Kraid moveset idea:
Slow walking speed.
Slow running speed (Barely faster than his walk).
Medium jump height (can land on a lower BF platform from a full jump).
Medium double jump height (can land on top BF platform from a full jump+double jump).
DDD-like short hop.
Heavyweight (more than bowser), low fall speed (not higher than bowser).
Fast fall roughly doubles fall speed.
Wavedash length: short.
Jab: 8% Animation similar to his claw attack in melee. Low damage and knockback, comes out as fast as bowser's jab. Best option when the opponent is too close for comfort.
*Ftilt: 14% A belly thrust. Moves Kraid forward a bit, covering the area in front of him. Quick start-up, punishable endlag on whiff. The belly spikes provide some disjoint. Allows Kraid to push through an opponent's spaced attacks (provided they don't have more disjoint than him).
*Dtilt: 10% A tail sweep (think Mewtwo/Zard'd Dtilt). Quick start-up, hardly punishable endlag, low range and knockback (roughly roy's dtilt). Great CC move, and one of Kraid's only actual combo starter, it can link into his aerials/smashe/specials, depending on percents (when i say combo, don't expect kraid to actually 0 to death anyone like ganon or roy does).
Utilt: 4% per hit, 5 hits. An overhead, arching acid spit. Works like Samus' Usmash. Thanks to it's decent disjoint, this move is a great anti-air. Fast start-up, but punishable on whiff, doesn't cover in front or behind kraid.
Dash attack: 8% A running bite. Kraid stops running, leans forward and bites in front of him (or alternatively, claws). Fast start-up, hardly punishable, but low knockback and range. Not the greatest move, but it's kraid's fastest out-of-run option.
*Fsmash: 24% Kraid steps backward, turn around and violently swipe his tail in front of him. Long start-up (roughly 35 frames), short endlag (still punishable, but less than most smashes of this type). The stepback lets Kraid dodge some attacks, and Kraid's tail is intangible until the hitbox is gone (best comparison i've got is Tink's Fsmash, except he jumps backward instead of forward). The high low-angle knockback makes it a dangerous move to get hit by, but you'll have to rely on a read to land it in most cases.
*Usmash: 18% An upward bite. Kraid hops a little, and bite above him. Medium start-up (roughly 25 frames), This move has Kraid's upper body intangible until the hitbox disappear, making it a great anti-air, but it needs good timing. High knockback.
Dsmash: 10% Kraid stomps the ground in front of him, sending grounded foes flying upward. Long, disjointed range (1/4 of FD), but only hits grounded opponents. The fixed knockback on this move alows it to be a combo starter, like dtilt. However, the longer range comes with a longer start-up (roughly 25 frames) and punishable endlag. Optional: a secondary input causes kraid to stomp behind him after the first stomp (or alternatively, in the same direction).
*Nair: 8% Similar to DDD's Nair. Kraid exposes his spikes down and in front of him while falling. This move is a sex kick, with the spikes hitboxes disjointed. It also has a landing hitbox (as Kraid slams into the ground when landing). Short landing lag.
*Fair (Not sure about this one. I like its uses, but the dropkick is silly): 30% A drop kick kinda move. LOOOOOONG start-up (60 frames minimum), but high,low-angle knockback, damage and decent range. Even L-canceled, the landing lag is ridiculously long (30 frames), but it's not a move you should throw out in neutral, instead you use it when you land a Dtilt/Dsmash or UpB/SideB: It's your best punish move, but miss it and you'll regret it.
Dair: 24% A downward tail strike. Kraid *slowly and gracefully* spin sideways and swipe his tail downward (think of Mewtwo's down air, but with a tail attack and a fat lizard instead). Long-ish start-up, this move is a meteor with a long vertical range and a long landing lag (though nowhere as long as Fair's). Can be used to edgeguard, or as a combo when the opponent's not damaged enough to be killed by a Fair.
*Bair (I had no idea what to do for this one): 12% Kraid turns around a slash behind him. Like Marth and Lucario, this Bair lets Kraid change the direction he is facing in midair. Fast start-up, low range and knockback. A move with few uses, but turning around in the air is important for Kraid.
*Uair: 14% An upward acid spit. Like Zelda's up air, it's a false projectile. Kraid spit an explosive glob of acid above him, creating a big disjointed hitbox. Medium start-up and knockback.
Grab: Fast, but short range. Grabs by bitting the opponent.
Uthrow: 14% Kraid jumps and falls back down with his opponent under him, kinda like Brawl!Bowser's sideB. A kill throw.
Dthrow: 8% Kraid slams his opponent to the ground in front of him. Knockback similar to Dtilt, combo starter at low percents.
Fthrow and Bthrow: 7% Both are quick get-off-me throws, but also serve as DI mix-ups (like wario's neutralB).
The specials are the same i posted a while ago on the main ridley thread:
*NeutralB: "Spike cannon" 10% per spikes. Kraid starts the match and each stocks with no spikes. (optional Moves that use spikes (Ftilt and Nair) have no disjoint as long as you don't have your spikes loaded) Using neutralB "loads" a set of spikes (roughly 30 frames): once loaded, the spikes act as a passive shield (like link and Tink's shields) during his standing, walking, running jumping, falling and crouching animations, clanking projectiles. Using NeutralB again shoots out the spikes in a cone, with a range roughly half FD. The spikes themselves travel fast and have medium knockback and the startup is about 14 frames. the aerial version fires slightly downward and propels Kraid backward (increasing his recovery if used cleverly).
SideB (for this move, i don't know what would be the best kind of projectile, so it's more of a placeholder than anything): "Acid shot" 2% per tick, up to 30% (with suicidal DI). Kraid spits an acid projectile in front of him. The projectile itself act like a slow moving triggered PK fire, last 3 seconds and hits multiple times. Medium start-up and endlag. This move alows Kraid to control the stage by placing a long lasting, independant hitbox. Only one can be out at a time.
*UpB: "Talon throw" 6% Kraid throws a spinning talon upward. Fast start-up and endlag. The talon slowly travels in an arc, denying the space above Kraid from the opponent. If possible, the arc should go farther/higher with different inputs. The aerial version has Kraid stall his fall, like yoshi's upB/olimar's NeutralB.
*DownB: "uh... Brinstar's giant? Fat power? i dunno" Kraid braces himself and gains substracive armor (same as yoshi's double jump) after 60 frames, which last for 30 frames. Only half the amount of armor is gained in the air (how much armor you get needs to be determined through testing though). If Kraid is hit during any armored part of the animation, it can be canceled into anything. Medium endlag. THis move alows Kraid to bait the opponent and punish them.
Overall, this moveset should make Kraid a character that thrives on spacing out and reading his opponents: unlike characters like bowser, Kraid can manipulate his opponent's options when they approach him, which makes his reads easier to do. He also is somewhat immune to camping, yet he can't really camp himself, due to the overall low range of his projectiles. He is a bait-and-punish character with the tools to actually bait his opponent: against Kraid, is that space in his defenses an actual exploitable opening, or is the Kraid player leaving himself open so he can punish you when you try to run in? as Kraid, How will you condition your opponent to choose an approach over another, so you can hit hm out of it, and hopefully combo into Fair/Dair/NeutralB?
Since this moveset needs a projectile on upB, neutralB and SideB, i assume Ness or Lucas would be good candidates to be replaced by Kraid.
