Why is Duck Hunt barely used?

[Ninetale3]

I don't think he has a hard time killing at all. Up smash in my opinion is his most reliable kill option as for me it never whiffs. I use it the same as I would Pikachu.

Same here, his kill aerials and up smash/tilt are pretty reliable once you know how to set them up.

I believe the reason his is barely used is the trio is complicated to use and newcomers to the banner walk off after not getting how he actually plays thinking he is a camp only character.

 

[Wafty]

I don't think he has a hard time killing at all. Up smash in my opinion is his most reliable kill option as for me it never whiffs. I use it the same as I would Pikachu.

Too bad duck hunts smash attacks arent the most reliable..

 

[Splooshi Splashy]

I myself hardly see any s (and s, for that matter). It certainly can't be because of the way I play DH, which is definitely aggressive rushdown (which may or may not be reminiscient of Brood), making the dog seem like a with self-made cover fire, with the added benefit of ruining s, es, s, and other folks that rely on projectiles and approach moves (like , , and , among others), which my teammates in FG Teams seem to adore me for. Just 10-ish hours ago in a FG Teams room session I had earlier (as of the making of this post), I used the "GreatGame!" tag after almost every match when I was running DH with the "CostcoDawg" tag, and got GGs from folks in return just as frequently, and said folks stuck around for quite a while. I wonder if playstyles like mine and Brood's would help in bringing about more doggies, as would the upcoming balance patch....

This seems to be a character that takes effort (Training Labs, frame data reading, being here [XD], etc.), some out-of-the-box active thinking (you CAN do more with your projectiles than just create a wall at the edge with them), and possibly even prior experience with other fighting games like Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (practically everyone! Alice and Komachi in particular), Melty Blood (A bit of the cast, but I'd imagine the Lens and possibly Crescent/Full Moon Schoolgirl/Seifuku Akiha would be among them), and even Guilty Gear (Testament and Dizzy! Even Ky Kiske to an extent), among others, to understand DH's game plan.
It also takes acceptance that his main duties in FG Teams, where he thrives to an extent (and possibly in real team tournaments), are to 1. build damage, 2. protect the team from any projectiles, 3. fight on 2 fronts, and 4. setup KOs. Not necessarily score KOs unless the opportunity presents itself (ex. Flare Blitz spamming s that crash into your stuff at 150-ish% are ripe for run-up USmashes), or if he's paired up with another low KO powered character (, , another , etc). Considering the low frequency of DHes from what I've personally seen, many players don't seem to gel with the role of Team Support.

FG FFA is uncommon for him, again, because of his low KO power. Can's much more useful there, at least, since there's no teammates to accidentally explode the Can on.

As for FG 1v1, I wouldn't really know what the status is there, since I don't really go there all that often, if at all. The most that I'd go for it is in the FG Smash room if it's just me and 1 other person.

Real tournaments? I WISH I could go to those. Alas, my present circumstances prevent me from going. :<

 

[AcePikachu]

Same here, his kill aerials and up smash/tilt are pretty reliable once you know how to set them up.

I believe the reason his is barely used is the trio is complicated to use and newcomers to the banner walk off after not getting how he actually plays thinking he is a camp only character.

Plus when you have characters like that strive off of one combo most people don't see the point in using him. It's a real shame. Hopefully the patch changes everything.

 

[Reila]

Because they are neither ~top tier~ or kewl anime characters.

Also I see people still keep calling Duck Hunt "he" as if they were one single character. How weird.

 

[AcePikachu]

I myself hardly see any s (and s, for that matter). It certainly can't be because of the way I play DH, which is definitely aggressive rushdown (which may or may not be reminiscient of Brood), making the dog seem like a with self-made cover fire, with the added benefit of ruining s, es, s, and other folks that rely on projectiles and approach moves (like , , and , among others), which my teammates in FG Teams seem to adore me for. Just 10-ish hours ago in a FG Teams room session I had earlier (as of the making of this post), I used the "GreatGame!" tag after almost every match when I was running DH with the "CostcoDawg" tag, and got GGs from folks in return just as frequently, and said folks stuck around for quite a while. I wonder if playstyles like mine and Brood's would help in bringing about more doggies, as would the upcoming balance patch....

