit this with a lingering hitbox. Ganon’s N-air, U-air, and F-air all have decent lingering frames. However against really telegraphed Up-Bs, a D-air spike is not impossible to time fairly consistently. Especially nice against someone like Sheik. Otherwise I don’t usually recommend going for this too often as Ganon, as other edgeguard options tend to be easier and just as if not more effective.
Putting People Where You Want Them
As you can see Ganon has plenty of very useful tools for covering many options offstage, yet another thing you can do to increase you success with Ganon is knowing how to manipulate your advantage state. By this, I mean picking moves or other options that will give you a certain positional advantage or otherwise further limit your opponent’s options. Your goal is to ensure that your opponent will fall into place, in your clutches, where you then have the luxury of sending them to hell at your whim.
Side Throws
One of the most basic positional advantage tools. Ganon’s Side throws are most powerful for getting people off the stage past the edge. They may be less than ideal to use however if they would only just put your opponent barely offstage where they can immediately grab the ledge, even though F-throw and B-throw both do respectable damage. You can try to ledgetrap with Ganon’s aerials or Flame Choke, which certainly has its merits, but generally speaking you can get more reward if you force your opponent in a position where they need to jump or use a recovery special to reach the ledge. Be prepared to cover mid and low recoveries appropriately. If you’re really fast and your opponent isn’t expecting it, you can quickly drop down with a D-air or U-air at low to mid percents to follow up after F-throw or B-throw to gimp as your opponent is drifting downwards barely below stage level.
F-tilt
F-tilt is a fantastic move for setting up edgeguards by virtue of its horizontal knockback. At moderately high percents, this can easily put your opponent in a position where they often absolutely have to recover low, and all the usual options Ganon has for destroying low recoveries apply. While some of the stronger recoveries can still mix up their timing, F-tilt is pretty straightforward and does its job very well for helping you put your opponents where you want them.
Reading Jumps
Any time you are juggling someone as Ganon, pay attention heavily to when your opponent uses their midair jump(s). Putting someone offstage as Ganon after reading their jump is one of the most devastatingly powerful ways to ensure your opponent will be put in a position where they have no hope of returning. Commonly, as your opponent nears your double jump height, you want to be really anticipating whether or not they jump, and try your best to not overcommit so you are ready to follow their movement. People will often also try to jump out of DA, D-tilt, U-throw, and D-throw in hopes of escaping certain low altitude follow-ups, and chasing their jump instead with a U-air can be devastating. While I do say it’s important to not overcommit, try to also throw in things like empty hops to bait reactions from your opponent to further encourage them into making mistakes that you are looking for. This is applicable while your opponent is onstage or offstage, just it’s up to you to try to see how they react to different movements so you can better condition them into falling into your traps.
D-throw
So I already mentioned D-throw is a tool that is fairly good at putting your opponent in an awkward position where they might jump or do something else punishable. Actually putting someone offstage with a D-throw is also very powerful, given if they DI inwards, they can be true comboed by F-air and B-air. However at low percents, an opponent who airdodges after D-throw is in the perfect position to be instantly killed by a D-air spike. If they don’t airdodge, you can alternatively just try to go for two U-airs. The first U-air will combo easily, while the 2nd U-air, while not a true combo, will likely catch your opponent if they try to mash out with jump, which can be pretty lethal by itself. If they airdodge that and you read that, you can also try to get below them and then jump to spike them. In general D-throw’s low% follow-ups can be especially deadly near the edge if you are creative.
Dash Attack
If you land a DA near the edge at low percents (or get the sourspot at higher percents), it can create similar trap situations to D-throw where they’re off the stage in a precarious position where a read can potentially end their stock. So be ready to anticipate mashed airdodges or jumps appropriately and profit. This works even better if you manage to catch someone out of their jump after a juggle near the edge, which isn’t exactly unrealistic to set up from Ganon’s low percent strings which can carry his opponent across the stage pretty far.
Visual Examples
Classic airdodge bait into D-air by PonWaiting and using D-air to edgeguard low
Ray_Kalm using aerial Flame Choke to win a game
In Conclusion
There’s a lot of dynamics to making the most of Ganon’s momentum when he acquires it, and it’s something that differentiates Ganon mains from each other. Ganondorf’s ability to capitalize on his opponent’s negative state in my opinion is one of the most fun and rewarding things to do in this game. Edgeguarding is a key part of Ganon’s success, and makes him one of the most entertaining characters in the game.
