DHD Secondary Recommendations

[Ninetale3]

After some experimentation. I am gonna recommend Bowser Jr. as a secondary if you don't like Pacman's game play. He does pretty good against sonic as the mecha koopas prevent Sonic's spindash shenanigans as they beat out the spins. On top of that,, He also has decent recovery capabilities. He shares the kill problem but we are use to that anyway.

 

[Sean²]

I've been playing around with Shulk for DH's bad matchups, if I can get some results I'll definitely push a recommendation his way

 

[outfoxd]

I've been playing Captain Falcon and Greninja for fun/force me to learn better fundamentals. Verdict's out on whether this experiment is helping.

 

[Sean²]

I've been playing around with Shulk for DH's bad matchups, if I can get some results I'll definitely push a recommendation his way

Going off of what I said earlier, I'm finding Shulk to be a decent pick against characters who have a better projectile game than DH.

I have a lot of trouble with good Link players because they can zone me out and going in is tough because Link's normals and aerials outrange DH for the most part. Shulk doesn't have as much of a problem since he has so many options that outrange Link short of his projectiles.

 

[WispBae]

I CANNOT SETTLE ON A SECONDARY FOR DUCK HUNT.

KIRBY: ****ING LOVE THIS GODDAMN PUFFBALL, BUT IT MESSES WITH MY PROJECT M KIRBY. WENT TO A PM TOURNEY LAST WEEKEND AND SD'D AT LEAST 78,231 TIMES BECAUSE I KEPT TRYING TO PLAY SMASH 4 KIRBY INSTEAD OF PM KIRBY.

VILLAGER: APPARENTLY DOGGY AND VILLAGER HAVE THE SAME WEAKNESSES AND I AGREE. ALTHOUGH I QUITE LIKE THEM BOTH, I THINK I SHOULD KEEP DOGGY SINCE I KNOW HIM BETTER AND HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY TIME WITH HIM. MAYBE I'LL BE A VILLAGER MAIN IN THE FUTURE BUT FOR NOW IT'S DOGGO TIME.

DANK PIT/PIT: I'VE BEEN PLAYING PIT FOR A WHILE NOW AND I QUITE LIKE HIM, THOUGH I THINK I NEED MORE TIME IN THE LAB BECAUSE MY NEUTRAL GAME WITH HIM IS TERRIBAD.

MEWTWO: EHHHHHHHH MAYBE?! I MEAN HE'S KINDA SLOW AND WHAT I WANT IS A CHARACTER FOR SLOW MATCH UPS. FUN AND KILLS EARLY THOUGH.

PAC-MAN: I LOVE HIS COMBO GAME BUT I FEEL LIKE HE MAY NOT BE A GOOD SECONDARY WITH HIM BEING SO FLOATY. PLUS DUCK HUNT ALREADY DOES PROJECTILES BETTER.

PIKACHU AND SHEIK: I LIKE THEM BUT LITERALLY EVERYONE PLAYS THEM.

WII FIT TRAINER: MY PREFERRED SECONDARY NEXT TO THE PITS BUT I FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO PUT IN SO MUCH WORK TO GET HER TO DO GREAT, NOT TO MENTION EVERYONE OUT RANGES HER.

 

[Sean²]

I would vote Kirby, but he just doesn't seem to live up to what Duck Hunt needs to get past the rough matchups.

If the good points of Brawl Kirby and Smash 4 Kirby were combined (but it would be more of Brawl Kirby, let's face it), then I would say definitely.

But I'll keep playing Kirby and having a lot of fun doing it.

 

[Funkermonster]

After some experimentation. I am gonna recommend Bowser Jr. as a secondary if you don't like Pacman's game play. He does pretty good against sonic as the mecha koopas prevent Sonic's spindash shenanigans as they beat out the spins. On top of that,, He also has decent recovery capabilities. He shares the kill problem but we are use to that anyway.

I can't say I really agree with that, really wouldn't recommend Junior as a Secondary and I don't think he does that well against Sonic. The Mechakoopas are items, your opponents can just pick them up and use them against you if you are not careful, not to mention it takes too long to even deploy one in the first place. Its not safe to throw out a mechakoopa in the neutral game and you'll get punished for it if you're under pressure, and when you're Bowser Jr you're kind of always under pressure. His Out of Shield Options are terrible and he has virtually no approach options, he's gonna have a hard time beating characters who can walk all over him with pressure (which Duck Hunt also loses to) or those who can just wall him out all day long.

If you wanna counter Sonic, you're better off with someone like Mega Man, Luigi, or Rosalina.

I CANNOT SETTLE ON A SECONDARY FOR DUCK HUNT.

KIRBY: ****ING LOVE THIS GODDAMN PUFFBALL, BUT IT MESSES WITH MY PROJECT M KIRBY. WENT TO A PM TOURNEY LAST WEEKEND AND SD'D AT LEAST 78,231 TIMES BECAUSE I KEPT TRYING TO PLAY SMASH 4 KIRBY INSTEAD OF PM KIRBY.

