DHD Secondary Recommendations

[DunnoBro]

I already have one myself, and believe most of you do as well, but with DHD being such a unique and awkward character, it might be difficult for others to choose a proper secondary.

I'll just have a list in the OP and some comments from the person suggested.
With me starting us off.

Greninja:

Spoiler

Seems to be the secondary of choice for two stern DHD mains (Spirst and Guy) and I can't help but agree that it's a solid option. Though beyond some matchups, I don't really understand would appreciate their or others input.

Sonic:

Spoiler

This was less about matchup coverage, and more about stage coverage for me. I strongly believe DHD is a character who thrives on platforms. I just found myself playing worse on stages with no/less helpful platforms despite having far more experience on them due to for glory. Sonic however, likes these stages with no/few platforms. Makes punishing landings with spindash more of a threat, and his dair not have to worry about endlag on the platforms.

He's also better at dealing with some of my bad matchups, though only via more even matchups generally.

 

[Diamond DHD]

I have a few different characters that I play when I'm not using DHD, they're pretty opinion based, but it may still be useful for some. Here are the main ones:

Falco:
Anti-projectile, combo based, quite close ranged. Covers a lot of options that DHD may have trouble with.

King Dedede:
My team/free-for-all option, DHD is awful for games with a large number of players, King Dedede can deal with this easily. Side-smash = Instawin.

Others include Wario, Jiggly and R.O.B.

 

[Spirst]

For Greninja, it's the fact that he can play a radically different playstyle that makes him a good secondary for DH. DH is a character generally dependent upon traps and setups. He struggles offstage and his floatiness can make him susceptible to some pretty nasty edgeguarding. His normals are a little slowish and the smashes unreliable. He excels in mindgames and a mix of pressure with his projectiles and spaced physical attacks to position people where he wants them.

Greninja however, has pretty good combo ability and can keep up with people who would harass DH like an aggressive Yoshi/Sonic. It's nearly impossible to gimp a good Greninja because of the options he has for returning to the stage (fast horizontal airspeed/fall speed, shadow sneak, hydro pump). Greninja can also follow-up on punishes a lot easier than DH can because of his superior mobility. On the downside, he gets grabbed more on average because of his range of effectiveness being close. Nair approaches, the most common way of approaching with Greninja, can lead to some easy shield grabs if done excessively.

 

[crashbfan]

I'm trying out Donkey Kong. Dunno why. guess its just because i want a spammer main with a hard-hitting secondary.

 

[Arcadenik]

Some of my favorites are Dr. Mario, Ness, and Jigglypuff. I have many more favorites but these three are probably the closest thing to a secondary for now.

 

[Gadiel_VaStar]

Idk, I don't really think this character needs a secondary. If you have a secondary it's likely a preference choice. The only matchup I see that he might need a secondary for is Sheik & Rosalina, but other than that most matchups are "doable."

 

[Funkermonster]

Pac-Man ftw!

• Can camp pretty well with Trampoline and bonus fruits.
• Has a bit of an easier time killing than Duck Hunt does (although I'd say his killing options still aren't the best in general), especially with the Key and offstage Bairs. His offstage game is amazing, dare I say his best area; something I think Duck Hunt is average at best in.
• Can create chaos with obstacles he makes from his fire hydrant and trampolines which makes hell for certain characters to try and approach him, although its somewhat more effective on stages with platforms in my experience. I think Pac-Man has a favorable matchup against Sheik (who I'm told Duck Hunt has trouble with) because of the chaos she has to go through. His UpB trampoline greatly takes care of Little Mac since it sends him into the air (which is definitely not his comfort zone) and it limits his approach options and forces him to change gameplans, as well as certain rushdown characters like Captain Falcon.
• As we all know, Duck Hunt's recovery isn't the best since its gimpable with a meteor smash. Pac-Man's recovery is near godlike though, can recover from almost anywhere he wants with his SideB and UpB combined, and the super armor on his side b should protect him from getting gimped most of the time. Just make sure you don't aim your SideB towards the stage, or you'll bounce off and die.

