Ganondorf (SSB4)

Ganondorf (, Ganondorf) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Alongside, 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  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 52th/53rd out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the G tier and tying him with. 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, and , 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 as  or  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 and, 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.

Ganondorf's greatest trait is his raw power. He possesses attacks that are on par with in terms of damage and knockback, with almost his entire moveset granting him the ability to KO under 150% or even 100% with ease, even if the opponent is in the middle of Final Destination. This becomes especially evident with rage, making his punishes some of the most potent in SSB4, while several other moves have the ability to KO at exceedingly 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 less than a few hits.

In addition, his previously mentioned attributes give him high survivability and allows 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 incredibly deadly, with multiple attacks capable of dealing massive shield damage or outright breaking shields 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 is among the best edgeguarders 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 gimps 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 's with relatively little lag and can autocancel in a short hop, despite its immense power. His grounded moveset is also useful for punishing impromptu recoveries, such as using an up tilt against badly positioned fighters or an up smash against horizontal recovering characters like. 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 notable flaws. His shield is very vulnerable to shield stabbing due to its small size relative to his height. Also, small characters, such as, can easily avoid his attacks due to the majority of his moves having short range, poorly placed hitboxes with low durations, while also extending his hurtboxes and makes 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 ’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 notoriously, 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 very poor 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 him lacking 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 very susceptible to combos and juggling, and his poor out of shield options gives him difficulty protecting himself against rushdowns. Overall, this makes Ganondorf rely heavily on proper spacing and mindgames, as he cannot afford to whiff a single move.

Another prominent weakness is his 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. As a result, he is collectively considered to have among the worst frame data in SSB4, along with, , and.

Other issues include a poor grab game. Ganondorf's grab range is surprisingly 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. However, his forward throw does very high 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 character's 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 lackluster and one is 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 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; 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 best example is Warlock Thrust, which has extremely minimal KO power and high ending lag to overwhelmingly outweigh its benefits of a larger hitbox and 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 that 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 him 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 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 KOes, as it takes him less 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 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 improves 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 followups 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 still 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 from dealing with opponents from behind.

Ganondorf's rolls have more ending lag, making them more punishable and overall worse, but his spot dodge in particularly 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 still 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 high 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 means 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 overall 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.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Upward angled forward smash:
 * Downward angled forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Upward angled forward smash:
 * Downward angled forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Upward angled forward smash:
 * Downward angled forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Downward angled forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:

Special moves

 * Warlock Punch:
 * Flame Choke:
 * Dark Dive:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Flame Choke:
 * Dark Dive:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Dark Dive:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Dark Dive:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Wizard's Foot:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:
 * Beast Ganon:

Update history
Ganondorf has been significantly buffed via game updates. Update 1.0.4 started with making aerial Flame Choke no longer be techable like the grounded version, while update 1.1.0 greatly strengthened his previously ineffective down smash, and all aerial attacks have been improved overall; possessing either less landing lag, better hitbox placement, or more damage. The changes to the shield mechanics in updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 gave Ganondorf the biggest, albeit indirect, buffs yet by enhancing his already excellent shield breaking capabilities and making his hitlag heavy attacks significantly safer on shield. However, this came with the weakening of his own already small shield, necessitating and encouraging a more offensive playstyle with fewer flaws in defending. Update 1.1.3 strengthened Dark Dive, which was previously considered one of the weakest and most situational moves in the game (although it is still one of Ganondorf's weakest moves), and made reverse Warlock Punch safer to use with the addition of armor, among other moderate buffs.

Update 1.1.5 improved Ganondorf's neutral game by making his infamously slow neutral attack significantly faster and adjusting its hitbox positions, which gives it slightly more reach and reduces the probability of hitting a blind spot. His dash attack had its lag reduced, which vastly improves its sourspot's combo potential. Flame Choke and Flame Wave had their grab box ranges increased, while his previously ineffective Wizard's Foot and its custom variations were improved by having their damage outputs increased and their hitbox placements widened. Aside from KOing earlier, these changes to Wizard's Foot and its custom variations enables them to out-prioritize weak projectiles and makes them safer overall. As a result, he is considered a much better character than he was in the initial release of SSB4.

 1.0.4

 1.0.6

 1.1.0

 1.1.1

 1.1.3

 1.1.5

Moveset
For a gallery of Ganondorf's hitboxes, see here.

Tier placement and history
Public consensus on Ganondorf in Smash 4 has risen and fallen throughout the game's history despite his numerous direct buffs. Hopes were high when the game was released due to the very noticeable buffs and the very large benefit of the change of mechanics, with some players often drawing comparisons to his Melee self. Players such as and  were already earning impressive results, such as the latter defeating  in a now-infamous 3DS set. This excitement, however would gradually disappear following the Wii U release, as while many characters like and  benefited from the discovery of new tech and a better controller setup, Ganondorf did not benefit as much from the new mechanics as many would have thought. Even despite numerous buffs between game updates, the metagame continued to develop, leaving Ganondorf behind for the most part, which inevitably led to his 54th placing in the bottom tier of the first 4BR tier list.