VILLAGER: APPARENTLY DOGGY AND VILLAGER HAVE THE SAME WEAKNESSES AND I AGREE. ALTHOUGH I QUITE LIKE THEM BOTH, I THINK I SHOULD KEEP DOGGY SINCE I KNOW HIM BETTER AND HAVE SPENT MOST OF MY TIME WITH HIM. MAYBE I'LL BE A VILLAGER MAIN IN THE FUTURE BUT FOR NOW IT'S DOGGO TIME.

DANK PIT/PIT: I'VE BEEN PLAYING PIT FOR A WHILE NOW AND I QUITE LIKE HIM, THOUGH I THINK I NEED MORE TIME IN THE LAB BECAUSE MY NEUTRAL GAME WITH HIM IS TERRIBAD.

MEWTWO: EHHHHHHHH MAYBE?! I MEAN HE'S KINDA SLOW AND WHAT I WANT IS A CHARACTER FOR SLOW MATCH UPS. FUN AND KILLS EARLY THOUGH.

PAC-MAN: I LOVE HIS COMBO GAME BUT I FEEL LIKE HE MAY NOT BE A GOOD SECONDARY WITH HIM BEING SO FLOATY. PLUS DUCK HUNT ALREADY DOES PROJECTILES BETTER.

PIKACHU AND SHEIK: I LIKE THEM BUT LITERALLY EVERYONE PLAYS THEM.

WII FIT TRAINER: MY PREFERRED SECONDARY NEXT TO THE PITS BUT I FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO PUT IN SO MUCH WORK TO GET HER TO DO GREAT, NOT TO MENTION EVERYONE OUT RANGES HER.

For matchup coverage, I'd personally go with , /, or the most.

Pac-Man's floatiness isn't too big a deal honesty, he can still protect himself while landing to an extent by dropping hydrants or z-dropping a fruit if he has one in his hand. I also disagree that Duck Hunt does projectiles better than him, his Bonus Fruit is an amazing move with tons of shenanigans and versatility and his Hydrant is his 2nd best move (tied with the Trampoline) that also has versatility, and Pac-Man is better at camping than DH is, I'd say. Can camp all day he wants by kicking Hydrants and poking with fruit, where as Duck Hunt's projectiles are pretty slow and don't really keep anybody out except heavies and those with crappy approach options. Pac-Man is also versatile enough to play aggressively too, and what makes him fun is that there are multiple ways to play him. I'd say Pac-Man's real weaknesses are:

• Slowass grab
• Lack of outstanding mobility
• Mediocre killing moves, though his offstage game is reeeeaaaal good.
• Weak Air-to-Ground game for the most part
• No spectacular normals. While most of Pac's normals are pretty good, he doesn't exactly have any outstanding normals, like say Lil Mac's Ftilt or Kirby 64's Utilt.

And in the case of the last two bullets, those are more shortcomings rather than actual weaknesses. Pac-Man barely has any weaknesses honestly and I think he's well rounded mostly, and most Pac players argue that he can hold his own against Sheik and even beats Diddy, 2 of the worst matchups DH can get. I don't think he has too many poor MUs other tan , , , , , or maybe; and even then only Rosalina is a terror for him, the rest of those guys are hard but managable and I don't really think they're -1 at worst. Pac-Man is awesome.

Pit? He is basically the token all-around fighter of this game, no significant strengths but no significant weaknesses either. He does almost everything well for the most part and is pretty balanced in a lot of areas, and just like with Pac-Man u can play him in multiple ways offensively or defensively (leaning more towards Defense). The only thing he truly has a hard time with is just getting the KO, but other than that there's nothing else in particular he lacks and I think he has a good MU set against most everyone.

Dark Pit is mostly the same character, with literally only 4 differences in their moveset. He's kind of a slightly worse version of his original, and he arguably has even more trouble killing than Pit does since his arrows aren't as effective for edgeguarding and electroshock requires you to be closer to the ledge to take a stock. Pit is mostly better than hi just cause his arrows are more versatile but he can do everything else at least almost as well, so I guess its a matter of preference of who you like better as a character in general. The gap between them is not nearly as big as and , and thank god for that.

Pikachu because we have too many Sheik's already and he just might be a top tier with tons of crazy combos and a great projectile, I guess. Don't know too much about him though, all I know is that he's real good and that I wanna squash that little bunny like the bug that he is... Lol seriously I hate fighting Pikachu, super annoying character. For me, he's Up there with Sonic, Lucario, and Mega Man in terms of annoyingness lol.


Hope it helps to an extent at least.

 

[Sean²]

... Sheik and even beats Diddy, 2 of the worst matchups DH can get.

This I disagree with. They are difficult, but not among the worst. Diddy isn't even remotely horrible now that his best qualities were nerfed.

On another note, though, I still can't find a secondary that covers DH's weaknesses that I can actually enjoy playing. I'll give Wario another shot, and I'll try Pit, but if I enter a tournament any time soon, I might just have to deal with it.

Here's to Wolf being DLC, I suppose. I'll LAZOR that damn Sonic all day if I have to.