As for Pac-Man's side of weaknesses, mostly just his slowass grab and lack of mobility. Pac-Man's grab isn't bad like everyone makes it out to be, but it isn't good either. Its very punishable if whiffed and dash grabs can sometimes whiff if you're too close to your opponent, but the initial part near his orange glove comes out rather fast and it can catch people who spotdodge rather easily, moreso than grabs of other characters. But what I should also mention is that Pac-Man is slooooooooooow, super slow. Even though he can zip around tight corners in his own game, Pac-Man's mobility is strangely low in nearly every aspect. Ground Speed is slow, Air Speed is slow, and even his falling speed is slow (whether you fastfall or not). With Pac-Man, you can't zip around fast and aggressive opponents very easily and his pressure game is a little weaker than DH's in my opinion because of that. To trounce your opponents as Pac, you gotta make good reads to get the drop, moreso than you would with other characters.

Nevertheless, I think when you got 2 characters who can make chaotic obstacles around the stage and make great mindgames with their projectiles and physical moves, you've got a good team. I think they cover some of each others weaknesses rather well too, with Duck Hunt's substandard recovery and offstage game, and Pac-Man's low movement.

 

[CCCM89]

I agree with the pac-man secondary idea. I main pac-man and am thinking of picking up DHD as my new secondary. I agree with most of what the above poster just said, but felt I should add in on it. first, the grab isn't that slow. it's faster then most chain grabs in terms of ending lag, and each and every wave of that beam is its own grab. The fact that it can be slow at times is a good thing, which opens you up for delayed grabs and grabs when the opponent rolls away.. as for lack of mobility, while he's not the fastest, he's got a low enough gravity with a high enough jump and plenty of stalling options to make it hard to punish him when he's landing. Whereas DHD can zone the stage and keep people away only to rush them down when he's ready, pac-man instead can stand his ground and force people to come to him, then punish. his hydrant is great at both moving him super faster, and forcing his opponents into his kill range.
So given that DHD can rush when he needs and camp the rest of the time, pac-man can anti-rush and anti-camp thanks to bouncing cherries and hydrants in key locations. It feels like a good mix of play-styles to pull out of a secondary. Camp and rush one game, punish the hell out of your opponent if they try to do the same in the next.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

I'm still on the fence with a secondary cause my attempts with other characters have usually met with failure but i am trying to balance out duck hunt's defensive/keep away ability with a character with good offensive abilities like bowser or wario

 

[WarioWaft]

Wario has been my main since the beginning of U.

I'm finding that Duckhunt after 2 days of nonstop using is probably my #2. I always liked Link in before because of his ability to spam projectiles (which was my strategy to zone someone out or box them in). But his current move set gets slower and slower since Melee, and his dash attack is way too slow for my liking.

I am still learning the physics of all his moves so combos and patterns aren't there yet.

Wario and DuckHunt balance each other out IMO.
People I struggle against with Wario, I do great with Duck Hunt.

I'm more forward and aggressive with Wario up close than Duck Hunt, but with Duck Hunt I love keeping my distance, setting traps and forcing them to go around my projectiles. So it's ended up being a really nice balance.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

Wario has been my main since the beginning of U.

I'm finding that Duckhunt after 2 days of nonstop using is probably my #2. I always liked Link in before because of his ability to spam projectiles (which was my strategy to zone someone out or box them in).

I am still learning the physics of all his moves so combos and patterns aren't there yet.

Wario and DuckHunt balance each other out IMO.
People I struggle against with Wario, I do great with Duck Hunt.

I'm more forward and aggressive with Wario up close than Duck Hunt, but with Duck Hunt I love keeping my distance, setting traps and forcing them to go around my projectiles. So it's ended up being a really nice balance.

I Can't help but agree....wario and duck hunt seem like a match made in heaven

 

[leekslap]

Wut about Dinky Kang?

Good recovery? Check.

Minimal landing lag on aerials? Check.

Hears Johns and hate constantly? Check.

Oh my gerbils, it's purrrfect hue hue hue.

 

[WarioWaft]

I Can't help but agree....wario and duck hunt seem like a match made in heaven

For me it depends on your playing style.
My Wario style is aggressive in the sense that I use the bike to the fullest. I spam it and throw it at people to get them to jump or shield. I'm also more aerial oriented with Wario, and it's to where I don't ge a chance to use any tilts that much since I try to keep my distance. With DuckHunt I can keep my distance, and for people who try to get in my face like Shulk, a simple dodge and grab will make them back off a little leaving me with projectiles galore.

