Ganondorf (SSB4)

Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable (3DS) Starter (Wii U)
Final Smash	Beast Ganon
Tier	G (52-53)

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorf) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Alongside R.O.B., he was officially revealed as a playable veteran on October 15th, 2014, although he was leaked twice prior to his reveal: via video footage from ESRB, and outside the in-game stage boundaries in an official video (later replaced with a nearly-identical video without Ganondorf).

As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Hironori Miyata's portrayal of Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was repurposed for Smash 4, with mostly returning voice clips from Brawl, and in addition to some new ones sourced from the game.

Ganondorf is ranked 52nd/53rd out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the G tier and tying him with Zelda. This is a very slight improvement from his ranking in Brawl, where he was the game's lowest-ranking character. As in previous games, Ganondorf remains as the game's archetypal super heavyweight, boasting high endurance, slow yet powerful moves that can KO foes very early, along with a capable edgeguarding game courtesy of hard-hitting aerials. This is further enhanced by the buffs to his mobility, combo game and already high power, in addition to the general changes to game mechanics patching up several key weaknesses he had in Brawl. Altogether, Ganondorf's high power allows him to deal ruthless punishes when the opportunity arises, in addition to being capable of ending stocks with very few hits.

However, Ganondorf still remains significantly disadvantaged by his slow mobility, very sluggish frame data when compared to the cast, and large target, making him exceptionally susceptible to rushdowns, combos and projectile camping, in addition to giving him a linear approach. His grab game, outside of Flame Choke, is also very lackluster, while his recovery is still easily exploitable due to being slow, linear and predictable. Finally, Ganondorf has a fair number of unrewarding moves that can neither combo or KO reliably, despite his overall power.

As a result of these factors, Ganondorf still relies primarily on punishes and hard reads, and his weaknesses from Brawl are still prominent; however, he is commonly considered to fare better against difficult matchups, despite still being poor overall. This has resulted in Ganondorf gaining a low amount of representation in tournaments, in addition to attaining minimal success. Nevertheless, he is popular in the SSB4 community due to his extremely strong, over-the-top, and extravagant punishment options that can easily KO unaware opponents, with a number of dedicated players such as Gungnir, Vermanubis and Pon, some of which even use him as a solo main in tournaments despite his standing on the tier list.

How to unlock (3DS version only)

Complete one of the following:

• Play 80 VS Matches.
• Clear Classic Mode as Link or Zelda on Intensity 5.0 or higher.

After completing one of the two methods, Ganondorf must then be defeated on Gerudo Valley.

Attributes

Ganondorf is the epitome of the archetypal heavyweight: he sacrifices speed and mobility for power and endurance, and has a tall frame. Aside from being tied for having the sixth highest traction, Ganondorf's archetype is reflected in his other attributes: he is the fifth heaviest character, has the second slowest walking speed, the third slowest dashing and air speeds, moderately high falling speed, high gravity and is tied for the third lowest air acceleration. However, while he has the third lowest jump and double jump heights, he still has the worst total jump height overall due to Kirby and Jigglypuff, the other lower height jumpers, possessing multiple midair jumps to counteract this. As such, Ganondorf is the least mobile character in the game due to his poor speed on both the ground and in the air, being ranked among the lowest, as well as having the worst jump heights in the game.

By far, Ganondorf's greatest trait is his raw power. He possesses attacks that are on par with Bowser in terms of damage and knockback, with almost his entire moveset granting him the ability to easily KO under 150% or even 100%, even if the opponent is in the middle of Final Destination. This becomes especially noticeable with rage, making his punishes some of the most potent in SSB4, while several other moves have the ability to KO at ridiculously low percentages, such as an aerial reversed Warlock Punch (which one-hit KOs Mario with rage) and sweetspotted up tilt (which KOs middleweights at 33% near the ledge). While Ganondorf's combo game is limited when compared to the majority of the cast, his followups make up for it by dealing high amounts of damage in a short time, such as sourspotted dash attack to up aerial, or the followups from Flame Choke (either from opponents missing their tech, or through predicting their reactions). Because of his strength, Ganondorf has one of the strongest KO abilities in the game, as he is capable of racking up damage and KOing opponents in just a few hits.

