K rool is a garbage low midtier

[Deleted member]

Right now, Krool will require heavy patience and baiting. While this is a fundamental in Smash and superheavies require it more due to their universal inferiority, Krool, as either the worst or second worst superheavy in the game, needs to play "avoid and evade". Shielding is very important for him if he want to rely on throws to get far, and I believe he can gimp just fine.

He's low tier at best.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

King K. Rool probably would've been better if he was given actual super armor for his slower attacks. Of course, that alone wouldn't change anything when you realize that grabs outrank all forms of armor.

 

[Vincey_Boi]

King K. Rool probably would've been better if he was given actual super armor for his slower attacks. Of course, that alone wouldn't change anything when you realize that grabs outrank all forms of armor.

I mean Nintendo already gave him a BUNCh of super armor on his aerials and on some of his smash attacks so i dont think they would try to add more to make the character to good.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I mean Nintendo already gave him a BUNCh of super armor on his aerials and on some of his smash attacks so i dont think they would try to add more to make the character to good.

Still, he could afford some mobility improvements, and a start-up lag reduction for certain attacks. Even the up special could afford to have heavy armor implemented, just so that it's not easily gimped by even the weakest hitboxes.

 

[Vincey_Boi]

Still, he could afford some mobility improvements, and a start-up lag reduction for certain attacks. Even the up special could afford to have heavy armor implemented, just so that it's not easily gimped by even the weakest hitboxes.

True

 

[Leoinu]

At this point, us disgruntled Rool mains will have switched to DK, an actually useful superheavy.

Bowser. That is all

 

[Deleted member]

Bowser. That is all

Don't you tell me who I'm allowed to main!

 

[Leoinu]

Don't you tell me who I'm allowed to main!

Im saying bowser is also a great super heavy. Chill

 

[~The Koopa King~]

Right now, Krool will require heavy patience and baiting. While this is a fundamental in Smash and superheavies require it more due to their universal inferiority, Krool, as either the worst or second worst superheavy in the game, needs to play "avoid and evade". Shielding is very important for him if he want to rely on throws to get far, and I believe he can gimp just fine.

He's low tier at best.

this is the sad truth you gotta work way too hard for a mediocre reward and there's just no sugar-coating the truth

K,Rool players are in an uphill battle against everyone else

 

[Call_Me_Red]

this is the sad truth you gotta work way too hard for a mediocre reward and there's just no sugar-coating the truth

K,Rool players are in an uphill battle against everyone else

Guys, I respect you as people, but either git gud or pick a different character. Yes, we know K Rool isn't top tier. We know he has glaring flaws. The point of this board isn't to moan about it. The point is to make the best with what we got. We just had our boy win a major in Australia, this is the time to be hyped and re-energized. If you want to discuss tactics and gameplay involving King K, feel free. If you want to complain about how bad it is, no one here wants to hear it.

 

[meleebrawler]

Guys, I respect you as people, but either git gud or pick a different character. Yes, we know K Rool isn't top tier. We know he has glaring flaws. The point of this board isn't to moan about it. The point is to make the best with what we got. We just had our boy win a major in Australia, this is the time to be hyped and re-energized. If you want to discuss tactics and gameplay involving King K, feel free. If you want to complain about how bad it is, no one here wants to hear it.

Even when his mains win, they still lose.

 

[Deleted member]

Even when his mains win, they still lose.

How?

 

[~?~]

That's funny. I played K Rool yesterday for the first time and was robbing people of games with well spaced FAIRs and breaking out of combos with NAIRs. Unlike the majority of Krools who prioritize Side Special and Cannon, I used it so little that people forgot the move even existed. I was even beating players who trade games with me against my main, who is a high tier known as Link. Krool on paper is bad, but the worst part about him is that a lot of bad players play him and then complain that their mistakes are his fault. Stop crapping on the character so hard and actually learn how to apply his underrated tools in neutral, and frankly, stop spamming his garbage projectiles. If you stick to his aerials, and you space well, and play less defensively with your shield up all the time, you'll start taking games. It shouldn't take a guy with less than 2 hours of gameplay on the character to say this, but frankly, the community surrounding Krool is actually pathetic. To be honest, an aggressive Krool is quite scary, but that's a digression from the point, which is, stop sucking, and learn to neutral with the character properly.