 

[WispBae]

Villager has been an excllent choice, due really to the fact that Doggy and Villy play in a similar fashion. Using Lloids all the time feels natural after playing Doggy, and Villager has many options to escape pressure.

Granted, I don't think Doggy needs a secondary, just a different playstyle when dealing with faster MU's. Villager is nice to switch to for mix-ups, as well as givning you a break from Doggy.

 

[Diamond DHD]

I've decided to take up Wario as my secondary as well, I played him quite a bit on the 3DS version and he seems to cover a lot of areas the Duck Hunt doesn't, e.g. approaching, KOing, a special grab.

 

[Jenna Zant]

I've decided upon Lucario as my secondary. Although that's because he was my last main from Brawl and PM.

 

[ChikoLad]

Rosalina is my main with Duck Hunt Duo being one of my other top characters.

Rosalina is a PAAAAIIIIN for the Duo, so pocketing her will pretty much sort you against them and all other characters comparable to them (e.g. Villager, Pac-Man, and Mega Man). She simply disrespects almost every projectile in the game between using Luma as a shield and having Gravitational Pull, and her close combat game is way more versatile and effective. I don't think I've ever beaten a human Rosalina with the Duo, it's that bad. Even a friend of mine who is inexperienced with Rosalina, can beat my Duo using her.

For a character that is similar but different though, I think Pac-Man is a good choice. I've been taking an interest in him lately, and it is in part to the bizarre nature of his specials, like with the Duo. N-Special and D-Special in particular remind me of the Duo's N-Special.

 

[oogamania]

My secondary next to DH would be Mario. He in my view, is a high-tier character of choice in case I meet characters like C. Falcon, Lil Mac, or Sonic. Mario is easy to use, heavily buffed, full of priority moves and a hype spike. If I need a secondary that can deal with platform heavy characters, Mario would be a good pick for me.

But since we like DH for his long-range, campy style, how about another character similar to this, but can handle characters that will benefit on plats? Try Mii Gunner. He will often stop speedy characters, such as Sonic and C. Falcon in their tracks with his grenade bombs, gunner missles, and Fsmashes. I'll need to upload a video show casing that soon.

 

[Ninetale3]

I use greninja and bowser as my secondaries. More so greninja. I like that greninja still keeps you thinking creatively with your specials. This allows sort of an easy to translate mental state for me and keeps my mind from going one directional.

Bowser I use mainly for lucario because I hate fighting lucario that much. Plus it's fun when you land bowser's sexy legs on someone.

 

[crashbfan]

My secondary next to DH would be Mario. He in my view, is a high-tier character of choice in case I meet characters like C. Falcon, Lil Mac, or Sonic. Mario is easy to use, heavily buffed, full of priority moves and a hype spike. If I need a secondary that can deal with platform heavy characters, Mario would be a good pick for me.

But since we like DH for his long-range, campy style, how about another character similar to this, but can handle characters that will benefit on plats? Try Mii Gunner. He will often stop speedy characters, such as Sonic and C. Falcon in their tracks with his grenade bombs, gunner missles, and Fsmashes. I'll need to upload a video show casing that soon.

hey oogamania cool to see you have come here and play DHD too

 

[Sean²]

I currently use Bowser and Kirby backing up the DH.

To be honest, I've been really trying to find a different secondary who fits better with DH weaknesses...I feel like Bowser and Kirby kind of suffer from weaknesses against similar characters to DH. I can't seem to get very effective with any other characters so I tend to end up just running in with DH.

 

[Diamond DHD]

I've been playing a LOT of R.O.B. recently, pretty much to the extent of him being a new main, R.O.B. is like DHD with the projectile game, except without the lack of killpower, and a better recovery. R.O.B. absolutely destroys Rosalina, and is great against DHD himself, as well as having a decent MU against Sonic, who is DHD's biggest weakness.

It's not that I've given up on DHD, it's just difficult to continue with a character that takes such extreme thinking all the time, I want to play auto-pilot every once in a while.

 

[outfoxd]

I've been playing a LOT of R.O.B. recently, pretty much to the extent of him being a new main, R.O.B. is like DHD with the projectile game, except without the lack of killpower, and a better recovery. R.O.B. absolutely destroys Rosalina, and is great against DHD himself, as well as having a decent MU against Sonic, who is DHD's biggest weakness.