In addition, his previously mentioned attributes give him respectable survivability and allow him to use rage to full effect, further boosting his already powerful moves at high percentages. Ganondorf's strength also makes mistiming or overusing a shield extremely deadly, with multiple attacks capable of dealing huge damage to shields or outright breaking them with a single hit. Notable examples of this are up tilt's sweetspot, which can break full shields, his forward and up smashes, and aerial Wizard's Foot. He can also play mindgames to make opponents with low shield health play more carefully, as a single hit from one of his attacks can break their shield or KO them at relatively low percentages.

Ganondorf has among the best edgeguarding abilities in the game, as his powerful aerials are relatively fast for their immense power (excluding forward aerial and down aerial) and send foes far away from the stage even at medium percents, spelling trouble for any fighter without a long-distance recovery. His down aerial is the most powerful meteor smash in the game with low ending lag, and his up aerial's late hitbox is among the best gimping tools in the game with its semi-spike angle and high hitstun. Finally, his back aerial is a deceptively fast, safe, and powerful KO move, as it starts up as fast as Captain Falcon's with relatively little lag and can autocancel in a short hop, despite its immense power. His grounded moveset is also useful for punishing improper recoveries, such as using an up tilt against badly positioned fighters or an up smash against horizontal recovering characters like Ike. Ganondorf also has the lowest and safest ledge grab, allowing him to camp on the ledge effectively and giving him decent protection from opponents when hanging from a ledge.

However, Ganondorf possesses many glaring flaws. His shield is very vulnerable to shield stabbing due to its surprisingly small size relative to his height. Also, small characters, such as Pikachu, can avoid his attacks with ease due to the majority of his moves having short range, poorly placed hitboxes with low durations, while also extending his hurtboxes and making him vulnerable to trading or simply being grabbed out of an attack despite being visually out of range. Although Ganondorf's frame data is similar (albeit slightly slower) to Captain Falcon’s in terms of start up (barring neutral attack, up tilt, and Warlock Punch), his attacks are very difficult to land while being easily punished due to high ending lag and/or landing lag; most infamously, his forward aerial has the highest ending lag out of all of his aerials, and cannot autocancel even from a full hop, forcing Ganondorf to enter the landing animation. As a result of his high end lag, some of his moves are completely unsafe on shield, making it very difficult to take full advantage of his extreme shield-breaking capabilities.

Additionally, Ganondorf's overall physics leave him with abysmal mobility and approaching options, which makes closing the distance or creating space considerably difficult for him, and he is easily zoned out by projectile characters due to his lack of a projectile himself. Also, his high knockback and sluggish moves, his poor range, as well as his terrible air speed, all give him a very poor combo game, as he cannot easily or reliably pursue his opponents in the air, while his aforementioned high power moves will almost always knock his opponents too far away for follow-ups. However, Ganondorf himself is very easy to combo; his heavy weight, tall stature, low air speed, and unsafe landing options make him extremely vulnerable to combos and juggling, and his poor out of shield options give him difficulty protecting himself against rushdowns. Overall, this makes Ganondorf rely heavily on proper spacing and mind games, as he cannot afford to miss even a single move.

Another prominent weakness is his horrible frame data. As mentioned before, all of his moves are burdened with extreme amounts of lag, with very few moves being active before frame 9 (with those moves being limited to up aerial, neutral aerial, standing grab, and neutral attack), while some of his moves do not come out before frame 30, such as Warlock Punch and his notoriously powerful up tilt. This offsets Ganondorf's powerful KO ability by forcing him to rely on reads and hard punishes, with few effective setups to end stocks via combos. When considering his overall poor speed and frame data, this also makes it difficult for Ganondorf to close the gap between him and an opponent should he be going against a speedy foe, such as Sheik. As a result, he is collectively considered to have among the worst frame data in the game, along with Shulk, Palutena, and King Dedede.

Other issues include a lackluster grab game. Ganondorf's grab range is very short despite his size, while his physics, ineffective angles, and high knockback result in his throws having little follow-up, but are not strong enough to KO reliably on their own. However, his forward throw does very serious damage and can decently lead into down aerial meteor smashes off-stage, while down throw has fairly low knockback to decently combo (albeit not as good as other characters' combo throws). Flame Choke can also work against Ganondorf due to it enforcing unreliable hard reads, especially if teched, with incorrect reads likely putting Ganondorf in a vulnerable position.

