Need some tips against Dedede with a patient/reactive playstyle

[Watchful_Eye]

My best ("main") characters are Mario, Jigglypuff and Kirby, and with all of them I got the same problem - I can hardly find an approach againt Dedede. His superior range makes it very hard, especially his grab range. And even if I do some damage, my own character is killed much faster. It seems like he is allowed to make much more mistakes than I am.

Have you some hints against him? And which of those three characters would you pick? I already realized that Marios Cape/Fireball is quite useful, shall I try to outcamp him? Another thing is that Jigglypuffs Rest is quite amazing against him since he is so big.

Another thing I did not completely "get" yet is with which moves I am able to send back his gordos, maybe this is key to know.

Thank you all

 

[Karthage]

On gordos:
Mario fireball beats it every time, cape works too, as does almost every non-jab normal
Jigglypuff air attacks all beat it I think, and you should be able to float over most of them. For style points, rest a gordo.
Kirby is similar to jigglypuff, mostly aerials

General idea:
You need to throw a lot. DDD relies on his shield more so than almost any other character, so you need to throw as your main approach with almost every character.

Mario:
Spam a lot of fireball. Don't ever feel bad about using it a million times. Just don't spam it so much that he gets to punish it, stay mobile. Punish any unsafe approaches( shield grab aerials etc ).

A lot of running forward and rolling back to try and bait stuff out if fireballs aren't working at all. Even DDD's jab is pretty slow.

Jigglypuff:
Jigglypuff doesn't have much ground movespeed to bait things out, but her horizontal air speed is even better for the task. Stay near the top two corners of his hitbox, weave in and out, go for an attack after he misses one of his. He only has a few attacks that cover those areas.

To kill as jigglypuff against DDD, you need to either land a rest or hit him with a bair when he's at reasonably high percents. Rest is VERY risky though, as I've killed a jigglypuff with a fully charged Fsmash at 17 damage while they were asleep.

Kirby:
Kind of a mix of both mario and jigglypuff strategies. The aerial game isn't quite as good as jigglypuff's, but the ground game is better.

 

[ndayday]

aww man ninja'd but oh well:

Literally any move that's not really weak will send his gordos back. I think all those characters are good at doing that too, they have nice aerials that come out quick and don't give you much landing lag. Don't be afraid to hit those things, and opt for an aerial that hits them at an angle towards Dedede if possible.

If he's getting grabs on you, you're likely trying to run up to him/land some aerials on him/dash attack when he's just standing there, which isn't going to be a good idea. He's probably trying to ftilt and jab you (or dtilt) and honestly if he's getting into the air, either wait for him to land or punish the aerial he'll use, since barring nair they are generally very laggy.

Also, by all means use your fireballs as projectiles shut down Dedede an absurd amount: he has nothing but shield to counter those and it will discourage the use of gordos.

 

[-Jax]

Please don't say his grab range is big, I don't want it to get nerfed AGAIN in Smash 5

And out of the characters you posted, Mario definitely seems like the most annoying contender against Dedede. The best tool you'll get in this match-up is short-hopped fireballs, as they bounce back Gordos and are fast enough for Dedede to not be able to stay away from you. The short-hops should ensure you can stay a safe distance from him while using the fireballs, and when his shield gets low you might be able to go in, or he'll do something punishable.

Unfortunately the only way to win is to play in a really really really spammy and annoying way, as Dedede doesn't really have the tools to punish Mario out of that. Either that, or I'm just really bad at approaching as Dedede personally and everything I just said is invalid.

For style points, rest a gordo.

I have a new mission in For Glory now.