EDIT: Krool won a major recently. Eat your hat.

 

[meleebrawler]

How?

Some people are so determined to be negative they'll look for any reason to undermine or dismiss a character's successes.

 

[~?~]

Some people are so determined to be negative they'll look for any reason to undermine or dismiss a character's successes.

This is absolutely true. Krool isn't as bad in practice as he is on paper. Not saying he's 'good' but he for sure isn't a trashcan character.

 

[Coolboy]

Stop crapping on the character.

lol you know it's really funny that especially you are saying this about a character.. i remember a certain thread where you weren't really following your own advice...hypocrite much? xD

 

[Predatoria]

Guys, I respect you as people, but either git gud or pick a different character. Yes, we know K Rool isn't top tier. We know he has glaring flaws. The point of this board isn't to moan about it. The point is to make the best with what we got. We just had our boy win a major in Australia, this is the time to be hyped and re-energized. If you want to discuss tactics and gameplay involving King K, feel free. If you want to complain about how bad it is, no one here wants to hear it.

That's funny. I played K Rool yesterday for the first time and was robbing people of games with well spaced FAIRs and breaking out of combos with NAIRs. Unlike the majority of Krools who prioritize Side Special and Cannon, I used it so little that people forgot the move even existed. I was even beating players who trade games with me against my main, who is a high tier known as Link. Krool on paper is bad, but the worst part about him is that a lot of bad players play him and then complain that their mistakes are his fault. Stop crapping on the character so hard and actually learn how to apply his underrated tools in neutral, and frankly, stop spamming his garbage projectiles. If you stick to his aerials, and you space well, and play less defensively with your shield up all the time, you'll start taking games. It shouldn't take a guy with less than 2 hours of gameplay on the character to say this, but frankly, the community surrounding Krool is actually pathetic. To be honest, an aggressive Krool is quite scary, but that's a digression from the point, which is, stop sucking, and learn to neutral with the character properly.

EDIT: Krool won a major recently. Eat your hat.

I could NOT agree MORE!

I get very annoyed when people have defeatist attitudes. I'm not a Krool main, but I am a Ridley main, and he has had his fair share of moaners too, where I'm internally thinking "Just go away and main a high tier already."

In my personal opinion, this games balance isn't even that bad, especially compared to previous games.

It's so easy to try and blame your character for your losses, rather than check your own play, because you can then justify not being inferior in play to your opponent. I've just started going to weeklies, and have been to 3 now. I have gotten royally destroyed by players at my weekly, many of whom are playing very high tier characters. I went 0-2 my first week. Did I blame Ridley? No, I did not. The people I ran into were vastly more knowledgeable and vastly more skilled than I, and they were performing the game's fundamental mechanics to a much higher and more consistent degree. Admitting to this is a very important part of improving your own game, whereas just condemning your character for your struggles will only induce saltiness and make you a worse player.

I've fought a Pichu main every week in friendlies, spending sometimes entire stocks being electrocuted to death and stage-spiked. Did I blame Ridley? No. I'm not good about DI'ing his combos or knockback effects properly, and am not playing a solid neutral game. He is beating me. He is not beating Ridley, but me. So what? Learn from it and get better.

Guess what? Last week I beat a Pichu player in bracket, as Ridley. I also beat an Inkling, in a bracketed match, as Ridley.

Blaming your character for your losses is a very good way to become extremely toxic towards the game and that's when you stop having fun.
Ya'll need to check the attitudes and learn to play, learn to lose graciously and learn from it, and stop complaining all the time about King Krool's tier placement. After all, if you stop blaming your character and start actually trying to learn matchups, learn what you can do, and practice instead of complain, you may start beating some folks and Krool may surprise you.

 

[meleebrawler]

I could NOT agree MORE!