His recovery remains very poor and is one of the worst in the game due to its low distance, low air speed, and high vulnerability to edgeguarding and gimps. Flame Choke's and Dark Dive's lack of speed, distance, and resilience allows Ganondorf to be knocked away by even the weakest of moves, despite the former's fearsome sacrificial KO potential. Even if Dark Dive is landed and lets him reuse the move, it's high ending lag also makes it highly susceptible to being teched and punished, with opponents being able to act before Ganondorf can.

Finally, despite his status as a powerhouse, Ganondorf still possesses some moves that offer little reward due to their inability to combo reliably or even KO at realistic percentages (with some not even KOing past 200%), such as his neutral attack's sourspot, neutral aerial's late hitboxes, Dark Dive, and all of his throws.

Ganondorf drastically benefits from some of his custom moves, however, most notably Wizard's Dropkick and Dark Fists. While Wizard's Dropkick is weaker, cannot meteor smash, and has slightly more ending lag when performed in the air, it is excellent against projectiles and for recovery, acting as a superior version of Flame Choke's recovery that does not leave him helpless while allowing Ganondorf to fly over projectiles while attacking. Dark Fists is a two-hit attack with better horizontal reach, armor, and very potent power, giving him impressive protection against edgeguarders if used as a recovery and a very effective out-of-shield option, something that he lacks. When using both of these moves on his moveset, Ganondorf is granted a very efficient recovery and improved offensive prowess, as he can travel high distances while being exceedingly difficult to edgeguard without being punished. For other notable customs, Warlock Blade offers better utility over Warlock Punch due to its lower start-up, increased range, transcendent priority, and high shield damage, but replaces one of Ganondorf's best punishing options due to its reduced strength. Flame Chain and Flame Wave are semi-viable alternatives to Flame Choke, with the former being a multiple-hitting attack with decent horizontal knockback and the latter having high damage and strong KO power; however, both are laggier and sacrifice powerful combos, while the latter covers significantly less distance, to the point where it only reaches opponents directly in front of Ganondorf. The rest of his custom moves are ineffective as they offer very little bonuses over the default or other custom moves; the most notorious example is Warlock Thrust, which has barely any KO power and high ending lag to overwhelmingly outweigh its benefits of a larger hitbox and much faster start-up. However, while his custom moves address his recovery issues and make him a more dangerous character with better staying power, they are not allowed in the standard metagame.

All in all, Ganondorf is a powerhouse who can deal large amounts of damage in only a few hits and just as easily finish off an opponent with a single, well-placed attack, though he suffers from lackluster mobility, poorly placed hitboxes and reach, frame data, recovery, and lack of approaching and zoning options, forcing him to rely almost completely on punishes and mindgames. As such, he still must play very cautiously, like in Brawl, patiently waiting and reading the opponent's movements before striking; additionally, the player should not be afraid to allow Ganondorf to trade blows due to his high endurance, but should also keep him onstage as much as possible due to his poor recovery. However, his improved power and miscellaneous buffs have made Ganondorf significantly more effective than in Brawl. As such, Ganondorf is a high-risk, high-reward character; while he struggles in consistent high-level play, players who are very skilled with reads and mindgames can use his raw power to their advantage and end matches in a flash with the right strategy. Due to these reasons, Ganondorf has among the highest tournament representation out of the G-tier characters and slightly better results than them, but they are still lackluster overall, with most of his success only coming from minor tournaments. Throughout the game's lifespan, Ganondorf has been consistently buffed, though they have not brought up to speed in comparison to most of the other veterans; thus, he remains in the lowest tier of the current tier list.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ganondorf was arguably the worst character in the entire game, as while he had solid damage output/KO power, high endurance, strong/useful aerials and a potent command grab in Flame Choke, he suffered from being incredibly slow (both in terms of mobility and frame data), having an incredibly short/exploitable recovery and his combination of having a large body along with high weight/falling speed/gravity made him a punching bag for much of the cast. He heavily struggled to approach due to his large size and slow speed, and he was an extremely easy target to chain grab, making him struggle against almost the entire cast.

