The not-complete Comprehensive Ganondorf Guide

NOTE: This guide will be on hiatus until patches finish. Some information is out of date, so if you have any questions, ask in our Q/A Thread
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NORMALS​

JAB

Active Frames: 8-9
Total Frames: 34
Meh, I myself don't use Jab a whole lot, as it's outclassed by F-tilt in a lot of situations. The only thing it offers is that it's Ganon's fastest non-grab move, which, while important, it's still only 2 frames faster than F-tilt/D-tilt. Use it in situations where you need an especially quick attack (including getting guaranteed follow-ups from Flame Choke on certain characters), but other than that, you'll want to use something else.

F-TILT

Active Frames: 10-12
Total Frames: 39
F-tilt is one of Ganon's pivotal moves (pun not intended). This is one of the main moves you'll be using when you want someone dead. At medium %'s, it sets up edgeguards extremely well, and at higher %'s it's an excellent kill move. And above all else, it's frame 10. Other than killing people, there's not a whole lot it does though. Run away --> Pivot F-tilt is a great way to make people mis-space though, as well as a good way to punish rolls.

D-TILT

Active Frames: 10-12
Total Frames: 35
Probably one of the best D-tilt's in the game, Ganon's D-tilt does a lot for him. Not only does it have insane range, out-ranging most F-smashes, but the sizable disjoint past the end of his foot makes it fairly safe as well when spaced properly. On top of that, it pops people right into the air in a terrible position. This will be your main spacing move on the ground. Be careful though. Despite the disjoint, Ganon's foot and leg can still be hit during it, so if you whiff people can smack Ganon's poor wittle toes D:.

U-TILT

Active Frames: 6-70! Well the windbox at least. Hitbox is from... 81-84.
Total Frames: 114
The good old VOLCANO KICK (god I love that name) is probably in it's best incarnation of any smash game... and it's still bad. While it breaks shields and has even more range than it did in Brawl, it still falls apart if you're fighting someone that realizes that nothing happens for 80 frames. It's basically a free shot to Ganon's... Gerudo Kinghood. The only reason it's not rated 1/5 is because it's by far the safest, albeit unreliable, edgeguard in the game, and can actually be useful against characters with recoveries that don't sweetspot the ledge.

DASH ATTACK

Active Frames: 10-19
Total Frames: 41
Trust me, this move does merit 6/5 Ganondorfs. Ganondorf's Dash Attack is the move that will scare people. Hits on Frame 10, covers a massive amount of ground, has huge disjoint, does huge damage, sets up combos perfectly, and even kills. It's an all-purpose move that would be flawless if it weren't for one thing; shields. Despite being able to Cross-up shields, this move is pretty unsafe on shield and will usually be punished if they block it. This is your main approach tool.

F-SMASH

Active Frames: 21-26
Total Frames: 59
Ganon's F-smash is for making reads, and it does it well. Rolls reads, spotdodge reads, tech roll reads, with full rage, this monster will be killing well below 70%, and will kill at obscene %'s near the ledge. And that's all you'll really use it for. If someone just dumps a punish opportunity on you feel free to take it. Be careful though. It's endlag is bad, and while it does have decent shield pushback, anyone not named Luigi will be able to punish you anyway.

D-SMASH

Active Frames: 15-18, 35-38
Total Frames: 63
As of 1.1.0, D-smash has received some massive buffs. It's gone from a pretty average D-smash to one of the strongest D-smash's in the game with further improved linking as a bonus. It's still his fastest smash, and it now kills at roughly the same percentages as F-smash in the right stage position. It's still incredibly unsafe though, so you can't just throw it out all over the place. The biggest use of this is as an inward roll read out of Flame Choke. If reading an inward roll puts your back to the stage, you'll want to use D-smash instead of F-smash to get an optimal punish.

