Two Little Changes which likely change Duck Hunt's meta considerably.

[DunnoBro]

Trick Shot(The Can):

It's slower, laggier, and floatier; Meaning it's actually a somewhat less viable neutral tool. However, this makes it much more maneuverable and reliable a general pressure/approach forcing tool. Especially with the ability to hit for Duck Hunt himself to hit it in the air. (Meaning it can be launched towards recovering opponents MUCH quicker)

Again though, this affects his neutral a lot. Personally, I think he'll be relying more heavily on gunmen. Especially since they too can hit the can in the air. (Generating valuable auto-pressure)

Duck Jump (Upspecial):

The ability to cancel this move with an airdodge is actually a major buff to Duck Hunt's Offensive potential.

Originally, Duck hunt simply lacked the ability to go offstage himself for edgeguards safely. He'd simply take too long to regrab the ledge, often competing for it with the opponent he meant to pressure. This change however lets him use BOTH jumps while edgeguarding, and still retain the ability to recover high. That's HUGE considering how many options he can cover with nair/can.

This also grants him more landing and recovery options in general, letting him go super high. More reliably crossing up with the aid of the can, and even gunmen. (Possibly ledge recover mix-ups, one of duck hunt's biggest weaknesses in Wii U)

However, I think the devs clearly understood his greater survivability, which explains his notably lighter weight. To the point he's likely not a high, or top tier. Especially with his lack of combos. But he certainly seems like a far more consistent character, and far more potential to be tricky.

 

[OldHickory]

I feel that it's also notable in how they changed up-tilt and smashes.

My understanding is that up-tilt is significantly weaker, to no longer being a kill option, whereas the smashes link together more reliably.

If attempting to smash someone is no longer a death sentence to yourself, then Duck Hunt should theoretically be killing earlier. After all, the final gunshot of side-smash hits as hard as a Falcon Elbow.

Other important changes are Gunman tweaks, the tall one in black doing more damage, and the sombrero and orange gunman doing more knock back, and the Clay Pigeon coming out faster and leaving damaging debris when destroyed.

It'll be interesting to see how things change with all of these changes in play.

 

[DunnoBro]

I feel that it's also notable in how they changed up-tilt and smashes.

My understanding is that up-tilt is significantly weaker, to no longer being a kill option, whereas the smashes link together more reliably.

If attempting to smash someone is no longer a death sentence to yourself, then Duck Hunt should theoretically be killing earlier. After all, the final gunshot of side-smash hits as hard as a Falcon Elbow.

Other important changes are Gunman tweaks, the tall one in black doing more damage, and the sombrero and orange gunman doing more knock back, and the Clay Pigeon coming out faster and leaving damaging debris when destroyed.

It'll be interesting to see how things change with all of these changes in play.

Fsmash is pretty great now. But Dsmash/Usmash are about the same. Dsmash slightly better since it can be done out of dash, but usmash always could and they have similar useage.

ALSO: It is NOT just airdodges. Duck hunt can cancel upspecial with ANY OTHER MOVE.

So far, I haven't really found any decent uses for this. He still goes into helpless after, so offensively he should still be canceling into airdodge. Canceling into can might be a nice panic option though.

 

[Salty dog]

Why is no one talking about how disgusting the frisbee is? Things the best kill confirm dhd has by miles. You can RAR bair, nair, or even down air and its true. If they DI away they get critted by bair or fair, if they airdodge then follow up with a gimp, if they DI up then do the classic up air, if they di in then just nair. But thsts not even close to how nasty this thing is. I place it on the ledge sometimes and detonate it to get a popup for a follow up or to force a roll, jump or neutral get up with shield for free grabs. Thing covers roll away and free kill, if you wait to detonate it you can snag a double jump from opponent or they will shield and be locked in shield stun for free grab. Not to mention that if it breaks in mid air it will explode and interrupt the opponent and if you arent getting hit you can combo it into a kill.
The frisbee is bonkers, no need to go for hard confirms and reads, frisbee makes all of that crap near obsolete.

Also with B and airdodge out of upB. The airdodge is an absolute must for us as now we can recover high and theres a chance, albiet a small chance to recover with DI airdodge. The can out of special is nuts though, if you have a stock lead, bair out the opponent by not using the can and they will come to edgeguard you. Then just press b and blow yourself up and if they are at a high enough percent it will kill.