 

[Ninetale3]

I can't say I really agree with that, really wouldn't recommend Junior as a Secondary and I don't think he does that well against Sonic. The Mechakoopas are items, your opponents can just pick them up and use them against you if you are not careful, not to mention it takes too long to even deploy one in the first place. Its not safe to throw out a mechakoopa in the neutral game and you'll get punished for it if you're under pressure, and when you're Bowser Jr you're kind of always under pressure. His Out of Shield Options are terrible and he has virtually no approach options, he's gonna have a hard time beating characters who can walk all over him with pressure (which Duck Hunt also loses to) or those who can just wall him out all day long.

Can't say I would know too much on other speedster matchups. But with sonic's case. He is easier to punish for picking up the item. He dash attacks to pickup the item, it's a free punish. He runs in shields and picks it up afterwards. Enough time to grab or dash attack. He homing attacks. You can shield in time. He falls back, You bought yourself a little time with reduced pressure. It's not a great secondary as there is the kill problem. It could be considered worse for him than Duck Hunt arguably against speedsters. However, He is a fine pickup if it's for someone who likes to main three in comparison to two.

 

[crashbfan]

This I disagree with. They are difficult, but not among the worst. Diddy isn't even remotely horrible now that his best qualities were nerfed.

On another note, though, I still can't find a secondary that covers DH's weaknesses that I can actually enjoy playing. I'll give Wario another shot, and I'll try Pit, but if I enter a tournament any time soon, I might just have to deal with it.

Here's to Wolf being DLC, I suppose. I'll LAZOR that damn Sonic all day if I have to.

I agree with you, sheik and diddy are nowhere near DHD's worst matchups, in fact I can name 5 off the top of my head that are his worst:

Sonic
Captain Falcon
Fox
Rosalina
Zero skill samus.

 

[SirJuicius]

Wario. What Duck Hunt lacks in recovery and reliable KO moves is what Wario makes up for, while sacrificing what makes Duck Hunt good. Duck Hunt has a limited amount of reliable KO moves. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least seven KO moves for Wario. A good amount of them are fast too. F-tilt, Bair, U-Smash, Dair and to an extent, the Wario Bike are all reliable moves. In addition, Wario's Chomp move can eat up non-charged, non-Fox projectiles. In regards to recovery, Wario's bike is in my opinion, one of the top recovery moves in the game. It covers a great amount of horizontal space when off the main surface, and if there's no wall below the surface, Wario can "teleport" to the other side of the stage. It catches a good amount of people off and can give you the space if needed. I mainly use Wario as a secondary to Duck Hunt when I feel that I can't establish a good mid-to-long-range game, as well as when there are speedsters abound, such as Sonic.

 

[lilinuyasha]

Pac-man's my secondary, though I'll be picking up Lucas when he comes out. Lucas is my man.

 

[outfoxd]

I keep thinking about Sheik, but I'm paralyzed with the notion "Well if I was going to play Sheik and cover most bad matchups, why don't I just main Sheik?"

 

[DunnoBro]

Sheik actually does have bad/awkward matchups. And especially in customs, duck hunt covers those. (Yoshi, floaties...Mario only in customs)

 

[outfoxd]

Sheik actually does have bad/awkward matchups. And especially in customs, duck hunt covers those. (Yoshi, floaties...Mario only in customs)

Slightly less apprehensive then.

 

[DunnoBro]

I'm actually planning on switching to Yoshi as a main for default and duck hunt as my secondary. Despite saying I would, I never made the switch to sheik. (As I'm not naturally a player who enjoys using projectiles, camping, or setting up for kills. Duck hunt is the only character in the history of the game who makes this an enjoyable experience and thus I couldn't get into labbing it out with sheik)

But after hearing Seagull's comments on the Yoshi matchup I'd like to also submit Yoshi as a decent Duck Hunt secondary.

Yoshi's also good against Wario, Rosalina, Rob, Megaman, and maybe some other iffy matchups. (I hear conflicting reports about fox, falcon, and sheik)

This works out great for me because I actually picked Yoshi up the week Smash Wii U came out because the gamecube controls didn't allow me to running short hop/b-reverse gunmen well, or short hop pigeons well, so I wanted to learn Z-jump to make this easier and get used to the input since yoshi does similar with egg toss often.

I also wanted to learn to play with tap jump off, and how to b-reverse since Yoshi uses it more often. I found getting used to sniping/comboing off yoshi's egg toss also helped me do the same with aerial pigeon tosses due to similar trajectories and properties.

I use tap jump on now with Z-jump (except when playing Yoshi) but I think anyone seriously considering a competitive secondary should look into Yoshi and perhaps getting used to those concepts too. Learning to play Yoshi just on a basic level made my duck hunt A LOT better.

Yoshi also provides the benefit of being another niche, rarely seen or played against character that can serve to throw your opponent off. This is actually a huge point over sheik because people KNOW how to play against sheik, if yours isn't up to snuff, you're gonna be hurting.

 

[outfoxd]

I'm actually planning on switching to Yoshi as a main for default and duck hunt as my secondary. Despite saying I would, I never made the switch to sheik. (As I'm not naturally a player who enjoys using projectiles, camping, or setting up for kills. Duck hunt is the only character in the history of the game who makes this an enjoyable experience and thus I couldn't get into labbing it out with sheik)

But after hearing Seagull's comments on the Yoshi matchup I'd like to also submit Yoshi as a decent Duck Hunt secondary.

