Ganondorf Help

[Garlic Wonder]

Just because I'm a Wario main doesn't mean I don't use other characters. I like to also use Little Mac and Slammin' Ganon.

But, whenever I pick Ganon, I almost always lose as him, most likely I suck as him.

So you Ganon mains, could you help me with this character?

 

[JmacAttack]

This is much easier to do if we know what you're already doing, so I'm going to ask you a few questions.

• Are you throwing out laggy, unsafe attacks when you can't afford to do so?
• Do you know what Ganon's safe, quick attacks are? Do you know their spacing?
• Are you doing silly things like constantly doing Down-B in the air every time you get launched?
• Are you edge-guarding at all, and if so, what does your typical edgeguard consist of?
• Are you watching what your opponent is doing at all, and if so, does that factor into what you decide to do next?

Ganondorf is a patient character. He's capable of mounting ferocious pressure, however it's not pressure derived from speed, but from calculation. That pressure is useless if you swing wildly. Ganon is a chessmaster. You need to think a step ahead of your foes, luring them into a position they think is safe, but is actually a trap. Getting good with Ganon means getting good at thinking like your opponent, and predicting what they'll do next. Making reads, baiting, things like that.

 

[Sykkamorre]

This is much easier to do if we know what you're already doing, so I'm going to ask you a few questions.

• Are you throwing out laggy, unsafe attacks when you can't afford to do so?
• Do you know what Ganon's safe, quick attacks are? Do you know their spacing?
• Are you doing silly things like constantly doing Down-B in the air every time you get launched?
• Are you edge-guarding at all, and if so, what does your typical edgeguard consist of?
• Are you watching what your opponent is doing at all, and if so, does that factor into what you decide to do next?

Ganondorf is a patient character. He's capable of mounting ferocious pressure, however it's not pressure derived from speed, but from calculation. That pressure is useless if you swing wildly. Ganon is a chessmaster. You need to think a step ahead of your foes, luring them into a position they think is safe, but is actually a trap. Getting good with Ganon means getting good at thinking like your opponent, and predicting what they'll do next. Making reads, baiting, things like that.

Also, knowing what follow-ups you can perform on what characters from a choke.

 

[Scraptor]

Just because I'm a Wario main doesn't mean I don't use other characters. I like to also use Little Mac and Slammin' Ganon.

But, whenever I pick Ganon, I almost always lose as him, most likely I suck as him.

So you Ganon mains, could you help me with this character?

As someone who has been playing Ganondorf since melee but not trying to play him in tourneys or basically anyone outside my friends until now. I can say that it is almost an exercise in doing the opposite of what you think you should be doing with him out of the box. Practice all his tilt attacks and just stand in the middle of the stage and react to your opponent. Yes you will get juggled but you will notice that you will start winning matches only hitting your opponent with like 6 moves. The most difficult thing to do I find is playing against characters that I haven't played a lot against to know what moves to look out for. So you may lose but it will feel so good to play like a sonic and he is running around spin attacking you racking up damage and you hit with a well timed Ftilt and read one of his laggy air attacks to a Fsmash and he is dead.

 

[KieRanaRan]

Ganondorf's best friend is patience. Wait for opportunities and punish. Don't worry too much about light hits, he can soak up a decent amount of damage before it becomes a problem.

 

[A2ZOMG]

As I've stated a bunch of times, Ganondorf is literally a character that thrives on getting his opponent to fear him.

Most of his moves are not strictly safe, but the idea behind your moves is that your opponent is never completely safe either. Your goal as Ganondorf, is pretty much to make it very clear to your opponent that you will punish them for not respecting you.

Look at Ganon's Dash Attack for instance. Literally one of the best attacks in the game. Frame 10, massive range/damage/priority, and sets up more juggles when it hits. Yes, your opponent gets a free punish it they block it, but if they roll away, they get bashed. If they press a button that isn't a projectile, they get bashed 90% of the time. If they spotdodge or roll inwards, you're back in neutral and can still set up more pressure. Basically one thing you can do as Ganondorf is getting your opponent to be afraid of attacking you because your DA is such a huge threat that they don't want to contest. From there, once you predict your opponent is being careful, you can start doing other things like grabbing, Flame Choke, aerials, or empty movements to get in their head and pick them apart.

There is nothing more satisfying and entertaining than successfully getting your opponent to fear and respect the inevitable destruction that ensues when playing Ganondorf.

 

[Z1GMA]

As I've stated a bunch of times, Ganondorf is literally a character that thrives on getting his opponent to fear him.

Most of his moves are not strictly safe, but the idea behind your moves is that your opponent is never completely safe either. Your goal as Ganondorf, is pretty much to make it very clear to your opponent that you will punish them for not respecting you.

Look at Ganon's Dash Attack for instance. Literally one of the best attacks in the game. Frame 10, massive range/damage/priority, and sets up more juggles when it hits. Yes, your opponent gets a free punish it they block it, but if they roll away, they get bashed. If they press a button that isn't a projectile, they get bashed 90% of the time. If they spotdodge or roll inwards, you're back in neutral and can still set up more pressure. Basically one thing you can do as Ganondorf is getting your opponent to be afraid of attacking you because your DA is such a huge threat that they don't want to contest. From there, once you predict your opponent is being careful, you can start doing other things like grabbing, Flame Choke, aerials, or empty movements to get in their head and pick them apart.

There is nothing more satisfying and entertaining than successfully getting your opponent to fear and respect the inevitable destruction that ensues when playing Ganondorf.

I agree. Also, another thing than makes the move great is how the weak version of it true comboes into rising Fair/Uair at higher %s. Super Deadly by the ledges.

 

[Izanagi97]

From what I have seen, a good combo for Ganon consists of these

Ground Side B (flame choke, grounds the foe) 16%
Down tilt (fairly quick kick that pops the foe into the air) 13%

And one of 3 aerials

Fair (very strong punch that can KO at low percents) 17%
Uair (fast flip kick) 13%
Dair (lethal stomp that meteor smashes) 19%

Done right, you will have inflicted 42%-48% damage in a short amount of time and can readily KO your foes with an Up tilt, Neutral B, or any of his (20%-30%+ damage) Smash attacks.