Dorf Stages: When and Why

[VegiLohrd]

I'm new to competitive Melee, and I fell in love with the 'Dorf. The power, the (lack of) speed, everything about him is fun to play.

BUT I lack knowledge on what stages are best for him to play on and why.

For example, I know Final Destination is probably one of if not his worst stage due to lack of platforms. And I know that popular consensus is that Dream Land is his best. So these questions arise:

1. Why is Dream Land considered the best Ganondorf stage over say Battlefield or Yoshi's Story?
2. Is there ever any reason to pick another stage if Dream Land is available?
3. Is there any time when I shouldn't pick a certain stage, like against certain characters or something?

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

1. wouldn't say that i personally believe, or have heard that dream land is ganondorfs best stage. see my last paragraph though.
2. yes, absolutely. you generally shouldn't be taking floaty characters to dream land unless your preference is highly skewed towards it. stages for ganondorf are heavily matchup dependent (this is the case for many characters, tbh)
3. preference plays a big role here as well, but there are some stages that are outright terrible for ganondorf in certain matchups, such as FD vs falcon, sheik, or zoning-based characters.

my personal favourite stage is yoshis because ganondorf generally has an easier time walling out his opponents there and your strengths are mostly amplified there as well (killpower becomes much more relevant).

the main con to yoshis though imo is that there's really not any room to use his down-b recovery safely, as opposed to bigger stages like dream land or even battlefield. vs worse players they're probably too scared to go out there and hit you for down-b'ing in bad spots, but good players understand how truly vulnerable he is when recovering. you need all the space you can get, and sometimes dream land is perfect for this.

 

[Renth]

You're from Pittsburgh?

Who are you and how do I not know you?

 

[Superspright]

I still think FoD is his best stage. If your timing is very good then you can almost always do aerials. Sakurai definitely based Ganondorf's jumps on platforms. There are two heights where instant aerials will put you underneath the platforms instead of on--one for SH, and one for FH. I think he's pretty solid there if you're comfortable, but Yoshi's is probably a trade off. You die really easy off the top. I don't like that, and like he stated people will punish your recovery more...but who cares? We get back roughly 1/10th of the time anyway.

 

[X WaNtEd X]

Stage preference is the biggest factor when considering where to go. However, most people have similar stage preference as they get better because the objective strengths of ganon (and all characters really) on certain stages come out more. Still, no one is perfect and that's why some play better on stages they shouldn't necessarily, given the matchup. Another thing to consider is adaptation. What happened game 1 should heavily motivate your counter pick, even if your choice goes against the textbook choice. Just watch stage picks in high level matches and you'll see for yourself.

 

[VegiLohrd]

You're from Pittsburgh?

Who are you and how do I not know you?

Well I just started taking it seriously like a 2 months ago so I haven't been to any tournaments or friendlies or anything like that. Combine that with the fact I go to school in Edinboro and that's probably why

 

[Triforce of Love]

Great thread, im also a young Ganon lover and ive been looking for a thread about Dorf's stages for a while. Im wondering in what type of situations would it be a smart choice to pick FD, if any?





The Great King of Evil!

 

[-ACE-]

Most people don't like FD as Ganon, I don't mind it. I'll go FD against most floaties, depending (puff, samus, marios, sometimes marth, etc). You always want to think about why you lost the last match when counterpicking, and take into account your habits/strengths/weaknesses as well as your opponents' (not just his character). You may want to go there just because your opponent is using platforms to his advantage better than you are presently, for example. FD provides tons of room to space your attacks and bait approaches, which can often help you set the pace of the neutral game (Ganon very rarely has this ability). Platforms generally help Ganon but he doesn't need them to be successful imho (and in some cases they make Ganon straight combo food). Every Ganon's ground game is lacking basically. Tilts, jabs, SHFF wavelands, intelligent dash dancing, and techchasing become more important on FD. The chaingrab obviously has no limits also. It's a different game there... once you get a firm grip on what the stage provides you'll know when it can be an asset.

 

[PunkAaron]

Am I the only one that enjoys FD? I feel like I have more opportunities for combos. I guess that's just a given though.

 

[DrWorm]

Am I the only one that enjoys FD? I feel like I have more opportunities for combos. I guess that's just a given though.

I'm not a huge fan of FD because i feel after about 4-5 hard hits they're generally hit too far away to follow up on and plus platforms are always good IMO

 

[X WaNtEd X]

I actually play better on FD than I'd like to admit. I ban it too quickly sometimes. I will often go for whatever stage benefits me, rather than considering what stages my opponent favors. For example, two nights ago I was playing against a samus who had trained himself to play better on battlefield to get past his restrictions. He counterpicked it against me game 2 and won. I went back there game 3 and lost again, by a very thin margin. I was thinking too much about what stage benefitted me and not about him. Ironically, I won the first game by three stocks on dreamland, which should be much more beneficial for him.

 

[-ACE-]

I'm not a huge fan of FD because i feel after about 4-5 hard hits they're generally hit too far away to follow up on and plus platforms are always good IMO

Dude, 4-5 hard hits and they're dead, lol.