Despite this, Ganondorf proved to be surprisingly popular in competitive play for a bottom-tier character, gaining a reputation as a "disrespectful" character thanks to his low-tier standing, extravagant punishes, and hefty damage output. As such, he has garnered noticeably better results compared to most other bottom-tiered characters (and even outplacing certain low-tiered ones such as and ), especially in Japan and Eastern Canada, both places of where there is a surprisingly large number of Ganondorf players. This resulted in Ganondorf holding the third-worst position on the second tier list, at 56th (due to the inclusion of and ). Thanks to big advancements to his metagame, as well as still having good results for a poorly regarded character, Ganondorf was ranked 53rd on the third tier list, allowing him to rise out of the "bottom five" position; furthermore, with the abolishment of the "bottom" tier ranking, Ganondorf was then ranked as a low-tier character. However, while Ganondorf gained a notable result in Umebura Japan Major 2017 with Gungnir placing 17th with solo Ganon (also upsetting during the tournament), and he retains his placing at 52th/53rd on the fourth and final tier list, this placing is now notable for not only having Ganondorf share the spot with, but also dropping back to being the second worst character alongside her, after the exclusion of Miis from the most recent tier list.

Altogether, Ganondorf has improved notably from his Brawl incarnation, where he was not only considered the worst character, but he was indisputably a bottom-tier character and his worst matchups were far more difficult to win than most bad matchups in the game. While Ganondorf was consistently ranked either among or barely outside of the bottom five characters on the Western and European scenes, the Japanese scene is more optimistic about the character, especially after Gungnir's high placing. As such, Ganondorf's true tier placing has remained in contention throughout the game's competitive lifespan, though he is still generally seen as non-viable in high-level play.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Ganondorf players (SSB4)


 * - One of the best Ganondorf players in the world. Placed 9th at and  as well as 25th at  with wins over players such as, , and . Ranked 46th on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The second best Ganondorf player in Europe. Placed 13th at, 17th at , and 25th at with wins over players such as  and.
 * - The best Ganondorf player in Japan. Placed 17th at with wins over players such as  and.
 * - Considered to be one of the best Ganondorf mains in Japan alongside Gungnir. He has wins over players like, , and.
 * - The best Ganondorf player in Canada. Placed 17th at both and . Formerly ranked 9th on Ontario Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Ganondorf players in the world. Placed 9th at, 13th at , and 49th at both and  with wins over  and.

Solo Events

 * A Fated Battle: Ganondorf appears as an opponent that must defeat in a two stock battle. If the battle lasts through the third portion, two Dark Links will appear.
 * All-Star Battle: Melee: Ganondorf is one of the eight opponents that must be defeated. All opponents debuted in Melee.
 * Beautification: Two s and two Ganondorfs must be flowered by.
 * The Demon King and the Goddess: Ganondorf must defeat a team of Link and . After the two are defeated or some time has passed, a giant appears and the player must defeat her.
 * The Destroyer Cometh: Palutena must defeat a giant Ganondorf and two other Ganondorfs before they destroy all the terrain on Skyworld.
 * : The player must defeat Ganondorf, Bowser and.

Co-op Events

 * Final Battle Team-Up: Ganondorf is one of the opponents that must be defeated.
 * Mirror Magic: and  must defeat Ganondorf, who is aided by a giant metal shadow Lucina and Ike.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
 * Unlikely Allies: Ganondorf and Palutena must defeat sixteen es.

Trivia

 * Ganondorf's page was added to the Smash 4 website on October 15th; prior to this, Ganondorf was mentioned on October 10th by Sakurai in his "Pic of the day" post, discussing the Home-Run Contest. At the end of the post, he remarks, "I wonder if Ganondorf gives you some advantage," despite Ganondorf's page not being added to the website yet. It should be noted that had already released worldwide by October 4, so Ganondorf's presence in the game was already known.
 * Super Smash Bros. 4 is the first entry in the series to have Ganondorf utilize his sword as an attack, albeit as a custom special, Warlock Blade.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is the first game where Ganondorf is unlocked on a stage other than Final Destination.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the only game where Ganondorf is a starter character.
 * Ganondorf's neutral moveset has the most grab moves in the game, as both Flame Choke and Dark Dive count as grabs and cannot be shielded or countered.
 * When Ganondorf uses Ganoncide on an opponent with one stock left, he will usually still emit his KO voice clip despite not being KO'd.
 * Ganondorf's amiibo description on Nintendo's official site is based on his Melee trophy description, thereby describing his  self.
 * Of all the veterans that retain their voice clips from Brawl, Ganondorf, and  are the only ones to not make use of knockback voice clips that weren't used in-game in Brawl despite having them.
 * When using Ganondorf's down taunt under the effects of the Timer item, his sword will move in an unusual way due to its motion not slowing down with him.
 * Ganondorf's NTSC crowd chant is very similar to the one in Melee, where the crowd eerily drags out the second part of his name.
 * Despite his Ocarina of Time design appearing as a trophy in 3DS, Wii U is the only game where Ganondorf's design from that game does not appear.

Ganondorf (SSB4)