Yoshi's also good against Wario, Rosalina, Rob, Megaman, and maybe some other iffy matchups. (I hear conflicting reports about fox, falcon, and sheik)

This works out great for me because I actually picked Yoshi up the week Smash Wii U came out because the gamecube controls didn't allow me to running short hop/b-reverse gunmen well, or short hop pigeons well, so I wanted to learn Z-jump to make this easier and get used to the input since yoshi does similar with egg toss often.

I also wanted to learn to play with tap jump off, and how to b-reverse since Yoshi uses it more often. I found getting used to sniping/comboing off yoshi's egg toss also helped me do the same with aerial pigeon tosses due to similar trajectories and properties.

I use tap jump on now with Z-jump (except when playing Yoshi) but I think anyone seriously considering a competitive secondary should look into Yoshi and perhaps getting used to those concepts too. Learning to play Yoshi just on a basic level made my duck hunt A LOT better.

Yoshi also provides the benefit of being another niche, rarely seen or played against character that can serve to throw your opponent off. This is actually a huge point over sheik because people KNOW how to play against sheik, if yours isn't up to snuff, you're gonna be hurting.

The fact there are actually yoshis in my scene makes this more attractive. I switched to Villy for awhile but I would keep that in mind when I decide to come back.

Does Yoshi handle Sonic?

 

[Sean²]

I'm going to put my ticket in for Wario. Not nearly as gimp-able as DH and is so easy to play mindgames with. Mobility is similar as well.

Catching jumps with Bite is so satisfying.

 

[Blumiere]

I'm stuck on either Rosalina or Sheik for a second main. They are the most viable IMO of the very, very small group of characters who control in a way I feel comfortable. Getting into Smash period as a DHD main is... weird when you want to use other characters after 4000 matches.

I'm only begrudgingly branching out from puppy at all, I want to keep my focus on as few characters as possible to amplify my experience playing them. Having 3 might not be so bad when all the DLC is out because more character choices and I'll be more experienced by then.. but yeah.

Rosalina plays way closer to Duck Hunt than a lot of characters. You have the campiness and the mind games and the keeping track of external entities the same way. Sheik though.. is Sheik. Seems to play very differently so there wouldn't be as much carryover to her, but she may do a lot better at covering matchups?

 

[outfoxd]

I'd think Sheik. Lot of technical stuff to learn now.

Also, i now play Charizard on the side. Because i just don't care anymore .

 

[Xyless]

If you're going for a secondary to a character who benefits heavily from camping and projectiles (with rushdown mixed in every so often), I wouldn't recommend another zoner like Pac-Man...he wouldn't cover weaknesses as much as he would just do better at DH's strengths, which is the opposite of what you need.

I try to play most characters in this game, so from I can gather (having played Duck Hunt for a good 2 weeks now), some good options as secondaries would be:

-Captain Falcon: Pure rushdown and reads, the latter of which DH players should be strong at already. Has a relatively even matchup against Rosalina, though I think Dabuz has made me change my view on that matchup a bit.

-Diddy Kong: MVD's other character, so you know he's got the coverage already. He's got good spacing options for going in and escaping, a trap (banana) that you can combo with, and and similar range on his aerials as DH which is really nice.

-Wario: I feel like he's about as opposite as you can go with DH. Great recovery, strong rushdown, lots of quick/strong kill moves, and Bite can do a lot of work if you use it effectively.

-Pit: Has similar ranges as Duck Hunt, though more disjointed. A fantastic throw, can camp but not generally needed. I haven't played as him enough, but I feel like he'd be strong as an option just with what I've seen of him.

 

[Blumiere]

Actually, doesn't Pikachu have very good coverage for puppy's weaknesses? From what I've read on other boards here he adequately creates bad matchups for Rosalina, Sonic, and Little Mac which to me are the three hardest matchups.

Jab: DHD's jab takes like, 20 minutes to start up. It's so bad. Rushdown punishes us so much for this. It's so easily for it to take too long to start or for us to whiff trying to start up the infinite. Pikachu has that immediate infinite jab with almost no startup. Seems like it would counter rushdown very well.

Neutral B: Duck Hunt's projectiles emphasize air control. Pika's side B clings lower to the ground and easily connects with people (such as Little Mac and Sheik) who redily dart underneath clay pigeon when it's thrown or be missed by the can due to their speed. The tempo of the move being faster seems helpful as well for rushdown.

Side B: A horizontal approach option, I find Duck Hunt lacking a bit there in general. Useful for getting in and smacking Lumas if you're deceptive enough about it? On a side note, I've heard rosalina mains really loathe the Pikachu matchup, and gravitational pull really doesn't do DHD any favors.

Down B: A kill option from a throw (We all know pup can't kill) as well as a sneaky gotcha-type move that DHDs used to making "gotcha" situations should have an easy time finding ways to utilize.

Up B: So much approach and mixup potential, enables so many options DHD can't do. We're also usually less than optimally protected while recovering, and being able to recover through people while hitting them seems useful in matches where the other person may more easily exploit our recovery.

