MagicJosh
Smash Apprentice
King Dedede is fat. Let's not kid ourselves. But that doesn't make him any less viable in doubles. I believe king is a prime partner with gimps, WOPing, and perfenctly setting up a teamate for the KO. I want to start a discussion about king dedede in doubles; not just the king himself though, as the kings partner is just as important. I also want to slowly mold this in to a “How to” guide for the king for people that may not be as knowledgable as they want to be as we go along.
Here is the king in a quick over-view
While this does sum up the king to some degree. There are many more things to be discussed. So let's split it up into 4 parts.
1: Singles vs. Doubles Dedede
2. The King's Move-set/ What to do and not do
3. The Partner
4. General Tactics
1. Singles Dedede vs. Doubles Dedede
(an introduction of the king to doubles)
In singles a D3 player will play around their biggest advantages; grabs, gimps, and pokes.
The shift from singles to doubles will be easy for some, and challenging for others, but what is important to remember about the king is that he is, more than anything, a SUPPORT character.
D3 is all about support through his amazing defense rather than offense. D3 has good offense, however, he suffers from being ridiculously fat and slow. To get a better picture of what I mean think of it like this. Imagine the very beginning of a game, right after the countdown, against a team of MK and G&W.
-Your best option is obviously not to go on the offensive, as BOTH of your opponents are dangerous to you.
-Avoiding their first offense and reacting properly is your best bet. In other words DEFENSE is your best bet.
Later in that same game, your partner gets knocked nearby, with G&W offstage, and MK approaching.
It's very safe to say that the MK is either going to nado, or attempt to continue to combo your teamate.
What are your options?
- Call the nado and u-tilt it
-Predict he will go for your partner and try to attack him out of it.
-Shield to block whatever he does (except are grab of course)
Your options few, and unfortunately your best option is the latter of the three. The DEFENSIVE option. Not to say you can't retreat aerials to defend, however you risk hitting your teammate should you choose that or the other two.
To be continued and discussed
2. The King's Moveset/What to do and not do
The first thing to notice is that since there are 2 opponents, do not expect to simply combo or gimp an opponent, as the other will likely try to save them (given they CAN) An important thing to understand I don't see many people getting is that you don't HAVE to separate the opponents and play as if in a 1v1.
Being a support character, it is crucial to be near enough to your partner to help when ever time calls for it. Having an amazing kill move that comes out fast (u-tilt) and the best set up for a kill IN THE GAME (d-throw), being close to your partner allows you to abuse those things to no end. A huge problem the king has however is BEING there. Being so fat and slow means we have to play it right so we can actually BE where we need to be. You can have the coolest, flashiest, most devestatingest team combo all memorized and ready to go, but it won't make a difference if you spend all game offstage recovering.
Your Recovery:
Yes, he does have a good recovery, but trust me you don't want to be forced into a position to do so. Unless you are good about faking out your opponents as to your recovery path, it's best to stay on stage. Even going for the gimp shouldn't be a priority, as one mistake will put YOU in a bad position. Yes, most of the time you will be making it back TO the stage, but staying on (especially against a waiting MK) will be difficult.
Of course you won't stay on stage forever, as damage will rack up and get you off stage, so how DO you go about recovering? Well, mixing it up is definitely something to remember. With up-b, inhale, and a ridiculous FF, you'll usually get there, but you gotta know which one to use and when. But it's not really a matter of knowing when to use it, it's more-so about knowing just plain old which one will work. Which one will get you to land to prolong that stock.
Don't ever forget that mixing up recoveries is MANDATORY in higher levels of play. Think of it like this. (From an opponents POV)
- They FF inhale, it works, they recovery successfully.
- They inhale, BUT you called it and rolled behind, however they turned it around calling the roll
(I wouldn't say reversing the inhale is really much of a mix-up)
- They inhale, screw waiting for them to land, you attack from underneath.