Possibly as a result, Ganondorf has been buffed in the transition from Brawl to Super Smash Bros. 4, albeit not enough to raise his standing among the cast. One of Ganondorf's most notable improvements was to his KO power. Moves such as his smash attacks, neutral/forward/back aerials, and Wizard's Foot have all seen improvements to their damage output and KO potential, with some of his other moves also seeing increases to their power. Neutral/forward/back aerials especially benefit from having increased power,r as neutral aerial is more reliable and much stronger, while forward and back aerials have much less detrimental sourspots, along with the latter having a much stronger sweetspot. This makes it even easier for Ganondorf to secure KOs, as it takes him fewer hits to get his opponent to KO percents, further increasing one of the few strengths he had in the previous game. This is further boosted with the introduction of rage, which further increases Ganondorf's already improved KO power, and due to his high weight, he is capable of building up a high amount of rage.

Ganondorf also has better frame data overall, with his neutral attack, dash attack, and neutral aerial being notably faster. Neutral attack is overall slightly better as a move to use in pressure or punishment situations, dash attack's sourspot has vastly improved combo potential due to its altered launch angle, along with the move's lower ending lag, and neutral aerial's second hit is faster and much easier to land overall. All of Ganondorf's aerials also have less landing lag, making them safer on landing (especially compared to the rest of the cast). Lastly, Ganondorf's opponent can no longer immediately act out of Dark Dive, making the move much less punishable when it connects (the move is also stronger in addition to this).

Ganondorf has also seen some other quality of life improvements. His slowest but most rewarding moves, such as his up tilt and Warlock Punch, are more powerful and have received some added bells and whistles, making them slightly more useful (although they are still extremely risky). His grab game has been slightly improved, as Ganondorf's grab has slightly more range, and his down throw can no longer be a viable combo starter due to the changes to hitstun canceling/DI. One of the most notable changes is that the use of Flame Choke for Ganonciding now consistently KOs the opponent before Ganondorf, allowing it to be used as a guaranteed win if both players in a one-on-one match are on their last stock.

Ganondorf also has some benefits from the universal changes to Smash 4. The removal of chain grabbing, which heavily plagued Ganondorf in the previous game, improves his survival, while the changes to hitstun canceling/DI slightly improve Ganondorf's combo potential (notably from down throw). The increase to shield damage and shieldstun makes Ganondorf's attacks safer, and Ganondorf can break shields more easily, particularly with up tilt. The removal of edge hogging also notably improves his recovery, and as previously mentioned, Ganondorf can utilise rage fairly well due to his powerful attacks and high weight.

However, Ganondorf also received noteworthy nerfs, mainly to some of his key moves from the previous game. Ganondorf's forward smash no longer has extra reach when pivoted, removing one of the few approach options he had in the previous game, and making it harder for Ganondorf to whiff-punish moves. Ganondorf's dash attack is weaker and has less range, although the late hit is much more potent. Ganondorf's down aerial is significantly weaker, and it can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop, significantly hindering its safety and utility despite having significantly less landing lag and greater reach. The move does benefit from the introduction of frame canceling, which does give it greater combo potential when performed, but the very high risk of performing the technique (due to its slow speed to set up and its sheer difficulty to perform) makes the technique extremely impractical, making Ganondorf's down aerial a much less potent move overall. Ganondorf can also no longer perform the Flight of Ganon, which hinders his aerial game.

One of the most detrimental nerfs Ganondorf received was to Flame Choke, his staple move in Brawl. While the move does have increased damage and range, the grounded version can now be teched. This significantly hinders Ganondorf, as instead of getting guaranteed follow-ups or at least putting him at a consistent frame advantage for tech chases, this enforces Ganondorf to go for unreliable hard reads, and if Ganondorf reads incorrectly, he can very easily be punished. The move is still highly effective when the opponent doesn't tech, but the fact that the move can be teched makes it far less reliable and potent overall.

In some ways, Ganondorf's weaknesses from Brawl have been amplified. Ganondorf's mobility relative to the cast is even lower as well. He has greater dashing speed; many other returning veterans saw even greater increases to their dashing speed, making it even easier for Ganondorf's opponent to rush him down or run away from him. Various returning veterans also walk faster, while Ganondorf does not, which does not help him either. Ganondorf's air speed was flat-out decreased, now making it among the worst in the entire game (especially when considering the fact that most returning veterans have improved air speed). This both worsens Ganondorf's recovery and it generally makes him even more sluggish in the air, making him easier to chase and avoid while he is in the air.

