What is Ridley capable of?

[Xx2RAGE2xX]

Today I wanted to discuss what Ridley is capable of in competitive play. Is he capable of winning majors, top 8's, or not at all? Me personally, I feel Ridley is capable of having high performances, I feel like there might be someone out there that could be the man for the job.

 

[Gleam]

It's going to be really hard for Ridley to win a major or any S-Tier tournaments considering the competition at hand.



These are the Top 16 most popular/used characters according to SSB World and with exception to maybe Cloud, there is not one character here I'd be confident in using Ridley against. Some of them like Lucina might be doable, but nearly all of them make an absolute mockery out of Ridley and on top of that, have enough tools to deal with his advantage state.

Ridley's worst matches are pretty much the current best characters in the game and so its extremely difficult for him to make a good standing even if he might have done better in a lesser tier area from them.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Suffice to say, the earlier buffs solidified Ridley as the solid mid tier we initially perceived him as (before the changing meta gave him too much a hard time), who still gets results. Then there’s Bowser whose kinda perceived as high tier (at the very least) out of the heavyweights and if there’s one thing Ridley could still take from him, it’s that better air speed, and perhaps more weight, though how much more is debatable. Most are content enough with Rids though since he can actually kill consistently now and stuff, but anymore buffs wouldn’t be unwelcomed. Others like K. Rool need em more now, though.

 

[MeltyBrain]

While it hurts me to say, the posts above are right in regards to Ridley suffering against the majority of characters that have the most showings during high level, top 8 tourney play. Ridley does have a solid air game that can shake your opponent up if they aren't ready. I wouldn't consider myself that good with Ridley, but I would say that high level Ridley play relies quite a bit on strong reads and a focus on ledge trumping and ledge guarding in general. Ridley plays well of the stage as long as you are staying close to the edge. Spacing and overall awareness of your opponent, especially if you're playing against sword characters, will save you from getting demolished. I like using my neutral b to catch sword characters off guard and just rush in, faking out during the rush in usually throws the opponent off, leaving them open for attack.

I also see Ridley being able to maintain a strong presence in top level play, expect nearly all matches being grueling and drawn out in length, patience will be your best friend during these situations. I feel like a lot of this applies to maining any character in ultimate but it still applies to this discussion, I think.

 

[Xx2RAGE2xX]

I feel Ridley is best played patiently, mix-up, bait and punish, and almost campy to prolonge matches which can get to players heads, just look at Hbox. Now I'm not saying that Ridley is Melee Puff, or we should play like Hbox, but from experience, no matter what character, the most patient player gets the upper hand.