Honestly with platform camping, WT looks almost as degenerate as the old dABK neutral. However, she really doesn't fit the same criteria for broken that brawl mk or prepatch diddy met. Nothing she's doing is inherently an issue, it's all just a little too rewarding while way too safe.
But, as stated it does seem her only real vulnerability is disjoints, which are in short supply across the cast.
In regards to Bayonetta and her potential weaknesses, I feel as though G&W is probably one of the best characters that can exploit most of them.
1) Disjoints.
His disjointed aerials are pretty obvoius, namely Bair, which helps him contest Bayonetta's own long-ranged aerials. They also have a very slight additional safety net against WT in that Nair, Bair, Uair, and to a degree Dair deal multiple hits...though admittedly this doesn't matter all that much anyways, since WT has excessive invincibility frames after a successful WT. However, the REAL winner here is Dtilt. Dtilt can punish Bayonetta's Side B pretty easily, and because of G&W's small size and great ducking ability, it also doesn't care for Bullet Climax at all either. It can also beat Bayonetta's Dtilt, Jab, Ftilt, and other options as well. Though he has to be very careful, since a successful shield or WT can be very bad news for G&W in general, due to the high endlag he has on most of his attacks. But if he plays cautiously, only attacking when he really needs to (bait & punish), he can actually contest Bayonetta in most situations, despite his flaws in frame data. He can probably do a decent job at reverse camping her if he has the percent/stock lead, since his mobility is also pretty good, especially when he is under platforms like on Battlefield.
2) Grabs.
The other huge weakness Bayonetta has is against grabs, since they bypass WT shenanigans. And thankfully, G&W has the advantage of a good grab combo thanks to Dthrow, too. This allows him a safe and effective way to rack up damage against Bayonetta, and since Bayonetta has one of the faster falling speeds in the game, without it being TOO fast, this means that his grab combos are more effective against her. He can even use Uthrow + Up B sometimes to catch her at earlier percents, though at mid-high percents his Dthrow can lead to combo and KO opportunities against her. Especially when he has rage. And thanks to his low shorthop and good mobility, he has an effective tomohawk grabbing strategy as well.
3) Dash Attack.
G&W also has an excellent Dash attack to use against Bayonetta, since it comes out fairly quickly and allows him to stay low to the ground. Like Dtilt, it can beat Bayonetta's Side B (and Neutral B), though it also has the chance of trading as well. It can also either beat or at least trade with Bayonetta's other ground options as well. However, like Dtilt and most of G&W's kit, it is still very susceptable to shielding and WT, and he will get punished extremely hard for it. So again, G&W should play this matchup with great patience. On the plus side, it does have a lingering hitbox and deals a solid 10% damage. A solid burst mobility option.
4) Neutral B...?
I don't really know how useful this move will truly be against Bayonetta, but it seems to help a little bit. He has to be careful of WT shenanigans, grounded Side B, and grab approaches, though this move can potentially serve as a way to help him contest Bayonetta's aerials and aerial side B in certain situations. It could lead to some traps and followups, though I wouldn't rely on it too much due to it being slow and random, and especially because Bayonetta is such a dangerous and tricky opponent to deal with. Oh, and he gets decent distance off of it when wavebouncing, which could sometimes be useful.
5) Low weight?
G&W's low weight could help him against Bayonetta's combos a little bit in contrast to other characters. Maybe not by much, but every little bit counts. It does make him weaker to hard punishes when Bayonetta uses WT, however. idk if G&W's weight would be a good thing against Bayonetta or not, though it could be?
6) Multi-hitting attacks.
Mostly useful for dealing with Bat Within. Doesn't always catch it, though they can, which certainly helps. Also helps vs airdodging.
7) Mobility.
Not the best mobility in the game, but still pretty good, which allows him to approach or run away with greater ease.
8) Up B.
Sometimes useful for combos or for catching Bayonetta in the air. However, one important aspect of this move in this particular MU is its ability to potentially kill Bayonetta during her aerial combos, as demonstrated here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG4iyH1Y4hY
Those are the strengths he has against her. As for weaknesses:
- Very slow FAF on most attacks. Slow landing lag, as well.
- Slower startup lag on attacks also put a damper on things, too.
- Trouble killing besides rage Dtilt/Ftilt/Bair or a lucky Fair/Uair/etc.
- Affected by stale moves due to relying on Dtilt/Bair in this matchup.
- Has to use fullhops and FHADs to make use of his aerials sometimes.
- Bucket doesn't work on projectiles and has more limited use here.
- Light weight + WT can spell immenate doom for G&W.
- Can't autosnap the ledge with Up B if too close to it.
Overall, G&W might not exactly beat Bayonetta, but at least I think that he could go even with her so long as he doesn't get overzealous and respects Bayonetta's options. With a bait & punish/hit & run style of play, he could be pretty effective against her. The MU is harder without platforms, though there is a much higher chance of cheese on platform stages due to platform camping with WT...though this could be mitigated somewhat thanks to G&W's solid aerials/mobility, and playing keep-away when you have the percent lead. Which could force the Bayonetta player to adopt a different strategy to use against him. Maybe.