It's not that I've given up on DHD, it's just difficult to continue with a character that takes such extreme thinking all the time, I want to play auto-pilot every once in a while.

He is mentally fatiguing. I wore myself out going solely dog Yesterday, didn't make it out of pools.

I been messing with Wario because sometimes I wanna know if I hit somebody at a killing percentage they're done. And he's trolly in a different way, for variety.

 

[Ogono]

I use Wario and G&W for my secondary as a Duck Hunt. But, If wolf gets dlc ill throw away my secondaries, in fact, I may not be a Duck Hunt Main anymore lol jk.

 

[Sean²]

I use Wario and G&W for my secondary as a Duck Hunt. But, If wolf gets dlc ill throw away my secondaries, in fact, I may not be a Duck Hunt Main anymore lol jk.

I doubt he will be DLC, but I'd be right there with you.

 

[Arcadenik]

I've been playing a LOT of R.O.B. recently, pretty much to the extent of him being a new main, R.O.B. is like DHD with the projectile game, except without the lack of killpower, and a better recovery. R.O.B. absolutely destroys Rosalina, and is great against DHD himself, as well as having a decent MU against Sonic, who is DHD's biggest weakness.

It's not that I've given up on DHD, it's just difficult to continue with a character that takes such extreme thinking all the time, I want to play auto-pilot every once in a while.

They nerfed ROB's Nair, Dair, and Bair... they were his best kill moves in Brawl... why do they have so much lag now?

At least his projectiles are faster than DHD's projectiles.

 

[Diamond DHD]

They nerfed ROB's Nair, Dair, and Bair... they were his best kill moves in Brawl... why do they have so much lag now?

At least his projectiles are faster than DHD's projectiles.

Nair has hardly any ending lag, space the starting lag and you've got a tool for any situation, dair is slightly harder to land but since it's a spike you just have to time it differently, bair still kills and the boost given from it is better. He also has up-smash and up-throw, his other best killing tools.

 

[BSME/misc]

Aside from DH I play Yoshi, Bowser, Ness and Captain Falcon. Like outfoxd said earlier getting kill confirmations can feel so good but a lot of people don't play competitive level DHs very often so its kind of a eye opener when it happens. I feel Yoshi has less terrible MUs against most characters that give DH trouble (e.g sonic).

But everyone should have a pocket diddy lol

 

[crashbfan]

I've been playing a LOT of R.O.B. recently, pretty much to the extent of him being a new main, R.O.B. is like DHD with the projectile game, except without the lack of killpower, and a better recovery. R.O.B. absolutely destroys Rosalina, and is great against DHD himself, as well as having a decent MU against Sonic, who is DHD's biggest weakness.

It's not that I've given up on DHD, it's just difficult to continue with a character that takes such extreme thinking all the time, I want to play auto-pilot every once in a while.

I know what you mean. I play ROB too and I did think for a while that he was better than DHD. I have retracted that thought though because he does have weaknesses and just not a good hardcore-camping spamming game as DHD. I do think ROB is better at killing and shield pressure though. Everything else DHD is a bit better if only slightly.

 

[Octagon]

My secondaries are Diddy Kong and Ganondorf...nuff said

 

[Sean²]

I cannot seem to pick up a good secondary to compliment DH's weaknesses.

I can't get used to Smash 4 Ness though I did like him a lot in Brawl. TriedTried learning Fox, Wario, Sheik, ZSS, Pikachu...can't seem to get a feel for any of them.

I love Kirby but he's more of my autopilot fun character considering he has some god awful matchups as well. I'm gonna give Falcon a try - hes a quick character who isn't as tricky to control as ZSS or Fox. I think I get the feel for Diddy but I have been avoiding it like the plague.

 

[outfoxd]

I cannot seem to pick up a good secondary to compliment DH's weaknesses.

I can't get used to Smash 4 Ness though I did like him a lot in Brawl. TriedTried learning Fox, Wario, Sheik, ZSS, Pikachu...can't seem to get a feel for any of them.

I love Kirby but he's more of my autopilot fun character considering he has some god awful matchups as well. I'm gonna give Falcon a try - hes a quick character who isn't as tricky to control as ZSS or Fox. I think I get the feel for Diddy but I have been avoiding it like the plague.

Give in to the Diddy. If you have fun, that's all that matters.

 

[Sean²]

Give in to the Diddy. If you have fun, that's all that matters.

