The Wolf&Ridley MU

[ChrisMDB]

Hello,

Ridley main here, I'm starting to prep for a tournament coming up in the next couple of months and one of the strongest players in my area plays Wolf so naturally I'm looking for some MU knowledge. Ridley, being my main, and having incredible offstage/gimp game is naturally going to be my pick going up against Wolf and most everyone at the tournament. Unfortunately for me though, I seem to struggle immensely against Wolf. His laser is probably the best projectile in the game and his aerials are very oppressive on-stage, any tips for dealing with them and his kit in general? I have no problems killing him once he's off stage, as he's nearly as fragile as Incineroar, Gannon, and Mac, it's the neutral game that really kills me.

Any and all help you could supply me with would be fantastic and I'd greatly appreciate it. If the matchup seems to just be abysmal I do have a pocket Toon Link (since I've mained him for nearly a decade now), and Shulk I could pull out. I also tend to prefer stages with plats for my counterpicks in a set, such as Battlefield and Pokémon Stadium if you think that has any significance in the MU.

Lastly, if you would like any insight into the characters I'm familiar with I'm more than welcome to share what I know!

 

[Sean²]

I haven’t played a ton against Ridley, so maybe if this guy hasn’t either, I can help a bit. Ridley is seeming like a rarer and rarer breed these days so matchup inexperience may be in your favor. I played a good one the other day for a couple hours and he got the drop on me several times. (to be fair I actually didn't know you could mash out of side B until then, so that's where I was at in the matchup)

Ridley’s range throws me off quite a bit. He’s a big body and susceptible to combos that may not work on smaller characters, so if Wolf gets a fair on you, probably expect to take a good bit of damage. It's pointless for Wolf to try to reflect Ridley's fireballs because they don't go all the way back to him unless he's within dash attack range, which is something I won't ever mess with. You could probably go in if you see him try to reflect the fire. Ridley's multiple jumps are decent for baiting. Don't go for a shieldgrab if he tries to dash attack you and hits your shield, even with his big body, it might cross up on Ridley and you take whatever he feels like giving to you for it. I don't know the properties for when Ridley blows up (or whatever happens, he takes crazy damage) when you hit him when he's charging a fireball, or how heavy of a hit it has to be, but laser will cause that to happen.

If Wolf doesn't manage to kill you with a dsmash or a bair at a medium-high-ish percent, have fun living till like 200%, because strings stop working when people get too high of damage and this is where he struggles to get a kill. Utilt kills at 140-ish on medium-weight characters, back throw kills at 150-ish at the ledge. Fair to side B is a true combo at medium percents, soft hit nair to side b at high percents. Down throw to side B from like 40 to 80 dependent on DI. If you're at a high enough percent that you can't just DI down and shield/tech, I think DIing away is the best way to not get slapped by this. At mid percents, down throw to dash attack is something to watch out for, because it's a lot easier to hit at mid percents. Try to avoid grabs in general because upthrow to fair/uair will start a lot of strings.

I've had my jump caught by that stupid fireball several times in the past, if he tries to recover low, this probably a good choice...watch out for side B, if you're trying to go offstage after him he may try this. I've caught numerous people with side B trying to come off the stage for an edgeguard and they just die. He has really good OOS options...Ridley would probably get scooped up pretty easily by upsmash. Up B has kind of insane knockback and goes through the ledge, so be wary standing at the ledge if he tries to recover vertically.

Trying to think of everything I can. I don't know your full experience against the character, so just trying to be thorough. Some people are laser camp wolfs, others are more oppressive with their neutral game. I feel like Ridley has more issues with the campy types, because he doesn't really have a major answer for laser beyond answering with his own projectile, but then has the chance of getting blown up mid charge. I feel like just taking up space and baiting whiffs will be a good answer for you. If there are legal small stages, like SV or Yoshi's, they'd probably be better for you than something big like PS1/2 or Town and City.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[ChrisMDB]

That actually helps a lot, thank you very much!

Most of my experience against Wolf comes from online play, and that's quite the mixed bag as we all know. I do know this guy doesn't really have a preferred method of play and changes up his style dependent on how the match (or his mood, as he can get tilted easily at times) changes. Campy play in general is hard to deal with as Ridley, but Wolf's projectile is on another level altogether. I have found that it's quite risky for Wolf and many characters to try edgeguarding Ridley as our Side-B is one of our best recovery tools and we won't hesitate to drag you to the depths and dunk you off the bottom of the stage if given the opportunity. This also works if you're standing at the ledge, as you get pulled into our hitbox and begin falling with us from there.

As Ridley is more of a punish-based character it would make more sense if it would be optimal to play a safe, calculated game, especially when taking into account the information you've provided. Our stage list consists of around 20 stages (with things like Wily's Castle and Umbra Clock Tower with hazards off pumping up the count), so I shouldn't have too much of a problem being able to pick something good.

 

[Firox]

As someone who mains both Wolf AND Ridley, I can say that Ridley has two major advantages over Wolf. The first, is that your dtilt has incredible range and speed. Use this to cancel his ground approaches. Second, your bair and fair can outrange his, so use these to cancel out his aerial approaches. The trick is reading which to use because if you guess wrong and attack low when he goes high (or vice versa) then he's gonna wreck you pretty bad. You don't want to let him get close. His blaster is really good, but if you throw a landing, charged plasma breath you might be able to exchange a greater amount of damage. Lastly, we have a third advantage that I forgot to mention: Ridley's edgeguard game is vastly superior to Wolf's. Even the plasma spam over the side can screw over his already weak recovery. His only reliable option will be to use side B. With proper spacing and timing, you might be able to land a down smash at the ledge. Make sure to use the full length of your wings so that he can't scar the ledge and hit you instead. Other than that, it comes down to skill. Take solace in knowing that even if he tries to reflect your plasma breath, the shots will cancel out so feel free to spam it as long as you've got range.

And yes, despite the Greninja icon under my name, I also main Wolf, Ridley, Dark Pit and Cloud to deadly effect. It's fun watching people try to counterpick me in tournaments.