How do you play your D3? Sharing advice, strategy, and more!

[FierceFox]

I figured this would be a fun, friendly way to get a feel for each others' approaches, combos, strategies, etc. I picked up D3 roughly a week ago and I'm totally diggin' him. The king is an extremely powerful character with the ability to mix in a few combos here and there. Also, love that he has an incredible recovery along with his heavy body. Possible top tier character? Sure, it's a bit too soon to be thinking of such things, but I'm thinking so...

Just share your answers/advice to the following questions or ask a couple of your own. All advice and info is welcome!

1) What are your go to KO moves?

• D-Smash --> the most effective as it has a quick release and a great deal of knock-back; ideal to use against a roll-friendly opponents who spend most of the time on the ground
• B-Air --> greatest knock-back of the aerials offered; ideal to use when opponent is recovering or spending time in the air
• Side-B (Gordo throw) --> racks up the damage and can KO light or high percentage characters; ideal to use against far away opponents
• D-Tilt --> surprisingly can KO at high percentages and not hard to land
• Best punishes (for broken shield, etc.) include F-Smash and charged Down-B.
• If you're a jerk, go with the Neutral-B off the stage (only works on novices)

2) How do you combo out of down throw (or other throws)?

• Down Throw to F-Air Combo; ideal for low percentage or heavy characters
• Down Throw to Up-Air; ideal for high percentage or light characters, also works after they know your F-Air followup combo as the opponent may air dodge and the Up-Air can outlast many air dodges

I've heard of N-Air being a combo out of Down Throw, but I've never actually tried it. I use that move quite often and wouldn't want it to become stale quickly.

3) Your approaches to opponents?

NOTE: all of these approaches can be started with a Run near opponent then Shield (to get a feel for opponents move); also, fast falling is obviously encouraged when appropriate (F-Air has basically no landing lag)

• Short Hop, Side-B (Gordo throw) in mid-air aimed towards opponent; can rack up to ~30% if landed correctly
• Short Hop, N-Air --> good to mix in here and there to surprise opponent
• D-Tilt --> I feel like this move is overlooked, it really can be useful to mix up your game
• F-Tilt --> Great approach if you're anticipating your opponent coming directly at you (perfect against spinning Sonics, impatient Little Macs, etc.)
• Of course an approach is to stay far away and continually launch Gordos (depending on who the opponent is, for example, works against Sheik as needles don't reverse the Gordo, but won't be a good approach against Yoshi as eggs do reverse the Gordo)

4) What's your edge-guarding strategy?

• Side-B (Gordo throw) --> always my first edgeguard technique, use it to influence the opponents path and land a hit where you assume they will recover; ideally aim one vertically as you are near the ledge and then chase the F-Air, B-Air, etc.
• B-Air in the air and D-Smash on ground
• Don't be afraid to go all out for a F-Air to kill the opponent. D3 has a great recovery and has nothing to lose due to the new edge-hogging

Can Up-B used to spike people to death, I believe I've seen it done before, but unsure if actually worth going for? Any common edge-guarding techniques I need to know of? Of course lodging a Gordo on the ledge would be ideal, but seems to be very difficult to achieve.
5) Favorite move(s) and why?

• N-Air --> Perfect to drop on opponents when above them (long hit-box and has a great deal of priority)
• D-Tilt --> I feel like this move is probably overlooked because of the animation. I believe it's worth mixing in now and then
• Keep in mind to cancel Up-B press Up-B again (must let circle-pad return to center first) --> this is useful if accidentally aiming Up-B in wrong direction so you can still grab the ledge

QUICK QUESTION
Does anyone know any good ways to not get punished when recovering for the ledge? Seems like all the elite Smashers I play will get a free hit no matter how I recover from ledge. I've tried jumping, rolling (tech), attacking, but all end with me getting hit. Thoughts?

EDIT: Sorry if this is common info. I've been away from the Smash scene for a while and this game has sparked my interest. Please feel free to inform me of any pages, info, etc. that I may be missing. Thanks again!

 

[Karthage]

Down throw to fair is not always safe.

I've down thrown to fair at low percents and been hit by powerful aerials during the attack recovery because they recover so fast.

That's why my low percentage dthrow combo is into nair.

Down throw -> nair -> fast fall -> shield then:
If the come at you with an aerial, you get to shield grab them
If they fall to the ground, you can get a jab combo for ~18 more damage
If they double jump, you can try and challenge them in the air with uair or prepare for their landing with utilt/usmash/whatever

On ledge recovery, if they leap off the stage, I try to go for an on stage recovery with up B. Even though it has a lot of lag, it's usually safe due to them not being able to get back to the stage in time to punish.

If you hit the ledge and they are waiting for you on stage, the safest option I've found is just a normal get up from the ledge with no attack works very often, and if they anticipate that specifically, I start doing the other options, such as going for a ledge attack. My most frequent ledge recovery is a normal getup and then a roll away from the ledge, I've never seen it punished.

Up B can spike people, but the only time I've ever had it be useful was a desperation recovery up B against an off the stage opponent, spiking them to their death before I die myself.

The common edge guarding techniques from what I've seen:
If they double jump quickly( recovering high ), you go really high and challenge them in the air with, in order of desirability: bair, fair, uair
If they go for a low recovery to sweet spot the ledge, stay above them and try for a dair or bair, and if you can, try to smack them against the stage for a stage spike( difficult ). Dair can be hard to land, but landing a low percent dair will usually win you the entire match.
If you aren't in a position to chase them off the stage, I throw out a gordo( not always a good idea, sometimes they can hit it back and still comfortably recover )
If they go for ledge re-grabs, they become open to a dsmash while hanging. It can be difficult to land it, but it's often a kill if you hit an opponent hanging with dsmash.

 

[WabbitSeason]

Spam gordos. It gets in people's heads eventually. Having to keep hitting them back and all.

And ledge camping is funny too. D3's attacks go through the stage quite a bit so you can hit people when getting back.