SSBM Icon.png
SSBB Icon.png
SSB4 Icon.png

Dark Dive

From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Revision as of 21:23, June 19, 2015 by Xenorad (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Dark Dive
Dark Dive in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Ganondorf uses Dark Dive on Link.
User Ganondorf
Universe The Legend of Zelda
“ ...Ganondorf's Dark Dive blasts foes in a burst of dark energy. ”
—Ganondorf's trophy description in Melee

Dark Dive (雷神掌, Raijin Palm) is the up special move used by Ganondorf, introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It's similar in function to Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive, but instead of the opponent getting hurt by fire, they will be shocked by electricity if Ganondorf connects with them. Like his side special, Flame Choke, it counts as a grab, so it cannot be shielded or countered. Like the Falcon Dive, it can be used repeatedly if successful, and Ganondorf can grab a ledge at the peak height of this move when facing the other direction. This helps to sweet spot and to keep Mario players from caping. Due to its predictability and poor distance, the move has often been cited as one of the worst recoveries in the game.

Appearances

Dark Dive in Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee

In Melee, the move itself is essentially a clone move of Falcon Dive, except that there are electric effects. He rises up, catching opponents that are above him, zaps them, and then knocks the opponent away with an explosion. He can use this move again after. Also, as with most moves Ganon has compared to Falcon, the move is stronger than Falcon Dive, and is easier to KO foes with (though Falcon Dive is still strong by itself). It is interesting to note that, unlike Falcon Dive, Dark Dive can harm other characters (in addition to the victim Ganon has latched on to) via the electrical hitboxes. This makes it harder for an opponent to hit Ganondorf out of this move. Unfortunately, it cannot grab, or even affect foes on a ledge, making this move extremely easy to edge-guard.

Using Dark Dive on an opponent below stage level will often stage spike them. While this can punish a failed edge-guard, the opponent can also tech the spike, and then strike back as they can move before Ganondorf can.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Dark Dive in Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ganondorf can still grab opponents with his Dark Dive, but if the move does not connect until the end of the animation, Ganondorf does an uppercut that knocks the opponent away with darkness damage, being slightly stronger than the move's grab and throw. In addition, Ganondorf can now grab opponents hanging onto the ledge, which often stage spikes them, but they are still capable of teching. It also has launch resistance mid-grab. The move is also capable of destroying targets in Target Smash!! when his body comes in contact with the target. It also has a different animation where Ganondorf rises upward and spins.

Knockback-wise, Dark Dive was overwhelmingly nerfed to where it can no longer KO at realistic damages outside of stage spikes, only KOing at 300%~, and also deals much less damage; despite Ganondorf generally being more powerful than Captain Falcon, Falcon Dive has much stronger damage and knockback in Brawl, KOing at 200% instead. This poor knockback gives Dark Dive almost no hitstun, allowing opponents with low damage percentages and fast aerials to immediately hit Ganondorf once they are released from the grab. Since it sees no real use in combat and is considered the worst recovery move, Dark Dive is unarguably one of the worst special moves in the game.

In The Subspace Emissary, Ganondorf attacks Tabuu with his Dark Dive after he finds out Tabuu is controlling Master Hand with his Chains of Light. The distance Ganon travels with Dark Dive seems to be highly exaggerated. Even before he hits Tabuu, he gets hit by a counterattack, turning him into a trophy.

Super Smash Bros. 4

Ganondorf's Dark Dive in SSB4 3DS.
Dark Dive in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Dark Dive was nerfed even further due to the removal of the mid-grab's launch resistance, making it much easier to intercept and edge-guard. However, the grabbed opponent can no longer attack him once he releases them. Ganondorf now aesthetically grabs the opponent with one hand instead of two.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:

  1. Dark Fists: Doesn't grab enemies, but deals damage during start-up. Both hits are chainable and the second hit has increased damage and more KO power, able to KO at ~110%, but also has increased lag on hit. However, Dark Fist's first hit can whiff. It is generally considered overwhelmingly superior to Dark Dive due to having real offensive potential, improved distance thanks its somewhat slow start-up allowing for better horizontal reach, and the start-up also possessing super armor which helps negate edge-guarding and can even be used as a pseudo-counter.
  2. Dark Vault: Vaults upward twice, effectively giving it double height, but can only grab during the beginning of either vault, and has no ending uppercut. Has less horizontal distance, the electrocution ends faster but is also weaker, and the explosion has less knockback power that KOs at 400% instead. There also is some lag between the two vaults, making it much easier to edge-guard. Due to these flaws, it is much less useful for recovery than Dark Fists and is drastically worse than even Dark Dive for offense.

Differences with Falcon Dive

From Dojo.
The uppercut at the end of the move
  • Electrical effects instead of flames.
  • Multi-hitting instead of 2 hits.
  • In Brawl and Smash 4, it deals a total of 11% damage instead of 17% for Falcon Dive and the damage Dark Dive dealt in Melee.
  • Stronger knockback-wise in Melee, but much weaker in Brawl and Smash 4.
  • In Brawl, many characters can hit Ganondorf after release at mid percents or higher.
  • Doesn't go as high and moves much slower horizontally after using it, but falls slower after using it.
  • Except in Melee, Dark Dive hits with an uppercut that deals 7% damage with darkness if he doesn't grab the opponent earlier in the move.
  • A little slower.
  • Completely different custom movesets.

Trivia

  • In Melee, victims don't visibly wince from this attack (except for Yoshi), though in Brawl, they squint in pain. This also seems to be the case for Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive.
  • In Melee, the multi-hit hitboxes of the move may fail to connect on characters of a significantly different size than Ganondorf, such as a tiny Kirby or a giant Wire Frame. As a result the move deals significantly less damage and ends faster.
  • In Brawl, the grab box can not break a Smash Ball, along with Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive, though the uppercut can break them and the grab box can break targets in Target Smash!! and hit enemies and Bosses in the Subspace Emissary and in the Boss Battles.
  • Despite the move being a "dive", it does not move downwards as one would expect. This is also the case with Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive
Retrieved from "https://www.ssbwiki.com/index.php?title=Dark_Dive&oldid=689224"