Air moves are different in a good sort of way for coverage. Especially that back air that lets you beyblade the opponent down the ledge.

Smash attacks seem much more consistent as well, and especially up smash seems to come out MUCH faster than any of puppy's smashes. A quick smash option is something we definitely lack.

Other than that, Pikachu seems to be a character with a similar playstyle that can both camp and rushdown. I need to investigate knockback and kill potential more before making my final decision, maybe.

Is there any significant or notable weaknesses that DHD and Pikachu share? The only one I can really see so far is that neither character really have any air moves that autocancel.

 

[crashbfan]

Actually, doesn't Pikachu have very good coverage for puppy's weaknesses?

Jab: DHD's jab takes like, 20 minutes to start up. It's so bad. Rushdown punishes us so much for this. It's so easily for it to take too long to start or for us to whiff trying to start up the infinite. Pikachu has that immediate infinite jab with almost no startup. Seems like it would counter rushdown very well.

Neutral B: Duck Hunt's projectiles emphasize air control. Pika's side B clings lower to the ground and easily connects with people (such as Little Mac and Sheik) who redily dart underneath clay pigeon when it's thrown or be missed by the can due to their speed. The tempo of the move being faster seems helpful as well for rushdown.

Side B: A horizontal approach option, I find Duck Hunt lacking a bit there in general. Useful for getting in and smacking Lumas if you're deceptive enough about it? On a side note, I've heard rosalina mains really loathe the Pikachu matchup, and gravitational pull really doesn't do DHD any favors.

Down B: A kill option from a throw (We all know pup can't kill) as well as a sneaky gotcha-type move that DHDs used to making "gotcha" situations should have an easy time finding ways to utilize.

Up B: So much approach and mixup potential, enables so many options DHD can't do. We're also usually less than optimally protected while recovering, and being able to recover through people while hitting them seems useful in matches where the other person may more easily exploit our recovery.

Air moves are different in a good sort of way for coverage. Especially that back air that lets you beyblade the opponent down the ledge.

Smash attacks seem much more consistent as well, and especially up smash seems to come out MUCH faster than any of puppy's smashes. A quick smash option is something we definitely lack.

Other than that, Pikachu seems to be a character with a similar playstyle that can both camp and rushdown. I need to investigate knockback and kill potential more before making my final decision, maybe.

Is there any significant or notable weaknesses that DHD and Pikachu share? The only one I can really see so far is that neither character really have any air moves that autocancel.

pikachu destroys DHD. even though DHD is a better camper, pikachu camps better in the matchup.

 

[Blumiere]

pikachu destroys DHD. even though DHD is a better camper, pikachu camps better in the matchup.

That's true isn't it? If you played both you could dominate other DHD players with him. Casually though I love me some puppy mirrors.

 

[Funkermonster]

If you're going for a secondary to a character who benefits heavily from camping and projectiles (with rushdown mixed in every so often), I wouldn't recommend another zoner like Pac-Man...he wouldn't cover weaknesses as much as he would just do better at DH's strengths, which is the opposite of what you need.

I try to play most characters in this game, so from I can gather (having played Duck Hunt for a good 2 weeks now), some good options as secondaries would be:

-Captain Falcon: Pure rushdown and reads, the latter of which DH players should be strong at already. Has a relatively even matchup against Rosalina, though I think Dabuz has made me change my view on that matchup a bit.

-Diddy Kong: MVD's other character, so you know he's got the coverage already. He's got good spacing options for going in and escaping, a trap (banana) that you can combo with, and and similar range on his aerials as DH which is really nice.

-Wario: I feel like he's about as opposite as you can go with DH. Great recovery, strong rushdown, lots of quick/strong kill moves, and Bite can do a lot of work if you use it effectively.

-Pit: Has similar ranges as Duck Hunt, though more disjointed. A fantastic throw, can camp but not generally needed. I haven't played as him enough, but I feel like he'd be strong as an option just with what I've seen of him.

I'm gonna have to disagree with this analysis just for that, cause contrary to popular belief Duck Hunt is not a zoning character, or at least not a good zoner. Sitting there using his projectiles to wall out opponents is a pretty weak strategy that loses its worth as you find better people to play with, Duck Hunt's projectiles are too slow to be efficient for camping and they can also be deflected and destroyed too. Unless you're fighting a heavy or a character who sucks at approaching in general, Duck Hunt as a camper just doesn't work right and you're not really gonna get all that much out of it against most of the cast. Characters like Pac-Man, Villager, Mega Man, etc. are way better at camping than he is, he's not really a zoning character tbh, he's more of a pressure/trap psuedo-rushdown character. Its better to use his projectiles by going on the offense to bait reactions,overwhelm set up combos & rack up crazy damage, and approach opponents yourself.

That said, I think Pac-Man as a secondary is fine, and he can cover most of DH's bad MU's except Sonic (who even then, is still a doable matchup). He may be a zoner but it doesn't say much considering how Duck Hunt isn't really good at it in the first place, and they really don't play as similarly as they might seem. What Pac-Man offers over Duck Hunt is:

• He can actually zone for real
• A Better Recovery, Duck Hunt's recovery is really not that great
• A stronger edgeguarding game
• Various shenanigans with his bonus fruit, hydrants, and trampoline.