I get very annoyed when people have defeatist attitudes. I'm not a Krool main, but I am a Ridley main, and he has had his fair share of moaners too, where I'm internally thinking "Just go away and main a high tier already."

In my personal opinion, this games balance isn't even that bad, especially compared to previous games.

It's so easy to try and blame your character for your losses, rather than check your own play, because you can then justify not being inferior in play to your opponent. I've just started going to weeklies, and have been to 3 now. I have gotten royally destroyed by players at my weekly, many of whom are playing very high tier characters. I went 0-2 my first week. Did I blame Ridley? No, I did not. The people I ran into were vastly more knowledgeable and vastly more skilled than I, and they were performing the game's fundamental mechanics to a much higher and more consistent degree. Admitting to this is a very important part of improving your own game, whereas just condemning your character for your struggles will only induce saltiness and make you a worse player.

I've fought a Pichu main every week in friendlies, spending sometimes entire stocks being electrocuted to death and stage-spiked. Did I blame Ridley? No. I'm not good about DI'ing his combos or knockback effects properly, and am not playing a solid neutral game. He is beating me. He is not beating Ridley, but me. So what? Learn from it and get better.

Guess what? Last week I beat a Pichu player in bracket, as Ridley. I also beat an Inkling, in a bracketed match, as Ridley.

Blaming your character for your losses is a very good way to become extremely toxic towards the game and that's when you stop having fun.
Ya'll need to check the attitudes and learn to play, learn to lose graciously and learn from it, and stop complaining all the time about King Krool's tier placement. After all, if you stop blaming your character and start actually trying to learn matchups, learn what you can do, and practice instead of complain, you may start beating some folks and Krool may surprise you.

People also like to use online as a scapegoat for their shortcomings, which is a shame as it tends to muddy the actual issues.

 

[~?~]

lol you know it's really funny that especially you are saying this about a character.. i remember a certain thread where you weren't really following your own advice...hypocrite much? xD

He is crap in the overall roster, not unusable. Winning isn't impossible either. There is a pretty huge difference between me saying 'he's bad' and players saying 'he's unusable'. I consider him between an upper low tier and a lower mid tier. My opinions haven't really changed.

 

[Call_Me_Red]

That's funny. I played K Rool yesterday for the first time and was robbing people of games with well spaced FAIRs and breaking out of combos with NAIRs. Unlike the majority of Krools who prioritize Side Special and Cannon, I used it so little that people forgot the move even existed. I was even beating players who trade games with me against my main, who is a high tier known as Link. Krool on paper is bad, but the worst part about him is that a lot of bad players play him and then complain that their mistakes are his fault. Stop crapping on the character so hard and actually learn how to apply his underrated tools in neutral, and frankly, stop spamming his garbage projectiles. If you stick to his aerials, and you space well, and play less defensively with your shield up all the time, you'll start taking games. It shouldn't take a guy with less than 2 hours of gameplay on the character to say this, but frankly, the community surrounding Krool is actually pathetic. To be honest, an aggressive Krool is quite scary, but that's a digression from the point, which is, stop sucking, and learn to neutral with the character properly.

EDIT: Krool won a major recently. Eat your hat.

In one message you manages to boost our character up, kick our character down, dump on our community, brag about how good you are, and also tell everyone how bad we are at playing our own mains.

But seriously, I can agree with the sentiment but I don't agree with the execution of it. It just came off as pretentious.

 

[Coolboy]

In one message you manages to boost our character up, kick our character down, dump on our community, brag about how good you are, and also tell everyone how bad we are at playing our own mains.

But seriously, I can agree with the sentiment but I don't agree with the execution of it. It just came off as pretentious.

he does this in other threads so it's best to just ignore most of his sentences cause most of it is just him bragging about how good he finds himself and how bad/wrong everyone else is, he literally thinks hes all that so he thinks he knows it better then everyone else :l
but this dude is very salty about a certain character and he feels entitled enough that he is allowed to talk **** about it just cause he had bad experiences with the character, but he thinks other people in this thread shouldn't talk **** about a character though cause he has good experiences with it..weird logic am i right? xD

 

[waVe64]

No. His armor is still stupid.