Despite being one of his most detrimental flaws in the previous game, Ganondorf's recovery has been made even worse (at least on paper). This is not only due to Ganondorf's decreased air speed, but the removal of grab armor also makes Ganondorf's recovery specials even more exploitable. While Ganondorf's faster air dodge and the removal of edge hogging most definitely help him, they do not help him as much as other returning veterans. When combined with numerous other returning veterans having improved recoveries, along with a majority of newcomers possessing solid recoveries of their own, this consolidates Ganondorf's recovery as one of the absolute worst in the game.

Ganondorf's already poor defensive game has become even worse in some ways. While Ganondorf does have better Out of Shield punish options due to his grab/Dark Dive's slightly increased range/higher reward and his jab's slightly faster speed, his Out of Shield game remains extremely poor as his grab still has very poor range (in addition to having increased ending lag) and his jab and Dark Dive are still fairly slow options. Ganondorf also flat-out lost access to his second-fastest Out of Shield option (his landing Wizard's Foot), which notably hurts his Out of Shield game, especially when dealing with opponents from behind.

Ganondorf's rolls have more ending lag, making them more punishable and overall worse, but his spot dodge in particular took a rather major hit. Ganondorf's spot dodge has 2 more frames of startup lag, less intangibility, and much more ending lag. Its increased startup lag makes it far worse as a defensive tool, as it is much less reliable in pressure situations, while its increased ending lag makes it a lot more punishable. As a result, Ganondorf's defensive Out of Shield options have gone from being fairly solid to among the worst, making him even more vulnerable in frame-tight, high-pressure situations. On a similar note, Ganondorf still possesses one of the slowest air dodges in the game, and its higher landing lag greatly hinders his ability to land, turning his air dodge into an easily exploitable landing option.

Lastly, Ganondorf overall does not benefit much from the game's universal changes. While the changes to hitstun canceling/DI slightly improve his combo potential, Ganondorf's combo potential remains very poor overall, while some other returning veterans received much greater combo potential. This means that Ganondorf will still usually only be able to deal one or two hits on his opponent, while they will be able to chain multiple moves together for serious damage. This also means that Ganondorf is much more susceptible to combos himself, with his large size and high weight/falling speed/gravity making him a prime target for combos. This also removes momentum canceling, which, when combined with the introduction of rage, noticeably hinders Ganondorf's endurance.

As mentioned before, the removal of grab armor noticeably hinders Ganondorf, as it makes his grab and command grabs even more exploitable (which especially hurts him while trying to recover) and while the removal of edge hogging and the changes to air dodges do help Ganondorf's recovery, it helps other returning veterans even more, making it even harder for Ganondorf to abuse his solid edgeguarding. Lastly, as much as rage improves Ganondorf's KO potential, his highly exploitable recovery and lack of practical KO setups mean that he does not benefit as much from rage as other heavyweights or even some lighter-weight characters, and it can naturally work against him by giving his opponent greater KO potential.

Overall, Ganondorf is considered a better and more rewarding character compared to how he was in Brawl as his damage output and KO potential are greater overall, and he even has one of the most positive buff: nerf ratios out of the entire cast. However, this has barely helped his standing on the tier list, due to his weaknesses either not being properly addressed or flat out worsened. His mobility is still abysmal, and his frame data remains very poor despite being improved. His recovery was flat-out nerfed, meaning that it is still highly exploitable despite the changes to air dodges and the ledge mechanics. Ganondorf's down aerial and Flame Choke (his two best moves) have also been considerably nerfed, his defensive game is even worse, and the changes to the game's mechanics do not benefit him much at all, especially compared to a majority of the cast.

Ganondorf still largely plays a Brawl esque game, where he largely has to rely on winning neutral (with his neutral being among the worst due to his large size and abysmal speed giving him a ton of trouble approaching), just to get one or two hits (in addition to having one of the worst disadvantage states) while other characters with far superior neutral games gain a much greater reward for winning neutral, while also being in a less exploitable spot when losing neutral. Because of this, Ganondorf still struggles with most of the cast. While his overall matchup spread is not as poor as it was in Brawl, it is still very poor, as he still loses most matchups, as most of the cast can still abuse his extremely slow speed and large size to their advantage.