Other good secondaries I'd recommend for Duck Hunt are

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I use shiek and Bowser jr as my secondaries

Sheik because I mained her back in melee and pretty good with her in this game

And Bowser Jr because he also has unique gameplay

 

[TheWorstMuppet]

I'm like, going back and forth in my mind on this, on whether I need a secondary or not. I play Olimar and Dedede occasionally, but usually during tournaments I rep the dog solo. Must admit, it's nice being known as the Duck Hunt guy in my region...

But I find myself struggling to break through to the top when I do go to tournaments. I keep wondering if I should switch in certain match ups due to how tricky they are for dog & duck. Like, I love Olimar and I probably would be maining him in this game if Duck Hunt wasn't so dang fun, but having him as a secondary doesn't seem like a good idea. They're pretty similar in some respects, and Olimar has just as hard a time against Sonic as DH does. It just doesn't seem like the best idea.

Now a character like Greninja I can get behind as a secondary. I like playing him, he's not too shabby against Sonic and he plays differently enough to Duck Hunt that I don't feel weird about playing both of them...

But should I pick up a secondary?

I feel like I don't even know enough yet about my own character to warrant having a secondary, and I want to learn all the match-ups with Duck Hunt before I commit to anything. But at the same time, the match-ups I know aren't good for dog crop up a lot and it looks pretty bleak sometimes. I am really conflicted here.

What do you guys think?

 

[Funkermonster]

I'm like, going back and forth in my mind on this, on whether I need a secondary or not. I play Olimar and Dedede occasionally, but usually during tournaments I rep the dog solo. Must admit, it's nice being known as the Duck Hunt guy in my region...

But I find myself struggling to break through to the top when I do go to tournaments. I keep wondering if I should switch in certain match ups due to how tricky they are for dog & duck. Like, I love Olimar and I probably would be maining him in this game if Duck Hunt wasn't so dang fun, but having him as a secondary doesn't seem like a good idea. They're pretty similar in some respects, and Olimar has just as hard a time against Sonic as DH does. It just doesn't seem like the best idea.

Now a character like Greninja I can get behind as a secondary. I like playing him, he's not too shabby against Sonic and he plays differently enough to Duck Hunt that I don't feel weird about playing both of them...

But should I pick up a secondary?

I feel like I don't even know enough yet about my own character to warrant having a secondary, and I want to learn all the match-ups with Duck Hunt before I commit to anything. But at the same time, the match-ups I know aren't good for dog crop up a lot and it looks pretty bleak sometimes. I am really conflicted here.

What do you guys think?

With that bit of info, one important thing to note is that Greninja is NOT a secondary character. He doesn't do that great against Sonic either.

 

[TheWorstMuppet]

Ah right. My bad, I was going by the general consensus over on the Greninja boards. I know Greninja's a pretty tricky character to use, but I thought he was different enough in playstyle to go hand in hand with DH.

 

[Funkermonster]

True, his playstyle is different enough to go hand in with DH. Problem is, his learning curve is high to very high and he's one of the more difficult characters in the game. If ya haven't noticed, not many high level players use him and there's a reason why people gravitate away from him. He's an extremely precise character who depends more on player skill than anything else and it takes quite some work and dedication to use hi, has quite a few weaknesses that render him pretty hard to play. His biggest weakness, imo, is that you NEED to have a lead with him and make sure that you kill the opponent first. Every move you make needs to be well-planned with a good reason behind it, and while you can afford to take risks sometimes you still need to be sure that any possible punishment is as small as it can be. If you die first and your opponent gets a lead, it can be really hard to take back what's yours and make comebacks, he's pretty reliant on rage for kills and without it you might find yourself having trouble taking stocks. For a fast character, he also has bad frame data with plenty of moves that are kinda slow in startup, and his out of shield options are PATHETIC. There's nothing this character hates more than when he has to push the shield button.

If you really don't feel that confident with your Duck Hunt yet, I would suggest taking care of that before picking up Greninja. Otherwise, you might as well make him your new main if you intend to learn him. The character is really good for the most part and generally pretty safe, but it just takes sooo much work to learn him that I'm not sure you'd find it worth it. On a side note, I disagree that Olimar struggles with Sonic, I think the MU is even or maybe Olimar's favor, actually. Sonic's weakness is that he has a linear approach and has a lot of trouble dealing with zoning characters, while he has great speed he doesn't really have any safe approaching normals to go with it and can't play rushdown like say, Diddy or Sheik with ther Fairs. Instead he has to play a heavy bait and punish game and constantly revolve around punishng and avoiding being punished, and if he's up against a good player with good projectile walls its hell to approach (Duck Hunt obviously doesn't fit this bill as his own projectiles are too slow), Olimar being one of them. Sometimes, Olimar can even grab Sonic out of his spindash if he gets too careless with it, more easily than other characters can.