True, but I hate the stigma. I was able to play Meta Knight in Brawl fairly well but using him made me feel...dirty. Especially when I lose as the best character in the game, it made me feel like I wasn't good. I've always been more of a mid-tier hero, I guess. I like the challenge.

I'll probably cave, though.

 

[outfoxd]

Totally understand. But hey. If you do, you'll at least know you can pull your pocket for almost anything.

 

[Tetz]

I use Megaman for Diddy's and Yoshi for other tough Matchups. I guess Yoshi can do as well as Sonic, because he does well on Stages Duck Hunt doesn't like

 

[Kabutops]

True, but I hate the stigma. I was able to play Meta Knight in Brawl fairly well but using him made me feel...dirty.

If you don't down grab into uair 20 times per stock with DK you won't feel so dirty.

 

[DJDave189]

Pac-Man ftw!

• Can camp pretty well with Trampoline and bonus fruits.
• Has a bit of an easier time killing than Duck Hunt does (although I'd say his killing options still aren't the best in general), especially with the Key and offstage Bairs. His offstage game is amazing, dare I say his best area; something I think Duck Hunt is average at best in.
• Can create chaos with obstacles he makes from his fire hydrant and trampolines which makes hell for certain characters to try and approach him, although its somewhat more effective on stages with platforms in my experience. I think Pac-Man has a favorable matchup against Sheik (who I'm told Duck Hunt has trouble with) because of the chaos she has to go through. His UpB trampoline greatly takes care of Little Mac since it sends him into the air (which is definitely not his comfort zone) and it limits his approach options and forces him to change gameplans, as well as certain rushdown characters like Captain Falcon.
• As we all know, Duck Hunt's recovery isn't the best since its gimpable with a meteor smash. Pac-Man's recovery is near godlike though, can recover from almost anywhere he wants with his SideB and UpB combined, and the super armor on his side b should protect him from getting gimped most of the time. Just make sure you don't aim your SideB towards the stage, or you'll bounce off and die.

As for Pac-Man's side of weaknesses, mostly just his slowass grab and lack of mobility. Pac-Man's grab isn't bad like everyone makes it out to be, but it isn't good either. Its very punishable if whiffed and dash grabs can sometimes whiff if you're too close to your opponent, but the initial part near his orange glove comes out rather fast and it can catch people who spotdodge rather easily, moreso than grabs of other characters. But what I should also mention is that Pac-Man is slooooooooooow, super slow. Even though he can zip around tight corners in his own game, Pac-Man's mobility is strangely low in nearly every aspect. Ground Speed is slow, Air Speed is slow, and even his falling speed is slow (whether you fastfall or not). With Pac-Man, you can't zip around fast and aggressive opponents very easily and his pressure game is a little weaker than DH's in my opinion because of that. To trounce your opponents as Pac, you gotta make good reads to get the drop, moreso than you would with other characters.

Nevertheless, I think when you got 2 characters who can make chaotic obstacles around the stage and make great mindgames with their projectiles and physical moves, you've got a good team. I think they cover some of each others weaknesses rather well too, with Duck Hunt's substandard recovery and offstage game, and Pac-Man's low movement.

Agree with this! Pac-Man really is great and is a much more better camper than Duck Hunt. I've been using him a lot where I decided I might make him my new primary main. But still keep Duck Hunt to the side as a secondary, since I've gotten pretty use to him. However I'm still trying to practice a lot with him. Getting more better with Pac-Man tho. Both Pac-Man and Duck Hunt are like the dynamic duo. Also Wario is another great secondary to cover Duck Hunt's weakness.

 

[Thinkaman]

It turns out "Who should Duck Hunt mains pick as a secondary?" and "Who has the best matchup against Rosalina and Villager?" are the same question.

 

[Diamond DHD]

It turns out "Who should Duck Hunt mains pick as a secondary?" and "Who has the best matchup against Rosalina and Villager?" are the same question.

More like who has a good match-up against Sonic and Sheik, Rosalina is very hard but can be dealt with, and Villager isn't much of a problem.

 

[Sean²]

It turns out "Who should Duck Hunt mains pick as a secondary?" and "Who has the best matchup against Rosalina and Villager?" are the same question.

Villager seems like a very even matchup for DH, he can pocket your projectiles but you can use it against him, especially if he pockets the can.