In earlier versions of Smash 4, Ganondorf was even worse, as the improvements to moves such as his jab, neutral aerial, Dark Dive, and numerous other moves were not present, with Ganondorf overall having even worse frame data, range, and KO power. Later patches did give Ganondorf some useful improvements, but they simply were not enough to greatly improve him. When combined with other poorly regarded characters seeing even more significant improvements, along with new DLC characters being added who also outclassed Ganondorf, this resulted in Ganondorf remaining one of the absolute worst in the game.

As a result, while Ganondorf has even greater KO power and slightly better frame data, Ganondorf is still one of the worst characters in the game, due to him still having extremely slow speed, poor combo potential, poor recovery, and him still being a large punching bag who gets comboed hard and who simply cannot approach without extreme difficulty. Ganondorf still received poor tournament results, although he is not as commonly considered to be the worst character in the game.

Aesthetics

• Ganondorf's design has slightly changed. His head, eyes, nose, and ears have been slightly re-proportioned, and he now sports his glowing chest wound from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Additionally, his epaulettes have been slightly redesigned. Lastly, the aesthetic used in Smash 4 has resulted in Ganondorf's attire being slightly more vibrant. Altogether, these changes make him appear significantly more in line with his appearance in Twilight Princess.
• Ganondorf's eye color is slightly subdued, and his cape is now tattered instead of frayed. These changes are unique to Smash 4.
• Ganondorf has received two new alternate costumes.
• Ganondorf is significantly more expressive. As the corners of his mouth no longer open, he now consistently scowls and has slightly pursed lips when he vocalizes. Numerous actions also result in Ganondorf angrily clenching his teeth, mockingly smirking, and even looking puzzled and contemplative.
• Darkness-based attacks have updated visual effects.