 

[pepi1197]

I have three solid secondaries to compliment G&W and DHD. Jiggylpuff, Olimar and the Captain are probably the characters I use the most as secondaries. Jigglypuff simply for the aerial mobility even though she tends to have very poor matchups against a slew of characters. Falcon is my go to against Mac, Sonic or ZSS because the speed and easy guaranteed combos make their speed useless if I get a grab. Olimar is just for the S&Gs, because most swordsman players have no idea how to compensate for not having reach on me.

 

[TheWorstMuppet]

True, his playstyle is different enough to go hand in with DH. Problem is, his learning curve is high to very high and he's one of the more difficult characters in the game. If ya haven't noticed, not many high level players use him and there's a reason why people gravitate away from him. He's an extremely precise character who depends more on player skill than anything else and it takes quite some work and dedication to use hi, has quite a few weaknesses that render him pretty hard to play. His biggest weakness, imo, is that you NEED to have a lead with him and make sure that you kill the opponent first. Every move you make needs to be well-planned with a good reason behind it, and while you can afford to take risks sometimes you still need to be sure that any possible punishment is as small as it can be. If you die first and your opponent gets a lead, it can be really hard to take back what's yours and make comebacks, he's pretty reliant on rage for kills and without it you might find yourself having trouble taking stocks. For a fast character, he also has bad frame data with plenty of moves that are kinda slow in startup, and his out of shield options are PATHETIC. There's nothing this character hates more than when he has to push the shield button.

If you really don't feel that confident with your Duck Hunt yet, I would suggest taking care of that before picking up Greninja. Otherwise, you might as well make him your new main if you intend to learn him. The character is really good for the most part and generally pretty safe, but it just takes sooo much work to learn him that I'm not sure you'd find it worth it. On a side note, I disagree that Olimar struggles with Sonic, I think the MU is even or maybe Olimar's favor, actually. Sonic's weakness is that he has a linear approach and has a lot of trouble dealing with zoning characters, while he has great speed he doesn't really have any safe approaching normals to go with it and can't play rushdown like say, Diddy or Sheik with ther Fairs. Instead he has to play a heavy bait and punish game and constantly revolve around punishng and avoiding being punished, and if he's up against a good player with good projectile walls its hell to approach (Duck Hunt obviously doesn't fit this bill as his own projectiles are too slow), Olimar being one of them. Sometimes, Olimar can even grab Sonic out of his spindash if he gets too careless with it, more easily than other characters can.

Thanks man. I understand. Greninja's a big step. I won't be giving up Duck Hunt. I do need to be way more consistent with him. I was just worrying yesterday that there was a necessity to have a secondary for him, even though I'm not the best Duck Hunt I can be yet. Back ta training.

 

[Blumiere]

Wait, what about ? If Duck Hunt emphasizes air control from the ground, doesn't she do the best job of emphasizing ground control from the air, or is there a better or better characters that fit that criteria?

I'm still not 100% sold on my second main choice here. I've actually found immense satisfaction in messing around with too but I doubt he's a practical choice given the rushdown discrepancy.

 

[ThatGuyYouMightKnow]

The thing about Greninja is yeah, he isn't that much of a character you use for a secondary, however I do try. The main reason why I 'second' Greninja is because I think he's the second most fun character I could find in the roster, and it shows because of how creative both DHD and Greninja are able to be in neutral game and combos.

When it comes to actually using him against people, I really only bring Greninja out against some such as Sheik, Sonic and possibly a few others, and since DHD can be complete ass in teams, I use Greninja for 2v2 and other team formats. Otherwise, I never really use him in a tourney setting. I just don't seem to do as well with Greninja. I've been meaning to ask Techie for some information on Greninja since he's Xanadu's premiere Greninja right now (I've done a good amount of dittos with him, he definitely does things I don't, like reads with sideB).

His speed is nice, but it's mainly that Greninja has good jabs, tilts and great grab combos + easier kills and gimps than DHD that would help someone looking for a secondary I think. Meanwhile DHD struggles indefinitely at close range and offstage.

I'm someone who really suggests not picking up other characters and just doing your best with the one you love, and based on recent results I'm sticking to that (not using Greninja, for example)...but some just do better using multiple characters I suppose. Everyone is different.

 

[Tha_Crystal_Gemz]

I may be biased since I mained her since Melee, but I think Peach is a very good compliment for DH. I know her obvious weakness is that she is floaty/light, but she can be played very versatile/creatively and I don't think she has too many bad match ups (only rob and sonic give me trouble). She has the turnip to zone opponents out (Defense) or they can be used for hit confirmations/combos (Offense). She just has lots of options - both on the ground and air due to float etc and, she can be played differently against any character for several circumstances. I dunno, it works for me, but everyone is different.

 

[Funkermonster]

I may be biased since I mained her since Melee, but I think Peach is a very good compliment for DH. I know her obvious weakness is that she is floaty/light, but she can be played very versatile/creatively and I don't think she has too many bad match ups (only rob and sonic give me trouble). She has the turnip to zone opponents out (Defense) or they can be used for hit confirmations/combos (Offense). She just has lots of options - both on the ground and air due to float etc and, she can be played differently against any character for several circumstances. I dunno, it works for me, but everyone is different.

