Editing Donkey Kong (SSB4)

Donkey Kong has seen a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''Brawl'' to ''SSB4'', but was noticeably buffed overall. As for his buffs, the most noticeable improvement has been to his overall speed. His already solid movement speed has also been greatly increased although this is the case for a majority of returning veterans. Donkey Kong has received some new attacks which help him out overall including a new dash attack which covers much more distance and has much less ending lag and an aerial variant of [[Hand Slap]] which gives him a new landing option and edgeguarding tool. He also has additional [[intangibility]] on a variety of his moves. His grab game is significantly more effective as his grabs have more range and his dash grab is less laggy. All variants of his Cargo Throw have been altered and improved but the most significant variant of Cargo Throw which was improved was his up throw. His Cargo up throw has altered knockback which when combined with the removal of [[hitstun canceling]] and the changes to [[DI]], gives it much better combo potential and at certain percents, it can lead into an up aerial for a guaranteed kill at very low percents especially with [[rage]]. Donkey Kong has received many benefits from the game's new mechanics. Donkey Kong heavily benefits from the introduction of [[rage]] as his increased [[weight]] enables him to live for a long period of time and build up rage, which makes his already solid power becoming even more effective and allows his "Ding Dong" (Cargo up throw up aerial) to kill opponents at obscenely early percents. Donkey Kong also benefits from the removal of [[chain grab]]bing as it improves his endurance against certain characters although he lost a couple of chain grabs of his own. Finally, DK benefits considerably from the removal of edge hogging and the introduction of edge stealing, which prevents his poor vertical recovery from being edge-hogged.

Donkey Kong did receive a few noticeable nerfs both direct and indirect. As for indirect nerfs, the weakening to hitstun canceling does not benefit him as much as other characters. It does not grant him much better combo ability and it makes him much easier to combo combined with his higher weight, falling speed and gravity and it significantly hinders his endurance especially horizontally although it combined with his altered Cargo up throw gives him incredible followup potential including his "Ding Dong" (which greatly makes up for the removal of hitstun canceling). The removal of [[glide toss]]ing and [[edge momentum shifting]] also hinder his mobility in certain situations. As for his direct nerfs, his overall damage output and KO power outside of his "Ding Dong" and rage have been reduced and he has less range especially when relative to the cast hindering his ability to wall out opponents and making it easier for his opponents to approach him.

Overall, the general changes to ''Smash 4''{{'}}s mechanics benefit him more than they hinder and some of his buffs benefit him quite a bit resulting in him being considered to be more viable than he was in ''Brawl'' despite the various downgrades his ground moves and aerials received. He was initially considered to be much worse in earlier versions of the game although update [[1.1.0]] gave him multiple beneficial changes most notably his "Ding Dong" resulting in players having a much higher opinion of him with most professionals considering him being a high tier character.

*{{change|The changes to [[hitstun canceling]] both help and hinder Donkey Kong. They significantly improve his own combo potential, but drastically worsens his survivavility(considering his strong momentum canceling previously) and makes him more susceptible to combos.}}

*{{change|The removal of [[meteor canceling]] serves as a double edged sword for Donkey Kong. It significantly improves the reliability of his own [[meteor smash]] moves, but makes him significantly more vulnerable to opposing meteor smashes considering his large size and poor vertical recovery.}}

*{{buff|[[Air dodge]] has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 35) although it is still slower compared to other air dodges.}}

*{{buff|[[Spot dodge]] has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 29) although it is still one of the slowest in the game.}}

**{{change|One of neutral attack's first hit's body hitboxes has altered knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 35/25) and its angle has been altered ([[Sakurai angle|361°]] → 110°). This makes it connect together better with its second hit but removes its ability to lock.}}

***{{nerf|However, this hinders its jab canceling potential at higher percents no longer being able to reliably lead into a down smash at realistic percents.}}

**{{buff|Forward tilt has increased [[intangibility]] on its non angled and angled down versions (frames 8-11→ 1-25). The up angled version also gains intangibility earlier (frame 8 → 7).}}

**{{nerf|All variants have more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-11 → 9-11), more ending lag (FAF 34 → 38) and have smaller hitboxes (5.5u/5u/4u/3.5u → 5u/4.5u/3.2u).}}