Attributes

• Ganondorf dashes slightly faster (1.16 → 1.218), going from the second slowest out of 39 characters to the third slowest out of 58.
  • However, his dashing speed is even lower relative to the cast, as most other returning veterans saw a higher increase to their dashing speed than he did, and all newcomers (except Robin) have greater dashing speed than him.
• Ganondorf's air speed is slower (0.846 → 0.79), going from the 10th lowest out of 39 characters to the third lowest out of 58. This hinders his already abysmal recovery and makes him even less mobile in the air.
• Ganondorf's gravity is higher (0.1027 → 0.107835).
• Ganondorf's fast falling speed is higher (2.31 → 2.65).
• Ganondorf is heavier (109 → 113).
• Ganondorf is smaller (model size multiplier: 1x → 0.96x). This makes him slightly harder to hit but reduces his range.
• The 19% damage increase to shields and the increase to shieldstun significantly help Ganondorf, as they allow many of his high shield damage attacks to shatter shields more effectively, as well as making his attacks safer on shield, especially his electric-based attacks.
  • However, this also makes it even more difficult for Ganondorf to utilise his poor Out of Shield options.
• The removal of meteor canceling significantly improves Ganondorf's down aerial and Wizard's Foot's reliability (despite the former's reduced power). This, however, makes his already poor recovery even easier to edgeguard.
• The removal of chain grabbing significantly improves Ganondorf's endurance.
• Rolls have more ending lag (FAF 32 → 34), now being one of the slowest rolls in the game.
• Air dodge has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 35).
  • However, Ganondorf is hindered by the increase to air dodge landing lag moreso than almost any other character, as he now lacks a completely safe landing option.
• Spot dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 4-19) and it has more ending lag (FAF 26 → 29).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack has less startup (frame 8 → 7) and ending lag (FAF 35 → 29), slightly improving its use as a panic move or as a punishment option.
  • Neutral attack deals more damage (5%/7%/9% → 6%/8%/10%), improving the near hit's KO potential.
  • The far hit has been moved further forward (z offset: 18 → 19), slightly increasing its range.
  • The middle and far hits deal less knockback (40/30 (base), 105 (scaling) → (38/30)/(90/90), hindering their KO potential.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's main hit deals more damage (27%/19%/17% → 28%/20%/18%).
  • The changes to shields significantly benefit up tilt, as the main hit now leads into a guaranteed shield break.
  • The removal of ledge invincibility from ledge regrabs, combined with the introduction of two-framing, improves up tilt's edgeguarding potential.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (12% → 13%), improving its KO potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 38).
  • The late hit now launches the opponent forwards (100° → 80°). When combined with dash attack's lower ending lag, along with the changes to hitstun canceling/Directional Influence, this grants it combo potential.
  • The clean hit deals less damage (15% → 14%), has decreased base knockback (60 → 50), and launches opponents at a lower angle (105° → 70°), hindering its KO potential.
  • The clean hit has a smaller hitbox (7.3u → 7u).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's far hit has higher base knockback on all angles (30 → 35).
  • Ganondorf no longer lunges farther when performing a pivoted forward smash, significantly hindering its approach and whiff punishment potential.
• Upward angled forward smash:
  • Upward angled forward smash launches opponents at a lower angle (45° → 40°).
  • The far hit has decreased knockback scaling (85 → 83).
• Downward angled forward smash:
  • The far hit has increased knockback scaling (80 → 83).
  • Downward angled forward smash launches opponents at a higher angle (35° → 40°).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals more damage (19%/22%/22% → 21%/24%/24%), the sweetspot launches opponents at a higher angle (80° → 85°) and both sweetspots have slightly higher knockback scaling (70 → 71), significantly improving its KO potential (now being the strongest up smash in Smash 4, although it is still weaker than the strongest up smashes in Brawl).
  • The weakening of hitstun cancelling and the overall higher hitstun of Smash 4 gives up smash combo potential at lower %.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash deals more damage (5% → 6% (hit 1), 12%/14%/14% → 13%/15%/15% (hit 2)) and the second hit has increased knockback scaling (75 → 94), significantly improving its KO potential, to the point of being the strongest down smash in the game without exterior factors.
  • The first hit can no longer be SDIed (SDI multiplier: 0.5x → 0x).
  • The first hit's leg hitbox launches aerial opponents at a lower angle (141° → 160°) and has decreased set knockback (80 → 70), allowing it to connect more reliably into the second hit.
  • The first hit's leg hitbox launches grounded opponents at a slightly higher angle (141° → 140°).
  • The first hit's foot hitbox launches opponents at a lower angle (140° → 154°) and has increased set knockback (90 → 108), allowing it to connect more reliably into the second hit.
  • The first hit's body hitbox has increased set knockback (70 → 80), making it slightly safer if it connects.
  • The second hit has larger hitboxes (5.5u → 6.5u).
  • The second hit now uses a forward launching angle (130° → 50°), but it now uses a backwards angle flipper (3 → 4). This means that the opponent is still sent behind Ganodorf at the same angle, but they are now facing Ganondorf, rather than away from him.
    • Because of this, the second hit now pushes shielding opponents away from Ganondorf rather than dragging them towards him, making the move safer, especially when combined with its increased shieldstun.
    • However, this also makes it easier for the opponent to recover.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (22 frames → 17 (neutral), 32 frames → 22 (forward), 22 frames → 19 (back/up), 35 frames → 26 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's second hit has less startup lag (frame 20 → 17), with the move's total duration being subsequently reduced (FAF 45 → 42).