He's the casual top-tier, along with Zelda.

 

[Deleted member]

I could NOT agree MORE!

I get very annoyed when people have defeatist attitudes. I'm not a Krool main, but I am a Ridley main, and he has had his fair share of moaners too, where I'm internally thinking "Just go away and main a high tier already."

In my personal opinion, this games balance isn't even that bad, especially compared to previous games.

It's so easy to try and blame your character for your losses, rather than check your own play, because you can then justify not being inferior in play to your opponent. I've just started going to weeklies, and have been to 3 now. I have gotten royally destroyed by players at my weekly, many of whom are playing very high tier characters. I went 0-2 my first week. Did I blame Ridley? No, I did not. The people I ran into were vastly more knowledgeable and vastly more skilled than I, and they were performing the game's fundamental mechanics to a much higher and more consistent degree. Admitting to this is a very important part of improving your own game, whereas just condemning your character for your struggles will only induce saltiness and make you a worse player.

I've fought a Pichu main every week in friendlies, spending sometimes entire stocks being electrocuted to death and stage-spiked. Did I blame Ridley? No. I'm not good about DI'ing his combos or knockback effects properly, and am not playing a solid neutral game. He is beating me. He is not beating Ridley, but me. So what? Learn from it and get better.

Guess what? Last week I beat a Pichu player in bracket, as Ridley. I also beat an Inkling, in a bracketed match, as Ridley.

Blaming your character for your losses is a very good way to become extremely toxic towards the game and that's when you stop having fun.
Ya'll need to check the attitudes and learn to play, learn to lose graciously and learn from it, and stop complaining all the time about King Krool's tier placement. After all, if you stop blaming your character and start actually trying to learn matchups, learn what you can do, and practice instead of complain, you may start beating some folks and Krool may surprise you.

That's funny. I played K Rool yesterday for the first time and was robbing people of games with well spaced FAIRs and breaking out of combos with NAIRs. Unlike the majority of Krools who prioritize Side Special and Cannon, I used it so little that people forgot the move even existed. I was even beating players who trade games with me against my main, who is a high tier known as Link. Krool on paper is bad, but the worst part about him is that a lot of bad players play him and then complain that their mistakes are his fault. Stop crapping on the character so hard and actually learn how to apply his underrated tools in neutral, and frankly, stop spamming his garbage projectiles. If you stick to his aerials, and you space well, and play less defensively with your shield up all the time, you'll start taking games. It shouldn't take a guy with less than 2 hours of gameplay on the character to say this, but frankly, the community surrounding Krool is actually pathetic. To be honest, an aggressive Krool is quite scary, but that's a digression from the point, which is, stop sucking, and learn to neutral with the character properly.

EDIT: Krool won a major recently. Eat your hat.

Nowhere did any of you mention how stressful it is to git gud at neutral, let alone a lower tier character.

I mean, it's great that you've dedicated yourself to Ridley and learning neutral to the point that you beat two of the most busted characters in the game, but if that's supposed to encourage us not to drop King K., you're ignoring how bad struggling can be.

I personally got so fed up with losing with superheavies and failing to learn neutral that I resorted to picking up Lucina just so I could get better. While I fare better with her, she's not as fun as big damage characters who live forever, but I prefer easy progress to large, slow, unwinnable attack food.

Of course, the game stopped being fun for me, because losing doesn't motivate all of us, at least not productively. Some characters are so infuriating to fight that even learning neutral to counter them becomes a chore.

So while some people continue to main even Little Mac, us Krools are getting stressed and desperate.

 

[Predatoria]

Nowhere did any of you mention how stressful it is to git gud at neutral, let alone a lower tier character.

I mean, it's great that you've dedicated yourself to Ridley and learning neutral to the point that you beat two of the most busted characters in the game, but if that's supposed to encourage us not to drop King K., you're ignoring how bad struggling can be.