U-SMASH

Active Frames: 21-23
Total Frames: 41
For some reason, Ganondorf can Can-can, and it's one of his best grounded moves. It's one of the strongest U-smash's in the game, puts people in loads of hitstun for combos, and has a hitbox of almost pure disjoint. But it's defining feature is it's comically low endlag. It's Ganondorf's safest grounded move by far, with even being safe from needles on block. It's great for baiting, comboing, and reads (particularly in situations where F-smash isn't optimal, such as when you're at lower %'s or facing away from the edge. If you're opponent is shielding too much and you're feeling feisty, you can try and get a shield break with U-smash, but I wouldn't recommend it (you're usually better off with Choke or Grab).

GRAB

Active Frames: 7-8 (standing), 10-11 (pivot), 11-12, (dash)
Total Frames: 41, 41, 44, respectully
Ganon's infamous T-rex arms. While you'll still be using grab plenty (it is a grab, after all), it's still pretty crappy overall. Not much to explain here. Just remember your normal grab has crappy range and you're good. Also, empty hop --> grab is fun and you should do it.

F-THROW

The good ol' gut punch. Does great damage and puts people in a really bad position offstage. Not much else really.

B-THROW

Pretty much a slightly weaker F-throw damage-wise. Puts them in a bad position offstage. At medium/high %'s you usually want to go with whichever one goes towards the ledge. In addition, with enough rage this attack becomes a Kill-throw, so if you grab someone at 130+% and you have enough rage this is the throw you want to go with.

D-THROW

Definitely Ganon's best throw at lower %'s. It combos into both U-air and Dash Attack for huge damage, both of which set up for even more combos afterward. At higher %'s, you can set up DI traps near the edge with D-throw --> F-air, which is a true combo (that can kill) if they DI in. The buffering is pretty strict though, so be quick.

U-THROW

Meh. Ganon's worst throw. It doesn't do good damage, and the positional advantage you get from it is completely useless compared to D-throw. It does have niche use with butchering shield-stance Shulk though. Since he has no way to land in Shield Stance, you can just toss him up over and over again.

N-AIR

Auto-cancels out of a full hop
Active Frames: 7-13, 20-32, Weak hits from 9-13 and 22-32
Total Frames: 44
Landing Lag: 18
N-air has improved a lot from Brawl. It's given Ganon something very important, namely, a Short Hop aerial approach. While it's nothing spectacular, certainly no Sheik F-air, it fills it's role just fine. It is also Ganondorf's quickest option for attacks from below, so use it to beat juggles. Oh, it also does 22% damage if both hits connect.

F-AIR

Note: F-air doesn't Auto-cancel out of Fullhop, but if you buffer a B/special move out of a fullhop F-air, you will immediately do the move and not suffer any lag.
Active Frames: 14-19
Total Frames: 44
Landing Lag: 23
F-air hurts, a lot. It deals a whopping 18% with a massive transcendent hitbox that covers a considerable arc. And it's sloooooow. The main thing you'll be using this for is reads. It's a good way to punish airdodges, and works great out of Flame Choke, where you can use it to punish normal getup, getup attack, and even away rolls if they can't get far enough away. It's slow speed and endlag make it useless out of shorthop though.

Also, if people are trying to overextend their combos and give you too much of an opening, you can deck them right in the face with it's big nasty hitbox. Almost nothing is going to beat it

NOTE: This move received some damage buffs that could prove incredibly important for it's safety on shield. This will have to be tested further.

B-AIR

Auto-cancels out of a Shorthop.
Active Frames: 10-12
Total Frames: 35
Landing lag: 20
B-air is almost a god-tier move that's hampered by one thing; it's awkward hitbox. It's fast, safe, hit's hard, kills, and is 100% transcendent. Unfortunately, it misses a majority of grounded characters when short hopped. It's a great move for aerial spacing though. You can fastfall it to hit lower to the ground, but you'll sacrifice a bit of safety.

U-AIR

Auto-cancels out of Shorthop
Active Frames: 6-16
Total Frames: 33
Landing lag: 20
The glorious flipkick of destruction! This move does everything for Ganondorf in the air. It has a big meaty hitbox, high knockback, big damage, covers all the way around him and hits people at an amazing angle. All this combined makes it one of the best aerials in the entire game. It combos, it breaks combos, it blocks edgeguards, and edgeguards amazingly well, all at the same time.