    • Additionally, since neutral aerial uses the same animation but a portion of it is sped up, this also reduces neutral aerial's animation length (59 frames → 56).
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 41 → 38).
  • The first kick's leg hitboxes (and the foot hitbox against aerial opponents) have drastically lower knockback scaling (100 → 30), and they have altered angles (55°/60°/65° → 55°/70°/100°), which, along with the second hit's lower startup lag, makes neutral aerial connect much more reliably at higher percents.
    • However, these changes make neutral aerial connect even less reliable at lower percents.
  • The first kick's foot hitbox has increased base knockback against grounded opponents (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/110) and now uses weight-independent knockback. This improves its spacing potential, but hinders its already poor ability to link into the second hit.
  • The second kick deals much more damage (7% (clean)/5% (late) → 12%/9%) and has increased knockback scaling (100 → 106), restoring a chunk of its KO potential from Melee.
  • The clean second kick has larger hitboxes (4.3u/5.7u/6.2u → 7.8u/7u/6.5u) and the foot hitbox has been positioned further out (y offset: 5 → z offset: 6.5), significantly improving its range.
  • The late second kick's foot hitbox is larger (4.3u → 6u) and it has been positioned further out (y offset: 5 → z offset: 6).
  • The first kick deals less damage (11% (clean)/7% (late) → 7%/5.25%). This completely removes the KO potential of the leg hitboxes and the foot hitbox against aerial opponents when combined with their lower knockback scaling, as well as making them much less safe on hit.
    • In addition, the foot hitbox against grounded opponents only received full compensation on its knockback for the late hit, hindering its clean hit's KO potential.
  • The late second kick's near hitboxes are smaller (5.7u/6.2u → 5.3u/4.5u).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less ending lag (FAF 55 → 45).
  • Forward aerial has larger hitboxes (3.4u/5u → 4u/5.5u).
  • The sourspot deals more damage (15% → 17%) and knockback (30 (base), 80 (scaling) → 20/93), significantly improving its KO potential.
  • The sweetspot deals more damage (17% → 18%).
  • The sweetspot has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.1x).
  • The sweetspot has less base knockback but more knockback scaling (48 (base), 83 (scaling) → 20/93).
    • This, combined with its more serious damage, improves its overall KO potential.
    • However, this also hinders the move's edgeguarding potential, as well as its KO potential when used near the horizontal blast zone and even from center stage on smaller stages.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's sourspots deal much more knockback (10 (base), 85 (scaling) → 40/89).
  • The sweetspot deals more damage (16% → 17%) and knockback (28 (base), 85 (scaling) → 40/89), significantly improving its KO potential.
  • The sweetspot has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.2x).
  • As with most back aerials, back aerial now always launches opponents away from Ganondorf.
  • The sweetspot has lower priority (ID# 0 → 1), making it harder to land.
• Down aerial:
  • The introduction of frame canceling greatly benefits down aerial due to its very high hitlag, improving its combo potential when combined with the changes to hitstun canceling/DI, especially since it is one of the few meteor smashes which still cannot be teched by grounded opponents.
  • The sweetspot is positioned lower (y offset: 3 → 1), improving its range.
    • However, this does also make the sourspot easier to land, hindering down aerial's edgeguarding potential against opponents recovering high.
  • Down aerial's sourspot now launches opponents horizontally (270° → 361°). This improves its onstage KO potential and grants the move spacing potential, but hinders its edeguarding and tech chase setup potential.
  • Down aerial has a shorter duration (frames 16-20 → 16-18).
  • Down aerial has lower base knockback (30 → 20).
  • The sweetspot deals less damage (22% → 19%), considerably hindering its KO potential.
    • However, this does also improve its combo potential at higher percents.
  • Down aerial can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop due to Ganondorf's lower short hop. This significantly hinders its reliability as a combo tool (due to the much greater difficulty/risk of frame canceling), as well as its safety.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have been repositioned further outwards (z offset: 8 (standing)/9 (dash)/-15 (pivot) → z stretch: 9/10.8/-15.1), giving standing and dash grabs slightly more range.
  • Pivot grab has slightly more range inside of Ganondorf.
  • All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 30 → 36 (standing), FAF 40 → 42 (dash), FAF 36 → 40 (pivot)).
  • All grabs have smaller grabboxes (4.8u → 4u (standing/pivot)/3.2u (dash). This gives Ganondorf's grabs less vertical range (especially dash grab) and decreases pivot grab's overall range.
  • Pivot grab has a new animation where Ganondorf extends his hand further. This new animation more accurately reflects the grabbox, resulting in the pivot grab losing its disjoint.
  • Standing and especially dash grab have less range behind Ganondorf, due to now only consisting of one extended grabbox, rather than multiple normal grabboxes.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more damage (2% → 3%).
  • Pummel has more ending lag (FAF 24 → 30).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw's hitbox has a longer duration (frame 11 → 11-12).
  • The hitbox can no longer be SDIed (SDI multiplier: 2x → 0x).
  • Ganondorf releases opponents from forward throw one frame later (frame 12 → 13).
  • The hitbox has increased hitlag (1.0x → 1.5x), making the throw slower to execute and easier to DI.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw's hitbox has a longer duration (frame 12 → 12-13).
  • The hitbox can no longer be SDIed (SDI multiplier: 2x → 0x).