I personally got so fed up with losing with superheavies and failing to learn neutral that I resorted to picking up Lucina just so I could get better. While I fare better with her, she's not as fun as big damage characters who live forever, but I prefer easy progress to large, slow, unwinnable attack food.

Of course, the game stopped being fun for me, because losing doesn't motivate all of us, at least not productively. Some characters are so infuriating to fight that even learning neutral to counter them becomes a chore.

So while some people continue to main even Little Mac, us Krools are getting stressed and desperate.

I mentioned the Pichu thing because I wanted to emphasize just how much the player behind the character matters. Here I was being defeated by one player who mains Pichu, but was successful at beating another, both in a somewhat competitive environment (weekly bracket / friendlies). The character stayed the same.

I really just want to stress here, I wasn't losing to Pichu. I was losing to a player who was excellent at the game who happened to be playing Pichu, and was able to keep the state of mind that the matchup itself was not impossible, that it may not be as unfair to me as it may seem at first, and that I can learn and improve my own game regardless of the state of balance. If I improve upon my fundamentals, neutral game, and matchup knowledge, I'll have a better shot, regardless of whether or not I play Ridley, Krool, or a top tier, and this is likely true of many people. After all, I was able to overcome this and beat a Pichu player when it really counted because of this experience.

My first message may have been a bit harsh. I was in a lousy mood. It's just a real shame when people drop a character they really want to play because of this type of thing, and you said it here, you're not having as much fun with Lucina and would like to play Krool. I just don't like seeing people drop their mains at the expense of furthering themselves in a bracket or something. It ultimately waters down the competitor pool into a small subset of the character roster, and makes the scene all-around less enjoyable, and means people aren't having as much fun. I'd love to encounter more Krools. He's a fun, charismatic character that I enjoy seeing around.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

Nowhere did any of you mention how stressful it is to git gud at neutral, let alone a lower tier character.

I mean, it's great that you've dedicated yourself to Ridley and learning neutral to the point that you beat two of the most busted characters in the game, but if that's supposed to encourage us not to drop King K., you're ignoring how bad struggling can be.

I personally got so fed up with losing with superheavies and failing to learn neutral that I resorted to picking up Lucina just so I could get better. While I fare better with her, she's not as fun as big damage characters who live forever, but I prefer easy progress to large, slow, unwinnable attack food.

Of course, the game stopped being fun for me, because losing doesn't motivate all of us, at least not productively. Some characters are so infuriating to fight that even learning neutral to counter them becomes a chore.

So while some people continue to main even Little Mac, us Krools are getting stressed and desperate.

and really that isn't good for anyone....just being told "To Get Good" when that is easier than done is really frustrating

because in the end getting good with K.Rool isn't that simple you might think it is but it isn't and his list of flaws make it close to impossible to have any consistent success

the instant you run into A Palutena for example that's when you really start to see how screwed you are and the same goes for the other common place competitive scene characters

I Enjoy playing K.Rool but if had to play in a tournament I Wouldn't use him just because i know chances are good my opponent would just make my time miserable and run circles around me no matter what

 

[Call_Me_Red]

and really that isn't good for anyone....just being told "To Get Good" when that is easier than done is really frustrating

because in the end getting good with K.Rool isn't that simple you might think it is but it isn't and his list of flaws make it close to impossible to have any consistent success

the instant you run into A Palutena for example that's when you really start to see how screwed you are and the same goes for the other common place competitive scene characters

I Enjoy playing K.Rool but if had to play in a tournament I Wouldn't use him just because i know chances are good my opponent would just make my time miserable and run circles around me no matter what

So, you're saying it's easier to blame the character that you yourself picked, than to practice and improve at the game?

Seriously, not even being an a**hole. If you don't like your results with King K, pick a high tier, someone you think will get the results. You can git gud with other characters and eventually come back around. Everything you learn about the game does transfer over. It's just not fair to our community when you dump on the character we all enjoy and choose to play. It's not fair that you blame the character and not lack of experience.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

I've been playing the character since i unlocked him back in the first month of ultimate's release and have watched whatever tournament video's i could find that popped up with K.Rool featured

this isn't a case of "I Haven't learned enough about K.Rool" or I Haven't played him enough

he's a pretty basic character to nail down and when You've been playing him constantly since the game came out there's not a whole lot you can find or discover that you don't already know about


so i have no idea what I'm suppose to learn or discover at this point...or even practice

 

[Leoinu]

“I cant learn neutral!!”