Offstage, this aerial is destroyer-of-worlds, and your opponent will be afraid of it. It comes out insanely fast, snuffs/trades with almost everything, and hits at nasty semi-spike angle that sends most recoveries to the depths. Master hitting with both sides of U-air, on the way up and on the way down (especially the tipman, hitting right on the edge of his boot) and your opponent will almost never recover. Don't even worry about staling it. This is your trump card.

D-AIR

Active Frames: 16-18
Total Frames: 44
Landing Lag: 28
The stomp has seen better days, but it still has it's uses. First off, if you have someone offstage, you can bait out an airdodge and punish it with a stomp, which will instantly kill pretty much anyone. Secondly, you can use it to techchase out of Flame Choke, and if you land it, prepare for funtimes. It puts people in an insane amount of hitstun, enough to true combo into F-air and even land footstool combos. If they land on a platform, you can land even more techchases, even another D-air!

It's very unsafe though. You should almost never throw it out in neutral.

SPECIALS

WARLOCK PUNCH

Active Frames: 70-71, 80-81 for reverse
Total Frames: 117, 127 for reverse
Super armor from 11-62
Don't use it. The end.

Yeah this moves bad for 1v1. It's endlag means it loses to people just standing out of range then dash grabbing. The only time you should use it is if you get a shield break, since Reverse Warlock Punch can OHKO with enough rage.

WARLOCK BLADE

Active Frames: 60-66, 70-76
Total Frames: 117, 127
Super armor from 8-52

This move's alright. It's fast and long-ranged enough to punish laggier projectiles off a read, and the extra shield damage can catch people off guard, but it still suffers from painful endlag. It's better than Warlock Punch overall, but you still won't be using it much. Probably the best custom neutral B.

WARLOCK THRUST

Active Frames: 40-41 >.<, 50-51 reversed
Total Frames: 106, 116

This move covers a lot of area, and the lengthy hitstun it deals out makes it safe on hit, but it still suffers from lame speed and a full second of endlag. Still won't be using it much.

FLAME CHOKE (grounded)

Active Frames: 16-30
Total Frames: 59

The move that completes Ganondorf, you'll be using this move a lot. It's a grab which means it beats shield, but that's only the beginning. This move makes Ganon a combo machine, not only starting combos but extending them. On top of guaranteed followups, if they miss the tech, you can read their getup option and land just about any attack you want (minus U-tilt and Warlock Punch of course). Even if they tech it, most characters don't have quick enough tech options to avoid some kind of guaranteed followups.

FLAME CHOKE (aerial)

Active Frames: 19-31
Total Frames: 73*
*Jump --> Flame Choke is 73 frames. 30 frames of landing lag.
Aerial Choke is very similar to Flame Choke with a few key differences. It can't be teched, making it much more reliable. However, you have much less frame advantage than a missed-tech choke, making your options much more limited. You can still land a guaranteed grounded Flame Choke if they don't Getup Attack, and you can land a shieldgrab if they do Getup Attack.

Note: Ganoncide (dragging people offstage with aerial choke) is an amazing option in that it's an instant kill. However, do not be predictable about it. Almost everything will beat it in a trade, so it won't work if they're expecting it.

FLAME WAVE

Active Frames: 21-35 (24-35)
Total Frames: 79 (jump --> aerial is 78 total)
Flame Wave is an amazing move put on the completely wrong character. It has completely insane kill power, is a command grab, and kills vertically, but on a character like Ganon who needs Flame Choke to deal with shields, it just doesn't work, not to mention Ganon doesn't have trouble killing anyway.

FLAME CHAIN

Active Frames: 25-41, 43-45 (27-38, 40-41 aerial)
Total Frames: 93 (83 aerial)
Same problem as Flame Wave really. This move is godly at setting up edgeguards and covers a large amount of the stage + a great hitbox, but it still falls apart when Ganon just can't deal with shields.