Chances are, the higher level of play you are, things won't even work a SECOND consecutive time.
A good teammate should always be at least prepared to save you, since your recovery is just asking for a can of whoop-***. And this is only against ONE opponent waiting to stop you, it gets even more hectic against 2.
A good mix up is also to recover with aerials. With a long lasting and high priority bair, sometimes that is your best option, but I would only recommend that against AIRBORN opponents. It's also risky if your ally is near you, so fast falling well timed air-dodges will usually be your best bet.
Overall:
Stay ON stage.
Your Shield:
Since there are 3 characters throwing out moves constantly, it's safe to assume you will be shielding often. So it's good to know how to shield. You might think “Well that's simple, just press shield when they do a move.” and that's where you're wrong. Being a defensive char, it is CRUCIAL to know the ins and outs of shielding. To help with this, I shall make a list what to know of shielding for D3.
1. When playing against a poking character, LEARN TO TILT.
2. If your shield is about to break, use what you have left and SPOTDODGE the remainder of the move. (ESPECIALLY against tornado)
3. DO NOT shield against moves you can simply walk away from (like all of ganon's moveset)
4. POWERSHIELDING conserves shields, learn to powershield to help keep distance and prevent the opponent from pressuring you
5. If you know your best options OoS, shielding can be an effective bait in doubles.
6. Don't be afraid to shield center stage when surrounded, but don't expect it to last long.
7. DO NOT get predictable. If your opponent conditions your shielding, you lose a critical part of your defense. Keep things fresh.
8. Shielding can also be a weapon. Using it to prolong hit-boxes of your partners moves can catch opponents off-guard.
Any other recommendations are gladly welcome.
Spacing:
Of course spacing is important, it keeps you safe and available to help your partner. Spacing in doubles is slightly different because even if you do space well-timed bair, Your opponent's partner might still hit you out of the move's ending lag. What's important to know is what moves are safe and reliable, so that you can avoid getting hit even if you hit one of them.
Spacing is something mainly used to not only defend yourself, but keep yourself safe if you miss. DO NOT forget that. There is a BIG difference between spacing a F-tilt and a F-smash. You can use an f-tilt on someone trying to hit you from the ledge, and you can use a f-smash, but chances are using the f-smash WILL get you punished, where as you can retreat should f-tilt fail you. Not only that, but in doubles a f-smash is practically ASKING to be hit.
Your primary moves for this should be bair, f-tilt, and fair. Bair's amazing priority and length, plus good range makes it key to keeping aerial opponents at bay, and it's fast enough to not leave yourself open afterward. I'd recommend NOT FF this, as it can be easily shieldgrabbed in singles, just imagine when TWO people are waiting to punish you. F-tilt is excellent in doubles, allowing you to punish and keep distance between ground based opponents and chars that like to SH often. It pops up people just right for a fair, but remember that it's not always the best idea to go for follow ups. Fair is a good move against laggy aerials and is great for providing cover for your teammate from above, and it can hit opponents from behind if they miss-time the airdodge.
Chaingrabbing:
The chaingrab isn't what COMPLETELY makes D3 in doubles, but it is something that shouldn't be ignored. The chaingrab allows D3 to do things other doubles teams could only DREAM of.
If your team is good enough to keep partners seperated, D3 is capable of tacking on inescapable damage to opponents across the stage, not only tacking on damage, but keeping that opponent from assisting their partner IN ANY WAY, allowing your partner to fight without fear of interruption.
Positioning is completely switched around, putting you in a better position and putting your chaingrab victim in an awful one. If things are ever going to go wrong, you always have the option of ending the chain and going on the defense.
It's the best set up for a kill move in the game. Landing that kill move becomes less of a problem with d-throw, provided your partner can either hit them back towards your own kill move, or use a kill move of their own. Vayseth sums up the chaingrab in doubles play very nicely in his guide to chaingrabbing. Thanks to him for this input.
To be continued and discussed
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