Is it so hard to get into a mindset of “Maybe I shouldnt play rushdown.” Or “Maybe I shouldnt approach, maybe I can force them to come to me.”

 

[Call_Me_Red]

I've been playing the character since i unlocked him back in the first month of ultimate's release and have watched whatever tournament video's i could find that popped up with K.Rool featured

this isn't a case of "I Haven't learned enough about K.Rool" or I Haven't played him enough

he's a pretty basic character to nail down and when You've been playing him constantly since the game came out there's not a whole lot you can find or discover that you don't already know about


so i have no idea what I'm suppose to learn or discover at this point...or even practice

I disagree so much. I've been a K Rool main literally since the midnight release of the game. I am top 30 in my region of more than 700. Just this past week I've spent hours learning new tech with the King. Things like crown sliding, f tilt 2 frame, d throw KO options, using d tilt to read get ups, up smash to spike, dair to clip ledge, etc etc. There's a saying in my line of work; "The day you know everything is the day you need to quit." The game is only 6 months old, I can guarantee you do not know everything that this character has to offer, especially considering how many posts you make complaining about him.

 

[~The Koopa King~]

Never Heard of Crown Sliding

 

[MERPIS]

Is it possible for K Rool to turn into a viable character through patches even with how little nintendo has been touching characters?

 

[MrGameguycolor]

Is it possible for K Rool to turn into a viable character through patches even with how little nintendo has been touching characters?

Depends on how much you mean by "little".

 

[MamaLuigi123456]

Is it possible for K Rool to turn into a viable character through patches even with how little nintendo has been touching characters?

Well Diddy Kong got buffed big time in the last patch so I wouldn't say it's impossible.

I feel like what K. Rool needs the most is a speed buff. That alone would improve so many of his options by several magnitudes.

 

[MERPIS]

Well Diddy Kong got buffed big time in the last patch so I wouldn't say it's impossible.

I feel like what K. Rool needs the most is a speed buff. That alone would improve so many of his options by several magnitudes.

Like faster ground options? Aerial options??

 

[Scase]

Like faster ground options? Aerial options??

Virtually every one of his moves needs their ending lag shortened. They need to remove the delay from his suck on neutral B before you can input another special. His hitbox is massive, bis arm on his side B should do damage the way wolfs gun has the damage when you are too close.

Basically everything in his kit is just too slow and easy to punish.

 

[Call_Me_Red]

So, let's look at this like we're on the dev team. The team seems to be on the boat of 'buff their strengths, and nerf their weaknesses.' So let's make a list.

STRENGTHS:
-Damage output
-KO Potential
-Crown priority
-Super armor
-Big hitboxes
-Multiple bury moves
-Recovery (?)
-Spike hitboxes


WEAKNESSES:
-Combo food
-Frame data
-Hurtbox size
-Dropping crown
-Reflector is...meh
-Recovery (?)
-Speed / Air mobility
-Landing lag
-Gimmicky playstyle


So with this information we can assume if they were to buff KKR they would improve something in the Strengths category (this is supported by the previous buffs he received). I don't think they're gunna buff his damage output or KO potential any further than it already is, that seems a tad too much. What I would personally like to see is a buff to his recovery, mainly the horizontal aspect, or his crown. I think either making the crown stronger, or faster, or maybe even tossing the ability to 'drop' it all together since it seems to be the only thing that makes KKR a projectile character. And his up-b needs to be buffed because against certain character's it's just a death sentence...a really long and drawn out death sentence. What do you guys think? Remember to like and subscribe and leave a comment down below.