WIZARD'S FOOT (grounded)

Active Frames: 16-35
Total Frames: 76
This attack is by far Ganondorf's best roll punish. It fulfills the same role as Dash Attack in a lot of situations, though it's generally better at higher %'s below 130/140% when Dash Attack starts killing. It's very good for when you want to block off a big portion of the stage with it's long-lasting hitbox. Endlag is baaaad though. Also, if you stand a certain distance away from a ledge, you can cancel all lag from the Wizkick by going off the ledge. The blue arrows on the ground of the left side of FD illustrate where to stand perfectly.

WIZARD'S FOOT (Aerial)

Active Frames: 16-38
Total Frames: 57
Ganondorf is so powerful he can kill you from disadvantage. This move has a spiking hitbox at the beginning followed by a hitbox with extremely powerful vertical knockback. This move hurts to get hit by, and it's great for punishing people who get too aggressive on you while you're in the air. It can kill below 50%. Three important things though, it's fairly slow compared to stuff like N-air, so it's not good to break out of combos, it's endlag is fairly bad, and it does not work against Rosalina's U-air. You mainly want to use this if you're sure they're going to run into it.

WIZARD'S DROPKICK (grounded)

Active Frames: 20-43
Total Frames: 65
This custom changes Ganon's playstyle a lot, sacrificing punishing and stage control for an easier time approaching, as well as a better recovery. It is not strictly better than Wizard's Foot. In most matchups, Ganon can recover and approach just fine, and the stuff you lose from Wizard's foot is really significant. The main thing you want it for is some of Ganon's more difficult matchups like Sheik, Rosalina, ZSS, Villager, and Pikachu.

As for the move itself, it's really good for recovering and can straight up jump over projectiles. It also combos out of D-throw for a long time, and sets up techchases afterward. If they miss the tech, you can D-tilt afterward for even more comboing.

WIZARD'S DROPKICK (Aerial)

Active Frames: 19-31
Total Frames: 60
This is the other big reason you might want Wizard's Foot over Dropkick. While Dropkick is alright to get out of the way of juggles, it just doesn't carry the same kind of threat Foot does against juggles. It's very good for recovery though, provided you're facing the stage of course.

WIZARD'S "ASSAULT"

Active Frames: 29-46 -_-
Total Frames: 87 ;_;
If the faces didn't make it clear, this move is lousy. Wizard's "Assault" is painfully slow, and even if you somehow hit with it, it nets you nothing in return due to it sending people behind you and never killing. You're honestly better off throwing out random Warlock Punches; those will at least actually reward you if they hit. Aerial version is just as bad, don't even bother.

DARK DIVE

Active Frames: 14-28 (grab), 34-36 (uppercut)
Landing Lag: 30 Frames
Crappy recovery move. It gets decent vertical distance but it's low priority make's it edgeguard food. As long as you save your Double Jump, you'll be fine, but Dark Dive by itself is crap. The only thing you'll be using this move for besides recovery is the uppercut at the end, which can snag kills near the top blast zone if people don't expect it. In addition, if you hold down, you won't grab the edge, meaning you can let the uppercut come out to shark people standing at the edge. Be careful not to kill yourself obviously.

DARK FISTS

Active Frames: 15-16 (first hit), 42-44 (second hit)
Super armor on frames: 5-14
Landing lag: 26 frames
BLOODY AMAZING. This move effectively comes out on frame 5 due to it's super armor allowing it to tank right through stuff. Think of it as a Dragon Punch of sorts. If you know someone's about to do an attack, you can throw this out and blast right through them. It's much better as a recovery, and it helps so much against SH aerials and Close range attacks. To top all this insanity off, it kills at INSANE (caps are warranted) %'s. Kills at around 70% grounded with no range, and kills at 36% with full rage.

dark vault (doesn't deserve any caps)

Active Frames: 14, 40-42
Landing lag: 36 frames
Don't. Bother. This move is a worse Dark Dive and that's all you need to know. The extra vertical distance is negligible, and it's worse than Dark Dive horizontally due to killing all your momentum, and if Ganon gets gimped, he'll get gimped horizontally,



Credits
Big O's Ganondorf Frame Data.​