Hello everyone! I'm a Little Mac main who is considering making DK my secondary character. I really enjoy characters that hit hard, but the players in my community are getting really good with Sheik and so I haven't won a tournament in a while.
I decided to give DK a try given the fact he was recently buffed and Sheik technically nerfed. It was working out for a bit, but the more passive my opponent gets the more impossible it feels.
Do you guys think DK can win tournaments against top level Sheiks? How do you approach the matchup?
All advice is appreciated.
Example match:
You played well in the beginning, but once he started playing more carefully you started playing more predictably. He really capitalized on your ledge play to rack up tons of damage and momentum.
On the ledge if they like to wait and react to what you do, you have to pick options that are hard to react to. The hardest options to react to are jumping and attacking. If he stands too far away to get hit, stick with ledge jumping. By varying when you jump and what you do during the jump are how you throw them off. When you got hit out of the Ledge Jump you could have DJ/air dodged or used Up B to counterattack. Ledge Jumps only have 12 frames of commitment and is very difficult to react to passively. DK's Ledge Attack is deceptively small (especially vertically) so you have to save it for when they are close and just waiting or commit to something punishable. If they are close enough, you can hit them with a ledge drop DJ AC Uair instead of the Ledge Attack. Ledge Drop DJ punch can be good too every now and then.
Random tips:
- When you do Cargo Utoss, jump first and it will generally be easier to followup on. It KO's sooner that way too.
- When you grab them at the edge of the stage at high %, go for Cargo Dtoss stage spikes or jump offstage and Cargo Dtoss towards the blastzone (you did Cargo Btoss randomly on at 2:30)
- Punch has less SA in the air, so you can't really armor through and counter hits from below like you did at 1:22
- Ban Duck Hunt stage (pretty much always)
- If you block an Fsmash just Dsmash OoS
- Spacing with SH Bair is good at deterring their SH approaches and dash grabs (mix it up with empty feints too)
- Approaching with Down B is surprisingly good, especially if they dodge or block a lot
- Defending yourself with Jab, backwards Utilt, and grounded Up B helps you deal with rushdown
- Pivot grab/Ftilt/Fsmash are also good on defense
The patch has only made this MU easier, so take advantage of jump Cargo Utoss Uair KO combos and Dash Attacks lower cooldown to really squeeze out extra damage and close out those stocks. You seem to Fsmash more than usual, so you will probably also really like Fsmash's improved size and disjoint properties. I don't think the MU is any worse than 45:55 for DK since his grab KO combo is too legit. Might be even now honestly, but I won't jump the gun and say that it is at this point.