She also severely lacks mobility with poor ground speed, mediocre air speed, and I think the 2nd slowest falling speed. To understand how slow she is, play a fast guy like Little Mac, Sonic, Wario, or Fox for a little bit until you forget how slow a character can be; then go back to Peach see what it feels like. The better characters of the game are fast, have a good zoning game (and no, she can't zone with tunips, its been havily nerfed from brawl and the move in general is terrible now), insane combos and/or kill power, and they usually have good rolls too; Peach has a hard time with all of these and she's hardly any better at killing than Duck Hunt is. For these reasons I have to disagree with her being a good compliment to DH, or anyone for that matter. She's not a bad character by any means and she does have potential, but she's not a great character either and in general she would still lose to most of the same characters DH does: . Fast characters and zoning characters just give her too hard a time.

Also, considering how high her learning curve is, Peach isn't exactly a secondary character in the first place.

 

[Tha_Crystal_Gemz]

I am aware of her slow speed, but I believe she has some tools and strategies to make up for that (Quick Float Release, Bunny hops, Float Cancel Fast Fall etc). I understand you state her turnips are "terrible now due to nerfing," but I take that with a grain of salt, as I am still successful in keeping Capt. Falcons, Yoshis, Marios and even some aggressive Sonics at bay and it does help with edge guarding. I don't think "good rolls" (first time hearing this, so maybe you mean something more detailed) are a problem per se, Peach's down A is a pretty good choice for those if they are predictable. I would agree a little that it can be difficult killing with her at times, but really, that all depends on the habits of your opponent.
I do fully agree though that due to her learning curve she isn't really fit to be a secondary character, but I did say that everyone is different and this is something that kinda works for me. I'm noticing that there is more of an interest in Peach and even an increase in people picking her up, so just threw my opinion out there.

 

[Joshua Flynn]

My secondary for duck hunt duo is another character also with problems (although I've been playing them far less, I've met a few dangerous players who had good game): Wario.

At the preface, Wario seems like a 'bad' choice. He's a troll character, right? All he has is that bike.

Well, turns out he's more than ideal for 'untraining' players who use the overused cliche counters for duck hunt duo (in-fact, it works even better if you pick Wario first, then switch to duck hunt second, because their counters for Wario are often vulnerable to duck hunt).

Firstly, his bike overrides Link's boomerang and arrows - insta-win for people who love to spam such atrocities against nature.
Secondly, his bike either nullifies, interrupts or overrides most side-B spam moves, especially if you time the wheelie well. Sonic does fall victim to his. Little Mac is pretty vulnerable, too.

Thirdly, even if he dies, his fart is very much an excellent 'insta' KO move (if by 'insta' you mean 'requires 80% damage before KO is assured') that stays with him after death, and, doubles as a nice emergency recovery move, and if well timed so his head impacts the player, an excellent aerial spike too.

He can also eat projectiles (countering projectile spam), and forces players onto the defensive with his bike, especially if deployed erratically. He can also do good edge coverage by throwing the bike upwards.


Essentially, he has all the traits required to combat duck hunt duo's worst enemies - side-B spammers and projectile spammers.


Done right, Wario 'untrains' the player from using spam tactics, which translates into a good early start for duck hunt in the next round. If Wario is deployed first, usually the player builds their expectations to countering Wario (thinking he's your better character), at which point duck hunt mops the floor with them.

 

[DunnoBro]

Look if you guys want a decent DHD you pretty much have to dedicate almost everything to that character, so only low-investment high-yield characters with simple game plans that can be easily recalled when you need to will suffice.

I've been toting I believe Mario is the best generic secondary character in the game. And it's especially true for DHD.

Not only does he cover our absolute worst MUs like Sonic, Fox, and Falcon, but he also provides stage coverage.

DHD doesn't like most CPs. Halberd, Delfino, Siege, and Duck hunt are all bad to meh for him. Mario's completely stupid to okay on those stages.

Mario's also much much better in dubs.

Luigi is also a great option and a proven successful combo by Shady Penguin, but I personally just hate that character lol

 

[WispBae]

Look if you guys want a decent DHD you pretty much have to dedicate almost everything to that character, so only low-investment high-yield characters with simple game plans that can be easily recalled when you need to will suffice.

I've been toting I believe Mario is the best generic secondary character in the game. And it's especially true for DHD.

Not only does he cover our absolute worst MUs like Sonic, Fox, and Falcon, but he also provides stage coverage.

DHD doesn't like most CPs. Halberd, Delfino, Siege, and Duck hunt are all bad to meh for him. Mario's completely stupid to okay on those stages.

Mario's also much much better in dubs.

Luigi is also a great option and a proven successful combo by Shady Penguin, but I personally just hate that character lol

I dunno... Doggy is high maintenance but there's still so much of the cast to explore.

I'm gonna be trying Wii Fit and Palutena as secondaries, they are a bit more simple and still do alright. Palutena is easier, but Wii Fit is more fun for me.

Robin as a secondary is hard, so I usually keep her for teams. Doggy and Robin just share too many similarities, I've only really pulled her out when I feel like I need more spacing... which is rare for Doggy.