**{{buff|Donkey Kong has a new dash attack, the {{s|mariowiki|Roll Attack}} based on his main attack from "Donkey Kong Country". Compared to the previous dash attack, it covers much more distance, has a longer duration (frames 9-20 → 9-24), and less ending lag (FAF 55 → 42) making it safer and greatly improving its approach potential. The clean hit also deals more knockback (100 (base), 20 (scaling) → 85/53) and the late hit no longer has set knockback (120 (set), 100 (scaling) → 60 (base)/65).}}

**{{nerf|Forward smash's hitboxes deal consistent damage (21%/20% → 20% (hands), 19%/18% → 19% (body)) and has decreased knockback (30 (base), 94 (scaling) → 30/91 (hands), 18/100 → 25/91 (body)), hindering its KO potential. It also has smaller hitboxes (6.4u/6.8u/4.3u/3u → 5.7u/3.7u).}}

**{{nerf|Down smash has decreased knockback scaling (100 → 88) and the new sweetspots also have lower base knockback (35 → 30) hindering its KO potential. Its arms and fists' hitboxes are smaller (7u → 4u/6u).}}

**{{change|The early hit has a longer duration (frames 25-26 → 18-20) but the late hit has a shorter duration (frames 27-29 → 21-22).}}

*{{change|Grabs' have new animations. Instead of clenching both of his hands to grab his opponent, Donkey Kong now reaches out with one hand and grabs.}}

*{{nerf|Standing grab does not extend as far away from Donkey Kong (z offset: 15u → 13.7u) which along with its smaller size, gives it less range.}}

**{{change|Cargo throws ignore the new 1 second timer to prevent grabbed opponents from being regrabbed. Because of this, cargo down throw is now the only throw in the game which can still chain grab opponents.}}

***{{nerf|Donkey Kong releases opponents from cargo forward throw later (frame 13 → 15) but it has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 46).}}

***{{nerf|Donkey Kong releases opponents from cargo back throw later (frame 15 → 16) but it has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43).}}

**{{buff|Cargo up throw deals 3% more damage (7% → 10%), with altered knockback (90 (base), 30 (scaling) → 58/52) and Donkey releases opponents slightly later (frame 14 → 15). These changes combined with the removal of hitstun canceling grant it combo potential at low to high percentages with it leading into an up aerial at certain percents for a kill confirm.}}

***{{buff|Cargo down throw deals 1% more damage (6% → 7%), and knockback (65 (base), 26 (scaling) → 50/80) improving its KO and stage spike potential.}}

***{{nerf|Donkey Kong releases opponents from cargo down throw later (frame 16 → 17) but it has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 45). When combined with its increased knockback, this significantly hinders its chain grabbing potential at a wall.}}

**{{nerf|Down throw releases the opponent much sooner (frame 41 → 24) without compensation on its interruptibility. While this makes down throw harder to DI at higher percents, this significantly hinders its followup potential at lower percents which is further exacerbated by the removal of chain grabbing hindering down throw's damage racking potential.}}

**{{nerf|Donkey Kong has a new edge attack, a [[wikipedia:Professional wrestling attacks#Forearm club|forearm club]]. Compared to the previous fast edge attack, It has much more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 9-16 → 23-25) and has less range.}}

***{{buff|However, its total duration was only increased by one frame (FAF 55 → 56) giving it less ending lag.}}

**{{nerf|The early hit was removed for grounded fully charged Giant Punch increasing its startup lag (frame 18 → 19).}}

**{{change|Giant Punch's wind-up is lower pitched.}}

**{{nerf|Aerial clean Headbutt deals 4% less damage (14% → 10%), its meteor smash hitbox is more difficult to land and it barely stalls Donkey Kong's descent, significantly hindering its recovery potential. The removal of [[edge momentum shifting]] also hinders its utility.}}

**{{buff|Grounded Spinning Kong's first hit deals more damage (5% (arms)/4% (body) → 7%). Additionally, due to their angles being altered (361° → 20°/180°), its loop hits connect together better. Lastly, it has increased super armor frames (frames 10-16 → 8-17).}}

**{{nerf|Grounded Spinning Kong's loop hits deal 1.7% less damage (3% → 1.3%) significantly reducing its maximum damage potential (35% → 18%).}}

**{{nerf|If DK lands with aerial Spinning Kong before he goes into free fall, it will no longer auto-cancel on landing but instead, DK will go through his grounded Spinning Kong ending lag animation making it significantly easier to punish on landing.}}

**{{change|Konga Beat's animation has slightly changed. If Donkey Kong performs all of its button presses with the correct timing, he will strike a thumbs up pose at its conclusion.}}