This seems to be a character that takes effort (Training Labs, frame data reading, being here [XD], etc.), some out-of-the-box active thinking (you CAN do more with your projectiles than just create a wall at the edge with them), and possibly even prior experience with other fighting games like Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (practically everyone! Alice and Komachi in particular), Melty Blood (A bit of the cast, but I'd imagine the Lens and possibly Crescent/Full Moon Schoolgirl/Seifuku Akiha would be among them), and even Guilty Gear (Testament and Dizzy! Even Ky Kiske to an extent), among others, to understand DH's game plan.
It also takes acceptance that his main duties in FG Teams, where he thrives to an extent (and possibly in real team tournaments), are to 1. build damage, 2. protect the team from any projectiles, 3. fight on 2 fronts, and 4. setup KOs. Not necessarily score KOs unless the opportunity presents itself (ex. Flare Blitz spamming s that crash into your stuff at 150-ish% are ripe for run-up USmashes), or if he's paired up with another low KO powered character (, , another , etc). Considering the low frequency of DHes from what I've personally seen, many players don't seem to gel with the role of Team Support.

FG FFA is uncommon for him, again, because of his low KO power. Can's much more useful there, at least, since there's no teammates to accidentally explode the Can on.

As for FG 1v1, I wouldn't really know what the status is there, since I don't really go there all that often, if at all. The most that I'd go for it is in the FG Smash room if it's just me and 1 other person.

Real tournaments? I WISH I could go to those. Alas, my present circumstances prevent me from going. :<

I personally think can easily hold his own in any situation, be it 1v1, teams, etc. Low KO power doesn't really matter too much considering building up damage with is fairly easy once you know what you're doing and how your opponent plays. In a 1v1 most people just jump towards me thinking that is helpless up close. Granted he isn't the best up close fighter but he can get the job done.

I too wish i can go to tournaments, but life at the moment laughs at tournaments. Pun intended.

 

[Fik]

To be honest, I feel like Duck Hunt is one of those characters that is easy to pick up (spamming and camping) and hard to master. Sure, online you can camp away and get away with it sometimes, but in tournament that's not the case. If you can't perfect setting up traps, and applying pressure by perfectly using projectiles to get them on the defensive and punish them for it, you're going to get your *** handed to you. What people also forget are the many different possibilities of trap set ups used on the various stages, while in for glory you only have omegas. This adds to the amount of things you must be prepared for and practice with to even stand a chance. Back to what Diamond DHD said, why would most people want to go through all that trouble to be amazing at a character like duck hunt when you can be someone like diddy or luigi and capitalize off of grab combos instantly? However, I do believe that if the meta for duck hunt advances greatly with time, he will be a character that rewards his tactical/strategic nature with being able to counter many of the top tiers we see now.

 

[Ninetale3]

I agree with what Fik says. The only thing that is holding Duck hunt back is lack of creativity on the players end. As long as the trio doesn't face that meddling hedgehog in non-customs. They can hold their ground against a large portion of the cast.

 

[Floatzel_Trainer]

Btw, no one has talked about custom moves yet.

While some people says that DH's camping isn't as rewarding as combos from combo-ish chars (usually top tiers), I think that 31XX can be equiped with many tools to his beneffits.

Usually, UpB 2nd custom can be used to faster control of flight and gimping foes who stays on the edge with no invincibility. It can kill kinda easily if mastered. UpB 3rd custom can be used to edgeguarding some chars like Luigi or Ness with the huge windbox. It can also be a safer recovery since it's actually very quick and hard to gimp, with the cost of little horizontal recovery.

DownB customs allows to adapt doggy to different situations. 2nd DownB can be a very good "get away" option for faster chars, and has a consistent firing speed and great damage. While the 3rd DownB is basically a wall which no projectile can pass, except for the ones.

And then is the can.
The reason that 3rd Neutral B is important, is mainly because of a quicker and more effective stage control. If you can connect 3 hits or more with the can (which is multihit if you mash B), you can deal at least 20+ damage without the explosion. Also, it can save you from chars who are more grab based like , or . The only downside is the 1 1/2 seconds of lag the can receives if it get a hit, and it can be shot only 6 times instead of 9.

Also, mastering the 3rd can is a lot harder than the regular can. But instead, you can get more follow ups with the grabs from this can, and then following to an aereal.

I think that is a character with a LOT of hidden potential and can be a counterpick against many spam/grabs chars like /, or .

 

[Fik]

Personally, I don't play with customs (or have the desire to). But you do drive a good point for the people who do. I've seen his customs, and with the correct custom sets I think his matchup game can be superior to almost every character in the game.