 

[DunnoBro]

Why is no one talking about how disgusting the frisbee is? Things the best kill confirm dhd has by miles. You can RAR bair, nair, or even down air and its true. If they DI away they get critted by bair or fair, if they airdodge then follow up with a gimp, if they DI up then do the classic up air, if they di in then just nair. But thsts not even close to how nasty this thing is. I place it on the ledge sometimes and detonate it to get a popup for a follow up or to force a roll, jump or neutral get up with shield for free grabs. Thing covers roll away and free kill, if you wait to detonate it you can snag a double jump from opponent or they will shield and be locked in shield stun for free grab. Not to mention that if it breaks in mid air it will explode and interrupt the opponent and if you arent getting hit you can combo it into a kill.
The frisbee is bonkers, no need to go for hard confirms and reads, frisbee makes all of that crap near obsolete.

Also with B and airdodge out of upB. The airdodge is an absolute must for us as now we can recover high and theres a chance, albiet a small chance to recover with DI airdodge. The can out of special is nuts though, if you have a stock lead, bair out the opponent by not using the can and they will come to edgeguard you. Then just press b and blow yourself up and if they are at a high enough percent it will kill.

Yea. It's potency helps shift his neutral away from the now Floatier, and less reliable (in neutral) Can.

You can just short hop and condition with fair/tomohawks. Kinda risky super rewarding. If you get the Fisbee chain down it can be 50%+ or just stock.
Still collecting data tho

 

[Salty dog]

I disagree entirely with can not being preveleant in neutral. If anything its more damming in neutral. Cans way harder to knock away now and if you let it sit for a bit the launch of the can is not as much as first inital kick. Also the can now got even more goofy as before to reverse the way the can launched you had to knock it with bair to get the can to launch opponents towards you for a nice double uair, now you just let it sit there and it will launch opponets towards you for a single uair, unless you autocancel on platform them you can get 3 or condition opponent to airdodge out and follow up from there. Also especially against disjointed moves, can seems to hit a lot more

 

[Charu]

This new Duck Hunt is kind of silly.

At first when I unlocked him and tested him out, I got frustrated that all the tech I learned from Smash 4 was pretty much gone. For instance, I used to use short hop D-Air's as an aggressive approach option because it auto cancelled. It no longer auto cancel's though... which stunk because now I can't follow up. Not to mention the can now goes further out than Smash 4's.

But now, as you two have said, I was using Clay Pigeon sparingly at first since I didn't know the changes they made, but after testing it out against cpu's and Battle Arena, holy moly, what did they DO to this move? It's so good now, I didn't think they could make a very laggy move so good before. It's a good move to use in just about any scenario now (except reflects, those hurt). It stuns shields, it lingers for a long time, and you can now control one of the shots to mind game your opponent. Not only these things, but the angle and speed it sends opponents are JUST RIGHT for you to do a sweet spot F-Air/B-Air. And when the percent is high, it's even good at sending them at such an angle and distance to throw a can at them.

Never have I used clay pigeon as much as I have in Smash 4 than I did last night with Duck Hunt. Move is really really REALLY good now, can confirm.

Also, can shenanigans were a bit weird to relearn, but I think I sort of got a hang of it. Gunmen too which also was a bit weird to relearn with respawn times for both just going away or getting hit.

 

[B1ackBearD]

Utilt cant kill anymore, Usmash ooS is really good as well as dash canceling into it.

 

[Salty dog]

Utilt cant kill anymore, Usmash ooS is really good as well as dash canceling into it.

Also add to uptilt that leads into a buffered double up air at low percents
Upsmash oos to punish what? Move takes way too long, good players are going to pressure with jab or grab. only oos moves i could sucessfully get is a consitantly is dtilt and jab. Dhd once again has terrible oos options. Now parry upsmash is a whole different beast

 

[DunnoBro]

Also add to uptilt that leads into a buffered double up air at low percents
Upsmash oos to punish what? Move takes way too long, good players are going to pressure with jab or grab. only oos moves i could sucessfully get is a consitantly is dtilt and jab. Dhd once again has terrible oos options. Now parry upsmash is a whole different beast

It does have a bigger hitbox, but yea it's bad OoS unless it's a parry. Too precise, only the front hit scoops grounded opponents. It is good out of dash, but that's nothing new.

 

[B1ackBearD]

Thanks for the advice, so What do you recommend I do When Im getting pressured hard by rush down players? you have any advice to maintain control again?

 

[Salty dog]

Thanks for the advice, so What do you recommend I do When Im getting pressured hard by rush down players? you have any advice to maintain control again?

Outspace with piviot tilts or grabs. Other option is to blow yourself up with can in or out of shield. In shield is better, but oos is not bad as it instantly will reset neutral with how can launching works in this game. Its still frame 1 btw.