 

[MERPIS]

Landing lag

Compared to a lot of heavies his landing lag is actually great, what he needs is faster aerials startup wise mainly bair
And k rool’s kill power is very inconsistent. The only good kill power he really has is fair and dthrow to ftilt after 130%

 

[Deleted member]

So, let's look at this like we're on the dev team. The team seems to be on the boat of 'buff their strengths, and nerf their weaknesses.' So let's make a list.

STRENGTHS:
-Damage output
-KO Potential
-Crown priority
-Super armor
-Big hitboxes
-Multiple bury moves
-Recovery (?)
-Spike hitboxes


WEAKNESSES:
-Combo food
-Frame data
-Hurtbox size
-Dropping crown
-Reflector is...meh
-Recovery (?)
-Speed / Air mobility
-Landing lag
-Gimmicky playstyle


So with this information we can assume if they were to buff KKR they would improve something in the Strengths category (this is supported by the previous buffs he received). I don't think they're gunna buff his damage output or KO potential any further than it already is, that seems a tad too much. What I would personally like to see is a buff to his recovery, mainly the horizontal aspect, or his crown. I think either making the crown stronger, or faster, or maybe even tossing the ability to 'drop' it all together since it seems to be the only thing that makes KKR a projectile character. And his up-b needs to be buffed because against certain character's it's just a death sentence...a really long and drawn out death sentence. What do you guys think? Remember to like and subscribe and leave a comment down below.

Besides recovery, he needs a serious speed buff to his start-up and landing lag.

It seems like being a superheavy requires poor stats in these three areas. With Smash being speed dominant (just look at the tier lists), slow moves won't get you far, or any praise for that matter. Only very few heavies in general come close to viable, notably Snake; it seems unfair that this weight class has to be so far below the others.

 

[Call_Me_Red]

I feel like one of the problems K Rool has is that he doesn't have a niche. Every other heavy weight has a style (Bowser is a grappler, DK is a combo / early kill character, DDD is a trapper). K Rool has a bad case of Jack-of-all, Master-of-none. He has projectiles to make you think he's a trapper...but they're underwhelming and can be turned against him. He has armor to make you think he's a rush down, but his speed and frame data disagree. He has kill set ups off grabs, and throws that do massive damage, but the rest of his kit doesn't support this. He does have a really good off stage game for early kills, but his air speed, lack luster frame data and hit boxes, on top of his abusable recovery makes it not worth to go off stage a lot of times.

TL;DR K Rool's tool box doesn't lend itself to any one playstyle, so he's good at a few things, bad at a lot of things, and not great in any thing.

 

[meleebrawler]

I feel like one of the problems K Rool has is that he doesn't have a niche. Every other heavy weight has a style (Bowser is a grappler, DK is a combo / early kill character, DDD is a trapper). K Rool has a bad case of Jack-of-all, Master-of-none. He has projectiles to make you think he's a trapper...but they're underwhelming and can be turned against him. He has armor to make you think he's a rush down, but his speed and frame data disagree. He has kill set ups off grabs, and throws that do massive damage, but the rest of his kit doesn't support this. He does have a really good off stage game for early kills, but his air speed, lack luster frame data and hit boxes, on top of his abusable recovery makes it not worth to go off stage a lot of times.

TL;DR K Rool's tool box doesn't lend itself to any one playstyle, so he's good at a few things, bad at a lot of things, and not great in any thing.

The one thing King K. Rool unquestionably does far better than anything else is just... survive. Even with the ridiculous abuse he can take at times, it arguably takes more effort to put him down for good than any other fighter. Bowser and especially DK can be prone to getting spiked to an early death, but not K. Rool. He may take some damage but very few characters can reliably spike through his propeller, and those stage spikes aren't going to kill him until obscene percents anyway. This can let him play a long game to download his opponent's habits with his crownerang and foxtrot, plus blunderbuss in ledge scenarios.

I like to see him as a Ridley that trades off some offensive pressure for bulk & defence. Both require a keen awareness of your opponent's habits and shifting your playstyle to match in order to succeed, which unfortunately also makes them difficult to use and unpopular in a game with over 70 characters that makes it easier to just pick two specialists to cover your bases.